1020 
The RURAL NEW-YORKER 
The Rural New-Yorker 
THE HUMMERS FARMER'S PARER 
A National Weekly Journal lor Country nnd Suburban llomtc 
Established ism 
I'ubllibpd wrrLIj by lb- Rural I’liblihhlnff Company. Milt Hot 30th Street, New Vorb 
Kioto kt tV. Coi.Ll.voWOOD, 1 TeeHlent anti Editor. 
John J. IRllon, Treamiier and General Manager. 
Wm. F. Dillon, Secretary. Mux K 'j'. Hoyt.i , Am*ociate Editor. 
SUBSCRIPTION : ONE DOLLAR A YEAR 
lo foreign counti-ic* In the Universal Postal I’oion. t'.’.m. lii ioit in money 
order, CM'ieSS order, iionmajd ultock or bank draft. 
Entered at New York Tost Office as Second Clatwt Matter. 
Advertising into*, #1.00 per nftate lint'—7 words. References required for 
advertisers unknown to ut- ; and en.sli must accompany trnuhient orders. 
•‘A SQUARE DEAL" 
We Itelleve thnt every lujvert lnomfnt in till# paper Is backed by ft respon¬ 
sible iKtrson. We line every possible p reran linn and admit tins ndvertlsinir of 
reliable bouses only. Hut to make doubly mire, we will make (food any loss 
to paid r.ij|Merlbera sustained by tru.dloK anv delllierafe swlmibn, irrespon¬ 
sible advertisers or mmleadlnpf advertisement* in our enlilimis. and any 
ftueb swindler will be publicly exposed. We urn also ofteu called upon 
to adjust difTereniOea or nietaketi between our mibscclbers and honest., 
responsible bouses. whether advertiser* or not. We willingly use. our good 
olliers lo this end, but such eases should not be confused with dishonest 
transact Ions. We profeet, subscribers against rogues. but we will not be 
responsible for the debts of hones! l.iinkmple sanctioned by the courts. 
Notice of the complain! must lie sent lo us within one month of the tune or 
the transaction, and io identify it. you should mention Thk Rural N'ew- 
Yoickkh when writing the advertiser. 
M ANY (if our renders are trying certified potato 
seed for (lie first time this year. Most of 
them will agree that such seed has produced strong, 
vigorous plants, which set many tubers, and are un¬ 
usually free from disease. In our own ease these 
tilings are. so evident that the most careless observer 
would notice them. Now we think many farmers 
have a wrong idea of just wlmt the “certificate” 
means. It is not claimed that the certified seed is 
absolutely free from disease. It would he quite 
possible for plants from such seed to go down with 
blight if they were not sprayed, or to show the scab 
disease if Hie sect! were not treated. It is true that 
the certified seed is less likely to contract these dis¬ 
eases. because it comes from plants which have for 
several generations been carefully selected. Live 
stock from families or strains from which disease 
has been removed by selection would he free, yet 
they would not he entirely immune. If put in con¬ 
tact with disease they might contract it, I hough 
much less likely to do so than cattle out of infected 
herds. The certified seed, in like manner, comes 
from healthy plants and will he stronger and surer 
than common seed. That is no reason why we 
should neglect spraying the vines or treating tile 
tubers. In fact, we should he more willing to do 
these things, since the certified seed is more valuable 
and will give greater returns for our care. The 
point to remember is that "certified seed" will not 
take care of itself. It is not immune to all diseases, 
though less likely to contract them, and it must be 
cared for properly. 
O NE of our correspondents tells of a man who could 
nol learn to dance properly until he broke his 
leg I Some of you may say "Impossible! Man dances 
■vvith his legs, therefore he cannot, use a broken leg 
to learn the art!” In truth, man dances with liis 
mind. His legs only carry out what the mind plans. 
A broken leg is a form of calamity, yet we can 
easily understand liow such a misfortune may com¬ 
pel a man to use his brains, study harder, and thus 
rise above an affliction. Many of us seem to make 
ilie mistake of supposing that the hands, tin* feet, or 
other organs originate lmhits and are the Idinl forces 
within us. They are all the servants of the brain. 
They all become the servants of had habits or poor 
methods, and nothing short of a mighty shock can 
shake them up and make a change. Any apparent 
misfortune iliaf will make a man stand still in the 
face of his troubles and think them out may lie a 
Inessing in disguise, ltiglu now, here on the Atlantic 
slope, thousands of farmers are up against big 
changes in ways of doing business. It may look like 
calamity, and that, is what it might he under old 
methods and plans. Yet. if il compels us to change 
our plans and study out new methods it may he a 
blessing. 
