1558 
whether  the  tractor  will  do  your  work  is  to  study 
your  land,  particularly  as  to  the  grades.  You  may 
have  grades  as  high  as  20  per  cent,  and  yet  a  trac¬ 
tor  could  plow  them,  for  it  may  he  possible  to  lay 
out  your  plow  lands  crossing  the  steeper  parts  of 
the  grade.  Having  established  the  fact  that  you 
have  no  grades  the  tractor  cannot  negotiate  suc¬ 
cessfully.  the  next  thing  to  determine  is  the  amount 
of  work  you  have  for  a  tractor  to  do;  for  just  plow¬ 
ing  and  harrowing  on  a  farm  of  30  acres  unques¬ 
tionably  a  tractor  would  not  pay,  as  with  two  12- 
inch  bottoms  working  10  hours  per  day  at  a  speed  of 
two  miles  per  hour  you  can  plow  4.84  acres  per 
day  or  the  entire  farm  of  30  acres  in  seven  days; 
harrowing  with  a  G-ft.  harrow  at  the  same  rate  of 
speed  you  can  finish  14.54  acres  per  day  or  in  two 
days  the  entire  farm.  Thus  if  one  plowed  and  har¬ 
rowed  the  entire  farm  twice  during  the  season  it 
would  take  only  18  days  and  the  tractor  would  re¬ 
main  idle  the  balance  of  the  time,  but  there  are  in¬ 
numerable  other  ways  in  which  a  tractor  car  lie 
utilized.  Some  makers  claim  it  can  be  used  for 
cultivating,  it  unquestionably  can  be  used  for  mow¬ 
ing.  carting  the  bay  to  the  barn,  running  the  bay- 
carrier,  for  any  belt  work,  such  as  sawing  wood, 
grinding  feed,  operating  cider  mill  and  press,  sil¬ 
age  cutting,  etc.,  and  if  you  have  any  land  or  fence 
rows  that  need  cleaning  it  can  be  used  to  excellent 
advantage.  If  the  trunk  of  the  growth  does  not 
exceed  one  or  1 %  inch  you  can  put  a  chain  around 
a  number  of  them  and  the  tractor  will  pull  them 
out.  Again,  if  you  have  not  enough  work  on  your 
own  place  there  is  the  question  of  plowing,  etc.,  for 
your  neighbors. 
SAVING  ON  HORSES.— Suppose  you  have  four 
horses,  or  even  three,  and  by  using  a  tractor  can 
sell  two.  Let  us  see  what  this  saves  in  a  year. 
Horses  for  farm  work  now  average  from  $150  to 
$250  apiece,  say  for  a  good  team  $400;  interest  at 
'•%  is  $12  per  horse;  depreciation  $20  per  horse 
(this  is  arrived  at  from  available  reports  showing 
the  average  life  of  a  farm  horse  to  be  from  10  to 
15  years).  Use  and  depreciation  of  harness  $1.50 
to  $2.50  per  horse:  shoeing  (varies)  say  four  sets 
per  horse  per  year  at  $1.50  or  $0  per*  horse;  feed 
(from  Farmers'  Bulletin  No.  045  i  for  1014  shows  an 
average  cost  of  $80.54  per  animal  per  year.  Labor 
in  feeding,  cleaning,  etc.,  about  $20  per  year.  Mis¬ 
cellaneous  expenses  for  veterinarian,  ete.,  $5  each, 
so  a  team  would  cost  per  year: 
Efcc  RURAL  NEW-YORKER 
like,  simply  because  their  owners  do  not  have  the 
cash  to  buy  these  feeds  at  present  prices. 
I  here  is  a  saying  that  “a  penny  saved  is  a  penny 
earned.  Let  us  study  the  following  table  and  see 
if  this  saying  cannot  be  applied  to  the  purchase  of 
concentrates.  This  table  shows  a  quotation  on  our 
common  concentrates  0f  „11(?  0f  om.  xew  England 
wholesale  grain  dealers  for  each  month  from  July, 
1!)15,  to  December,  1910.  In  each  case  these  prices 
were  taken  from  a  quotation  sheet  printed  about 
the  middle  of  the  month  : 
FEED 
Bran  . 
