1038 
XJHE KUI'iA.L EW-YOK KER 
August ill, l^^J. 
The Rural New-Yorker 
TUE BUSINESS FARMERS FArER 
S. National Weekly Journal for Country and Suburban Homes 
Established ISM 
Psblishcd weekly by the Rural Pitblishlnr Company. 333 IVeet 201 li Street.^ew Torn 
Herbert W. Coeunowood, President and Editor. 
Jons' .). Dillon, Treasurer and General Manager. 
Wm. F. Dn.t/)K, Secretary. Mrs. E. T. Koyle, Associate Editor. 
SUBSCRIPTION: ONE DOLLAR A YEAR 
To foreign countries in the Universal Postal Union, ?2.0i. equal to 8s. 6d., or 
8i£ marks, or KHf franca Remit in money order, express 
oilier,' personal check or bank draft. 
Entered at New York Post Office as Second Class Matter. 
Advertising rates, U> cents per agate line—? words. References required to:: 
advertisei-s unknown to us ; and cash must accompany transient orders. 
“ A SQUARE DEAL” 
We believe that every advertisement in tin's paper is backed by a respon¬ 
sible person. We use every possible precaution and admit the advertising of 
reliable houses only. Rut to make doubly sure, we will make good any loss 
to paid subscribers sustained by trusting any deliberate swindler, irrespon¬ 
sible advertisers or misleading advertisements in our columns, and any 
such swindler will be publicly exposed. We are also often called upon 
to adjust differences or mistakes between our subscribers and honest, 
responsible houses, whether advertisei-s or not. We willingly use our good 
offices to this end, but such cases should not be confused with dishonest 
transactions. We protect subscriliers against rogues, but we will not be 
responsible for the debts of honest bankrupts sanctioned bv the courts. 
Notice of the complaint must be sent to us within one month of the time of 
the transaction, and to identify it. you should mention The Rurai. New- 
Yorker when writing the advertiser. 
T HE convention of the Northern Nut Growers’ 
Association at Rochester, N. Y., Sept. 1-2, ought 
to attract a large body of growers and nurserymen. 
No question whatever about the future of nut grow¬ 
ing. A big share of the meat or meat substitutes of 
the future will be grown on nut trees, and right now 
is the time to get ready for this business. Of all 
the men engaged in producing food the nut growers 
make the hardest and best organized fight for the 
“square deal” in seeds or nursery stock. Back them 
up by attending this meeting. 
* 
I T is an old story to most potato growers that the 
tuber cannot be at its best development and of 
highest quality unless the vine can mature. The 
tuber is a part of the vine; an enlarged under¬ 
ground stem. If the vine should die prematurely 
the tuber is of necessity unripe or “green” and can¬ 
not finish its growth. Thus potatoes which grow 
on plants that are destroyed or injured by blight 
are not unlike green apples in quality. They cannot 
be “mealy” or of highest quality because they never- 
finished growing. This makes clear one necessity for 
spraying late potatoes which many farmers, do not 
consider. We must keep the vines growing as late 
as possible in order to have matured or high quality 
potatoes. The earlier varieties are usually eaten 
early, but the late varieties make up the Winter- 
supply—when good quality is most desired. Thus 
we see the need of full spraying with Bordeaux mix¬ 
ture in order to hold off the blight and give the 
plant a better chance to mature. 
* 
T HE trade papers have gone into hysterics over 
the purpose of the Department of Foods and 
Markets to sell apples and pears at auction. They 
have said it could not he done, but on Airgust 9 the 
Fruit Auction Company sold 40 car-loads of Califor¬ 
nia Bartlett pears at auction in New York City, 
realizing from $1.40 to $1.70 per box, according to 
quality. If California pears can be sold in New 
York at auction, why not Eastern pears and apples? 
One of the trade papers recently said that $1 a 
box is the present established price for Northwestern 
apples and that they must sell for $2 to $2.25 in New 
York to make a fair profit for the dealer. That 
means $6 to $6.75 per barrel. 
In the next paragraph the Produce News says in 
Western New York there is talk of $2 to $2.25 f.o.b. 
cars, but shippers think $2 should be the top. It 
talks of making up losses of last year and counsels 
caution in buying. In a later issue they say $1.50 
to $2 ought to be the limit. 
Will some one who eats apples explain why a 
barrel of New York apples should sell for less money 
on the New York market than a bushel box of 
Northwestern apples? 
♦ 
It has been my habit, upon finding articles extra 
good in your paper to cut them out and send to the 
local paper to be put in the farmer’s column. I am 
saving some of the material you are writing along the 
line of our Foods and Markets Department. Very soon 
I am going to shoot it into our local paper, for we have 
a very good editor, thence every man in the community 
may get the message. I have been thinking if a corps 
of subscribers could do likewise when some special 
righteous issue was to be brought before the public it 
might be a strong lever on public opinion. We have 
plenty of fine wholesome papers in our surrounding 
towns that would be glad to give space if one of their 
local townsmen took up the matter. Of course every 
man ought to take Tiie R. N.-Y., but he doesn’t, and 
if he did he wouldn’t read it line for line as lie does 
his local paper. We prize The It. N.-Y. for its whole¬ 
some influence and square-toed honesty. 
