©%e  RURAL  NEW-YORKER 
1-.31 
town,  was  a  cheese  factory  in  operation.  The  man¬ 
ager,  who  was  iu  full  sympathy  with  the  League, 
invited  any  of  us  who  wished  to  do  so  to  bring  our 
milk  there  during  the  strike,  and  those  who  were 
near  availed  themselves  of  this  privilege, 
So  all  of  our  milk  was  cai’ed  for  and  no  one  suf¬ 
fered  any  serious  loss,  or  even  inconvenience.  When 
we  considered  the  deprivations  to  which  the  mem¬ 
bers  of  labor  unions  have  voluntarily  subjected 
themselves  in  order  to  win  a  strike,  ours  seemed 
like  a  pretty  tame  affair.  To  be  sure,  there  were  a 
few  unpleasant  incidents,  for  we  had  two  or  three 
“scabs.”  These  dairymen  had  dwelt  so  long  upon 
their  own  impotence  when  facing  organized  capital 
that  they  had  become  convinced  of  their  helplessness 
and  refused  to  make  even  an  effort  to  help  them¬ 
selves.  But  their  number  was  astonishingly  few; 
one  of  the  most  surprising  things  about  the  strike 
was  the  almost  complete  unanimity  of  the  dairy¬ 
men  in  supporting  it.  A  few  who  declined  to  join 
the  League  announced  their  intention  to  aid  the 
strike  when  it  was  called,  and  they  did. 
It  was  a  very  small  number  who  insisted  upon 
their  right  to  ship  their  milk  in  defiance  of  their 
neighbors,  and  life  for  these  promptly  became  very 
uncomfortable.  Visions  of  men  gathered  at  lone¬ 
some  places  on  the  road  to  dump  their  milk  haunt¬ 
ed  their  dreams  and  the  slam  of  a  blind  in  the  night 
wind  brought  cold  perspiration  to  their  foreheads. 
They  padlocked  their  barns  and  milk-houses  and 
kept  their  shotguns  loaded.  It  wasn’t  a  happy  ex¬ 
istence  that  they  led  for  a  few  days,  and  most  of 
them  capitulated  and  joined  the  League  before  the 
strike  was  many  days  old.  The  few  who  held  out 
found  that  the  money  they  had  made  by  selling 
as  we  have  studied  in  50  years  since  the  Civil  War. 
They  thus  indicate  that  a  revolution  has  started, 
and  that  it  is  working  chiefly  among  the  States 
with  the  largest  agricultural  population.  You  will 
notice  that  with  few  exceptions  the  last  election 
divided  the  country  quite  sharply  between  the  rich 
manufacturing  and  money-lending  States,  and  the 
States  which  have  in  the  past  ranked  as  debtor  or 
agricultural  States. 
What  does  this  mean  and  is  this  division  perman¬ 
ent?  Those  are  big  questions,  and  the  plain  people 
should  have  the  answers  free  from  partisan  pre- 
judice.  We  follow  our  usual  plan  in  obtaining  the 
answers — that  is,  go  straight  to  the  people.  Thus 
we  have  sent  hundreds  of  personal  letters  to  our 
Western  readers,  asking  them  to  tell  us  frankly 
what  decided  the  last  election.  We  selected  farm¬ 
ers — unknown  to  us,  without  any  knowledge  of 
their  party  convictions.  In  this  way  we  have  ob¬ 
tained  what  we  believe  is  the  truth,  and  we  plan  to 
give  the  facts  in  a  few  short,  articles. 
The  first  fact  comes  from  North  Dakota-  A  very 
able  and  skilful  lawyer  went  from  the  Middle  West 
to  make  a  Republican  speech.  It  was  clear,  logical 
and  convincing — just  the  arguments  which  carried 
Illinois  with  a  whoop.  This  man  felt  so  well  pleased 
with  his  effort  that  he  challenged  anyone  in  the 
audience  to  come  up  and  give  him  a  convincing 
argument  in  reply.  A  Norwegian  farmer  arose, 
walked  to  Ihe  platform  and  said. 
“I  got  an  argument.  Wheat  is  worth  $1.80  a 
bushel.  You  always  tell  us  in  gears  past,  when  you 
in,  to  '‘stand  pat ”  on  good  thing.  Things  good  non: 
— we  stand  pat!" 
