866 
The RURAL NEW-YORKER 
July 8, 1922 
Crops and Farm Notes 
Countrywide Produce Situation 
GEEAT M1DSEA80N TRUCK REGION IN FULL 
SWING—TOO -MUCH RAIN, RUT CROPS 
ARE FAIR—THE LAND OF MUTLE 
TEA M S AND COLORED FARM 
IlEt-F 
The “Norfolk” section is the mid-Sum- 
iiicr truck garden of the great Northeast¬ 
ern cities. It includes not only the 40,000 
acres around the city, but also in a gen¬ 
eral way the much larger areas in the 
various canes, peninsulas and islands of 
Southern Virginia and Maryland, besides 
certain districts of North Caroline which 
ship through Norfolk. 
The rank and tile of Northern city 
consumers get their first taste of food 
fresh or partly fresh from the ground 
when this great South Atlantic vegetable 
garden is in full swing. It is then that 
city prices fall within the scope of thin 
purses. 
A NATURAL TRUCK REGION 
Fortunately for the consuming millions, 
nature has laid out this whole region as 
a truck farm. Much of the land looks 
flat as a table, yet needs little drainage 
because of sandy subsoil. The top soil, 
like the farm help, ranges in color from 
near black to almosr white, but contains 
enough substance for a good yield in 
moist seasons and if liberally helped with 
fertilizers. The whole region is cut up 
and interlined with hays, inlets and 
streams, which soften the climate, pre¬ 
vent frosts and favor ample rainfall. The 
large area of tidewater is also a great 
help in marketing. Thousands of boats, 
scows and steamers collect the truck 
shipments at the farm and village land¬ 
ings and take it to shipping points or 
directly to distant markets. 
FLOODS OF RAIN 
This season the truckers have had more 
than water enough. Numerous showers, 
some of tlmm like cloudbursts, raised the 
streams in early June to flood level, and 
occasionally the tips of corn and potato 
plants could be seen juSI above the muddy 
overflow. At one time in June it looked 
as if the potato crop on the Norfolk Hats 
would he ruined. Rut sandy subsoil, aided 
by a few ancient ditches, drained off 
the water like magi<\ and the average 
condition was fair to good by the end of 
June. Potatoes, the leading Summer crop, 
were turning out about MO barrels per 
acre on good, well-managed land; that is 
on the fairly dark sandy loam, dressed 
with half a ton or more of mixed fertil¬ 
izer, sometimes aided with manure from 
city stables, and the crop cleanly culti¬ 
vated. 
PLENTY OF FARM HELP 
The small, compart type of gasoline 
tractor does good work on this flat, stone¬ 
less land, doing. On some farms, much of 
the plowing, harrowing, planting, culti¬ 
vating. spraying, weeding and digging on 
some farms, although mule teams and the 
colored man, woman or child with the 
hoe are still plentiful. Perhaps nowhere 
else are to be seen such large groups of 
temporary help. They flock in the potato 
holds like blackbirds, nr this season, fill¬ 
ing row after row of barrels as fast ns a 
half dozen teams can take the spuds to 
the loading station, and clearing up 50- 
aero fields in a day or two. 
Wages are about 50 per cent higher 
than before the war. but have always 
been lower than in Northern trucking 
regions. The colored people have been 
brought up to do this kind of work and 
seem to compare well in effectiveness with 
the temporary help used around Now 
York. Boston nr Philadelphia. Neither 
the mule nor the darky seems to mind the 
long, wilting (lays and stinging flies, 
which wear out horses and cause a white 
farmer to feel “raal triflin' ” at times. < 
To he sure, the farm hand ns an indi¬ 
vidual is often unreliable. lie may come 
to work next day and he may not come 
for a week. The Northern employer is 
like the man who couldn’t get along with 
his wife and couldn’t get along without 
her. With no n.ules and no colored help, 
indoors and out. the early trucking region 
would come to a standstill. g. R- f. 
Farmers’ Field Days at the State College 
The third annual Farmers’ Field Days 
at the New York State College were held 
on June 22 and 23. This year the num¬ 
ber of dnvs was reduced from three days 
to two. as it was thought to he more prac¬ 
tical for farmers at this season of the 
year. Despite the rains- on the first day 
and the days which preceded the opening 
dale, 1,100 farmers ami their wives at¬ 
tended. The regular program provided 
for the inspection of the fields in the 
morning, and the afternoon was to be 
given over to the picnic feature of the 
day. hut the rain on the first day made 
this impossible. The program maker 
arose to the situation, however, and pro¬ 
vided lectures in the morning. 
