MO 
The RURAL NEW-YORKER 
January 28, 1«22 
The Rural New-Yorker 
THE ISl'SIXESS FARMER'S PAPER 
A. National Weekly Journal for Country and (Suburban Homed 
Established tsso 
t'nliHsbcd weekly liv llie Itnrnl Publintilne Company, 333 Men* StOih Sire«t,Sew fork 
HKaiiLKT tv*. CoLi i m. wool), President Wul editor. 
Ions i Dn.r.oX, TrOMttrof atldO''itcml Manager. 
VVm. R DIT. 1 . 0 S. Secretary. Mrs. K. T. Ruvi.i:, Associate Editor. 
SUBSCRIPTION : ONE DOLLAR A YEAR 
To foreign eountrios in the Uuivevt»l Postal Union. 82,04. equal Lo $8. Cd., or 
gl, murks, or in-., frolic* Remit in wtonuY order. express 
urder, peraonaJ check or bank draft. 
Entered at New York Post Office as Second Class Matter. 
Advertising rates, 11,00 per agate line—T words. References required for 
advertisers unknown to us ; and cash must acoowpaity transient orders. 
“A SQUARE DEAL" 
We believe that every advertisement in tins paper is backed by arespon- 
niblc dr: son. W« use everv postabto iiree/iutic*!! ami a<lmit the auvertiKUlt or 
reliable houses only. Rut to make doubly sure. will make good any loss 
to paid subscribe is sustained by trusting any delilieinte : windier, m-ospon- 
sil.l- advertisers or mislead mfc advertisemwals in our columns, and any 
such swindler will be putdi.-ly exposed. We are nl.-o often called upon 
to adjust dilTf ivnees miatakws between our aiibserlbem and lionest, 
resnonsiblf bouses. w bet tier advertisers or not, W« v, lUmply use onr good 
oile rs to Ibis end, but. sill’ll cases should licit li" confused with dislionost 
trttTisuotiotiy. Wo protect -ill iso Tiber? ngaiust rogii’S. hut wo will not ho 
responsible for the debts of honest bankrupts sanctioned by the courts. 
Notice of tilt* complaint must be sent to US within one month of the time of 
the translation and ti> Identify It, you should mention Tim Kurai. New- 
Youkkii when writing the advertiser.__ 
The r. N.-Y. is a great favorite here. Even the 
hired man hunts for it. every Saturday night, and is 
disappointed if it. fails to arrive. ,T. n.T. 
B UT why put in the word “even’'—grammatically 
an “intensive particle"? If wo cannot, interest, 
the hired man and make him an inspired mair, we 
are falling short of our opportunity! 
1 saw a picture in The li. N.-Y. of a lad on the back 
of an < >. I. C. hoar; also noted your caution. Knowing 
that a terrible accident, which occurred to my son. 
My i •nil A. Wakefield, November 20, 1021. when he was 
hificii by our O. I. registered boar while handling 
him, might help someone, I write this. lie went to a 
hospital and was given best, of care and doctors, hut an 
infection set in and he died December 20 from effects 
of bite. A. C. WAKEFIELD. 
Massachusetts. 
P EOPLE often send us pictures of little children 
mounted on hogs or bulls. It usually makes a 
pretty picture, and no doubt there are older people 
close at hand to save the child in ease of danger. 
Still, we always feel uncomfortable at such pic¬ 
tures. We do not. under any circumstances, permit 
our little children to play with large animals. A 
l.oar or a hull may seem gentle and good-natured, hut 
they cannot, be trusted. At times they are dangerous 
to anyone, and by nature they are treacherous, 'they 
are not safe companions for a child, and there js 
danger in leading people to think they cun he 
trusted. 
* 
Is there a law in New York State prohibiting a man 
from sending a dressed hog to New York City by ex¬ 
press? I sold a purchaser in New York City a pig 
weighing 1*0 lbs., kept it until Deiemher 20 before 
butchering it. When I took it to express office at Hun¬ 
ter. X, Y.. to ship, they would not let me ship it. saying 
they had no right to do so. as New York City would 
jot'no hogs in their city without a permit from a State 
inspector. It would cost me ns much to get an inspec¬ 
tor here from Albany or New York City as I would get 
for pig. This surely is a slow way to get. producer and 
consumer together. ,T. E. R. 
Greene Co.. N. Y. 
N EW YORK State has no law to prohibit ship¬ 
ment of a dressed hog to this city. Yet many 
of our readers are asking this same question. How¬ 
ever. if the shipment runs through two States it 
comes into "interstate traffic” and requires a permit 
from the Bureau of Animal Industry at Washing¬ 
ton. For instance, the Erie and the West Shore 
roads run through a small corner of New Jersey in 
order to reach this city. A dressed hog coming by 
either road would be considered an interstate ship¬ 
ment. and no express company would accept it with¬ 
out the permit from the national government. On 
the other hand, your shipment could have gone over 
the New York Central without trouble. It is purely 
a case of red tape—a. form of penalty for traveling 
a few miles in the good State of New Jersey. 
