682 
THE RURAb NRW-YORRKR 
April 19, 
The Sulky with the Steel Frame and the 
Patent Auto Foot-Shift 
A Two-Way Sulky Plow with a steel frame—a great improvement in two- 
way plows. Something you have never seen before. 
Strong, neat in appearance, all steel and malleable,—not cumbersome cast 
iron, no surplus weight and the lightest draft sulky ever built. 
Notice the patent auto foot-shift pedals in the illustration below. They 
operate like the foot pedals on an automobile. Press the foot pedal; that’s all you do to shift 
the bottoms. Or, if you choose, do it with the hand lever. 
The John Deere Two-Way Plow is always in balance, whether operated 
by man or boy. 
Some of the Good Things About the 
John Deere Two-Way Plow 
1. Steel Frame 
Makes plow strong, light draft, neat in 
appearance and durable. 
2. Steel Arch 
Special channel steel, one of the strongest 
shapes into which steel is rolled. 
3. All Steel and Malleable 
Practically unbreakable. You can pound 
any part of it with a hammer. 
4 . Long Malleable Beam Clamps _ 
Hitch can be raised or lowered as desired. 
6. Flat Steel Levers 
Handy, easy to operate, positive, strong. 
6. Long Frame 
Always in perfect balance, whether used by 
man or boy. 
7. Long Range Shift 
Our patent auto foot shift operates easily. 
It is really a power shift when plow is in motion. 
Most perfect and convenient foot shift ever 
invented. 
8. Chilled, Steel, or Combination Chilled 
and Steel Bottoms 
Can be fitted with bottoms for any soil and 
to work under all conditions. 
9. Removable Shin Pieces 
Easy to take off and replace. 
10. Wide Truck 
Staunch on hillside work. Steady running. 
11. Foot Lift 
Plow always under control of feet—hands free 
to control the team. 
12. Made in the East for Eastern 
Conditions 
By men who have made eastern soils and the 
plows best suited for them, a life’s work. 
Lei us tell you more about the John Deere Two-Way Plow. Don’t buy a plow 
until you know all about this one. Just write us saying you are interested 
Get This Book Free 
“Better Farm Implements 
and How to Use Them.” 
Tells how to adjust and 
use iarm implements 
under varying condi¬ 
tions. It has a practi¬ 
cal encyclopedia for 
the farm. 
Write at once; to 
be sure that you 
get "Better Farm 
Implements and 
How to Use Them,” ask 
for Package No. TW 33. 
John Deere Plow Co. 
Moline, Illinois 
Branches and Dealers Everywhere 
Made in the East for Eastern Conditions 
NOW! 
j Yout 
I^ Book About 
For 
, Tells . 
how to use your old run¬ 
ning gears for many years; save ' 
10,000 high lifts ; save repair bills. 
ELECTRIC 
Steel Wheels 
M*k« hauling 80 % to 60 % nsler; 
don’t nit roads or field!; can’t break 
or drj apart. Send for Illustrated 
book of wheels and wagons. 
Electric Wheel Co., 
4gElmSL, Quincy, 111. 
Sav* 
High 
UK* 
Regular Savings Bank 
for you is this Champion 
Cooler. Keeps milk right— 
fresh—salable. Costs less 
than other kinds. 
CHAMPION 
Milk Cooler 
Inexpensive to use, simple 
and reliable. Cools with 
running: water, cold water 
or ice. Cools milk to within 
2° of water’s temperature. 
Various sizes to take 
care of 1 to 100 cows 
Anti-rust, easy to 
wash. Free Folder, 
prices, etc., ready 
for you. Send a 
postal for it now. 
Champion Hlllt Cooler Co., Box 14 Cortland, N.Y. 
OVER 30,000 
SOLD YEARLY 
FOR-MONTHS WE HAVE BEEN CONSTANTLY OVERSOLD ON THE 
Waterloo Boy Gasoline Engines, Farm Tractors, 
Cream Separators and Manure Spreaders. 
