1009. 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
89 
Hope Farm Notes 
Investments. —The average farmer 
does well if he can get 35 cents out of 
the consumer’s dollar. Some of them 
seem to make the mistake of trying to 
increase this small proportion by spec¬ 
ulating. All sorts of schemes are pro¬ 
posed to them. Here in one “temp¬ 
tation” : 
I am offered shares in an orchard com¬ 
pany in payment for cattle. If properly 
conducted I should think it a safe and 
good investment. What do you think of 
11 V I have been offered almost every¬ 
thing, from cats up, for cattle, but never 
traded for anything but cash. Would you 
advise me to break the rule in this case? 
This man is a cattle breeder. If he 
takes my advice he will stick to cash 
and not begin trading. The people in 
this orchard company are honest and 
would like to make the scheme go, but 
I could not advise my friends to take 
such stock. I feel sure the managers 
will do their best to make the orchard 
pay, but I think we have come to a 
time when we should turn from pro¬ 
moting large companies and invest our 
money in our own farms. We all find 
fault with the evils which come from 
speculating on a large scale, but we 
never can cure them so long as we 
attempt a small imitation. If I was 
in this man’s place I would turn my 
cattle into cash, pay my bills and put 
the balance into a savings bank until 
I had enough for a fair-sized invest¬ 
ment. Then I would try to make a 
loan on some sound collateral security 
which has value now and not in the 
future. 
I used to wonder how some of these 
slick fakers manage to get money away 
from people as they do. Since reading 
some of the letters they write I under¬ 
stand more about it. I have just read 
one in which the rascal begins about 
as follows: 
Dear Friend :—I have received your ad¬ 
dress from one who has known you long, 
and has deeply regretted that your busi¬ 
ness ability has not been fully appreciated. 
My interests have grown to sucli large 
proportions that I can only deal with men 
of tlie highest character and great natural 
ability—therefore I approach you with 
this confidential proposition. 
Now, I know there are lots of men 
in this country who feel that their wives 
and friends never have half appreciated 
them. They size this stranger as one 
of'those far-sighted readers of charac¬ 
ter who can see what others have over¬ 
looked. They can’t see that the letter 
is a printed circular—probably sent to 
10,000 other people. They have their 
eye on those high-sounding compli¬ 
ments, and it is a 10 to 1 chance that 
they put up the money this rascal is 
after. If you ask me if I think soft 
taffy cuts deeper than the hard steel 
of truth I will ask you to look around 
you and observe for yourself. 
The Ruling Spirit.— “That is what 
ice lack!’’ —The speaker was a man 
who lived through the Civil War and 
the events which led up to it. I had 
been asking him if he thought this 
country could or would endure another 
great war. Would the young fellows 
of to-day drop their cigarettes and 
their canes if need be and pick up 
muskets or dig trenches? Would the 
girls be willing to pick lint and be 
• man, mother and slave at home as did 
the women of forty-five years ago? 
My friend said, “Yes, I think so, pro¬ 
vided you could make them see the 
moral issue in the conflict.” He went 
on to say that we have in this land the 
men and the money and the power, but 
we lack, at present, the ruling spirit. 
We have little in modern society to 
take the place of the men who between 
’50 and ’60 went about the North 
pouring out the hot truth as they felt 
it. These men were unbought, un¬ 
bribed and unafraid. At schoolhouses, 
churches, in the open air, wherever 
they could get a hearing, they pointed 
out the sin of slavery. They were 
called cranks and fanatics, and had but 
little following among the so-called 
leading and powerful classes. Yet the 
truth they told was accepted by the 
common people, and made the domi¬ 
nating spirit back of the money and 
men which made an army possible. 
It may well be asked, Where are the 
men of this stamp to-day? You might 
say there is no war in sight, therefore 
we need quieter and saner council. I 
think there is a war, without bloodshed, 
and yet vital in its outcome. Under 
“safe and sane” teaching we have in 
this country run to the dollar estimate 
of character and service to society. 
The home, which is the monument to 
man’s labor, and the child, which is 
his offering to the future, are being 
built and developed under the shadow 
of the dollar. Farmers have run too 
much after this false doctrine, and 
that is partly why matters have de¬ 
veloped until the handlers get 65 cents 
or more of the consumer’s dollars. You 
cannot get away from the fact that 
right there is the sore spot. We can¬ 
not get out of our industrial trouble 
by simply learning how to grow larger 
crops. Why add another dollar to the 
value of farm crops and then proceed 
to give 65 cents of it to the handlers? 
As my friend said, we lack to-day the 
men who put into our awful war the 
spirit of a crusade. -Exactly the same 
thing is needed now if farming and 
country living are to be made what 
they should be. I do not think men 
can be made to do the things which 
agriculture must have by simply hold¬ 
ing a dollar up before them. I have 
faith enough in country people to know 
that they can and will do these things 
if they once realize the moral issue 
that is involved. Where are the men 
to talk the spirit of farming as those 
men talked freedom fifty years ago? 
Farm and Home.— I bought a barrel 
of thick molasses and have been feed¬ 
ing it to the horses. For some six 
weeks our horses had no roughage ex¬ 
cept dry cornstalks. The grain was 
crushed corn and oats mixed with 
wheat bran. The older horses were a 
little logy on this feed, and I tried the 
molasses to see if it would play the 
part of “appetizer” to this rough ra¬ 
tion. We feed about a pint night and 
morning. It is poured on the grain 
and the horses lick it up. Bob and 
Jerry took to it at once, but Nellie and 
Madge did not care for it at first. 
