<ft« RURAL NEW-YORKER 
675 
A Calm Discussion of the Milk Troubles 
I Of late there has been increasing request for a dis¬ 
cussion of the present milk controversy, but the com¬ 
munications offered for publication have indicated such 
a hitter partisan feeling we have felt that the publica¬ 
tion of them could do milk producers no good. Our 
policy of thirty-odd years’ standing is to print only 
what we believe to be for the good of the farm. Wft 
have for the most part retrained from comment our¬ 
selves, because we believed that it was belter to let the 
heat of controversy subside until the good sense and 
calm judgment of our triable dairymen begun to assert 
themselves, Mr. Nelson's article (following) is limely. 
Those who do not agree with him i'n all detail will not 
hesi.ate to approve the suggestion that it is time to 
stop bickering among dairymen and get together for 
the good of the industry. We cannot print incrimi¬ 
nating or abusive letters, but we shall be glad to give 
space to a calm, fair discussion of the subjects from 
all angles. Why are our dairymen, once so close to¬ 
gether. now drifting apart? What must be done to 
close the gap and unite them again?] 
Sizing the Case Up 
I was very much interested in your article en¬ 
titled “Problems in Dairy Organization” in your 
issue of April 22. A quotation used elsewhere in 
your editorial page I think equally applies to this 
article; that is, “A house divided against itself can¬ 
not stand.” It. would seem that at the present time 
the dairymen of League territory are divided against 
themselves, and that it is high time that they got 
together and thrashed out their problems to a 
mutual understanding among themselves, rather 
than a part of them getting their heads together 
with certain milk dealers, who -are only too willing 
to take advantage of this opportunity to widen the 
breach and accomplish the purpose that they have 
worked for ever since the organization of the Dairy¬ 
men's League. That is. to wreck the dairymen’s 
organization so that they will have the privilege of 
returning to the old system of individual bargain¬ 
ing. I do not think that many farmers who sold 
milk under the old system wish to return to it. 
We must all admit .that the-pooling plan is funda¬ 
mentally sound, that it has accomplished a great 
ideal during its first year's operation, and that if 
given reasonable support will continue to benefit all 
dairymen in this section. It cannot replace the law 
of supply and demand, but it can materially assist 
in stabilizing markets for dairy products, and espe¬ 
cially the fluid market. It ds possible for the non¬ 
pooler to beat the pool, but only at the expense of 
the man who by pooling makes his market possible 
for him. We must admit, too, that the larger per¬ 
centage of non-iK>olers are such because of personal 
selfishness, or because they lack the breadth of 
vision to make it possible for them to see that by 
keeping the surplus out of the city markets it is 
possible to establish a price on fluid milk that re¬ 
flects the cost of production and a reasonable profit. 
This is not the ease at the present time, however, 
when the non-pooler is cutting the price of fluid 
milk to sell his product in this class. There are 
some men, though, among the ranks of the non¬ 
poolers who believe that the principle is right, hut 
who do not have confidence in the way that things 
are managed at the present time. Some of these 
men feel that the dairyman whose main income is 
from the dairy business is being discriminated 
against, under the present system of management. 
Perhaps he mayffiave some grounds for this belief. 
A few suggestions might form the grounds for a 
compromise and permit the organization to weld 
itself together before it is too late: 
1. A plus differential in favor of the producer who 
delivers to a milk plant which comes under fluid 
inspection. It certainly costs more to produce milk 
when these conditions have to be met than to pro¬ 
duce milk in manufacturing territory where the 
regulations arc less rigid. 
2. That representation should be based upon the 
cow population. Certainly the man with a 40-cow 
dairy has more tit stake in the business than the 
man with a 10-cow dairy, and he should have more 
representation in the association. This could he 
done by reducing the size of the districts in the area 
of the strictly dairy sections, which would give this 
area a larger number of directors. 
3. That directors should lie chosen with the idea 
of putting in men whose chief interest and income 
is from their dairy business. And that this idea 
should he especially emphasized in the selection of 
the executive committee, which to a large degree 
formulates and carries out the policies of the organ¬ 
ization. Their interest and income from their own 
dairy business should lie more important than the 
salary which they receive from the Co-operative 
Association. 
4. That the official literature cease to ridicule 
and make fun of the non-pooler. They cannot afford 
to stoop to such a practice and it cheapens the asso¬ 
ciation and gives the non-pooler more publicity than 
lie- deserves. 
Finally, it is time that the dairymen of this terri¬ 
tory realize that the present situation is leading to 
chaos, and that only by getting together and settling 
their differences peacefully and compromising for 
the common good of all will anything of permanent 
value be gained for the dairy farmer in League ter¬ 
ritory. We can gain nothing by throwing mud at 
each other or by being a Judas and selling out our 
business and our brother dairymen to the milk 
dealers for a few paltry pieces of silver. 
