1204 
October 7, 1022 
The Rural New-Yorker 
THE BUSINESS FARMER'S PAPER 
A National Weekly Journal for Country and Suburban Homes 
Established i6'>0 
I'HtlMied nrrkly by tbe Rural Pnl,Ji,hln£ Compiiny, UBS West SOlb Street. \ro York 
Herwert IV. CoLLlsawoon, Pivstdcat an<l Editor. 
Jons* .r. Dillon, Treasurer ami General Slander. 
Wm. F Dillon' Secretary. Mus. K. T. Hoyle. Associate Editor. 
L. H." Mi tU'HV, Circulation Manager. 
SUBSCRIPTION : ONE DOLLAR A YEAR 
To foreign countries in the Universal Postal l nlon. *8.0*. Demil in money 
order, express order, personal check or bonk draft. 
Entered at Sew York Post Oftiee as Second Class Matter. 
Advertising rales, *1.00 per agate lino—7 words. References required for 
advertisers unknown to us ; and cash must accompany transient orders. 
“A SQUARE DEAD” 
We believe that every advertisement in this paper is backed by a respon¬ 
sible person. We use every possible precaution and admit the advertising of 
reliable hou->■* only, Hut to make doubly sure, we will make good any loss 
to paid subscribers sustained by trusting any deliberate swindler, irrespon¬ 
sible ndverlis«rs or misleading advertisements in our columns, and any 
such swindler w ill be publicly exposed. We are also often culled upon 
to adjust differences or mistakes, between oil'- mibseilber* and honest, 
responsible houses. Whether advertisers or not. We willingly use our good 
offices to this end, but such esses should not be confused with dishonest 
transactions. tVe protect subscrilier* against rogues, but we will not be 
responsible for tip- debt* of honest bankrupts sanctioned by the courts. 
Notice of the- complaint must he sent to us within one month of the time of 
the transaction, and to identify it. you. should mention The Rural New- 
Yorker when writing the advertiser. _ 
I'm mighty pleased with your paper. This is a war 
memorial, and my action I hope is a help to keep us 
from requiring such, while giving my mates a chance to 
/•pad your fine paper, JOHN BUCHANAN, 
Xova Scotia. 
W HAT Mr. Buchanan did was to send u year’s 
subscription to a hospital in X'ova Scotia 
where wounded or disabled sodiers are being healed 
ami made over. No doubt there are many farm boys 
there. 
* 
On page 1128 you quote Dean Swift as saving “that 
In* who made two* blades of grass grow where one grew 
before did more good than all the politicians." I would 
respectfully suggest a very great improvement on the 
above, I would plant two politicians where two blades 
of grass grew before, and improve the grass crop, and, 
incidentally, the entire community, henry skinner. 
O UR opinion is that Dean Swift would accept the 
amendment if he were living. It is not the 
highest ambition of any politician to serve as organic 
nitrogen and phosphorus for the grass crop, but be 
could serve his country quite well in that capacity. 
But is not the politician one of our self-inflicted 
punishments? When we permit a filthy old drain to 
stand near the house, and the children get sick, how 
many of us put the blame just where it belongs? 
"We. the people of America.” endure these politicians 
because we are too busy or too “conservative to 
get rid of them! 
* 
A BULLETIN of the Pennsylvania Board of Agri¬ 
culture tells of a case in Vermillion Co.. Ill., 
where tuberculosis was transferred from a cow to 
children: 
A farmer had bis bord tested for tuberculosis, and ene 
cow reacted. Instead of destroying her, the farmer de¬ 
clared the test undependable, removed the ear tag and 
sold her to his hired man for wages. 
Of seven children in the man’s family live have con¬ 
tracted pronounced cases of tuberculosis. The other 
two did not drink this cow’s milk. A pig and a cat also 
contracted disease after drinking the milk. 
A warrant lias been issued for the original owner on 
a charge of breaking quarantine and. it is stated, should 
one of the children die he will be subject to a charge of 
manslaughter. 
That is all we know about it. We doubt if adults 
would be likely to contract the disease in this way. 
but there, seems serious danger for children. We 
have never heard of a legal case involving such 
things. Should one of these children die. till 1 pro¬ 
posed trial would work out one of the finest legal 
points and one of the most important health theories. 
* 
T ill? following advertisement is said to have ap¬ 
peared in a Kansas paper: 
Found —In my tomato patch, seven chickens; six 
Plymouth Rocks about the size of quails, one large 
white one. Owner cun have them by calling at my 
home, paying for the tomatoes and this notice.—Mrs. 
Fanny Wanner. 