* 
1 notice what vnu have been raising with the farmers 
of York State, and I’m glad of it; hope you will keep 
right on. in your capacity of farm teacher. How are 
we going to have a never-failing supply of fond without 
a strong country population? Walterolcott. 
(Ynineotieut. 
W E cannot “have a full supply of food without 
a strong rural population.” We cannot have 
a strong rural population unless country people are. 
reasonably contented. They cannot he reasonably 
contented unless they can feel that they receive a 
fair return for their labor. There can he no fair 
return for their labor until the farmers receive more 
than -So cents of the consumer’s dollar. They will 
not receive more than that until the entire system 
of transportation and distribution is made over and 
the useless middlemen are eliminated. We have 
preached that doctrine for years. Very little atten¬ 
tion was paid to it until the idea found permanent 
lodgment in the farmer’s brain. Now we are ac¬ 
cused of trying “to break down our entire system of 
trade and destroy all middlemen." We all know that 
there must he dealers and handlers in our present 
system of distribution. We have never dreamed 
of cutting out all of them, but we do believe that 
about, half of them serve no useful purpose. The 
world would lie bettor off if they went at; other work 
and permitted more direct dealing between producer 
and consumer. By stating this belief over and over 
we seem to have earned the reputation of raising the 
fiery crop attributed to us. We shall keep right on 
raising it. Twenty years ago we figured the size of 
the farmer’s dollar at 35 cents. The government’s 
investigations now show it to be 2,7 cents. That is a 
gain of one postage stamp. It’s encouraging, and 
the stamps will come faster in the future if we all 
slay by the job. 
* 
A EUROPEAN, traveling in this country, studying 
agriculture, wants to know where ho can go to 
learn how our system of farm education has influ¬ 
enced farmers. If he had the time for it, his best 
plan would he to go into a dozen widely separated 
communities and make a personal canvass. Let him 
take a ear and drive from farm to farm, interview¬ 
ing people nl their homes, without preparation or 
influence. If that cannot be done, his best plan 
would he to attend “Farmers’ Week” at Ithaca on 
February 12-17. There he could see several thousand 
farm people come to spend n week at the agricul¬ 
tural college. They will be the more intelligent class 
of farmer. 1 )—for the most part men and women of 
superior qualify. They will mostly be community 
leaders, and will give the finest evidence of what 
agricultural education can do for (lie people. 
' * 
ERE AFTER, in the discussion of school ques¬ 
tions. and especially of consolidation, we must 
print the name of the contributor with the article. 
We are flooded with articles signed “Justice,' 
“Teacher,” “One Who Knows,” etc. Many of them 
contain good ideas, but we have now come to a 
point in this matter when those who discuss it 
should come out in the open, and stand for their 
statements. We shall try to give our readers a fair 
synopsis of the arguments sent us. but nothing.will 
be printed hereafter unless it. is signed by Hie author 
openly. Thai seems the fairest way to handle this 
great question. 
* 
WOMAN farmer tells us of her experience in 
trying to run farm machinery. She learned 
how to run a sulky plow and harrow. Then she 
made a float or drag out of plank, and as she drew 
it across the field loaded it with stones, which she 
hauled off to the sides. Then she tried marking, but 
made a sad job of it. She says: “I tried and tried 
and could not do it right, so I just sat down on the 
marker and cried.” You may say, “Just like a 
woman!” But it was more effective than the usual 
manly method of swearing or smashing the marker! 
We have witnessed both of these useless proceedings. 
As the woman sat sobbing, the man in a field on the 
next farm saw her and came over to see what was 
the trouble. In 10 mlnules he showed her just how 
to guide 11 io marker properly. Then he went back 
to his job and left her smiling like sunshine in 
April. You can draw a dozen suitable lessons from 
this, including I lie need of practical instruction in 
agriculture, and fbo beauty of neighborly kindness. 
E have shown how the airplane may he used 
to put a dust on orchards to kill leaf-eating 
insects or h> check plant diseases. The dust is sim¬ 
ply blown out of the plane as it moves over the or¬ 
chard. Now we are told that poison gas will be 
used to kill the boll-weevil and similar insects. We 
do not believe it. There may he small areas in pro¬ 
tected valleys where the gas could he held and con¬ 
trolled. but for ordinary use, in large, level fields, 
there would be too much danger and too little defi¬ 
nite control. We doubt it, although we have as great 
a hope for the application of science as anyone. 