Broome Co., N. l r . JOHN M. stiles. 
HE “fine wholesome” county papers which are 
taken in our rural neighborhoods have great in¬ 
fluence with the people. As a rule they are well con¬ 
ducted and give a good reflection of farm life and its 
needs. We think they are far more influential in 
forming public opinion than the city dailies. The 
latter are read, hastily—mostly for entertainment— 
but the country papers are studied and what they 
say is remembered. We have always said that 
farmers could and should largely control the policy 
and the principles of these country papers. The 
farmers support them and give them character and 
power and the editor and manager will usually be 
glad to have farmers state just what they want and 
why they want it Naturally we appreciate the 
suggestion made by Mr. Stiles. We feel that the 
things we are trying to do are of the utmost im¬ 
portance to farmers. Of course we know that they 
cannot he made effective until the majority of our 
farmers understand them. There can be no such 
understanding without long and hard thought. 
Anything that will help our farmers to think helps 
their cause and the careful reading which they give 
these country papers is a sure road to thought. It 
would be a fine thing to have our farmers control 
the thought and the policy of their home papers. 
This can be done by showing these home papers just 
what is wanted in print. 
* 
I notice in the papers that Mr. Dillon is getting the 
commission men worried. I am surely glad of it. It 
is high time something was done. Farmers here will 
all say that they can grow almost anything they plant, 
Imt the commission men rob them so they cannot afford 
to ship. WM. SINCLAIR. 
Texas. 
They are feeding big 'peaches to the pigs in some 
parts of Texas. The hogs of middlemen get all the rest. 
—Local paper. 
F.TTERS of this sort come from all over the 
country. The commission men and dealers 
pass in some quarters as shrewd, long-headed busi¬ 
ness men. but they will quickly lose that reputation 
if they keep on. They did not seem to realize that 
when they rushed howling into print, abusing the 
new Foods and Markets Department they adver¬ 
tised the fact that at last an honest effort is being 
made to improve market conditions. In every coun¬ 
try town in America are a dozen or more farmers 
who feel that they have been robbed, and are smart¬ 
ing at their inability to help themselves under the 
present situation. By their abuse of the Depart¬ 
ment the commission men have simply advertised 
their fear that they are to lose a share of this graft. 
Do they take the American farmers for a set of 
dunces? If they believe what they say about the 
Department and the auction system they would 
keep quiet and let both die the ridiculous death 
which they prophesy. By their abuse and howl¬ 
ing they have given their entire case away and 
shown every farmer who has received the 35-cent 
dollar that the proposed auction system is the be¬ 
ginning of a nation-wide reform in marketing. We 
said two weeks ago that 100,000 farmers outside of 
New York who have been robbed in this market 
would “lick a stamp” to Governor Whitman in case 
it is necessary to let him understand the situation. 
We will now raise the number to one million—and 
we thank the commission men for their efficient help 
in increasing the number. As for New York State—• 
we can speak with some authority here—if that 
"protest” is put up where the farmers feel 'justified 
in taking a shot at it we can promise the biggest 
and most interesting whirlwind of letters that ever 
struck Albany. This is the beginning of the biggest 
business question which ever came up before New 
York farmers. For every vote which the little 
bunch of commission men on Manhattan can raise 
the farmers can raise 500! 
* 
Can you inform me if there is any law in Massa¬ 
chusetts which covers the form under which sales on 
commission shall be made? My first shipments to a 
certain firm were returned at so much per basket as 
follows: “64 baskets at 70 cents. $44.80.” The last 
two shipments of 102 and 114 baskets respectively are 
returned as follows: “102-114 cherries $84.52, arrived 
had condition.” I know that the 102-basket shipment 
" as in ~^od condition but last one might have been off a 
little. However, it’s the same old story. They give you 
what they see fit irrespective of what it is sold for. 
F. A. TABER. 
HERE is no law in Massauhusetts relative to 
commission men. or anything which would com¬ 
pel them to show their books. It is a common prac¬ 
tice among the commission men there to make re¬ 
turns a good deal like the one stated by Mr. Taber. 
In fact they often make them to persons near Bos¬ 
ton. Massachusetts farmers are now considering 
this question of a commission man’s law and it is 
high time they put it through. 
