450 
March S, 1924 
‘The RURAL NEW-YORKER 
PUBLISHER’S DESK 
i 
j All letters to Publisher’s Desk depart¬ 
ment must be signed with writer's full 
name and address given. Many inquiries 
are answered by mail instead of printing 
inquiry and answer, hence unsigned let¬ 
ters receive no consideration. 
My nephew has a birthday this month. 
The It. X’.-Y'. will be his birthday gift, 
New York. hrs. .j. e. g. 
Some people wonder how The It. N.-Y. 
keeps growing. It is simple enough. 
Father, mother, aunt, and others, pass it 
on to the rising generation, and old sub¬ 
scribers come in with new friends. No 
paper ever had a more loyal army of 
friends. 
I have for many years appreciated the 
work you are doing through Publisher’s 
Desk. In the official list of nurseries in 
this State, just issued, appears the Alex¬ 
ander County Nurseries, McClure, Ill. 
Prof. J. H. Bradley, Makanda, Ill. You 
may recall that they denied last, year be¬ 
ing connected with Bradley Bros. This 
should settle the question. j. j. ir 
Illinois. 
This only confirms our previous in¬ 
formation that Alexander County Nurs¬ 
eries is only another “blind” used by 
Bradley Bros. This firm is notoriously 
untrustworthy. Bradley Bros, has op¬ 
erated under a half dozen or more names 
during the time we have known the con¬ 
cern and the record of these people un¬ 
der the various names has been one of 
deception and fraud. 
Providence firm apparently read obitu¬ 
ary column and sent 10-cent fountain 
pens to name of deceased with collect 
charges of $1.22. Family would pay, be¬ 
lieving goods had been ordered before 
death. Postmaster Healy wants names 
of any who have been buncoed, and scents 
nationwide frauds.—Worcester (Mass.) 
Telegram. 
Perhaps a more dastardly scheme than 
this lias never been devised. Such a petty 
swindle was exposed in The R. N.-Y. a 
few years ago. The professional faker 
has a way of reviving a fraud every few 
years. The prosecution of the offenders 
by the Post Office officials will probably 
shut off the scheme for the time being, 
but some other faker is sure to revive it 
at a later date. 
Recently called upon to speak at our 
Orange meeting, I made Publisher’s Desk 
the subject of my address. After ex¬ 
planatory remarks, I said: 
“I will tell you about this ‘Publisher’s 
Desk’ _ tonight, as I have learned of a 
condition of affairs in this community 
this Winter which would have been im¬ 
possible had all of us had free access to 
The R. N.-Y. and its ‘Publisher’s Desk’ 
and had used if intelligently. Here's 
Bertie; he tells me that he has written a 
song. lie answered an advertisement 
which he saw in the - Farmer IIis 
father subscribed to this paper because 
he felt that he needed a farm .paper, and 
this one cost but 25 cents a year. Bertie 
wrote these people that he had a song, 
and they came back at him to send it on 
and they would set it to music for him if 
he would send them only $0 to cover the 
cost of the work, that the song might 
make a hit and he would become famous 
and wealthy. 
“He sent the song and the $0, and a 
week or so later he received his verses 
set to music. They wrote that he un¬ 
doubtedly had talent and that if he wrote 
a few more verses and send them $9 
more, they thought they could put the 
song over. Now, Worthy Lecturer, if 
Bertie had been a reader of The R. N.-Y.. 
or if the paper which his father does take 
had been an honest publication, Bertie 
would have been $9 better off. as that 
money is gone for good, along with thou¬ 
sands of dollars from other farm boys 
and girls. The R. N.-Y. protects its sub¬ 
scribers from fake advertisers, as they 
not only refuse to accept their advertise¬ 
ments, but they warn their patrons in 
this ‘Publisher’s Desk.’ 
“Let us take the case of George R. 
