862 
ZShe  RURAL  NEW-YORKER 
The  Rural  New-Yorker 
Tin:  msixEts  fa  n Mini's  taper 
A  National  Weekly  Journnl  for  Country  and  Suburban  Home* 
Eahxltll^hfifl  Wiu 
Published  weekly  l»y  the  Kitrul  Fubllshlrtp  t  om | mny.  It.'tlt  IVeal  UOtli  Street,  New  York 
H KltRERT  TV.  COLT.IXG'VOOIJ,  Vri  Midcilt  nut]  Ktlitm-. 
Jolts'  .1.  nil.T.os',  Treasurer  anil  tioiioral  Manager. 
Wm.  F.  Dillon,  SivrrlHry.  Mits.  K.  T.  Hoyle,  Associate  Editor. 
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••A  SQUARE  DEAL" 
YVe  believe  (lint  every  advertisement,  in  tin's  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  wire,  we  v.  ill  make  good  any  loss 
to  i  wit  I  s'lilinoriki  t>  sustained  by  trusting  any  doll  berate  swindler,  irresjxm- 
sil'lt  advertisers  or  misleading’  advertise-mentfl  in  our  columns,  ami  any 
wifli  switidh  r  will  be  pnljliily  expObed.  We  are  also  often  called  upon 
to  adjust  differences  or  mistakes  between  our  subscribers  and  honest, 
re  ponsible  house-,  wllot, bee  advertisers  or  not.  YVe  willingly  U-U  oar  good 
otbees  to  this  end,  but  sucj  i  eases  should  not  lie  confused  'with  dishonest 
trniisaetb  'Its.  AVe  protect  sUhsci  lbera  against  rogue  s,  hut  we  will  not,  ho 
responsible  for  the  drills  of  honest  bankrupt*  sanctioned  by  the  courts. 
Notice  et  the  com  pin  in  t  must  he  pent,  to  ns  within  omj  month  of  the  linn;  of 
the  transaction,  and  to  identify  it,  you  should  mention  Thu  Rural  Nisw- 
Yokkbr  when  writing  the  advertiser. 
THERE  are  a  number  of  cases  where  farmers 
and  gardeners  have  been  seriously  damaged  by 
having  their  crops  injured  by  fumes  from  factories. 
Some  of  these  farmers  are  considering  suits  for 
damages.  Tn  order  to  stand  any  chance  of  winning 
such  a  suit  you  must  have  a  very  able  lawyer,  a  first- 
elass  chemist,  and  be  able  to  show  what,  your  crops 
have  been  worth.  We  can  name  an  expert  chemist 
who  has  had  the  proper  experience  in  this  line,  and 
who  can  find  the  needed  evidence  if  there"be  any. 
* 
AFTER  the  experience  <>f  last,  year  we  all  nn- 
derstand  that  cheaper  methods  of  cooling  and 
carrying  perishable  fruit  must  he  worked  out.  As 
for  cooling,  bore  is  a  suggestion  : 
Instead  of  keeping  apples  by  the  ammonia  brine 
process,  successful  experiments  have  been  made  by  some 
growers  and  the  Missouri  Fruit  Experiment.  Station 
a t  Mountain  Grove.  Mo.,  to  keep  them  in  thoroughly 
insulated  houses  with  proper  vents  by  using  rotary 
fans,  propelled  by  gasoline  engines  and  supplying  cur¬ 
rents  of  fresh  cool  air  during  the  early  hours  in  the 
morning.  Has  anything  been  done  along  that  line  in 
New  York  State?  Louis  erb. 
Wo  do  not  think  this  has  been  tried  to  any  great 
extent  in  New  York,  but  it  might,  well  he  developed. 
Have  any  of  our  Eastern  readers  tried  this  plan? 
