242 
THE RURAL, NEVV-YOEKEH 
each year, which in turn, is sold to pay the rent of 
the ground used. In this way those people have 
been able to pay high rents, and in addition support 
large families. 
MARKET DEMANDS.—A study of the market 
demands as they pertain to the draft horse reveals 
the fact that weight is still as desirable as in past 
years, so that a draft horse to sell well, must weigh 
from 1600 pounds upwards, and be of the desired 
draft type. That is, he should be massively built, 
deep bodied, short coupled, heavily muscled, short¬ 
legged, a good actor, and possess feet which are prop¬ 
erly constructed and of durable material. Such a 
horse can be economically raised on any farm, and 
owing to the strong demand for him, he finds a 
ready sale at a price much nearer his real market 
value than any other class of horse that can be pro¬ 
duced. J. R. MACDONALD. 
Canada. 
FARMING, PAST AND PRESENT. 
The quotation from Emerson given in The R. 
N.-Y. of January 18 can hardly be called a ‘‘guess.” 
Of course, Emerson was only a human being, and, 
like all of us, was liable to make mistakes, but when 
he said that “where a man does not discover in 
himself any fitness for one work more than another 
this (agriculture) may be preferred,” he made no 
“guess” or prophecy, but simply pictured a condi¬ 
tion as it existed in his time. There was a time 
when our soil was virgin and very productive; any¬ 
one who was physically able to turn over the sod 
and plant some seed was assured of a crop; at any 
rate, the returns were sufficient to supply his needs, 
which at that time were simple. A plain frame 
house, with rough, hand-made furniture, was con¬ 
sidered a home. The butcher, the baker and the 
department store were not in existence. Money 
might have been scarce, but there was no great 
need for it. 
The same conditions existed in other countries. 
The writer of these lines spent the first 19 years 
of his life in Russia, and was well acquainted with 
the life of the Russian peasants. Now, the Rus¬ 
sian peasant was not a civilized man; he knew ab¬ 
solutely nothing of the science of agriculture; in 
fact, he was not able to read and write. He had 
no piano in his house; if he had a spare room, he 
put a cow in it. He never bought a pound of meat 
or a loaf of bread. His clothes were made at home. 
If he had sufficient land to raise wheat and rye and 
sufficient room in his house to keep a cow and a 
pig, he was perfectly satisfied and independent. What 
the condition of the Russian peasant may be at pres¬ 
ent, I do not know. 
Coming back to our own country, what do we see? 
The land is mostly impoverished, and unless one has 
some scientific knowledge concerning the soil, his 
work will be “love’s labor’s lost.” He may plant 
trees, but will never gather any fruit unless he 
knows how to spray the trees. He must understand 
the principles of sanitation, the nutritive value of all 
kinds of feed, and he must know how to handle 
machinery. And, besides, we are no longer satisfied 
with the simple life. We want beautiful houses 
with all modern conveniences; we want elegant fur¬ 
niture, books, pictures, phonographs and pianos; we 
want to attend theatres and moving-picture shows; 
we want fine clothes and gold watches, and we pat¬ 
ronize the butcher, the baker and the department 
store. In short, the conditions are so different that 
to meet all the demands that modern civilization im¬ 
poses upon us the successful farmer must indeed, as 
The R. N.-Y. says, possess skill and judgment far 
superior to what is needed in a trade or ordinary 
business; he must not only be a man of intelligence, 
but a student of science, and in this respect he must 
be vastly superior to the average city man. 
Sullivan Co., N. Y. clemens p. berylson. 
FACTS ABOUT A SUCCESSFUL FARMERS’ 
MUTUAL. 
In the Winter of 1897-8 a party of farmer-business 
men met at a hotel in the city of Wheeling, West 
Virginia, for the purpose of discussing and finding 
a way from under the oppressive rates which the 
old-line companies insisted on charging the farmers 
for protection on their property. Nor was this all; 
pride and self-respect demanded that a way be found 
to avoid the distrust and suspicion which some local 
agents affected toward the farmers when they ap¬ 
plied for insurance. Particularly was this distrust 
manifested when the farmer wished to insure only 
his barns or outbuildings. Some agents plainly said 
their companies were afraid of farmers, and would 
not insure outbuildings unless the dwelling was in¬ 
cluded. The result of the meeting was the creation 
of the Pan Handle Farmers’ Mutual Insurance Com¬ 
pany, which obtained its charter from the State under 
date of Feb. 11, 1898. The charter members were 
but 20 in number. 
