Uh RURAL NEW-YORKER 
49 
Direct Sale of Woolen Goods 
My husband, who has been with one of the oldest 
and largest wholesale dry goods houses for 20 years, 
and who heretofore was able t,> buy a. wholesale price 
tine wool blankets at $5 or $(}, cannot today get. a mote 
than half cotton one at less than $8. I shall be very 
much pleased if I can get all wool at a reasonable price. 
SIRS A. I). 
The New York State Wool Growers* Association 
has been selling blankets for $8, or a little more. 
These blankets are excellent. We have priced goods 
of similar quality at stores and found them selling 
at $13 and over. The Wool Growers’ Association 
has these blankets made on contract, and they are 
sold direct to consumers. Several sample of suitings 
are sold in the same way. We have used both 
blankets and cloth in our own family and know 
what they are. One of our renders says lie has 
found a dealer wno will sell the linings and buttons 
for a full suit of clothes for $5. Enough of ibis all 
wool cloth to make a suit can be bought for about 
$10. Thus a farmer can have a fine suit made to 
order by a local tailor for less than he is now ex¬ 
pected to pay for a suit containing 30 per cent or 
more of shoddy. Not only is that true, but h.v means 
of this direct, manufacturing and selling the wool 
grower obtains more for his wool than he could 
ever get selling it as raw material. We hope and 
believe that this is only the beginning of direct 
manufacture and sale of many of our farm products. 
It is right along that line that we must hope to help 
ourselves. 
Property Owner’s Right to the Road 
'Hie Connecticut Supreme Court, has recently de¬ 
cided a case involving individual rights in a road. 
This will interest many of our readers who have 
sent us questions about, this point. The case hung 
upon the right of a property holder to control the 
road running before his property. The plaint iff in 
the case was a New York man who purchased land 
on a highway laid out some years ago. This high¬ 
way was inclined to he dusty when the winds were 
high. Some of the property owners wished to over¬ 
come this objection by plowing up the road and 
seeding it to grass, so as to make a sod which would 
not give up dust. The New York man objected to 
this, hut a land company which was interested in 
tin* development of the neighborhood ordered the 
work done. The man who objected brought suit 
against the contractor for damages to his property. 
The case came up in the superior court and the 
defendants' lawyers filed a demurrer. They claimed 
that the plaintiff had no individual right in the 
highway aside from wlmt was enjoyed by all users. 
They also claimed that lie was benefited rather than 
injured. Then the case was switched away from 
the original claim to the point as to whether a per¬ 
son owning property on a highway has any indi¬ 
vidual rights in control over that road. The case 
went to the Supreme Court for a decision on this 
point, and that court has now strongly affirmed the 
rights of property owners in the highway. The court 
laid down rlie principle that those who own property 
on a highway can do about anything they like up 
to the middle of the road, provided it in no way 
interferes with common travel. Property owners 
j Ijoining the roads have these rights, and they can¬ 
not be taken away from them without due process 
of law. and without recompense. The Supreme 
Court finds that the people who changed the road 
in this way without permission of the owner acted 
entirely without authority, and were therefore tres¬ 
passers. We understand that the Rhode Island 
Superior Court has also given a decision on these 
questions which amounts to the same thing as this 
Connecticut decision. This will be of great interest 
to property owners if the decision is upheld by the 
higher eo-.rts, as we think it will he. because it. 
gives property owners the right in the road which 
will enable them to protect their property. 
The Agricultural Crop Situation 
The recent low prices are not so much the result of 
actual oversupply of agricultural products as to the situ¬ 
ation which has caused so much forced liquidation 
hroughont the surplus producing regions, and very cau¬ 
tions buying in Europe, due in part to their depreciation 
of exchange. Itolh the European exchange situation 
and the agricultural situation in the surplus countries 
should steadily improve from now on. 
That is part, of it report from the Agricultural Do- 
partment. In the five months ending December 1 
this country exported 181.000.000 bushels of wheat, 
as compared with 170.000,000 bushels during the 
same period last year. Before the war the figures 
averaged 71.000.000 for the same period. Much the 
same is true of meats. In South America, New Zea¬ 
land and Australia there has been a worse slump in 
farm prices. The export wealth of these countries 
lies chiefly in grain, live stock and wool. After the 
war the market for hides and wool smashed. There 
were great stores of these products piled up waiting 
shipment, for all expected the war to last at least 
one year longer. There was a forced liquidation in 
all these countries which compete with America for 
the world’s market in food. This has thrown too 
much upon the market, and the decreased buying 
power of Europe, combined with a failure to read¬ 
just. production, has largely caused our trouble. 