This time of year affords an ideal time 
to visit the experimental fields and get 
an understanding of just how the work is 
carried on. To many a college farm or 
experiment station is an ideal farm. This 
is not the situation af all when we stop 
to investigate the exact situation. Dr. 
Thatcher of the Geneva Experiment Sta¬ 
tion in a recent talk gave in a few words 
what an experiment station was when he 
said that it was established to find out 
why certain things were so. so the under¬ 
lying principles might he understood and 
applied to similar circumstances any¬ 
where. lie also said that an experiment, 
station does for the farmers what they 
are unable to do themselves because of the 
nature of the work. This last factor was 
brought out in the visit to th<* fields in 
which the department of soils and farm 
crops carry on their work. Here the 
[dots where the held crops and rotations 
are conducted are divided off by concrete 
partitions so that the soil test cannot he 
thrown out and influenced by the soil 
from some near-by plot. A close study 
of this method at first does not appear 
practical, hut a closer analysis provides 
ample reason why experiments are con¬ 
ducted in this way. 
Dairy farmers were interested in visit¬ 
ing the college herd primarily because of 
the interesting development that has been 
made in the Glistn family. This family 
is the foundation of the college Holstein 
herd. One of the members of this family. 
Glista Ernestine, has recently made a 
world’s record for cows of any breed. She 
completed her seventh seven-day test, and 
As I look at the flowers I think of the 
experience we had with sweet peas two 
years ago. We had always planted them 
early, using the usual trench method, and 
we had had more or less indifferent suc¬ 
cess with them. That year we did just 
the same way. using seed from the same 
seedsmen and planting in the same place. 
Thf plants came up well, and were soon 
well started on their wire support. One 
evening, after a particularly hard day In 
the kitchen. I went to look at them, and 
to get a moment’s rest before putting the 
children to bed. When I reached the 
garden gate I found if wide open and our 
two pet lambs down at the end of the 
row of sweet, peas contentedly chewing 
on the very last vine, of course 1 was 
heart-broken, and ns I chased them around 
and around that big garden I was angry 
enough to have almost, killed them if I 
could have caught them, but when they 
at last found the gate and ran out with 
a bob of their funny tails they turned 
in each of the seven tests produced more 
than M0 lbs. of butter in the seven days. 
The keen interest of the whole week 
centered, however, in the boys’ and girls’ 
club work, in which 200 members took 
part. A special program hud been pre¬ 
pared for them, and they were alert to 
the demonstrations and lectures. In the 
afternoon the lio\ s of the club went to 
the baseball cage of the university, where 
the horseshoe pitching contest was in ac¬ 
tion. and took part in many cases with 
the ability of the adults. This was par¬ 
ticularly true of James Dodge of Leices¬ 
ter. who has been a member of the Boys’ 
Calf Club of Livingston Goiinty for two 
years. lie lacked but one lap of winning 
the State cup and championship for his 
ho rsesh oe-pitch i n g a hi 1 i t y . 
The main interest during the afternoon 
of the second day focused around the 
contest in which G. E. Snyder, a fruit 
grower of Albion, holder of the State 
horseshoe-pitching championship, defended 
his titV. This he was able to hold be¬ 
cause of his long experience in the game, 
although some of the new-comers showed 
plenty of ability. 
Dr. Livingston Farrand. president of 
the university, addressed the field day 
visitors on the second day in Bailey Hall, 
the large auditorium named in honor of 
Dr. Liberty Ilyde Bailey, the former 
dean of the college. Dr. l'crratid wel¬ 
comed the visitors to the university and 
apologized at the same time for welcom¬ 
ing them to something which is their own. 
lie stated that since the college officers 
have a certain responsibility in the con¬ 
duct and management of the affairs of the 
institution, he ventured to welcome them 
to the university. The main part of his 
address was given to the dismission of 
the need of a greater feeling of group re¬ 
sponsibility in American life. He sketched 
the wonderful progtess that has been 
made, and showed how the population 
has begun to press somewhat on our re¬ 
sources. He dwelt On the subject which 
is nearest his heart, namely, the question 
of health and health standards, regardless 
of where we live. He com hided by em¬ 
phasizing the responsibility which the 
citizenship must carry, and stated: ''As 
a nation we must get ..way from the idea 
that all the things needed for our welfare 
should be dropped into our laps by Gov¬ 
ernment or similar agencies," 
'File Summer farmers’ week may never 
assume the proportions that the Winter 
farmers' week has. hut it affords the 
farmers of the State a chance to study 
the station during the growing season, 
and in that it gives opportunity for a 
State-wide picnic. The event has now 
'become a regular part of the institution 
program. k. a. f. 
