522 
March  25,  191 G. 
FARMQGgfM 
ONLY  S2  P®,ACRE 
InITRATE  of  SODA 
This  Ends  the 
Light  Problem 
on  Your  p31| 
Farm  111 
A  Sane  Battery 
The  Alamo  Electric  Farm  Light 
Plant  solves  the  farm  lighting 
problem  at  last.  Instead  of  a 
"cranky”  storage  battery,  easily 
ruined  by  carelessness,  ignorance 
or  neglect,  it  has  a  storage  battery 
which  you  can’t  hurt  by  over¬ 
charging,  overheating,  leaving  un¬ 
charged  or  by  draining  too  low. 
Other  batteries  can’t  stand  such 
treatment. 
A  Safe  Switchboard 
Amt  it  has  a  switchboard  so  safe  and 
simple  that  a  boy  can  operate  the  entire 
plant,  without  «nv  possible  danger  to 
himself  or  the  equipment.  An  automatic 
switch  and  a  fuse  system  makes  injury 
to  battery  or  generator  impossible. 
A  few  hours  a  week,  while  you  are 
running  your  engine  for  other  purposes, 
will  keep  the  plant  charged.  The  gene¬ 
rator  has  a  flywheel  pulley,  and  can  be 
driven  by  any  engine. 
A  Steady  Light 
The  Alamo  gives  a  pure  white,  steady, 
cool  light.  No  knowledge  of  electricity 
is  needed.  Your  farm  can  be  wired  at 
small  expense.  Alamo  plants  come  in 
two  sizes— 30  and  50  lights  of  16  candle 
power- 
A  dealer  near  you  can  show  you  this 
wonderful  equipment.  Send  this  coupon 
today  for  descriptive  literature  and  vve 
will  tell  you  where  youcan  find  the  Alamo 
Farm  Lighting  Plant  in  your  vicinity. 
The  Alamo  Farm  Light  Plant  Co. 
1130  Farnam  Street,  Omaha,  Neb. 
The  Alamo  Farm  Light  Plant  Co.  (3) 
1130  Farnam  St.,  Omaha,  Neb. 
Please  send  me  descriptive  literature  on 
the  Alamo  Farm  Light  Plant,  and  the  ad¬ 
dress  of  the  nearest  dealer. 
Name 
Postoffice 
i,l  ootvpiJiH  wire  iiimIiiI  with  out  vulture  ot 
eotvpeu  bite t t-lUt  lu  a  Mato  whle  test  lit  South 
Carolina  LieC  year.  ,  Kotilts  v  nv  stupendous. 
Over  ninety  i»0r  cent,  of  the  farmers  reported 
from  i  u  nits  -five  to 
over  tint  rented  crop*.  Most  of  tld»  null  u  ils  already 
producing  fair  crops  ilnd  supposed  t  ■  be  veil  sup¬ 
plied  vitli  b:teteri:i — proving  t lint  the  carefully 
selected  high  brad  genus  In 
—  w  TH» "pit inn h 
HIGH  BRtD  NITROGtN-GATWMttHC  BACTtRt* 
awaoveRS.ALrAtrA.BtAKS.~«iorntR  usuries 
are  more  effective,  Jinirc«eliv6and  produce  ord ter 
result-  than  native  soil  I  mete  ria.  What  South 
Clu'oliilH  did.  von  cun  do.  Not-  only  on  Powneaa, 
but  Oil  VT,I,  '  I. KG!  MKH—  IVa*.  He.'Uis,  Alfalfa, 
Clover,  Vetch,  Soy  Iteant.  You  ran  double,  your 
5  Kerr  size  bottle  $6.  A  5  Here  size  bottle  means 
.'i.ono  lbs.  of  Nltrnto  Nitrogen  lo enrich  your  soil, 
li. audit  n» _ _ 
the  price  ot  M* Itp’lt 
war,  the  cost  t.  ■  you 
Not  only  in  u  iitatl.  ml  ott-ri|utc  economy,  but  In 
order  to  get  the  irio-r  And  best  amps  nut  of  3  air 
soil  inoculate  your  seeds  villi  FARMOGERM. 
