208 
Tht  RURAL  NEW-YORKER 
The  Rural  New-Yorker 
THE  BUSINESS  FARMER'S  PAPER 
A  National  Weekly  Journal  for  Country  and  Suburban  Hornet 
Established  1830 
Published  weekly  by  the  Rural  Publisher  Company.  833  West  SOtb  Street,  Sen  fork 
Herbert  W.  Collingwood.  President  and  Editor. 
John’  J.  Dillon,  Treasurer  and  General  Manager. 
Wm.  F.  Dillon,  Secretary.  Mrs.  E.  T.  Royle,  Associate  Editor. 
L.  H.  Murphy,  Circulation  Manager. 
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“  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  ai-e  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  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. 
You  have  got  into  a  bad  habit  of  late  in  speaking  of 
yourself  as  an  old  man.  If,  instead  of  having  talked  to 
the  Bedford  Farmers’  Club  you  had  been  a  member  of  it, 
you  would  still  be  in  the  ranks  of  the  boys.  Ex-Presi¬ 
dent  Henry  E.  Fellow  is  94,  bright  as  a  button  ;  Presi¬ 
dent  James  Wood  is  83,  good  for  many  more  years,  as 
I  hope  I  am  at  80.  I  have  been  secretary  40  years,  and 
expect  to  be  so  for  40  more  years.  JOHN  B.  day. 
Bedford  Hills,  N.  Y. 
T  is  hard  to  beat  the  spirit  of  these  hoys  of  80 
and  over.  They  keep  themselves  young  by  refus¬ 
ing  to  admit  that  they  are  old.  They  seem  to  have 
found  the  spirit  of  eternal  youth — not  off  in  some 
distant  fairyland,  but  right  at  home — right  under 
their  own  hat — right  inside  their  own  vest.  Hard 
work,  a  simple  life,  a  contented  mind  and  love  for 
your  fellow  man.  That’s  what  makes  these  boys  of 
the  Bedford  Farmers’  Club  stand  up  above  the 
storms  of  time.  Mr.  Day  at  80  expects  to  be  secre¬ 
tary  of  the  club  for  40  years  more!  Ten  dozen 
years!  Why  not?  Success  to  him,  and  “happy 
days!” 
ON  page  86  we  mentioned  a  case  in  the  State  of 
Washington  which  involved  a  decision  regard¬ 
ing  the  famous  “non-guaranty”  which  seedsmen  use 
when  selling  seeds.  This  statement  runs  as  follows. 
It  was  written  by  a  famous  lawyer  and  pronounced 
unbreakable : 
- gives  no  warranty,  express  or  implied,  as  to  de¬ 
scription.  quality,  productiveness,  or  any  other  matter, 
of  any  seeds,  bulbs  or  plants  they  send  out,  and  they 
will  not  be  in  any  way  responsible  for  the  crop.  If  the 
purchaser  does  not  accept  the  goods  on  these  terms,  they 
are  at  once  to  be  returned. 
We  may  have  given  the  impression  that  the  Wash¬ 
ington  court  had  decided  that  this  clause  will  not 
hold.  It  appears,  on  further  information,  that  the 
court  did  not  give  that  exact  ruling.  It  was  a  com¬ 
plicated  case  in  which  a  merchant  bought  seed  rye 
rom  a  seed  dealer,  and  sold  it  again  to  farmers. 
When  the  seed  came  to  the  merchant  it  was  properly 
tagged  with  the  non-warranty  statement.  The  court 
apparently  held  that  the  merchant  was  not  an  agent, 
but  an  “independent  contractor.”  He  did  not  give 
any  disclaimer  of  his  own,  but  relied  on  the  non¬ 
warranty  statement  of  the  seedsman.  As  we  under¬ 
stand  it.  if  this  merchant  had  been  an  agent  of  the 
seedsman  the  printed  cards  would  have  protected 
him,  or  had  he  made  such  a  statement  over  his  own 
name  he  could  not  have  been  held  responsible.  As 
he  was  an  "outside  operator”  and  did  not  disclaim 
responsibility  over  his  own  name  he  was  held  re¬ 
sponsible.  Thus  it  was  not  a  question  of  the  validity 
of.  this  warranty  clause.  That  seems  to  remain  un¬ 
broken. 