* 
T HE idea of using certain plants like the work¬ 
ers in a fertilizer factory is gaining ground with 
intelligent farmers. Turnips and rape somehow 
have the ability to use forms of potash in the soil 
which other crops could not utilize. Both science 
and practice show that the turnip will accumulate 
great quantities of potash from the soil, and that 
this potash will feed the crops which follow the 
turnips- We have long been convinced that our 
common ragweed is a remarkable potash plant—one 
of the best of green manures if cut or plowed under 
before seeding. Buckwheat is another neglected 
crop which possesses rare powers of using plant 
food, which potatoes or other so-called “dainty” 
crops could not utilize. Of course all are familiar 
with the work of the pod-bearing plants in obtaining 
nitrogen from the air, but it is now found that some 
of the clovers are better able than others to use 
“unavailable” forms of phosphoric acid. Experi¬ 
ments are now being conducted in Wisconsin to 
test this, and we may be able to utilize our green 
manuring crops to better advantage than ever be¬ 
fore. In the present shortage of potash we have a 
new argument for cover crops, especially those con¬ 
taining turnips. We must look to the soil for most 
of our potash supply, and lime and cover crops are 
the workmen which compel the soil to give it up. 
* 
W IIAT a race those hens in the egg-laying con¬ 
test have developed. At the end of the 40th 
week the leaders were bunched as follows: each pen 
containing 10 birds: 
F. M. Peasley, Leghorns . 1577 
Tom Barron, Leghorns . 1577 
Ilillview Farms, R. I. Reds . 157” 
Edward Cam, White Wyandottes . 15 0 
Tom Barron, White Wyandottes . 15C6 
With 12 weeks more to go, it is still an open race. 
Most people might say that the odds favor the Leg¬ 
horns, but we are not so sure of that. We have 
found the Reds and the Wyandottes superior Fall 
layei-s, but at any rate this beats a horse race for 
interest. In these two leading pens of Leghorns, as 
well as in the Wyandottes, we see the results of se¬ 
lecting 'Tom trap-nested ancestors through several 
generatiens. As we expected, these egg-laying con¬ 
tests are proving the solid value of “utility” pedi¬ 
gree. And what is the matter with our Favorite 
Fen Tilly, the White Wyandotte? At the end of the 
fortieth week she had laid 193 eggs in 245 days 
.‘•ince she started. Some hen! 
* 
T HIS war is starting great trade opportunities 
in foreign lands, and our people often wonder 
why American firms do not get in while Europe is 
busy. Some of them are doing so, hut most of them 
fail in “packing.” The U. S. Consul at Shanghai, 
China, quotes this from a recent letter: 
Last Winter I placed two orders of the same value 
for rose plants, one with a nurseryman in Ohio and 
another in England. The American plants were simply 
tossed into a flimsy pasteboard box with a little Lose moss, 
so that the box arr.ved all crashed and the rcses as dry 
and dead as the hones of an early Christian martyr. 
The English roots were tightly wrapped in moss, then 
in cotton, and finally in a gunny bag. It took them 
longer to reach me, but all were alive. 
Unless there can be an improvement in such pack¬ 
ing it will be little use to try for this foreign trade. 
Foreign buyers may take such goods for a time, but 
as soon as the war is over they will go back to the 
people who pack properly. Much the .same thing is 
true in our domestic markets, particularly in the 
sale of fruits and vegetables. Great losses are In¬ 
curred through careless packing. Where five men 
know how to grow crops well, hardly one man can 
pack acceptably. 
Brevities. 
Loganberry juice is the next temperance drink to 
he “boomed.” 
Where you have a cow-testing association yon can 
put a sign in the barn—“No Cow Boarders Wanted!” 
W ho provides your family loaf? Who is your fam¬ 
ily loafer? 
The heat treatment is effective for insects in mills. 
A temperature of 120 degrees kept up for eight hours 
destroys most mill insects. 
Cursing the weeds may give temporary satisfaction, 
but male it permanent by cutting them off and piling 
around the trees. 
Blind Justice well may weep when some poor judge 
.‘-hows that the fear of wealth makes him as soft as 
fudge. 
An American concern is building a big storage build¬ 
ing in Shanghai, China, where eggs will be dried and 
frozen for export. What American poultryman can 
compete with this? Surely not he whose hens are dried 
up in Summer and frozen in Winter! 
A shipment of live poultry by parcel post was 
promptly delivered, but the shipper tried to celebrate 
the new method by writing a letter and tying it around 
(he neck of one of the birds. The postmaster found it 
and promptly charged first-c'ass postage on the entire 
shipment. The cost was nearly f4.00. 
Throughout the West fire bight has caused great 
damage in apple orchards. The disease is not yet dan¬ 
gerous in most Eastern sections but it is gaining ground 
and growers should begin at once to fight it by cutting 
out all blighted twigs promptly. Cut six inches below 
the diseased wood and paint the stub with a solution of 
one tablet of corrosive sublimate in a pint of water. 
We have heard about the farm “excursion.” A num¬ 
ber of farmers take a day off, and in cars drive rapidh 
from farm to farm “seeing things.” In this way the.'- 
can cover 100 miles or more, and see many good farms. 
The latest is the “farm hike.” A group of boys with 
some steady man along walk through the country ex¬ 
amining farms. A wagon carries tents and a camp out¬ 
fit, and a day’s journey is 25 to 30 miles. 