U ril'd  distillers'  grains 
Cottonseed  meal  . 
Gluten  feed  . 
Hominy  . 
Oil  meal  . 
Standard  middlings  . . 
Beet  culp  . . . 
Com,  per  l>u . 
Oats,  per  bn . 
July 
Aug. 
Sept.  oct.  Nov 
. 124.50 
24.75 
22.75  23.25  23,00 
33.011 
33.00  33  00  33.00 
. 32.00 
31.50 
82.00  38.75  37,00 
. 28.25 
31.00  27.00  27.58 
. 32.40 
31.90 
. 29.  IS  120.90 
38.00 
40.oOi3S.501 . 
27.00 
20. 00 ] 25. (Ill  24.00 
. 25.9(1 
.  25.90  25.90 
.01}* 
.89  .77  .77 
42.50 
25.10 
25.90 
■  76% 
December  23,  1916. 
before  the  feed  is  ordered,  and  the  buyer  paid  for 
bis  trouble,  and  then  there  is  no  difficulty.  Two  or¬ 
ganizations  so  formed  will  do  more  good  than  many 
without  such  provisions, 
Incidentally  another  good  point  about  the  co¬ 
operative  feed  buyers’  organization  is  that  they  can 
get  feeds  that  are  not  available  at  the  local  store. 
Dried  distillers’  grains  is  a  good  example  of  an  ex¬ 
cellent  feed  which  for  the  past  few  years  lias  been 
a  good  buy,  and  yet  relatively  few  farmers  feed 
them,  because  the  local  store  does  not  handle  them. 
Prices  of  milk  have  advanced.  The  man  who 
bought  bis  feed  four  or  five  months  ago  is  smiling; 
rlie  man  wlm  didn't  is  wondering  where  he  is  going 
to  "get  off”  if  the  prices  of  feed  kee"  on  soaring. 
v  II.  L.  .T 
Jun. 
24. 25 
";i.5m 
38.  QO 
32.08 
,'U .  40 
41.00 
25. 10 
2.5,00 
Feb.  Mar. 
24.  on:  22. 25 
31.00  30.50 
37.5(1  35.06 
32.23  80.48 
30.90  29.05 
38.50 ‘33.00 
28.90  25.50 
20.00 1  _ 
.85!  .SC'.' 
April 
May 
Jiuic 
July 
A  tis\ 
23  mu 
|23.75 
122.73 
122.75 
20.90 
30.00 
29.00 
29.00 
29.00 
80.  59 
35.50 
34.50 
34.00 
34.00 
'34.25 
3(1. 98 
28,03 
'29. 58 
28.5,3 
20.99 
29.05) 
29.05 
27.49 
'30.05 
83.05 
31.50 
30.75 
'32.30 
fSo.rtO 
38,25 
20.10 
20.10 
25.50 
24.99 
25.99 
20,09 
i2S.H0 
,8l 
.93", 
.84  % 
•  91*4 
I 
.53%! 
.  .4.8*4 1 
.59% 
.54*51 
Interest  on  investment  at  6% .  $24.00 
Depreciation.  10%  . 40.00 
Depreciation  and  use  of  harness .  4.00 
Shoeing  .  12.00 
Reed  .  179.08 
I-abor  . . 40.00 
Miscellaneous  .  10.00 
Total  . $3(19.08 
An  analysis  of  1\  S.  Census  report  for  1910  shows 
A  simi\  ot  tin  above  table  shows  some  interest¬ 
ing  things.  (1)  The  prices  of  the  various  feeds  are 
not  the  same  every  month.  This  fact  alone  shows 
(hat  certain  times  are  better  than  others  for  the 
purchase  of  certain  feeds.  (2)  It  shows  that  feed 
prices  in  general  increase  during  the  Fall  and  Win¬ 
ter  months.  This  Fall  is  like  others  in  this  respect. 
(,i  >  It  shows  that  leads  taken  as  a  whole  are  much 
higher  this  Fall  than  a  year  ago. 
