1884 
The Rural New-Yorker 
THE RUSJEESS FARMER'S TAPER 
A National Weekly Journal for Country and Suburban Homes 
Established isao 
f’lihllnhed weekly by the Kiirnl Publishing Compnny, 333 Went 80th Street, New Vorb 
ITerukrt W. Colling wood, President nml Editor. 
John J. Dillon, Treasurer ami General Manager. 
Wm. P. Dillon, Secretary. Mrs. E. T. Roylk, Associate Editor. 
SUBSCRIPTION: ONE DOLLAR A YEAR 
To foreign countries in the Universal Postal Union, 82.04, equal to 8s. fid, or 
id* * marks, or I Ok franes. Remit in money order, express 
order, personal check or bank draft. 
Entered at New York Post Ofllco as Second Class Matter 
Advertising rates, 75 cents per agato line—7 words. References required for 
advertisers unknown to us , and casli must accompany transient orders. 
“A SQUARE DEAL" 
We believe that every advertisement in this paper Is hacked by a respon¬ 
sible person. We use every possible precaution and admit the advertising of 
reliable houses only. But to make doubly sure, wo will make good anv loss 
to paid subscribers sustained by trusting any deliberate swindler, irrespon¬ 
sible advertisers or misleading advertisements in our columns, and any 
such swindler will bo publicly exposed. Wo are also often called upon 
to adjust differences or mistakes between our subscribers and honest, 
responsible houses, whether advertisers or not. Wo willingly use our good 
offices to this end, but such cases should not ho confused with dishonest 
transactions. Wo protect subscribers against rogues, but we will not bo 
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 ad .criiser. 
I have taken The It. N.-Y. ever since its first 
publication as Moore’s Rural New-Yorker at Rochester, 
and now, when within a few days of being 04 years old, 
I cannot give it. up. JOHN MOORE. 
A ND so Mr. Moore, as perhaps our oldest su > 
scriber, comes back for 1920. This letter is 
written with a steady hand, with scarcely a tremble 
in a letter. This is our best Christmas present— 
the thought that our good friend after more than 70 
years with The It. N.-Y. “cannot give it up.” We 
may be pardoned for saying—more life to Mr. Moore. 
* 
What arc the New York State laws in regard to misfit 
apple trees? Seven years ago I set out an orchard of 
000 McIntosh, and now find about one-third Wolf River, 
which is not suited to this section. I la.; there been any 
legal decision in Now York State in such a case? 
New York. A. w. shields. 
T HERE are no special New York laws regarding 
■misfit trees, but a decision in the case of C. S. 
Lunt against Brown Bros, is accepted as standard. In 
this ease Mr. Lunt purchased what were supposed to 
be first-class Baldwin apple trees. At the end of four 
or five years it became evident that the trees were 
misfits. Brown Bros, saw the trees and suggested 
that they he top-worked with Baldwin stock. This 
was attempted, hut the trees were so pour that the 
work could not be done properly. Suit was brought 
to recover damages, and the jury brought in a ver¬ 
dict for .$700 damages for Mr. Lunt. The case was 
appealed and carried to the higher courts. Brown 
Bros, contended that they were not liable for a 
greater sum than the cost of budding the orchard. 
The Court of Appeals, however, adopted the follow¬ 
ing rule: 
The proper measure of damages is llic difference 
between what the land is worth with the trees as 
they are at the time the defect is discovered and 
what the land would have been worth at that time 
I ad the trees been true to name. 
Probably the chief reason why the nursery com¬ 
pany fought this case so hard was because they 
wanted to prevent the establishment of this rule. 
Generally nurserymen seem to think that their offer 
to replace the trees after a loss of five years or more 
time is ample! We find many cases where Wolf 
River has been substituted for McIntosh. Horticul- 
turally that is adding insult to injury. The trees 
are much alike in appearance and habit of growth, 
but about as unlike in flavor as sauerkraut is from 
strawberry jam. 
* 
T HERE seems to be some possibility of a difference 
in feeling between the Grange and the Farm 
Bureau. The sudden rise to strength of the latter is 
giving some of the Grange leaders a feeling that 
their old and time-tried organization is being set to 
one side in popular feeling. One prominent mem¬ 
ber of the Grange voices a quite general opinion, as 
follows: 
I think I have passed through the first blind enthusi¬ 
asm for the cause that we find in most young men when 
they first take up work in an organization, and I have 
also passed through that period of doubt and question¬ 
ing when one doesn’t know whether the organization is 
worth while or not. In fact, I think that today I have 
reached that frame of mind where, while realizing the 
deficiencies of our organization, I seriously question 
whether any new movement of mushroom growth can 
quite take its place if through young and trained addi¬ 
tions to its membership it can maintain a steady growth 
in the right direction, and really accomplish much. 
