942 
July 29, 1922 
The Rural New-Yorker 
TllE BVSVfESS FARMER'S PAPER 
A National VVtcUj Journal I'or Country and Suburban Homes 
Established te'JO 
I'oblilhed weekly by the Rami Publbhlnr Oompany, 333 West 3(Hh titreet,New fork 
HeruKRT W. CoLM.vmvoon, President and Editor. 
John J. Du&OS, Treasurer and General Manaj-or. 
Wm. F. DtLt.oN, Secretary. Mils. K. T. Kovi k, Associate Editor. 
SUBSCRIPTION: ONE DOLLAR A YEAR 
To foreign count ries in tlie Universal Postal Union, $101 Remit in money 
order, express order, personal check or bank draft. 
Entered at New York Post Office as Second Class Matter. 
Advertising rates, *1.00 per agate line—7 words. References required for 
advertisers unknown to us ; ami cash must accompany transient orders. 
“A SQUARE DEAL" 
We believe that everv advertisement ill this paper is backed by a respon¬ 
sible person. We use every possible precaution and admit the advertising of 
reliable bouses only. But to make doubly sure, we will make good any loss 
to paid subscribers sustained by trusting any deliberate swindler, irrespon- 
Hlifr advertiser* or misleading advertisement* ill our columns, and any 
such swindler will be publicly exposed. We arc Also often culled upon 
to adjust dlirereuceii or mistakes between our subscribers and honest, 
responsible bouses, whether advertisers or not. We willingly use our good 
oilman to this cud, but such cases should not be confused with dishonest 
transactions. We protect subscribers inlnn rogues, but we will not be 
respoiislblo for the debts of honest bankrupts sanctioned bv the courts. 
Notice of the complaint must be sent, to u» w ithin one month of the t ime of 
th- i ror\•action, and to identify it, you slioulil menUou Tub RrRAt Nkw- 
Yorkeb when writing the advertiser. 
I enjoy your paper greatly. I find it a real educator. 
A pity more city people won’t or don’t read it, as it 
sure does give one an understanding of our nation'* 
biggest asset—the farm and the men back of it. r. v. 
A NT* do not forget the women on the farm. Many 
of them are rendering a national service which 
will make the name of the men an honor rather than 
a reproach. 
A and II are two married women. A has beeu for 
many years in business in New York City, her husband 
employing himself on their country property. It's hus¬ 
band has recently met with financial reverses, and their 
property is lost to them. II in the meantime is offered 
by A a partnership interest in the business in return 
for her personal services. l!’s husband now, after the 
partnership is legally arranged, wishes to interfere and 
insists fhiit. he can either demand R’s earnings or tier 
retirement from the partnership. A tells him he tnust 
not interfere with their business and that he is. so far 
as that is concerned, an outsider and cannot control 
his wife or her income. The husband is now making fi 
new start, and insists that if he does not enjoy tile 
services of his wife in their new home he can demand 
the result of her services elsewhere, Who is light—A 
or It's husband? J- s. K, 
New Jersey. 
I T is understood that the above statement re¬ 
fers to conditions in New Jersey—the home of 
mosquitoes, trusts—and justice. The following quo¬ 
tations are made from legal decisions in that State: 
•‘All the wages and earnings of a married woman tn 
her separate business, and all her investments thereof, 
are her separate property. It must, really he in her 
separate business. Whether her husband consents or 
not to her carrying on a separate business, he cannot 
reap the proceeds thereof.” 
Thus in the direct question asked above A Is in 
the right. It would seem that married women, in 
some respects at least, have a more complete control 
of tlieir own property than married men. And how 
some one will he likely to ask just what rights the 
married Jerseyman enjoys, anyway! 
A NBW sort of back-to-the-landing is being worked 
out by some of our readers. In years past 
many baek-to-the-landers have failed through poor 
investments in land and lack of capital. Things 
went wrong before they were fairly on their feet, 
and they could not raise the money to float them 
over. Now we hear from young people who propose 
to work out aud earn capital before they start. 
Three different men have written us that they have 
bought small farms. Their wives are on the land. 
Imt these men have held their jobs. One is a cook, 
another a mason and the third mate on a steamship. 
They will hold their jobs and save their money until 
the farm is all paid for. and a fair capital laid 
aside. That is a new and safe way of going back 
t . the land, but it. requires one thing that is abso¬ 
lutely essential. As our friend the mate writes. 
“A good, willing wife is a wonderful asset!' You 
are right. She is—very much more than an asset. 
But such back-to-the-landing is going to be a genuine 
benefit to the country—and there will he much of it. 