'I* 
A BOI’T the most remarkable change in Ameri¬ 
can agriculture in late years lias been the de¬ 
velopment of dairying in Northwestern States. Wis¬ 
consin was the first of these States to start years ago. 
At that time Wisconsin was a wheat producing 
State, and her soil and her people were all growing 
poorer each year. W. A. Henry and the late W. 1 >. 
Hoard did much to bring about the change. They 
showed how the great streams of bran and feed 
pouring away from the State should he kept, at home 
and fed to cattle. It was slow work, but finally 
Wisconsin swung away from wheat and adopted the 
cow. Since then she has prospered almost beyond 
belief. And now Minnesota is following. In 1S!)0 
there were oWI.000 emvs in the State, averaging 1 liS 
lbs. of Imtter per cow. In 11(20 there were 1 ,3!)f),(IOO 
cows, averaging 1!(4 lbs. North Dakota and Mon¬ 
tana are following in the same line. It is the old 
story of raising wheat continuously until the land 
will nut. respond, and then rebuilding the land 
through dairying. The effect of this development 
will be felt all over the country. In the East it will 
mean increased competition in butter and cheese 
production. Whole milk must he our main dairy crop, 
and we must increase sales and find new markets. 
AVe think, too, that the change in the Northwest will 
mean a decrease in the wheat crops. The shortage 
will he made up by imports from Canada, or there 
will be an increased production of grain on our East¬ 
ern farms. The change is having some effect upon 
legislation. The West is now joining the East in 
fighting against butter substitutes, whereas in for¬ 
mer years it. was quite indifferent about such mat¬ 
ters. 
* 
OST farmers who have made any study of 
economies feel sure that as a rule transporta¬ 
tion costs are charged to them both ways. 1'nless 
there is some special agreement to the contrary, the 
farmer pays the cost of carrying his goods to mar¬ 
ket. either directly for freight or express, <ir the 
cost is taken out of the price he receives, or would 
receive if lu* carried the goods himself. Let any 
farmer look over the returns from a commission 
house and he will find these items openly charged 
against him. Or let him compare the prices he 
receives in the local market with what produce 
brings in the larger market which finally receives his 
goods! And lie is also finally forced to pay the 
transportation charges on the goods which he buys 
in the local market. The dealer or storekeeper will 
usually attend to that. Years ago in a Western 
State, an Eastern •man called for an old-fashioned 
watch key. Ho had bought one a week before in 
the East for three cents. The storekeeper charged 
1 cents for one of Identical pattern. When asked 
why he charged such a price, this man justified him¬ 
self, as usual: "You sec, freight rates are verg high.'' 
It would bo hard to figure out the exact freight rate 
on one watch key. but that is about the principle of 
it. The unorganized farmers have for years occu¬ 
pied a position which has made it possible to gouge 
I belli Lot Ji going and coming, 
* 
1IE market for farm products this year is as 
wild as an insane man. AVe can think of no 
fairer comparison. Potatoes have actually sold as 
low ns $1 a barrel wholesale. On the average they 
do not reach half the price of last year. Apples 
can hardly be given away in some cases. Yet with 
these ruinous wholesale prices the people are still 
being hold up in the retail trade. There has been a 
heavy planting of early apple varieties in the past 
few years, and this may partly account for the pres¬ 
ent trouble, but no fair reason can be given for the 
potato prices. Another crazy freak of the market 
occurred when brown eggs actually brought, higher 
prices than fancy white. AVe doubt if that has ever 
occurred before in recent years. It is always claimed 
that white eggs bring a superior price in New York, 
and so they do, usually, yet even here there are peo¬ 
ple who prefer tin* browns, and will have them, re¬ 
gardless of price. No one lias ever been able to show 
that eggs from one breed are richer than another, or 
that the color of tin* shell has anything to do with it. 
* 
E begin t«• have a few letters from people 
who say it is a mistake to ask Eastern farm¬ 
ers to act politically with Western farmers. Some 
of the men who write such letters are country peo¬ 
ple—others are evidently from town. All are agents 
in trying to spread a form of propaganda sent out by 
a combination of city interests. The object is to 
weaken support of tin* "farm bloc” and to destroy the 
spirit of independence which is surely growing. It 
it quite true that many or most Eastern farmers 
rank as consumers of Western farm products. In 
many eases it becomes cheaper for us to buy flour 
and feed rather than to produce them ourselves. 
