1352 
The Rural New-Yorker 
THE BUSINESS FARMER'S PAPER 
A National Weekly Journal for Country and Suburban Home** 
Established isso 
Published weekly by the Rural Publishing Company, 833 West 30(h Street, New fork 
Herbert W. Collingwood, President and Kditor. 
John J. Dillon, Treasurer and General Manager. 
V/m. F. Dili-on, Secretary. Mrs. E. T. Rovlk. Associate Editor. 
SUBSCRIPTION ; ONE DOLLAR A YEAR 
To foreign countries in the Universal Postal Union, $2.04. equal to 8s. 6d., or 
81* marks, or 101 a francs. Remit in money order, express 
order,” personal check or bank diaft. 
Entered at New York Post Oflice as Second Class Matter. 
Advertising rates, 90 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 sni-e. we will make good any loss 
to paid subscribers sustained any deliberate swindler, Irrespon¬ 
sible advertisers or misleadlnJ^^^^wements in our columns, and any 
such swindler will be public^|^^^^Vd. We are also often called upon 
to adjust differences or miBUoMiVrtvreen 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 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 are often told that one argument against 
the farmer in politics is that agriculture has 
not developed any “leaders” or men trained for public 
work. Let us not stop to argue that. If it be true, 
there is all the greater reason why we should select 
our best men and put them where they will gain the 
needed training. Surely a great industry like agri¬ 
culture must have its representatives in public life. 
Surely there are men in the ranks of farming who 
are capable of developing into leaders and states¬ 
men. Thousands of our public men like to make 
capital out of the fact that they were born and 
raised on a farm. Most of them have drifted very 
far away from the original spirit of farming, but 
like to be known as “farm boys”—when such an 
appeal is popular. Now our great need is to train 
our own men in public life, so that they will stand 
for farm rights as others do for the great “interests.” 
The only way to train them is to elect them, keep 
them in office and give them every support we can 
muster. 
* 
Not much interest in politics, and I doubt if there is 
to be much. If both parties had reversed their tickets 
it would have pleased a lot of people better. 
HAT is a fair sample of our reports. We have 
yet to find a single person who shows anything 
of what you could call “old-time enthusiasm” for 
either candidate. We have taken more or less in¬ 
terest in politics since Lincoln ran against McClellan, 
and in all that time we have never seen less real 
enthusiasm for candidates than is shown this year. 
Nor can we remember any lime when there was less 
real difference in the “platforms” of the two parties. 
That seems to he because both parties have studiously 
worked away from the real vital issues of American 
life. Neither party at present stands for anything 
except a lot of compromises arranged to draw votes. 
They are both after the “loaves and fishes,” and it 
is very doubtful if this ration will feed the hungry 
multitude after the waiters and managers are filled. 
The politicians may be able to arouse enthusiasm 
later, but it is hard to see how they can do it with 
their present issues. 
* 
W E may say that calling a person “ignorant” 
is the privilege of all and the performance 
of many. We are sometimes accused of ignorance 
by people who do not agree with what we say. We 
never deny it—it may be true—for we have learned 
in the school of experience that wisdom is often a 
thing quite apart from hooks. A man may he so 
stuffed with knowledge that through his inability to 
use it he becomes very unwise. Another man may he 
barely able to write his name, yet he will rank as 
a wise man because he is able to impart or give 
what he knows to others.. We think wisdom means 
not only gaining knowledge, but more than that, the 
ability to make the other man understand the essen¬ 
tial things of life. If a man calls me ignorant he 
may be right, though perhaps not as he understands 
it. If I say a thing and believe in my heart it is 
true and that mankind should know it, I may be 
“ignorant” if I cannot make the other man see it as 
I do. It seems to us that the wisest is he who has 
the ability to convince the other man. 