At that time it was something of an experiment; 
few companies of the kind were in the country, cer¬ 
tainly but two others in the whole State. These 
companies necessarily restricted their activilses to 
small fields. In the case of the Pan Handle, it was 
decided to confine its operations solely within the 
limits of Ohio, Brooke, and Marshall counties, small 
in size, but the richest and most populous counties 
in the State. Successful organizing does not always 
mean successful running of a company afterward. 
However, this farmers’ mutual was fortunate in se¬ 
curing good executive officers, men who knew how 
to take hold to give the right impetus. More, they 
were willing to serve for small pay for the good of 
the cause. The original president, vice-president, and 
secretary-treasurer are still at the head of the com¬ 
pany, having been unfailingly re-elected. 
On June first, 1898, the company was carrying 
$150,000 of insurance. That was increased to $214,- 
000 by the last day of the year, followed by the first 
loss on January 7, 1899, of barn and contents, insured 
for $750. In August came another loss of the same 
kind and amount. 
“Up to this time,” in the words of the secretary- 
treasurer, Mr. M. L. Connelley, “it took push to make 
it go, but prompt payment of these losses seemed to 
give confidence in the company’s ability to make 
good, so that since that time soliciting has not been 
A SAMPLE OF POTATO CANKER. Fig. 60. 
necessary, but instead the directors are solicited by 
farmers to write applications.” 
Each policy issued bears on its back the simple 
constitution and by-laws of the company. Only farm 
buildings and their contents are insured. Live stock 
not included. No policies issued for more than three- 
fourths of the actual value. It insures against both 
fire and lightning. Besides an entrance fee of 25 
cents for each hundred dollars of protection wanted, 
a premium obligation note is required of the applicant, 
which must be one and one-half per cent of the 
amount of the insurance asked for and shall bear 
interest annually at the rate of three per cent, pay¬ 
able on the first of January of each year. This note 
is forfeited to the company in case the insured fails 
to meet his payments of assessments or interest, and 
is of course collected as a note in the usual manner, 
otherwise it remains in the possession of the com¬ 
pany as long as the insured holds the policy. The 
note is really a protection to the insured insomuch as 
it represents the utmost his property may be liable 
to the company no matter how great its losses. 
The average cost of insurance to the members has 
been less than $1.50 per thousand dollars of insur¬ 
ance per year. Two mills has been the largest as¬ 
sessment, one-fourth mill the smallest, excepting five 
years there were none, the interest paid in on the 
premium obligation notes being sufficient to pay all 
expenses and losses. The amount of risk in force 
on the first day of January, 1912, was $3,126,750.00, 
an increase over the year 1911 of $327,258.00, or $113,- 
258.00 more than the total amount of insurance in 
force the first year of the company’s existence. 
Members have every opportunity of seeing into and 
taking part in the direct and simple management of 
the company business. At each annual meeting three 
i eljiuuiy u 
directors are elected to serve for a term of three 
years, thus making a board of nine to act. A board 
of three auditors are chosen annually to examine 
the accounts. It is the custom to choose one man 
from each of the three counties to make up these 
boards of three. On the first of the year each mem¬ 
ber receives a statement of the receipts and dis¬ 
bursements of the company for the past twelve 
months. Some of the expenses are ridiculously small. 
Items for damage by fire or lightning of $1 or $1.50 
appear. These indicate slight repairs made at com¬ 
pany expense by honest local labor, probably a mem¬ 
ber himself and interested in keeping assessments 
down. One year it was decided necessary at the 
annual meeting to send two members to act as rep¬ 
resentatives of the company at the State capital to 
lobby in the interests of the Farmers’ Mutual against 
the encroachments of the old-line companies. The 
threatened legislation was averted, while the com¬ 
bined expenses of these two able men, paid by the 
company, was only $40.15! 
