1384 
The RURAL NEW-YORKER 
The Rural New-Yorker 
THE BUSINESS FARMER'S PAPER 
A National Weekly Journal for Country and Suburban* Homes 
Established isso 
Pobliubcd nrrklf hj the Karal Pnblisbinir Company, 8SS tTest 80tb Street, Neir Fork 
Herbert W. Colmngwood, President and Kditor. 
John J. Dillon, Treasurer and General Manager. 
Wm. F. Dillo.v, Secretary. Mrs. K. T. Hoyle, Associate Editor. 
SUBSCRIPTION: ONE DOLLAR A YEAR 
To foreign countries in the Universal Postal Union, $2.0t. equal to 8s. 6d., or 
S.'s marks, or lOJ^ francs. Hemit in mone.v order, express 
order, pei-sonal check or bank draft. 
Entered at New Vork Post Office as Second Class Matter. 
Advertising rates, 75 cents per agate line—7 words. References required for 
advertbs'i-s 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 pei-son. 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 delibeiate 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 
ipflices to this end, but such cases should not be confused with dishonest 
transactions. We protect subscribers against rogues, but we will not be 
responsible for the debts of honest bankrupts sanctioned by 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. 
W E have many good words about The R. N.-Y. 
Here is a sample of the good deeds which 
grow from words: 
Perhaps you may remember meeting me at Waterville 
Fair some years ago. Through your advice I gave you 
the money for a trial subscription to The R. N.-Y. ; am 
still taking and i-eading it. Thank you. L. E. A. 
That was part of a letter written to K. D. I’age of 
Maine, who writes us the following: 
I am glad that my advice has done him the good it 
must have in the years he has read The R. N.-Y. 
No other paper can fill its place. I know of many 
others who are reading it with both pleasure and profit 
through my advice. E. n. rage. 
Thus our friend Page writes effectively on the 
pages of hi.story. lie sows good words and has the 
pleasure of seeing them grow up into deeds. It is 
just a word or an opinion here and there about The 
R. N.-Y.—just as you would .spread the news about 
.some good friend. Hid you ever stop to think how a 
word from you—right in season—might also .sprout 
into a deed? 
* 
W E printed Secretary F. K. T.ane’s suggestion 
about preparing land for the .soldiers in order 
that there could be a full discussion of it. We have 
had many letters—including .some from soldiers now 
in France. The plan is not popular with men in the 
Army. Some of them will be looking for land, but, 
apparently, the great majority of them will look for 
their old jobs or .something el.sefilong the same lines. 
It would be a mistake to encourage any wholesale 
movement of soldiers into farming. The husine.ss 
would be quickly overdone, and thou.sands of young 
men, after contracting obligations to the Government, 
would become dissatisfied and find they Avere not 
suited to the work. The scheme of draining the great 
.swamps and watering the great deserts by labor of 
soldiers does not seem to appeal to most of the men. 
They will prefer to settle on land in the older sec¬ 
tions, if such land can he obtained at rea.sonable 
prices. They are wise in that view. It is far better 
to make such farm land as we now have productive 
before we take up the waste and distant spaee.s. 
These might well be left for the next generation, 
which will need their produce more than this one 
does. The Government land policy .should be ba.sed 
on the proposition that the unu.sed available land 
in the older States must be utilized first. Let the 
.'"States rinite with the Federal Goveiaiment in locat¬ 
ing and describing all such land. Then let the .sol¬ 
diers have first chance to buy it at fair prices and 
or- terms which will enable them to live and pay out. 
It will be necessary to improve roads, drain swamps 
and change some of the State laws, but the general 
land policy .should be aimed at improving and set¬ 
tling the older farms before we attempt to conquer 
any more swamps and deserts. 
* 
T he work of A. p. Shamel in California has dem¬ 
onstrated the value of bud selection in oiTinge 
culture. Mr. Shamel has shown that the Washington 
navel orange has, through bud variation, developed 
at least 13 different strains or “sports.” Some of 
them ai’e superior, others inferior or nearly worthless. 
Under the plan of taking buds promiscuously from 
any nice-looking tree, or from nursery stock, grow¬ 
ers were likely to find a good proportion of the trees 
in their orchards worthless “drones” or lazy bearers. 
That is just what many of them did find—to their 
loss. Mr. Shamel has .shown that trees of the su¬ 
perior strains can be separated and carefully tested. 