That  was  all  there  was  to  it,  and  the  lawyer  had 
bare  for  plaster  to  stick  to.  Then  I  made  a  mortar 
of  one  part  of  cement  to  two  parts  of  sand,  and 
when  mixed  ready  for  use  added  to  it  2*4  quarts 
of  residuum  oil,  to  a  bag  of  cement.  It  cost  me  15 
cents  a  gallon,  but  could  have  been  got  for  nine 
cents  by  the  barrel.  It  mixed  very  readily  with 
the  mortar.  Then  I  applied  a  coat  half  an  inch 
thick  to  the  inside  of  the  tank,  beginning  at  the 
top  and  troweling  it  thoroughly  to  give  a  dense 
body.  I  kept  it  damp  for  about  a  week,  until  it 
had  thoroughly  hardened,  and  then  filled  the  tank 
to  the  brim  with  water.  I  let  it  stand  eight  days 
without  drawing  any  out,  as  a  test.  From  that 
time  to  this  it  has  not.  leaked  a  drop.  My  wife  was 
afraid  the  oil  would  taint  the  water,  but  it  did 
not  in  the  slightest  degree.  The  bulletin,  of  which 
I  speak,  .gives  accounts  of  numerous  tests  and  uses 
made  by  Mr.  Page. 
I  might  add  that  the  service  pipe  from  the  tank 
to  the  house  and  barn  taps  the  supply  pipe  from 
the  well  before  it  enters  the  tank,  with  a  cut-off 
valve  on  the  tank  side,  so  that  my  supply  system 
is  independent  of  flip  tank.  When  the  pump  is 
running  we  can  draw  water  directly  from  the  bot¬ 
tom  of  the  well.  When  I  wished  to  fix  the  tank 
I  set  a  barrel  on  top  of  the  barn,  connecting  it 
with  the  pipe  in  the  barn  and  that  took  the  place 
of  the  tank  on  the  hill. 
One  Winter  we  had  a  pipe  frozen  anil  were  a 
week  finding  out  where  it  was.  It  proved  to  be 
at  the  very  bottom  of  the  tank.  Meanwhile  I  put 
a  piece  of  rubber  hose  on  the  faucet  in  the  bath 
tub  and,  filling  the  tub,  it  served  as  a  reservoir  for 
tlie  kitchen  and  barn,  and  kept  the  necessary  pres- 
Choice  Northern  Spy  Apples  Bought  by  the  Utica  Co-operative  Club.  Fig.  583.  See  first  page 
their  milk  during  the  strike  was  small  compensa¬ 
tion  for  the  scorn  of  their  neighbors,  and  when  thes 
attempted  to  get  help  in  thrashing  and  other  co¬ 
operative  neighborhood  efforts  they  discovered  that 
they  were  to  be  allowed  to  carry  their  independ¬ 
ence  to  its  logical  end  and  do  their  own  work.  It 
is  safe  to  say  that,  in  the  event  of  another  strike, 
these  few  will  be  found  in  the  front  ranks  of  the 
fighters,  struggling  for  the  privilege  of  carrying  the 
flag. 
Up  our  way,  Thanksgiving  will  be  celebrated  this 
year  as  never  before.  We  have  found  that  we 
possess  a  little  of  the.  fighting  spirit  of  our  Puri¬ 
tan  ancestors  who  established  that  feast,  and  we 
have  demonstrated  that  we  can  fight  side  by  side. 
We  have  gained  confidence  in  each  other  and  in  our 
leaders  and  no  longer  tremble  when  we  hear  the 
warwhoops  of  the  redskins  outside  of  our  stockade. 
M.  B.  D. 
“  What  Ailed  the  Western  States” 
No.  I. 
IIAT  question  was  asked  by  thousands  of  East¬ 
ern  men  after  the  recent  election  had  been  set¬ 
tled.  These  men  were  stunned  by  the  result  and 
they  cannot  understand  the  motives  which  lie  back 
of  it  all.  Why  should  the  farmers  in  North  Da¬ 
kota  seize  the  machinery  of  the  Republican  party, 
elect  all  State  officers  and  Congressmen,  and  then 
give  President  Wilson  a  majority?  Why  should 
Kansas  and  California  elect  Republican  State  gov¬ 
ernments — then  vote  for  the  President?  Why  should 
Ohio  go  Democratic  while  all  around  it  States  with 
the  same  type  of  population,  same  kind  of  soil  and 
the  same  general  interest  go  the  other  way? 