I'lViof  of  (liesr  .stateineiits,  ami  the  ‘‘Lefriime 
Grower."  our  book  on  growing  prollthble  mips 
an<l  building  >lp  soils,  sent  free.  Write  to  day. 
interesting  and  very  instructive  leading  you 
should  have. 
I  acre  $2.00 — 5  acre  size  bottle  SO. 00 
60  acres  i  in  6  acre  size  bottles)  $55. 
100  acres  i  in  5  acre  size  bottles')  $100. 
Garden  size  50c.  At  all  seed  stores  or  direct 
from 
EARP-TH0MAS  FARMOGERM  CO. 
DEPT.  82  BLOOMFIELD.  N.  J, 
2T/5c  RURAL  N 
Notes  in  Southern  California 
The  Flood 
In  the  records  of  the  City  Council  of 
San  Diego  for  1915  there  is  an  agree¬ 
ment  that  if  one  Hatfield  will  cause  suffi¬ 
cient  rain  to  descend  to  fill  the  city  reser¬ 
voir  known  as  Morona  dam,  then  the  City 
Council  would  pay  the  said  Hatfield  the 
sum  of  ten  thousand  dollars.  The  said 
Hatfield  then  erected  his  apparatus  at 
the  dam.  and  on  January  14  it  began  to 
rain.  When  it  cleared  up  six  days  later, 
not  a  steam  road,  trolley  line,  wagon  road 
nor  telegraph  line  was  in  operation  lead¬ 
ing  out  of  San  Diego,  and  at  this  writing, 
January  25,  the  Santa  Fe  railway,  the 
only  road  to  the  north,  has  not  yet  been 
able  to  get  a  train  over  its  road,  over  two 
miles  of  its  track  being  washed  away. 
They  say  in  San  Diego  that  for  nine 
months  in  the  year  the  rivers  run  upside 
down.  When  I  was  here  in  August  I  walk¬ 
ed  across  the  Tia  Juana  River,  just,  across 
fhe  Mexican  border,  and  it  was  nothing 
High  Water  in  California 
but  a  bed  of  dry  sand.  Where  it  crosses 
the  border  into  the  United  States  it 
changes  into  t he  most  fertile  gardens  and 
luxuriant  Alfalfa  fields  one  could  wish  to 
see.  Below  the  surface  of  the  sand  at 
varying  depths  is  an  abuudanee  of  water, 
and  the  enterprising  California  Yankee 
bores  a  well  and  hitches  on  a  gasoline  en¬ 
gine,  waters  the  river  bed.  and  the  re¬ 
sultant  crops  are  almost  past  belief.  Or¬ 
dinarily  in  I  he  Winter  or  rainy  season  a 
small  stream  comes  down  the  middle  of 
the  river  bed.  Some  years  it  does  not 
even  fill  the  little  channel  worn  there; 
some  years  it  may  overflow  possibly  a 
foot,  and  this  year  the  entire  river  bed 
was  filled  from  hank  to  bank  from  four  to 
10  feet  deep,  carrying  cows,  sheep, 
chickens,  sheds,  and  in  some  few  cases  I 
regret  to  add,  human  beings  out  into  the 
Pacific. 
The  reason  that  the  river  bed  that  is 
a  garden  in  the  United  States  and  just 
across  the  Mexican  border  is  a  sand  hank 
is  because  of  the  characteristics  of  the 
native  Mexican.  lie  is  going  to  put  in 
an  irrigating  plant  manana  (To-morrow). 
But  there  is  no  to-morrow  about  the  Jap 
out  here,  not  even  a  suspicion  of  it.  The 
first  day  I  came  out  here  to  look  up  a 
ranch  (everything  over  an  acre  is  a 
"ranch”  here)  I  saw  a  prosperous-looking 
place  of  about  live  acres,  and  I  asked  the 
owner  if  I  could  rent  a  small  place  and 
make  a  living  oil  it.  “Well,”  he  said,  "I 
don’t  know  what  to  say.  If  you  were  a 
Japanese  I  would  say  that  yon  could  make 
a  living  and  put  money  in  the  hank  be¬ 
sides.  hut  as  you  are  an  American  I 
don’t  know.”  Now  wouldn't  that  jar 
you?  But  after  two  months'  residence 
here  il  doesn’t  jar  me,  for  the  best  gar¬ 
dens, here  are  those  run  by  the  Japanese. 
