14 
The RURAL NEW-YORKER 
January 7. 1022 
The Rural New-Yorker 
THE BV8IXES8 FARMER'S PAPER 
\ National WitUlj .loui'itnl for Country mid Suburban Ilomco 
Established is:o 
t'ublblied neeklj hv ill,* Knnil Pnbllihiup Company. 83U IVost 30lh Strort, Now York 
ilFliUKKT W. COLUSGWOOJJ, I’resiilent . mu! Eililor. 
Jolts" .1. Dillon. Treasurer and Unieml Mannpi r. 
Wsi. F. Diuxix, SwreUtry. Mas. k. t. Royi.k, Associate Editor. 
SUBSCRIPTIONt ONE DOLLAR A YEAR 
To foreign count vies in tlie Universal Postal Union. J 2 .ot. equal to 8s. fld., or 
*‘a marks, or in 1 , francs. Ilennt in money order, express 
orde i . personal check or blink draft. 
Entered at New York Post Office as Second Class Matter, 
Advertising rates. »1 00 per a pale line—T words. References required for 
advertisers unknown to u» . and e.iali uiust aocompany transient orders. 
"A SQUARE DEAL” 
We believe that every advertisement- in tills "paper is backed by a respon¬ 
sible person. We nse every possible precaution and admit the advertising of 
reliable houses only. But to make doubly sun.*. " o will makegood any loss 
io paid subscriber* Sustained by trust mp any deliberate swindler, Irrespon- 
sibl • advertiser* or inisteadiuc iMlveiliseinems in our column-, and any 
such swindler will be putiH*iv evposcd. We are also often called upon 
to adjust dilfereue-s or mi-takes between our subscribers amt honest, 
responsible bouses, whet her ad verti'scis or not. We willingly u-e mil good 
oiliei s to this rn*I.but such oases should not be confused with dishonest 
transai'tions. W>- protect siibsoiibetK against rogues, but we will not be 
ivsi'OiisiIlls* for the debls id honest bankrupts sanctfoned by tlie courts. 
Notice of tlie complaint mnst be sent to us within one month of the time of 
the transaction, and to identify it. you should mention Tan Rural New- 
Yorkicii when writing the advertiser. 
HE TcIlUih Mnpu'inc prints the following poem 
hy Ilarry Kemp. It expresses far better than 
we can the thought about farming, which for many 
years, we have tried to develop. It seems peculiarly 
fitting at this opening of the year: 
THE SONY! OF THE FLOW 
It was I who raised from famine all the hordes and 
tribes of Man ; 
I have never ceased nor faltered since the tilth of fields 
began, 
■Since the first poor crooked stick was drawn across the 
wondering earth. 
While upon the man who used it all his tribesmen 
gazed in mirfh— 
Bui the wild seeds sprang in blossom more abundant 
than before. 
And the fool wlm toiled all Summer had the wise man’s 
Winter store. 
It was I who built Chaldea and the cities on the plain; 
1 was Greece and Rome and Carthage and the opulence 
of Spain. 
When their courtiers walked in scarlet and their Queens 
wore chains of gold 
And forgot 'twas 1 that made them, growing godless 
folk and hold. 
I went over them in judgment and again my cornfields 
stood 
Where their empty courts bowed homage in obsequious 
multitude 
For the nation that forgets me. in that hour her doom 
is sealed 
By a judgment as from heaven that can never be re¬ 
pealed. 
* 
I was very much impressed recently when passing my 
neighbor's farm to see a full-sized Rural New-Yorker 
wrapped around each seven-year-old apple tree as a pre¬ 
ventive to mice injury. While 1 know that your paper 
is a valuable asset to every farm family, it now also be¬ 
comes evident that it Will pay for itself a great many 
times over in this great act of mercy alone. If it be¬ 
comes the means uf saving mny one nf these trees, which 
are now in hearing, it will meet 2d years of subscrip¬ 
tion prices in ibis one act alone. Accept my congratu¬ 
lations for publishing a paper that can meet such a valu¬ 
able want long after it has been read by the family. 
New York. s. v. A. 
ELL. why not? We try to help light off the 
pests "f industry and ignorance which affect 
the farmer in his home or in his business. Why not 
include the pests which seek to destroy his trees? 
Last year, while driving through (he country, we 
saw a farmer using The R. N.-Y. as a scarecrow. 
He put pages of it on the ground about the field, with 
a stone at the center. This stone held the pages on 
the ground, while the wind fluttered the edges and 
thus frightened the crows away. Some keep the 
papers on lile. Some pass it on to others. Some use 
it to ward or light pests away. One man jail, it in a 
hale of hay: another used it as wadding in a gun and 
fired the charge at a chicken thief. Tts pictures 
have been pasted on tlie walls of lonely cabins, 
clergymen have taken it into the pulpit to use some 
extract as a text. Wherever it goes, our hope is 
that it may serve its purpose well and perform its 
duty faithfully. 