* 
OFR  experience  with  Soy  beans  last  season  has 
developed  some  interesting  facts.  We  find 
these  beans  very  good  for  growing  in  a  young  or¬ 
chard,  in  drills,  and  well  cultivated.  They  do  not 
interfere  with  the  young  trees,  as  corn  often  does. 
The  bean  vines,  when  well  cured,  make  a  tine  hay  or 
fodder  for  all  stock,  and  the  yield  is  heavy.  Har¬ 
vesting  does  not  usually  interfere  with  other  farm 
work.  Our  experience  shows  that  the  Soy  bean  seed 
must  be  inoculated  on  most  of  our  Eastern  land. 
The  crop  requires  good  soil,  and  should  be  well  fed, 
but  it  will  pay  when  there  is  stock  to  feed.  On 
many  fruit  and  garden  farms  it  is  not  easy  to  pro¬ 
vide  necessary  land  for  hay  crops.  The  Soy  beans 
will  provide  a  good  substitute.  They  can  be  grown 
as  a  “catch”  crop,  or  between  orchard  rows,  and 
thus  furnish  good  fodder  without  interfering  with 
the  regular  crops.  The  man  who  sees  Soy  bean  fod¬ 
der  for  the  first  time  might  laugh  if  you  told  him 
tuat  it  is  a  stronger  feed  than  either  Alfalfa  or 
clover  hay,  yet  the  statement  would  be  true.  The 
Sov  beans  alone  have  a  higher  feeding  value  than 
linseed  meal.  Not  only  are  these  things  true,  but  as 
a  manurial  ci’op  the  Soy  bean  has  great  value.  On 
the  light  soils  of  Maryland  it  was  formerly  the  prac¬ 
tice  to  import  immense  quantities  of  stable  manure. 
The  supply  of  manure  is  now  short,  and  crops  like 
Crimson  clover  and  Soy  beans  are  substituting  for 
it.  These  facts  ought  to  be  made  known  to  our 
Eastern  farmers,  for  they  have  in  the  Soy  bean  an 
agent  for  reducing  the  feed  and  fertilizer  bills. 
Wherever  Alfalfa  goes  and  is  properly  handled, 
prosperity  follows,  but  Alfalfa  will  not  thrive  with¬ 
out  lime,  and  that  is  often  expensive.  The  Soy  bean 
is  an  acid  legume,  and  will  grow  and  make  good  in 
thousands  of  places  where  Alfalfa  would  die. 
* 
SEVERAL  of  the  large  labor  unions  have  become 
interested  in  banking.  One  of  them  is  conduct¬ 
ing  a  bank  in  Cleveland.  O.  Another  has  bought 
stock  in  a  New  York  bank  and  is  represented  on  the 
board  of  directors.  The  object,  of  this  evidently  is  to 
use  the  earnings  or  dues  of  the  union  so  as  to  finance 
it  to  best  advantage.  In  ease  of  a  strike  or  other 
emergency  prompt  capital  will  be  necessary,  and  a 
bank  controlled  by  the  union  could  supply  it.  The 
larger  unions  handle  great  sums  of  money,  contrib¬ 
uted  in  one  way  and  another  by  the  members.  They 
probably  feel  that  they  have  been  at  a  disadvantage 
in  any  contest  with  capital  so  long  as  the  latter  con¬ 
trols  banking.  So  they  will  handle  their  money  in 
the  most  effective  way.  There  is  a  lesson  here  for 
farmers.  There  is  hardly  an  agricultural  county  in 
America  where  the  combined  money  and  credit  of 
the  farmers  would  not  finance  all  farm  operations  at 
a  good  profit.  In  many  places  farmers  are  sending 
their  money  away  for  investment,  while  their  near 
neighbors  could  use  it  safely  and  to  great  advantage. 
Why  not  do  it  ourselves f  Combine  our  cash  and 
credit  as  the  labor  unions  are  doing.  Help  ourselves 
instead  of  calling  on  the  government  for  help. 