* 
A  CAMPAIGN  for  "a  silo  on  every  farm”  has 
been  started  in  Niagara  County,  and  will  ex¬ 
tend  through  all  of  Western  New  York.  This  is 
;>  fruit-growing  country,  and  will  continue  to  he  a 
land  of  orchards,  but  this  silo  advice  is  r  ,  1.  Corn 
is  one  of  the  best  crops  to  grow  in  young  orchards, 
and  the  silo  is  the  best  place  for  corn.  As  we  ha  *  e 
often  pointed  out  a  change  is  coming  in  the  dairy 
business.  The  cow  is  to  make  a  combination  with 
t he  hen  or  the  apple  tret*.  In  former  years  apple 
growers  thought,  they  did  not  need  live  stock,  but, 
the  immense  development  of  fruit  growing  and  tbe 
changes  in  the  dairy  business  have  ended  that.  The 
orchardist  now  needs  a  good  side  line  to  go  with  the 
fruit,  and  the  demand  for  high-class  milk  gives  him 
a  chance  to  provide  Winter  work,  to  use  his  corn 
and  cover  crops  to  advantage  and  help  out  the  fer¬ 
tilizer  hill.  This  campaign  for  “a  silo  on  every 
farm"  is  one  part  of  the  new  movement  to  transfer 
part  of  the  dairy  business  from  the  hack  pastures 
to  the  orchard  land.  It  will  create  :i  great,  demand 
for  high-class  cattle  and  superior  dairy  fixtures. 
*8 
IN  various  parts  of  New  York  extensive  experi¬ 
ments  are  being  made  with  dusting  as  compared 
with  liquid  sprays  for  controlling  fruit  insects  and 
diseases.  When  dusting  was  first  suggested  a  few 
years  ago  most  entomologists  and  practical  growers 
wore  inclined  to  laugh  at  the  plan.  It  seems  to  have 
gained  ground  through  the  persistent,  efforts  of  a 
few  fruit  growers  on  dry,  hilly  land,  who  found  it 
difficult  to  obtain  a  full  water  supply.  This  made 
ir  next  to  impossible  to  care  for  their  trees  properly 
with  the  liquids,  and  thus  necessity  drove  them  into 
u  demonstration  of  the  value  of  dusting.  We  can 
easily  remember  when  the  entomologists  on  the  At¬ 
lantic  slope  insisted  that  the  lime-sulphur  would  not 
answer  for  fighting  the  San  Jose  scale.  Most  peo¬ 
ple  c-an  now  understand  that  a  dust  containing  ar¬ 
senic  may  he  used  to  kill  leaf  or  bud-eating  insects, 
but  it  seems  almost  too  much  to  expect  that  an  in¬ 
sect  like  the  scale,  protected  by  an  armor  of  hard 
shell,  can  be  affected  by  dusting.  Yet,  some  of  the 
experiments  seem  to  indicate  that  an  effective  com¬ 
bination  of  dry  powders  will  be  found.  This  is  good 
work  and  interests  all  fruit  growers. 
* 
LAST  year  we  received  from  Prof.  Hansen,  of 
the  South  Dakota  Experiment  Station,  roots 
of  several  varieties  of  Siberian  Alfalfa.  These  roots 
were  planted  about  as  one  would  “set  out”  cabbage 
or  strawberries.  Practically  all  these  plants  lived 
and  made  good  growth.  They  came  through  our 
past  severe  Winter,  and  by  June  first  many  of  them 
stood  30  inches  high.  They  were  planted  three  feet 
apart  each  way.  and  now  have  thickened  so  that 
they  bid  fair  to  cover  tbe  ground  in  time.  One  va¬ 
riety  in  particular  (Semipalatinsk)  seems  to  us  par¬ 
ticularly  promising  for  reinforcing  pastures.  It  is 
of  a  recumbent  or  trailing  habit,  spreading  out  on 
the  ground  more  like  a  vine.  We  have  it  growing 
vigorously  in  soil  so  sour  that  it.  is  red  with  sorrel. 
