1006 
The  Rural  New-Yorker 
run  ncsiyuss  farmer's  paper 
A  National  Wi-ckly  Jouriml  fop  Country  and  suburban  IIomioh 
EslttbV.ihetl  /ajo 
l'uhlislied  weekly  1 1 Y  llie  Ktinil  I'n  111  ivh  i  n  r  l  utn |-n nj.  833  Hell  3Utll  Strr-pt,  .Npiv  York 
IIkkhpkt  W.  CoiiuynwooB,  1 ’resident and  Editor. 
Jolts  J.  H|I,IA>N.  Tmusurer  ami  <  itftcra.l  .Maim^i'r. 
W».  F.  Dillon.  secretary-  '  Mas.  E.  T.  R"ylk.  Associate  Editor. 
SUBSCRIPTION:  ONE  DOLLAR  A  YEAR 
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“  A  SQUARE  DEAL" 
Wo  l.clieve  that  every  advert  isemetit  in  this  paper  is  backed  by  a  respon¬ 
sible  person.  We  use  every  possible  proe.iut ion  and  admit  the  advertising  of 
reliable  houses  only,  ltut  to  make  doubly  sure,  wo  will  makegood  any  loss 
to  paid  subscribers  sustained  by  trusting  any  deliberate  swindler,  irrespon¬ 
sible  advertisers  or  misleading  advertisements  in  our  columns  and  any 
such  swindler  will  lie  puhltely  exposed.  We  are  also  oltcri  called  upon 
to  adjust  difTerenci  s  or  mistakes  between  otn  miltseribera  and  honest,, 
lespmtsilde  house:-,  wliethf  r  advt*rUkeTs  or  noli.  We  Vi  i ]  1, n i; ly  use  oar  good 
offices  to  this  end,  hot  such  eases,  should  nor.  be  confused  with  dishonest 
transactions.  We  protect  subscribers  against  rogues,  but,  we  will  not  lie 
responsible  for  the  debts  of  honest  bankrupts  sanctioned  by  the  court*. 
Notice  of  the  cnnipjftlnt  miira  be  sent  to  us  within  due  month  of  the  time  of 
1  u,ii.  .•uni  to  tdentirv  it,  von  should  mention  Tilt:  In  uai.  Xkw- 
Toiskkr  wheu  writing  the  advertiser. 
HERE  is  something  for  flip  people  who  say  there 
is  no  such  thins  as  a  35-eent  dollar.  A  farm 
woman  writes  this  from  Tennessee: 
”I  have  been  live  miles  to  the  store,  sold  2d  pounds 
of  young  chickens,  and  it  seems  I  could  have  car¬ 
ried  what  I  got  for  them  in  a  pint,  cup.” 
This  woman  lives  far  from  town  and  must  barter 
or  exchange  farm  produce  for  needed  goods.  Thus 
she  receives  a  35-cent  dollar  for  what  she  sells  and 
pays  a  175-eent  dollar  for  what  she  buys.  No  won¬ 
der  her  23  pounds  of  chickens  shrink  until  they  can 
get  into  a  pint  cup.  Instead  of  being  isolated  cases, 
such  incidents  come  into  the  life  of  a  large  propor¬ 
tion  of  our  country  people,  It  is  a  fault  of  our 
present  methods  of  distribution,  and  so  long  as  it 
lasts,  all  producers  and  country  people  are  injured 
by  it. 
* 
TIIE  Colorado  Agricultural  College  has  organ¬ 
ized  a  short  course  of  study  for  people  who  are 
instructed  in  tractors  and  automobiles.  This  is,  we 
think,  the  pioneer  course  in  these  things.  The  col¬ 
lege  has  four  tractors  and  eight  different,  models  of 
cars  for  students  to  take  apart  and  study,  and  the 
plan  is  to  show  a  student  how  to  take  care  of  a  car 
or  tractor  as  a  dairyman  would  he  taught  to  care 
for  a  cow.  This  seems  like  a  very  practical  thing. 
