1224 
THE RUKAb NEW-YORKER 
The Rural New-Yorker 
THE BUSINESS FARMERS PAPER 
A National Weekly Journal for Country nn<l Suburban IIomen 
Established tsso 
I’lihllslud opoMt hjr thp Rnral Pnblisbinir Company, 333 Wont 30th Street, New For* * 
Herbert W. Colling wood. President and Editor. 
Jons J. Dillon, Treasurer and General Manager. 
Wm. F. Dillon, Secretary. Mrs. E. T. Royle, Associate Editor. 
SUBSCRIPTION : ONE DOLLAR A YEAR 
To foreign countries in the Universal Postal Union, $2.01, equal to 8s. 6d., or 
81$ marks, or 101$ francs. Remit in money order, express 
order, personal chock or bank draft. 
Entered at New York Post Office as Second Class Matter. 
Advertising rates, 75 cents per agate line—7 words. References required for 
advertisers unknown to us ; and cash must accompany transient orders. 
“A SQUARE DEAL” 
We believe that every advertisement in this paper is backed by a respon¬ 
sible person. We use every possible precaution and admit the advertising of 
reliable houses only. But 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 advertisers or not. We willingly use our good 
offices to this end, but such cases should not be confused'with dishonest 
transactions. We protect subscribers against rogues, but we will not bo 
resj>ons)ble 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 Rural New- 
Yorker when writing the advertiser. 
E VERY year at this season people come asking 
about the plan of a hot water heating system 
with the “boiler” located in an open fireplace—over 
the fire. The theory embraces a stout boiler or 
iron box in the lower chimney with pipes running 
after the plan of the usual water system. The 
waste heat from the open lire is supposed to keep 
the boiler hot. Like other theories this is attrac¬ 
tive, but does it get any further? In former years 
several readers spoke of trying it. We would like 
to know how they made out. The open fire is 
cheerful and the boiler is comfortable. Can they 
be combined? 
* 
W E want to back up that first page article on 
potash with the most forcible words we can 
think of. While our people are bewailing the fact 
that we cannot import potash, 30 times as much as 
ever was brought from Germany in any season will 
he lost this year in the escape of liquid manures. 
Part of this will run off through brooks and 
streams, part will remain somewhere near the barn, 
but it will be lost to the cultivated crops. Save 
it by saving the barn liquids. Straw, shredded fod¬ 
der, dried muck from the swamp, coal ashes, sand, 
phosphate rock—anything that will absorb these 
liquids should be used freely in the stables. If 
possible a manure pit should be made where these 
liquids can be lield like water in a cistern. With 
potash at 20 cents a pound you cannot afford to 
let it run away from your barnyard. 
H ONEST men are not uncommon, but they are 
not always rated as high as they should be. 
Not long ago one of our readers asked us to tell him 
just how to select a good horse when buying. We 
went to a number of our farmers asking them to tell 
just how they would buy a horse. The first reply at 
hand is the reason for these remarks: 
The first thing I should look for when starting out 
to buy a horse would be some honest neighbor who is 
a good horseman to go and look the horse over for me. 
Horsemanship is one of the weak points which I am 
forced to acknowledge. I am hoping that before any 
of my own horses pass their usefulness a really satis¬ 
factory tractor adapted to our conditions will be de¬ 
veloped to do the heavy work. oka lee, jr. 
You and I both know men who would gladly write 
3.000 words and not know as much about the sub¬ 
ject as Mr. Lee does. This is an age of inflation of 
words and it requires a good man to resist the temp¬ 
tation to talk! 
* 
I N all its work for farmers The R. N.-Y. tries to 
be fair and conservative. Long years of ex¬ 
perience have taught us the danger of promising too 
much, or of leading farmers to expect too much 
from any plan for improvement which does not in¬ 
clude hard work and some sacrifice on their own 
part. We have this peculiarity in mind when we 
come to speak of the auction system of selling fruit. 
The dealers and commission men have tried to make 
it appear that this plan has been boomed as a 
“cure-all” for the evils of our present marketing 
system. Of course they know that no one in author¬ 
ity has ever made any such claim. The present 
marketing evils have been growing for many years, 
and they cannot be changed over night. It is 
claimed for the auction system that it cuts out the 
expense of some useless middlemen, brings buyer 
and seller closer together in the open-, makes a 
basic price for fruit, encourages better packing and 
grading, and also encourages cooperative work 
among growers and packers. It is a long step in 
advance—that’ is all that has been claimed for it. 