* 
LL  through  the  great  Northwest  Sweet  clover, 
both  the  biennial  and  Hubam,  is  rolling  in  upon 
the  land  like  a  flood  of  richness.  We  hear  of  sections 
with  40.000  acres  of  this  clover  close  together.  It  is 
used  mainly  for  plowing  under  to  restore  soil  which 
had  been  cropped  year  after  year  in  wheat.  Of 
course,  it  began  to  fail  rapidly,  and  manure  or  fer¬ 
tilizer  was  out  of  the  question.  Sweet  clover  is 
building  up  this  land  as  nothing  else  could.  It  makes 
a  paradise  for  bees,  and  honey  is  becoming  a  definite 
crop.  All  through  that  country,  from  Dakota  west, 
the  Sweet  clover  is  making  its  way.  and  leaving  bet¬ 
ter  soil  and  prosperity  behind  it.  It  is  sure  to  have 
a  great  influence  upon  the  future  of  Western  farm¬ 
ing.  There  should  be  hundreds  of  thousands  of 
acres  of  it  in  New  York  and  New  England.  It  is  a 
pasture  plant  and  soil  builder  hard  to  equal. 
* 
EVERAL  readers  have  asked  us  to  name  the 
schools  or  college  at  which  Governor  Alfred  E. 
Smith  of  New  York  was  educated.  It  seems  to  be 
assumed  by  many  that  Governor  Smith  is  a  college 
man:  at  any  rate,  there  is  a  public  misunderstand¬ 
ing  regarding  his  schooling.  The  following  letter 
from  the  Governor’s  secretary  answers  the  question : 
In  reply  to  your  letter  of  January  11.  I  am  directed 
by  Governor  Smith  to  advise  you  that  he  attended  the 
public  schools  of  the  City  of  New  York  and  did  not 
attend  any  college. 
Very  truly  yours, 
BELLE  L.  MOSKOWITZ  (MBS.  HENRY  MOSKOWITZ). 
* 
X  page  52  we  mentioned  a  seedless  and  coreless 
Fameuse  apple  said  to  have  been  discovered  in 
Canada.  Such  an  apple  would  be  a  great  acquisition 
— worth  millions  to  Northern  fruit  growers.  We 
now  know  something  more  about  it.  It  appears 
that  Mr.  A.  W.  Buzzell,  a  farmer  in  Quebec  Province, 
while  picking  his  crop  last  Fall,  found  a  number  of 
Fameuse  apples  of  a  somewhat  peculiar  shape.  On 
cutting  some  of  them  open  it  was  found  that  the 
apple  was  coreless.  It  has  a  peculiar  shape,  but 
the  color  and  flavor  are  practically  the  same  as  the 
regular  Fameuse.  Invariably  this  apple  was  found 
to  have  no  seeds  or  core.  This  fruit  has  been  tested 
and  examined  by  many  fruit  experts.  There  seems 
to  be  no  question  about  the  apple,  but  it  was  not 
discovered  until  the  crop  was  picked.  No  one  knew 
just  what  tree  it  came  from.  There  may  be  an 
entire  tree  of  this  strange  fruit,  or  it  may  simply 
be  one  limb  from  a  bud  sprout.  Next  year  the  tree 
or  limb  will  be  found,  and  then  it  can  be  propagated. 
All  that  seems  to  be  known  today  is  that  there  cer¬ 
tainly  is  a  seedless  Fameuse  growing  somewhere  in 
Mr.  Buzzell's  orchard.  We  all  know  how  the  intro¬ 
duction  of  the  seedless  orange  affected  the  citrus 
fruit  trade.  A  good  seedless  apple  will  have  much 
the  same  effect  on  the  apple  trade. 
February  10,  102:* 
THE  San  Jose  scale,  after  a  subsidence  of  several 
years,  is  coming  back  again,  apparently  with 
considerable  viciousness.  That  is  the  report  of  a 
leading  entomologist,  and  from  our  own  observations 
we  certainly  believe  it  is  true.  For  a  few  years 
past  the  scale  has  not  been  very  active.  It  has  been 
a  less  dangerous  pest  on  the  whole  than  the  peach 
borer,  and  most  of  us  have  thought  it  dead  or  dying. 
As  a  result  the  Winter  spraying  has  been  neglected 
in  many  orchards.  Now  we  would  sound  a  note  of 
warning.  The  old  enemy  is  at  the  gates  once  more, 
apparently  with  ranks  fully  recruited  for  another 
attack.  Let  us  all  be  warned  in  time.  We  must 
fight  the  scale  once  more  with  lime-sulphur  or  oil. 
and  do  it  early.  We  have  no  confidence  in  any  dust 
for  killing  the  scale.  Some  biting  or  suffocating 
liquid  must  be  plastered  on  the  trees,  and  every 
piece  of  bark  must  be  covered. 