Such  political  conditions  are  not  what  we  may 
cal!  “normal,”  for  they  upset  all  calculations  such 
no  answer  which  this  farmer  could  or  would  un¬ 
derstand.  In  an  Eastern  manufacturing  town  he 
might  have  made  his  answer  c-lear.  but  not  there. 
That  was  one  reason  why  North  Dakota  voted  as  she 
did.  We  find  other  reasons  such  as  the  money 
question,  the  feeling  among  Progressives  and  the 
women  and  the  war.  None  of  them  have  to  do  with 
party  politics,  and  we  will  take  them  up  in  time. 
Making  a  Cement  Tank  Waterproof 
I1EN  I  see  an  inquiry  about  making  cement 
concrete  waterproof  I  wonder  that  the  ex¬ 
periments  made  by  Waller  Page,  Director  of  Pub¬ 
lic  Roads,  and  the  bulletin  Issued  by  the  Depart¬ 
ment  of  Agriculture,  Bulletin  230  on  “Oil  Mixed 
Concrete,"  are  not  better  known.  It  can  now  be 
obtained  only  from  the  Superintendent  of  Docu¬ 
ments.  Washington,  D.  C.,  for  10  cents. 
Four  years  ago  I  built  a  reinforced  water  tank, 
or  tower,  four  feet  in  diameter  and  12  feet  deep, 
according  to  instructions  contained  in  pamphlets 
issued  by  cement  manufacturers.  Nothing  was  said 
in  them  about  making  concrete  waterproof.  The 
tank  leaked  like  ji  riddle.  I  stopped  most  of  the 
leak  by  washing  it  heavily  with  clear  cement,  hut 
the  water  continued  to  seep  through  and  evapor¬ 
ate  until  tlie  tower  was  covered  with  a  scaly  coat¬ 
ing  of  stalagmite. 
One  day  I  happened  to  see  an  account  of  ex¬ 
periments  made  by  Mr.  Page.  I  wrote  him  and  he 
courteously  replied  with  a  two-page  letter.  Fol¬ 
lowing  his  instructions,  I  washed  tlie  inside  of  the 
tank  with  a  diluted  solution  of  hydrochloric  acid 
and  then  rinsed  the  add  off.  This  was  to  cut  the 
lime  from  the  sand,  and  leave  the  grains  of  sand 
sure  on  the  hot  water  tank  connected  with  the 
kitchen  range.  J.  x.  pardee. 
Massachusetts. 
Feeding  Pumpkin  on  Milk 
I  DID  not  read  the  article  which  appeared  in  the 
Scientific  American,  but  from  the  comments  in 
The  R.  N.-Y,.  page  1417,  I  understand  what  it  must 
have  been.  People  who  do  not  know  or  who  have 
not  tried  such  an  experiment  with  pumpkins  have 
no  right  to  criticise  severely  or  laugh  at  others 
who  do  this.  I  have  been  following  up  county  fairs 
and  pumpkin  shows  as  an  exhibitor  and  judge,  and 
this  feeding  of  the  pumpkin  milk  is  no  experiment, 
but  is  a  regular  practice  followed  by  many  exhibi¬ 
tors  all  over  the  country,  who  wish  to  produce  extra 
large  pumpkins  in  a  short  time. 
Personally  I  have  never  seen  pumpkins  feeding 
from  a  vessel  with  a  wick,  but  last  year  I  knew 
a  man  who  grew  two  pumpkins  for  special  exhibi¬ 
tion  purposes  that  weighed  400  pounds  each.  They 
were  fed  one  gallon  of  milk  daily  after  the  fruit 
set,  and  it  was  poured  around  the  roots.  Milk  an¬ 
swers  the  purpose  of  water  in  supplying  moisture, 
and  at  the  same  time  furnishes  plant  food  not 
found  iu  water.  Any  plant  food  used  by  the  pump¬ 
kin  and  put  into  either  milk  or  wafer  may  be  poured 
around  the  plant  and  he  taken  up  by  it.  Melons 
may  be  fed  the  same  way.  A  few  years  ago  I  knew 
a  man  who  showed  a  watermelon  weighing  92 
pounds  which  was  raised  on  the  bottle. 
Ohio.  JAY  LAWREXCE. 
R.  N.-Y. — Of  course  any  plant  could  be  fed  by 
injuring  milk  in  the  ground  around  its  roots,  but 
that  is  a  very  different  thing  from  putting  the  milk 
right  into  the  vine  without  passing  the  plant  food 
