1074 
The  Rural  New-Yorker 
THE  BUSINESS  FA-RVER'S  PAPER 
A  Notional  Weekly  •Journal  lor  Country  nnd  Suburban  Homes 
Established  tstio 
I  •utilisin' d  wceblj  lir  tho  Rural  l*niiliiiliing  Cnuipnny,  HUS  lYott  flOilt  Street,  Xotr  York 
Hkbbicrt  W.  coLwyowooD,  T'rt'KKlent  anti  Editor. 
John  J.  DlliUiS,  Treasurer  and  Oenoral  Manager, 
Wx.  F.  Dnxox,  Secretary,  MBS,  E.'T.  Roy w;,  Associate  Editor. 
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“A  SQUARE  PEAL" 
Wo  believe  that  every  advertisement  in  this  paper  is  backed  by  n  respon¬ 
sible  person.  We  use  every  possible  precaution  and  admit  the  advertising  of 
reliable  bouses  only.  But  to  make  doubly  sure,  we  will  make  good  any  loss 
to  paid  subscribers  Sustained  by  trusting  an.v  deliberate  swindler,  irrespon¬ 
sible  advertisers  or  misleading  advertisement*  in  our  columns,  and  any 
such  Swindler  will  be  publicly  exposed.  Wo  arc  nlso  often  called  upon 
to  adjust  duroreucin  or  mistake-  between  our  subscriber*  and  honest, 
responsible  Ionises,  whether  advertisers  or  not.  We  willingly  use  our  good 
oilioeR  to  this  nnd.  but  such  eases  should  not  be  confused'  with  dishonest 
tranWictlans.  Wo  protect  subscribe  TV  against  rogue*,  but  we  will  not  bo 
Fcnponidblc  for  the  debt*  <if  honest  bank rupta  aituctianed  bv  the  rourl*. 
Notice  of  the  complaint  must  bo  sent  to  uwwti.mn  one  month  of  tlie  time  of 
the  transaction,  and  to  identify  it,  you  should  mention  The  Rural  New- 
YokkbH  wlteti  writing  the  advertiser. 
IN  stating  the  borrowing  limits  and  payments  un¬ 
der  tlie  new  Federal  Farm  Loan  law  we  did  not 
make  the  facts  clear.  The  law  says: 
“ The  amount  of  loans  to  any  one  borrower  shall 
in  no  ease  exceed  a  maximum  of  $10,000,  nor  shall 
any  loan  be  for  a  less  sum  than  $100." 
Thus  the  law  is  intended  to  help  the  small  farm¬ 
er  as  well  as  the  big  one.  No  single  borrower  can 
obtain  more  than  $10,000,  while  the  man  needing 
only  $100  can  also  be  accommodated. 
* 
HOW  tall  will  Alfalfa  grow?  The  tallest  plant 
we  have  yet  seen  was  six  feet  and  five  inches 
from  tlie  ground  to  (In'  tip.  Tt  was  grown  by  Theron 
McOampbell  in  Monmouth  Co.,  N.  .T.,  on  a  sassafras 
loam  soil.  It  was  seeded  seven  years  ago.  The 
plant  measured  was  first  culling  for  1010.  It  grew 
along  a  wire  fence  and  was  thus  held  up  straight. 
We  have  many  plants  of  Semipnlatinsk  Alfalfa 
(transplanted)  which  show  a  growth  of  more  than 
five  feet  this  year,  but  we  would  like  to  know  the 
limit  to  which  Alfalfa  will  climb  when  conditions 
are  right. 
* 
HERE  is  a  curious  instance  of  difference  in 
value.  Not  long  ago  a  man  in  Ohio  asked  for 
information  about  how  to  destroy  certain  plants 
which  he  found  growing  on  his  lawn,  lie  had  no  use 
for  them.  They  hod  become  a  nuisance.  We  print¬ 
ed  his  letter  with  information :  and  now  comes  a 
man  in  Massachusetts  who  wants  to  buy  a  couple  of 
dozen  of  those  despised  plants.  He  says  the  bulbs 
would  sell  very  well  in  his  neighborhood  for  garden 
flowers,  and  lie  cannot  understand  how  the  Ohio 
man  is  so  desirous  of  exterminating  a  plant  which 
would  have  considerable  value  in  Massachusetts. 
Many  a  man  has  destroyed  what  to  him  was  a 
nuisance,  when  if  lie  had  only  known  it  bad  high 
value  in  other  parts  of  the  country.  That  is  one 
great  argument  which  our  people  find  in  favor  of 
a  paper  like  The  R.  N.-Y.  which  has  a  wide  circula¬ 
tion.  All  classes  of  people  read  it,  and  this  very 
fact  multiplies  its  ability  to  spread  information  or 
develop  business. 