* 
HE  following  adventure  of  a  deaf  man  may 
interest  our  people  and  give  them  something 
new  to  think  about :  Two  farmers  got  into  trouble 
over  a  line  fence.  Both  were  obstinate  and  stub¬ 
born  in  defense  of  their  rights.  They  met  at  the 
fence  one  day  and  hot  words  warmed  them  up  to 
blows. 
“I  can  lick  you  anyway,”  said  one. 
“You  never  saw  the  day  you  could  do  it.” 
“Step  out  in  the  road  and  see!” 
“I  want  fair  play  oyer  this.  No  kicking  or  goug¬ 
ing.” 
“Here  comes  a  stranger  up  the  road ;  let  him 
referee  it.” 
So  the  two  neighbors  pulled  their  coats  and  ad¬ 
journed  to  the  road.  When  the  stranger  reached 
them  they  both  asked  him  to  referee  the  fight.  But 
the  stranger  turned  out  to  be  deaf.  He  only  knew 
that  two  angry  men  with  set  faces  and  clenched  fists 
demanded  something  which  he  did  not  understand. 
The  deaf  get  strangely  wrong  impressions  at  times, 
and  if  they  are  wise  they  will  not  act  until  they 
fully  understood.  So  this  man  told  these  angry 
neighbors  to  “write  it  out.”  One  man  had  a  pencil, 
the  other  had  a  note  book,  and  the  latter  had  to 
borrow  the  pencil  from  his  antagonist  in  order  to 
write  his  message.  And  as  he  tried  to  write  it  his 
blood  cooled,  and  there  came  to  him  the  absurdity 
of  the  whole  thing.  Why  should  old-time  neighbors 
fight  over  such  a  foolish  thing  as  a  line  fence?  He 
looked  at  his  neighbor,  and  both  laughed.  There  was 
no  fight  They  fixed  up  the  fence,  and  it  is  doubtful 
if  the  deaf  man  even  to  this  day  fully  understands 
what  it  was  all  about. 
* 
E  are  coming  to  the  passing  of  one  of  the 
finest  characters  belonging  to  the  golden  age 
of  country  life.  That  is  the  old-fashioned  country 
doctor.  The  type  is  becoming  extinct,  and  we  regret 
it.  Possibly  the  future  countryman  may  have  more 
scientific  c-are  from  hospitals  and  groups,  but  noth¬ 
ing  in  life  can  ever  substitute  for  the  kindly  advice 
and  personal  interest  which  the  country  doctors  took 
in  their  patients.  As  a  rule,  these  men  were  and  are 
fully  equal  in  intelligence  and  skill  to  those  doctors 
who  have  the  supposed  advantages  of  city  life.  In 
addition  to  that  they  were  human,  with  instincts  and 
personal  attachments  which  the  city  man  cannot 
gain  from  his  surroundings.  Among  other  social 
revolutions  we  are  passing  through  one  is  medical 
care  of  the  public.  There  is  apparently  coming 
what  we  may  call  a  factory  system  of  medical  at¬ 
tention,  and  we  are  of  the  opinion  that  the  present 
generation  of  doctors  will  be  about  the  last  to  engage 
in  what  we  may  call  independent  pi* *actice.  There  is 
no  way  of  stopping  this  change.  Slowly  but  surely 
the  factory  system  will  develop  in  medical  work,  as 
it  has  in  so  many  other  lines.  We  confess  that  we 
are  sorry  to  see  it  coming.  We  regret  that  the  world 
must  establish  what  is  now  called  “efficiency”  at  the 
full  expense  of  human  confidence  and  personal 
friendship. 
Brevities 
i 
The  French  are  extracting  an  oil  from  grape  seeds. 
Some  correspondents  are  curious  but  not  interested. 
There’s  a  difference. 
Yrou  can  prune  grapevines  now — if  your  hands  can 
stand  the  weather. 
Theory,  talk  and  disputation  will  not  make  a  bal¬ 
anced  ration  for  a  man  who  wants  to  grow.  Tell  him 
something  he  may  know. 
If  there  is  any  question  about  the  true  boundaries  of 
your  farm,  do  not  take  the  neighbors’  opinion.  Get  a 
surveyor  and  have  it  made  right. 
Please  remember  that  when  husband  and  wife  own 
property  together  as  joint  tenants,  on  the  death  of 
either  the  entire  property  goes  to  the  survivor.  At 
least  50  people  have  asked  about  that  during  the  past 
two  months. 
