1906. 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
THE FARM LABOR QUESTION. 
Sense from a Minnesota Farmer. 
On page 534 appears an article entitled 
'‘A Hired Man on the Farm,” by A. S., New 
Jersey, in which he portrays the life he 
claims to have lived on a farm as a farm 
hand. As I am not posted about farm labor 
in New Jersey, I cannot vouch its truth, but 
using common sense, any thinking man will 
know it is unreasonable. In the first, place 
he shows that he was a very poor hand, or it 
would not have been necessary to have 
changed places so often, for a man who is 
willing to do the fair thing can stay several 
years in the same place in any of the North¬ 
ern States, and it has been told me by men 
who have worked in the East it is the same, 
and wages increase yearly. If he was treated 
like a dog why did he stay at all? Was he 
compelled to be subjected to this treatment? 
It is plain that he was not. Thus it shows 
that he is trying to create a wrong impression. 
I have worked on a farm as a hired man in 
Minnesota for eight years and hire a man 
myself, and so do my neighbors, and know 
that the hired man is treated as well as any 
member of the family, eats at the same table 
as the family and gets larger clear money 
than the man who hires him for the year’s 
work. Besides, it is very rarely we hear of 
a man suing for his pay, as when his time 
is out his money is waiting for him. 
Minnesota. ed. straw. 
Labor Conditions in Iowa. 
I have had men, women, boys and girls 
work for me more or less for over 40 years, 
and believe I know something about the con¬ 
dition of the employer as well as the em¬ 
ployed. First I will state how I hire help. 
For men digging plants, trimming and bunch¬ 
ing I pay by the thousand. Good experienced 
hands will make from $2 to $3 per day (al¬ 
ways 10 hours). For planting, hoeing, cul¬ 
tivating, etc., $1.75 per day. Large nurseries 
here pay their hands by the month, where 
they give them employment for the entire 
year, from $35 to $40 per month. I pay two 
cents per box for picking strawberries and 
raspberries. Girls over 12 and 14 and young 
married women are generally the best pick¬ 
ers. In the large nurseries where they raise 
large quantities of apples and other seedlings, 
as well as grapevines, they employ a great 
many boys from 12 to 16 years old; their 
wages run from 75 cents to $1.25 per day, 
owing to how many weeds they can pull. We 
have a large canning factory here that em¬ 
ploys while canning corn from 300 to 400 
men, women and boys and girls; their wages 
run from 7% to 30 cents per hour. The 
larger part of the husking is done by women 
and girls; they make from 10 to 20 cents per 
hour, according to how many baskets of corn 
they can husk. All the above named board 
themselves (the nurseries are close to town). 
I have a Danish man working for me now 
who has worked for me for five Summers at 
$1.50; now I pay him $1.75. Of course he 
boards himself and walks 1(4 mile every 
morning to his work. Before he worked for 
me he was employed by a farmer five miles 
out of town. lie worked for the farmer five 
years at $30 per month (the year around). He 
got a good comfortable house to live in, his 
firewood, an acre of ground for a garden and 
potato patch, and pasture for one cow and he 
boarded himself. This farmer raised cattle 
and hogs, and fed cattle in the Fall, Winter 
and Spring. As to young men working on 
farms the wages this season are from $25 to 
$30 per month for nine months, (from first 
of March to first of December). The hired 
man gets his board and washing and eats at 
the table with the family. All hands hired 
by the day, or hour, get their pay every 
Saturday night, and hands who work by the 
month at the end of every month. Hands on 
a farm are expected to work in the field 10 
hours and take care of their team night and 
morning. I know farmers who have hired 
hands this Summer to cultivate corn and help 
them through harvest and haying, who pay 
$1.25 per day for cultivating and $2 per day 
through harvest and haying, and board them. 