* 
WHEN  laws  are  passed  to  compel  inspection  of 
dairy  premises  and  cattle  and  when  cows  are 
tested  for  tuberculosis  who  is  the  receive  the  bene¬ 
fit?  The  public — the  consumers  in  whose  behalf 
those  things  are  supposed  to  be  done.  Who  has  to 
pay  the  expenses  of  making  these  dairies  “sanitary”? 
Who  suffers  most  of  the  loss  when  cattle  are  con¬ 
demned  and  slaughtered?  The  farmers!  Thus  the 
benefit  goes  to  the  consumers  while  the  expenses  go 
to  the  farmers.  It  will  not  do  to  say  that  in  the 
end  tlie  consumers  pay  the  hills.  That  might  be  so 
in  some  cases,  and  with  some  products,  hut.  in  the 
case  of  milk,  especially  in  this  great  city,  the  fann¬ 
ers  and  consumers  have  nothing  to  do  with  the 
price.  The  dealers  take  advantage  of  the  perishable 
nature  of  this  food,  and  say  what  the  consumer  shall 
pay  and  what  the  farmer  shall  receive.  In  all  pro¬ 
ducts  which  are  free  the  law  of  demand  and  supply 
will  regulate  price,  but  with  milk,  no  matter  how  lit¬ 
tle  the  farmer  receives,  the  consumer  pays  the 
same — Summer  or  Winter.  Under  these  conditions 
tlie  farmer  pays  the  cost  of  insuring  pure  milk. 
* 
“TO  mould  as  soon  think  of  letting  these  fields  go 
hare  in  the  Rummer  as  to  leave  them  so  in  the  Win¬ 
ter”  h.  B.  H. 
IITS  farmer  has  worked  the  cover  crop  plan 
through  until  he  knows  what  it  means.  Any 
man  who  has  seen  his  soil  grow  richer  and  darker 
and  more  porous  year  by  year  will  say  the  same. 
You  see  this  improvement  comes  as  the  result  of 
turning  the  farm’s  idle  hours  into  service.  Let  the 
cornfield  go  unclothed  and  bare  through  our  long 
TShe  R  LJ  R  A  K  NEW-YORKER 
wet  Falls  and  there  is  a  constant  loss  in  fertility. 
While  the  soil  is  washed  one  week  and  baked  the 
next.  In  the  Spring  you  have  leached  nmd.  Sow 
rye  and  clover  or  vetch  and  turnips  in  the  corn, 
and  the  soil  is  dressed  up  for  Fall  and  Winter.  The 
soil  fertility  is  saved,  nitrogen  is  added  by  the  clov¬ 
er,  the  soil  is  kept  open  and  porous,  so  that  in  the 
Spring,  instead  of  leached  mud,  you  have  a  moist 
sponge  full  of  decaying  organic  matter.  A  farmer 
who  has  not  seen  a  piece  of  land  respond  to  this 
simple  treatment  finds  it  hard  to  believe  the  stories 
which  are  told  of  results  from  Ibis  cover  cropping. 
When  we  speak  of  throwing  $2  worth  of  seed  upon 
an  acre  at  the  first  cultivation,  and  without  further 
labor  finding  the  next  Spring  $12  and  more  of  ma¬ 
norial  value  all  hauled  and  spread  on  that  acre,  we 
might  be  accused  of  telling  a  fairy  tale,  yet  thou¬ 
sands  of  farmers  are  doing  that  very  thing  year 
after  year.  The  wonder  is  that  any  farmer  should 
let  his  cornfield  remain  bare  and  idle  through  the 
Fall,  when  the  cover  crop  will  do  so  much  for  him. 
* 
LAST  Winter  the  New  Jersey  Legislature  passed 
what  is  known “hs  the  Herrick  road  bill,  which 
is  designed  particulawly  to  benefit  farmers  who  live 
off  the  fine  macadam  roads.  Under  this  law  the 
State  takes  $105,000  from  (he  motor  vehicle  tax  for 
improving  country  highways.  Any  township  com¬ 
mittee  in  the  State  may  apply  for  aid  under  this  law. 
They  submit  to  the  State  Commissioner  of  Public 
Roads  a  statement  of  what  they  want  in  the  way  of 
road  improvement.  lie  decides  which  applications 
shall  he  taken  up  first,  and  plans  are  drawn,  sur¬ 
veys  made  and  contracts  made  when  ready.  The 
State  will  pay  up  to  50  per  cent,  of  I  he  cost  of  this 
road  work,  and  also  t:tv»  cost  of  surveys  and  plans. 
The  township  pays  the  remaining  half.  Applications 
must  be  made  before  July  1,  and  this  first  year  of 
the  law  they  have  been  made  as  follows: 
No.  of 
County 
applications 
Total  Amt. 
