1905. 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
THE FARM LABOR PROBLEM. 
Trouble in Connecticut Hills. 
About 15 years ago 22 fanners in a radius of two 
miles of me employed 34 yearly men. To-day those 
same farms employ eight yearly men. They were mostly 
German and Irish, and many of them the best of help. 
Only one or two of those men are now on farms; a 
good part of them have gone into towns to work in 
factories or other city employment. They get more 
ready money and do not put in as many hours a day as 
we do here on the farms. I doubt if they have any 
better living, or have any more, but they get the cash 
every Saturday, there is more going on and things are 
more lively, and a big time draws the people; that is 
certain. Fifteen years ago the help was mostly found 
in Castle Garden, hired for from eight months to a 
year at $8 for the first month and $10 for the remainder 
of the time for the first year; then for from $12 to $15 
for second year. This included board and washing. 
Now the eight yearly men get on an average $20 per 
month with board and washing per year. Some of 
them are Swedes, a few Poles, and a few old-fash¬ 
ioned poor Yankees. These 22 farms keep but about 
half the stock we did at that time. The grand tax list 
for this small town of about six square miles has 
dropped about $7,500 in live stock alone in 20 years. 
We cannot afford to keep the help at the prices re¬ 
ceived for our produce. Milk was much higher and 
grain nearly $10 per ton less then than to-day, so that 
farmers do what they can, and do not try to keep the 
stock or raise the crops that we did then. In a neigh¬ 
boring town where there are many large milk farms they 
depend almost entirely on Swedes for farm help, and 
they are the best of any foreign help that we can get 
here now. Almost every farm has from two to five 
men and nearly all have one or two Swedish women. 
They seem the best adapted to farm work, especially 
around stock on a big dairy farm. They are paid from 
$15 to $25, with board and washing. These farms are 
mostly within two miles of railroad, and all produce 
goes to Bridgeport, about 40 miles, or New York, which 
is 100 miles. Back farther from railroad people depend 
on making cream for creamery or making butter; they 
do not hire nearly so much, as it does not pay. 
Warren, Conn. d. s. 
Running Away from the Hired Man. 
On most farms in this section the hired labor problem 
is an ever-present one. From the fact that some suc¬ 
cessful farmers are strangers to the problem it would 
seem that its solution is not hopeless. Most farmers 
here have one reliable man to whom they pay fairly good 
wages, and keep the year round, securing their extra 
help for the Summer from labor agencies in New York 
City. It is the latter class of laborers who almost always 
make the trouble. Such as will engage with the farmer 
are usually those who are incompetent in other lines, 
intemperate or itinerants, that will walk off when you 
most need their help. This class of labor is usually 
overpaid. We have plenty of good, competent laborers 
in this neighborhood, but they will not work on farms 
so long as they can secure as good pay (it is usually 
much better) as mechanics, factory hands, etc., and 
where they have definite hours of labor. Give the farm 
hand the same pay per hour of labor that he could get 
elsewhere, and I think we would have no trouble so far 
as securing help is concerned, but here another question 
arises: Could we afford it? In keeping a detailed ac¬ 
count of a variety of crops grown for a period of seven 
years, I found the average returns per unit of labor 
varied from a decided loss to 500 per cent profit. Per¬ 
haps here is a hint. Adapting crops to soil and market 
and individual ability this would mean special crops; spe¬ 
cialty farming means cheaper production by allowing the 
use of special machinery and methods; reputation in 
market; better prices, except labor; this would justify 
high wages. Some farmers have reduced their farming 
to the size of their families. They seem to be getting 
along; others are enlarging their families to the size 
of the farm. We are working somewhat along the latter 
line. The most successful farmers in this vicinity are 
not those with the most numerous teams and hired 
hands, but rather the reverse; 50 acres pay better divi¬ 
dends than 100 acres, and 25 usually pay better than 50. 
I think the problem will eventually be worked out for 
the general good of the farmer, and in keeping with the 
order of constant progress, he will he compelled to re¬ 
trench, study and systematize all his farm operations. 