The appearance of the audience at one of these 
annual meetings is a very creditable one. Along with 
the young men of few dollars and scant acres are to 
be seen retired farmers, rich men, men of State-wide 
name and fame, ex-legislature men, skilled farmers, 
fruit growers, and stock breeders. The proceedings 
are orderly and deliberate. Meetings are held in 
January so that members may attend without feeling 
the press of work neglected at home. All who arc 
insured in the company are members having the right 
of ballot. It is a most respectable and dignified 
gathering, ranking with any representative meeting 
of professional men. When insurance can be had 
so safe and cheap, why do not more rural communi¬ 
ties organize companies of this kind? 
PAUL R. STRAIN. 
FARM SUPPLY OF MAPLE SYRUP. 
Will you tell me how to make maple syrup? I have 
about a dozen trees, probably enough for my own use. 
The sap is running now (January 15). M. g. s. 
The sap from some species of our native trees, par¬ 
ticularly the Hard, or Sugar, maples contains a large 
proportion of sugar, and the making of syrup consists 
of evaporating this sap, by boiling, until the sugar 
is left in a more or less concentrated solution, vary¬ 
ing in thickness according to the desire of the maker. 
The legal standard of thickness for New York State 
is syrup weighing 11 pounds per gallon. Early in 
the Spring, usually in late February and March in 
the latitude of New York, maple sap begins to run. 
and the sugar maker with a half-inch bit bores from 
two to eight holes, according to the size of the tree, 
into its trunk at a height of from two to three feet 
from the ground. These holes should be about an 
inch and a half deep, with a slight upward and back¬ 
ward slant, and are usually bored in pairs about three 
inches apart, and fitted with metal or wooden spiles 
to conduct the sap to the buckets hung beneath. The 
southern. and eastern sides of the tree are usually 
chosen for the borings, and the amount of sap ob¬ 
tained varies with the season and with individual 
trees; freezing nights with warm sunny days give 
the best flow, and trees out in the open usually yield 
better than those in the forest. The sweetness of the 
sap, like the richnesss of cow’s milk, seems also to be 
largely a matter of individuality, some trees yielding 
much more sugar than others. The earlier flow from 
the tree contains more sugar than that gathered later, 
and syrup made from this is of a lighter color and 
more delicate flavor. As the season advances, and the 
buds begin to swell, the syrup becomes dark and bitter 
and the work has to cease. 
Because of its contained sugar, sap ferments quickly 
and must be boiled within a few hours from the 
time that it is gathered. The method of boiling is 
merely a matter of convenience and economy in the 
use of fuel. Where syrup is made upon a large scale 
from several hundred trees, the large iron kettles 
swung over open fires have usually been superseded 
by wide and shallow evaporating pans set upon arches 
of brick under cover. These pans afford greater 
economy both in time and fuel. Where but a half 
dozen or so trees are tapped the sap is often boiled 
upon the kitchen stove, and for this purpose a gal¬ 
vanized iron pan about five inches deep, and large 
enough to cover the top of the stove, may be made 
by any tinsmith at small expense. It is a sticky 
steamy process for the house, however, and not likely 
to be in high favor with the mistress of the kitchen. 
The writer has stopped it, by request. The quality of 
the syrup is influenced by the lateness in the season, 
and by the degree of cleanliness observed in all the 
stages of its making; the earlier it is made, and the 
more cleanly the process and utensils used, the higher 
the grade of the product. Under favorable circum¬ 
stances the writer has made the thick syrup almost 
water white in color, and of the most delicate flavor, 
but old rusty buckets and black iron evaporating 
pans, with plenty of twigs, leaves, and other dirt in 
the sap make a high grade product impossible. While 
sap is boiling a scum arises to the surface and this 
must be continually skimmed off, while to clarify the 
syrup further, a few beaten eggs or a little sweet 
milk may be added as it is nearly done, these when 
removed by skimming carry with them much fine 
sediment that has passed through the pores of the 
cloth strainers previously used to cleanse the syrup 
as far as mechanically possible. M. b 