EVENTS OF THE WEEK 
DOMESTIC.—The suspension of the 
anthracite mines since April 1 has cost 
the operators $52,780,000 and the miners 
$41 .970,600, Clifford It. Connelley, Penn¬ 
sylvania State Commissioner of Labor 
and Industry, said in an address before 
the Scranton Itotary Club June 2M. 
Speaking on waste in Pennsylvania in¬ 
dustries. Commissioner Connelley said 
the loss to the operators and miners of 
the entire State is approximately $200,- 
nrotind and looked at me so innocently 
that I entirely forgave them. 
A few days later 1 was surprised to 
find the sweet peas had started up again, 
sturdier and stockier than ever: they 
grew rapidly, and 1 picked the first bou¬ 
quet on the Fourth of July, and could 
have picked one every day until Novem¬ 
ber. when the first heavy frost came. 
They were such beautiful flowers, very 
large, and there were three and some¬ 
times four on a stem. I tried to pick 
them every other day, and it was a joy 
to have them to give them to all my 
friends, supplying the church and having 
fresh bouquets of the right color in all 
the rooms. Even then there were more 
than I knew what to do with or had time 
to pick. 
Ever since that year we have wondered 
whether sweet peas would do better if 
they were always pruned, or whether that, 
just happened to he a good year for them. 
A PLAIN COUNTRY WOMAN. 
000,000 tip to this time. The loss in 
wages to the miners, M26.2Sfi of whom 
are involved in the present suspension in 
both the anthracite and bituminous fields 
of Pennsylvania, totals $04,420,755. 
The levee system protecting the town 
of Mercedes. Tex., from Rio Grande flood 
waters began crumbling June 25 and 
within a few hours approximately half 
of the residence district, of the town was 
under 20 inches of water. 
The Summer colony at Verona Beach 
on Oneida Lake, X. Y., was threatened 
with extinction .Tune 25 when three 
barges filled with powder caught tire and 
burned in a spectacular manner. Fanned 
by a still breeze, the flames spread rapidly. 
With each explosion of powder, spurts of 
flame shot 2(H) feel into the air. Rome 
and Oneida sent fire apparatus to the 
scene. The Syracuse Sand Company was 
the owner of the barges. 
In the mine war near Herrin. Ill., 
where 5,000 striking union miners at¬ 
tacked imported workers June 21-22, over 
40 persons were killed. The exact num¬ 
ber of dead may reach mmo. Great 
brutality was shown, many captives, it 
is asserted, being murdered in cold blood 
under circumstances of unusual atrocity. 
A coroner's jury declared a crippled mine 
superintendent, who was among the 
killed, responsible, as he shot at tres¬ 
passing strikers. Troops are asked to 
protect wounded non-union men still in 
hospital, as it is feared they will he mas¬ 
sacred. 
The schooner Coral Spray arrived at 
La Have. Nova Scotia, June 2(1. with 15 
of the 16 missing men of the Gloucester 
schooner Puritan, which was wrecked off 
Sable Island June 2M. Only one of the 
crow, Christopher Jobanson. was 
drowned. Hope had been almost aban¬ 
doned for the men by Captain Jeffrey 
Thomas and four of the crew who were 
Sweet Peas 
rescued and taken to Halifax. The 
schooner, which was a prospective con¬ 
tender for the international fishermen's 
races next Fall, was reported a hopeless 
wreck. 
Hundreds of residents iu the vicinity 
of Fast Nineteenth Street and Avenue 1), 
in the "Gas House District,” New York 
City, were driven from their homes by 
heavy clouds of smoke which poured from 
a burning factory building at 5M4 East 
Nineteenth Street June 27. Three alarms 
were turned in and the damage was esti¬ 
mated at $100,000. 
Eight bandits attempted to hold up a 
fast freight train of the Erie Railroad 
near Waldvviek. N. J.. June 27. In a 
pistol light, in which 15 shots were fired, 
Kd\vnrd 11;i mil ton. jin Kric* dotootivo, was 
wounded. According to an official of the 
Erie Kailroad detective force, the bandits 
probably were in search of a shipment of 
100 eases of liquor, valued at $25,000. 
fhe bandits fled after Detective Hamil¬ 
ton fell. Members of the train crew, who 
went^ to Hamilton's aid. searched the 
vicinity, but the bandits escaped. 