1 he farm hand, a man of family, boarding at home, 
receiving as good or better pay than the average me¬ 
chanic, with no greater number of hours of labor. The 
farmer’s home strictly for the family; the children 
taught the importance of agriculture to the world, prob¬ 
ably they could be induced to remain at home after they 
are 21, and thereby contribute very materially towards 
solving the labor problem. We have had an experience 
on a farm where it was necessary to employ from six 
to eight hands during the Summer and two or three 
teams. I he profits were not discernable. We have 
taken a smaller farm, eliminating the hired help, except 
in harvest time (berry picking) ; are living in comfort 
and paying the bills contracted on the larger place, so 
you can hardly blame us for running away from the 
hired man. j. e. k. 
Monmouth Co., N. J. 
SOILING CROPS FOR TWO COWS. 
I have two cows, which I wish to keep up the coining 
Summer. What crop, or crops, should I sow in the Spring 
to give earliest and best feed for milk? Ilow much land 
required, what proportion ol' seed, and how should I fertilize 
such crops? c. h. a. 
Newton, N. H. 
On the earliest piece of ground I would sow barley, 
fertilizing heavily with a high-grade fertilizer. As 
“STRENUOUS CATTLE” IN VIRGINIA. Fig. 51. 
See l’age 420. 
soon after as the weather was suitable I would sow 
peas and oats, and sow them in succession every two 
weeks till July 1. This will give green feed from about 
the middle of June till corn is ready to feed, or the last 
week in August. Sow at the rate of three bushels to the 
acre, about one-eighth acre, I think. I should plant 
corn as soon as the ground got warm enough, using for 
a part of the piece a very early kind, and Sanford or 
something like it for the main crop. G. m. hazard. 
Vermont. 
For soiling two cows you will need from an acre 
to an acre and a half, and this should be well fertilized 
with a heavy coat of stable manure, or if no manure on 
hand 500 or 600 pounds fertilizer per acre should be 
TIIE CARE IS HALF THE SHEEP. Fig. 52. 
used broadcast. I should want this to contain not less 
than five per cent nitrogen and 7J4 per cent potash. 
Oats and peas arc about the first crop you can get, and I 
should put in two patches of one-fourth acre each 10 
days apart, the first as soon as possible, using one-half 
bushel oats and 12 quarts Canada peas to the one-fourth 
acre. About May 20 put in one-eighth acre of Japanese 
millet, and 10 days later another like piece, using one 
quart of seed on each piece. About June 1 put in about 
two-thirds of an acre of sweet corn, using for half the 
piece some variety like Crosby and Stowell for remainder. 
After oats are off first piece you can sow patches of 
Hungarian and barley, using at the rate of one bushel 
Hungarian and two bushels barley per acre. Pasture 
must be depended upon until the latter part of June, but 
beginning with oats there should be a succession until 
115 
heavy frost, and the barley will stand considerable of 
this. Some of the crops perhaps may not be used up 
entirely green, but these can be kept for good Winter 
fodder if cut and cured before they are too ripe. Some 
of these feeds are rather watery, and the cows should 
have grain with them, or they will run down in flesh 
and yield. Bran and hominy or bran and gluten, equal 
parts by weight, are good for this purpose. 
Conecticut. h. g. Manchester. 
I have never soiled cows wholly, but have had sup¬ 
plementary crops to fortify against any shortage in feed. 
Corn silage cut when the ears are almost ready to glaze 
is the best I know of for all seasons. When corn is 
allowed to get nearly ripe, and is cut ears and all, it 
makes a good feed. I have never tried sowed crops, as 
1 find the early grass sufficient, but I plant sweet corn, 
beginning with the dwarf sweet corn and follow with the 
later, and I find in a dry season it bridges my cows over 
a dry time. I find with an acre or so I get a succession 
of corn, and if I do not need it for soiling I cut it into 
silage. For later feed I plant cabbages, which fill the 
gap between frost and Winter. If a person is short of 
pasture and wishes to soil entirely there are a number of 
varieties of sowed crops that are valuable. I think 
Winter rye is the earliest and best to start feeding. 
