1913. 
THE) RURAL NEW-YORKER 
S39 
Fok a long time New York State has had short 
package laws that were to a large extv it “dead 
letter,” because of lack of interest or no provision 
being made for enforcement. The avowed purpose 
of most of these laws has been to prevent the buyer 
from being swindled, but the fact is that the buyer 
has suffered less than the man whose produce has 
been put in scant quarts, bushels, etc. Buyers, even 
those who get the goods at retail, discount the short 
sizes amply. Short packages usually bring dispro¬ 
portionately short prices. The exceptions to this 
rule are few. The grape basket law now in force 
in New York gives the following dimensions of three 
standard sizes which need not be labeled: 
Bottom in Height Top (outside) 
inches. in inches. in inches. Cover. 
1. 4 1b. grape basket 3 s s x 9°8 40 5 x 11 
2. 8 lb. grape basket 4 3 4 x 12b 50 6b x 14b 6b x 14b 
3. 20 II). grape basket 7b x 15 6 3 4 9b x 18 
farmers and, as usual, some of the daily papers 
gloated over it as a true picture of country con¬ 
ditions : 
“Country life tends to make as ideals the trait,& 
which Christianity has always condemned .” 
That was the supposed extract from this address 
which we condemned. Any true farmer who would 
not do so is hardly worth considering as a factor in 
society. Such stuff makes us so exceedingly weary 
that we would like to chase the author of it off the 
earth. lie is simply a nuisance, and if lie can tie 
some title to his name so much the more damage, 
for then the profound “thinkers” of the city gladly 
spread his drivel. We are very glad to learn that 
Dr. Wilson was not responsible for this worse than 
guff. Whoever does say it ought to become a target 
for a cowhide boot. 
All other baskets of this form must be branded 
with the weight, measure or numerical count of the 
fruit contained. Standard measure and standard 
quality are most valuable assets for those who have 
produce to sell. Those taking this position have 
made one step toward closer dealing with consumers. 
Fok several years the Dairyman’s League has 
been operating to perfect its organization among the 
milk producers who supply milk to New York City. 
Its object was to obtain control in some legal way 
of the milk which is supplied to'this market. The 
League now reports that it is ready to take up the 
matter effectively. On June 28th it was announced 
that 275 branches of the League covering 43 coun¬ 
ties in the States of New York, New Jersey, Penn¬ 
sylvania, Connecticut and Massachusetts, have been 
organized. There are 6,800 stockholders who rep¬ 
resent 112,000 cows, and this number is being con¬ 
stantly added to. With this large amount of milk 
under control, the League now hopes to do some¬ 
thing definite toward improving prices. It has been 
difficult to devise a scheme which would be effective, 
and at the same time would not come in conflict 
with the laws designed to cover any combination to 
control prices. After much thought and consulta¬ 
tion, the following plan has been devised: The 
League will make individual contracts with stock¬ 
holders to handle the milk on a commission basis. 
Each producer is asked to sign a contract placing 
the sale of his milk in the hands of the League. 
This contract runs for six months’ periods, and for 
a term of years. The League is to charge a com¬ 
mission of one per cent for selling the milk. Out 
of this commission expenses are to be paid, and the 
balance paid back to the producers in the form of 
dividends on their shares of stock. These shares of 
stock are based in number upon the number of cows 
which the producer milks. These contracts are not 
to become operative until signed by stockholders 
representing 75 per cent of the cows, for which 
stock has been issued. The contract contains a pro¬ 
vision to cover damage in case either party rails to 
perform its agreement. The Milk Exchange has 
just been driven out of the business of naming a 
price. Most contracts with the milk handlers will 
expire on October 1, and it is felt that this is the 
opportune time for the League to try its plan of 
handling the milk. The officials have decided to try 
this commission business in preference to other 
schemes which were proposed. The League will at 
once begin a campaign throughout the dairy dis¬ 
tricts to interest farmers in this matter. 
* 
Ox page SOS we printed some remarks credited to 
Di. Warren II. Wilson at the Auburn Seminary. A 
good friend who heard this address says there was 
nothing in it that was “discreditable to the farmer 
as a class”: 
Dr. Wilson, by the way, is not a seminary teaclit 
He was formerly the pastor of a rural church in No 
loru Mate, and his work there attracted so much :i 
tentmn that he was chosen to take charge of the hon 
mission work of the Presbyterian Church, which large 
leans looking after the country churches which lia 
i a ;,Li ° U ^ 1 um sure that he is a man 
wwe knowledge and deepest sympathy with the farmc 
ill Vi e was tr -vmg to say is this, that there are m. 
m the country as well as everywhere else who ha 
acmes ed financial success and been perhaps envied 
UHii neighbors who have done it by driving hard ba 
Mins and skinflint deals. We make a mistake win 
il,l,c‘,fr Unu ' * hat a man canm,t he a farmer and a sonl 
m^er as well, and every community has i 
tS „ e * \ 1Iaagine that if you graded the world, usii 
me amount of money each man had acquired as tl 
• >K measure, you would have some pretty small m« 
p eatl the line, I really do not feel that t! 