Charged with conspiring to rob the 
l nited States Government of $60,000 in 
quartermasters supplies, six men were 
arrested June 27 in Newark. N. J. Two 
of them, Louis McNeil, a former soldier, 
of )2 Center Street, Newark, and Floyd 
Dickinson of 12M Houston Avenue. New 
Brunswick, N. J„ were held in $5,000 
hail each by I’nited Stales Commissioner 
Littery. The other prisoners are Privates 
Stntusbcrgcr, Braidonberg and Norms of 
the army base at Port Newark and Pri¬ 
vate Barber of Governors Island. The 
robbery was brought to light through the 
collision on June 21 of an array transport 
and an automobile on the Lincoln High¬ 
way. Perry Carey of 22(t Evergreen 
Avenue. Newark, the driver of the auto¬ 
mobile. was arrested. An investigation 
was instituted by Government officials, 
who caused the arrest of the six men, 
One man was killed and two were 
wounded iu an attack June 27 upon an 
automobile in which three men were rid¬ 
ing to work 4it the stripping mine of the 
Union Coal Stripping and .Mining Com¬ 
pany, Bridgeport, O. 
WASHIM!T<>N. — Under a hill de¬ 
signed ro tighten tip the immigration law, 
introduced June 26 by Chairman Johnson 
of the House Immigration Committee, ad¬ 
mission for nennanent residence in this 
country would bo granted only to aliens 
eligible for citizenship, thus shutting the 
gates to Japanese. Chinese. Mongolians 
and others not granted the right of citi¬ 
zenship who desire such residence. Re¬ 
duction of quotas 1 from M per cent to 2 
per com, effective July 1. 1!)2M, also is pro¬ 
vided in the bill, which provides that aliens 
seeking to come to this country would be 
required to obtain certificates of admis¬ 
sion from American consular agents, and 
the quotas would he based upon the pop¬ 
ulations of foreign born in the United 
States as determined by the 1910 census. 
Throught the savings made as a result 
of the economy measures of the Harding 
Administration and the working of the 
budget system, the Government probably 
will finish the fiscal year 1922 on June MO 
with an excess of ordinary receipts over 
ordinary disbursements. I hi June 2M the 
Government's receipts for the fiscal year 
reached $4,050,875,0(10. This is in ex¬ 
cess of the ordinary receipts and interest 
charges by $843,000,000. Customs re¬ 
ceipts for the year are- $847,122,000, or 
$45,000,000 ahead of those for 1921. but 
income and excess profits taxes have 
dropped more than a billion. The figure 
for this year so far is $2,045,000,000. as 
against $3.15.8,000.000 for the same period 
last year. Ordinary disbursements, how¬ 
ever. have been brought down from 
$1,941,000,000 for 1921 to 82,292.525,000 
for this year. 
FARM AND GARDEN.—Dates for 
Farmers’ and Home-makers’ Week at the 
New Hampshire College. Durham, N. II., 
have been auimuneed by Director J. C. 
Kendall of the New Hampshire Extension 
Service. This will be the fourth of the 
Summer Farmers’ Weeks, and will be 
held August 15 to 18. 
Headed by Senator Kendrick, a party 
of wealthy ranchers from Wyoming are 
planning a trip to Alberta to look over 
the cattle possibilities, according to ad¬ 
vices issued by the Department' of Agri¬ 
culture at Edroouton. 
Alberta's wheat acreage this year will 
be approximately 10 per cent larger than 
in 1921. according to estimates of the 
provincial Department of Agriculture. A 
total of 3,875,800 acres planted to wheat 
is indicated by the latest returns. Moist¬ 
ure was plentiful throughout the planting 
season and the prospects for a fine har¬ 
vest, it is said, were never more promis¬ 
ing til this time of year. The outlook is 
especially good in the southern part of 
the province, where the rainfall hits been 
heavier than in several years. The esti¬ 
mated value of agricultural and live stock 
products produced in Alberta in 1921 was 
$137,455,706. Of this total grains, fod¬ 
ders and vegetables accounted for $82.- 
795.290: animals slaughtered and sold, 
$17,290,416: (lair.v products. $8,470,000; 
horticultural products and garden stuff, 
$1,600,000. The increased acreage to 
wheat this year it attributed to the influx 
of settlers. The agricultural development 
of the province lias been remarkable when 
it is considered that only a few years ago 
Alberta was largely open range country 
pastured by large herds of cattle and 
sheep. 