Some of these trees have for years been tested as 
thoroughly and accurately as the dairy cattle which 
prove the worth of famous families. For years the 
annual crop from the.se trees has been weighed, grad¬ 
ed and recorded. Buds from these superior trees 
have been used for propagating, and it has been 
clearly shown that the inherent superior quality of 
the tree has been carried or tran.sferred through the 
bud. There .seems no doubt regarding the outcome of 
this work with the orange. We would like to .see 
work of the same thorough nature started with the 
apple. In one orchard that we know of at least five 
distinct types of Baldwins are found, and most of 
us know that there are “sports” or variations of Ben 
Pa vis—some of them quite superior to the original 
variety. Of cour.se, we know that most of the au¬ 
thorities doubt the value of this work. The.y cannot 
deny the value of this orange work in California, and 
we believe that similar work with the apple would 
give good results. 
a 
W E never had .so many questions about “The 
Family Cow”—her care and her product. 
Thousands of our readei's keep only one or two cows, 
and they want to know how to make the good milk 
mother feel right at home. With milk and butter at 
present prices the man with a big famliy surely finds 
the cow an economical partner. .So we have ar¬ 
ranged with Prof. Judkins for some articles on the 
family milk-maker. The cow, her calf and her pro¬ 
duct, will be discussed. Even the man Avho keeps 50 
cows can learn something from the man who is capa¬ 
ble of making one cow perfectly satisfied. 
Foreign Secretary Solf of Germany, in begging for 
mercy for his people, and for food, should be apprised 
of the fact that our soil is being depleted because of this 
war. Someone should put the matter of potash before 
the proper United States ofiicials to see that potash he 
obtained before another .season. I know your paper to 
be always ready to help in the farmer’s cause. w. c. 
Michigan. 
HIS potash question has been put up to the au¬ 
thorities so that they cannot help understanding 
if. It is badly complicated. There is a fair supply 
of American potash on hand, Imt it costs more to 
produce than the German supply. If the war had 
lasted two years more we believe that this country 
would have reached the point of snjiplying its full 
potash needs. Most of this will be taken from 
wastes or new .sources which will require expensive* 
equipment. If cheaper potash is now rushed into 
the country this American development may stop. 
3'here is a fierce and inton.se feeling among many of 
our people against the use of any Germant product, 
and this may interfere with the distribution of 
potash. It is probable that in the final settlement 
France will secure a territory in which there are 
potash mines. In that ca.se our supplies will 
probably come from France. There is also a .sug¬ 
gestion that any indemnity which this country will 
demand from Germany should be paid, partly at 
least, in potash for distribution at cost among our 
farmers. At any rate, not much relief will be pos¬ 
sible until after peace has been formally declared, 
and that will mean several months hence. 
» 
T ll.ur celebrated ca.se of the “mi.slit tree.s” has 
now come to an end. You will see what hap¬ 
pened on the next page. The legal rule has now been 
established that the measure of damage is the dif¬ 
ference, between what the land is worth ichen the 
misfit is discovered and what it would have been 
worth if the trees were true. This is fair, since it 
gives the nurseryman a chance to show, if he can, 
that the tree.s did not have proper care. The nur¬ 
seryman iLsually offers to replace the trees or return 
what was jiaid for them—leaving the entire loss of 
labor and time and all the disappointment to the 
grower. The rule established by this case against 
Brown Brothers Company imts an end to that child¬ 
ish proposition. We believe that Brown Brothers 
and their attorneys must have known from the first 
that the verdict against them was just and sound at 
law. Why, then, did they appeal and carry the case 
to court after court, when they must have known 
they had no chance to win? The object may have 
been to make the public understand that any attempt 
to obtain justice in any such ca.se will cost more than 
it comes to. The average fruit grower, deceived or 
cheated by trees not true to name, cannot afford the 
delay of years and the great exiieiise involved in 
fighting a case to the Court of -\ppeals. A wealthy 
coi'poration can afford such apiieals, but the individ¬ 
ual cannot, and Brown Brothers Company perhaps 
reasoned that this display of their legal powers 
would frighten most individuals out of court. Thus, 
Avhile the principle of asse.ssing damages is estab¬ 
lished, the technicalities of our legal system may put 
it out of reach of the individual grower. We are 
glad Mr. Lunt stayed by them to the end, and thus 
made this rule clear. Now the thing to do is for the 
New York State Fruit Growers’ -\ssociation to start a 
legal bureau and handle all such cases for its mem¬ 
bers. Let them stay by a few such cases right up to 
the highest court if need be, and the nurserymen 
December 14, 1918 
will settle. We are told of a new scheme which some 
of the tree dealers will start to get them around this 
rule. The stock will be turned over to irresponsible 
people for sale. When the trees come into bearing, 
if they are misfits, the seller will be out of business 
or “judgment-proof,” while the real producer of the 
trees will not be liable. It is a .slick scheme. The 
v\ay to get away from it is to buy ti;ees only from 
reputable nurserymen who will give a fair guarantee 
or state just what they will do in case of misfits. 
