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The  Rural  New-Yorker 
THE  Et'slXSSe  FARMERS-  PAPER 
A  National  Weekly  .loueiinl  for  Country^  and  Suburban  llomea 
Established  is.’.o 
Published  weekly  by  the  Rural  Pilblisblne  t'ompnny,  338  West  3l)ih  Street.  New  Vork 
Herbert  W.  b'ou.rs'rtwoot),  President' ui< I  Editor. 
John  J.  PilLOX,  Treasurer  and  iJeucral  Matingcr. 
NVm.  F.  Dillon,  Seeretsrv.  Mrs.  E.  T.  Rovt.i:.  Associate  Editor. 
SUBSCRIPTION  :  ONE  DOLLAR  A  YEAR 
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“A  SQUARE  UEAE” 
AVe  believe  that  every  advertisement  in  this  power  I*  backed  by  a  respon¬ 
sible  person  We  use  every  possible  pieeaiHnni  and  admit  the  ad  veil  isirlft  of 
relialdc  house-:  only.  Put  to  make  doubly  -"re.  v.e  «  ill  make  innid  any  loss 
to  I  laid  “ubwi'ibeiss  sustained  by  I  iuhI  iiir  a  nv  deliberate  vwindlnr,  iirespon- 
Kilde  utlvet  tisers  m  misleadlm.'  advert bi  inenis  in  nor  columns,  and  any 
Midi  swindler  will  be  pnblfciv  exposed.  IVo  a-e  also  often  caticd  upon 
to  adjust  differences  or  mistakes  between  mu  vobveribers  and  honest, 
re-ponsilde  bouse-,  whether  Bdvo.tdlsers  or  not.  We  w  iliiia-ly  use  our  pood 
offices  to  this  end,  but  such  caw.  should  not  lie  confused  with  dishonest 
transactions.  We  protect  subscribers  apniic-t  rogue*.  but  wc  will  not  lie 
responsible  lor  the  debts  of  honest  bankrupts  sanctioned  by  the  courts. 
Notice  of  the  complaint  must  be  sent  to  us  within  one  month  of  the  time  or 
the  transaction,  and  to  identify  it.  you  should  mention  The  Rural  New- 
Yorker  when  writing  the  advertiser. 
WHEN  the  old  battle  for  parcel  post  was  on 
no  man  in  Congress  did  more  to  help  than 
David  J.  Lewis  of  Maryland,  He  was  “on  the  job” 
day  and  night — one  of  those  persistent  characters 
who  cannot  lie  choked  off.  Mr.  Lewis  has  now  been 
nominated  by  his  party  for  the  t\  S.  Senate,  and 
he  ought.  to  be  elected,  because  lie  has  the  sense  to 
see  what  the  people  want,  and  the  power  to  go  out 
after  it. 
* 
THE  price  of  linseed  meal  has  fallen  until  this 
feed  has  become  about  the  cheapest,  source  of 
protein.  The  wholesale  price  has  fallen  to  $25  per 
ton  in  large  lots.  There  is  little  domestic  demand 
at  this  time,  and  little  chance  for  export, 
owing  to  a  scarcity  of  boats  in  the  foreign  trade. 
I'n  del*  such  circumstances  no  one  can  forecast 
prices.  They  may  jump  up  or  down  $5  per  ton  in 
a  single  night.  A  number  of  Eastern  dairymen  are 
taking  a  chance  on  linseed  meal  and  buying  freely 
for  storage,  since  at  present  prices  this  is  the  cheap¬ 
est  protein  feed  they  are  likely  to  find.  Of  course 
if  such  buying  becomes  general  the  price  will  slide 
up. 
* 
“Lir<  -forever  !” 