We  believe  the  day  is  coming  when  this  variety  of 
Alfalfa  will  be  transplanted  here  and  there  in  old 
pastures  with  great  profit.  If  given  a  fair  chance  it 
will  fix  itself  in  the  soil,  gradually  spread  and  im¬ 
prove  the  pasture.  We  do  not  know  that,  this  has 
been  tried  out,  hut  it  ought  to  be,  and  we  think  this 
Alfalfa  has  a  future  as  a  pasture  plant.  We  have 
a  few  roots  left  and  can  send  a  dozen  or  so  to 
readers  who  would  he  interested  enough  to  give  the 
plan  a  careful  trial.  As  a  plan  for  filling  up  the 
bare  places  in  a  field  this  should  be  worth  trying. 
* 
WE  find  great  interest  in  New  York  rural  neigh¬ 
borhoods  over  the  efforts  to  close  up  the 
district  schools  and  consolidate  them  with  others. 
Opinion  is  divided.  Some  country  neighborhoods 
nre  so  situated  that  the  people  prefer  to  give  up  the 
school  and  send  their  children  to  larger  central 
schools.  In  the  great  majority  of  cases  there  is 
bitter  opposition  to  closing  the  local  school.  Most 
farmers  feel,  and  rightly  so,  that  it  is  unfair  and 
un-American  to  take  the  final  decision  out  of  their 
hands,  and  let  one  man  or  one  small  set  of  men  de¬ 
cide  an  important  local  matter.  We  have  had  many 
of  these  school  eases  put  up  to  us,  and  have  found 
some  remarkable  conditions.  Many  times  the  entire 
trouble  may  be  traced  to  one  of  those  unhappy 
feuds  or  personal  fights  which  do  so  much  to  break 
up  neighborhoods.  Where  there  is  such  trouble  the 
school  authorities  seem  to  think  it  better  to  give 
up  the  school.  There  have  been  several  cases  where 
we  think  injustice  has  been  done  to  the  people  of  a 
district  by  closing  their  school.  The  State  school 
officials  say  that  they  are  working  for  the  best 
interest  of  all  to  make  a  uniform  system  of  educa¬ 
tion,  but  it  is  doubtful  if  they  know  the  real  needs 
of  the  country  people  as  well  as  resident  farmers, 
ft  ltd  the  law  should  not  permit  them  to  act  in  an 
arbitrary  way — without  any  appeal.  In  these  times, 
however,  country  people  must  realize  that  if  they 
are  to  retain  their  district,  school  they  must  get  to¬ 
gether  and  make  the  school  efficient.  We  do  not 
say  “up-to-date,”  for  that  usually  means  some  edu¬ 
cational  fad  which  is  being  tried  out  on  the  chil¬ 
dren.  We  mean  efficient — a  school  which  gives  the 
children  of  the  neighborhood  what  they  need  to 
make  them  useful  men  and  women.  If  the  people 
of  the  district  will  not  work  to  provide  that  kind  of 
a  school  it.  will  probably  he  better  to  unite  with 
others  who  will  do  so.  The  country  children  should 
have  a  fair  chance  at  education,  and  we  think  the 
home  district  should  have  first  chance  to  provide 
what  they  need. 
* 
"These  cold,  formal,  ‘careful  consideration’  letters 
that  say  nothing  are  simply  like  a  slap  in  tbe  face,  and 
easily  arouse  resentment!” 
HAT  is  from  a  man  who  wrote  his  Representa¬ 
tive  in  Congress  about  parcel  post  and  some 
other  important  matters.  What  he  got  back  was  a 
note  saying  the  matter  would  have  “careful  consid¬ 
eration.”  The  Congressman  probably  never  wrote 
it  jit  all.  He  turned  it  over  to  some  clerk  and 
said :  “Just  keep  this  man  cjuiet.”  You  see  this 
Congressman  forgot  that  just  before  election  he 
sent  this  farmer  a  very  loving  letter.  At  that,  time 
he  was  after  a  vote,  and  full  of  promises.  The 
farmer  is  a  man  of  simple  direct  miml.  and  he 
took  tile  candidate  right  at  his  word  and  wrote  him 
what  he  wanted.  Of  course  this  "careful  considera¬ 
tion”  did  seem  to  him  like  a  slap  in  the  face.  "Well, 
what  do  you  expect  me  to  say?”  asked  one  Congress¬ 
man  tin*  other  day.  Our  best  advice  to  him  was: 
"No//  fust  what  you  arc  going  to  do  or  nay  nothing! 