* 
F ARMERS in New York whose sheep are killed by 
dogs should remember the following: A farmer 
owned a valuable imported ram which ran at past- 
urn About the middle of June this man saw a 
hound dog chasing the ram. As a direct result of 
this worrying the ram died, two weeks later. The 
day following the ram’s death, or 17 days from the 
day the dog chased him, the owned notified the 
assessors. As soon as they learned that over 10 
days had elapsed since the ram was injured they 
• refused to do anything.* This farmer did not make 
The RURAL NEW-YORKER 
his complaint before because he did not understand 
the law, and also wanted to see if the ram would 
recover. On applying to the Department of Agricul¬ 
ture he received a copy of an opinion by the Attor¬ 
ney-General in which the following appears: 
It. follows that the Commissioner of Agriculture may 
entertain a claim which is presented more than 10 days 
after the injury or killing, for the owner may be en¬ 
tirely ignorant within the 10-day period of the fact 
that dogs were the cause of the damage. In no event, 
however, may the Commissioner entertain a claim 
that is presented more than 10 days after the discovery 
that the injury was due to dogs. 
This may settle it legally, but we think fair- 
minded people will agree that in this case the State’s 
escape from just payment is liking crawling through 
a knot hole! There might possibly be cases where 
delay to notify would he from some improper motive. 
In this ease there is no question of that. A farmer 
loses an animal worth more than $100 through the 
work of worthless dogs. The State has collected a 
large sum of money with which to make good such 
loss. Under the peculiar circumstances of this case 
it seems an injustice to withhold payment. 
* 
A FARMER owns a large pasture and wood lot. 
In connection with other farmers he controls a 
large acreage of partly waste land. These farmers 
pay taxes on that land and are responsible for it. 
It is practically all classed as pasture, and is chiefly 
given up to cattle, sheep and horses. The hack pas¬ 
tures are occupied by young stock, which receives lit¬ 
tle If any attention except, to see that the fences are 
kept up. Now, running in these pastures with the 
young stock will he found quail, rabbits, squirrels 
and other so-called game. This game feeds and finds 
its living on this waste land belonging to these fann¬ 
ers, the same as the young stock or sheep. What¬ 
ever cost there is to its feed is paid by the farmers 
who own the land. The “public,” as the word is 
understood, pays no part of the cost and assumes no 
responsibility. Now, if these things are true, what 
right has the public, as represented by the “sports¬ 
man,” to come on the farmer’s land and kill this 
game? Why should it. not he considered his property, 
the same as the stock which has fed in the same pas¬ 
ture? 
# • 
WO weeks ago we referred to the new plan of 
insuring the potato crop. In most cases the 
crop was insured at $200 per acre at 8 per cent. 
That is, the grower paid $16 and the company in¬ 
sured for $200. This was based on a yield of at 
least 100 bushels at $2. Since the slump in prices 
the insurance company has rejected all applications. 
It refuses to write any insurance late in the season, 
especially when the price outlook is had. The whole 
business is really a Spring gamble against the weath¬ 
er and crop. 
* 
T HERE seems to be trouble and confusion over 
the New York State quarantine against the 
European corn-borer. Early in the Spring the De¬ 
partment of Agriculture stated that this insect had 
been found in parts of the following counties: Al¬ 
bany, Fulton, Montgomery. Rensselaer, Saratoga, 
Schenectady, Schoharie, Cattaraugus, Erie and 
Chautauqua. Therefore the department forbids the 
movement or distribution from these areas of any 
corn, celery, green beans and certain other crops. 
The quarantine is laid chiefly against green corn, 
and shipments of that crop from such cities as Troy 
Albany, Rensselaer, Saratoga Springs, Johnstown, 
Gloversville and Schenectady are forbidden, unless 
the corn is certified free from borers. Some fanners 
think that if this results in filling the market in 
these cities and thus putting down the price the 
State should be responsible. That will not hold, for 
last Spring the department gave this warning: 
“Notice is hereby given that claims against the 
State for losses claimed to result from this condi¬ 
tion will not he audited by the Department of Agri¬ 
culture; therefore extensive planting of sweet com 
is not advised.” 
* 
A NEW “breed” or strain of sheep becoming popu¬ 
lar in Oregon is the Corriedale. It seems to 
he a well established cross between the fine wooled 
Merino and a long-wooled type, giving a 12 months’ 
fleece of about 12 lbs. of wool. The Corriedale came 
to the Pacific slope from New Zealand where, as we 
understand it, there has been for 50 years selection 
from the best specimens of an original cross be¬ 
tween two distinct breeds. The point is that this 
cross-bred sheep, selected until its qualities are well 
established, fits into certain climates and conditions 
better than either breed from which it sprang. It is 
somewhat like the making of Plymouth Rock, Wyan¬ 
dotte, Red or Jersey Giant poultry. Originally they 
may have been merely cross-bred birds, until through 
years of selection, they acquired fixed qualities which 
August 21, 3020 
made them superior for certain conditions of p -ultry- 
keeping. Given a fair chance, our domestic animals 
will adapt themselves to climate, feeding and soil, 
and, with help from the skilled breeder, fix new and 
superior habits. 
