The RURAL NEW-YORKER 
The Dairy Business is Essential 
One of the sharpest lights over the proposed new 
tariff law came in the discussion over butter substi¬ 
tutes. Vegetable oils are very largely used in mak¬ 
ing counterfeit butter or cooking fats. These dis¬ 
place butter or lard in the market. It was proposed 
in the new tariff bill to tax cocoanut oil and peanut 
oil 4 cents per lb., and cottonseed oil and Soy bean 
oil :i cents. If these oils are not used in the manu¬ 
facture of food the duty will be remitted at the end 
ot three years. If they are'used as food articles an 
additional duty of 14 cents a pound is levied. The 
object of this is quite clear. The soap manufac¬ 
turers could take advantage of this rebate when 
these oils are used in soap making. On the other 
hand, the manufacturer of oleo and other butter sub¬ 
stitutes could not obtain this rebate, but would pay 
a higher tax. This, it is argued, would give in¬ 
creased protection to the dairy industry by raising 
the price of the substitutes. This tariff proposition 
was fiercely attacked, while it was defended by the 
agricultural “bloc.” It was the old fight between 
the oleo interests and the dairymen. It is. of course, 
a plausible argument to claim that any interference 
with the free sale of butter and milk substitutes is 
an outrage on the public, since it increases the cost 
of food. That is always the claim, but it is more or 
less hollow as an argument. One great reason for 
all laws regulating the sale of counterfeit dairy 
substitutes is the fact that all such substitutes are 
inferior to dairy products as food. Efforts are made 
to palm them off as equal, but they are inferior as 
food to pure dairy goods. The substitution of in¬ 
ferior fats is an attempt to imitate products which 
Lave long been recognized as superior, and regula¬ 
tion is necessary in order to keep their sale within 
reasonable limits. Another thing is that of all lines 
of industry in this country the dairy business is 
most important. Children and elderly people and in¬ 
valids cannot thrive or live without milk. Butter 
and cheese are essential to the American diet. We 
cannot raise strong, healthy children and keep up 
their size and vigor without a constant milk sup¬ 
ply, and this can only be done by keeping dairying 
prosperous and dairymen reasonably contented. The 
work of dairying is bard and constant, and men will 
not remain in it unless they can feel that they are 
being fairly treated. They will not be fairly treated 
if the nation permits the manufacture of cheap but¬ 
ter substitutes to drive dairymen out of business. 
We, as Americans, are far more concerned in main¬ 
taining a good dairy among the bills than we are in a 
lazy half savage lying under a cocoanut tree in the 
South Pacific. In his book on ‘‘The Newer Knowl¬ 
edge of Nutrition” Dr. E. V. McCollum, in speaking 
of the great national importance of the dairy indus¬ 
try, says: 
“An// industry which comes into competition with 
it has economic and nutiitional features which corn- 
demn it in the eyes of farseeing people." 
Value of New York Dairy Products 
Commissioner Pyrke of the New York Farms and 
Markets Department has issued a set of figures 
showing the extent of the milk business in New 
York State, lie says that the general value of dairy 
products for 1621 was $2.16,S0ff.553.20. This covers 
the product delivered from S0.976 dairies in the 
State, the milk going to 1,4(11 plants, q’ke previous 
year of 1920 there were 86.075 dairies and 1.536 
plants, while the general value of the product was 
§268,825,047.29. In 1921 the general milk production 
was 5,163.903,199 lbs. The year before of 1920 this 
total was 5,083,182,441 lbs. This shows an increase 
of over 80,000,000 lbs. in 1921, and there was a sim¬ 
ilar increase of nearly 5,000,000 lbs. of cream over 
1920. Thus while the output of milk and cream in¬ 
creased, the total amount of money obtained for it 
fell off, and this is due to a lower price obtained in 
1921. The total amount of milk sold as such for 
human consumption was 2,749,051,SIS lbs., and 
59.709.076 lbs, of cream. r I'his shows a gain of over 
150,000,000 lbs. of milk and nearly 3,000,000 lbs. of 
cream during the year. A little over one-half of the 
total milk production was sold for human consump¬ 
tion; that is. in the form of liquid milk. 