Bergen  . 
.  15 
$12,000.00 
Burlington  . 
.  3 
2.500.00 
Gloucester  . 
.  1 
3,271.28 
Hunterdon  . 
.  10 
8,000.00 
Mercer  . 
o 
7,000.00 
Middlesex  . 
o 
2,200.00 
Monmouth  . 
. .  4 
3.750.00 
Morris  . 
.  4 
2.300.00 
Somerset  . 
.  5 
6.000.00 
Sussex  . . 
.  13 
20.500.00 
Warren  . . 
.  10 
27,000.00 
Total  . $04,531.28 
As  was  to  be  expected  these  applications  are 
mostly  from  rural  townships  where  farmers  have  to 
put  up  with  poor  roads.  It  is  the  first  lime  the 
Jersey  farmer  has  ever  received  any  State  aid  for 
the  road  lie  is  obliged  to  use  in  order  to  reach  the 
macadam.  He  has  been  taxed  to  build  and  main¬ 
tain  the  fine  State  roads,  but  his  own  important  side 
road  has  been  left.  The  fund  now  used  to  help  his 
road  is  not  a  tax,  but  conies  out  of  the  motor  ve¬ 
hicle  receipts.  While  these  cars  may  not  come  his 
way,  they  help  destroy  the  roads  he  is  taxed  to 
build  and  maintain,  and  they  may  well  help  bring 
the  farmer  to  tlie  macadam. 
* 
IN  some  respects  the  new  Farm  Loan  Law  is  the 
most  remarkable  piece  of  financial  legislation  yet 
enacted  in  this  country.  It  goes  along  the  road 
toward  the  point  of  making  farm  property  a  basis 
for  direct  government  security.  It  docs  not  quite 
get  there,  but  it  starts,  and  (hose  of  us  who  can 
remember  the  struggles  of  the  Green  backers  and 
Populists  of  25  years  ago  must  see  in  this  legisla¬ 
tion  a  great  development  in  public  sentiment.  The 
significant  thing  is  that  no  political  party  now  dares 
oppose  “rural  credits.”  If  such  a  thing  had  been 
suggested  20  years  ago  its  advocates  would  have 
been  called  anarchists  or  "traitors.”  Of  necessity 
the  first  rural  credit  bill  must  be  well  protected  by 
red  tape  and  technicalities.  There  can  be  no  “raid 
upon  the  treasury”  with  all  the  safeguards  of  rural 
organization  and  inspection  which  we  have  de¬ 
scribed.  Will  not  this  very  cumbersome  protection 
act  to  prevent  farmers  from  using  this  credit  sys¬ 
tem?  Our  reports  from  the  Eastern  States  <lo  not 
indicate  any  great  interest  in  the  bill.  A  very  fair 
statement  of  public  'pinion  is  found  in  the  report 
from  Maryland  011  tho  next  page.  In  the  South  and 
West  there  is  far  more  interest  in  the  new  law,  and 
we  understand  that  strong  efforts  will  be  made  to 
organize  local  borrowing  associations.  This  is  a 
case  where  farmers  should  have  all  the  available 
facts,  and  thus  be  able  to  study  out  the  matter  for 
themselves.  For  this  reason  we  intend  to  print  a 
series  of  notes  from  conservative  men  giving  the  ex¬ 
act  state  of  farm  needs  and  opinion  in  various  sec¬ 
tions.  We  do  not  agree  with  those  enthusiastic  peo¬ 
ple  who  think  the  financial  millennium  has  come 
with  this  rural  credit  law.  That  happy  state  is  far 
August  12,  1010. 
off  yet,  but  this  law  establishes  the  principle  that 
the  farmer  is  entitled  to  credit  the  same  as  any 
other  business  man,  and  that  farm  land  under  proper 
conditions  is  as  safe  as  gold  hack  of  a  government 
bond.  With  those  two  things  settled  the  plan  of 
sound  credit  will  finally  work  itself  out. 
# 
THE  war  is  forcing  many  English  farmers  to  util¬ 
ize  new  methods  and  machinery.  There  is  a 
shortage  of  labor,  and  many  women  and  girls  are 
working  as  “farm  hands.”  This  has  led  to  the  use 
of  a  number  of  American  machines  such  as  hay- 
loaders,  cow  milkers,  rakes  and  mowers.  These  are 
lighter  than  the  English  machinery  and  can  be  han¬ 
dled  by  women  and  light  men.  In  other  eases  the 
smaller  English  farmers  "lend  themselves”  to  the 
large  farmers  and  in  return  have  their  crops  han¬ 
dled  by  the  machinery  from  the  big  farms.  Thus 
the  results  of  the  great  war  are  not  all  to  he  found 
on  the  battlefield — they  reach  to  the  quiet  farm  at 
home,  and  lead  to  permanent  changes. 