Is not that enough—when every intelligent man 
knows that under the old system of buying and dis¬ 
tributing we have all been stepping backward? Our 
readers will bear us out in saying that farmers 
should not wait for the government or for the ben¬ 
evolent rich to come along and carry all the bur¬ 
dens. The farmers should have fair opportunity— 
as fair a chance as any other class. Give them that 
and they will do the rest. The auction system, fair¬ 
ly carried out, will give them a chance to sell their 
produce for what it is worth as food—not for what 
speculators consider it worth as a gamble!- No 
man—no set of men—can ever make this system go 
unless the farmers themselves unite and put it over. 
The output of New York State this year will be 
something like 4,000,000 barrels of apples. Since 
Sept. 3 the public auctions have increased the price 
paid to growers by at least 50 cents a barrel. 
Through the auction system of distribution this ex¬ 
tra money can he paid to the growers and at the 
same time the city consumers can obtain cheaper 
fruit. That is why the dealers and buyers are act¬ 
ing as they do about the auction. They know what 
is coming when farmers fully understand. 
* 
“Stout Boysr 
T seems necessary to refer to them once more. 
The little note that such a hoy was wanted on a 
farm brought letters from 78 boys. We have also 
bad letters from 25 farmers—more or less like the 
following: 
If your “stout boys” are still in stock I’d like to 
have one—one that can milk and handle a team. A 
good permanent home for the right kind; one that 
doesn’t booze, smoke nor loaf on the job, or spit in the 
house. I am a college man myself, a back-to-the- 
lander, married, have one small child, raise good crops 
and purebred stock and in general farm as near as 
possible like you teach. I need help at once and will 
pay good wages. I. v. o. 
Carlisle, Pa. 
Now all we can do in such cases is to send a list 
giving the names and addresses of the 78 stout 
boys. We do not know them personally and do 
not know whether their strength, lies in talk¬ 
ing, intentions, eating and sleeping or in good 
work. We would like to locate them if possible, 
but one may gamble with stout boys the same as 
with cards, and we must leave the selecting to 
those who are interested. 
* 
The apple auctions are getting thick up this way, and 
I believe are doing a lot of good, although a dealer re¬ 
marked to me that they were “putting everything on the 
bum.” and from his standpoint I suspect he is correct. 
Ontario Co., N. 1 T . w. L. 
HIS refers to the recent auctions in Central New 
York. The buyers and dealers refused to bid. 
They seem to have combined to kill off the auction 
system and thus compel the growers to give up 
their fruit at a low figure. It is not the auctions 
that are “putting everything on the bum,” but the 
dealers themselves, in refusing to recognize this 
fair and open way of selling fruit. The dealers 
want to continue the old, secret way in which they 
can have the advantage over the grower. The 
auction gave them a chance to meet the growers 
fairly and bid what they thought the fruit was 
worth. Had they done so they would have gained 
the confidence of the growers, saved themselves 
trouble and money and put their business in better 
shape than it ever was before. By sulking and re¬ 
fusing to do their part these dealers have cut’’them¬ 
selves off from the best chance they ever had to gain 
the full good will of the growers. The latter now 
see, as they could not see before, that they must 
take the business right into their own hands. They 
will do that by sending the fruit to the city auction. 
The business may be “on the bum” for the buyers, 
but it is on the “hum” for the growers. 
* 
A LARGE proportion, if not a majority, of our 
readers can remember the time when there 
were no automobiles in use and when the gasoline 
engine was a rather dubious experiment. At least 
75 per cent, of our readers recall the time when the 
motor car was a jerky and halting vehicle supposed 
to he only for the rich and daring. Let us consider 
what these past few years have done for the motor 
car. The Scientific American figures that there are 
now in use in the United States 2,000,000 cars aver¬ 
aging about four passengers each. 
To run 2,000.000 cars for one year requires at the 
very least 1,000.000,000 gallons of “gas,” worth $130,- 
000,000; 20,000.000 gallons of lubricating oil, worth 
$8,000,000; 12,000,000 tires, worth not less than $16 
apiece, or $192,000,000; accessories and extra comforts, 
goggles, gloves, and caps, $50 per car, or $100.000,000; 
garage charges on short tours (exclusive of gas and oil) 
$100 per car per year, or $200,000,000; repairs made 
necessary by wear, tear, and accident (exclusive of 
tires) $50 per car per year, or $100,000,000. Total run- 
uing expenses for all cars in use, $730,000,000. Add 
thereto the value of the 600,000 new cars purchased 
during the year, at an average price of $750, or $450,- 
000,000, and we get the immense total of $1,ISO,000.000 
spent in a single year (1915) on the sport of motoring. 