H. II. NELSON. 
Election ol League Directors 
The Dairymen’s League Co-operative Association 
has announced that, the machinery of the associa¬ 
tion has been changed so that all dairymen who 
have been pooling their milk as non-members have 
become members in the association, and the election 
of directors is now under way preparatory for the 
annual meeting on June 15. The nomination of 
directors will be on the caucus and delegate plan. 
Each local is to send one delegate to a district 
meeting. lie will be authorized to cast as many 
votes as there were members at the local meeting 
that elected him as delegate. After the nominations 
are made an official ticket, will be printed. There 
will be but one candidate for each district, or 24 in 
all. There is no provision for an official contest for 
a directorate. The member may vote for all names 
on the official ballot, or he may strike out one or all 
and insert others: but without means of concen¬ 
trating on a candidate the opposition to a nominee 
would be without effect 
Settlement of Milk Prices 
Milk producers supplying milk to the SO plants of 
the Sheffield Farms Company have divided them¬ 
selves into 15 groups. Delegates representing these 
groups were appointed by -the producers last week 
to confer with officials of the company for the pur¬ 
pose of negotiating a price for the May milk. 
The delegates met in New York City on April 29, 
and organized by electing C. Fred Bosehart of Low- 
ville, N. Y., as chairman, and adopted rules of pro¬ 
cedure. An open meeting was then held, with officers 
of the .Sheffield Farms Company present Mr. Hor¬ 
ton and Mr. Van Bomel discussed the milk situ¬ 
ation from the city angle, and the delegates spoke 
freely of the country side of the business, and of 
the prices they thought should be paid. A com¬ 
mittee of five producers and two Sheffield repre¬ 
ss tatives then retired and discussed the matter of 
price at close range. The committee filially reported 
that a compromise price of $1.70 had been agreed 
upon for 9 per cent milk in the 201-210-mile zone, 
with differentials for fat. freight and Grade A milk. 
The company agreed to take all the milk produced 
and offered. The price was approved by the dele¬ 
gates. 
New York State Notes 
Orleans County will pool its wool again this year. At 
a meeting in AW.on the members of the county associa¬ 
tion decided to do as they did last year. Four shipping 
points in the county have been selected by the directors 
for loading the wool. The svnol will be taken in, 
weighed, sacked, and the producer given a receipt for 
the number of pounds of wool he has. The wool is 
then sacked and sent to Syracuse to the State ware¬ 
house. where it is graded by the State association grader 
and prepared for market. The producer is then sent a 
statement of the number of pounds of each grade of 
wool in his lot. When the wool is sold a check is sent 
iiire< tly to the grower. 
The members of the State association for the sale of 
maple products have finished the distribution of the 
steel drums to its members. The demand for drums 
has exceeded the estimate of the directors of the asso¬ 
ciation. The association is now working on a plan for 
bringing the syrup to central places, where it will be 
prepared for its final form for the consuming market. 
The association will keep some of the syrup in its pres¬ 
ent form, and some will be made into sugar and some 
into mupl ■ cream. Warehouse facilities have been com¬ 
pleted, and the whole plan is taking on tangible form. 
The syrup will be graded at the loading point to deter¬ 
mine the weight, color and flavor. 
Despite the change in everyday things, some of the 
older customs still are* with tis, with as much interest 
as formerly. This is particularly true of the old-fash¬ 
ioned spelling bee. Notices are going out throughout 
the State for the town contests in preparation for the 
State contest, which i> held at the State Fair. 
I read in the daily paper tonight of the story of a 
house burning from an overheated stovepipe. The house 
was entirely destroyed, and the barn, which was a short 
distance away, was just barely saved. The sad part of 
the whole matter was that the owner was only partly 
covered by insurance. Insurance is one of the cheapest 
things a person can carry. 
One thing which New York might well be proud of Is 
the attention which is being given to boys’ and girls’ 
club work. This club work affords an opportunity for 
self-expression that can hardly be equaled in any other 
way. We talk about keeping the boy and girl on the 
farm, and that is a noble idea, but club work does one 
thing which is equally good, and that is. it teaches the 
boy and girl his or her tendencies and likings. Many 
ministers should be farmers, and many farmers should 
be ministers; the club idea helps them to determine this. 
The New York State Holstein Flub is outlining a 
complete plan for co-operating with the county club 
organizations for carrying forward calf club work. E. 
It. Zimmer, secretary of the State club, and E. J. 
Cooper of the national association, are holding district 
meetings for the purpose of outlining how they can 
assist the country boys’ and girls' clubs in securing 
suitable Holstein calves, and how these calves can be 
exhibited for the most benefit to the boys and girls. 
Canning factories have been planting spinach in the 
Genesee Valley the past week. It will have to warm 
up fast if the plants come up quickly and produce ten¬ 
der leaves for canning. This crop on the large fields of 
the valley is always an inspiration to lovers of things 
that grow. 
At a meeting of the Onondaga County Sheep Breed¬ 
ers’ Association the checks for the 1921 clip were dis¬ 
tributed and the association voted to pool this coming 
year. The old dog question of damages done by dogs 
was discussed, and a committee was appointed to con¬ 
fer with the board of supervisors and the Department 
of Farms and Markets as to the desirability of estab¬ 
lishing a night quarantine. 