The following table shows the value of dairy 
products for each of two years divided so as to show 
the amount due to each branch of the industry. 
There was an increase in the amount of creamery 
butter manufactured in 1921 of more than 9.900.090 
lbs., and also an increase of 4,000,000 lbs. in the 
amount of choose products. There was a decrease 
in the production of sweetened condensed milk, evi¬ 
dently due to falling off in exporting trade and in the 
efforts of the dealers to get rid of an immense sur¬ 
plus piled up before the close of the war. 
The great showing of over $208,000,000 in value 
of dairy products from New York State alone gives 
an idea of the immense importance of this industry. 
This vast sum of money represents only a part of 
the buying power of these dairymen, and it. will be 
still larger when there is better control of distribu¬ 
tion. 
The following shows the value of dairy products in 
1920 and 1921: 
1020 1921 
Whole milk .§120,842,011.10 §127.828,000.54 
Crenm .. 
Butter (creamery and whey). 
American cheese (whole milk),... 
American cheese (part skim and 
full skim) ... 
Swiss cheese-. 
Brick and Munster cheese. 
Llubarger tlata . 
Cottage, pot, bakers’ and hoop 
cheese ... 
Dream and Nenfchatel cheese.... 
Italian cheese . 
All other varieties of cheese. 
Condensed milk (all kinds). 
Evaporated milk lall kinds). 
Evaporated skim-milk modified 
With, foreign fat. 
Powdered whole tnilk and malted 
milk . 
Powdered cream . 
Powdered skim-milk . 
Ice cream . 
Casein . 
Milk sugar. 
15.115.071.31 
11,045,192.18 
13,88a, 100.05 
11.220.779.41 
12.249.779.08 
13,885,247.24 
414,728.40 
81)0,551.45 
910,437.tiO 
1,361,435.44 
142.794.38 
1.180.734.00 
087,213.38 
1,195,054.32 
1.498.321.20 
975,513-30 
2.351.420.20 
2,308,590.70 
50,1 S5.470.9U 
10,220,900.09 
1.970,215.88 
1,008.988.77 
894.238.41 
904,843.12 
21.993,530.80 
9,941.044.08 
41,130.00 
316,700.08 
2.374.$27.03 
234,820.31 
4,230.914.54 
22.872,000.00 
278.301.09 
203.823.02 
1.211.592.19 
50,025.30 
2.172.800.19 
20,730,880.00 
103,042.77 
290,048.94 
Total.. 
. $208,825,047.29 $230,803,553.20 
What About the Watermelon? 
Watermelons, that give the Southern grower from 
3 to i cents—a little more in exceptional cases—-and 
New York retailers from $1 to $1.50, are the latest 
source of popular indignation. The farmer, long trained 
to the lowest possible return on bis investment aufl 
labor, accepts the inequitable situation without protest. 
The city dwellers in New York City and vicinity have 
let out the yell. No one doubts that the "spread” be¬ 
tween 3 cents and $1.50 is too great, and that the con¬ 
sumer suffers almost equally with the farmer. The 
grower is simply deprived of a decent reward for his 
production, but the consumer is literally gouged.—Pitts¬ 
burgh Dispatch. 
The cost of shipping each melon was about 32 cents, 
or at least six times as much as the grower received. 
Between the car iloor and the consumer’s mouth 
various people took more than $1 for handling or 
displaying the melon- They added nothing to its 
value—they just pawed it over •with more or less 
dirty bands, and charged the public for doing so. 
