1913. 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKEK 
«X9 
THE UNDER SIDE OF “ AGRICULTURE.’» 
[The following letters are samples of 
many which have been received since the 
discussion of the farmers’ institutes began. 
Our reason for printing them is that they 
represent exactly the views of a large 
proportion, if not a majority, of what 
may be called the smaller working farmers. 
Surely the views of the majority ought to 
be presented. Most of these men are not 
ready writers but they have certainly begun 
to think.] 
History fails to record that any great 
or lasting reform ever worked from 
the top down. Hence when The R. 
N.-Y. inquires if the colleges and ex¬ 
periment stations can do anything to¬ 
wards securing for the farmer his just 
share of the consumer’s dollar, I un¬ 
hesitatingly answer no. When the 
farmer gets more than his present 35 
cents, he will do so by taking the in¬ 
crease away from the transportation 
companies, the middlemen, and last but 
not least the city landlords. That means 
a political battle that will shake our 
modern society clear down to its very 
foundations. 
So long as the farmers as a class can 
be kept from finding out just how “big 
business” gets away with that other 65 
cents of the consumer’s dollar, they 
will be helpless. “Big business” knows 
that only too well, and is doing every¬ 
thing possible to keep the people in the 
dark. In Connecticut I judge that the 
situation is fairly typical. • Here four 
(possibly five) of the 11 trustees of the 
Connecticut Agricultural College would 
pass muster as genuine farmers. The 
others are men whose political affiliations 
or business interests call for the main¬ 
tenance of the status quo. If any 
member of the faculty should under¬ 
take to enlighten the farming commun¬ 
ity on the ethics and economics of “big 
business” in Connecticut, I venture to 
predict that he would promptly ex¬ 
perience the fate that recently over¬ 
took Willard C. Fisher, professor of 
economics and sociology at Wesleyan. 
The great gulf between the experiment 
station and the farm is the fact that 
the former gives out results in bushels 
and pounds, while the latter must meas¬ 
ure in dollars and cents. Give them a 
common viewpoint and rapid progress 
would follow, but to do that the farm¬ 
ers must first take the control of the 
colleges and experiment stations away 
from the politicians. That would be 
quite an undertaking all by itself. 
CHRISTOPHER M. GALLUP. 
R. N. Y.—Mr. Gallup, as we under¬ 
stand it, is merely pointing out the Con¬ 
necticut College as the first one that 
comes into mind. We shall be glad to 
learn just how the central boards of our 
other agricultural institutions are made 
up. What is the dominating business 
of the members? 
The First Written Opinion. 
I have never written my opinion to a 
paper in my life, but you have struck on 
something so sensible I cannot help but 
give my opinion in regard to this thing 
of showing farmers how to raise bigger 
crops and sell them for half price. We 
have an example of it here this year. 
Two years ago we lost our entire wheat 
crop. Nearly all of this wheat ground 
was sown to oats, and oats were an 
extra good crop. Results: We sold 
our oats for 28 cents a bushel, as against 
50 cents the year before. It seems to 
me that everything that is done in the 
way of legislation for the farmer is to 
appoint more officers at fat salaries to 
give us a “song and dance” and we dig 
down in our pockets a little deeper to 
pay them. If our lawmakers really 
wanted to help us they might try to 
remodel our banking business, so we 
could borrow money as they do in 
Furope at four per cent, or thereabouts 
instead of trying to tell us how to work 
it so that we can feed the parasites 
more cheaply. Most of us know how 
to farm. What we need is to get some¬ 
thing above the 35-cent dollar, so we 
can have the means to go ahead and 
P ut our farms in shape to produce, 
illiams Co., Ohio. r. c. Cornell. 
Is Agriculture Practical? 
Some months past the Michigan Ag- 
ricultural College sent out a bulletin 
telling the farmers how much money 
they could make feeding clover hav at 
r a t° n - Clover hay was then brmg- 
mg $12 a ton on the market, and later 
ucnt up to $20. For several years the 
college paid more than the average 
wages to raise garden truck and at 
nnes undersold the local market gard¬ 
eners. ^ \\e could not live and pay our 
taxes if we managed as they do. Our 
and is getting poor trying to raise more. 