About the amount of seed to an acre, no one can tell 
unless he knows how rich the land is. The richer the 
land the less the seed. For fertilizers there is a great 
variety, but I like stable manure the best of any, and I 
like to spread on as much as can be plowed in, and then 
top-dress and harrow in all that can be covered. My 
farm is a natural grass farm, and I plow only when the 
grass has begun to fail. If a piece cuts less than V/ 2 
ton to the acre I turn it over and crop it two years, and 
seed it down again, which lasts from five to 10 years. 
Some of my meadows are never turned over, and cut 
about 2 1 / tons to the acre, but these are naturally fer¬ 
tilized by irrigation, and cut Fowl meadow grass. 
' Vermont. c. m. winslow. 
I have had but very little experience with soiling cat¬ 
tle, except “partial soiling” with silage. Experience 
would indicate that about seven-tenths of an acre will 
provide fodder sufficient for each animal (See Henry, 
Feeds and Feeding, table for soiling crops). Rye sown 
in the Fall will provide the earliest fodder. Follow 
with oats and peas sown each week from April 1 to 
July 1. After this corn may be depended upon for Sep¬ 
tember feeding, and barley for October and perhaps part 
of November. For two cows I should recommend an 
acre or more for each animal, the excess of the crop to 
be cured for hay. I am of the opinion that cattle must 
be fed oftener when soiled than on dry fodder. With 
dry fodder, two feeds per day is the common practice; 
with soiling crops feed four times (personal opinion). 
Remove all fodder in manger before each fresh feeding. 
Conn. Agl. College. c. l. beach. 
HAVE YOU EVER SEEN HIM? 
He is buying grain to keep his young stock, but it does 
them little good, as the wind blows it right out of them. 
How’s that? Why, the barn is so full of cracks that 
one man said, "You could throw your hat through any¬ 
where.” A little of the money spent for grain would be 
more wisely spent in getting some battening boards or 
building paper, so that the animals might be kept in 
comfort. Some people seem to carry the idea that their 
young cattle must go through a hardening process in 
order to have them good for anything. So they are 
kept in poor stables and fed on the poorest hay, so that 
they will be tough and hardy. How do they turn out? 
They turn out the kind that sell for $30 to $35 when 
good cows bring $50 to $60. They never get to be good 
size, and because stunted in youth turn out unprofitable 
stock when matured. 
He spent good money for fertilizers last Spring, 
although there is a big pile of manure up against the 
side of the barn that hasn’t been cleaned out in two 
years. It was so much easier to get a load of fertilizer 
in bags than to sweat carting out that manure, but he 
hasn’t yet got over sweating about paying that fertilizer 
bill that he let run as long as he could. 
Last Fall he was very busy, and didn’t have time to 
get up any bedding for Winter, and now the cows lie 
on a hard wet floor, although occasionally he has given 
them a bed of sopping wet sawdust from the icehouse, 
which is now worse than nothing. The cows stand all 
humped up, covered with long, shaggy hair that nature 
gave them to help out of the neglect in their case. Do 
they pay a profit? No, and they never will, for that’s 
just a sample of the whole style of their management. 
But another neighbor has a different story. He is 
busy, too, but he got together a lot of leaves, swamp 
hay and litter for an absorbent. He always has a 
cheerful countenance, and spend lots of time around the 
barn with what some people would call puttering. The 
cows all know him, and do not jump and cringe when 
he passes by or cards them. They get good care right 
straight along, and they pay. Although he is a small 
farmer he is adding improvements every year that the 
neighbors can’t afford, and laying by some every year 
for a rainy day. 
He is fond of chickens, and was getting up quite a 
business, but has given it up because the “other half” 
didn’t want so many chickens around in Summer. He 
had a good market for broilers for five months in 
the year, but his wife wouldn’t help any about dressing 
them. She had enough to do in the house without 
bothering with hens. Now he has sold them off. and 
when telling me the story there was sorrow in the 
tones, but nothing to reflect upon his wife. Some men 
need all the help and management they can get, and I 
am thankful to say most men get it from their wives, 
and that this case is an exception. h. g. Manchester. 