Now. what nonsense it would be to deliver a lecture 
to the melon grower and show him how to produce 
more 3-cent melons’ Or to try to make the con¬ 
sumer eat more $1.50 melons! The big question is 
how to cut out a lot of these handlers and get the 
melon *to the consumer at less cost. 
New York State Notes 
As we prepare for the new year by cleaning out the 
old rubbish, so will farmers who have had trespass 
signs which are old or destroyed prepare for the new 
year by replacing signs during the months of July, 
August or September. The law of 1921 amends the 
conservation law relative to posting of farms. The 
following two sections of the law will be of interest to 
those who are interested in posting their land. Chap¬ 
ter 466, section 361, of the laws of 1921 states notices 
in private parks, notices or signs not less than one foot 
square warning all persons against hunting or fishing 
or trespassing thereon for that purpose, shall be con¬ 
spicuously posted on a private park not more than 40 
rods apart, close to and along the boundary thereof. 
Posting of such notices will be sufficient, provided that 
illegible or destroyed signs he replaced once a year dur¬ 
ing the months of July. August or September, and there 
shall be so plaeed at least one notice or signboard on 
each side and one at each corner of such park, and 
where the outer boundary runs along or under any 
waters, the nearest shore or banks within the park 
shall be deemed the boundary for the purpose of posting 
such notices or signboards. It shall also be due service 
of notice for trespass upon any person or persons by 
serving them personally in the name of the owner or 
owners of such private park with a written statement 
containing a brief description of the promises, warning 
all persons against hunting or fishing or trespassing 
thereon. This section is interesting only in that it has 
a hearing on section.362, which pertains to farm lands. 
Section 362 is as follows: '’Protection of private lands 
not parks. An owner or person having the exclusive 
right to hunt upon enclosed lands, or lands which are 
used wholly or in part for fanning or agricultural pur¬ 
poses, or take fish in a private pond or stream, and 
desiring to protect the same, shall post and replace 
notices or signboards of the size and in the manner 
described in .lie preceding section (Section 361).” 
The Johnson Oity-Endicott public market provides au 
unusual outlet for fanners’ produce in its vicinity. The 
Public llnrkct Xacs gives some idea of the amount of 
business done during the week of June 5, During that 
week the sales at both markets were over $10,500. ac¬ 
cording to the producers’ price slips. For eight market 
days at that time the total sales were $26,897.86, with 
the record of 977 loads of produce brought In. 
Killing of lhe blister rust hosts should be of interest 
to all who hav£ white pifte trees, These hosts are cur¬ 
4 921 
rant and gooseberry bushes. The effectiveness with 
which the blister rust can he controlled by destroying 
these plants can best be illustrated by the experience 
on the Sullivan farm, near Chestertown. In 1918 wild 
gooseberries and skunk currant bushes along a stone 
wall were badly diseased with blister rust. A blister 
rust crew destroyed the wild currants and gooseberries 
on this farm in the early Mummer of 1918 to save the 
white pine. In 1921 a quarter-acre plot was laid out 
on this area and carefully re-examined for new pine 
infections and for new or missed currant or gooseberry 
bushes. On 45 trees there were a total of 198 cankers, 
or an average of 2.4 per infected tree. This is a quite 
convincing method of the control of the disease and 
should be worthy of following in areas where white 
pine is a valuable crop. 
When the hot days of # July and August come on the 
old question of spraying potatoes will come up again, 
unless this year is an exception. You will hear men 
who are living on the hilltops, Avbere there is good air 
drainage, claim that to spray is to waste money. Again, 
in the valley lands, where the air cannot move rapidly, 
you will find strong advocates of spraying. The whole 
question is right here. If you spray thoroughly and 
the blight comes along there is little liability of loss. 
If. however, you do not spray, a season’s work may be 
lost. It all comes down to this: Spraying is insur¬ 
ance, and growers of large acreage who have had con¬ 
siderable experience claim that, the value of the insur¬ 
ance is worth the effort, in any event. 