Obviously  the  proper  way  to  buy  feed  is  in  car¬ 
load  lots  at  a  time  when  the  feed  is  cheap.  Enough 
should  he  bought  to  last  through  the  time  of  high 
prices.  This  is  not  a  new  axiom,  and  it  is  the  prac¬ 
tice  of  many  to  buy  their  feed  in  this  way.  The 
rank  and  file  of  dairymen,  however,  lmy  their  feed 
by  the  "hand-to-mouth  method"  simply  because  they 
do  not  get  enough  money  together  at  one  time  to 
buy  their  feed  in  larger  amounts.  Many  times  if 
tlie  money  is  at  hand  they  do  not  like  the  idea  of 
banking  it.  in  the  feed  bin.  Another  reason  why 
dairymen  do  not  purchase  in  large  amounts  is  be¬ 
cause  their  business  is  so  small  that  they  do  not 
require  so  much  feed. 
The  remedies  for  these  difficulties  are  the  borrow¬ 
ing  of  money  and  the  forming  of  cooperative  feed- 
buying  associations.  Does  it  ever  pay  in  business 
to  borrow  money?  It  is  sometimes  said  to  make  a 
dollar  one  must  lie  in  debt.  At  any  rate  a  study  of 
the  table  given  tells  us  that  that  the  answer  is  yes. 
A  comparison  of  the  prices  of  common  feeds  for 
Nov.  191(5  and  for  July  191(5  is  made  in  the  follow¬ 
ing  table: 
Non-returnable  Milk  Bottles 
T  HAVE  read  with  great  interest  your  article  on 
i  J.  the  milk  situation  in  New  York  on  page  1475. 
i  and  wish’  to  commend  most  highly  your  position  in 
i  ’elation  to  the  scoring  of  barns  and  milk  at  the 
!  farm.  Maine  has  suffered  greatly  through  these 
\  methods,  and  Commissioner  Guptill  has  taken  the 
1  matter  up  in  his  last  annual  report. 
Not  only  are  Maine  dairymen  lmrrassed  by  the 
inspectors  from  cities  without  the  State,  hut  local 
city  boards  of  health  take  it  upon  themselves  to 
dictate  to  the  farmer  just  the  conditions  that  shall 
prevail  around  his  premises,  and  sometimes  these 
conditions  are  so  unreasonable  and  unnecessary 
that  they  practically  preclude  production.  Maine 
tanners  are  hoping  for  some  relief  from  the  incom¬ 
ing  Legislature,  but  as  practically  every  member  of 
that  body  was  elected  on  a  strict,  partisan  basis  and 
not  because  of  his  interest  in  the  farm  or  the  far¬ 
mers,  their  hopes  are  more  than  likely  to  he  blasted. 
It  would  seem  that  the  trouble  that  New  York 
farmers  are  having  through  the  interchange  of  milk 
bottle  caps,  might  he  eliminated  through  the  use 
of  non-returnable  milk  bottles.  There  are  other  ad¬ 
vantages  to  these  bottles  besides  the  fact  that  the 
date  of  the  production  or  pasteurization  can  he  per¬ 
manently  printed  oil  the  bottle  itself.  They  are 
light,  they  pack  nicely,  there  is  no  expense  for 
washing,  the  labor  of  collecting  and  returning  is 
eliminated,  there  is  no  expense  for  lost  or  broken 
bottles,  each  bottle  is  new  and  clean,  thus  removing 
all  danger  from  disease  germs.  The  caps  are  sealed 
as  they  are  applied.  There  is  no  leaking.  The  cost 
of  the  bottle  itself  appears  to  l»e  the  only  drawback 
at  the  present  time.  I  have  seen  them  in  actual 
use  in  the  retailing  of  cream  and  am  told  that  the 
expense  of  handling  is  reduced  by  tlieir  use. 
I  have  a  friend  who  is  retailing  cream  in  these 
bottles  in  the  city  of  Augusta,  and  he  tells  me  that 
be  would  in  no  way  go  back  to  the  glass  bottle. 
that  one  acre  out  of  every  four  in  cultivation  is  used 
for  tiie  growing  of  horse  feed. 
