342 
Iht  RURAL.  NEW-YORKER 
The  Rural  New-Yorker 
THE  BUSINESS  FARMER’S  PAPER 
A  National  Weekly  Journal  for  Country  and  Suburban  llomei 
Established  18S0 
Published  weekly  by  the  Rural  Publishing  Company,  333  West  30th  Street,  New  Vork 
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- 
tible  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 
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.  , 
Can  you,  or  anyone  else,  give  one  solid 
and  sound  reason  why  any  man  who  lives  on 
a  farm,  large  or  small,  should  not  have  fruit 
and  vegetables,  fresh  or  canned,  of  his  own 
raising,  every  day  in  the  year? 
* 
I  am  proposing  to  go  into  the  poultry  business  com¬ 
mercially  in  the  Spring  of  1024.  As  I  have  been  study¬ 
ing  the  business  through  experience  and  books,  I  think 
I  shall  make  a  success  of  it.  w.  A.  R. 
NYONE  may  go  into  the  poultry  business,  pro¬ 
vided  he  can  raise  money  enough  to  start.  It 
is  not  so  much  the  way  you  go  in  as  the  way  you 
come  out.  Better  start  with  one  sitting  hen  and  pull 
the  business  up  than  to  start  with  a  houseful  and 
have  the  business  drop  on  you.  Hardly  a  day 
passes  without  a  request  from  someone  to  help 
straighten  out  a  poultry  tangle.  As  a  rule,  it  is  a 
form  of  partnership  in  which  one  man  furnishes  the 
equipment  and  the  other  does  the  work.  At  the 
start  it  all  seems  so  easy  that  they  agree  to  divide 
profits,  but  forget  to  arrange  about  losses.  The  busi¬ 
ness  runs  in  debt,  and  there  is  a  heated  controversy 
as  to  which  should  be  held  responsible.  There  may 
be  cases  where  unit  orchards,  stock-selling  orchard 
schemes  and  poultry  partnerships  have  paid,  but  we 
have  no  record  of  them.  In  truth,  successful  poultry 
keeping  requires  greater  skill,  more  experience  and 
more  constant  attention  than  any  other  line  of 
farming.  We  advise  our  friend  with  his  “exper¬ 
ience  and  books”  to  start  with  one  good  pen  of 
birds  and  let  them  teach  him  the  business. 
* 
HERE  are  not  so  many  cases  of  misfit  trees  re¬ 
ported  to  us  as  in  former  years.  We  do  not 
know  how  this  has  occurred,  but  certainly  there  is 
less  reported  trouble.  Every  now  and  then,  however, 
someone  comes  asking  what  damages  can  be  obtained 
when  trees  turn  out  to  be  misfits.  There  have  been 
legal  decisions  in  New  York  State  which  are  gener¬ 
ally  accepted  as  standard.  One  case  in  particular 
was  carried  up  to  the  Court  of  Appeals,  which 
finally  adopted  the  following  rule: 
The  proper  measure  of  damages  is  the  difference  be¬ 
tween  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  had  the  trees  been 
trud  to  (name. 
Nurserymen  usually  offer  to  replace  the  trees  after 
a  loss  of  five  years  or  more  of  time,  but  anyone  who 
has  tried  to  develop  an  orchard  will  know  hoiv  in¬ 
adequate  such  an  offer  is.  There  have  been  cases 
brought  where  the  buyer  at  the  trial  could  not  abso¬ 
lutely  prove  that  the  misfit  trees  were,  actually  the 
ones  he  bought  from  the  nurseryman.  The  original 
labels  were  lost  or  destroyed,  and  there  had  been 
several  plantings  in  the  orchard.  If  you  bring  suit 
at  all  you  must  be  absolutely  sure  of  your  ground. 
* 
HE  other  day  we  saw  potatoes,  in  this  city, 
right  on  the  street,  selling  12  lbs.  for  25  cents. 