George wanted to improve his time this 
Winter and prepare himself to get away 
from the farm. lie answered an adver¬ 
tisement in another two-bit farm maga¬ 
zine. He has a nice enough typewriter as 
a result, but it is a re-built one, and will 
cost him $90 by the time it is paid for. 
The ‘Publisher’s Desk’ would have ad¬ 
vised George, if he had fully determined 
to go to the city, to take his $90 and go 
to the nearest reputable business college, 
where the typewriter is furnished along 
with the instruction to use it. 
“The other day I met Merle 8. at the 
mailbox corner. He asked me if I knew 
anything about an incubator; that he 
had bought a new one and that he could 
not get it regulated after trying several 
days. He told me the name of it. and I 
replied that The R. N.-Y. would not ac¬ 
cept advertisements from that firm, as 
their product has not been trustworthy 
in the past. Merle wanted to raise chick¬ 
ens on his own hook this year, so he 
could help out on his schooling. 
“Now, folks, we all know that Dave 8. 
has lost his farm through foreclosure, 
and that he must make a little during 
this year in which he has to redeem his 
farm, to make another start. Ilis wife has 
ordered a - knitting machine, which 
she has seen advertised in various so- 
called farm papers. The R. N.-Y*. ha* 
refused the business of all of the many 
knitting machine companies, because they 
have taken the trouble to get in touch 
with those who have bought them, and 
they have found that the great majority 
of buyers have been like Mrs. S., and 
have bought these machines in despera¬ 
tion, only to find out through bitter ex¬ 
perience that no money can be made 
through their operation that would jus¬ 
tify the time spent. Fancy pom - Mrs. 8,, 
with her large flock of little children, get¬ 
ting up at four o’clock in the morning, 
then after the dishes were done at nine 
o’clock at night, trying to make a few 
pennies operating a knitting machine on 
which a skilled operator can barely make 
small wages, having no other occupation 
to sap his nerves and strength. 
“My friends, these are but a few case* 
that I have accidentally uncovered in this 
very community. You may be sure there 
are others, for I saw a list of the people 
who subscribed to the -- Journal this 
^ inter, and the name of almost everyone 
of you was^on that list. Y~ou get your 
paper for 25 cents a year, but you have 
lost many, many dollars through being 
brought in touch with dishonest adver¬ 
tisers, with this paper as a medium. 
“A good many of you are disheartened 
on account of conditions over which you 
think you have no control. I should say 
you have thought of the matter but very- 
little, and believe you have no control 
over these conditions. You want to sell 
out and go somewhere else. There is no 
market for farm land here, so several of 
you have placed the selling of your prop¬ 
erty in the hands of .T. J. B. in Illinois, 
and that fellow at Minneapolis, and the 
one in Milwaukee, and there are a dozen 
others. Y’ou have sent ten good dollars 
to have your property listed, and you are 
out just that amount, because The R. 
N.-Y. has investigated them all and has 
declared them to be fakes of the first 
water! 
“I am not asking you to subscribe to 
this paper, but I am going to suggest that 
you require the publishers of the papers 
you do subscribe to to guarantee their 
advertisements and expose all frauds they 
may uncover. I have seen several ques¬ 
tionable ads. in the National Orange 
Monthly, l'ou are part owners of that 
paper. Are you going to do anything 
about it?" 
After the lecturer’s hour was over, Mr. 
TI. came over to me and said: “Charlie, 
you are entirely wrong about that knit¬ 
ting machine; my wife’s mother-” 
“Oh, Mr. G..” broke in the lecturer, “I 
am so glad you have exposed these things. 
There is a poor widow in my school dis¬ 
trict who has five children to support, and 
she is frying to raise rite money to get 
one of those machines. We thought of 
giving her a benefit program to help her 
get it, but the money will have to go to¬ 
ward something else now.” 
They ended the Grange with a vote of 
thanks, and I am taking pleasure in pass¬ 
ing it on to you as the one who really 
merits it. c. G. 
