814 
The RURAL NEW-YORKER 
June 24, 1922 
fallacy, and they believe it. is true only because the 
horse they buy is of such poor quality and is really 
so inferior that the purchase price of the animal was 
very cheap. The horse trader has probably kept the 
animal for some time and has gotten him up in good 
flesh, or he has picked him up cheap because lie has 
an unsoundness which is not easily detected. It- is 
tine that occasionally a horse buyer going through 
the Central West will pick up a fairly good indi¬ 
vidual at a very cheap price, but such instances are 
rare, because the Western farmer is no different 
from the Eastern, and will try to retain his better 
quality horses when he has to make a forced sale. 
It is only necessary to visit the sales stables in our 
large cities to be convinced of the fact that good 
draft horses possessing real quality, si'/.e and bone, 
which will weigh at least 1,600 or 1,700 lbs. without 
being excessively fat, and which at the same time 
have high-class action, are very hard to find. Weight 
alone is not the only factor to be considered in buy¬ 
ing a good drafter, because a heavy-headed, round- 
boned, soggy horse, weighing 1.S00 to 1,5)00 lbs., will 
be as much of a drag on the owner and the market 
as the light, weedy. Western chunk. He must have, 
together with his weight, high-class quality, clean 
flat bone, straight legs, good sound well-proportioned 
feet and true, quick action. Such an individual as 
this can only be obtained by breeding good quality 
mares to high-class registered draft stallions. The 
man who has a few marcs to breed should remember 
the fact that it costs no more to raise an animal 
meeting the above requirements than it does to raise 
one that is under weight, long in the coupling and 
light-boned. 
A P,REEDERS’ QUESTIONNAIRE.—To obtain 
some definite information from New York State 
horse breeders a survey was made by sending out 
questionnaires to all heavy horse breeders. Infor¬ 
mation was requested on the number of horses kept, 
both purobreds and grades, cost of keeping a brood 
mare one year, and cost of raising a draft colt to 
three years of age. The opinion of the breeders was 
asked concerning the future prospects of heavy horse 
breeding. Several replies were received. The an¬ 
swers received show the following facts: 
(1) There will he considerably fewer horses 
raised this year than ever before. 
(2) The average cost of keeping a brood mare in 
New York State at present for one year varies be¬ 
tween $75 and $100, with feeds figured at market 
price. 
(3) A good brood mare, properly bred, should 
produce a foal which at weaning time will he worth 
enough to pay for her keep. 
(4) The average cost to raise a draft colt to 
three years of age is $150 to $175, with feeds figured 
at market price. 
(5) It is worth any farmer’s time and trouble to 
breed his mares properly; that is, he should breed 
them to registered stallions of one of the leading 
draft breeds, namely, Percheron, Belgian, Clydesdale, 
Shire or Suffolk. 
(6) Many breeders feel discouraged and are not 
breeding all their mares. One breeder reports that 
three years ago he bred 103 mares, and last year he 
bred only 20. 
(7) Breeders arc quitting at just the wrong time. 
The man who lias his mares in foal to a good stallion 
will be in a good position before this year’s colts 
reach maturity. 
(8) The economic factors underlying the draft 
horse future are sound. This is especially true in 
New York State, where the demand is so much 
greater than the supply. There Is probably no other 
State in the Union which imports so many horses. 
(})) Horses which fulfill the market demands of 
a high-class drafter or farm chunk will be in good 
demand in the near future. 
FEEDING EXPERIMENTS.—Illinois Bulletin 
No. 150 covers work relative to feeding farm work 
horses. The object of (he experiment was to find 
out the amount of grain and hay a work horse should 
receive to work with the greatest efficiency and 
economy, and also to determine the relative value of 
different roughages. Seven teams were used. One 
Imrse in each team received Timothy hay and its 
team-mate clover hay. During the experiment one 
team became unfit for hard work. The following 
results were obtained: “The horses receiving clover 
hay consumed slightly less grain and buy and made 
12 lbs. more gain per head than the Timothy hay 
horses. The clover hay horses had glossier coats. 