During the year we have several hundred letters 
from people who have trouble over tlie wandering 
ben. The tariff, the soldiers’ bonus. League of Na¬ 
tions and other big issues may seem to fill the air. 
but one small lien scratching in your pet garden will 
bring you nearer to a fight and carry you further 
from contentment than any of these world-wide 
problems. It takes a woman to find a new way of 
settling these living questions. The way Mrs. Fanny 
Wanner has handled this family of feathered ma¬ 
rauders is original at least. Printers’ ink has 
changed history, built up civilization and driven 
many an evil out of life. If it can settle the tres¬ 
passing hen question it will have successfully per¬ 
formed its greatest task. 
'k 
A PROPOSITION before Congress called for a 
’■ an of $5,000,000 to the Liberian Republic in 
Africa. This so-called republic- was started years 
ago by a colony of liberated American slaves. It 
The RURAL NEW-YORKER 
was at one time hoped by entbusiastical abolitionists 
that the American negroes could be sent l*» Africa, 
where they could organize a great agricultural na¬ 
tion and gradually civilize the entire dark continent. 
These black men were to be something like human 
bacteria in their work upon the masses of ignorant 
Africans. But somehow the bacteria have never 
been able to work far back from tlie coast. The 
Liberian Republic lias kept its name and that is 
about all, though during the World’s War it entered 
the conflict against Germany, and. we think, sent, a 
few soldiers. But in one respect this tiny republic 
has acquired the habits of an empire—it wants a 
loan of $5,000,000. and naturally looks to this coun¬ 
try for it. While it was under debate in the Senate 
it was said that a large part of this money was 
designed to pay old bonds. These had been bought 
by certain New York financiers at about 20 cents on 
the dollar, and this convenient loan will enable these 
rich men to "cash in” at par! Good work, that— 
good for Wall Street, but where do Uncle Sam and 
his colored wards come in? The loan was not, 
granted! 
* 
O N page 1152 we spoke of the possibilities of 
growing cotton in South Jersey and on the 
Delaware peninsula. The secretary of the Salisbury, 
Md., Chamber of Commerce sends us this informa¬ 
tion : 
This article is very interesting to me because we have 
promises from 10 or 12 farmers to raise one-half acre of 
cotton this next season. This is to determine the amount 
of cotton that we can raise per acre. We know that 
cotton will not only grow here, but ii will mature, but 
whether or not we can raise it in paying quantities is 
the purpose of our experiment next year. 
Before the Civil War considerable cotton was 
grown in Maryland and Delaware. Its culture was 
given up when fruit and market gardening became 
popular. These specialties are now being overdone, 
and the peninsula farmers need more diversified 
crops. The ravages of cotton insects in tlie far South 
may actually bring tlie culture even to New Jersey. 
It will lie but little more remarkable than the exten¬ 
sion of dairying in Texas. 
* 
P OTATOES have been retailing in this big city 
five pounds for nine cents and three pounds 
for five cents. The country housewife who tills a big 
kettle with potatoes for one meal will smile to think 
of buying such puny little dabs, yet thousands of 
families buy in that way. Some of them buy potato 
salad at 25 cents or more per pound! Potatoes have 
not retailed so cheap in this city for 30 years before, 
yet they are not eaten as freely as formerly when 
they were higher. We must all realize that food 
habits of city people are slowly changing, and this 
is actually having some effect upon the market. 
More of rice, eornmeal and macaroni are being eaten 
—and less of potato. These foods are put up in neat 
and small packages, and there is no waste. You just 
pour them out of the package into water, and heat 
tlie water. The potato must Do- washed and peeled, 
with considerable waste. The package of cereal food 
may be kept for weeks; potatoes quickly spoil in the 
hot tenement. One trouble with the potato market 
is the fact that other foods are slowly taking the 
place of this most useful tuber. And this loss in 
demand will grow unless systematic work is done to 
show the food value of potato. 
* 
T IIE president of Dartmouth College made an ad¬ 
dress to the students at the opening of the new 
term. Tie thinks too many inferior men are going to 
college just because that is tlie popular thing to do. 
That is right, hut the thing of most interest is the 
following: 
The two great conflicting forces of the world at the 
present time are tlie spirit of truth mid the spirit of 
propaganda, the former of which leads toward light and 
to ultimate pence and happiness for mankind, and the 
latter of which is not only the father of lies blit the 
whole ancestral tree, ultimately making for confusion 
and distress. 
