The  Rural  New-Yorker 
The  Business  Farmer's  Paper 
Vol.  r,XXV.  NEW  YORK.  FEBRUARY  19,  1910.  No.  4.300. 
Weekly,  One  Dollar  Per  Year 
Postpaid 
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The  Rural  Publishing  Co. 
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New  Y ork 
Trucker,  Jr.,  Looks  25  Years  Ahead 
South  Jersey  in  1940 
M  FRIO  A  FIRST.— Fast  Sum  met*  when  the  New 
Jersey  Horticultural  Society  held  one  of  its 
Summer  meetings  at  Ilammonton.  one  of  the  special 
features  of  the  meeting  was  an  automobile  trip  of 
about  20  miles  through  the  Ilammonton  farming 
section.  1  had  the  pleasure  of  going  with  the  others 
on  this  trip,  and  was  greatly  impressed  with  the 
great  fields  of  raspberries,  blackberries,  grapes  and 
peach  orchards;  hut  greater  than  all  this  was  an 
incident  that  occurred  at  one  of  the  berry  farms. 
Seeing  the  line  of  autos  was  something  of  an  event 
to  many  of  the  farm  folks  along  the  way.  Some 
seemed  greatly  surprised,  hut  one  little  fellow  was 
fully  equal  to  the  occasion.  Wo  wore  approaching 
a  small  berry  farm  that  had  evidently  been  cleared 
and  planted  only  by  the  hardest  kind  of  hard  work, 
and  with  the  aid  of  very  little  capital.  The  farmer 
was  an  Italian.  As  wo  approached  we  saw  a  little 
six -year old  hoy  in  the  yard  evidently  looking  after 
the  baby,  who  was  in  a  coach  beside  him.  A  hun¬ 
dred  yards  away  in  (lie  blackberries  were  his  father 
and  mother  and  older  brothers  and  sisters,  all  at 
work  picking  the  big  black  berries. 
When  the  little  fellow  caught  sight  of 
the  autos  he  was  lost  in  wonderment 
for  a  moment,  then  up  he  got,  scamp¬ 
ered  in  the  house,  and  just  as  the  car 
in  which  I  was  riding  got  opposite  he 
came  out  waving  two  little  American 
flags  and  with  all  of  the  strength  of 
his  childish  longs  he  shouted,  “ llnr - 
rah.  Ilurrnh ,  America  (Jo  besta  place." 
We  passed  oil,  saw  many  more  fields 
of  berries  and  many  large  orchards 
hut  somehow  as  1  came  away  I  thought 
of  the  significance  of  that  incident. 
Here  in  the  making  was  one  of  our  fu¬ 
ture  loyal  American  citizens.  Here 
was  a  type  of  hoy  that  would  do  far 
greater  things  for  our  country’s  wel¬ 
fare  than  would  most  of  the  sons  of 
our  millionaires.  Furthermore  he  and 
olliers  of  his  type  will  he  a  tremendous 
factor  in  making  Southern  New  Jer¬ 
sey  the  beautiful  garden  spot  it  is 
hound  to  be.  And  as  I  look  ahead  for 
25  years  1  cannot  ignore  this  hoy  and 
his  fellow  countrymen,  t  believe  hun¬ 
dreds  and  thousands  of  these  honest, 
hardworking  people  from  Southern 
Europe  are  to  locale  here  on  small 
farms,  build  them  up  in  fertility  and 
productiveness  and  at  the  same  time 
make  homes  from  which  will  come 
many  loyal  citizens  who  will  always  be 
ready  to  say,  “America  do  besta  place,” 
and  furthermore  will  help  to  make  it 
so. 
FARCE  FARMS. — This,  though,  is 
not  all.  South  Jersey  is  not  to  he 
given  over  to  small  farms  entirely.  We  already  have 
some  very  large  ones,  and  I  believe  in  1910  we  shall 
see  many  of  1.000  acres  or  more.  There  is  room  for 
both.  The  small  farm  will  he  devoted  to  one  or 
two  special  lines  for  which  the  soil  and  location 
are  suited.  The  large  farm  of  1.000  to  2.000  acres 
will  do  more  of  a  general  line  of  farming,  and  pro¬ 
duce  great  quantities  of  truck  and  vegetables  on  a 
big  scale  and  with  greater  economy  than  could 
possibly  bo  on  a  smaller  place.  Somehow  l  have 
great  faith  in  the  future  for  South  Jersey.  1  think 
1  see  in  the  very  near  future  some  one  demons¬ 
trating  to  us  in  a  practical  way  just  how  to  make 
profitable  for  farming  purposes  the  great  stretches 
of  sandy  soil  in  certain  of  our  sparsely  settled  dis¬ 
tricts.  Then  what  a  development  there  will  he  in 
those  sections!  In  other  sections  where  nearly  all 
lines  of  farming  are  already  proving  very  profitable 
no  such  demonstration  will  he  needl’d.  There  it  will 
he  mainly  an  adjustment  to  meet  the  changing  con¬ 
ditions  due  to  (lie  advent  of  improvements. 