Here are two important dates for farmers on Long 
Island and vicinity: July 21-22, Farmers’ Field Days 
at the State Agricultural School at Farmingdale, and 
August S-9-10, Long Island Poultry tour. 
The Democrat and Chronicle of Rochester contained 
a very interesting sidelight on the barge canal situa¬ 
tion insofar as* it affects the Rochester harbor. It 
states that the canal has been open since .May 1. and 
up until June 28 there had passed exactly five barge¬ 
loads of lumber and one load of* a thousand bags of 
vegetable ivory into the $4,740,000 Rochester harbor. 
Five loads of salt have been shipped out. The question 
was asked why manufacturers in the Flower City were 
not making more use of the canal, and the reply was 
that there was a lack of boar^to carry less than barge 
lets. The want is for shipping companies that will 
make up a through boat, and for companies that wi 1 
install packet freight, service. As it now stands freight 
of less than 150 tons has no chance of leaving Rochester 
on the barge canal. Other means of transportation is 
now offering stiff competition, and meanwhile no big 
capital comes forward and interests itself in investing 
money in shipping corporations for the canal work. 
Meanwhile the waters of the harbor remain un¬ 
ruffled. E. A. F. 
Retail Food Prices Higher 
During the month from May 15, 1922, to June 15. 
1922, retail food prices in 18 of the 22 cities increased 
as follows: Newark. New York and Pittsburgh, 3 per 
cent; Bridgeport, Chicago, Cincinnati. Kansas City, 
Milwaukee and Rochester, 2 per cent; Baltimore, Dal¬ 
las. Fall River, New Haven, Philadelphia, Richmond 
and Scrim ton, 1 per cent; Portland, Me., and Wash¬ 
ington, D. C., less than five-tenths of 1 per cent. Food 
prices* remained the same In Atlanta. 
For the year period June 15, 1921. to June 15, 1922, 
19 of the 22 cities decreased from S per cent for Nor¬ 
folk and 1 per cent for New Y'ork and Philadelphia. 
As compared with the average»eost in the year 1913, 
the retail cost of food on June 15. 1922, was 55 per 
cent higher in Richmond ; 50 per cent in Washington, 
D. C.; 47 per cent in Mcrantou; 46 per c-ent in New 
Y'oi’k ; 45 per cent in Baltimore and Chicago; 44 per 
cent in Cincinnati and Philadelphia; 43 per cent in 
Milwaukee; 41 per cent in Atlanta, Dallas and Provi¬ 
dence; 40 per cent in Fall River: 39 per Cent in Pitts¬ 
burgh ; 38 per cent in Kansas City and Manchester; 
37 per cent in Newark and New Haven. 
Auto Hogs and a Monkey Wrench 
Your note on page S73 puts me In mind of a neigh¬ 
bor’s experience many years ago. He was a raiser of 
watermelons for the Hartford, Conn., market. He 
kept missing his best melons. One night he heard a 
heavy team pass his house and arose, going to a win¬ 
dow that faced his melon patch. The team stopped 
after a short wait, so he put on his clothes and thought 
he would investigate. As he passed out of the kitchen 
door he saw a large monkey wrench on a bench and 
picked it up, thinking he might need some weapon. 
He passed down the road and found the team drawn 
up on one side of the road near bis melon patch, with 
the men off hunting up a load. He took off the nuts from 
the wheels on the left side of the wagon and walked 
back to the house, as he saw the sign on one side had 
a Rockville trucking name on it. Later the men came 
back, and he followed behind for some time. Suddenly 
he heard an outcry and a smash. He soon came up 
and asked what was the trouble. For answer the men 
cleared out on the run. He went home, procured help, 
put on the nuts and drove the load into his premises, 
awaiting developments. Some time during the next day 
the proprietor of the outfit drove in, said his team was 
hired for an entirely different purpose, settled for the 
melons, mentioned no names, and paid well for the load. 
Connecticut. N. o. 