THAT  is  the  name  given  by  farmers  to  a  very 
common  weed.  The  scientific  men  may  call  it 
Sedum  Telepliinm,  hut  “live-forever”  seems  very 
appropriate  when  you  tackle  it  with  a  hoe  instead 
of  a  microscope.  Hut  why  fight  this  pest  with  sweat 
and  blister  when  disease  will  do  if  for  ns?  As 
we  see  on  page  TOD,  there  is  a  disease  which  adds 
au  “n”  to  the  last  part  of  the  name.  The  scientists 
have,  apparently,  lost  track  of  this  disease.  If  we 
can  help  them  find  it  they  can  help  pass  it  along, 
where  it  is  needed.  We  know  there  are  places  in 
the  State  where  this  disease  can  he  found.  "Will  our 
readers  help  locate  it? 
* 
LAST  year  we  told  how  the  sheep  breeders  of 
Otsego  Co.,  X.  A'.,  sold  their  wool  at  auction. 
This  wool  was  lumped  together  and  well  graded. 
Then  manufacturers  and  dealers  were  invited  to 
come  and  hid  for  it.  The  result  was  very  satis¬ 
factory — a  gain  to  the  farmers  and  a  reduced  price 
lo  the  final  buyer.  This  year  the  same  plan  will  he 
followed.  The  County  Sheep  Breeders’  Association 
is  already  organizing  for  the  auction  sale  and  for  a 
wool  contest.  This  is  a  fine  proposition  and  we  hope 
our  readers  will  do  all  they  can  to  make  it  a  suc¬ 
cess.  This  form  of  auction  sale  is  the  true  prin¬ 
ciple  of  marketing  such  crops  as  wool.  Write  to 
Floyd  S.  Barlow,  Farm  Bureau,  Cooperstown,  N.  Y. 
* 
LA  ST  week  we  took  up  the  figures  given  out  in 
that  Chicago  milk  strike,  and  showed  that  even 
with  the  increase  the  farmers  receive  a  “ti-cent  dol¬ 
lar.  There  is  another  side  to  this.  The  dealers 
come  forward  with  figures  to  show  the  cost  of  dis¬ 
tributing  a  quart  of  milk  in  the  city.  This  cost 
always  includes  the  wages  or  salaries  paid  in  cash 
to  all  workmen — from  the  men  who  drive  the 
wagons  to  the  big  directors  or  magnates  who  con¬ 
trol  the  distributing  companies.  All  this  goes  into 
the  cost  of  distribution.  Now  figures  are  often 
given  to  show  the  c-ost  of  producing  milk,  hut  in 
this  case  the  chief  items  are  feed,  equipment,  taxes 
and  labor  of  hired  help.  As  a  rule  the  farmer  does 
not  figure  in  a  “salary”  or  wages  for  himself  and 
his  family.  If  he  did  charge  for  his  labor  and  that 
of  his  wife  and  family — just  as  the  distributors  do — 
it  is  not  likely  that  a  quart  of  good  milk  could  be 
produced  for  less  than  five  cents!  And  why  should 
not  the  farmer  make  sure  of  cash  wages  in  this 
way.  the  same  as  the  man  who  distributes  the  milk 
in  the  city?  Production  is  the  more  important  and 
responsible  operation  of  the  two,  yet  in  every  appeal 
RURAL  NEW-YORKER 
to  the  public  we  have  this  old  story  of  high  cost 
of  delivery,  based  on  the  fact  that  big  cash  sal¬ 
aries  must  bo  paid  to  the  handlers.  The  farmers 
are  just  as  much  entitled  to  these  salaries  if  they 
are  to  furnish  the  milk,  for  when  we  begin  to  ad¬ 
mit  that  production  is  the  servant  of  distribution 
we  can  see  how  Americans  hkve  given  away  their 
rights  into  the  hands  of  a  few  monopolies.  In  every 
statement  of  the  cost  of  producing  milk  let  us  add 
fair  wages  for  the  farmer  and  his  family.  John 
stays  at  home  and  helps  father  milk  cows.  Henry 
goes  to  town  and  works  for  a  big  milk  company. 