During  the  flood,  when  supplies  were  cut 
off  from  Situ  Diego  and  prices  rose  aeortl- 
ingly,  they  got  a  boat  and  ferried  their 
vegetables  across  the  river.  As  one  of 
them  said.  ‘’Sell  him  while  pliee  high.” 
The  day  after  I  wrote  the  foregoing  it 
started  to  rain,  and  as  much  rain  fell  in 
one  day  as  in  the  preceding  six  days’ 
storm.  In  the  afternoon  the  top  of  the 
Sweetwater  dam  came  off’  and  about  five 
feet  of  water  came  down  the  valley  on 
toil  of  the  flood.  When  it  hit  the  first 
railroad  bridge  there  were  two  house  just 
above  the  bridge  which  it  picked  up  and 
hurled  against  the  bridge.  The  bridge 
tottered  for  a  moment  and  went  over,  and 
in  the  next  10  minutes  seven  houses  went 
down  the  river  out  into  the  Pacific.  This 
sounds  like  the  description  of  quite  a 
flood,  hut  at  the  head  of  the  Otay  Valley 
the  whole  dam  crumpled  up  and  a  flood 
45  feet  high  went  down  the  valley.  It 
E  Vv  -Y  O  R  K  E  R 
is  now  swept  bare,  and  on  the  beach  of  j 
the  Pacific  are  now  strewn  the  wreck¬ 
age  of  every  building,  bridge  and  fence, 
and  the  bodies  of  every  cow,  horse,  pig 
and  those  of  their  owners  who  could  uot 
he  warned  in  time.  But  I  see  nothing  in 
the  flood  to  make  me  regret  coming  here. 
Nearly  till  the  damage  was  due  to  the 
dam’s  breaking,  due  in  turn  to  faulty 
construction,  a  mistake  it  is  safe  to  as¬ 
sume  will  not  be  repeated.  And  as  the 
flooded  area  is  only  the  river  beds  it  com¬ 
prises  only  a  very  small  per  cent,  of  the 
total  geography  of  the  country.  p.  B.  c. 
Events  of  the  Week 
DOMESTIC’., — March  9  a  band  of 
Mexicans,  headed  by  Gen.  Villa,  descended 
on  Columbus.  N.  M.  In  their  attack  on 
the  town  and  the  camp  of  the  Thirteenth 
Cavalry  and  in  .the  looting  and  burning 
of  the  buildings  and  in  their  fighting  re- 
treat  they  killed  19  Americans,  including 
soldiers,  and  wounded  at  least  a  score. 
The  list  of  dead  includes  seven  United 
States  troopers,  nine  civilians,  one  a 
woman,  and  three  others ’slain  on  the 
way  into  the  town.  More  than  50  Mexi¬ 
cans  were  killed  in  the  fighting  in  or 
near  Columbus,  and  75  more  were  shot 
dead  on  Mexican  soil.  They  were  chased 
from  Columbus  by  troopers  of  the  Thir¬ 
teenth  Cavalry  under  Major  Frank 
Thompson  and  driven  far  across  the 
boundary  line.  An  agreement  Inis  been 
made  by  which  Mexico  and  the  United 
States  will  unite  to  protect  the  border; 
Carranza's  forces  will  be  allowed  to  enter 
United  States  territory  in  pursuit  of 
bandits,  and  this  country  will  he  allowed 
the  same  privilege  in  entering  Mexico. 