They  were  good  potatoes,  too.  This  means  a  retail 
price  of  $1.25  a  bushel,  which  was  probably  about 
three  times  the  price  paid  the  grower.  Even  at  this 
low  price  the  potatoes  were  slow  of  sale,  whereas  10 
years  ago  there  would  have  been  a  small  army  chas¬ 
ing  after  the  peddler.  The  truth  is  that  city  people 
are  not  buying  potatoes  as  they  once  did.  We  find 
it  hard  to  get  our  readers  to  realize  that  fact.  There 
is  an  immense  consumption  of  rice,  macaroni  and 
cornmeal.  and  vast  quantities  of  Southern  vege¬ 
tables  are  dumped  into  New  York  every  day.  In  one 
week  of  January  over  150  carloads  of  strawberries 
entered  this  market.  This  competition  from  pre¬ 
pared  foods  and  Southern  vegetables  is  greatly  in¬ 
juring  the  potato  market.  Even  with  its  increase 
in  population  the  country  cannot  handle  increased 
crops  of  potatoes.  It  is  bad  business,  for  there  is 
no  other  food  that  can  quite  take  the  place  of  po¬ 
tatoes  in  our  national  diet.  There  is  no  use  dis¬ 
guising  the  truth,  however.  We  have  got  to  make 
potato  eating  more  popular,  or  see  the  demand  grow 
smaller. 
* 
HE  newest  proposition  is  to  have  fruit  trees 
certified  in  the  nursery  row.  The  test  is  made 
on  the  leaves,  as  explained  on  page  327.  The  leaves 
of  different  apple  varieties  are  as  distinct  in  shape 
and  appearance  as  are  the  fruits.  A  trained  man 
can  select  them  without  great  trouble,  just  about  as 
easily  as  a  fruit  judge  can  separate  fruit  at  an  ex¬ 
hibition.  The  new  plan  is  for  one  of  these  experts 
to  go  to  the  nursery  and  examine  the  young  trees. 
He  can  take  out  the  misfits  before  they  are  sold,  and 
thus  save  a  heap  of  trouble  for  all  hands.  Thou¬ 
sands  of  trees  have  already  been  certified  in  this 
way.  We  think  it  is  a  good  thing,  both  for  the  nur¬ 
seryman  and  the  buyer.  We  think,  further,  that 
any  man  who  plants  trees  should  study  the  method, 
which  is  quite  easy  to  understand. 
WE  hear  of  a  man  who  says  that  as  soon  as 
Spring  opens  he  will  run  his  tractor  day  and 
night  in  eight-hour  shifts,  so  as  to  plant  as  much 
as  possible.  That  man  is  unwise,  to  put  it  mildly. 
If  all  men  worked  like  that  Ave  could  hardly  give  our 
crops  away.  The  middlemen  and  buyers  would  get 
all  the  profit,  and  more,  and  the  consumers  would 
have  little  benefit.  The  buying  power  of  the  farmer 
would  be  reduced,  and  every  line  of  real  industry 
would  suffer.  Has  not  this  been  demonstrated  often 
enough  in  years  past?  Can  any  farmer,  in  the  light 
of  farm  history,  feel  that  he  wants  to  be  responsible 
for  a  “bumper  crop”?  Why  two  blades  of  grass, 
when  we  can  hardly  sell  one?  Why  should  a  man 
work  himself  half  to  death  in  order  to  raise  more 
than  can  be  properly  distributed?  A  more  sensible 
plan  this  year  is  to  cut  down  operations  a  little,  give 
full  care  to  a  smaller  area,  and  help  put  the  market 
on  your  own  side. 
* 
HE  New  York  City  Health  Department  lias 
made  a  ruling  regarding  shipments  of  live  ani- 
maie,  like  pigs,  goats,  lambs,  rabbits,  etc.  This  is 
an  embargo  on  such  live  animals  unless  they  pass 
through  some  regular  slaughter  house.  Up  to  this 
time  such  live  animals  have  been  received  by  com¬ 
mission  men  and  sold  to  butchers  and  others.  The 
new  rule  will  prohibit  such  sales.  This  embargo  is 
an  injustice  to  shippers,  and  particularly  in  the 
case  of  live  rabbits.  For  some  years  past  many 
country  people  have  done  well  at  raising  rabbits. 
The  meat  has  become  a  standard  article  of  food, 
and  the  business  pays,  as  a  side  line  to  farming  of 
poultry  keeping.  These  live  rabbits  are  mostly 
bought  by  Italians  in  or  near  the  city  for  their  own 
consumption.  They  will  not  buy  if  forced  to  carry 
the  rabbits  to  a  slaughter  house,  and  thus  this  ex¬ 
cellent  and  growing  trade  will  be  ruined.  We  can¬ 
not  see  how  this  embargo  serves  any  good  purpose. 