There  comes  a  question  of  prices.  The  milk  com¬ 
pany  adds  Henry’s  “salary”  to  their  expenses  to  prove 
the  high  cost  of  distribution,  and  show  that  they 
should  pay  less  for  the  milk.  We  propose  to  show 
that  it  is  just  as  fair  for  the  farmer  to  add  John’s 
“wages”  to  prove  that  the  milk  must  bring  more 
in  order  to  pay  expenses. 
* 
NORTH.  South,  East  and  West,  this  idea  of  co¬ 
operative  selling  of  farm  produce  is  growing. 
See  what,  they  recently  did  in  Mississippi: 
On  Saturday.  April  22.  103  wagons  belonging  to  70 
farmers  came  into  Yazoo  City  with  425  hogs  to  he 
shipped  cooperatively.  This  day  had  been  announced 
by  W.  R.  Riteh,  the  county  demonstration  agent,  wiio 
successfully  inaugurated  this  cooperative  work  last  No¬ 
vember,  as  bog-shipping  day,  and  farmers  desiring  to 
top  the  market  began  feeding  cottonseed  meal  and  corn, 
most  of  them  using  the  self-feeders,  to  put  their  pork 
in  shape  for  the  packer. 
Some  of  these  hogs  came  from  25  miles  to  market. 
They  were  weighed,  sorted  and  graded,  and  each 
farmer  had  a  receipt  for  the  weight  of  the  hogs 
which  he  brought.  Then  the  hogs  were  shipped  to 
packers,  or  feeders,  according  to  grade  and  demand. 
They  sold  from  $(1.60  to  $8.60,  and  returns  were 
made  four  days  after  shipment.  The  hogs  could 
have  been  sold  to  local  buyers  for  less  money,  but 
these  farmers  have  begun  to  learn  the  first  great 
lesson  in  marketing.  There  must  he  enough  of  the 
product  to  save  the  petty  charges  for  handling  small 
shipments,  and  there  must  be  careful  grading,  so  as 
to  make  the  goods  uniform.  In  one  week  there  may 
be  500  farmers  shipping  small  lots  to  New  York  City. 
There  may  be  50  different  commission  men  handling 
the  goods.  Just  consider  the  advantage  if  these 
500  lots  could  be  be  consolidated,  carefully  graded 
and  sent  in  bulk  to  the  auction  market! 
* 
WHEN  the  New  York  Legislature  in  the  face  of 
fierce  opposition,  appropriated  money  to  con¬ 
tinue  the  Foods  and  Markets  Department,  it  settled 
the  principle  for  which  farmers  have  so  long  con¬ 
tended.  The  State  is  now  definitely  committed  to 
the  proposition  that  it  is  a  legitimate  public  func¬ 
tion  to  attempt  to  improve  the  distribution  of  food 
products.  While  the  Legislature  did  not  provide 
money  enough  to  do  this  work  as  it  should  be  done, 
it  settled  the  principle,  and  the  rest.  must,  follow. 
Now  we  come  to  the  next  part  of  the  programme.  In 
its  way  this  is  harder,  because  it  calls  for  unselfish, 
individual  work  by  the  farmers  themselves.  The 
Department  may  become  a  wooden  peg  on  which 
to  hang  the  Commissioner’s  hat,  or  it  may  become 
a  great  living  force,  according  to  the  way  our  farm¬ 
ers  utilize  it.  The  power  of  the  great  steam  en¬ 
gine  does  not  count  until  a  fire  is  built  and  main¬ 
tained  under  the  boiler.  Then  its  giant  power  may 
be  exerted  through  any  machinery  which  turns  a 
wheel.  The  Department  is  like  the  steam  engine. 
