1913. 
the state agricultural society. 
Just across the street from that tremen¬ 
dous pile of granite in Albany, known as 
the Capitol, before which up-State taxpay¬ 
ers have been in the habit of standing, 
with one hand tightly clasping the pocket- 
book, while the other shaded the eyes in an 
attempt to grasp the details of its struc¬ 
ture, stands the new Education Building; 
a building so simple iR its classic lines, 
and so fresh in the cleanness of its new 
marble walls, and the whiteness of its 
fluted columns, as to make its gigantic 
neighbor look almost tawdry in comparison. 
In the auditorium of this new building, 
from January 13th to the 15th, were gath¬ 
ered the members of the New York State 
Agricultural Society, in their seventy-third 
annual convention. The attendance was 
not large, but, in the language of the 
society column, would doubtless have been 
termed “select.” Creased trousers were 
more in evidence than overalls in the audi¬ 
ence, and few hands betrayed evidence of 
close contact with the hoe handle, but the 
discussions showed, nevertheless, a familiar¬ 
ity with the conditions of agriculture in 
this country, and a real sympathy with 
those who are in the habit of calling them¬ 
selves farmers and looking somewhat 
askance at the “Agriculturists” who have 
the time and means to gather in annual 
conventions, and discuss farm problems 
from a carpeted platform instead of from 
the upper rail of a fence. 
It augurs well for our country that men 
of wealth and leisure are turning toward 
the land, if only as a recreation, for many 
of these men have demonstrated their abil¬ 
ity in the conduct of large business afliairs, 
and they hesitate, in very shame, to admit 
that they cannot make their lands return 
an income commensurate with the cost of 
operating them. In their attempts to do this 
they are themselves, learning many times 
where they imagined themselves competent 
to teach, and they have the opportunity, if 
they have the will, to set in motion forces 
which will help those whose daily needs 
and daily toil forbid their gathering to¬ 
gether and making their demands felt by 
legislators and administrative officials. The 
general topic which ran through the discus¬ 
sions of each session was “Farm Finance 
and Rural Credits,” while “Cooperation” 
formed the keynote of most of the talks 
given. The work of a cooperative society 
largely made up of wealthy New York busi¬ 
ness men residing in Westchester County, 
was described by ex-Mayor Seth Low, of 
Bedford Hills. Mr. Low did not profess to 
believe that either farming or cooperation 
could be generally carried on in just the 
ways devised by his neighbors and himself, 
but he felt that they had learned some 
principles which were of general applica¬ 
tion. The necessity for organization, for 
cooperative buying and selling, for a better 
basis of farm credit, and for the regulation 
or elimination of commission men was 
clearly demonstrated to them. 
Prof. E. O. Fippin of Cornell University 
spoke interestingly of our drainage laws, 
and the necessity for some modification of 
them, particularly that of permitting State 
aid to drainage projects which were not 
based primarily upon an effort to improve 
public health conditions. A committee of 
one member from the State Conservation 
Commission, one from the State Agricul¬ 
tural College at Cornell, and one from the 
State Agricultural Department, was ap¬ 
pointed to devise measures for the coordi¬ 
nating of the drainage work of these sepa¬ 
rate bodies. 
The president’s annual address, delivered 
by Geo. W. Sisson. Jr., of Potsdam, was a 
clear, scholarly, discussion of the agricul¬ 
tural conditions of the State, and the talk 
upon “Land and Agricultural Credits,” by 
Chas. A. Conant of New York, presented 
this matter from the standpoint of a 
trained student of finance. The Hon. C. ,T. 
Iluson, Commissioner of Agriculture, dis¬ 
cussed the improvement and enforcement of 
the State Agricultural law in a way that 
showed his keen interest in the work of his 
department, and his willingness and ability 
to promote the agricultural interests of 
the State in all things coming within his 
province. 
The report of the Committee on Legisla¬ 
tion, given by its chairman, Hon. C. -F. 
Bosliart of Lowville, recommended the es¬ 
tablishment of a Bureau of Publicity in the 
Department of Agriculture, for the purpose 
of advertising the agricultural possibilities 
of the State, more efficient drainage laws, 
pure food laws embracing the compulsory 
branding of all cheese with the name of 
its manufacturers, and commended the es¬ 
tablishment of County Farm Bureaus, and 
the legislative bill introduced by Senator 
Itooscvelt regulating the business of com¬ 
mission merchants. 
Mr. Ezra A. Tuttle presented the report 
of the Committee on Cooperation, recom¬ 
mending, among other things, State aid to 
cooperative societies, organization of both 
producers and consumers, and cooperation 
between States supplying the same market, 
i’hc principal address of Tuesday’s session 
was delivered by Mr. John .1. Dillon, of 
New York, his subject being “The Practical 
Application of Agricultural Credit Systems 
to American Farm and Market Problems.” 