M  any  rate  don’t  nay  ‘careful  consideration That 
has  got  on  the  farmer's  nerves !" 
* 
ONE  of  the  most  unfortunate  things  connected 
with  farming  on  the  upper  Atlantic  slope  is 
the  decline  in  sheep  raising.  The  absence  of  sheep 
is  responsible  for  the  practical  abandonment  of 
thousands  of  acres  of  hill  land,  which  have  gone 
hack  to  brush  and  briers.  The  worst  part  of  it  is 
the  mental  and  moral  decline  which  has  induced 
farmers  to  put  the  cur  dog  above  the  useful  sheep. 
The  time  lias  come  to  make  a  definite  and  persist¬ 
ent  campaign  for  sheep  husbandry,  and  we  may  well 
start  with  a  circular  issued  by  F.  E.  Peck,  County 
.Tune  10,  191(5. 
Agent  for  Berkshire  Co.,  Mass.  Mr.  Peck  wants  to 
know : 
1.  Are  the  dogs,  or  changed  conditions  in  agricul¬ 
ture,  responsible  for  the  decline  of  the  sheep  business? 
2.  Can  the  sheep  business  again  be  profitably  re¬ 
sumed?  (a)  With  present  dog  laws  properly  enforced. 
( t> )  With  dogs  eliminated. 
Up  in  that  country  the  farmers  generally  feel  that 
the  cur  dog  has  ruined  this  profitable  branch  of 
farming,  while  many  of  thorn  would  like  to  get  back 
into  sheep.  Now  let  us  hike  this  up  and  see  if  we 
can  settle  it.  Do  we  need  new  laws  or  better  en¬ 
forcement  of  old  ones? 
* 
MANY  of  the  papers  have  printed  stories  of  the 
great  Chicago  milk  war.  Most  of  them  were 
written  from  the  standpoint  of  the  dealers  or  hand¬ 
lers.  We  have  waited  until  we  could  get  an  author¬ 
ized  statement  from  the  producers,  and  it  is  print¬ 
ed  this  week.  Mr.  Swift,  president,  of  the  Milk  Pro¬ 
ducers’  Association,  tells  us  how  the  battle  was 
won.  These  farmers  had  the  true  spirit  of  co¬ 
operation.  They  did  not  stand  back  and  wait  for 
the  officers  and  leaders  to  do  the  work,  hut  they 
got  right  out  themselves  on  the  picket  line.  When 
a  man  goes  into  a  battle  of  this  sort  he  must  be 
prepared  to  give  as  well  as  take.  He  can  hardly  hope 
to  get  any  real  benefit  out.  of  it.  except  by  giving 
of  his  time  and  his  manhood  freely  and  without 
fear.  We  shall  all  have  to  remember  this  when  the 
battle  comes  in  New  York,  as  it  surely  will.  In  order 
to  organize  victory  there  must  be  two  strong  ele¬ 
ments— loyal  soldiers  and  strong  leadership.  Those 
Chicago  milk  producers  had  both.  They  were  des¬ 
perate  and  they  knew  that  if  they  did  not  hang  to¬ 
gether  they  would  all  hang  separately.  We  may 
c-asily  read  between  the  lines  of  Mr.  Swift's  state¬ 
ment  and  see  what  a  struggle  those  men  went 
through.  The  time  had  gone  by  for  conferences  or 
pleasant  tfilk  or  investigation.  It  just  came  down 
to  a  hard,  hitter  man-sized  fight  for  tbe  milk.  The 
producers  won  because  they  were  strong  enough  to 
keep  the  milk  out  of  Chicago.  As  for  leadership 
Mr.  Swift  says  with  great  truth: 
The  real  difficult  feature  is  the  management.  For 
such  men  the  large  business  houses  will  pay  thousands 
yearly.  The  successful  business  establishments  of  the 
world  arc  dependent  on  management,  and  good  men  tire 
in  demand  all  over  tlic  world.  Many  have  the  ability 
but  it  is  not  coupled  with  the  honesty,  sense  and  cour¬ 
age.  It  is  only  the  egotist  who  thinks  he  can  man¬ 
age  a  business  successfully,  those  who  can  and  do  man¬ 
age  the  great  industries  of  tin*  country  are  modest  men, 
unassuming,  with  great  brains,  and  men  who  work  un¬ 
tiringly.  Then  they  have  courage  and  honesty  and 
they  supervise  with  a  shill  that  brooks  no  mediocrity. 
