1906. 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
THE FARM LABOR QUESTION. 
As a City Worker Sees If. 
I would like to reply to “A Farmer’s Son.” 
page 535, and take exceptions to some of 
the things he says about us “city folks.” 
lie seems to think we all run by clock work 
and don't do anything before the whistle 
blows at 7 a. m. nor after 6 p. m. If he will 
come and follow me for a week he will he 
glad to get back to a farm where there's time 
for three square meals a day. I jump out 
of bed at four a. m., swallow whole a half 
breakfast, rush out dressing to catch a car 
for downtown, am on my team at 4.30, and 
hustle and bustle around through dusty, noisy 
street till one p. m., before my business will 
allow me time for a breathing spell. Then 
while the horse eats a few quarts of oats 
1 can get a cold sandwich, and in half an 
hour am off again till six and some nights 
nine p. m. before I am home to what we call 
dinner. This is six days per week. Of course 
I have" Sunday to rest, but I also use the day 
to figure out the week’s business. Of course 
we have some people who work in shops who 
can go to work at 7 a. m. and quit at 6 
p. ra.. hut even they must be up and have 
breakfast by six o'clock in order to reach 
the shop ere the whistle blows, and then at 
night if they leave the shop at 6 o’clock it Is 
7.30 before they are through supper and ready 
to go anywhere. And for wages—what’s left 
for pleasure after the rent and board and 
laundry, etc., is paid would make the “wid¬ 
ow's mite” look like a fortune. On one thing 
I will agree with “A Farmer's Son,” and that 
is in regard to the price of the produce: the 
middleman gets all the profit. The farmers 
should get together and regulate prices; they 
should get nearer the consumer, learn what 
he wants and supply it more direct. The 
only thing that keeps me from going back to 
the farm is the lack of business methods of the 
average farmer. He does not know what a 
crop costs to raise. IIow then can he tell 
what it is worth to sell? A few years ago 
I spent a few days in one of our Northern 
States and saw some of the finest apples that 
ever grew rotting on t!i<S ground. Farmers 
told me they could not afford to pick the 
apples, as barrels cost 50 cents each. This 
Winter our city grocers paid .$7 per barrel 
wholesale for apples of poorer qua'ity than 
the ones I saw going to waste. a. c. f. 
Connecticut. 
An Ex-Hired Man Talks. 
I want to answer A. S. on page 534. It 
seems to me! that surely he must have struck 
a hard country to work in. I have worked 
by the month, on farms here in Oneida County 
for 12 years, working for eight different men 
in that time, staying from one month to 3% 
years in a place. While I have worked some 
long days in the rush of the season, I do not 
know that I ever lost anything by that, my 
employer generally making up in some way 
for any overtime that I had worked. As 
for food, it was always as good and fre¬ 
quently better, than I had at home. I do 
not mean any disrespect for Mother’s cooking 
either. I always ate with the family where 
1 worked except one year when I had a 
house and garden furnished and boarded my¬ 
self. The last four seasons before I was 
married I kept a horse and buggy and cutter, 
worked my horse on the farm for her keep¬ 
ing, all the expense to me after first cost 
being the shoeing and small repair bill. I 
went in the best company the neighborhood 
afforded (the best does not always mean the 
richest, hut it does mean the cleanest). I 
had a night key of my own, and was used 
more like a son or brother than a hired man. 
Perhaps the fact that I worked on that last 
place three Summers and two Winters besides 
all the time I could spare by the day another 
season after I had settled down for myself, 
will show that I tried not to abuse my priv¬ 
ileges. As for wages paid for farm labor, 
of course they are higher now than in the 
eighties, or when I worked by the month, 
which was mostly in the nineties. At the 
present time two local canning companies 
who own and operate large farms, given over 
entirely to growing products for their own 
canning, are paying their teamsters $26 per 
month and board and plain washing for a ten- 
hour day; that is, the men are supposed to 
take proper care of their horses, and be ready 
to work 10 hours. For over-time, of which 
there is a great deal in the midsummer can¬ 
ning season, they pay 15 cents per hour. Of 
course the regular farmers who want good 
men must pay about the same as the canning 
companies do, or sometimes a little more. 
Verona, N. Y. w. n. w. 
A Discussion of Hired Men. 
It seems to me that the farmers of the 
country are working in the wrong way in 
their attempts to solve the labor problem by 
continuing to hire men who see talent, in¬ 
ferior to their own, better paid in other lines 
of labor. Take the case of “A. S.,” page 534. 