At least; we think that is so. and we net upon the 
thought. If there were no tariff on grain, no doubt 
New England farmers might bu able t<» import corn 
and other grain from Argentina or other South 
American countries cheaper than they can bring it 
from Iowa and Kansas. There are some other tilings 
of which Ihe same might he said, hul in a much larger 
souse tin* great business of agriculture is nation 
wide. Its interests are closely woven together, and 
cannot well be. separated. The farmer in Kansas 
has interests in common with the farmer in Maine. 
Both belong to a class which has been exploited by 
other interests simply because farmers have not seen 
the advantage of working together—presenting a 
united front to Hie common enemy. It is always the 
policy of politicians and schemers generally to try 
August U>, 1 !)22 
to separate the opposing party. If they can do that 
it is easy to whip the separated parts in detail. 
That is what is now being attempted in this effort to 
make trouble between the East and the West. 
5k 
It. LOSEE, on page 1011, speaks of the disap¬ 
pointing prices received for apples this season. 
AVith us much the same is true of practically all 
tarm produce, and we are at a loss to understand 
what, it means. The wet season, high freight rates 
and the railroad strike combined, would, under or- 
dinary Conditions, create a shortage of food and send 
prices up. The truth is that, consumers are paying 
about as much as ever for their food, while farmers 
are being gouged 30 per cent or more. The govern¬ 
ment reports show a decrease of less than t per cent 
in retail food prices. As for the low juice of early 
apples, one reason for that is heavy planting of such 
varieties as AVealthy during the past 10 years. For 
some unexplained reason fruit growers have planted 
AVealthy by (lie thousand. They are now coming 
Into hearing, and growers seem to he picking them 
green and rushing them into market. Surely such 
handling of Wealthy never will lead to wealth! 
sk 
E are having some interesting letters about 
this idea of suggesting names of the 12 living 
men or women who have done most for agriculture. 
Most of our people find it hard to decide. Some of 
them refer to the great men who have passed on— 
McCormick. Wood, Ephraim A\ r . Bull, AV. I). Hoard 
and others, but we are now to deal with living peo¬ 
ple—real flesh and blood—among us today. Some 
we find would limit the list to politicians or organ¬ 
izers; others include inventors or men who have put 
inventions to practical use. Others put actual farm¬ 
ers at the head, while still others look about for 
poets or writers who have appealed to farm life. 
In all tlu* lists thus far submitted two names seem 
t< lie first to appeal to the mind—Dr. S. M. Babcock, 
tin* inventor of tlie Babcock test, and Dr. Liberty II. 
Bailey. II appears to he generally agreed that these 
names should nppoar in any list of great men who 
have influenced agriculture. After their names are 
given there seems to he* no general agreement; it 
becomes a matter of personal choice. AA’e would like 
gour opinion. Name the 12 living men or women 
who have done most to advance the cause of the 
farm and the farmer. The mental exercise required 
to think this out will do us all good. 
>k 
G reat BRITAIN has levied an import tax of 
sixpence a hale on all cotton brought into the 
kingdom. This money is turned over to an associa¬ 
tion organized for the purjiose of developing cotton 
growing in British territory. This movement started 
before the war. and was greatly stimulated during 
that conflict. England has for many years seen the 
great advantage of controlling her own supply of 
cotton. It is now being grown In South Africa, 
Australia and Egypt. Italy and France are both 
working for cotton production in Northern Africa, 
while Southern Russia is also considered a favor¬ 
able field. I'p to this time our American cotton 
growers have been inclined to smile at these efforts. 
It seemed as if our Southern States never could lose 
their monopoly of this crop. AA'o think that this 
competition has now come to he the "real thing.” 
AA’o must remember that tin* world was supplied with 
cotton long before America developed the croj>. AVe 
think a world-wide readjustment of crop production 
is under way. For many years it was the habit to 
grow certain crops in certain sections—not. always, 
because they were most suitable and profitable, hue 
because custom had fitted them to our lives. Now 
comes a time when changes must he made, and the 
coming shift of cotton growing from one section of 
the world to another is only one part of the great 
change. And who can doubt but that in the future 
Hie South will he better off for the change? 
Brevities 
"Goon fences make good neighbors.” 
Thk wandering hen seems to have more lives than 
the AA’andering Jew. 
Hot water and soap is a great combination for jioison 
ivy, as well as for dirt. 
The latest advice is to jmt sulphur in your stock¬ 
ings when yon go out where "chiggers” or similar in¬ 
serts a hound. The sulphur will keep them off. 
Some of our people seem to think there is a good 
market for dried wild cherries. It will not pay to send 
them here, for (he demand is light and the price very 
low. 
It is claimed that, as a State. Pennsylvania ranks 
first among the States in squab raising, first in eider 
production, and first in number of purebred Berkshire 
hogs. 