' hat yve want is more money for what 
we iaise, and we will pay for our 
own seeds, educate our children, pay 
our institute speakers and buy our own 
books and have a little left for the 
home preachers and for missionary 
work. We farmers have been govern¬ 
ment paupers long enough. My cousin, 
on an adjoining farm, raised two or 
three hundred bushels of onions last 
year to help pay his expenses at the 
college. There was no sale for the 
onions, and they are now rotting in a 
pond hole in the woods. He went to 
college and his mother is helping him 
by taking roomers. He will be a me¬ 
chanical engineer; no more farming for 
him. It looks as if the college is turn¬ 
ing out professors so fast there will 
soon be an overproduction, and we are 
now asked to support one as county 
expert. wm. A. olds. 
Mason, Michigan. 
EVENTS OF THE WEEK 
DOMESTIC.—The Daily Consular Re¬ 
ports say a scries of wireless stations is 
to be established in the Yukon from Atha¬ 
basca Landing 1 up the Mackenzie River 
to Herschel Island. The plan will be sub¬ 
mitted soon to the British Government. 
The stations will greatly aid in getting 
scientific data from the far north and 
opening the country. They also will be 
of great assistance to the Royal North¬ 
west Mounted Police. 
Justices O'Keefe, Salmon and Moss in 
Special Sessions suspended sentence May 1 
on Domenico Carjulo, of New York, who 
pleaded guilty to practising medicine with¬ 
out a license, on condition that Carjulo 
give information to the District Attorney 
of the methods of the New York Institute 
of Science at Rochester. Carjulo, who 
does shoemaking as well as "doctoring,” 
said he paid $350 to the institute for a 
three months correspondence course in 
medicine and an ornate diploma which he 
believed entitled him to practise legally. 
The institute, according to ex-Judge Pal¬ 
mier!, Carjulo's counsel, has been deceiv¬ 
ing many other Italians. A representative 
of the New York County Medical Society 
told the Justices that the institute has 
been under the surveillance of the State 
Department of Education for some time. 
Carjulo was arrested on information ob¬ 
tained from Stephen Fontana, an agent of 
the Medical Society. On March 31 Fon¬ 
tana visited the shoemaker and found him 
posing as “Prof. Ross," with a sign in his 
window that read : “Rheumatism and sore 
eyes cured without medicine in a short 
time.” 
A dozen negro men May 1 took the 
places of sandbags and checked the wash 
ove r the Poydras levee, thirteen miles 
south of New Orleans, La„ until sandbags 
were obtained. A stream two inches deep 
was flowing over the levee when the dan¬ 
ger was discovered. Two thousand bags 
of sand were sent for, but a 10 -minute 
wait would have been too long, so the 
dozen negroes risked their lives by lying 
on boards so placed as to prevent the 
wash until bags were brought, filled and 
put in place. A moment after they left, 
the earthwork where they had lain slipped 
into the river. 
Governor Walter F. Clark of Alaska May 
1 vetoed the anti-alien fishing bill aimed at 
Japanese fishermen, just before the Alaska 
Legislature adjourned sine die. The bill 
passed both houses uuanimousy, but when 
the Governor's message was received there 
was no attempt to pass it over his veto. 
Eight witnesses were examined May 1 
by tlie federal grand jury which is conduct¬ 
ing a secret inquiry at New York into the 
affairs of the United Fruit Company in 
consequence of a complaint alleging a vio¬ 
lation of the Sherman anti-trust law. 
The California alien land bill was re¬ 
modelled May 2 to allow three-year leases, 
which was done in deference to the large 
companies which have leased lands to Jap¬ 
anese. The amendment provides that land 
may be leased to ineligible aliens for pe¬ 
riods not to exceed three years. This 
amendment provides that aliens shall hold 
leases for only three years, but it eventu¬ 
ally allows them to hold land as, long as 
they please, since there is nothing in it 
against renewal to another Japanese ten¬ 
ant. 
The steamer Concordia, owned by Capt. 
George Prince and Ollie K. Wilds of Nat¬ 
chez, Miss., struck a pier of the New Or¬ 
leans and Northwestern Railway in Ten¬ 
sas River at Clayton Station, La., May 2, 
and sank within five minutes. A. D. Geo- 
ghegan, 70 years old. of Jonesville, La., 
a passenger, and W. L. Primm, 33 ‘ years 
old. of Natchez, chief clerk, white men, 
and thirteen negroes were drowned. There 
were on board fifteen white persons and 
105 negroes. The swift current carried the 
boat against the iron pier. The vessel's 
bow was stove in, she careened and crashed 
into the bridge. A dozen motor boats 
were rushed from the shore to the rescue, 
and several were injured by flying timber 
from the boat. The Concordia was valued 
at $25,000 and was insured. 