Many of us do-not realize what the depreciation in 
European money means, one of our readers asked 
us to obtain exchange on Germany for him. lie sent 
us $200 in American money, and we obtained 35,700 
German marks. At par the mark is 24.25 cents! 
There is more or less depreciation of all European 
money, and naturally I he market is upset ami trade 
cannot he normal. We think the worst is now over 
and that conditions for farm products will improve. 
As we have often pointed out, most farmers on the 
North Atlantic slope have not suffered as Western 
farmers have. Our prices have been fair, and while 
some crops are short, most of us sell for cash, and 
have done reasonably well. 
A Farm Lease on an Equal Share Basis 
We have had so many calls for advice about leas¬ 
ing farms that it seems desirable to print a definite 
form of lease. The following was prepared by a 
lawyer, and has been signed by owner and tenant. 
This is for a dairy and stock farm, where there will 
he a steady income from the beginning: 
This agreement, made. 
Between . 
AND . 
.day of. 
WITNESSETH, that the said parties hereto for and in 
consideration of the sum of ONE dollar. to each in hand 
paid by the other, the receipt whereof is hereby acknowl¬ 
edged, do hereby agree to and with each other as fol¬ 
lows : 
The said party of the first part hereby 
i 11 Leases and rents unto the said party of the sec¬ 
ond part for the term of one year from April 1, 1922, 
all his farm, containing.acres more or less, 
with the exception of the owner’s residence and garden 
and lawns around same, also carriage floor of horse 
barn i the tenant, however, to have space on said floor 
for bis automobile, and shop building near owner’s resi¬ 
dence. 
And agrees to 
i II) Allow the teuaut to use tne implements and tools 
now ou premises, same to be put in condition to use at 
expense of owner. 
(3) Supply the commercial fertilizer and lime: also 
grass seed in'amount according to mutual agreement. 
(4) Keep the buildings nud fences in repair at his 
expense. 
(51 Pay all taxes on said property and the premium- 
for tire insurance ou buildings and his implements and 
tools and horses. 
Said party of the second part agrees to 
(It Supply the labor to operate the farm, care for 
the live stock and murket the products. 
(2.1 The use of any tools he now has in addition to 
those supplied by the owner, and same to be put in con¬ 
dition to use at his expense. 
(31 Agrees to farm arid operate the.acres 
of land heretofore farmed by the owner, in a good and 
husbandlike manner, and according to rotations agreed 
upon between owner and tenant best suited for the 
maintenance of the live stock on the farm. 
(4) l’ay premiums for tire insurance on his imple¬ 
ments and tools and horses. 
The parties of the first and second parts 
herkhy mutually agree 
ill Horses fur operating the farm are to be supplied 
equally by both. It is agreed that owner can have use, 
when necessary to take him to and return from station, 
of one or two horses. 
(2) Feed for live stock and seed, other than grass 
seed, are for joint account, that is an expense of opera¬ 
tion. 
(3) Livestock and poultry are to be purchased on 
the judgment of both, and paid tor by each paying one- 
half of the total valuation. It is agreed that the number 
to be acquired or carried shall be according to mutual 
agreement. 
i t) Expenses, other than those specified, are to be 
paid from farm receipts or shared equally by owner and 
tenant: premiums for fire insurance on live stock and 
farm produce, the joint property of owner and tenant, 
are to be considered an expense. All money received i> 
to he deposited in .Bank of . 
and only withdrawn on check signed by both. 
(5) Any profits or losses of the business are to be 
shared equally. 
(fit No outside work of any character or description 
is to be done by the party of the second part without 
consent of party of the first part, and if so done, with 
such consent, receipts thereof to be divided equally. 
(7) All manure made <>u said farm to be left thereon. 
(8) Increase in live stock to be shared equally. 
(9) ...-acres of grass (.-.) to 
oe left on said place when lease terminates. 
(10) By consent .it both parties hereto, this lease 
may be continued for a further term of....years, 
provided such agreeincut for continuing is reduced to 
writing by the patties hereto ou or before .Taunury 1. 
(11) This lease shall not prevent the sale of the 
lands leased hereby. In case of a sale thereof during 
the term of this lease, the damages to the tenant shall 
be determined by the tenant, the present landlord, and 
a third arbitrator to be chosen bv the parties hereto. 
In witness whereof, the said parties have hereunto 
set their hands and seals the day an.', year first above 
written. 
Signed, skated, and delivered ) 
in presence of ) 
.(DS.) 
Party of the first, part. 
.(L.S.) 
Party of the second part. 