March  14  Congress  adopted  a  joint  reso¬ 
lution  authorizing  the  President,  in  case 
of  an  emergency,  to  recruit  the  organiza¬ 
tions  of  the  army  up  to  maximum 
strength.  This  measure,  when  adopted 
by  the  Senate,  will  enable  the  President 
tu  add  19,947  to  the  troops  available 
for  guarding  the  border,  while  the  sea¬ 
soned  soldiers  of  the  regular  army  are 
in  pursuit  of  Villa.  With  the  exception 
of  one  dissenting  voice,  that  of  Repre¬ 
sentative  Meyer  London,  the  New  York 
Socialist,  the  vote  was  unanimous,  the 
ayes  being  22(1.  Three  members,  Thomp¬ 
son  and  Davenport  of  Oklahoma  and 
Bailey  of  Pennsylvania — the  latter  the 
leader"  of  the  small  group  of  pacifist  fol¬ 
lowers  of  William  J.  Bryan,  declined  to 
rise  either  for  or  against  the  resolution 
when  the  standing  vote  was  taken. 
Fire  in  a  great  turpentine  and  rosin 
plant  at  Brunswick.  Grt..  burned  for 
three  da  vs,  and  caused  a  loss  estimated 
March  11.  at  .$750-000. 
New  York  State  is  paying  for  the 
treatment  in  its  hospitals  of  an  unusually 
high  percentage  of  alien  insane  because 
the  United  States  Government,  cannot 
deport  them  to  most  of  the  nations  in¬ 
volved  in  the  war.  according  to  the  an¬ 
nual  report  of  the  State  Charities  Aid 
Association.  According  to  the  report. 
there  were  on  October  1.  1915,  9,208 
alien  insane  in  State  hospitals,  or  one  j 
patient  in  every  four.  It  costs  $210  an¬ 
nually  to  eare  for  each  of  these,  making 
a  total  of  almost  .$2,000,000.  None  of 
these  patients  are  citizens,  the  report 
points  out.  yet  the  taxpayers  pay  the 
bill.  The  report  urges  that  the  Federal 
Government  assume  responsibility  for 
these  patients  out  of  the  $4  iter  capita 
immigrant  tax,  instead  of  forcing  the 
State  to  pay  for  their  treatment. 
Reports  that  the  price-  of  gasoline  is 
likely  to  continue  to  ascend  and  may 
reach  the  50  cent  mark  wore,  March  9. 
directed  to  the  attention  of  the  officials 
of  the  Federal  Trade  Commission,  who 
have  started  an  inquiry.  They  expressed 
the  opinion,  however,  that  the  price  will 
not  go  above  .‘10  cents.  If  it  does  the 
commission  believes  “the  full  force  of 
the  law  of  supply  and  demand  will  he 
felt,”  and  people  will  stop  using  it  to 
such  a  degree  that  it  may  prove  a  drug  j 
on  the  market  with  u  heavy  drop  in  I 
■price.  The  commission  is  endeavoring 
to  learn  the  cause  of  the  sharp  advance 
in  price.  Representative  Britton  of  Chi¬ 
cago  has  announced  that  he  will  offer  an 
amendment  to  the  Constitution  whereby 
an  export  tax  may  he  levied  on  commodi¬ 
ties  shipped  from  the  United  States.  Mr. 
Britton’s  proposition  is  aimed  tit  the 
present  high  prices. 
Louis  Merriman.  a  negro,  who  was 
born  when  George  ’Washington  was 
President  of  the  United  States,  died  at 
his  home  in  Kansas  City,  Kan.,  March 
12.  Merriman  was  the  oldest  man  on 
the  United  States  pension  rolls,  and 
claimed  to  have  substantiated  the  fact 
that  he  was  born  121  years  ago  on  the 
Soldier  plantation  in  Virginia. 
March  12  a  total  prohibition  measure 
was  carried  in  Manitoba,  In  Winnipeg 
the  vote  was  nearly  three  to  one. 
William  Lorimer,  ex-United  States 
Seuator,  was  placed  on  trial  at  Chicago, 
March  14.  on  charges  of  conspiracy  in  j 
connection  with  the  wrecking  of  the  La 
Salle  Street  Trust  and  Savings  Bank, 
of  which  he  was  president.  Charles  D. 