Such  courses  should  he  given  at  all  the  agricultural 
colleges.  The  car  is  nmv  as  necessary  as  the  horse 
on  most  farms,  and  the  tractor  will  soon  he  in  the 
same  Class.  Not  only  should  the  college  tell  how 
to  operate  these  machines,  but  there  should  he  some 
system  for  inspecting  and  testing  so  that  farmers 
may  know  what  they  are  buying. 
* 
MISSISSIPPI  seems  to1  have  started  a  new  idea 
in  railroad  institutes.  A  few  years  ago  var¬ 
ious  demonstration  trains  were  sent  out  from  the 
agricultural  colleges.  Speakers  went  along  with 
tools,  samples  of  crops  and  live  stock.  At  each  im- 
1  ortant  stop  a  meeting  was  held  with  a  speech  or 
demonstration.  There  was  always  an  argument  as 
to  the  value  of  such  expeditions — we  never  thought 
tney  accomplished  much  beside  advertising.  Most 
of  them  seem  now  to  have  been  given  up.  In 
Mississippi  the  plan  is  to  reverse  the  process.  In¬ 
stead  of  sending  a  train  out  from  the  college  the 
train  will  run  to  the  college,  bringing  the  farmers 
from  one  section  at  a  time.  There  will  he  reduced 
fares  and  improved  service,  and  the  farmers  will  he 
brought  to  the  college,  where  they  may  see  the  in¬ 
stitution  and  its  work.  This  is  a  good  plan  if  some 
one  can  be  found  capable  of  organizing  these  farm¬ 
ers  and  inducing  them  to  take  the  trip.  They  surely - 
will  not  go  unless  they  think  the  College  work  is 
practical  and  down  on  the  ground — somewhere  near 
them. 
* 
WE  have  told  how  the  sheep  breeders  of  Ot¬ 
sego,  Co.,  N.  Y.,  got  together  and  sold  their 
wool  at  auction.  A  similar  sale  was  held  in  Dela¬ 
ware  County.  About  •0,000  pounds  of  unsorted  wool 
was  sold  at  a  net  price  of  36%  cents  a  pound.  Now 
Essex  County  will  try  the  plan.  A  group  of  some 
30  men  have  formed  an  association  and  pledged 
5.000  pounds  of  wool  for  sale.  In  all  these  cases 
this  wool  was  formerly  sold  in  small,  individual 
lets  of  100  pounds  or  more.  Each  private  sale  cost 
a  good  sum  of  money,  and  the  individual  farmers 
had  nothing  to  do  about  making  the  price.  Wheu 
the  wool  is  lumped  together  there  is  one  sale  and 
enough  of  the  wool  to  enable  the  seller  to  determine 
the  price.  This  method  of  selling  is  coming  in 
everywhere  with  great  success.  It  will  be  at  first 
limited  largely  to  produce  which  can  he  easily  held 
in  storage,  but  sooner  or  later  the  system  must 
spread  to  milk  and  other  perishable  foods.  Wool 
is  one  of  the  best  products  to  sell  in  this  way.  The 
zsy>e  RURAL  NEW-YORKER 
difficulty*  in  selling  small  lots  of  wool  at  a  fair 
price  was  one  of  the  drawbacks  to  sheep  raising. 
This  auction  system  after  assembling  these  smaller 
lots  will  overcome  that  old  objection.  There  must 
he  more  sheep  in  New  York.  Joe  Win g  used  to 
come  here  and  say  that  by  seeding  Sweet  clover 
(ini'  farmers  can  make  many  of  the  .old  lulls  into 
ideal  sheep  farms.  lie  was  right. 
*  * 
WE  hear  now  and  then  from  people  who  object 
to  any  development  in  the  manufacture  of 
industrial  alcohol,  because  they  say  this  will  in¬ 
crease  drunkenness.  We  think  they  are  wrong. 