It is agreed that the strong point of the Farm 
Bureau is the fact that it has paid agents who make 
it a business to get out among farmers and help them 
both in their work and in organizing. Such work can 
always he done better through paid agents than by 
volunteers. The weakness of the Farm Bureau plan 
is that the money for operating expenses, or part of 
it, must come from political sources. Unless the 
Farm Bureau members assert themselves and stand 
firmly for u strong democratic organization, the Bu- 
Tht RURAL NEW-YORKER 
roan officers will find it necessary to “go light” on 
the political machine. That weakness is recognized 
by many Farm Bureau men, who prefer to cut away 
from all other influences and have the movement 
financed by farmers alone. We think that is the ten¬ 
dency, and that the idea will grow. But there should 
not be any jealousy or trouble between the Grange 
and the Farm Bureau. Both organizations are badly 
needed. One cannot well do the work which the 
other is best fitted for. A good farmer manages his 
farm and his wife provides and maintains the home. 
Each lias a chosen work to do. No one can say that 
one is more important than the other, and the farm 
and home prosper when this fact is recognized, and 
men and women work together. The Grange has 
done a wonderful work for American farmers, and it 
is now taking on new life and vigor. It should not 
antagonize the Farm Bureau, blit get into business 
with it and work like a well-matched team. The 
most effective “team work” in the world is done by 
two individuals of entirely opposite views and meth¬ 
ods and abilities, provided they are honest and large 
enough to forget small differences in their ambition 
to do great and worthy things. 
* 
D URING the coal strike the State of Kansas, 
through its Governor, tried an experiment in 
mining coal. Governor Alien called for volunteers, 
and they came with a rush. The Agricultural Col¬ 
lege was called on to supply 117 men, and 1,500 
clamored for a chance to dig. Of course these 
amateurs did not try to work the deep mines, hut 
there were deposits of coal near the surface which 
they could handle. They got out enough coal to 
relieve the situation, but the real effect of their work 
was to convince the union miners that the farmers 
and agricultural States generally will not stand for 
any hold-up of fuel in cold weather. It was a good 
test, for Kansas is and always has been a State of 
farmers. Their action shows that the farmers of 
the great Middle West are not prepared to follow or 
support union labor in any hold-up scheme. 
* 
A scientific search for a peach! 
HERE is no more interesting record in fruit 
breeding than the story we begin this week. 
Blake and Conners, the Jerseymen who have carried 
this work through, have found the varieties they 
started to go after, and you cannot name or think 
of any half dozen human beings whose introduction 
into New Jersey would benefit the State half as much 
as those new peach varieties will do. Elberta and 
Belle may not he very much on pedigree themselves, 
but their children are to rise up and be blessed by 
humanity. These new Jersey peaches will certainly 
he regarded as “peaches.” 
* 
My opinion is that many editors of city papers 
ought to be spanlccd for the utterly untrue state¬ 
ments they arc making about farms and farmers. 
a. h. p. 
LITTLE ink injected into them at the point of 
a pen will hit them in a more vulnerable spot. 
In the ea^y ^ a J' s out in a Western town a very poor 
musician was employed to play the piano in a dance 
hall. Over his head the proprietor hung this sign: 
“Don’t shoot the pianist—lie docs the best he knows." 
It. is quite probable that the city editor does the best 
he knows—and he knows nothing about farm life. 
Most of his financial support probably comes from 
people or interests who gain an advantage in having 
the farmer misrepresented or maligned. It has be¬ 
come popular to accuse the farmer of being a robber 
and profiteer, because farmers have had little or no 
chance to get their story before the public. We 
might just as well face the truth of this hard propo¬ 
sition. A large proportion of city people are natur¬ 
ally friends and allies of the farmers, but the last 
generation has not kept in connection with farm 
thought, and has been influenced to regard their 
natural friends as enemies. The removal of this 
prejudice and the education of town people belong 
to the things which we have got to do ourselves. No 
other class is interested to do it for us. Farmers in 
true agricultural sections are already doing it well. 