* 
T HE daily papers are outdoing themselves to prove 
that Marshal Foch. the great French general, 
is the champion milk drinker. Here is a sample: 
Fpon reaching Cleveland. Marshal Foch found a'strike 
on. and it was quite difficult to secure rniiK. many de¬ 
liveries having been stopped. This did not interfere 
with the great old general's breakfast at all. for lie 
annealed his case to the chief of police and secured a 
flying squadron which sailed under his name, and within 
an hour’s time returned to his train with the morning's 
supply— sir i/an its of will.- anti six </ mirtx of nyant. 
General Foch knows the value of milk and recognizes 
that he cannot maintain health and vitality without a 
good supply. 
The inference is that Hie valiant marshal con¬ 
sumed the entire supply—six quarts of milk and 
six of cream! That is what our bo.vs would call 
some drinking! As we understand it. tlie marshal’s 
train carried a large number of animals, which had 
been given the great general by admiring friends. 
The desired milk was largely used in feeding these 
pets. No doubt the general consumed his share, but 
14 quarts a day would enable the good old cow to do 
what the Germans never could do—lay the great 
marshal low. A large story is all right when the 
foundations are large enough for it. When you get 
it Ion large you pull the whole thing down. The 
marshal is said to be a man of plain living and sim¬ 
ple habits. The story goes that at a great banquet 
in Paris, some man. well tilled with wine, approached 
Foch. struck an attitude and said: "Marshal, you 
are great! Tell us how you did it!" In reply, 
Foch field tqi a glass of water and said: 
"I <1rink lints!" 
4 = 
BRING the past few weeks the papers have had 
much to say about “synthetic gold" and its pos¬ 
sibilities. There is a report that German chemists 
have discovered a way of making gold out of the 
baser metals. Synthesis is the opposite of analysis. 
The latter means to pick apart: the former means 
putting together or building up. During the war 
Gorman chemists did many wonderful things. They 
made an imitation rubber, produced nitrogen in great 
quantities and built up fats out of very common 
things. If they can make chemical gold enough like 
the natural metal to pass for it, and retain the secret 
of its manufacture, the German debt would be easily 
paid. Germany would become the richest nation in 
the world, and the immense increase of gold circu¬ 
lation would upset all our financial calculations. 
There are many who seem to think such things are 
possible. For some years the world seems to have 
been afraid of the German chemists, and we think 
these stories are put out to influence public opinion 
to force harder terms upon Germany. The truth 
seems to he that there is absolutely nothing to this 
synthetic gold story. Such a thing is impossible, ac¬ 
cording to the best chemists. Any good imitation 
of gold would cost more than the natural metal. 
That is the trouble with artificial rubber. Gold will 
still be taken from the earth, and not from the chem¬ 
ists’ laboratory. 
* 
O NE curious development of modern times is the 
new value given to what was formerly consid¬ 
ered waste material. For instance, in many local¬ 
ities farmers are selling the stones from their farms 
and walls at fair prices. They are used for building 
and for road-making. Such stones, the size of your 
head, or larger, are more solid and enduring than 
cement blocks or brick. There is coming a fashion 
or "craze" to build "old-style" houses of stone. All 
this gives a local demand which is likely to grow. 
In some parts of New England, favorably located, 
such stones are sold by weight, a cubic yard averag¬ 
ing 2,300 lbs. On our own farm we have nearly 
three miles nf stone wall—including boundary and 
inside lines. We fully expect that some day in the 
future these old walls will bring tlie original cost of 
the farm. Could anything better illustrate the 
curious irony of time? These stones were picked up 
laboriously, one hy one, by hopeless men and unwill¬ 
ing boys. They left a legacy of bent backs and 
twisted lingers, and they drove many a bright hoy 
away from a hated job. Yet the years swung around, 
and those neglected monuments of an unwilling and 
slave-like labor became even more valuable than the 
land so laboriously cleared! But let not every 
farmer imagine that all he has to do is to pick up 
stones and soil them at the price of pumpkins. Such 
sale will be possible only in localities where wealthy 
men with a craze for odd buildings congregate. The 
man far back on the hill pasture will find no market 
for his stone walls, any more than for his pastures 
as building lots. In fact, the two values of building 
lots and stone walls go together, yet there are thou¬ 
sands of cases where these walls will bring the 
original cost of the farm. 
* 
1IE disarmament conference struck a snag on 
the question of abolishing submarine warfare. 