Now they all eat it readily. We have 
no large scales, and therefore cannot 
weigh the horses to test their weight, 
but from their appearance thus far I 
am sure the molasses helps them. Thev 
eat their fodder better, feel livelier, 
and the coat is growing softer and 
smoother. I am not ready to report 
yet, but thus far I feel well satisfied 
with the molasses feeding. I am also 
inclined to think that a small handful 
of powdered charcoal given in the feed 
every few days will be good for our 
horses.The seed corn has 
been nearly all shipped. We ran short, 
after all, for when we came to go over 
the ears for the last time there were 
many that would not pass muster. I 
certainly would not sell seed corn that 
we would not use ourselves and some 
that we would use, knowing how it was 
grown, would be rejected by others. 
Part of one field we found mixed with 
a white flint. This evidently came from 
a neighbor’s field some distance away. 
Well, now that you have tried the seed 
business a little, will you guarantee 
that corn? That’s a hard proposition. 
The_ ears of corn I know are our 
strain of Canada flint. I did not pick 
them all out myself, nor did I shell 
all the ears, but I believe our folks 
were as careful as they could well be, 
and that corn is true to its name. I 
cannot guarantee that it will all sprout 
and grow, but I would be inclined to 
do so if I had a regular drying-room 
and testing apparatus. As for what a 
man will do with it after he gets the 
seed I cannot say. . . . Now is the 
time that people tell big strawberry 
stories. I find it very easy to sit by 
the fire and figure out yields. I am 
told of men who grew four quarts to 
the plant or 60,000 quarts to an acre! 
These January yields are all very well, 
but I want to see them i.i June. As I 
write I look out and see the; snow cov¬ 
ering my Kevitt patch, and it would 
be pleasant to figure out a hew buggy 
and a few other things from the pro¬ 
ceeds of those plants. I’ll wait until I 
pick the berries, sell them, get the 
money and pay a few debts. In the 
meantime I feel prepared to set 10,000 
more plants in the same way as s~oon 
as the ground is fit. h. w. c. 
When you write advertisers mention The 
R. N.-Y. and you’ll get a quick reply and 
‘‘a square deal.” See guarantee page 10. 
use “Farmers’ Favorite” 
Feed Cooker and Boiler 
for cheaper and tbetter feeding 
and bigger profits on your stock 
and poultry. Also best for sugar¬ 
making, rendering lard, canning 
fruit, sterilizing milk cans and 
many other purposes. Cheap in 
cost and in use. Wears for years. 
Illustrated circular free. 
LEWIS MFG. CO., Box C, Cortland, N. Y. 
COOK YOUR FEED and SAVE 
Half the Cost—with the 
PROFIT FARM BOILER 
With Dumping Caldron. Empties 
its kettlein one minute. The simplest 
and best arrangement for cooking 
food forstock. Also make Dairy and 
Laundry Stoves, Water and 
Steam Jacket Kettles, Hog 
Scalders, Caldrons.etc. C^“Send 
for particulars and ask for circular J. 
D. R. SPERRY & CO., Batavia, Ill. 
C* f 
« ROOFING^ - 
^ S/JMPLE; 
A Genuine SURETY BOND GUARANTEE 
with every roll of Congo. 
So many guarantees are given 
nowadays that to a certain extent 
they have lost their value; but the 
one which accompanies each roll of 
Congo is different from all others. 
It is a genuine Surety Bond 
backed by the National Surety Co., 
one of the largest and best known 
Surety Companies in this country. 
It protects you absolutely. 
It is a distinct, clear-cut guaran¬ 
tee, and any man who desires the 
best roofing for his money, and 
wants the same backed by a reput¬ 
able house as well as by a Surety 
Bond, can do no better than invest 
in Congo. 
Samples will be sent for the ask¬ 
ing, and we know if you test it 
thoroughly, as a roofing should be 
tested, there will be no hesitation on 
your part in securing it quickly. 
Further information, samples, etc., 
on request. 
UNITED ROOFING AND M’F’G CO. 
532 WEST END TRUST BLDG,, PHILADELPHIA, PA. 
CHICAGO SAN FRANCISCO 
Nitrate&of Soda 
AWU..N _ 
Nitrate of Soda applied as a top dressing, pro¬ 
duces not only more tons to the acre, but cleaner 
and higher grade 
TIMOTHY 
Test It for Yourself Entirely Free 
Let us send sufficient Nitrate of Soda for you to try, asking 
Only that you use according to our directions, and let us know 
the result. To the twenty-five farmers who get the best re¬ 
sults, we offer, as a prize. Prof. Voorhees’ most valuable book 
on fertilizers, their composition and how to use for different 
crops. Handsomely bound, 327 pages. 
Apply at once for Nitrate of Soda by post card, as this offer 
is necessarily limited. _ “ Grass Growing for Profit,” another 
book of useful information, will be sent free to farmers while 
the present edition lasts, if paper is mentioned in which this 
advertisement is seen. 
Send name and complete address on post card 
WM. S. MYERS, Director, John Street and 71 Nassau, New York 
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