* 
WITAT  Horace  Roberts  says  on  page  1054  about 
motor  truck  service  for  farm  produce  recalls 
pioneer  work  in  tkfk  line  done  bv  New  Jersey  flower 
growers.  Because  express  companies  were  regarded 
as  careless,  insolent  and  rapacious,  a  group  of  flor¬ 
ists  growing  for  the  New  York  cut  flower  market 
began,  a  number  of  years  ago,  to  send  their  stock 
1o  market  by  wagon.  With  the  transportation  under 
their  own  control,  they  could  secure  the  cnneful 
handling  called  for  by  their  high-priced  anil  perish¬ 
able  product.  Tlie  express  companies  had  caused 
the  florists  heavy  losses  through  delay  and  exposure 
in  Winter,  when  flowers  are  highest  in  price;  the 
privately  controlled  transportation  eliminated  this 
risk.  The  express  companies  lost  enough,  in  annual 
income,  to  make  them  thoughtful  and  the  florists 
learned  in  this,  as  in  many  other  things,  that  a 
union  of  interests  brings  strength.  Their  national 
trade  organization,  the  Society  of  American  Flor¬ 
ists,  has  a  very  active  committee  on  transportation 
which  has  been  a  powerful  weapon  in  redressing  ex¬ 
press  grievances,  and  the  manner  in  which  florists, 
as  a  trade,  unite  to  improve  conditions  affecting 
them  individually  is  worthy  of  study  by  farmers  and 
their  organizations. 
* 
AS  the  Wicks  investigating  committee  goes  on, 
we  have  more  and  more  of  the  same  story. 
Farmers  are  not  making  hired  man’s  wages  at  pro¬ 
ducing  milk,  and  there  is  general  discontent  and 
suspicion.  There  can  be  no  question  about  the  real 
grievance  of  dairy  farmers.  This  committee  is  ex¬ 
pected  to  suggest  legislation  which  will  help  in  this 
trouble.  After  the  facts  have  been  made  so  clear 
farmers  will  never  be  satisfied  with  anything  short 
of  a  true  reform.  The  sore  spot  of  the  situation 
now  is  that  under  presept  conditions  the  dealers  are 
able  to  dictate  prices  both  to  consumers  and  to 
producers.  They  have  worked  into  a  position  where 
they  can  monopolize  the  business,  dictate  prices  and 
do  as  they  please.  The  perishable  nature  of  milk 
and  the  inability  of  farmers  to  combine  for  selling  or 
contracting  have  enabled  the  dealers  to  control  the 
situation.  These  dealers  will  continue  to  enjoy  this 
monopoly  until  a  free  and  open  market  for  milk  is 
established  in  New  York  City.  A  fair  share  of  the 
milk  which  comes  here  should  go  into  this  open 
market  and  be  sold  for  what  it  will  bring  at  com¬ 
petitive  itrices  on  the  luvsis  of  supply  and  demand. 
When  this  milk  is  taken  out  of  the  hands  of  the 
dealers  and  offered  freely  for  what  it.  is  worth  the 
present  monopolistic  system  will  soon  break  down, 
the  demand  for  milk  will  increase,  there  will  be  an 
incentive  for  cheapening  service,  and  prices  to 
farmers  will  rise.  This  fair,  open  market  is  the 
only  way  to  break  down  tho  present  system  of 
robbery  and  graft.  To  make  such  a  market  suc¬ 
cessful  the  State  must  get  hack  of  it  in  some  way 
to  give  it  character  and  provide  facilities  for  start¬ 
ing.  In  this  way  the  State  can  break  up  the  pres¬ 
ent  system,  and  it  ought  to  do  so.  Any  legislation 
short  of  that  will  be  like  trying  to  wipe  off  fly 
specks  with  a  sponge  when  the  entire  floor  is  rotten 
and  needs  pulling  out. 
Brevities 
Milk  is  a  food— as  much  so  as  potatoes  or  meat. 
Bread  and  milk  is  a  balanced  ration — far  more  so  than 
bread  and  beer.  We  want  to  substitute  the  barn  for 
the  brewery. 
Tjtk  Massachusetts  Board  of  Agriculture  offers  $360 
in  cash  prizes  for  best  yields  for  acre  or  single  trees  of 
peach,  pear  anti  apple.  Particulars  from  Wilfrid  Wheel¬ 
er,  Boston,  Mass. 
Dairymen  will  have  to  follow  the  apple  growers  and 
popularize  their  own  products.  Let  ns  all  work  to 
substitute  milk  or  buttermilk  for  soda  water,  "pop” 
and  other  soft  drinks.  This  ought  to  he  done  particu¬ 
larly  at  fairs  and  other  country  exhibitions. 