Idaho. 
Gan you give me some information re¬ 
garding Geo. K. Higbie & Co.. Rochester, 
N. Y\? Are they a good, reliable firm? 
Some time ago a salesman came around 
selling pedigreed seed oats at $2.10 per 
bushel. I ordered 20 bushels, telling the 
salesman I might not want the oats this 
Spring. He tells me if I do not want 
them to notify Geo. I\. Iligbie & Co., and 
he would cancel the order. Later on I 
received a contract from Mr. Iligbie, stat¬ 
ing that the order could not be canceled. 
The salesman, at the time I ordered the 
oats, did not say that it could not be 
canceled. He said Mr. Iligbie would 
cancel it. ‘ x. .7. c. 
New York. 
The above report is typical of the way 
Geo. K. Iligbie & Co. and their agents do 
business. The agents will promise any¬ 
thing. or make all sorts of misrepresenta¬ 
tions to secure a farmer’s signature to an 
order, and then try to bluff the order 
through on the strength of threatened 
RAINS 
When the water is on the fields and the rivers creep up and out 
of their banks is no time for work. It is a good time, however, 
to consider whether your farm equipment is ready for the work 
days ahead. 
Quickly penetrating and easy to operate, the new Oliver DH 
Harrows, made entirely in Oliver factories, possess all feature* 
desirable for proper discing. 
Special soil and crop requirements are most adequately met 
through use of the new DH and the reversible and orchard disc 
harrows. 
For full information and name of your Oliver dealer write ths 
nearest Oliver branch. 
OLIVER CHILLED PLOW WORKS 
HARRISBURG, PA. ROCHESTER, N. Y. 
ell-built Stave Silo 
at a Low Price 
If you want a good, substan¬ 
tial, single wall silo, get our 
new low prices. 
Built of selected tongue and 
grooved stock and bound with steel 
rods. Doors close tight, open easily. 
Convenient door-front ladder. 
The result of many years of silo 
making experience. 
Built by the makers 
of the famous Crain* 
Triple Wall Silos. 
Write now 
for literature 
CRAINE SILO 
COMPANY, INC. 
Box 160, Norwich, N.Y. 
Keep Weeds Out and 
Moisture In 
No use bothering with womout harrows. 
They lose your money instead of saving it. 
Get an Acme Coulter Harrow and start 
your crops off with a perfect seed bed. 
“Acme” Coalter Harrow 
Makes grood on any typo of soil—clay, sand or muck. 
Widths from 3 ft. to 17 1-2 ft.—for ono, two, throe and 
for four horse teams, for small and large tractors. 
Your dealer has an Acme Coulter Harrow in stock or can 
get one for you. Ask him about It. Send for pamphlet. 
Duane H. Nash 
377 05^ Philadelphia 
DrexelBldg, Pa. 
No. 23 
6l< ft. wide 
lawsuits. Farmers are only inviting 
trouble when they sign orders with agents 
of this and similar concerns. 
I also include my appreciation of your 
wonderful weekly; more people should 
read it, both in country and cities. So 
far as I can see it is absolutely on the 
level, and as compared with some others 
who thrive on fake advertisements only, 
it is like an oasis in the desert, a. a. h. 
New York. 
To serve the farmer and fairly repre¬ 
sent his purposes and ideals is our am¬ 
bition and pride. There is no way to do 
this truly except to be “absolutely on the 
level.” 
the front ™ AT GAVE 
GRIFFIN SH,0 FAME. 
Before you buy your new silo, you owe it to 
yourse.' to investigate the big advantage of 
that GRIFFIN Door.” Always tight and no 
chance to swell and stick. Permanent steel 
ladder on Front. Farmers write that the 
GRIFFIN is more than they ever expected. 
Discount to Agents if there is no GRIFFIN Agent in your territory 
GRIFFIN LUMBER CO 
Box 11, HUDSON FALLS, N. Y. 