But it is not all “sport,” for thousands of cars, 
especially those owned in the country, are run for 
business, as fully so as teams of farm horses. The 
modern car is doing practical work, leading to road 
October 9, 1915. 
improvement and. perhaps best of all, mixing the 
people up and bringing them together as never be¬ 
fore. The chances are that the majority of our 
readers will live to see the changes which are to 
come in the next 25 years. When we consider this 
development of the motor car we may well be pre¬ 
pared for anything in the future. 
* 
N O use mentioning the Luther Burbank Society 
except to “point a moral.” It does not adorn 
any tale. On page 1235 an “Honorary Member” tells 
of the way he was worked for $83—which he did 
not give up. Here is more on the subject from a 
western man: 
The other day an old friend was here and I showed 
him the picture of Luther Burbank taken about ’92— 
modest, humble, an honest man and conscientious; and 
later I showed him the high-brow pompadour picture of 
Luther, of today, a characteristic pose. What a trans¬ 
formation. Luther has done some good work, but he 
became intoxicated with publicity and fame, and then 
comes along the promoter—well, you know the rest. 
Often I get letters from amateurs who write that they 
are a “member of the Luther Burbank Royal Society,” 
etc., and often I meet professional men who, in an im¬ 
pressive way, tell me the same thing—“What fools 
these mortals be.” 
It teas the smoothest proposition that ever came 
along the big road. The appeal was made to man’s 
vanity, and that rarely fails, for man will blow 
his money where the vane points! The point of the 
moral is that hereafter when some stranger ap¬ 
proaches you with high praise of your beauty and 
ability make a violent effort to forget it. Would 
jour friends ever give you such high praise unless 
tliej* were after something? Why then should 
strangers pick you out for a great man. James 
Russell Lowell said: “One thorn of experience is 
worth a whole wilderness of warning.” As for 
Mr. Burbank’s picture we might refer him to the 
Hope Farm man’s remarks on “Beauty.” 
* 
I am wondering if I have not qualified for member¬ 
ship in your Apple Consumers’ League? Three weeks 
ago today I was operated on in this hospital for chronic 
appendicitis. This morning my breakfast tray con¬ 
tained a baked apple which I ate with the other foods, 
At ten o’clock I ate a fresh Autumn Strawberry apple, 
and at three o’clock I ate another, while for supper, 
apple sauce was served with other foods. Now, if a 
hospital considers the King of Fruits of so much im¬ 
portance in the dietary of convalescing patients why 
should not apples form a much greater portion of the 
everyday food of well folks? “An apple a day may 
keep the doctor aw r ay.” a. b. katkamieil 
Y OU certainly have qualified and might well 
serve as president of the league. If the apple 
will nurse a man back to health it may well be used 
as an anchor to hold health when once acquired. 
Is there any living man who would prefer a pill to 
a Baldwin apple? Of all the fruits which come 
within reach of man, none can equal the apple. It 
is a health carrier, a comfort convej'or. It can be 
eaten raw or cooked in a dozen different ways— 
always good, always refreshing, always promoting 
health. “Come, let us plant the apple tree,” said the 
poet, and thousands have followed his advice. Now 
let us eat the apple and keep ahead of the planting. 
There should be no rest in the campaign until each 
man, woman and child in the country eats an aver¬ 
age of three apples a day. If some of the children 
are too young to eat three large ones there are a 
few of us ready to eat a few extra. Eat apples 
and live. 
Brevities. 
A way without a will is wax. 
There is still time to seed rye as a cover crop. 
Name a case where it paid to raise the daughter of 
a scrub bull! 
At the preseut price of coru the grain is in the 
“dough” state whenever it gets hard. 
When you need extra covers on the bed, your cows 
should have the comfort of a shed. 
In time of trial do not whine, but stand up straight 
and show your spine. 
What objection to feeding from the silo as soon as 
filling is ended? 
There were 73.S67 pounds of human hair sent out 
of China last year. This is less than one-fourth of pre¬ 
vious yearly exports. In former years the Chinese were 
cutting off their queue and selling the hair. 
No doubt about it, we have all got to realize that 
better packing and grading are necessary in order to 
improve on market chances. 
There are many suggestions about putting salt, 
charcoal or chemicals in the silo. Never do it. Water 
may sometimes be added when the corn is dry, but 
keep the chemicals out—as you would from home- 
canned goods. 
The American Genetic Society offered a prize for the 
largest shade tree in America. It went to a sycamore 
at Washington, Ind.—32 feet, three inches in circum¬ 
ference and 150 feet tall. The tallest tree was a yellow 
poplar in North Carolina—396 feet, while a white birch 
in Massachusetts has a girth of 10 feet two inches. 