MECHANICAF  PROCRESS.-  By  1910  I  expect  to 
see  the  hoy  on  a  large  farm  as  well  versed  in  me¬ 
chanics  os  an  ordinary  machinist.  By  that  time  f 
think  I  see  Smith  Jersey  intersected  with  numerous 
fine  roads,  on  the  main  lines  of  which  will  lie  track¬ 
less  trolleys  running  on  a  regular  schedule.  The 
railroad  lines  will  be  electrified,  and  from  these 
lines  or  some  central  power  plant  will  be  a  veritable 
cobweb  of  electric  light  wires  that  will  give  to  the 
farm  home  light  and  power.  Gas  may  still  be  used 
for  heating  purposes.  An  electric  auto  will  take 
the  family  on  pleasure  trips.  On  large  farms  one 
or  more  comparatively  inexpensive  tractors  will 
have  taken  the  places  of  horses  for  doing  the  heavy 
plowing,  and  will  also  be  used  to  furnish  power  at 
the  barn  for  shredding  fodder,  shelling  corn,  etc. 
There  will  also  he  a  small  light,  cheap  and  efficient 
power  cultivator  to  take  the  place  of  the  horse  and 
harrow  we  now  have.  In  addition  who  can  say 
there  will  not  he  a  motor  weed-killer  to  take  the 
place  of  a  hoe,  and  enable  one  man  to  do  the  work 
of  three  or  four? 
A  MUSEUM  OF  PROGRESS. — By  1940  one  of 
the  large  armories  at  Camden  may  be  converted  into 
an  agricultural  museum.  Along  with  spinning- 
wheels,  andirons  and  other  old  relies  stored  in  this 
building  one  sees  the  buggy  and  carriage,  the  gaso¬ 
line  stove,  a  bunch  of  sad  irons,  the  washboard,  the 
walking  plow,  the  harrow  and  many  other  things; 
the  number  constantly  growing.  Along  with  these 
there  are  numerous  reels  or  films  of  motion  pictures 
laid  by  for  the  benefit  of  future  generations,  show¬ 
ing  how  farm  work  was  done  in  1915.  One  reel  of 
interest  to  many,  portrays  a  farmer  of  1915  trying 
to  carry  on  a  conversation  over  a  10-party  telephone 
with  nine  receivers  off.  It  is  very  humorous,  but 
everyone  wonders  why  that  should  have  been  when 
in  the  year  of  1940  they  have  100-party  lines  and 
no  one  except  the  parties  talking  can  catch  a  word 
of  the  conversation  and  several  parties  can  talk  at 
once  over  the  same  line.  The  whole  change  came 
about  through  a  very  simple  change  in  t lit*  old  tele¬ 
phone.  There  is  talk  too  of  doing  away  with  the 
old  wire  system  of  telephoning  altogether,  as  being 
entirely  too  expensive  and  cumbersome,  it  being 
claimed  that  with  a  little  education  the  wireless 
could  he  used  with  much  greater  satisfaction. 
IMPROVED  PT.ANTK.-Bnt  this  is  not  all.  Tn 
that  museum  there  are  pictures  and  preserved  speci¬ 
mens  of  the  best  varieties  of  fruits,  nuts  and  vege¬ 
tables  grown  in  1915  alongside  of  the  best  of  1940. 
Wlmt  a  change!  What  an  improvement!  Here  is 
a  chestnut  originated  in  1925  immune  to  the  chest¬ 
nut  blight.  It  is  as  large  as  the  Japan  chestnut 
and  as  sweet  as  the  old  wild  nut.  Here  is  a  tomato 
as  smooth  and  shapely  as  the  Bonny  Best  and 
earlier  than  the  Farliana.  With  these  good  quali¬ 
ties  is  combined  the  fact  that  it  is  immune  to  the 
fusarium  wilt  that  put  tomato  growers  out  of 
business  in  the  memorable  year  of  1920.  Here  is 
the  Prinzo  sweet  potato  that  saved  the  sweet  potato 
industry  of  South  Jersey.  It  seems  the  stem-rot  of 
sweet  potatoes  kept  getting  worse  and  worse  from 
year  to  year  in  spite  of  all  scientists  could  do  to 
prevent  it.  Growers  were  being  slowly  driven  out. 