They reason that as they subscribe to the local daily 
and advertise goods in it they have a community 
interest. They write strong letters whenever agri¬ 
culture is not well treated, and they insist upon 
publication. In this way the farmers of Central and 
Western New York have forced many daily papers 
to he fair in their discussions. In other localities 
members of the Grange and Farm Bureau boldly 
challenge city men to discuss the 35-cent dollar, the 
middleman and similar questions. These debates 
are held in some city church or hall, and usually 
attract a good audience—for any city buyer is inter¬ 
ested in the food question. These things are not 
December 27, 1919 
always possible in the large cities, for the great daily 
papers do not depend on farmers for support. They 
are reached through advertising, and the time must 
come sooner or later when farmers will raise a co¬ 
operative fund and tell their story as advertising in 
the city papers. Spanking is a rather brutal form 
of punishment which carries disgrace rather than 
dignity. Inoculation with ink gets into the system 
and will effect a cure. 
* 
I T would ho a good thing if nurserymen and fruit 
growers could mix up more in their meetings. It 
would seem desirable to have two or three practical 
fruit-growers who are tree buyers address every con¬ 
vention of nurserymen. In like manner some well- 
posted nurseryman might well tell the story of his 
business to fruit growers at their meeting. And such 
mix-ups should he frank and honest. Let them not 
be like an armed foray into the enemy’s camp, but 
a visit which makes the acquaintance of a neighbor. 
We have seen members of the same family come 
together and spend their entire time trying to guard 
the locked door behind which the family skeleton 
reposes! A frank talk, with a little simple for¬ 
bearance and self-restraint, would have taken that 
skeleton out and ground it into bone meal, from 
which a crop of roses would have grown. The fruit 
grower and the nurseryman both have their troubles, 
but they are necessary to each other. A better spirit 
is growing up between them, and it is high time this 
happened. 
* 
H ERE is a little Christmas suggestion for you. 
Many people who travel are quick to resent 
what they call poor service from the people who sell 
them goods or take care of transportation. Most of 
us do not realize the long days these employees put 
in, and the hard nerve strain they are under. Try it 
for a time and see how polite you would he after a 
long list of surly or sneering snobs had ordered you 
about. The chances are that you would have to ex¬ 
ercise most of your self-restraint to avoid slapping 
some sneering face. Most travelers forget all about 
this, and are quick to report anyone who does not 
greet them with a smile. In some cases this smile 
is as forced as that of the Spartan youth who gave 
no sign while the fox was eating out his heart. We 
all growl at what we consider poor treatment, but 
how many of us go out of our way to commend a 
man or woman who gives us courteous service with 
more than good measure? Thousands of people write 
to “headquarters” complaining of poor service, but 
how many take the pains to report good service? 
We think the way to make the world better is to im¬ 
prove and ennoble the service which one human be¬ 
ing gives to another. This cannot he done by curs¬ 
ing those who are careless or bad-tempered, hut it 
can be done by making good service worth while. 
Now, why not go out of your way a little to report 
good service and forget a little of the evil? That is 
our Christmas suggestion this year. We have tried 
to give a new one each Christmas for the past 30 
years. The world is ready and waiting for more of 
brotherly kindness. It is a personal duty to try to 
show “good will to men” in our human relations. 
Why not go a step further, and help put a premium 
on good will by making it worth while? 
* 
W E hear of some farmers who, this Winter, in¬ 
tend to shut up the big farmhouse and move 
to a town flat! They claim this will help the fuel 
situation somewhat. The children are in the high 
school, and either they must go to town each day or 
father must go to the farm. And so father travels. 
Of course the stock and the work must be arranged 
so as to cut out extras. On the other hand, we hear 
of people who say they will move to the country to 
save fuel by burning wood! You can take your 
choice! 
Brevities 
The partial effect of Prohibition is to bring California 
into the ring as a cotton producing State. 
Last year this country produced 0,323 tons of white 
arsenic. Most of it was used in making insecticides and 
weed killers. 
Alt. swnmp muck or dark soil from the woods con¬ 
tains considerable nitrogen. Lime is the thing to use in 
order to bring this nitrogen out. 
Always remember that all forms of manure are weak 
in phosphorus. That is their nature, and it is always 
good practice to use phosphate with them. 
The woman with the basket and the farmer with the 
hoe. When they meet in the market they make a good 
show. For the share of the farmer most certainly grows, 
while High Cost of Living—he gets some hard blows. 
Remember that the reason for a mulch or cover 
over the strawberries is not to protect the plants. They 
do not need protection from cold. The object is to 
hold the frost in the ground and prevent quick change 
in freeze and thaw. 