Farming here is different to what it is in 
New York or New Jersey. Farmers here that 
hire hands own and farm from 100 to 1,500 
acres, and the main business is to raise cat¬ 
tle, hogs and horses, and the grain and hay it 
takes to feed them. Corn and oats are the 
principal grain crops; and clover and Timothy 
the hay crops. A farmer never expects a 
hired man to work on Fourth of July or any 
holiday; if he is a good trusty hand ho can 
always have a horse, and sometimes a buggy 
to take his girl with him to celebrate the 
Fourth, and also a horse to ride to the post 
office, if the farmer has no rural delivery, 
which nine-tenth of the farmers here now 
have. As to female hired help, that is a 
conundrum hard to solve, either in the town 
or on the farm. It is nearly impossible to 
hire a girl at any price to work in kitchen in 
town or on a farm. If you do happen to get 
one, you will have to pay her from $3.50 to 
$4 per week, and let her have all the after¬ 
noons and evenings she wants for her own 
pleasure, or she will leave you. In order to 
overcome this difficulty many farmers have 
built convenient houses on their farms; and 
hire a man who has a good strong wife, and 
perhaps some girls large enough to help her, 
to occupy the house and board his help. 
This appears to be the only way to solve 
the problem'. Of course farmers think these 
wages are high, but. for all that, farmers 
are making lots of money, and the hired man 
is too. R. D. MC GEEHON. 
Iowa. _ 
PRODUCTS , PRICES AND TRADE. 
During the first three months of this year 
1,126 persons were killed by railroads and 
17,170 Injured. 
. The Le Conte pear, referred to in Rural- 
isms October 28 last, is on hand in large 
quantities and sells readily. The better 
grades have brought $3 per barrel, and in¬ 
ferior or heat-damaged, $1 to $2. 
Chicago is having the strange experience 
of seeing a telephone company refund $400,- 
000 to its patrons on account of overcharge. 
This is a form of rebating quite within the 
law, as the courts ordered the company to 
disgorge, having found that $50 per year 
more than the legal amount was being 
charged. 
Lemons Thrown Away. —The New York 
Health Department recently condemned 8,000 
boxes of Sicilian lemons. This was part of 
the cargo of an Italian steamer which recent¬ 
ly ran aground off the coast of Long Island. 
The lemons saved were sold at auction at a 
low figure, but the health authorities after¬ 
ward ordered them to be dumped. 
A Mediterranean steamer which recently 
arrived here had an experience something 
like lifting oneself by the bootstraps. The 
coal supply ran short and derricks, ladders 
and all movable woodwork that could safely 
be spared was cut up for fuel. Toward the 
last of the run steam was kept up by using 
part of the cargo of licorice root, 10 large 
bales being burned. 
The United States consul at Frankfort, 
Germany, has been gathering statistics about 
honey production in Europe. He finds that 
Germany leads all European countries, pro¬ 
ducing 20,000 tons from 1,910,000 beehives. 
Spain yields 19,000 tons; Austria, 18,000 
France, 10,000; Holland 2,500; Belgium, 
2,000; Greece, 1,400; and Russia and 
Denmark, 900 each. 
A New Jersey farmer has been fined $100 
for attempting to civilize the game bird known 
as the wood duck. He took eggs from the 
nest of the wild bird and incubated them 
under a plain non-pedigreed hen, afterward 
disposing of the chicks to keepers of private 
parks and game preserves. Whether the 
crime would be as great in case a motherly 
hen found and adopted one of these wild 
nests the game warden did not state. 
Plums from Maryland and Delaware have 
sold very low, in some cases one cent per 
pound, The only reason visible is that 
peaches are monopolizing the market, This 
does not apply to the Pacific coast plums, 
which have a trade of their own and are 
always high) priced. The best in quality of 
these western plums as they reach us are 
those of the Fellenberg type. Many others, 
though showy, are scarcely edible. 
Among the weighty matters recently before 
the Board of General Appraisers was the 
classification of Hexamethylenetetramine as 
a dutiable product. Importers of this ma¬ 
terial had protested against the ruling of 
the local Board of Appraisers, claiming that 
it is properly dutiable at only 25 per cent. 
The higher board upheld the protest, and 
those who buy the stuff in future may have 
the satisfaction of knowing that they are 
paying only 25 per cent more than it is 
worth. In one of its combinations this chem¬ 
ical is sold as a sedative, in which case the 
letters bromethylate must be hitched to the 
hind end of the word. 