Their bowels were more regular. The moistening of 
clover hay lessens the danger of producing heaves. 
A slight saving in grain was made when it was 
mixed with chaffed hay, but the saving did not ap¬ 
pear to justify the expense. In feeding chaffed 
Alfalfa and clover the results favored the Alfalfa. 
In comparing Alfalfa with Timothy hay the horses 
receiving Timothy hay consumed 4 lbs. more grain 
per day. Alfalfa required from 20 to 22 per cent 
less grain to maintain body weight than Timothy. 
In comparing ground corn with whole grain, using 
a mixture of corn and oats it was found that unless 
work horses are very old or worked near their limit, 
or where it. was desired to conserve their energy as 
much as possible, it appeared doubtful that it would 
pay to grind their grain. Clover and Alfalfa hay 
proved more economical than Timothy. On idle days 
the grain ration should he reduced-one-half to pre¬ 
vent azoturia. Idle horses or horses at light work 
should he given a more bulky ration than one at 
heavv work. When clover is used the quality should 
*■ » 
he good and the quantity fed should be limited.” 
[PROF.1 RUSSELL W. DUCK. 
(Continued Next Week) 
Woodman, Spare that Tree! 
I AM sending you a picture of a tree I have ad¬ 
mired and enjoyed for the past 60 years. This 
elm, gloriously magnificent as it was. was cut down 
for fuel last Winter. It was in the open, and a 
notable landmark for at least 100 years, the road 
passing near it. as shown in the picture. The figure 
of my father standing near it gives an idea of its 
size. Many years ago I shot an arrow over its lower 
A Fine Old Elm, Note Destroyed for Fuel 
branches, and found they were 40 ft. from the 
ground. Some 15 years ago it was rumored that it 
would be cut for fuel. Meeting the owner one day 
I told him of an article in a Boston paper where a 
tree was cut down on Boston Common. A man 
pinned a paper on tlie stump on which was written: 
“It took God TOO years to grow this tree, and two 
fools cut it down in a day.” [dr.1 p. l. temfleton. 
Vermont. 
R. N.-Y—We know just how Dr. Templeton felt 
when that tine old tree went down. It was like los¬ 
ing an ofil friend. As a hoy in a New England vil¬ 
lage we can just remember a pathetic scene. Sev¬ 
eral grand old elms at one side of the village green 
were “in the way,” ami the town, dominated by a 
new "modern" element voted to cut them down. Two 
old men, white-lmired and bent, last of their genera¬ 
tion, protested against the “sacrilege” and stood up 
in feeble protest against the gang of choppers. It 
seemed strange at the time that those feeble old 
fellows, without money or standing or power, finally 
prevailed and induced the town tn save the trees. 
It was one of those cases where a sudden flood of 
sentiment swept the community off its feet, and 
■made the people reverse their judgment. 
The Tractor and the Bees 
W E wish to call your attention to a very un¬ 
pleasant surprise party which occurred in our 
bee yard yesterday morning, June 6. An orchard 
adjoins, where we started to plow with a tractor. 
In a short time the bees began tumbling out of their 
hives, until the air was black with them. I left Ibo 
orchard and started to attend tlie bees, leaving my 
man running the tractor, but was forced to return 
and have him shut down the tractor, they were be¬ 
coming so excited. After a short time they quieted 
down and returned to their hives, without swarming. 
There are 12 hives; three are new colonies. None of 
them clustered or alighted, so we decided the bum 
of the tractor was calling them out. In the middle 
of the afternoon, on starting the tractor to remove 
it from the field, they again became excited, but, be¬ 
ing cloudy, did not come out. in such force As it 
commenced to rain they went in nicely Today they 
arc working as usual We examined the supers and 
found they had been working as well as weather per¬ 
mitted, so added another super to each old colony 
to be sure of ample room. Has anyone reported 
similar trouble? I would like your opinion and 
advice. Do you think trouble will occur after 
swarming season, and is there danger of bees leaving 
the hives? Then* is considerable danger to driver 
of tractor, as it is impossible to hear when running. 