Some New Arguments for the Small 
School 
I am fi4 years old, and the school years of 20 of them 
were spent in teaching. I know that my best work, 
from every standpoint, was done in the rural schools, 
the next when I was principal of graded schools, and the 
worst of all was done when teaching single grade in 
tin* largest school of one of the large cities. One year 
of that was enough for me. 
In the rural school the pupils of all but the highest 
grade are hearing the recitations >d' the grades ahead 
of them, and the comments and explanations of the 
teacher. Much of this sticks, and they are that much 
ahead when they pass on to the next. To one without 
experience in this line of work it seems incredible that 
first-grade children will learn the location of many of 
(lie large cities, the outlines of the States with whose 
names they are most familiar, and the courses of the 
big rivers, just by watching the geography pupils using 
the pointer on the large wall map of the United States 
that hangs on the wall of every country school, yet it is 
a fact. 
I have had pupils who were taken from a big city 
school aud sent to mine because their parents found 
that their country cousins were ahead of them. When 
put into the same class with the country children of 
the same ago, the city children had to give much more 
time to home study aud get a lot of help from their 
cousins iu order to catch up and keep up. Other teach¬ 
ers have told me that their experiences were the same. 
While the greater amount of outdoor exercise may have 
had a little to do with it, I feel sure that the “lapping 
over” of work in the one-teacher school was the main 
reason. 
Perhaps some consolidationist will say that the little 
ones were neglecting their own regular work, but ob¬ 
servations that. I have made in the larger schools have 
convinced me that the country child does more, instead 
of less, of work that is of value. Children need va¬ 
riety, and they get more of it in the one-teacher school 
than in the large school. The strongest argument that 
I have heard in favor of the large school is that it is 
able to get better teachers. This is probably true, and 
it is owing largely to the fact that the town teachers, 
have more pleasant conditions when out of the school 
room. If these outside conditions were made pleasant 
and comfortable, and as good salaries paid as in the 
town schools, I think there would be little trouble in 
getting good teachers. Those who have tried it know 
that, the teacher is a good deal more of a “somebody” in 
the rural neighborhood than in the town. To one with 
qualities of leadership, this means a good deal. 
North Carolina. F. a. brown. 
The Ohio Hunting Law 
The Ohio law requires that a hunter must have a 
license, which costs 81.25, and i- good for one year. 
Next, he is supposed to get a written consent from the 
laud-owner upon whose premises he desires to hunt. 
The land-owner wisely refuses to do -<• usually, and lets 
the hunter take the risk of being fined if he abuses a 
verbal permission, lie must not hunt on Sundays nor 
after dark. We have county game wardens who co¬ 
operate with the land-owners in the observance of the 
game law, and that i< a great help. The land-owner 
usually posts his land, but this is not required. How¬ 
ever. it helps a lot, aud is worth the trouble. The best 
feature is that the license requirement cuts out most 
of the irresponsible men and boys. Licenses are not 
required by the owner, tenants, etc., of land, nor does 
the law forbid them to kill game out of reason whe^ 
injuring crops. w. E. i>. 
Highland Co., O. 
Distribution of Picric Acid to Farmers 
Quite a number of readers have asked us where 
they can get picric acid from the Government. This 
is a powerful, explosive, designed originally to “blow 
down the iron walls of Germany." When the Kaiser 
ran away, these walls fell of their own accord, and 
the picric acid was left on hand. Then it was pro¬ 
posed to turn it over to farmers for use in blasting 
stone and clearing land. Farmers in other States 
have used it. and New York farmers naturally ask 
"Where are we at?” We find that the distribution 
was in charge of the Bureau of Public Roads at 
Washington, and the following statement explains 
the situation: 
f 
The general plan consists in designating a distribut¬ 
ing agency within each State, which agency collects 
individual orders aud consolidates them into carload 
orders, which are forwarded to this bureau. 
We have not been able to find any organization in 
New York that is willing r,» handle the project. We have 
had the matter up with the Agricultural College at 
Ithaca, aud with one or two farmers' organisations. 
The general opinion is that the scattered demand for 
the explosive in New York 8tate. together with the 
difficulties involved iu transporting high explosives in 
the State, make it advisable to undertake the distri¬ 
bution. It is to be regretted that this is the ease, as 
we have had a large number of inquiries from resident" 
of New York with reference to picric acid, and feel 
that the results of one or two shipments into the State 
would demonstrate the utility of this explosive for ag.-i- 
cultural work. 
Up to this time all shipments have been made from 
Sparta. Wis. The supply there is now practically ex¬ 
hausted. and hereafter shipments must be made from 
Ft. Wingate. N. M.. which will, of course, involve some¬ 
what higher freight rates. h. h. barrows. 
Acting Chief. 