V n,l ’al civilization will be helped by taking 
lem g i,‘ «,WT k ke r Vl1 ? 011 ’ "ho are studying this pro 
helpfulness 1 1 boheve 18 a sinrit of devout effort towai 
We should regret any injustice to Dr. Wilson or 
anj other man who honestly tries to improve farm 
conditions. The report of his remarks which we 
quoted was apparently sent all over the country, 
uud was printed in many city papers. As it was 
ms garbled and printed it was a mean libel upon 
* 
Mr. Morse, on page 042, speaks for hundreds of 
dairymen regarding payment for tuberculous cattle. 
The Mate tested and killed a valuable cow. She 
had so little of the disease that her flesh was fit for 
food, as was her milk. The chances are that with 
good care this cow might have recovered as thou¬ 
sands of others undoubtedly have done. Yet the 
State killed her and took the money which her car¬ 
cass brought. Mr. Morse signed a receipt for what 
the State agreed to pay him, but lias not received a 
dollar. The first responsibility rests with last year’s 
Legislature,the secoud with Gov. Sulzer. The Legis¬ 
lature ought to have appropriated money enough to 
pay the claims then standing and also to provide for 
the year to follow. It was the policy of the State to 
indemnify farmers when the cattle were slaughtered, 
and so long as that policy remained in force the 
claims ought to be promptly paid. We understand 
that Gov. Sulzer’s advisers are opposed to the plan 
of paying for such cattle. They claim that the dis¬ 
ease is a menace to health aud therefore the people 
have a right to protect themselves by killing cattle 
which may spread it. As we understand it they 
would compare a tuberculous herd to a well which 
contained genus of typhoid, and they claim the 
right to fill the well and kill the cattle without com¬ 
pensation! The folly of such an argument is shown 
in the case cited by Mr. Morse. Slaughter proved 
that this cow was not dangerous. She did not spread 
any disease. The State destroyed Mr. Morse’s prop¬ 
erty, and under the circumstances, there is no sign 
of justice in the way this money matter has been 
handled. The worst feature of it now is the fact 
that this matter of payment for condemned cattle 
is likely to become a part of the personal quarrel 
between Gov. Sulzer and the Legislature. The poli¬ 
ticians see that dairymen want their money, now 
long overdue, and they will do their best to make 
these farmers believe that Gov. Sulzer is responsible 
for the delay. 
THE “UNIT ORCHARD” SCHEME. 
The following letter comes from an Illinois man 
who was raised in Central New York and went West, 
where he became a successful farmer and fruit 
grower. On a visit to his old home in New York 
he saw an advertisement of an orchard proposition 
in a New York daily paper: 
I am not posted on Hudson River orchards, but I 
was brought up in Chenango County, N. Y. A friend 
has an orchard of 1,000 trees in that county 22 or 23 
years planted, and has not got a paying crop yet— 
Baldwin, Spy, R. I. Greening. King. Duchess, Wealthy 
and some others. The Wealthy is the only one that is 
profitable. There are trees on the farm 50 or more 
years old that are profitable and have been for 30 to 35 
years. He has called on expert horticulturists for ad¬ 
vice and followed their directions until this year; has 
now given up and turned the orchard out to care for 
itself- How can they return the money in five years 
it they have "busted’’ and gone to Europe on a vaca¬ 
tion? I would like your opinion. If it agrees with 
the advertisement I surely will see the orchard in five 
years; I shall consider it the eighth wonder of the 
world. s . E. h. 
The advertisement referred to contains the fol¬ 
low iug : 
You can own an apple orchard of five or 10 acres on 
the Hudson, scientifically managed by well-known re¬ 
liable horticulturists, using same methods that make 
Oregon orchards pay $500 per acre per year. You re¬ 
ceive 5 per cent annual interest for five years, while the 
trees are coming into bearing. After five years we har¬ 
vest and market the fruit on shares, and five acres 
should earn from $1,000 to $1,500 a year. If for any 
reason you should be dissatisfied with the investment 
at the end of five years, we take hack the orchard and 
return your money in full , guaranteed by contract am¬ 
ply secured by improved real estate. 