The  alcohol  used  for  light  and  heat,  or  power,  is 
not  a  beverage,  and  could  hardly  he  used  as  such. 
We  think  the  use  of  waste  products  for  economic 
purposes  would  in  the  end  prove  a  temperance 
measure.  When  alcohol  was  once  changed  from  a 
home  destroyer  to  a  home  wanner  and  lighter,  from 
a  curse  to  a  comfort,  the  public  would  regard  it  dif¬ 
ferently.  The  breweries  and  the  distilleries  should 
he  changed  into  plants  for  making  industrial  al¬ 
cohol. 
* 
9 
Dreams  and  Demands  of  the  Future 
IN  1872  Jules  Verne,  an  imaginative  Frenchman. 
wrote  “Twenty  Thousand  Leagues  Under  The 
Rea.”  It  was  the  story  of  a  submarine  boat  capa¬ 
ble  of  remaining  under  water  for  24  hours.  This 
hook  was  regarded  as  a  pleasant  fairy  tale — a 
dream  or  fancy  vf  an  impossible  performance.  A 
few  years  later  the  writer  of  this  saw  Graham  Roll, 
at  that  time  a  rather  shabby  inventor,  trying  to 
make  himself  heard  through  the  first  permanent 
telephone  on  a  wire  which  ran  a  few  miles  from 
Eoston  to  Cambridge.  It  was  generally  regarded  as 
a  plaything.  Forty  years  have  passed  away,  and  the 
dream  has  become  a  reality,  while  the  plaything  is 
an  absolute  necessity  of  modern  business  life. 
Last  week  a  great  German  submarine  sailed  into 
Baltimore  harbor  carrying  1,000  tons  of  the  most 
valuable  freight  This  boat  travelled  more  than 
4.000  miles,  a  good  part  of  the  distance  under 
water.  In  rough  water  or  at  sight  of  the  enemy 
she  simply  submerged  and  remained  at  rest  or 
passed  on  below  the  surface.  We  can  sec  no  great 
practical  good  to  come  from  this  to  peaceful  pur¬ 
suits,  for  an  ordinary  steamer  sailing  on  the  sur¬ 
face  is  more  economical  and  practical  for  freight 
or  passenger  service.  This  submarine  teaches  a  les¬ 
son  in  wonders  and  stimulates  human  faith  in  the 
power  of  man  to  master  the  forces  of  nature  and 
make  them  work  for  society. 
Such  things  make  ns  more  hopeful,  for  we  believe 
that  each  great  discovery  of  this  sort  will,  in  the 
end,  put  greater  power  and  truer  possibilities  into 
the  lives  of  the  common  people.  The  invention  of 
gunpowder  put  a  new  and  mighty  force  into  the 
hands  of  men.  The  controlling  class  of  that  day 
tried  to  monopolize  and  hold  this  force,  hut  it  got 
away  from  them,  and  blew  down  their  special  priv¬ 
ilege.  Every  new  application  of  giant  power  has 
its  brief  day  in  the  hands  of  the  few,  but  sooner 
or  later  it  passes  into  the  service  of  the  many,  and 
makes  their  lives  better.  Not  so  very  long  ago  it 
was  a  two  days’  trip  between  New  York  and  Phila¬ 
delphia.  Now  a  farmer  in  South  Jersey  makes  a 
trip  toi  New  York  every  night  with  a  five-ton  truck 
loaded  with  produce.  Do  you  realize  lmw  this  ser¬ 
vice,  once  started  in  this  way.  is  to  develop,  and  in 
time  work  out  for  us  the  vexed  transportation  prob¬ 
lems  of  the  future?  The  greatest  development  of 
the  future  along  these  lines  will  he  in  the  coun¬ 
try  in  carrying  farm  produce. 