Lawrence Lindbloom. a chauffeur, who 
in 1010 ran over and killed Joseph Weise, 
was found guilty in Chicago May 2 of 
murder by a jury and sentenced to 14 
years’ imprisonment. The evidence showed 
he was driving about 35 miles an hour 
when the car struck Weise. This is the 
first conviction for murder by automobile 
in Cook County, although there have been 
several convictions for manslaughter. Four 
automobile owners were on the jury. 
The trial of William M. Wood, president 
of the American Woolen Company: Freder¬ 
ick E. Atteaux and Dennis .1. Collins, in¬ 
dicted for conspiracy as a result of the al¬ 
leged “planting” of dynamite in a tene¬ 
ment house during the Lawrence, Mass., 
strike in January, 1912. is fixed for May 
19. The arrests of the three men last Au¬ 
gust caused a sensation. Ernest W. Pit¬ 
man. a contractor, who first gave informa¬ 
tion against them, committed suicide while 
their eases were before the grand jury. 
John ,T. Breen, a member of tile Lawrence 
school board, was convicted of “planting” 
the dynamite and fined $500. Later the 
present defendants were accused of haviug 
conspired with Breen. 
The plant of the American Agricultural 
Chemical Company, at Lewis and Babcock 
streets, Buffalo, N. Y r ., was destroyed by 
fire May 5, with a loss of $300,000. 
Among the things done at Dayton, O., 
since the flood the following list is given : 
135,000 wagonloads of debris hauled away. 
550,000 Government rations distributed. 
8,031 houses, cellars, and premises cleaned 
by Sanitary Department. 5,960 houses, 
cellars, and premises cleaned by property 
owners under supervision of Sanitary De¬ 
partment. 1,420 dead horses removed. 
Over 2,000 other dead animals removed. 
84,325 house inspections made. 58 car¬ 
loads of disinfectants used. 
Between 1,200 and 1,500 lives were lost 
in Mexico the week ending May 5 in en¬ 
gagements between Mexican Federals and 
rebels, according to estimates made in 
Mexico City. These figures, according to 
the information received at the State De¬ 
partment, do not include the casualties 
from fighting in the State of Sonora. 
Although the judgment of the lower 
courts in finding Samuel Gompers, John 
Mitchell and Frank Morrison, officers of 
the American Federation of Labor, guilty 
of contempt of court for alleged violation 
of an injunction issued in 1907 prohib¬ 
iting them from continuing a boycott 
against the Bucks Stove and Range Com¬ 
pany, of St. Louis, was affirmed by the 
Court of Appeals of the District of Co¬ 
lumbia May 5, the jail sentences of twelve, 
nine and six months respectively, imposed 
by Justice Wright, were held to be “un¬ 
reasonably excessive” and were, therefore, 
modified. The decision of the Appellate 
Court was that Gompers, who was charac¬ 
terized in the opinion as “the chief fac¬ 
tor in the contempt,” should serve 30 days 
in jail and that Mitchell and Morrison 
should pay fines of $500 each. Chief Jus¬ 
tice Shepard dissented from the opinion of 
his two associates and declared the deci¬ 
sion of the lower court should be reversed, 
because the criminal contempt charge 
-against the three labor leaders was an of¬ 
fence against the United States, and there¬ 
fore subject to the bar of the statute of 
limitations. Associate Justices Van Ors- 
del and Robb held that the proceedings 
were not criminal in character. 
Three float bridges, 10 freight cars and 
their contents, and several piers connected 
with the West Shore Railroad yards in 
Weehawken, N. J., were destroyed May 5 
by fire. At the end of two hours’ hard 
work, in which the firemen were assisted 
by 20 or more tugs from up river, the 
flames were controlled, although not before 
damage estimated at $ 200,000 had been 
done. The fire was due to defective in¬ 
sulation. 
FARM AND GARDEN.—The Iowa legis¬ 
lature has passed a new weights and meas¬ 
ures law to take effect immediately. The 
State Dairy and Food Commissioner is 
charged with the duty of carrying out the 
provisions of the act, and is given power 
to appoint a chief inspector of weights and 
measures. It is provided that boxes for 
the sale of berries, onion sets, etc., must 
hold at least one quart, pint, or half pint, 
dry measure. Boxes which do not fulfil 
the provisions are to be confiscated. This 
part of the law is not to take effect until 
October 1 , 1913. 
