1 
960 
tlull «it' Wolf River apple in the plfciee of McIntosh. 
SYSTEMATIC CLASSIFYING.—The bulletin here 
mentioned gives a good classitication of varieties, 
and arranges them by the shape and sism of their 
leaves. It also gives photographic pictures of dif¬ 
ferent varieties. We have reproduced six of these 
pictures, showing leaves of common varieties We 
think that this plan, when fully worked out. will 
enable any observant person to identify varieties 
long before the trees come into bearing It is. as we 
have said, much like finger printing in identifying 
humans. 
The Real Estate Shark 
W E are getting no end of letters very much like 
the following: 
“1 bought a farm. The price was $S,000. I paid 
$1,500 iu cash and gave a contract to pay interest and 
a certain sum each year. I have put up several new 
buildings and made other improvements. Now. through 
accident and misfortune, I cannot meet my payments. 
Can I give up the farm and get the money I paid and 
the cost of the improvements back?” 
The child-like faith with which these people deal 
with real estate sharks would he laughable if it 
were not pathetic beyond expression. Why, some 
of these back-to-the-landers remind ns of the story 
of the bird that put his head into the mouth of the 
wolf to pick tho hone wedged between two teeth! 
We all know what happened to the head. This [s 
one of the oldest and meanest games on earth. The 
farm is purposely put at an extravagant figure in 
order to excite tho credulity of the buyer. Then !m 
is told that if he will keep the fact quiet the owner 
■will, as a special favor to him, accept a small cash 
payment and a “contract.” In this way the real 
estate man gets about all the cash the buyer can 
raise. The contract states that in case of failure to 
pay interest or other obligations the whole thing is 
forfeited to the owner. In his eagerness to buy and 
Ills fear that some one may get the bargain away 
from him. the “prospect” signs and puts himself 
entirely at the mercy of the real estate shark. Prom 
the very first there never was any chance for him to 
pay out and own the property. The farm Is usually 
priced at twice its value and could tint, even with 
full capital, produce enough to pay for itself. The 
buyer usually pays all he has in cash, and is left 
without working capital. As a r v, - 1rt lie is without 
experience. The object of this game is a cold¬ 
blooded swindle, premeditated and sure. After a 
few years the buyer will be forced out. losing his 
$1,500 and also what he lias put into the farm. Then 
the real estate shark will sell the farm again and 
go through the same performance With another 
“sucker.” It seems impossible to put an end to such 
practices. The trouble is that there is cupidity on 
both sides, for in some cases the buyer actually 
thinks lie is “beating” the real estate man. We have 
had more than 500 cases of this sort presented to 
us, and in most of them the real estate shark had 
protected himself so that he was law-proof. 
Give the Children a Chance 
FEW weeks ago we described a type of farmer 
who might secure good help by giving worthy 
young fellows a chance, We heard from some 60 
men in response to the suggestion. Now here Is 
another one. There are in this country a good num¬ 
ber of women, young or middle-aged, who have a 
child, or perhaps two. These women, through death 
or misfortune, have been left in a position where 
they must support themselves and their children. 
The RURAL NEW-YORKER 
They are not. as a rule, skilled at any trade, but 
most of them were born in the country, and they 
know how to work. Naturally they want to keep 
their children near them, and to have them brought 
up in a good home. A good, well-managed farm 
would seem to be the best place for them and. as 
we know front experience, such women can lie ex¬ 
ceedingly helpful in the family. Most farmers ob¬ 
ject to taking children into the house. Our exper¬ 
ience shows that this is a mistake, hut we must take 
human nature as we find it and not attempt to in¬ 
duce people to do tho tilings which do not suit them. 
There ought to lie a good number of middle-aged 
farmers who like children, and who feel some desire 
i i he of genuine service. They could make a home 
for these women, and give the children fair oppor¬ 
tunity with very little cost in money or time. There 
would he a chance to make the farm produce some¬ 
thing more enduring than food and fiber. This 
nation in the future will not need your money or 
your land half as much as it will need sound leader¬ 
ship of character and education. Perhaps you have 
already sent men and women out into the world 
from your farm, but it may not be too late for you 
to help with the child crop by giving some unfortu¬ 
nate woman and her children fair opportunity in 
your home. We have had some experience in this 
line, and do not therefore speak from theory. A 
good woman will make any sacrifice for her children, 
for women are wiser than men in this respect. They 
know what a well-grown and well-trained child may 
mean to the future. Whenever a woman, left alone 
with a child, wants to have that child brought up 
in file country, and will work for the privilege, a 
place should he provided for her on some of the 
Peomj Dttehexxe tic \<nt-t/itrx 
comfortable farms, where people of middle age or 
past are living alone. There are many such farms. 