When  that  great  submarine  rose  out  of  the  sea 
and  sailed  into  Baltimore  harbor,  she  proved  that 
the  wild  dream  of  40  years  ago  was  only  a  vision 
of  the  truth,  justified  by  faith.  We  believe  that 
man’s  mastery  of  force  and  the  discovery  of  cheap¬ 
er  power  have  only  begun  their  development.  We 
shall  see  our  milk  or  produce  and  our  passengers 
carried  underground  in  pneumatic  tubes  at  marvel¬ 
lous  speed,  perfect  safety  and  low  cost.  We  shall 
see  the  tremendous  power  of  the  ocean  waves  har¬ 
nessed  and.  distributed  throughout  the  land — making 
force  practically  as  cheap  as  sunshine  and  air.  This 
is  to  break  down  the  present  monopoly  of  steam 
and  high-priced  fuel.  Our  coal  supply  will  then  he 
burned  at.  the  mines — turned  into  gas  and  piped 
where  needed  in  place  of  the  present  expensive 
methods  of  distribution.  With  the  breaking  down 
of  the  present  fuel  and  force  monopoly  untold  bene¬ 
fits  will  flow  to>  the  open  country— the  rural  dis¬ 
tricts — for  there  will  be  the  best  place  for  men  and 
women  to  work  and  enjoy  their  lives.  Those  of  you 
who  smile  at  this  as  a  dream  or  fancy  will  be  si¬ 
lenced  when  you  think  «f  the  dreams  which  have, 
come  true  in  the  past  40  years.  These  industrial 
July  22,  1916, 
revolutions  are  to  bring  ns  greater  problems  than 
ever,  for  they  will  place  greater  responsibilities 
upon  the  plain,  hard-working,  small  freeholders  or 
country  people  who  most  need  the  help  and  aro  best 
endowed  with  solid  character. 
* 
FOB.  some  years  now  we  have  been  talking  cover 
crops  to  lie  seeded  in  the  corn.  At  first,  few  peo¬ 
ple  paid  more  than  perfunctory  attention.  That  was 
as  it.  usually  is,  and  we  kept  right  on  talking.  A 
few  tried  it,  got  results,  fell  in  lino  and  helped 
spread  the  good  news.  This  year  there  will  be  4.000 
farmers  seeding  cover  crops  where  one  was  willing 
to  try  it  10  years  ago!  They  are  getting  so  that 
they  have  special  mixtures  of  seed.  Here  is  one 
good  one  from  Chester  Co.,  Pa. : 
As  t !]<■'_  time  for  sowing  a  cover  crop  in  the  corn  is 
approaching  I  would  suggest  that  some  of  your  readers 
who  appreciate  this  improved  method  for  preserving  the 
fertility  of  the  soil  would  try  the  following  mixture: 
One-third  Alsike  clover  seed,  one-third  Mammoth  clo¬ 
ver,  one-tliird  Timothy  and  one  pound  of  rutabaga  seed 
to  each  bushel  of  the  mixture,  using  from  12  to  15 
pounds  to  the  acre.  I  have  found  Ihe  rutabaga  turnip 
infinitely  superior  to  the  Cow-horn:  it.  sends  a  deep 
root  into  the  subsoil  and  keeps  in  the  ground  in  an 
edible  condition  until  late  in  the  Spring.  I  turned 
under  for  corn  again  this  Spring  a  field  sown  with  this 
mixture  last  July,  and  the  cover  crop  of  clover  in  full 
bloom  had  to  he  dragged  down  to  got  it  under  the  fur¬ 
row.  The  corn  in  this  field,  though  planted  lft  to  in 
June,  is  at  the  present  time  looking  better  in  color 
than  fields  planted  two  weeks  earlier.  j.  it.  n. 
In  a  fair  season  that  will  give  a  farmer  the  equiv- 
alenl  of  eight  tons  or  more  manure,  all  hauled  and 
spread  on  an  acre,  for  the  cost,  of  the  seed!  Who 
can  beat  that?  There  are  many  other  combinations. 
We  shall  take  them  up  and  discuss  them.  But,  any¬ 
way,  got  ready  for  the  cover  crop.  It  covers  many 
farm  sins! 