Farasites which will destroy the weevil 
that preys on the Alfalfa crops of the 
West have been discovered in Italy by 
W. R. Thompson, representative of the 
United States bureau of entomology in that 
country. lie has just notified Dr. L. O. 
Howard, chief of the bureau, that a ship¬ 
ment of these parasites is on the way from 
Europe. 
Idaho is to make a fight through the at¬ 
torney general’s office and the State Horti¬ 
cultural Department to secure an accounting 
with a seed firm of Madison, Wis., claimed 
by the horticultural department to have mis¬ 
used the mails by sending literature broad¬ 
cast over the country branding Idaho Al¬ 
falfa seed as infected with weevil and at 
the same time disposing of the same seed 
under a Montana brand. The horticultural 
department discovered facts that led it to 
believe a reaction had set in prejudicial 
to Idaho seed. A quiet investigation was 
conducted and it is alleged that it was 
discovered this firm had flooded the mails 
with literature branding that State's Al¬ 
falfa seed. It is also alleged to have been 
discovered that these people have bought up 
a large amount of Idaho Alfalfa seed and. 
labeling it Montana seed, were disposing of 
it. 
The outlook for seed crops in California 
is reported very unfavorable. The rain¬ 
fall in the principal seed growing district 
of the State, viz., Santa Clara and San 
Benito counties, averages less than six 
inches where the normal is around 15 
inches and little or no rain can be ex¬ 
pected after April. Another important 
factor is that there was only 60 per cent 
of the normal rainfall in 1912, thus leav¬ 
ing the soil impoverished of water. There 
was an unusually cold, windy Winter, and 
many crops are a poor stand. 
At a meeting of the representatives of 
the Maryland State Horticultural So¬ 
ciety and affiliated bodies, including the 
Maryland Crop Improvement Association. 
Maryland Dairymen's Association, Mary¬ 
land Bee Keepers’ Association, and Farm¬ 
ers’ League. Baltimore was selected as the 
place, and the week of November 17-22 as 
the date for holding the> annual meetings 
and exhibition of the associations in 1913. 
A special committee on plans and publicity 
was named to consider ways and means to 
increase the usefulness of this exhibition 
to the citizens of the State. President E. 
P. Cohill, chairman of the meeting, named 
the following on this committee: T. B. 
Symons, chairman; J. Barry Mahool, Her¬ 
bert Sheridan, Edwin L. Quarles, Nicholas 
Schmitz and Robert L. Graham. 
Fruit prospects around here were never 
more promising. Apple, pear, peach, plum, 
in fact every kind of fruit tree is covered 
with bloom. We will except, however, the 
Baldwin apple, which is blooming very 
light, as this is the off-year. This will be 
more of a Greening year. The weather at 
present is abnormally warm ; we are bound 
to have a reactiou. and it may bring dis¬ 
aster with some kinds of fruit. The bloom 
is earlier by about 10 days than the aver 
age for 15 years past. The earliest bloom 
during this period occurred in 1910, when 
cherries and plums were in bloom April 
15, and apples May 2. At this writing. 
May 4, apples are in nearly full bloom. 
Seneca Co., N. Y. w. a. bassett. 
CROPS 
Potato Reports. 
It is the concensus of opinion that there 
were not as many bushels of potatoes in 
Maine as the Government Report indicated 
for the year 1912. This is apparently borne 
out by the smaller size of the potatoes. It 
seems to be a fact that the storehouses in 
Maine are all empty, so that what potatoes 
are still in that country are in the grow¬ 
ers’ hands and the belief is strong that 
there are not as many as a year ago. Our 
market has within a day or two advanced 
15 cents per bushel, with every indication 
that it will be 15 cents higher before 30 
days have gone by. To-day it is 70 cents. 
There are those who are looking for a 
dollar market between now and the 15th 
of June. The growers in Maine are al¬ 
ready working on their land, and when at 
that will not take much time to haul pota¬ 
toes from the cellars. This may have 
something to do with the short supply 
which has been coming forward the last 
six days, still the opinion is very strong 
that there are not as many as last year 
by a good proportion. 
Boston, Mass. patch & Roberts. 
The outlook is fine for the Southern 
crop of potatoes, notwithstanding the fact 
that there are plenty of old potatoes left, 
which are selling at 50 cents per bushel for 
the very best on our market. Hastings, 
Florida, potatoes are firm here at $1 per 
barrel for No. 1 and $4 per barrel for 
No. 2. This is surely going some. We 
look for a very good season on Southern 
potatoes, especially on the Virginia crop, 
and believe that very satisfactory prices 
will rule throughout the season, provided, 
of course, that the crop is of good quality 
and conies through in good condition. 