Often as high as 2,000 to 2,500 engines behind our orders. 
says aterloo B o y* 
JmReadyfortheRushOnceMore 
This, in spite or the fact that we have been forcing our enlarged 
factories to full capacity and turning out 2000 to 2500 and more complete engines 
every month. We have just completed another big new factory which GREATLY 
INCREASES OUR CAPACITY. We can now take care of all orders 
promptly and everybody can have a Waterloo Boy 
this season who wants one and ORDERS EARLY. 
The Waterloo Boy has earned its great 
success by giving the buyer more for his money in Power, in 
Service and in Satisfaction than any other engine on 
the face of the earth. Every machine backed by our 5 
Year Guarantee. 
It will pay you to investigate. Catalog Free. 
Waterloo Gasoline Engine Co., 
184 W. 3rd Ave., Waterloo, Iowa. 
[“BACK TO THE LAND.” 
F. L. Allen of Ohio on page 377 in 
his suggestions to the back-to-the- 
landers, has apparently, covered all the 
essential points about selecting a farm, 
excepting one, which I wish to bring 
to your attention. It is the real value 
of the place, and the real estate dealer’s 
valuation of it. 
To illustrate: In my own rocky New 
England, a farm containing less than a 
hundred acres, most of it a stony hill¬ 
side pasture was sold lately to some 
Polanders for a little less than $1,200. 
Not a man living in the town would 
have paid over $500 for it. It has no 
water, aside from the well which goes 
dry every season. The buildings are 
out of repair and for several years 
its former owner was unable to do any 
more than the lightest farming on the 
place. Yet when the owner was dead, 
the heirs put the place on the market 
and a real estate dealer, actually 
robbed the poor Polanders of several 
hundred dollars. About 1850 the farm 
was sold for $500, with all the buildings 
new and the land in good condition. 
The house is small and old-fashioned; 
the barns are tumbledown, fences and 
walls down and yet it brought over 
eleven hundred dollars. 
Polanders are not the only ones taken 
in by the wily real estate men. Any 
man who wishes to buy a farm will be 
told the place kept so many head of 
stock; the prospective buyer should ask 
a few questions unless he wishes to 
be unmercifully sold. He can find out 
all he wants to know by looking up 
these facts: (a) If the farm kept so 
much stock, how much grain did the 
owner buy. That can be ascertained of 
the grain dealer, (b) Did the owner 
cut hay enough for the stock? The 
grain dealer or neighbors will answer 
that. (c) How much milk or cream 
| did the owner sell? That can be ascer¬ 
tained at the creamery or by the man 
who carried the milk to the railroad 
station or by the neighbors. Then, by 
doing a little arithmetic the prospective 
buyer will know whether the owner 
paid out all his milk check for grain 
or whether he made a profit on his 
cows. There is usually a reason why a 
farm is sold. 
Another point to find out by the 
neighbors who are always willing to 
talk. Not trying to sell their own 
farms they will tell the truth about 
the one in question, (d) How much 
land was in pasture, how much was in 
meadow, whether there is water on the 
land or not, and whether in dry seasons 
the farmer has to drive his cattle a 
mile or more, as did the owner of the 
little farm in question, (e) How much 
hay did the farm cut? (f) Was the 
owner obliged to hire meadow land to 
get hay or did he buy it? (g) If he 
kept a herd of cows, how did he do it? 
That is the eternal question which the 
real estate dealer will not answer, but 
one of the neighbors will. That is get¬ 
ting back to the land in dead earnest. 
After he has ascertained the above 
questions he will know what the value 
of the land is. If he has money to 
throw away he will pay the real estate 
dealer’s fancy price; if he hasn't he 
will look elsewhere. Supposing he hears 
of big crops raised and marketed. Ques¬ 
tioning will give him information as to 
the cost of the labor in producing these 
crops. It is the dealer’s business to 
sell the farm and he will not tell any 
more than he has to. “The truth as 
far as he goes” is his motto, but the 
buyer needs to go a little farther be¬ 
fore parting with his money. 
Another point to consider is the tax 
list. Examine ‘that before you buy. 
Find out how your prospective place 
was assessed and the farms adjoining 
it. That will give you some idea of its 
value. In my own town the tax list 
has caused a war of indignation and 
the end is not yet. The backwoods 
methods of assessment are the unfairest 
methods imaginable, says the tax com¬ 
missioner. Quoting from a published 
article: “The Board of Relief found 
the poorest farm in town assessed at 
$20 per acre; one of the best at $6. 