M unday,  vice  president  of  the  institu¬ 
tion,  was  eonvicte.fl  and  sentenced  to  live 
years  in  the  penitentiary  on  the  same 
charges  after  a  trial  lasting  several 
weeks.  In  his  upeuing  statement  Assis¬ 
tant  States  Attorney  William  IL  Holly 
told  the  jury  how  the  hank  was  changed 
from  a  national  to  a  State  institution, 
asserting  that  the  capital  stock,  .$1,250,- 
TtTien  you  write  advertisers  mention 
77ie  Rural  New-Yorker  and  you’ll  get 
a  quick  reply  and  a  "square  deal.”  tee 
guarantee  editorial  page. 
Chilled  Plows 
Cost  Less 
Chilled  Plow  in  Gritty  Soil 
The  recent  increase  in  prices 
of  all  farm  implements  causes 
the  farmer  to  reflect  upon  the 
wisest  expenditure  of  his  money. 
Chilled  plows  have  always 
been  sold  for  less  money  than 
steel.  The  difference  in  the 
price  of  chilled  and  steel  plows 
means  that  if  the  farmer  buys 
chilled  plows  now,  he  will  pay 
less  for  chilled  plows  than  he 
has  in  the  past  for  steel  plows. 
In  all  gritty  soils  the  chilled 
plow  will  do  better  work  than 
the  steel  and  lasts  from  two  to 
three  times  as  long.  Chilled 
plows  will  do  better  work  in 
many  localities  where  steel 
plows  have  been  used.  Have 
you  thought  of  this? 
Chilled  Tejiairs  are  cheaper  than 
blacksmith  bills. 
If  you  want  to  do  more  plowing 
at  less  cost,  write  us. 
Steel  Plow  in  Field  Above 
Oliver  Chilled  Plow  WorKs 
Plconaeker*  lor  the  World 
South  Bend,  Indiana 
Sows  all  kinds  of  commercial  fertilizers — 
nitrates,  phosphates,  guano,  lime,  ashes,  etc. 
Distribution  is  easily  regulated  from  one 
hundred  to  several  thousand  pounds  per  acre. 
It  is  the  only  foree  feed  that  will  accurately 
sum  fuiv  kiwi  nt  ruiiMitereial  IcrtiliJZ-r.  Honestly 
mill  strongly  Imlli  to  withstand  hard  service. 
Simple  in  construction— no  springs  or  gears  in  box. 
STEVENS 
Fertilizer  Sower 
Belcher  &  Taylor 
Agricultural  Tool 
Company,  No.  Box  75, 
Chicopee  Falls,  Mass. 
Excelsior 
In 8pit«  of  all  th»l  others  may 
aay— or  claim,  ExmdjMor  En¬ 
gines*  do  tbo  VvmI  work  and 
Book 
Don’t  bny  any  »*n- 
kIiic  until  pot. 
tin*  Kxeelstor  Kn- 
iniitj  bf»0k  and  the 
E  x  c  flsiur  Free 
Trial  Offer.  The 
Excelsior  eomos  1 
to  100  II-  T',  Fort- 
tthlc  or  Station¬ 
ary  with  wood 
sawing  attach¬ 
ment  or  without. 
the  most  Svork  fot  the  leant  coni— *P<1  you 
can  prove  il. 
For  Farm  or  Factory 
Whatever  the  work  ynu  want  It  Tor,  you  can 
try  the  Kxeckiioi  Ensrino  bjfnrif  paying  one 
cent,  for  it.  And  if  the  Kxccunor  doesn’t 
prove  the  Barest,  easiest  stmter.  ntnndiest 
runner  Of  id  inofit  cennomicftl  worker  yon  ever 
bbw,  Mind  it  back  I  That 'a  simple.  That’s 
plain.  You  cun’t  iret  around  it.  Write  for 
free  book  nnd  offer  today. 
R.  Consolidated  Gasoline  Engine  Co. 
202  Fulton  Streel  New  York  Ci»y 