Buffalo, N. Y. f. brexxison & sox. 
May 4.—Farmers here are checking and 
listing corn. Best prospects for wheat for 
years; oats looking fine, too. Cows from 
$50 to $75 . Horses from $100 to $250, 
according to size. We get our butter direct 
from farm _at 25 cents the year around. 
Eggs are 15 cents at the stores, which in 
turn sell them out at 18. Hens are 12 
cents per pound. I bought a dozen hens 
from a farmer last September at 10 cents. 
Cost of a dozen hens, $7.25. I find many 
farmers’ wives who now have over 300 
little chicks and more to follow. One- 
farmer’s wife told me she sold over $600 
worth of turkeys, geese and chickens last 
year. Potatoes selling from the stores at 
85 cents per bushel. Peaches did not 
bloom this year; abundant cherry, apple 
and plum crop expected. Not much spray¬ 
ing done here. Strawberries selling at 15 
cents per pint. f. h. b. 
DeWitt, Neb. 
The prices on farm products here are as 
follows: Eggs 15 cents per dozen; buttei 
20 cents per pound. There is no sale for 
milk. Fresh cows $45 to $60; fat cow» 
four cents per pound; young beef cattl» 
5% to 6 cents; corn 50 cents per bushel; 
wheat $1; oats 45; potatoes 50. Onl/ 
small quantities of potatoes can be sola 
Apples 75 cents per bushel. They were $i 
per barrel last Fall. w. l. e. 
Atwood, W. Va. 
Reports from many different parts of 
Delaware indicate that the present outlook 
for fruit this year is that we shall have 
a good crop of straw berries and other small 
fruits, a nearly full crop of apples, a 
light crop of peaches and comparatively 
few Kieffer pears. Bartlett and Manning 
pears are fairly well set with fruit. Apple 
orehardists are giving more careful atten¬ 
tion to their orchards every year. New 
orchards are coming into bearing, and 
probably the 1913 crop of apples in this 
State will greatly exceed in quantity and 
in quality any previous crop. 
WESLEY WEBB, 
Secretary Delaware Board of Agriculture. 
May 3.—Chickens, live, 16; eggs. 17; 
potatoes. 50; hogs, per 100 pounds, $10; 
calves, 9% cents; hay, No. 1 Timothy, $15; 
cows. $65 to $90; milk, per 100 pounds, 
$1.50. Pasture never better. More acre¬ 
age this year in potatoes ; planting State of 
Maine and Green Mountain, mostly their 
own last year’s seed. Some wheat coming 
to head and at most all looks very good. 
West Grove, Pa. f. h. g. 
The people in the vicinity of Canastota 
and Chittenango are very busy fitting their 
land, which is of a great part black muck, 
very rich, with no stones to bother. The 
principal crops are potatoes, onions, and 
celery. The markets have been and are 
very dull, especially the onion market. 
Many of the farmers have been forced to 
draw their onions out on the land to be 
used as a fertilizer. It was reported that 
one drew 35,000 bushels out on his land, 
and many of the smaller farmers drew a 
less number of bushels out on their land 
to be used as fertilizer. The soil seems 
to be right for potato raising; one man 
was reported as having raised 3,900 bushels 
on 13 acres of ground last year. Large 
dairies of Holstein cattle are raised, and 
the milk shipped to New York. The farmer 
receives $1.25 per 40-quart can. A great 
many of the farmers raise poultry as a 
side line—Rhode Island Reds and White 
Leghorn seem to be the principal breeds. 
Both Canastota and Chittenango are lo¬ 
cated but a short distance from Oneida 
Lake, a great Summer resort which makes 
a ready market for early poultry and vege¬ 
tables. H. E. 
Canastota, N. Y. 
COMING FARMERS’ MEETINGS. 
American Association of Nurserymen, 
Portland. Ore., June 17-20. 
Sixteenth annual convention of the Can¬ 
adian Horticultural Association will be held 
at Peterboro, Out., in August. 
New York State Fair and Grand Circuit 
Meeting. Syracuse. N. Y.. September 8-13. 
Lancaster Fair, Lancaster, Pa., Septem¬ 
ber 30-October 3. 
Maryland State Horticultural Society. 
Maryland Crop Improvement Association. 
Maryland Dairymen’s Association, Mary¬ 
land Beekeepers' Association, and Farmers' 
League, Baltimore, November 17-22. 