A mong the great military characters who, now 
that peace is in sight, have a right to stand up 
and .say “I did it,” is our old friend the -Vmerican 
hog. We .shall probably never know in this country 
just what 'it meant for people to attempt to live in 
good health without a full and needed amount of fat. 
.Stories which now come from Germany show that the 
.shortage of fats broke down the strength and effi¬ 
ciency of the German people. The scientists were 
able to arrange fairly well for the protein and starch, 
but the lack of fats could not be overcome. Beef was 
needed by all the soldiers, but the vital element was 
supplied by pork. For many years a class of scien¬ 
tists have proclaimed against potatoes and pork as a 
part of the human diet. But for her potato crop 
Germany would have been starved out two years 
ago. With a full supply of pork she might have 
fought on two years longer. Thus the American hog 
comes clo.''e to the roots of the -\llied success. 
M UiST we revise our conclusions regarding lime 
and Avood ashes on potatoes? It is known that 
potato scab is a germ disease. The germs are more 
actiA’e in an alkaline soil. Lime is a soil .sweetener, 
and giA'es a faA'orable condition for most germ dis¬ 
eases. Wood ashes contain lime—therefore the use 
of Avood ashes or activ'e lime may be expected to in¬ 
crease scab in the potato crop. That is the .scientific 
theory, and practical Avork in the soil has, in the 
past, .shown that the theory is sound. The shortage 
of potash for the past feAA' years has inducofl many 
growers to use Avood ashes and lime on potatoes. 
The ashes contain jiotash, and the lime acts to .set 
liotash free in the .soil. Now Ave have reports from 
such people Avho claim to have grown good crops of 
clean tubers. These reporters are reliable, and their 
figures seem to be accurate, yet Ave would not take 
the responsibility of advising the use of ashes or 
lime. We think there are cases Avhere few if any 
germs are in the soil. In such cases. Avhere the seed 
is treated, there might not be any danger, but. as a 
general propo.sition, Ave .should stick to the old theory 
that lime and germs sinqily mean—more germs. 
ff: 
G OV. GUNTER of Colorado appointed November 
15 as Highways Transport Day, and called upon 
all citizens interested in transportation to meet on 
that day and talk things over. The result Avas a 
great turnout of trucks and cars. In Denver 450 of 
such vehicles paraded. The report states: 
The trucks wore loaded to capacity Avith all kinds of 
food products, one of the trucks carrying the Governor 
and the mayor of DeiiA'er, while the leading ofliciaks of 
the State followed. 
The Avriter of that probably did not mean just 
what he .said. There may be people Avho gladly 
“roa.st” the Governor and mayor, but no .Vmerican 
citizen Avants to eat them I However, this interest in 
the gasoline trotting horse and rural motor express 
is a fine thing. When our .Vrmy comes home it Avill 
bring hundreds of good army trucks. We Avant to 
see them all put at work on our country I’oads, car¬ 
rying jH'oduce to the city and taking supplies back 
under a revised, and improved parcel post .system. 
Brevities 
It takes many a chunk of wood to heat the air which 
comes in through an unplugged chink. 
“Frost-proof cabbage plants.” That is Avlvat some 
Southern dealers are offering. Is there any .such thing? 
We say no ! 
Two lines- of farming Avhich ought to boom next 
Spring are getting back into poultry and jilanting new 
orchards. 
Noav buttermilk is run through a separator and the 
solids made into a form of soft cheese nearly equal to 
meat in food value. 
It is said that a German storekeeper in Luxemburg 
charged an American soldier 50 cents for an apple. The 
citizens promptly mobbed the store. 
We understand that Peter Karadjordjevich is a candi¬ 
date for head of the new Serbian state. We have no 
desire to serve as canqiaign poet and write songs intro¬ 
ducing this gentleman’s name. 
Some of our New York readers fear that they must 
take out a license in order to breed and sell Belgian 
hares and other tame rabbits. No such license is re¬ 
quired unless they keei) the wild varieties in captivity. 
.Vll sorts of reports about the use of agricultural lime 
in New York have been published. Now we are to dis¬ 
regard them all. Anyone who can get lime is free to sell 
or use it. 