Such  men  are  hard  to  find. 
We  want  the  milk  producers  as  well  as  others  to 
realize  that  their  hope  lies  in  attracting  the  support 
of  big  and  capable  men  with  honesty  and  courage. 
Every  popular  movement  among  the  people  will  at¬ 
tract  big  and  capable  men,  but  they  are  not  always 
honest,  for  they  enter  the  movement  for  the  power 
which  it  may  bring  them.  Then  there  are  other  big 
men,  honest  enough,  but  lacking  the.  courage  to  get 
out  and  fight  in  an  unpopular  or  “undignified”  way. 
It  must  be  understood  that  the  men  who  are  to  lead 
in  a  battle  for  fairer  milk  prices  must  he  fighters — 
men  of  courage  who  cannot  he  bluffed  or  bribed  or 
frightened  or  driven  from  their  purpose.  The  thing 
to  do  first  of  all  is  to  arouse  the  fighting  spirit 
among  the  rank  and  file  of  milk  producers.  Out  of 
that  will  come  the  leaders  ready  for  battle,  and  not 
caring  whether  they  fight  in  any  ladylike  way  or 
not,  provided  they  are  right! 
Brevities 
I, AST  year  $490,385  worth  of  soapstone  was  pro¬ 
duced  in  this  country. 
In  1!K>I  $2,505,361  worth  of  essential  oils  were  pro¬ 
duced  in  this  country.  After  till  the  essential  oil  of 
labor  is  “elbow  grease,” 
Pert-taps  you  never  saw  an  oil-burniug  locomotive, 
but  36,048,400  barrels  of  petroleum  were  eousumed  in 
locomotives  iu  this  country  alone  last  year. 
IN  illustrating  these  old-time  types  of  berry  baskets 
on  page  807  tbe  statement  was  made  that  these  old 
baskets  came  from  New  Hampshire.  It  should  have 
been  New  Haven,  Conn. 
It  seems  that  a  paleo-hotanist  is  one  who  works  on 
fossil  remains  of  plants  which  inhabited  the  earth  from 
one  to  25  million  years  ago.  We  should  judge  that 
there  is  small  danger  of  a  crowd  in  the  ranks. 
Wild  mustard  in  oats  may  be  killed  by  spraying  with 
100  pounds  iron  sulphate  in  50  gallons  of  water.  It 
must  be  used  when  the  oats  are  not  over  four  inches 
high,  or  before  the  mustard  sends  up  the  flowering 
stalk. 
The  latest  trade  report  states  that  the  Germans  have 
prohibited  soap  making  except  in  licensed  factories. 
That  is  because-  glycerine  is  saved  as  a  by-product  in 
modern  soup  making,  while  it  is  wasted  iu  domestic 
manufactures.  Glycerine  is  needed  for  explosives. 
TliorsANtiK  of  cans  of  rhubarb  have  been  bought,  for 
use  by  soldiers  in  the  European  war.  The  rhubarb  is 
said  to  be  specially  useful  in  the  trenches  where  pois¬ 
onous  gases  tire  used.  No  more  useful  than  right  on  the 
farm — yet  what  proportion  of  farmers  have  till  the  rhu¬ 
barb  and  asparagus  their  families  need? 