Peaches. —Conditions for past week have 
been bad. Much of the fruit has arrived 
here specked, and the warm, sticky weather 
finished the job. In one day's receipts of 
something more than 100 carloads it is 
doubtful whether more than 25 per cent 
could be classed even as fair. The Elbertas 
stood up the best of any kind I saw. Prices 
have run anywhere from 50 cents to $1 per 
four-basket crate, depending on how much 
waste there was, but in a small way it was 
not possible to get sound peaches for less 
than $1.75 to $2. After some skirmishing 
about to find a single crate for shipment I 
got one at $1.75, which had come through 
in good order, probably because it was a 
little less ripe than the average run when 
picked. Picking green is a bad practice, 
as peaches so handled never ripen properly, 
but in cases of wholesale rotting like the 
present slightly immature fruit nets most. 
Apples. —The “dry” season for this fruit 
Is at hand, and there will be but little do¬ 
ing in apple trade until some of the better 
early Fall varieties arrive. A few nice As- 
trachans are being sold, but they are 
short-lived, even when hand picked, and 
bruised stock is likely to be too poor to sell 
when it arrives here. There is a steady 
trade in the harder grades of windfalls for 
restaurant and bakery use. There is talk 
about $1 per barrel being the top notch 
that buyers will pay for Winter apples, but 
talk does not go so far as it did years ago 
when farmers sold without knowing much 
about crops and market demand. Nowadays 
they are better informed, and attempts at 
browbeating on the part of buyers amount 
6o9 
to but little. On the other hand, it is to 
be hoped that the wild plunging and specu¬ 
lation of former years will be missing this 
Fall. While a few scattering farmers have 
profited by the bad bargains of buyers the 
business as a whole has been unsettled and 
even upset by wild buying which results in 
all sorts of tricks to come out whole and 
many bankruptcies. 
The New York Sun, in an editorial on 
“The Farmer's Opportunity,” says: “Be¬ 
cause of ignorant and careless farm methods 
the more than 400,000,000 acres of improved 
lands, that is, land which either is or might 
be under actual and immediate cultivation, 
produce little more than one-half of what 
they might under intelligent, systematic 
methods. The farmer should be able to in¬ 
crease his own wealth without waiting for 
the Government to find a way to dodge the 
Constitution and give him more by limiting 
the income and the possessions of some one 
else.” 
The advice regarding land improvement 
is excellent, though not exactly new. It 
must be admitted that, while all carpenters 
make perfect joiner work, all plumbers never 
do jobs that have to be done over again; 
the products of factories are always satis¬ 
factory ; every piece of armor plate made 
for shipbuilding has been O. K.; railroads 
are handled so that there are no accidents; 
and newspapers always tell the truth, farm¬ 
ing as a business has not arrived at such 
a state of perfection. Yet there is no occa¬ 
sion for apologies, for farmers deserving of 
them are well aware of their shortcomings 
in attainment, and working as hard as 
they can for the improvement of themselves 
and their lands. Regarding the latter part 
of the above quotation it would be hard to 
find anyone who is doing less “waiting for 
the Government to find some way to dodge 
the Constitution and give him more” by 
restricting the property and business rights 
of others, than the farmer. He asks for 
but few things, and the Government cer¬ 
tainly has never strained any muscles in 
making protective legislation for him, and 
he does not want the protection and cod¬ 
dling that the promoters of many industries 
are continually pulling the apron strings of 
Congress to get. No, the real tillers of 
the soil are wasting no time in peddling 
whinesi and hard-luck stories. w. w. it. 
P. M. Archdeacon, of the firm of Arch¬ 
deacon & Co., recently returned from a trip 
through parts of southern and western New 
Jersey. He found an immense crop of sour 
cherries near Palmyra and Riverton. Large 
quantities of tomatoes are grown in that 
section of Burlington County. Probably the 
best in quality is the Acme, a pink variety, 
second early. Earliana and a kind known as 
Grant are grown also, the latter of poor 
quality but a, very heavy yielder. Potatoes 
and sweet corn are other crops extensively 
grown around the Palmyra and Moorestown 
district, the corn being fully equal to much 
of the famous Hackensack product. In a 
large field 65 barefooted Italians, men, wom¬ 
en and children, were seen picking peas. 