Its  power  can  only  be  measured  by  the  energetic  and 
organized  support  which  the  farmers  and  consum¬ 
ers  give  it.  Like  a  mowing  machine  it  will  not  cut 
any  grass  until  the  farmer  hitches  to  it  and  gets  up 
power.  The  discussion  of  the  needs  of  this  Depart¬ 
ment.  lias  done  more  to  stir  up  agricultural  thought 
in  New  York  State  tluin  anything  that  has  ever  gone 
before.  It  has  produced  a  revolution  in  some  ideas 
of  farm  education.  Now  the  time  has  come  for 
evolution  out  of  the  old  system  of  marketing  into 
more  business-like  methods.  We  have  been  fight¬ 
ing  for  the  right  to  organize  a  marketing  machine. 
We  have  won  the  right,  now  we  must  all  get  togeth¬ 
er  and  learn  how  to  work  the  machine. 
* 
The  propaganda  carried  on  in  portions  of  the  South 
in  advocacy  of  the  commercial  planting  of  spineless 
prickly  pear,  or  spineless  cactus,  should  be  viewed  with 
suspicion  by  farmers  who  are  seeking  thoroughly  proved 
forage  crops  for  that  region.  *  *  *  Activities  of 
promoters  during  the  past  season  have  not  been  con¬ 
fined  to  the  South.  They  have  operated  and  actually 
sold  carloads  of  cuttings  as  far  north  as  Colorado,  of 
varieties  that  are  known  to  lie  too  tender  to  stand  the 
temperatures  of  San  Antonio,  Tex. 
HO  is  talking  now — some  “grouch”  “back 
number,”  “sore  head,”  or  “sour  spot?”  We 
are  interested  in  this,  as  we  have  been  called  all 
these  names  and  more  for  making  remarks  about 
spineless  cactus  and  other  “novelties.”  These  re¬ 
May  20,  1916. 
marks,  however,  come  from  the  F.  S.  Department  of 
Agriculture — printed  in  a  public  report.  The  warn¬ 
ing  is  needed,  for  the  spineless  cactus  people  have 
been  running  wild  with  great  stories  about  their 
crop.  The  fact  seems  to  he  that  the  spineless  va¬ 
riety  is  tender  and  practical  only  in  a  few  favored 
localities  in  the  Southwest.  The  big  yarns  you 
read  about  it  are  usually  produced  by  “figure  farm¬ 
ing.”  You  use  a  pencil  instead  of  a  plow  for  this 
kind  of  agriculture.  One  Leghorn  hen  lays  20(1  eggs 
a  year  and  they  average  four  cents  each.  The  cost 
for  a  year's  feed  is  one  dollar.  You  can  keep  500 
Leghorns  on  one  acre.  Therefore  a  man  can  make 
a  fortune  on  20  acres  if  he  will  buy  our  strain  of 
Leghorns!  That  is  a  sample  of  what  we  call  figure 
farming,  and  that  is  about  the  way  spineless  cactus 
has  been  farmed ! 
* 
CAN  anyone  give  us  a  sound  reason  why  a  farm¬ 
er  should  not  have  at  least,  200  asparagus 
roots  growing  in  some  good  soil  near  his  house? 
Some  farmers  tell  us  they  cannot  afford  to  bother 
with  a  garden  because  it  takes  too  much  time.  We 
know  better,  hut  if  for  the  sake  of  argument  we 
grant  it,  what  has  that  got  to  do  with  a  patch  of  as¬ 
paragus?  After  you  get  the  roots  once  started  how 
much  time  does  it  take  to  keep  them  going?  We 
have  one  field  that  wo  have  tried  for  some  years  to 
kill  out.  and  still  we  can  cut  small  crops  from  it. 
We  have  an  old  garden  spot  which  has  run  hack  to 
grass,  and  still  the  asparagus  comes  in  each  Spring. 
The  fact  is  that  no  farmer  can  give  a  sound  reason 
for  not  having  a  supply  of  rhubarb  and  asparagus. 
They  should  both  he  served  every  day  during  their 
season.  Substituted  for  medicine  and  meat  they  will 
do  more  for  your  family  than  all  the  politicians 
who  ever  stopped  at  your  door  and  asked  for  your 
vote.  Do  not,  we  beg  of  you,  let.  this  Spring  go  by 
without  starting  a  bed  of  asparagus. 