* 
Y OU will, of course, notice the increased bitter¬ 
ness with which most of tin* large daily papers 
are attacking agricultural legislation. Some of our 
readers say they are puzzled and cannot understand 
what has happened, or what it all means. To us. 
the solution is easy. Never before have farmers as 
a class been so well represented in Congress, never 
have they been so well able to obtain favorable 
legislation. This has been brought about very 
largely by the “agricultural bloc,” so-called. It is 
a non-partisan combination of Senators who repre¬ 
sent agricultural States. They have been able to 
combine so as to sink partisan politics whenever a 
hill of supreme interest comes up before Congress. 
Personal leadership in the United States Senate 
has very largely passed away, and with its passing 
has come a situation utfiere Senators cannot be 
‘Ihe RURAL NEW-YORKER 
frightened or coerced over social or commercial 
questions by the scarecrow of party loyalty. At 
least that is becoming true of a large element in 
the Senate. Most of the primary elections this year 
show that the people are well satisfied with this new 
spirit of independence. Now this new condition is 
just what (lie interests hack of the daily papers do 
not mint. Open discussion and action will not suit 
them. They want a situation dominated by such 
“leadership” as the late Senator Penrose gave them. 
One-man power is their ideal. They see this old and 
rotten management of legislation fading out. and 
they know that the “agricultural bloc" is responsible 
for the fading. They propose to stop it at any cost, 
for tin* end of such change will mean open and frank 
legislation in the interests or the American people. 
The farmers stand for that sort of legislation. That 
is why the daily papers are fighting them so bitterly. 
* 
E VERY year, and about this time, the daily 
papers begin to print reports of “great crops.” 
This year is no exception. We are already being 
told that the apple crop will be much heavier than 
last, year, and that there is an immense crop of 
potatoes in sight. Wheat, corn, oats—all are over¬ 
flowing. if we are to believe the printed statements. 
The truth is that this is a regular part of the game 
annually played by the middlemen and distributing 
interests. The object is to make farmers believe 
that there is too much food in the country. With 
that belief well established it will be easy to fix low 
prices and to induce farmers to sell early. Of course 
if they should do that the market will he flooded 
with produce and prices will fall, while if the 
produce could he marketed slowly prices would hold 
up. The greater part of these “crop reports” repre¬ 
sent propaganda for getting control of the crop by 
forcing down wholesale prices. Our own reports 
show only moderate crops. The late frosts, the bad 
weather and tlie reduced acreage all combine to pre¬ 
vent any great overflow of food this year. There is 
no more than a moderate supply of most farm pro¬ 
duce, and if it. can he reasonably handled and sent 
market conservatively prices ought to be fair. 
ti 
* 
O XEN walk slowly, and they take short steps— 
probably about 5.000 to the mile. Therefore 
these oxen of Mr. Rerrang (page 951 > have taken 
about 20,000,000 steps since they left New York. Those 
who scoot over the road in rapid cars, or view life 
from the windows of a Pullman, can have little idea 
of how the Berrangs have studied the country inch 
by inch from New York to Kansas City. 1 hiring 
the time required to make this trip some men would 
have traveled around the world and seen the sights 
in Japan. Australia. Ceylon. Siberia. Italy. France 
—itnv\ all ihe way home. These plain and patient 
people have been content to plod on behind their 
oxen—solid and slow in this age of excitement and 
rush. Yet it is probable that they have gained more 
real contentment and happiness on their slow travel 
than many a millionaire ever knew on a continental 
trip. They live in Iheir wagon, eat plain food, sleep 
eight good restful hours and, in spite of their years, 
view the world with a cheerful heart. What more 
can any man buy than that—with money or with 
service? It will lie a fair question to ask if you and 
Hour wife could start out together in this way. and 
after 500 days of steady companionship, view life 
as cheerfully as the Berrangs do. If the answer is 
a doubt, there may he something wrong with the 
way we have ordered our lives. Perhaps we should 
get back to nature, change the automobile for the 
ox, and learn the real aim and purpose of life. 
> 1 = 
Q UITE a common trouble among our readers 
arises over the fence line between two farms. 
It sometimes happens aft dr some years of use that 
the fence breaks down and is patched up by stretch¬ 
ing wire from one post or tree to another. '1 his Will 
make a zigzag or crooked line, and the dispute arises 
over the boundary. Usually the small amount of 
land in question has little if any value. The law of 
.New York relative to boundary lines has been stated 
as follows: 
“It is n settled rule in this State, resting upon public 
policy. I bat a particular locat ion of boundaries which 
has been acquiesced in a long series of years will not be 
disturbed; that is, where two joint owners have occu¬ 
pied land up to a certain boundary and built fences and 
maintained a certain line between them, that that is 
(be line between the properties as practically located 
by the boundaries, and if that line has been located for 
over 20 years and for a long period of years, that is 
the line between the parties." 