The Kieffer pear crop of that section will 
be large. In Gloucester County near Swedes- 
boro great quantities of tomatoes are raised, 
some seasons as many as 70 carloads being 
shipped in a day, and a few miles west egg¬ 
plants are heavily grown, some shippers now 
sending 300 baskets a day. Cumberland 
County is the great sweet potato section, 
having such centers as Vineland, Cedarville 
and Bridgeton. Near the last-named place 
are pepper growers who will ship 300 to 
600 barrels a day. At one place two success¬ 
ful women farmers were found. They were 
not farming as a fad or for notoriety, but in 
a strictly business way, and were rather 
more progressive than the average of men. 
The peach crop for (he section of New Jersey 
covered is only fair. 
USE OF CEMENT IN CENTRAL WEST 
In 1888 we built into the bank from a 
bank barn, eight feet deep, 16 feet wide, 
and 32 feet long, one side and two ends 
cement, and have used ever since for a 
silo. The upper part, 12 feet, was frame, 
patent lath, and plastered with cement, I 
think on a lime first coat, and has given us 
good service. We also have a cellar made 
of cement (we used board forms for all the 
work), and we have 400 running feet founda¬ 
tion wall in our poultry house. Our neigh¬ 
bor has two fine stock water tanks made of 
cement. We mix one to seven of sharp 
gravel and all the stones we can get Jn 
nicely. f. s. c. 
North Manchester, Ind. 
This section of the Wabash Valley being 
well supplied with limestone of good quality, 
suitable for all ordinary building purposes, 
It has been generally used in preference to 
concrete. The making of foundations for 
asphalt streets, sidewalks, and floors in 
stables or cellars was about all the use made 
of concrete here, until about three years 
ago, when our county board commenced us¬ 
ing this material for the building of all 
bridges in the county. There are now about 
50 of these bridges, usually 16 feet wide, 
and from 10 to 100 or more feet in length. 
So far they are giving good satisfaction. 
Cedar posts for fencing still sell at reason¬ 
able prices here, and I know of no one 
using concrete for posts, except occasion¬ 
ally for gates or corner posts. m. h. r. 
Wabash, Ind. 
AWFUL ECZEMA ON HANDS. 
Troubled From Childhood with Skin Erup¬ 
tions—Skin Now in Splendid Condition.— 
Cured by Cuticura. 
“From childhood I had always been 
troubled with skin eruptions, more or less, 
and in winter my hands would crack open 
all over the back. You could lay a straw 
in any of them, but since using the Cuti¬ 
cura Remedies for the eczema about five 
years ago I have not been troubled in 
any way. At that time, I think, I got the 
eczema from handling imported hides at 
the Custom House stores. I doctored for 
it for over a month without relief. It was 
on my hands and face, and my hands were 
swollen twice their size. After losing 
time, I was told of a woman whose finger 
nails had fallen off and was cured by 
the Cuticura Remedies, so I tried them 
and I was cured, and my skin is in splen¬ 
did condition now, and does not crack in 
cold weather. Henry O’Neill, 4949 Girard 
Ave., Philadelphia, Pa., July 2, 1905.” 
Horse Owners! Use 
GOMBAULT’S 
Caustic 
Balsam 
A Sato, Speedy, and PosltDe Care 
The safest. Best BLISTER ever used. Take* 
the place of all Knaments for mild or severe action. 
Removes all Bunches or Blemishes from Horses 
and Cattle, SUPERSEDES ALL CAUTERY 
OR FIRING. Impossible to produce scar or blemish 
Every bottle sold Is warranted to give satisfaction 
Price 81.60 per bottle. Sold by druggists, or sent 
by express, charges paid, with full directions for 
Its use. A Send for descriptive circulars. 
THE LAWRENCE-WILLIAMS CO., Cleveland. O. 