On Long Island there is an unusual number of fields 
of rye plowed under this year for a green manure crop. 
John Stickler of Hieksville believes it pays to plow un¬ 
der rye for his potato crop, He plants about half of 
his potato acreage to Cobblers. This enables him to 
cover crop his land more extensively than if his acreage 
were all Green Mountains. 
It has been announced by the G. L. F. that they will 
have a financial statement ready some rime in May 
which gives the volume of business and other items of 
interest. 
The Clinton County Holstein Club will hold its pub¬ 
lic sale at the Plattsburg Fair Grounds May 22. A 
large number of these animals are from accredited 
herds. 
While picnic season seems a good way away for most 
of us, nevertheless a number of counties are planning 
when they will told theirs, and who will speak, and 
just what is the hest plan to interest the most folks. 
Wyoming County is planning a picnic for the 21st of 
June. This will be under the direction of the Dairy¬ 
men’s League, the Farm Bureau and the County 
Grange. 
The New York Canning Crops Growers' Association 
has opened offices at Rochester at 154 East avenue. 
The following additional contracts have been made by 
the association recently : 200 acres of tomatoes to the 
Lin Del Company at Middleport at $15 a ton; Lock- 
port Canning Company, 3314 acres at $15 a ton; Peck 
& Pratt. Hilton. Monroe County. 100 acres of peas for 
their North Chili viner, 29 acres for their Knab’s Cor¬ 
ners viner: the price given on peas was from $60 to 
$65; tomatoes, $15; Tanner Bros, of Oakfield, Gen¬ 
esee County, bought 450 acres through the association ; 
H. C. Hemmingway & Co.. Lyons, purchased 165 acres 
on the graded basis, but will yield the grower the prices 
above indicated: the Beechnut Packing Company has 
purchased 165 acres for its Rochester plant; the Em¬ 
pire Canning Company of Rome, N. Y.. have contracted 
with the growers for 100 acres of peas and a large acre¬ 
age of corn : Curtice Bros, of Rochester have purchased 
400 acres of peas at $60 and $65; 160 acres of Lima 
beans at 6c per lb., and approximately 100 acres of to¬ 
matoes at $15 per ton : the latter is for their Bergen 
plant. The farmers of Albion section are contracting 
with Thomas Page, Inc., for peas and tomatoes. They 
will also contract a large acreage of fruits later in the 
season. The W. N. Clark Company of Rochester has 
purchased for its Holcomb plant 200 acres of peas, 200 
acres of corn and 25 acres of spinach. 
More cow testing associations are coming into being 
each month. One of the latest is one organized in Rens¬ 
selaer County, Tins association covers a part of the 
towns of Berlin. Hnosick. Pittstown, and a part of 
Sehaghtieoke Township, E. A. F. 
The Frost in New Jersey 
I think the damage to our fruit is going to be much 
worse than we thought last week. While the late- 
blooming apples may pull through with nearly a normal 
crop, Smokehouse. Gravenstein and Starr are badly 
hurt in the orchards near here. Cherries may show a 
good crop if the stems are not so badly injured that a 
very heavy drop will follow soon. We can hardly tell 
about pears yet, though the outlook is fair for Keiffers. 
the variety mostly grown in this county. 
Peaches are badly killed iu some orchards, and othe s 
show little injury, so it is very difficult to say what 
proportion is killed : some say from 10 to 90 per cent 
killed. For example, one grower says he finds no live 
sets on one of his farms; on another, none killed. As 
we have an unusually heavy bloom it is possible that 
the late blossoms may set where we now expect little 
fruit. This will apply to our home conditions, espe¬ 
cially with Smokehouse and the other varieties men¬ 
tioned. M.v son reports many injured blossoms even on 
Ben Davis. 
There can be no question that the strawberry crop is 
seriously shortened, as they are generally on the low 
spots in the fiplds. and the early blooms were gone a 
week ago. Another heavy frost this morning, with 
mercury on our piazza at 39 degrees, so many more 
will go this time. 
One neighbor who set tomatoes lost all last week, it 
is reported. The Campbell Company, who grow great 
quantities of plants, both iu the open and under glass, 
are heavy losers, as well as growers (commercial) at 
Marl ton and Medford, who sow a good many pounds 
o' seed from which to soil plants to contract growers for 
the farmers. String beaus are either killed or so badly 
injured that they wilt probably amount to little. Where 
seed was to be had many have planted again. Seed is 
said to be about sold out. Some have replanted the 
early sweet corn, which was up and showing along the 
rows so one could see it from the roads. Where it has 
not been replanted it is very yellow. Grass fields are 
showing the ill effects of so much cold weather; little 
growth is being made, even by Alfalfa, and some of it 
is reported to have been seriously injured by the first 
cold spell. H. G. TAYLOR, 
Secretary New Jersey Horticultural Society. 