* 
ALL  through  Southern  New  York  the  farmers 
are  np  in  arms  over  the  milk  question.  They 
never  were  so  wrought  up  before,  never  more  fully 
understood  the  situation:  never  more  thoroughly 
realized  what  they  must  do  in  order  to  win.  The 
twm  tilings  needed  are  compact  local  organization 
and  strong  leadership.  Big  questions  demand  big 
men  and  it  must  now  he  clear  to  all  that  strong 
fighters  are  needed  in  order  to  settle  the  milk  ques¬ 
tion.  What  about  this  committee  of  investigators 
who  are  to  spend  $25,000  in  finding  the  trouble  with 
dairying?  They  started  at  Cornell  University.  The 
following  report,  of  their  work  appears  in  the  New 
York  papers: 
Only  one-third  of  the  farmers  of  this  country  are 
making  money,  according  to  statements  made  during 
the  past  week  to  the  members  of  the  Wicks  investigat¬ 
ing  committee,  which  has  been  holding  sessions  at  the 
College  of  Agriculture  in  Ithaca.  Of  the  rest  one-third 
would  he  better  off  financially  if  they  would  place 
what  money  they  have  at  live  per  cent,  interest  and 
hire  out  as  farm  laborers.  Another  third  is  just  about 
breaking  even.  Statistics  placid  at  the  disposal  of  the 
committee  revealed  that  the  high  school  graduate  makes 
his  acres  pay  twice  as  well  as  the  man  who  never  went 
beyond  grammar  school,  while  the  college  man  makes 
three  times  as  much. 
Great  work  that — hut  what  has  it  got  to  do  with 
the  question?  In  Chenango  Co.,  N.  Y.,  farmers  leave 
the  hayliehl  and  crowd  the  court  house  in  order  to 
show  their  interest  in  the  milk  question.  Hmv  it 
will  hearten  and  enthuse  these  browned  and  hard¬ 
working  men  to  be  told  that  the  high  school  and 
the  college  offer  the  only  salvation  for  New  York 
fanners!  Does  this  committee  realize  the  size  of 
its  job,  or  does  it  understand  the  fundamental  needs 
of  the  present  situation?  No  committee  representing 
the  New  York  Legislature  ever  had  a  greater  oppor¬ 
tunity  to  help  farmers  by  getting  down  to  tin*  truth. 
How  far  will  they  get  down?  Give  them  a  fair 
chance,  but  if  they  will  not  take  their  opportunity 
we  shall  all  have  to  get  together  and  do  the  work 
for  them. 
Brevities 
“IIe  who  wills  the  end  most  will  the  means!” 
In  case  of  apple  blight  cut  out  the  diseased  part  at 
once. 
Experiments  in  Ohio  indicate  that  Grimm  is  not 
particularly  hardier  than  tin*  common  Alfalfa  from  the 
Northwest. 
Tiie  Wisconsin  Experiment  Station  relates  some  ex- 
periments  in  growing  hemp.  They  were  originally 
started  to  smother  out  quack  grass  and  other  weeds, 
as  hemp  is  a  quick  and  heavy  grower.  The  crop  be¬ 
came  profitable  as  it  became  known. 
During  July  and  August  hot  flies  lay  their  eggs  chief¬ 
ly  on  the  long  hairs  on  the  horse’s  legs.  These  eggs  get 
into  the  horse’s  mouth,  hatch,  and  the  insects  attach 
themselves  to  the  wall  of  the  stomach.  It  is  good  prac¬ 
tice  to  clip  off  these  leg  hairs  at  intervals  during  late 
Summer. 
Last  year  someone  started  an  argument  in  The  R. 
N.-Y.  about  sharks.  It  was  claimed  that  sharks  never 
attack  or  bite  humans.  A  shark  off  the  New  Jersey 
coast  last  week  evidently  heard  of  this  argument,  and 
proved  his  case  by  biting  off  both  legs  of  a  swimmer. 