BONNIE BRAE 
POULTRY 
New Rochelle, N. Y, 
Breeders of high class 
Single and Rose Comb 
FARM White Leghorn Chickens 
■ Mil HI; and Mammoth Pokin 
Ducks, winners of 22 rib- 
„ _ , . , „ bons at last Madison 
Square Garden and Pouglikeepsio shows. Spoeial 
bargain prices during the Summer and early Pall of 
mated pens of 10 yearling hens and one selected cock¬ 
erel of a fine breed, Single or Rose Comb White 
Leghorns, $15.00 per pen. 1,000 laying pullets now 
ready. Choice mammoth Pekin Ducks for breeding, 
$1 each for any number. Seloctod breeder, $1.50 each. 
pr. Hjj 
iklxIL i 
$750COCK 
Send 25c for 3-months sub¬ 
scription to the weekly 
AMERICAN FANCIER 
and get beautiful colorpict- 
nre 8x10 of the noted Buff Ply¬ 
mouth Rock that cost $750 
AMERICAN FANCIER, 
309Havemeyer Bldg., New York. 
FREE 
Df)l|| *1"|J WtOOOOOOOOO 
rUUL I If 
“(POULTRY LINE- Fencing, Feed, Incu-S 
jbators. Live Stock, Brooders—anything—J 
) it’s our business. Call or let us send you 5 
jour Illustrated Catalogue—it’s free for the5 
|asking—it's worth having. 
(Excelsior Wire & Poultry Supply Co.,j 
) Dep H. G. 26 & 28 Vesey Street! New York City. < 
oooooooooooooocoooooooooo? 
90 
Var’s Poultry, Pigeons, Parrots, Dogs, Cats, 
Ferrets, etc. Eggs a specialty. OOp. book, 10 c. 
Rates free. J. A. BERGEY, Box 8 , Telford,Pa. 
EMPIRE STATE S. C, WHITE LEGHORNS 
Winners at N. Y. State Pair, 1904-05. Trios, $5. Eggs 
for hatching, $1.00 per 15; $5.00 per 100. Catalogue 
free. C. H. ZIMMER, R. I). 41, Weedsport, N. Y. 
white 
WHITE WYANDOTTES, largo blocky 
heavy layers, baby chicks, yearling hens. 
FOREST HILL FARM, Burmvood, N. Y. 
SPECIAL 
L. 
R. C. W. LEGHORNS. W. 
P. ROCKS. EGGS 5c. EACH. 
STOCK FOR SALE. 
V. HILLS, Delaware, O. 
EDWARD G. NOONAN, “SgJKE 4 - 
Breeder of Thoroughbred Poultry. Prices reasonable. 
ROCK-HOLLAND FARM 
STONE RIDGE, 
NeW YORK. 
W. Plymouth Rocks and \V. Holland Turkeys. 
COR SALK Sporting and Pet Dogs, Pigeons. Fer- 
1 rets, Belgium Hares and Swine. 8 cents 40-page 
Illustrated Catalog. C. G. Lloydt. Dept. K, Sayre, Pa. 
COLLIE FCFS, registered stock. Also Buff Or- 
v pington and Barred Rock Chickens. Stock right, 
prices right. W. A. LOTHERS, Peru Lack, Pa. 
CnD CAI E—Black, Tan and White Collie 
rUll wHLC Puppies; nicely marked; stronge 
and vigorous; eight weeks old. Nine males, one 
female, by Jack Galopin out of Gokla, she by Blanck 
Flockmaster. $5.00 each while they last. 
HILLHURST FARM. Orchard Park, N. Y. 
SQUABS 
are raised in one month: 
bring big prices. Money 
makers for ponltrymen, 
farmers, women. 
’Send for our Frkk Book and learn this 
7rich industry. Correspondence invited dW} 
At»rt|rf(W'\Flyiiiouth Rock Squab Co., 
Vkyy«sy335 Howard St., Melrose, Mass. 
SQUAB BREEDERS ATTENTION. Jj*** 
stock, large birds, as good as can be found for flying 
or breeding, in all colors, mated per pair $2.00. A 
fancy lot of English Carriers at $5.00 to $ 8.00 per pair. 
Bonnie Brae Poultry Farm, New Rochelle. N. Y. 
Brookside Herd of Holsteins owned by The Ste¬ 
vens Brothers-Hastings Co., Lacona, 21. Y., has 
produced the greatest sires of the breed. Bulls bred 
and sold from this herd sired over 85 per cent, of 
the leaders in official test during the year 1904-5. 
We have just as good ones for sale now. Every 
customer seems to do well on his purchase from 
this herd which numbers about 350 head. Write for 
prices. Visit this herd. Buy from this herd. 