5k 
E have had several letters lately from young 
men who are students at agricultural col¬ 
leges, and who desire to borrow small sums of 
money. They have partly completed their course, 
but lack the funds to go on. Their need usually is 
for a few hundred dollars, with which they can 
finance their way to graduation. Having been 
through this mill in oilier years, we know how such 
men are situated, and have a kindly feeling for 
them. It is quite easy to tell a young fellow to get 
out and earn his education. Most of these men who 
write ns have done that in part. They now come to 
a part of their education where their studies demand 
most of their time—there is little left for outside 
work. We know just Imw that is. Toward the end 
of a college course there Comes a time when an in¬ 
vestment of capital will pay as well as in any line 
of business. It is hard to-make a bank or a money¬ 
lender >ee this. Euless a boy has personal friends 
who are interested in him. it is hard to make a loan 
—with a future education as security. Yet there 
ought to be a chance for such men. In some cases 
the loan is as needful and useful as that made to a 
man who seeks to earn a home. Some of the col¬ 
leges recognize this, and provide a fmul from which 
deserving boys can borrow. There ought to be a 
chance for some man with money and no particular 
occupation to develop a new business. There would 
not be much profit in it, but what a study of human 
nature it would lead to! 
* 
URING the past season we have had at least a 
dozen school cases much like the following: 
Some new family moves into the school district. It 
may be a back-to-the-lander or some foreign group, 
with peculiar appearance or habits. They do not 
understand the manners and habits of the “old set¬ 
tlers,” and, without meaning to do so, become unpop¬ 
ular. The people talk and discuss the situation. 
The new-comers may be quick-tempered or offensive 
in some way, and the district “gets down on them." 
At school the pupils reflect the talk and feelings of 
their parents, and proceed to ridicule and "pick on" 
the children of the new-comers. The feeling grows 
until a “feud” is started, and the new children are 
not given a fair chance. These new residents come 
to us, hot with anger. In the place where they came 
from they were respected and given a fair chance. 
Why. then, should their children be mistreated at the 
school? They demand that we give them the law in 
the ease and help them obtain their rights. But 
what can we. or any outsider, do in such a ease? We 
‘all talk wisely of the “law,” but, what is law. after 
all. except the condensed extract of public opinion? 
Tr. is rare in these cases of district persecution where 
there is imt some trouble on both sides. Every new¬ 
comer in a district should be made welcome and 
given a fair chance to prove his worth, and we think 
this is done in most country places. In the case of 
abuse or mistreatment the teacher or the superin¬ 
tendent should he appealed to. It is. however, gen¬ 
erally a hopeless and thankless task for an outsider 
to try to interfere in these district quarrels. 
sk 
AST week we gave an account of the “agricul¬ 
tural bloc” in Congress, and the names of men 
who belong to it. As we see it, the “bloc” is a com¬ 
bination of Senators from the Far Western States 
and the South. These men have for the first time 
in history dropped their sectional differences, and 
have found a point of agreement in common agricul¬ 
tural problems. Their latest achievement is to pass 
through the Senate a hill enlarging the Federal 
Reserve Board by one member, with the understand¬ 
ing that the President will appoint ta farmer for the 
new member. Whatever else you may say, it seems 
dear that, this “agricultural bloc” has learned how 
to get results, There is no good reason why there 
should not he a farmer on this board. Yet there 
never would have been such appointment if this 
“bloc” had not used its power. There would have 
•been no progressive farm legislation iu this Con¬ 
gress but for this new feature in political life. The 
bill for enlarging the board passed the Senate G3 to 
0 —both Senators from New York opposing it. There 
is a great outcry from the party managers and 
politicians, yet for years they have been using their 
secret power to secure special privilege. At least 
the open methods of the “bloc” are far superior to 
the old wire-pulling ways. Aside from any advan¬ 
tage to agriculture, this “bloc” is working out two 
most desirable things. It is drawing things out into 
the open, where we can see what is done, and it is 
breaking up the old sectional hostility between the 
North and the South. It is the most hopeful plan 
for bringing Hie North and the South together that 
we have ever started in this country. 
Brevities 
“ \ei, wool and ft yard wide.” The ram—at least it 
is often well to have the yard’s width between you. 
There are various kinds of “dirt” farmers. For in- 
«t since. the man who farms the farmer puts much dirt 
into his job. 
We have had a namber of questions about how to 
prepare leaf tobacco for chewing. This is rather out 
• if mir line, and we doubt if a good quality can he made 
by home methods. 
Not long ago we printed figures to show the weights 
of . from different breeds. You must remember that 
thK did not represent a few eggs or hens, but the nver- 
agi of mans thousands. In these figures the Reds were 
credited with laying the largest eggs. 