UPKEEP  OF  TRACTOR.— As  against  the  ex¬ 
penses  and  upkeep  of  a  team  let  us  take  the  trac¬ 
tor  with  an  investment  of  $800  about  the  average 
for  a  first-class  machine. 
Interest  on  investment  at  6% .  $48.00 
Depreciation  20%  .  1(50.00 
Miscellaneous  .  25.00 
Gasoline,  working  250  hrs..  about  an  average 
of  what  2  horses  would  complete  in  1.000  hrs.  50,00 
Oil  .  10.00 
$293.00 
Which  represents  a  saving  of  $1(5  in  favor  of  the 
tractor,  tlie  use  of  one  out  of  four  acres  for  mar¬ 
ket  crops,  the  additional  advantage  of  quicker  work 
Ji rid  by  using  the  tractor  in  excess  of  the  250  hours 
reducing  the  upkeep  in  proportion  to  the  revenue 
returned.  These  things  should  all  he  considered, 
and  if  you  find  you  have  or  can  get  enough  work 
for  the  tractor  to  be  kept  busy  for  even  100  days 
in  the  year  it  will  probably  pay  to  get  one.  I,  at 
least,  have  the  courage  of  my  convictions  and  have 
placed  ray  order.  Dudley  p.  power. 
Bergen  Co.,  N.  J. 
High  Cost  of  Living  for  the  Cow 
Getting  Her  Food  in  Storage 
Brice  in 
EKED 
July  '10 
Bran  . 
22.75 
Dried  distillers*  grains  . 
2ft.  00 
<  nttoDsei'd  meal  . 
34.99 
1  •luirii  feed  . 
28.5,8 
iroiDin.*  . 
39.05 
<  >il  meal 
:tr*  r.o 
Standard  iniddlines  .  . . 
24.09 
Beet  pulp  . 
20.99 
•  'om.  per  Ini . 
,91  *4 
Oats,  per  bu . . 
.50% 
I’rlce  in 
Diillnrs 
Per  Cent 
'.mount 
Sa  Veil 
Viiv.  *10 
1 neroase 
In cron sc 
on  1  Ton 
38.50 
19.7*5 
47.2 
9.82 
19.50 
11.50 
39.6 
10.38 
(4.50 
10.50 
30.8 
9.23 
•HI  48 
11.99 
41.0 
19.80 
13.50 
12.85 
41.9 
11.08 
40.99 
19.50 
28.7 
9.1S 
80  50 
12.50 
52.0 
11.33 
81.59 
5;  30 
21.1 
4.22 
1.19 
.2434 
27. 1 
7.88 
.08 
,17% 
34.0 
9.74 
The  last  column  is  obtained  by  taking  3%  on  tlie 
price  in  July  and  adding  to  this  25c  per  ton  to  de- 
1  ray  handling  costs  and  subtracting  this  amount 
1  rom  the  dollars  increase.  The  table  shows  that 
money  invested  in  any  of  the  feeds  in  July  would 
have  brought  a  much  higher  rate  of  interest  than 
the  money  could  have  been  borrowed  for.  In  the 
table  the  rate  of  interest  is  figured  at  <5%  and  time 
of  loan  as  six  months.  An  average  of  all  the  feeds 
considered  shows  the  amount  saved  to  be  an  av¬ 
erage  saving  of  $9.-|(!  per  ton  or  interest  on  money 
invested  equivalent  to  32%  after  interest  on  bor¬ 
rowed  money  and  handling  expenses  are  paid. 
M.’iny  mistakes  have  been  made  in  organizing 
some  so-called  tanners’  cooperative  organizations, 
and  they  have  gone  to  pieces.  If  there  is  any  one 
kind  of  a  properly  formed  and  operated  coopera¬ 
tive  organization  that  is  bound  to  succeed  it  is  a 
feed-lmying  organization.  Why?  Simply  because 
it  gets  results  in  a  financial  way.  and  gets  them 
quick. 