I have heard of a case nearby where a colony sent 
out two swarms in succession and have not stored 
any honey in supers. They had only the one colony, 
and it stood near the garage, where auto and tractor 
are kept. If trouble is due to noise, it will raise 
havoc with honey storing, and we await your answer 
with interest. Howard g, wood. 
R. N.-Y.—We would like a prompt and accurate 
discussion of this case. What do beekeepers say? 
Is the song of the tractor and the car so attractive 
to the bees, or is it the gas? 
“Labor Unrest” and What it Means 
I have read W. W. Reynolds’ articles with interest, 
hut his article on page 691 on the 40-hour week was 
not written with as much knowledge of industrial con¬ 
ditions as ho has shown of agriculture. There is too 
great a difference in the hours of industrial labor and 
agriculture, but the conditions cannot be remedied by 
increasing the hours of the industrial worker. I do not 
know whether Mr. Reynolds would include me in the 
dawdlers or not. but I have to load 23 tons of limestone 
•in that time, rud do it in air that is not lit to breathe. 
I have farmed in Pennsylvania and harvested and 
thrashed all through the wheat belt, and never yet 
struck work as hard as my present work. The farmer 
works too long, we will admit. But 1 would like to ask, 
whose fault is it? Not mine, I know. Your overpro¬ 
duction is caused by my inability to buy. My earning 
power will not allow me to buy woolen clothing, or all 
the meal, eggs and milk 1 need, and you can multiply 
me by several million workingmen who are situated as 
I am. and you have your overproduction, which is really 
under-consumption, forced on us by circumstances which 
neither you nor 1 can at present control. u. R. 
Pennsylvania. 
I N a late issue I showed lhat the farm producer 
and his family worked about three hours for the 
■wage earner’s one hour; that the long hours made 
the short ones possible, and that unless there was a 
change some of the wage earners would be idle, with 
a few working only during the forenoons. Since 
that I have had several letters from workers who 
have long hours and arduous labor. They show that 
many have troubles, and it is a sign that all. even 
the present favored cues, are moving that way. In 
the long run the tanners will he the best off, be¬ 
cause they can grow their food, but all will suffer, 
and this country, which is extolled as “the land of 
the free,” will he under the dominion of a privileged 
few. They will not have a dog to help them, like the 
boys had when the deacon took their bones. 
The place to tackle this mailer is at the right end. 
All imposition and labor troubles, and farm discour¬ 
agement have been discussed from the middle. If 
you touch one member ol’ the American family you 
affect all, and every injury to any class of workers 
must surely react on all in time. This idleness, 
strikes, high prices, mob violence, crime and unrest 
are but the result of injury to producers and work¬ 
ers, and unless there is a change we are headed 
Straight for Russian conditions, only worse, because 
we are more intelligent. Anarchy is a natural conse¬ 
quence of unwise commercial methods, indorsed by 
governmental help and education. 
The Bible truly says, "The love of money is the 
root of all evil." It ‘means the love of dishonest 
money, and anyone can see what it did to Germany 
and Russia, and the injury it has been to America 
in the villainy of rich grafters. Here is a land where 
all bad an equal chance for tin* display of their 
abilities, and now there are a hidden few with all 
the privileges, a few with power to pay talent highly 
te get the "pound of flesh” for them. They own the 
coal, ore, timber, quarries, water, power, and every¬ 
thing, and have combined every industry and utility 
and made abject slaves of enough otficials to have 
absolute power. Listen lo their howl about the farm 
bioc when they have eternally kept the best talent 
available among the officials in cities. State capitals, 
and infesting Gongross. 
See all that the public buys or handles paying trib¬ 
ute to them. Hear one of their minions when he 
addressed an assembly of railroaders and received 
“uproarious applause" turning back to the stage and 
saying. "There are 2,0t)() 1 (MK) of these boys and every 
fellow lias a vote.” Hook at The R. N.-Y. working 
four years and eight months to get money the Penn¬ 
sylvania railroad owed a subscriber, and think of 
the vast sums belonging to the public in their coffers. 