It is clear that no man worthy of the title, 
would continue in a service where he was so 
little appreciated and endure the hardships 
that he has endured as a “hired man,” if he 
were not greatly in love with agricultural 
pursuits. Manifestly the proper course for 
such a one to pursue is to engage in farming 
on his own account, as under that a-range- 
ment he would be in the employ of one who 
would compensate him in just measure, ac¬ 
cording to his real merit, and it is possible 
that under conditions so “mutually” satisfac¬ 
tory he might acquire, or develop, a taste for 
“pork and skim-milk.” If the average farm¬ 
er, who employs one or two men, will take 
account of the income received by himself 
and the working members of his family, and 
deduct from it the interest due him on his 
investment in land and stock. I believe he will 
find that his compensation for his labor is not 
more than half as> much per hour as he is 
paying his hired men, and that one reason 
why he makes a little better progress than 
they in acquiring a home or a competence is 
because lie works 300 days of a possible aver¬ 
age of 14 hours, while they work perhaps 
200 days of 10 hours, per year. And besides 
the (successful) farmer’s wife must rise to 
prepare the hired man's breakfast while he 
is taking his “beauty sleep." and wash his 
supper dishes and mend his clothes while 
lie is spending his evenings in the grogshop, 
the pool room, or some other equally elevat¬ 
ing environment, returning to disturb (he 
needed repose of the family, and to perfume 
the house with his clothes laden with the 
odor of stale tobacco smoke, and possibly in 
a condition that makes it necessary for some 
one to remain on watch during the remainder 
of the night, as a farmer of my acquaintance 
told me he frequently had done, for fear the 
hired man would (accidentally) set fire to 
himself or to the house. Viewing the matter 
from the standpoint suggested by the fore¬ 
going, I believe the best thing for the small 
farmer to do is to try to plan so that the 
greater part of his work can be done by him¬ 
self and family. In my 27 years of experi¬ 
ence in hiring farm help T have received the 
best satisfaction from boys and young men 
who had an ambition to be something besides 
farm laborers and find an added satisfaction, 
to-day, in seeing them occupying honored po¬ 
sitions in business and professonal life. One 
of them studied Latin while working for me, 
and drove or walked about seven miles once 
in two weeks to recite to his teacher; others 
read or studied subjects of particular interest 
to them instead of spending their evening at 
the nearby village. It has always been my 
aim to secure help who were at least my 
equals socially, and there are very desirable 
advantages in having as helpers those who 
are our superiors mentally; while a man who 
was not good enough to eat with me would 
not he good enough to work for me. But 
grogshop, pool room, and kindred influences 
seem, year by year, to be working havoc 
with the quality of farm laborers, and so the 
employer with a “standard,” must change his 
system to suit conditions, and in my case the 
orchards which cover one-half of my 30-acre 
farm are being pastured until about the mid¬ 
dle of September; the berry yard is rented to 
a neighbor who raises berries and can handle 
both crops to a better advantage, since we are 
not competitors in the market for pickers. 
Three years ago I took charge of my mother’s 
farm of 00 acres, lying about two miles away. 
A faithful, honest man is hired by the year, 
and boards himself, day hands are paid by the 
hour and board themselves. About all that 
is raised on both farms, aside from fruit, is 
fed on the farm; butter making has been dis¬ 
carded and fattening veal calves substi¬ 
tuted; growing colts promise a (somewhat un¬ 
certain) revenue for the future, and the bill 
for farm help is considerably less than 
under the old system. i. s. albright. 
COSGROVE'S POULTRY ACCOUNT 
FOR JUNE. 
June 7—799 eggs laid the first week 
of June. This is not very good laying, 
even after discounting for broody hens 
and those with chicks, but eggs are not 
very high, and if the hens need a rest it is 
as well for them to take it now. 
June 14—940 eggs received this week, 
a gain of 141 over previous. Part of the 
hens with chicks are laying, but still con¬ 
tinue to brood their chicks. I like to have 
them do this, as we are liable to have cold 
storms or extra cool nights during this 
month, when the heat of the hen’s body 
is a great comfort and very beneficial to 
the chicks. There is a great difference 
in the “motherliness” of hens. I witnessed 
a very remarkable case a year ago, where 
the hen had continued to run with the 
chicks all through her laying time; and 
after she began sitting her chicks roosted 
with her on and in the box until the sec¬ 
ond lot was hatched, when she continued 
to care for both broods. It was a curious 
sight to see her going around with little 
chicks just hatched and another brood 
six weeks old. I put two hens and 43 
chicks in a little house with a run at¬ 
tached five weeks ago. I let them out 
every day, and two weeks ago one of the 
hens deserted and went back with the 
flock. The other hen broods the whole 
43, takes them around the fields every 
day, and brings them safely back to the 
coop at night. 
June 21—1,025 eggs laid this week, 226 
more than in the first week of this month, 
and 85 more than last week. Rut the pen¬ 
dulum will begin to swing the other way 
as they begin to get broody again. I have 
to look sharp now for hen lice. A little 
neglect at this time will make 10 times the 
work later on. I applv a liquid lice killer 
to the roosts and to the corners of all 
the nest boxes. This is quickly done with 
a squirt can, and repeated once or twice 
a week will keep the houses reasonably 
free from lice. 
June 2S—1,003 eggs received this week; 
these with 272 laid in the last two of the 
month make 4,039 in June. This is keep¬ 
ing up pretty well with the May output, 
being only 63 less, while a year ago the 
June “lay” was 911 less than in May. 