While that is the general rule of law. We do hot 
believe that it means that wire which lias been 
stretched in a zigzag manner, that is. nailed to Buck 
trees or hushes as were convenient, comes within 
this rule, but that a straight line or a practically 
straight line would govern. Of course, if the fence 
deviates to any considerable extent, it is possible 
that the court would follow the above rule. If this 
was located in the heart of some tkriviug city we 
can see where there might he a question, but Why 
farmers should quarrel over a foot or two of ground 
and sometimes spend thousands of dollars for it we 
cannot understand, for it is a universal fact that 
most fanners have more land than they know what 
to do with. 
* 
W E use yeast to “raise” our bread, “cultures” 
to inoculate our seed, and “starters” to fit 
our cream for churning Now there is talk of using 
the lactic acid bacteria in the silo. It is said that, 
this is beneficial in silage-making, as useful perhaps 
as in making butter or cottage cheese. A bulletin 
from the Ontario Department of Agriculture gives 
this simple plan for using the culture. You might 
call it “milking the silo”: 
This addition of lactic acid culture to the fodder at 
the time of silo tilling is easily accomplished by securing 
a small quantity of a pure culture for lactic add from 
a creamery as a beginning. The pure culture obtained 
from a creamery is placed in a three-gallon enn of clean 
skim-milk. This is placed in a warm position for three 
days; it can then be added to more skim-milk, increas¬ 
ing the bulk sufficiently to have one gallon for each load 
of material that goes into the silo. This skim-milk cul¬ 
ture, carrying a vast number of bacillus lactic ae'nli. js 
sprinkled over the cut fodder as the silo litliug proceeds. 
If the corn is in prime condition for silage-making at 
the time of ensiling, nothing is to be gained by adding 
culture. However, its use is strongly advised if the 
corn or other fodder is a bit off in condition, due to 
damage through unseasonable weather, delays, etc. 
What proportion of farmers use inoculation on 
the seed of legumes? Mow many make a practice 
of treating seed to prevent scab? We have an idea 
that a hoot, the same proportion of silo men will 
eventually come to using such cultures. There are 
now a good many farmers who scatter fine ground 
hone nr ground phosphate rock over the cut corn as 
it goes into the silo. The cattle eat it with the 
silage. Even if this added phosphorus does not help 
them, it helps the manure, aud is perhaps the best 
way to add it. But take the silo pioneers who put 
up a leaking old tub and filled it with sour, ill¬ 
smelling stuff. Suppose they could come back and 
get an idea of the possibilities of all these “cultures” 
and phosphates! The silo is getting to be a feed 
and fertilizer factory. 
Brevities 
A SUCCESSFUL man needs grit even more than a hen 
does. 
Let the fleshy man shed part of bis weight iu the 
woodshed. 
Do you know of any eases where a pigeon batched a 
chick from a full-sized hen’s egg? We have a report 
of such a case. 
A few weeks ago a woman asked for help at a 
kitchen job. There was no attempt to disguise the fact 
that it meant hard and dirty work, yet over 30 women 
applied for the job. 
A wayside market in New Jersey has no moral 
right to offer California produce marked “Early New 
Jersey.” Any business running without moral right 
should not run at all. 
The latest suggestion is to cover the top of the 
silage in the silo, after tilling and tamping, with strips 
of tar paper so ns to make a good fit. This is said to 
mat down and exclude the air. 
Every year there comes the old question about cut¬ 
ting weeds into the silo. Many cornfields are full of 
weeds. It. has been impossible to keep them down. Our 
advice is to cut them right into the silo with the corn. 
They will do more good than harm. 
one part of tartar emetic to 20 parts of honey or 
syrup. The syrup is made by dissolving 5 lbs. of sugar 
ir. 1% pints of water. The ants will carry this poison 
into the bill and feed it to the young. Never leave it 
where children, animals or birds can get at it. 
The latest remedy for woodchucks: Place an old 
burlap sack, or half of a large one, iu the top of the 
woodchuck hole, saturate it with gasoline, push it in 
about 12 inches and cover the hole with dirt. Properly 
done, this method will prove 100 per cent effective. 
We have had ail sorts of people apply to us for all 
sorts of jobs, but here seems to be a new one. A young 
man. well trained in marketing problems, selling and 
advertising, wants to find some organization of farmers 
who can make use of bis services. It is a new idea. 
Can you beat this? A man has a right of way across 
a fanner’s field near a stone wall. A tree belonging to 
the first, man blows down across this right of way and 
wall, but the man refuses to clear it. up, but persists in 
driving far out in the farmer’s mowing field! Once 
more—can you beat it? 