What wonders could he worked on them by such a 
pa rtnership! 
Health of the Country Child 
O N page 453 we had a note headed “Health of 
the Country Child.” One of our Pennsylvania 
readers started it by sending ns a clipping from the 
Pictorial Itcvicir , in which some person who appar¬ 
ently never saw a child at close range delivered a 
long harangue, of which tlie following is a sample: 
"la the matter of health country children arc also 
worse off than city children. In car-defects country 
children are four times worse than city children, while 
eye-defects run nearly twice a< high fur couutry as for 
city children. Even breathing defects and malnutrition 
are worse in the country than in the city. 16 per cent 
of the country children being improperly fed and under¬ 
nourished. while only 7 per cent of city children suffer 
from this cause. Dr. Thomas D. Worn! of Teachers' 
Hoi lego, Columbia Eniversity. is my authority for these 
figures. l)r. Wood also makes the statement that the 
death rate in rural areas is five times as high as in New 
York City.” 
Wo stated that “with all respect for Dr. Thomas 
D. Wood we do not believe he knows what he is 
talking about.” And now comes Dr. Wood himself 
to explain: 
When yon say in your paper “We do not believe lie 
knows what he is talking about." 1 think, quite frankly, 
that you ought to lie a little more sure of your ground. 
In the first place, yon should have learned by this time 
that a man does not always say what is attributed to 
him in the public press. I never have said or stated 
anywhere in print that the death rate in rural areas is 
five times as high as in New York Pity. The statement 
by which 1 stand is contained in a pamphlet which I 
am forwarding to you and is expressed in a graph or 
chart made up from the official statistics of ihe State 
Hoard of Health. 1 should be glad to have you note 
August 5, 1022 
carefully the statements to which my name is attached, 
and then if you are fair 1 should be pleased some time 
to have you deal accurately and justly with this in the 
columns of your publication. tiiomas n. wood. 
We arc pleased to put the matter right, Dr. Wood 
studs us his pamphlet on “Health Essentials for 
Rural School Children.” <>n page 5 we find a chart 
showing the comparative death rates of children in 
urban and rural districts. This chart is photo¬ 
graphed and printed here: 
TABLE II. 
Comparative death rates, urban and rural. 
= = = = New York City. 
-New York State, outside of New York Chy 
These figures show that in HUD the death rate in 
rural districts was 14.2 to the 1,000. while in the 
city districts it was 12.4. We must remember that 
(lie word "rural” does not mean the open country. 
\ illages of 2.5(H) or loss are included as “rural.” and 
life in some of the little towns is far less sanitary 
than that on the farm. The pamphlet by Dr. Wood 
is a good one, though frankly we doubt if his figures 
are entirely fair. Personally, we have had consid¬ 
erable experience with raising town children in the 
country, having taken 20 or more of them to the 
farm. In any event, we are glad to set the matter 
right. It was the writer in the Pictorial Review 
who evidently "did not know what he was talking 
about,” and not Dr. AVood. 
Buckwheat and Rye Seeded Together 
I am plowing a two-year-old sod to sow to buckwheat, 
and want to plant to corn in ike Spring. I would like 
to have something growing after the buckwheat comes 
off, in order to have something to plow under which 
would benefit the ground and make possible a better 
corn crop. w. m, f. 
New Jersey. 
W E have often given our own plan of seeding 
rye and Alsike clover along with the buck¬ 
wheat. We use about two bushels of buckwheat, 
three pecks of rye and 4 lbs. of clover to flic acre. 
Tho buckwheat comes up first and grows far ahead 
of the others. You will see little of the rye and 
clover after a few weeks. When the buckwheat is 
cut or when the frost kills it the rye grows up 
through and the clover thickens. They make a fair 
growth through the Fall, and start well in Spring. 
Ry this kind of seeding you keep the soil covered 
with a long crop all through the Fall and AA'in- 
ter. and have a strong green growth to plow under 
in Spring. This plan works in a damp season. In a 
drought the rye and clover would have a struggle 
to got through. 
Here is the curious forma ion of an car of corn grown 
on the farm of Augustus Floyd. Long Island. By some 
curious freak of nature this car has divided at one end 
and grown into a very fair imitation of a claw or 
human hand. We never saw anything quite like it 
before. We have seen corns on “the horny- handed m.ui 
of toil.” bm never a hand on an ear of corn. 