The price per dozen has been 22 cents, 
one cent a dozen less than a year ago. 
The young chicks are becoming quite a 
factor now in the matter of feed. They 
eat nearly as much as the hens, and do not 
appear on the credit side of the account, 
but will soon, as I must dispose of some 
for broilers. Weighed one yesterday and 
was surprised to find that he weighed three 
pounds. 
Receipts and expenditures for the 
month have been as follows: 
Sold eggs to set.$13.00 
Sold market eggs. 66.58 
$79.58 
Paid for grain .$52.84 
Balance to credit side.$26.74 
June 20 I attended the first field meet¬ 
ing of the Connecticut Poultry Associa¬ 
tion, held at Vernon, Conn., on the 
grounds of the well-known poultry fancier, 
F. O. Groesbeck. Prof. Rice of Cornell 
delivered two of the most interesting and 
practical addresses on poultry subjects 
that I ever listened to. Prof. Graham of 
Storrs College also addressed the meet¬ 
ing and in the afternoon gave an illustra¬ 
tion of two ways of killing and plucking 
fowls, using two Rhode Island Reds from 
the college yards for that purpose. Mr. 
Gammack dressed a fowl to show his 
way of preparing broilers for market. 
After the feathers are off he splits them 
down the back, removes the insides, flat¬ 
tens out the bird, wipes it out with a clean 
white cloth, replaces the liver, heart and 
cleaned gizzard and wraps each bird in 
oiled paper. It has not been wet, is per¬ 
fectly clean and ready to put right on to 
broil. 
Prof. Graham told us that the poultry 
department at Storrs has been put on an 
equality with the horticultural and dairy 
departments; salaries of the professors 
equaled and the appropriation equally di¬ 
vided between the three departments. So 
far as I know, Storrs is the first agri¬ 
cultural college in the United States thus 
to recognize the growing importance of 
the poultry industry. Some very interest¬ 
ing facts have been learned by careful trap 
nest observations, especially as regards 
fertility, under Prof. Graham’s directions, 
which will be published in bulletins later. 
About 140 persons attended the meeting. 
A free luncheon was served at noon. Al¬ 
together it was a most interesting, instruc¬ 
tive and enjoyable ocasion. Adjoining 
the grounds of Mr. Groesbeck is the large 
plant of G. G. Tillinghast, where nearly 
4.000 White Leghorns arc kept on the 
colony plan. Many wished to visit it, but 
so interesting were the lectures and dem¬ 
onstrations that train time came before 
any number had a chance to do so. 
GEO. A. COSGROVE. 
593 
Child’s Awful Skiti Humor 
Screamed With Pain—Suffering Nearly 
Broke Parent’s Heart—Speedily 
Cured by Cuticura. 
“I wish to inform you that the Cuticura 
Remedies have put a stop to twelve years 
of misery I passed with my son. As an 
infant I noticed on his body a red spot, 
and treated same with different remedies 
for about five years, but when the spot 
began to get larger I put him under the 
care of doctors.Under their treatment the 
disease spread to four different parts of 
his body. The longer the doctors treated 
him the worse it grew. During the day it 
would get rough and form like scales. At 
night it would be cracked, inflamed and 
badly swollen, with terrible burning and 
itching. When I think of bis suffering it 
nearly breaks my heart. His screams 
could be heard down stairs. The suffering 
of my son made me full of misery. I had 
no ambition to work, to eat, nor could I 
sleep. One doctor told me that my son’s 
eczema was incurable, and gave it up for 
a bad job. One evening I saw an article 
in the paper about the wonderful Cuti¬ 
cura and decided to give it a trial. I tell 
you the Cuticura Ointment is worth its 
weight in gold, and when I had used the 
first box of Ointment there was a great 
improvement, and by the time I had used 
the second set of Cuticura Soap, Oint¬ 
ment and Resolvent my child was cured. 
He is now twelve years old. and his skin 
is as fine and smooth as silk. Michael 
Steinman, 7 Sumner Avenue, Brooklyn, 
N. Y„ April 16, 1905.” 
IKRSEYS. Two bulls 4 to 5 tnos. old, 5 heifers 3 to 5 
” mos. old. All solid color. St. Lambert and Golden 
Lad strain. Cheap and good. J.A.Herr, Lancaster,Pa. 
BUTTER BRED HOLSTEIN BULL CALF. 
Dropped March 19, 1900. Nicely marked, a little 
more black than white. 
Sire, Canary Butterfly Sir Henry No. 33521, grandson 
of the noted butter fat record cow Canary Mercedes 
with a record of 25.16 lbs. butter and nearly 5 
por cent butter fat. 
Dam, Genie Clothilde No. 48097, a fine large cow 
with a seven year record just made of 22.60 lbs. butter, 
average fat 4.1. First draft for $60.00 takes him 
registered and transferred. 
W. W. CHENEY, Manlius, N. Y. 
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