It  should  be  modified  or  killed,  especially  as  it  refers 
to  live  rabbits. 
* 
THERE  is  nothing  in  sight  to  warrant  any  great 
plunge  in  orchard  planting.  The  truth  is  that 
our  system  of  distribution  has  failed  to  take  care  of 
the  product  of  the  ti* *ees  now  fruiting.  We  do  not 
join  the  boomers  who  are  urging  people  to  plant 
heavily  without  considering  the  future.  Experience 
with  our  own  orchard  makes  us  conservative.  We 
know  that  we  can  handle  a  fair  crop  of  good  fruit 
with  l-easonable  profit,  but  when  we  get  beyond  a 
certain  point  in  production  we  lose  money.  This 
idea  of  rushing  and  jamming  and  working  yourself 
down  to  the  bones  in  order  to  produce  more  than 
usual  is  nonsense,  and  wprse,  in  the  light  of  recent 
experience.  Every  farmer  in  the  country  would 
have  been  better  off  if  last  year’s  crops  had  been 
reduced  by  20  per  cent,  and  no  consumer  would  have 
suffered.  While  we  advise  against  any  “plunges” 
in  fruit  planting,  we  do  advise  a  conservative  in¬ 
crease  for  most  fanns.  There  are  always  some  dead 
trees.  These  ought  to  be  replaced.  We  must  all 
have  new  and  vigorous  trees  coming  on.  and  there- 
fore  it  pays  to  make  reasonable  plantings  each  year. 
Our  belief  is  that  distribution  will  be  improved  in 
the  future.  We  have  no  hope  or  expectation  that 
Federal  or  State  governments  will  give  us  much  if 
any  help.  They  are  all  afraid  of  the  middlemen  or 
March  3,  1923 
“business”  classes,  and  their  barking  will  never  lead 
to  any  serious  biting.  Our  hope  lies  in  the  deter¬ 
mination  of  fruit  men  to  do  it  themselves.  Roadside 
markets,  direct  dealing,  co-operative  stores  and  asso¬ 
ciation  selling  will  develop  a  trade  that  "will  relieve 
the  Avholesale  markets.  You  want  to  remember  that 
there  never  was  a  season,  even  Avhen  fruit  rotted  on 
the  ground  for  lack  of  a  market,  Avhen  every  Ameri- 
can  had  half  the  apples  he  wanted.  As  for  the  small 
fruits,  Ave  advise  planting  all  you  can  take  care  of 
well.  Thei’e  Avill  be  a  fair  demand  for  several  yeai*s 
to  come,  but  you  must  remember  that  a  vast  amount 
of  hard  hand  work  is  needed  if  you  expect  to  grow 
a  good  crop  of  small  fruit.  An  apple  tree  may 
partly  take  care  of  itself  for  a  few  years,  and  then 
recover  fi*om  the  neglect,  but  a  strawberry  patch 
cannot  do  it.  It  Avill  run  to  weeds  and  gi'ass,  and 
there’s  an  end  of  it.  Let  small  fruit  alone  unless 
you  ai*e  willing  to  do  a  large  amount  of  AA’ork.  And, 
finally,  go  easy  on  the  “novelties.”  It  is  a  good 
thing  to  try  them.  That  is  a  pleasure,  and  it  often 
pays,  but  buying  heavily  of  them  at  high  prices  is 
a  worse  gamble  than  digging  for  gold  in  your  apple 
orchard — for  the  digging  will  probably  help  the 
trees ! 
* 
QUITE  a  number  of  readers  have  widtten  us 
recently  that  somehow  they  missed  something 
in  The  R.  N.-Y.  They  could  not  tell  just  Avhat  it 
Avas  at  first,  but  finally  the  truth  flashed  upon  them. 
“ There  is  nothing  from  Prof.  Massey  in  this  paper! 