of  business  when  a  young  Italian  named  Prinzo, 
living  near  Ilammonton,  found  and  developed  a 
strain  as  good  as  the  Yellow  Jersey  and  absolutely 
resistant  to  stem-rot.  Who  can  tell  hut  what  this 
young  Prinzo  was  the  little  fellow  who  had  shouted 
to  the  New  Jersey  horticulturists  years  before  that 
“America  was  de  besta  place"?  in  apples  there  were 
three  good  ones  more  delicious  in  flavor  than  any 
grown  previous  to  1935;  this  was  especially  true 
when  baked.  They  came  from  Japan,  and  although 
susceptible  t< »  attacks  of  scale,  were  immune  to  all 
of  our  blights  and  fungus  troubles.  Trees  set  out 
at  the  ago  of  one  year  would  give  at  least  a  basket 
of  beautiful  fruit  in  the  Autumn  of  the  second  sea¬ 
son.  There  was  also  a  pear  first  intro¬ 
duced  to  the  public  in  1930.  This  was 
as  thrifty  as  the  Kicffcr,  as  delicious 
as  the  Bartlett,  although  a  much  better 
shipper,  and  not  a  single  twig  had  ever 
been  known  to  blight. 
TIIB  FUTURE  OF  CO-OPERA¬ 
TION. — There  were  hundreds  of  other 
things  in  this  line  that  would  seem 
amazing  to  anyone  familiar  with  these 
same  things  as  grown  in  1915.  But  we 
must  pass  on.  Over  in  one  corner  of 
this  building  is  a  huge  picture  of  a 
man,  Below  in  heavy  gold  letters  we 
see  these  words:  "The  Man  Who  Hilu- 
catrfl  Farmers  to  tJie  Existence  of  the 
35-eenl  Dollar"  Then  in  a  hook  to 
one  side  is  given  the  history  of  the  co¬ 
operative  movement  resulting  from  this 
knowledge  which  made  possible  the  or¬ 
ganization  of  practically  all  growers 
into  several  separate  and  distinct,  yet 
successful  cooperative  marketing  or¬ 
ganizations,  these  organizations  being 
tlio  means  of  bringing  to  the  growers  a 
fair  price  for  their  products  and  thus 
enabling  them  to  secure  the  money  to 
provide  all  the  good  things  enjoyed  by 
the  farmers  of  South  Jersey,  as  well 
as  those  of  other  sections,  in  the  year 
of  1940.  TRUCKER,  JR. 
Jersey  Justice  for  Farmers 
AST  June  The  R.  N.-Y.  office  was 
visited  by  two  of  its  subscribers 
from  a  neighboring  Jersey  town,  who 
brought  a  hand  bag  full  of  beet  and 
rhubarb  leaves,  and  told  a  curious  story  of  trou¬ 
ble.  it  appeared  that  a  few  mouths  before  a  fac¬ 
tory  for  making  gun  cotton  had  been  started  near 
them.  and.  as  its  business  increased  on  account  of 
the  war.  they  found  increasing  difficulty  in  getting 
things  to  grow.  Crops  would  start  from  the  seed 
and  wither  in  a  night;  if  they  did  make  a  little 
growth,  it  was  stunted,  and  holes  appeared  in  the 
leaves  without  visible  cause.  They  had  been  as¬ 
sured  that  the  acids  used  in  the  factory  could  not 
do  this,  nevertheless  I  heir  throats  were  affected, 
they  could  smell  something  in  the  air,  and  at  times 
choking  masses  of  red  gas  would  sweep  from  the 
factory  over  the  fields. 
Then  too  a  little  brook,  which  had  been  used  to 
water  cattle  and  wash  vegetables,  (it  is  a  trucking 
district),  began  to  have  a  had  taste,  and  to  kill  the 
grass  on  its  hunks. 
The  best  that  we  could  suggest  was  the  employ¬ 
ment  of  a  research  chemist,  and  this  was  done,  but 
as  the  ease  was  before  the  Chancery  Court  we  did 
not  wish  to  comment  upon  it. 
NYe  now  learn  that  after  thorough  hearings  Vice- 
Chancellor  Griffin  has  granted  a  sweeping  injunc¬ 
tion  giving  these  people  the  right  to  pure  air  for 
A  Fine  Wistaria.  Fig.  69 