* 
MRS.  GILBERT’S  article  on  “The  Baby  on  The 
Farm”  is  very  sensible.  Those  of  us*  who 
try  to  look  beyond  the  rather  narrow  limits  of  to¬ 
day  and  consider  the  future  of  this  country,  must 
realize  what  a  great  responsibility  is  resting  upon 
the  tender  hands  of  today's  farm  baby.  He  must 
he  made  strong  in  body  and  brain  and  moral  power 
if  lie  is  to  do  his  duty.  Some  of  those  little  ones 
do  not  have  a  fair  chance,  partly  because  those  who 
must  bring  them  up  do  not  quite  know  how.  and 
partly  through  inability  to  provide  just  what  the 
baby  needs.  Many  serious  troubles  of  eyes.  ears, 
teeth,  bones  and  temper  develop  because  the  little 
one  cannot  have  a  fair  chance  in  the  cradle.  How 
much  does  it  cost  to  raise  a  child?  You  may  say 
that  we  should  not  try  to  put  such  a  thing  upon  a 
commercial  basis.  Yet  it  ought  to  be  considered 
by  anyone  who  expects  to  assume  responsibility  for 
a  family.  Little  John  Jacob  Astor  is  now  nearly 
four  years  old.  The  surrogates  court  allowed  $20,- 
000  as  a  suitable  yearly  expense  for  caring  for  him. 
Ilis  mother  now  asks  for  $7,053.20  extra,  as  she 
Claims  it  costs  $70.50  for  each  day  to  rear  this 
child!  Among  other  items  are  $720  for  a  nurse 
and  $209  for  doctor's  bills!  We  have  no  comment 
to  make  on  these  figures  except  that  you  may  well 
thank  the  good  Lord  that  He  has  spared  you  and 
your  child  the  curse  and  affliction  that  will  surely 
go  with  all  this  wealth.  Many  a  sturdy  youngster 
playing  with  an  old  rag  doll  in  the  sunshine  on  the 
farm  today  has  a  far  better  outlook  on  life  than  this 
unfortunate  child  whose  very  living  costs  $3  per 
hour  or  five  cents  every  time  the  clock  ticks  out  a 
minute! 
Brevities 
Fine  bonemeal  is  surely  “great  stuff”  for  lawns. 
The  signboard  in  front  of  the  farm  will  more  than 
pay  for  its  hoard. 
Australia  has  regulated  by  law  prices  of  grain  aiul 
bread.  Flour  is  to  sell  at  $54.75  per  ton,  and  white 
bread  131?,  cents  for  a  four-pound  loaf. 
The  scientific  men  do  not  give  us  much  hope  that 
sulphur  cun  take  tile  place  of  copper  in  fighting  potato 
blight,  yet  they  should  keep  oil  trying. 
Lime  will  not  always  end  the  nuisance  of  moss  on  the 
lawn.  It  usually  indicates  a  damp,  sour  soil,  hut  often 
tilt'  drainage  is  necessary  to  work  out  the  moss  in  ad¬ 
dition  to  heavy  liming. 
And  now  New  Jersey  will  start  an  egg-laying  con¬ 
test  at  Vineland,  opening  Nov.  1  of  this  year.  Open 
to  the  world — each  pen  containing  10  pullets  and  a 
cockerel.  Prof.  II.  R.  Lewis,  New  Brunswick,  N.  J., 
will  give  full  particulars. 
IT  is  now  an  old  story  how  some  wise  school  prin¬ 
cipals  get  the  weeds  cut  out  of  the  school  lawns.  They 
organize  voting  contests  for  the  most  popular  school 
girl.  The  only  ballet  accepted  is  a  dandelion  or  other 
despised  weed  cut  from  the  school  lawn.  Ever  since 
the  world  began  the  governing  powers  have  known  tlio 
strongest  incentive  to  labor ! 