» 
L ET us urge our readers once more never to sign 
any paper that is not clearly understood. Too 
many leases and “contracts” contain a little “joker” 
which will become serious enough later on to break 
your heart if you are tied up to it. Many people 
think they can save an attorney’s fee by taking a 
chance on a contract which they do not understand. 
Not infrequently copies of such contracts are sent 
us for examination. They often contain an innocent¬ 
looking clause which makes the contract a ease of 
legal robbery and nothing more. An honest attorney 
could quickly have pointed out this trap, and saved 
money and misery to the victim. 
* 
T HE annual Sweet clover on our farm grew, by 
actual measurement, 8% inches during the 
seven days ending August 7. This clover is not given 
special care or fertilizing. It is on land of usual 
good quality. We have never seen any legume grow 
as this does, and we feel more and more confident 
that our Northern farmers are to have in this crop 
the most useful mammal plant ever introduced. We 
do not speak of its value as a hay or pasture plant, 
although that will he great, but as a crop for adding 
organic matter and nitrogen to the soil, and still 
permitting a money crop in the same season, this 
annual Sweet clover is a wonder. 
* 
O UR readers will realize by this time that we do 
not regard the various “platforms” of the 
political parties as high works of art, or as evidences 
of political courage or sincerity. No one, however, 
should content himself with destructive criticism— 
it should he made constructive or remain unspoken. 
A suggestion of what we would have a political plat¬ 
form stand for is partly explained on the next page. 
As we see it, the problem of farm production and 
distribution is the most important question now fac¬ 
ing the American people. It concerns the very life 
of our people. Not. only that, hut it reaches the very 
foundation of our civic life. No nation has ever 
permanently endured without a strong and satisfied 
class of farmers and country dwellers. We can have 
no such class so long as farmers must feel that their 
industry or business is not fairly treated. At this 
time they do not feel that they have such fair treat¬ 
ment. Unless they can feel satisfied agriculture will 
pass more and more out of the hands of the small 
freeholder and into a selfish, degrading factory sys¬ 
tem. Our criticism is that the political parties 
merely play and dally with the great questions, lack¬ 
ing the courage to strike out at the powerful inter¬ 
ests that are reducing farmers to a form of slavery. 
* 
A ND now this lighting the henhouse to prolong 
the hens’ working day! It seems to be settled 
that the extra hours of light do induce the hen to 
lay more of her eggs during the Winter months. 
She does not, apparently, lay any more eggs during 
the year as the result of this lighting, but she lays 
more five-cent eggs and not so many at three cents. 
There are some things to he worked out in this new 
system. They relate to the effect of this longer 
Winter day on the hen’s system. At first thought 
we would eall it an unnatural thing to prolong the 
lighted hours, but the poultry experts claim that it 
brings the hen nearer to nature. At any rate, it is 
popular, and thousands will try it next Winter who 
have been holding back to see how it worked with 
others. We think Frof. Rice and Mr. Thompson 
tell us what there is to know this week. 
Brevities 
Do you want laws made of cast iron or of rubber .so 
they can be stretched? 
Killing burdocks. The surest way known is to cut 
them off two inches or more below the crown. 
There is a movement in Great Britain to forbid the 
use of cars with the steering wheel on the left side. 
We never heard so many complaints about damage 
from moles. The usual traps do not seem to "get them. 
A pretty good test of character would be for a 
farmer to run for office and depend on the votes ol nun 
who had worked for him. 
f'EKAL slick promoters are said to have made a for- 
bv contracting insurance on a payment ot one ( ( 
rst week, two cents the next, four the next, and bo 
I t looks easy to many, but see how much you 
I pay at the end of the fiftieth week. 
ite extensive beds of phosphate have been found in 
tine. It is not likely that phosphate will be 
d from that country, but the prospect now is tnar 
tine will be greatly developed in agriculture ai 
growing. A heavy Jewish immigration is expect 