The truth of that statement is very evident in 
journalism—in farm journalism as well as in every 
other department. Every man who lias had experi¬ 
ence in the profession knows the powerful forces 
which arc at work spreading this “spirit of propa¬ 
ganda.” It lias come to he almost impossible to find 
tlie exact truth about many great questions. The 
great majority of Americans depend almost entirely 
upon the daily papers for facts upon which to base 
opinions. With very rare exceptions these papers 
do little more than exploit some interested opinion 
into a form of propaganda. Most of it is manufac¬ 
tured by great financial interests. The argument 
over Henry Ford’s offer for Mussel Shoals is a ease 
In point. Nine-tenths of those who argue on one 
side or the other know nothing of the question except 
what they get from propaganda skilfully worked up 
on one side by the Ford interests and on tlie other 
by fertilizer manufacturers and importers. It seems 
well nigh impossible for the real truth to make head¬ 
way against such work. And it must he said that 
some men offer prejudice and biased opinion for tlie 
truth, so that while truth should he as plentiful and 
free as air. it is often the hardest thing for men to 
obtain. Not long ago we quoted a college man who 
said it. is getting harder and harder to obtain really 
suitable speakers for farm gatherings. One of our 
readers gives this shrewd explanation: 
I notice you say it is hard to get good speakers for 
rural meetings. You are just right, and the reason, as 
I see it. is that every live man has been gobbled up by 
some "organization. “ either farm or otherwise, and they 
feel it necessary to spread the organization propaganda 
every time. 
Well, as tlie hoys would say. “what do you know 
about that? Fan a man specialize on propaganda 
for an organization and at the same time tell the 
truth about agriculture? 
. * 
J UST consider tlie following figures, all you who 
think a “bumper crop” will make all farmers 
rank with millionaires. These are values of various 
farm products: 
, -1010- v 
Production 
Bushels 
Corn . 2,811.302.000 
Wheat . 967,979.000 
Oats . 1.181.030.000 
Potatoes . 322,867,000 
Hay (tons) . 104.760.000 
,--- 1021 
Value 
$3,780,597,000 
2.080.050.0(H) 
833,022,000 
514.855.000 
2.037,724.000 
Production 
Bushels 
Corn . 3,080,372.000 
Wheat . 794,893.000 
Oats . 1.060.737.000 
Potatoes . 346,823,000 
I lav (tons) . 90,802,000 
Value 
$1,302,670,000 
737,008.000 
321,540.000 
385,192.000 
1,090,776,000 
With cotton, tobacco and other farm crops the 
figures show the same thing—or worse. Take, for 
example, corn. In 1921 our farmers produced nearly 
175,000.000 bushels more than in 1919. Y’et this 
“bumper crop” was worth only about one-third of 
tlie smaller crop of two years before. While this 
form of "deflation” was going on taxes were mul¬ 
tiplying and i>rices for everything the farmer had to 
buy were kept up. At the same time the consumers 
gained hut little if anything through decreased 
retail prices for food. We said in April that a 
"bumper crop" this year would he one of the worst 
things that could happen to farmers. We do not 
think all our crops this year are as "bumper” as 
some of the statisticians and speculators would like 
to have us think. We believe quality is generally 
low. and that prices will rise later. But do not 
insult us any more with that old joke about bumper 
crops and prosperity. 
5k 
T IIE It. N.-Y. was first to suggest the use of mov¬ 
ing picture films as a part of instruction or 
entertainment at farmers’ meetings. Our suggestion 
to use them in place of some of the prosy lectures at 
farmers' institutes did not "make a hit" with the 
lecturers. Now ihe Department of Agriculture an¬ 
nounces 143 of these pictures which it will Joan free 
of charge or sell at about four cents a foot. These 
pictures run all the way from "Why Eat Cottage 
Cheese” to "Layers and Liars." We are now trying 
to induce one of the largest film producers to make a 
picture based on the recent article "A Night on the 
Market!" There is also under consideration a farm 
play based on the same matter. 
Brevities 
Now they talk of a “mineral supplement” for hogs. 
One such is* equal parts of air-slaked lime, salt and bone- 
meal. We like to add charcoal. 
One of the greatest gifts one can have during his 
journey through liiis vale of tears is what our literary 
friends* call the philosophical spirit. 
We arc told that an advertised material for prevent¬ 
ing rust in iron pipes is simple water glass, which is to 
form a coating over the inside of the pipe. 
There is great need of a good lime spreader. The 
Iowa College thinks the most desirable type is a trailer 
to run behind the loaded wagon—the lime to be shoveled 
into it. 
We have quite a little correspondence about this idea 
of inoculation in the silo, as described on page 1117. D 
looks reasonable to us—as much so as inoculating seed. 
It doesn’t cost much, and surely cannot do any harm. 
We have many cases of joint ownership of real estate 
which are quite complicated. In New York State, for 
example, any joint owner of land can demand the whole 
rent from a tenant. The payment to one joint owner 
will protect the tenant. 
We do not quite kimw what it means, but there are 
many questions about propagating currant and goose¬ 
berry busties. Make cuttings of the ripe one-year wood 
in the Fall 8 or 10 in. long. Tie them in bundles and 
bury them in the soil tiil Spring. Then set them nearly 
full length in rows for cultivation. Gooseberries and 
shrubs in general will root in this way. 