England favors a policy which would apparently 
class the submarine with pirate ships. The majority 
of the people in this country apparently feel the 
same way. During the war there was greater loss, 
from submarine warfare, in farm products than in 
any other class of goods; ships carrying grain and 
breadstuff^, horses and cattle, were particularly 
marked for attack. Japan. France and Italy, as 
well as smaller countries, want the submarine, and 
demand a large tonnage. It is hardly likely that 
any fair compromise will be readied now. The use 
of the submarine and of poison gas have added 
greatly to the horror and cruelty of war. A nation 
well stocked with these frightful things would, in 
the event of war. have an immense advantage over 
other nations which had abandoned tlioir use. 
Hence it is not likely that they will be given up 
unless all great nations agree solemnly to abandon 
them. There is a general agreement among most 
men that if they are to fight there is to be no goug¬ 
ing. biting or kicking or other "inhuman" methods 
of attack. That seems to be in response to a "moral 
law,” if such a thing can be possible about fighting. 
In a way there must he some such understanding 
among tlie nations before they will agree to forego 
the great advantages which science has given them 
in poison gas and the submarine. Will it. be possible 
for humanity in refuse to use weapons of this 
sort? We fear that the world is not yet ready for 
such a sacrifice. It would he possible if the plain 
people of the world could come together and settle 
such things in a truly democratic way. The farmer 
in Norway. Spain. Bulgaria and Argentina can give 
no real reason why he should light and seek to kill 
a farmer in England or America. Yet the govern¬ 
ments of these various nations may. for reasons of 
their own. refuse to take the steps which would lead 
to permanent peace. Both the people and the gov¬ 
ernment of this country stand equally for world 
peace. Both arc ready to make reasonable sacrifices 
for it. In this country, during the past few years, 
old political issues have been passing away. Now. 
as never before, a majority of the people can unite 
to influence the action of government. 
* 
CASE of a mail box on a New York rural route 
will interest our readers. A man living on a 
country road was ordered by (lie Bostoffice Depart¬ 
ment to move His box from tlie left to the right hand 
side of the road. He did so. and placed it in front 
of his neighbor's house. He did not own property 
on both sides. The neighbor across the road ob¬ 
jected to this new location, but offered another place. 
The first man refused to change and the neighbor 
sued for damages. The case is in the hands of law¬ 
yers. and will involve a Federal question. Can the 
Bostoffice Department order the removal of a box 
under such conditions? The Bostoffice regulations 
require that boxes be put <>u the right side of the 
road "wherever practical." The object of (his is to 
give the carrier a chance to get over his route as 
easily as possible. 
* 
VERY now and then we hear people in town and 
city say they would likcto know just what the 
typical New York farmer looks like, and how he acts. 
If they are sincere in this wish we can tell them how 
to gratify it. Let them attend the annual meeting 
of the New York State Grange at Binghamton on 
February 7-10. There they will find a gathering of 
men and women who represent the rural districts. 
It is rather unfortunate that the Grange and the 
Farm Bureau have not developed men and women 
who can tell their story in real literature. We need 
something as true to life as "Main Street,” yet less 
one-sided than that book—a true, vivid picture of 
country life. It is a wonder that some of our great 
novelists have not attempted to picture the people 
and the life which will be in evidence at Bingham¬ 
ton. 
* 
HE annual meeting of tlie New York State Fed¬ 
eration of County Sheep Growers’ Co-operative 
Associations will lie held at the Court House in Syra¬ 
cuse January 12 ami I”. There are 3C> county sheep 
growers’ associations in this association. They have 
bunched together for mutual protection, as sheep will 
do in face of danger. They will not scatter as sheep 
often do under excitement. The season's wool was 
pooled and, as an experiment, some of it was made 
into doth and blankets for direct sale. We have 
told about this, and our readers have bought fhe-e 
goods freely. They are ready to liny all these grow¬ 
ers can turn out when the proposition is put before 
them. The sheep men ought to push this sale hard! 
It is the best, outlook they have for marketing their 
wool. Reports come to us that the growers are 
thinking of discontinuing this manufacturing and 
direct sale. We do not believe it. R would lip a 
form of suicide to give up the most useful marketing 
scheme yet attempted hy farmers. 
Brevities 
If you must "take your medicine.” do it standing up. 
An eggless cake! Well, the eggless pullet does not 
“take the cake.” 
A brain is like a cellar in one way. It needs a good 
drain to take off the surplus flow. 
If you must light some member of the family, do it 
with an ax on the toughest log in the shod. 
If you are tempted, sir. to blow and tell folks you are 
all the show—cool off—go out and shovel snow. 
Tuts country does an annual business of $100.000JWI 
in toys. This year there is a genuine shortage of dolls. 
Ordinary mildew of clover will not poison stock. We 
should prefer to feed silage, oilmeal or some other laxa¬ 
tive food with it. 