Mr. Dillon presented the results of his 
study of cooperative credit associations, 
much of which he was enabled to make 
while on a recent trip abroad. He dis¬ 
claimed, however, any exclusive knowledge 
of the subject and scored in caustic lan¬ 
guage the pretensions of those who, talc¬ 
ing advantage of the present universal in¬ 
terest in this subject, attempted to exploit 
it for their own personal glorification or 
financial gain. An audible smile of appre¬ 
ciation was drawn from the audience by 
the statement that he had elaborated no 
''Dillon System” of rural finance. Dr. 
Finegan and Mr. Dean of the State Edu¬ 
cation Department spoke of the progress of 
agricultural education in this State, and 
outlined some methods for its further ex¬ 
tension. 
"Modern Business Methods Applied to 
harming” was the subject of a talk bv 
Dean II. E. Cook of Canton. Mr. Cook sug¬ 
gested some methods that at least pos- 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
129 
scssed the merit of novelty, though they 
cannot be said to have met the unanimous 
approval of the audience. Prominent among 
his suggestions was the one of uniting 
several neighboring farms under the man¬ 
agement of a salaried and expert manager, 
the owners or tenants to do the work under 
his direction. 
Mr. Ilarvie Jordan of Atlanta, Ga., ad¬ 
dressed the Society on the subject of “Fi¬ 
nancing American Farm Operations,” and 
greeted it as a respresentative of the Em¬ 
pire State of the South speaking to the 
farmers of the Empire State of the North. 
Mr. Jordan’s address was listened to with 
great interest, and at its close he received 
an ovation from the audience which ex¬ 
pressed, not only their appreciation of his 
paper, but their hearty accord with his 
statement that there is no sectionalism in 
our national agriculture. The final address 
of the session was given by Prof. E. W. 
Kenmierer of Princeton University, his topic 
being “Can European Cooperative Methods 
be Applied to American Farming?” Prof. 
Kemmerer read an exhaustive paper which 
showed a very considerable investigation of 
the subject of farm finance, and presented 
some conclusions at variance with those 
expressed by other speakers, among them 
being the statement that some farmers, par¬ 
ticularly those of Nebraska, Indiana, and 
Iowa, are already supplied with ample long 
and short term credit, and that in the East 
conditions differed widely even in neighbor¬ 
ing communities, some communities afford¬ 
ing the farmers excellent credit facilities, 
while others near by were very deficient 
in this respect. Prof. Kemmerer considers 
that our information upon this subject is 
altogether too scanty to justfy positive 
opinions and general statements, or the 
undertaking of wholesale reforms. As a 
result of his investigations, he concluded 
that we do not know what the majority of 
banks are doing, and that most statements 
with regard to this matter are mere guesses. 
M. B. D. 
Stray Notes. 
I think that A. M. D. page 46, paid too 
much tor his hay, as we would expect the 
quality he speaks of to shrink one-third in 
weight after sweating out in the barn. Of 
course it would depend somewhat on the 
season and weather at the time the hay 
was harvested ; if the season has been dry 
and the weather warm and dry when the 
hay was harvested the shrinkage would not 
be as much as it would be in a damp 
season and damp weather during harvest. 
I have heard old farmers in the hay grow¬ 
ing sections say that if they could get $10 
per ton for hay from the barn and sell it 
in the Fall they would be farther ahead 
than to have it baled and weighed in the 
.Spring at $12 per ton. Of course hay is 
higher now. I once had a gang of hay 
pressers who had just come from the buy¬ 
er's storage barn where they had been re¬ 
baling some hay that had been baled the 
year before in the Fall and Winter and 
the found some 210-pound bales that 
weighed (on the same scales) 30 pounds 
short. Of course hay would shrink a great 
deal more in the bale than in the mow. 
Mr. Russell of Michigan wants something 
to pull beans without stooping. We believe 
that the tool known as pea-harvester or 
pea-rake would do the work, as the rye and 
vetch would not have made growth enough 
to be in the way. The rakes we used were 
manufactured iu Canada, and we used them 
to harvest ripe peas with vines so short 
that we could not get them with a scythe. 
The rake worked nicely, it cut or pulled 
the peas but very seldom cut a weed. These 
rakes are made with a long handle, like an 
iron garden rake. The rake-head looks 
something like a crosscut saw with small 
teeth without the disc teeth. These rakes 
are easily sharpened with a file, are about 
18 inches long. I do not see why these 
rakes would not do a good job on beans and 
two or more rows could be pulled in to¬ 
gether. c. B. M’NICKLE. 
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