Where  is  he?  We  miss  him!"  It  will  fill  many  of 
our  people  Avith  soitoav  Avhen  Ave  tell  them  the 
timth.  Last  Christmas  Day  our  old  fi’iend  was 
stricken  Avith  paralysis.  We  have  been  hoping 
against  hope  that  this  kindly  friend  who  has  so 
endeared  himself  to  our  readers  Avould  reco\’er  and 
resume  something  of  his  work.  That  seems  impos¬ 
sible  noAv,  and  we  are  foi*ced  to  report  that  the 
earthly  sendee  of  our  good  comrade  is  well-nigh 
ended.  He  fought  a  good  fight  and  lived  a  clean, 
honorable  and  useful  life.  The  world  is  better  and 
more  beautiful  because  he  has  lived  in  it.  He 
helped  his  fellow  men,  and  noAV,  lying  under  the 
hax*d  hand  of  affliction,  he  may  know  that  his  wox*k 
is  appreciated. 
* 
MANY  of  us  xvho  have  orchards  in  i-emote  fields, 
near  the  woods,  are  Avondering  what  we  shall 
find  when  the  frozen  siioav  melts.  The  conditions 
are  just  about  right  for  the  mice  to  work  under  the 
snow,  and  in  some  places  they  have  caused  gi-eat 
damage.  It  is  quite  possible  to  pi’event  damage  in 
a.  mild  Winter  by  pruning  early  and  laying  the 
primings  on  top  of  the  ground.  Mice  and  rabbits 
will  usually  gnaw  these  prunings  before  they  touch 
the  trees.  This  Wintei',  hoAvever,  is  different.  We 
have  had  a  succession  of  snowstoi’ms,  and  the  snoxv 
has  frozen  around  the  trees  so  it  cannot  be  stamped 
down  or  scraped  away.  Several  years  ago  xve  had 
another  such  Winter,  and  the  damage  Avas  heavy. 
When  the  thaw  comes,  Avhat  will  it  reveal?  Pi-ompt 
work  Avill  be  necessary  if  the  trees  ai’e  to  be  saved. 
In  some  cases  where  the  trees  are  not  completely 
girdled  we  have  saved  them  by  throwing  a  mound 
of  soil  ai’ound  the  trunk,  up  above  the  Avound,  and 
praning  the  tree  severely.  In  other  cases  bridge- 
grafting  has  helped,  but  at  best  it  is  difficult  to 
make  good  trees  where  the  trunk  has  been  com¬ 
pletely  girdled.  In  such  a  Winter  mice  are  worse 
than  scale  or  borers  in  our  locality. 
Brevities 
No  kicking  cow  was  ever  cured  by  kicking  back ! 
Tiie  value  of  certification  depends  on  who  signs  the 
cei’tificate. 
Well,  gentlemen,  these  big  snowdrifts  will  fill  the 
dry  wells — when  they  melt — at  least. 
It  is  surprising  how  many  Northern  people  will  try 
a  small  experiment  with  cotton  this  year. 
Abuse  is  no  argument.  Neither  are  “You’re  an¬ 
other,”  and  “I  told  you  so !” 
Better  watch  your  orchard  carefully  this  year.  You 
may  find  one  of  those  $5,000  “bud  spoi-ts.” 
“We  cannot  economize  on  grass  seed  or  poison  !”  A 
Avise  remark  for  the  hay  grower  and  the  fruit  man. 
Yes,  there  is  a  little  niti-ogen  in  these  snowdrifts. 
As  they  fall,  the  snowflakes  carry  a  little  ammonia  out 
of  the  air.  The  chief  value  of  the  snow,  however,  is 
that  it  pi-otects  the  soil  and  leaves  the  ground  full  of 
moisture. 
We  have  had  many  letters  from  fanners  l-egarding 
the  bill  to  compel  owners  of  sleighs  and  bobsleds  to 
make  them  the  same  Avidth  as  automobiles.  There  is 
practically  no  demand  for  such  a  law.  Our  letters  shoiv 
10  to  one  against  the  proposition. 
The  Winter  in  Vermont :  “The  lower  sash  is  covered 
to  within  the  depth  of  3  or  4  in.,  and  the  tips  of  full- 
groAvn  currant  bushes  and  grapevines  are  all  that  can 
be  seen  above  the  level  of  the  snow  in  the  gai-den.  My 
small  niece  and  nephew,  who  live  further  up  the  hill,  are 
having  a  glorious  time  sliding  from  the  roof  doAvn  over 
the  veranda  railing  to  the  road.” 