One man was taxed for 65 acres he 
did not own; five farms were taxed 
for 141 more acres than they con¬ 
tained. Some were taxed with houses 
and no land, others with land and no 
houses; only one man was credited with 
having hens; only one with money, only 
one with barns, and only one with 
house and land too. One man was 
listed at $37.50 an acre; a neighbor 
whose land adjoined was.listed at $4.50. 
The richest corporation in the State 
was listed at $1.93. A worthless swamp 
the other side of the road was listed 
at $10. Pasture was listed at $9; 
heavy woodland the same price, and 
one of the best farms of the town 
with heavy mowings and timber listed 
at $9 also. A poor old colored woman 
who had 18 acres of land, 12 of which 
were worthless, was listed at $10 per 
acre, with 10% percented so the - Board 
of Relief could not reduce the valua¬ 
tion. One large farm in town which 
for years was taxed at $12.50 per acre, 
was this year credited with $400 more 
because the fine house r.nd barn were 
destroyed by fire the past Summer; 
the amount was added, probably be¬ 
cause the cow barn was not destroyed 
also.” 
One of the assessors who owns a fine 
farm rated it at $6 an acre. Is it any 
wonder that a howl of protest has 
ascended to the very heavens from the 
indignant taxpayers of the town? One 
woman recently sold some land for $17 
an acre, and boasted that it had never 
been assessed for more than seven dol¬ 
lars. 
So the back-to-the-lander will have 
to be as wise as Solomon in order not 
to get unmercifully cheated in buying 
a farm. Consider all the points given 
by F. L. Allen and these also. If you 
find the tax list equable, you may be 
thankful; if you find such variations, 
ask why, and keep on asking until you 
get an answer that explains what you 
are entitled to know. Don’t pay $20 
an acre if it has only been assessed for 
$6. That isn’t business. The towns 
that cheat the new comers are cheating 
themselves. The people who come in 
and find themselves wronged will not 
stay if they can get away. To attract 
the desirable people to our towns, they 
should be treated fairly and not gulled 
out of their money by real estate deal¬ 
ers or by people anxious to sell their 
own property. Of course it is human 
nature to take advantage of anyone’s 
ignorance, but if the prospective buyers, 
the back-to-the-landers, will keep their 
eyes open and look after the points 
we have herein mentioned in addition 
to Mr. Allen’s suggestions, they will 
save themselves many dollars and count¬ 
less disappointments. They must not 
buy any farm with the idea that it is 
easy work. To succeed in farming 
one must work hard not only with body 
but with brains. Be prepared to stand 
losses until you get started; then, if the 
seasons do not fail, you will succeed. 
But be wise in the beginning: Do not 
pay from two to three times as'much 
as a place is worth just because the 
agent has a smooth tongue and only tells 
the bright side. susan jewett howe 
Connecticut. 
EXPERIENCE WITH A DRY CLOSET. 
My experience with an indoor farm 
closet may be helpful. Public Health 
Bulletin No. 37, to be had from Wash¬ 
ington for nothing by requesting it 
through your Congressman, will give 
dimensions, etc., for construction. I 
have two such commodes with earthen 
receptacles. I have a sawdust pile handy 
and use it as an absorbent, but earth is 
even better. Every day these are emp¬ 
tied into the manure bin and rinsed out 
with lime, letting them stand for 24 
hours, as I have a double supply. They 
are inoffensive in the room and add to 
the supply of fertilizer. If preferred 
a trencli could be dug in the orchard or 
somewhere out of the way and the waste 
put in and covered over with earth. It 
would soon decay and improve the soil. 
Of course a septic tank is far superior 
to this, but then it is more expensive. 
My way has been satisfactory for a year, 
and is certainly cheap. Flies have no 
access at all to these commodes and the 
lid is always down. In case of typhoid 
the excreta should be burnt anyhow. 
FLORENCE KEEN. 
R. N.-Y.—We are glad to have this 
practical experience. The same thing 
could be arranged on thousands ot 
farms to the great convenience ana 
safety of the farmers. 