AT  last  the  dairy  cow  has  been  hard  hit  by  the 
high  cost  of  living.  Never,  in  modern  times, 
have  the  foodstuffs  of  this  valuable  animal  com¬ 
manded  such  an  exorbitant  price.  General  short¬ 
age  of  crops,  the  war,  and  the  low  value  of  a  dol¬ 
lar  in  these  so-called  prosperous  times  is  so  raising 
the  prices  of  feeds  that  the  poor  dairy  cow  almost 
feels  forced  to  quit  giving  milk  and  go  begging  for 
a  living.  In  short,  some  of  our  dairy  cows  are  be¬ 
ing  denied  the  privilege  of  eating  their  usual  grain 
ration  made  up  of  the  various  mill  feeds,  such  as 
cottonseed  meal,  dried  distillers’  grains  and  the 
In  buying  feed  cooperatively  obviously  some  one 
must  be  responsible  for  receiving  the  feed,  seeing 
to  it  that  each  one's  order  is  filled,  and  see  to 
paying  for  the  feed  and  keep  the  accounts.  One 
trouble  in  some  of  the-e  organizations  that  have 
tailed  is  that  the  man  who  did  this  work  was  not 
paid  for  it,  and  the  money  for  tlie  feed  was  not 
deposited  before  the  feed  was  ordered,  and  hence 
the  manager  or  buyer  had  to  pay  for  a  large  amount 
of  the  feed  out  of  his  own  pocket  until  such  time 
as  he  could  collect  from  tlie  farmers,  and  often  he 
never  could  collect.  The  money  must  be  advanced 
Most  of  his  trade  is  in  half-pints  and  the  bottles  are 
not  too  expensive  t<>  be  used  in  that  size.  They  are 
made  of  wood  fibre  and  are  neat  and  attractive- 
looking.  The  cream  is  kept  in  them  till  it  is  used. 
The  ca]i  is  not  removed,  but  a  small  piece  is  cut 
off  one  corner  of  the  bottle  and  the  cream  is  readi¬ 
ly  poured  from  this  opening.  n.  walker  mo  keen. 
Maine. 
Dodging  the  Pound  Law 
When  trying  to  sell  the  land,  now  quite  valuable, 
occupied  by  the  public  pound,  one  of  our  Massa¬ 
chusetts  cities  finds  itself  up  against  an  old  law 
which  compels  towns  and  cities  to  maintain  a  pound, 
under  penalty  of  a  fine.  The  town  had  not  even 
appointed  a  pound-keeper  during  the  past  quarter 
century.  Nowadays  the  telephone  is  likely  to  es¬ 
tablish  connection  in  short  order  between  the  owner 
and  the  finder  of  a  stray  cow  or  horse,  but  when 
the  law  was  put  in  force  nearly  a  century  ago,  the 
keeper  of  the  town  pound  was  a  busy  man  at  times. 
The  field  driver,  h-  raver,  was  always  more  or 
less  of  a  joke,  and  me  office  was  likely  to  be  given 
to  the  man  last  married  in  town.  Anybody  who 
found  stray  live  stock  could  drive  them  to  the 
pound,  usually  an  area  about  20  feet  square  with 
high  stone  walls  and  without  a  roof.  At  the  same 
time  he  would  notify  the  pound-keeper  and  give 
him  a  statement  of  the  damages  and  expenses  if 
any.  Or  the  finder  could  send  for  the  town  field 
driver  to  take  the  animals  to  the  pound.  The 
finder  writes  to  the  owner  if  he  knows  who  it  is, 
stating  the  time,  place  and  cause  of  impounding. 
If  the  owner  could  not  be  found,  or  if  he  refused  to 
pay  the  bills,  the  animals  were  sold  at  auction  and 
the  various  costs  taken  out  of  the  proceeds.  Al¬ 
though  the  law  has  never  been  repealed,  most  town 
pounds  in  New  England  are  disused  and  out  of  re¬ 
pair.  The  town  or  city  in  question  is  dodging  the 
$50  fine  by  setting  aside  a  pound  area  on  the  city 
farm.  g.  q.  y. 