The cost of this orchard is $250 per acre. Just 
how such a scheme can pay five per cent interest 
before the trees give any income is one of the many 
wonders of modern finance. We can safely guar¬ 
antee that no experienced fruit grower would ever 
invest iu any such scheme. They say five acres 
“should earn from $1,000 to $1,500 per year.” There 
are men as well as acres who fall far below what 
they "should do. We have an apple orchard in the 
Jower Hudson Valley and have tested most standard 
varieties. We cannot bring such varieties as Bald¬ 
win or Spy or Greening into bearing short of 10 
or 12 years. The trees may bear a few scattering 
fruits, but they will not usually give a paying crop 
under 15 years. Wealthy and McIntosh will give 
some fruit at six years, but not enough to show any 
profit. Any man who makes his living at fruit 
growing knows that any claim that a five-year apple 
orchard will pay $1,000 per acre is nonsense. You 
see how cunning this statement is. You never could 
pin them down to the fact that they made any such 
claim, though that is evidently wliat they want you 
to think. Such “sucker bait” is very plausible es¬ 
pecially to men of middle age who want an invest¬ 
ment for their savings which will be sure and per¬ 
manent When these men offer five per cent for 
five years and intimate that it may mean 100 per 
cent thereafter we can see what a temptation they 
present. Ask any experienced fruit grower and he 
will tell you this is guff well stuffed with hot air 
and gilded suggestion. Guff pays no 100 per cent 
except to the guffer. The guffee pays the money. 
THE CROP OUTLOOK. 
Massachusetts Crop Report. 
Corn is suffering from drought. On light soil the 
leaves are curling. The hay yield was about 78.6 per 
cent, somewhat less than estimated earlier. Potatoes 
did not germinate well and have been badly injured by 
the dry weather. Pastures had a good start in early 
Spring and have not suffered so severely as in former 
years. The apple crop will be small. 
Missouri Crops. 
Missouri has a prospect for 191,000,000 bushels of 
corn, based upon the Government acreage and par 
yield as applied to the State’s report on condition. Last 
month the indicated crop was 226,000,000 bushels and 
the final returns last year were 244,000,000 bushels. 
Condition August 1 was 78.S. against 86 in July, Si 
last August and 86 last September. Sixty-three per 
cent of the wheat crop has been thrashed. Yield 37 
millions, against 21 millions by the Government last 
year. July report indicated 36 million bushels. Oats 
yield per acre 22 bushels, suggesting a crop of 27 mil¬ 
lion bushels on the Government acreage, against 37 
millions harvested last year. 
Snow’s Corn Report. 
B. W. Snow states: “Corn is showing rapid de¬ 
terioration through Central and East Central Illinois. 
1 tom Chicago to Bloomington and Champaign positive 
damage up to this time is light, but the crop is now 
over the danger fine and going back. Soaking rains 
at once would still insure a moderate rate of yield, but 
every day without such rain materially lowers the pos¬ 
sibility. From Champaign and Bloomington south the 
damage is severe and irreparable, the plant is very 
short, part of it is beginning to fire, almost all fields 
show dead portions, barren stalks are numerous and 
where ears are setting they are general short, thin and 
but partially fertilized. In Moultrie. Colon and Doug¬ 
las Counties, with over 350.000 acres, a large part of 
the crop could only make a few bushels per acre with 
ample rainfall at once. Pastures are as bare and 
brown as stubble, roads are choked with inches of dust. 
Cats thrashing is only showing average yields from 
2o to 26 bushels, but general quality is very fine.” 
World Wheat Crop. 
The International Institute of Agriculture gives the 
areas and probable yield of wheat as follows. A hec¬ 
tare is 2.47 acres; quintal, 220.4 pounds: 
Country. 
Hectares. 
Quintals. 
Belgium . 
4.146. M4 
Bulgaria . 
_ 1,030,000 
17.350.000 
Denmark . 
- 40,512 
1,100,172 
Spain . 
29.963.sl3 
Great Britain . 
- 728.424 
14.090.297 
Hungary . 
40.089.454 
Italy . 
54,000,000 
Russia . 
75,572,726 
Switzerland . 
937.000 
India . 
97,517.143 
Japan . 
7,355,389 
United States . 
- 20,073,028 
190,784,160 
According to the Bureau of Animal Industry, the pres¬ 
ence of the tick among the cattle of the South not only 
lessens the value of the cattle on the hoof but causes 
the gradings of hides that have been infested with ticks 
as No. 4 quality. The same hide, if free from tick 
marks, would grade No. 2. The difference in price be¬ 
tween these two grades of hides is three cents per 
pound. As the hide of southern steers weighs about 
42 pounds, the presence of the tick in the hide causes 
a loss in the hide alone more than $1.26 per hide. 
Selling Wisconsin Potatoes. 
Definite steps will be taken to improve the standard 
of \\ isconsin-grown tubers and to secure more of the 
select seed and general market trade of the country 
when the potato growers of the Stute meet in Rhine¬ 
lander in November in response to a call sent out by 
l‘n>f. James G. Milward of the College of Agriculture 
of the University of Wisconsin and secretary of the 
M isconsin Potato Growers’ Association. A campaign 
has been started to encourage raising but one or at 
least a very few standard varieties in each community 
and then to prevent in every way possible the mixing 
of varieties, a practice which has done more than aur 
other one thing to injure the reputation of Wisconsin- 
grown potatoes upon the leading markets and with the 
largest buyers of seed. With many of the potato men 
of the State the Burbanks of the long white type and 
the Rural New-Yorker of the round white type are 
among the most popular varieties, as they are well 
adapted to the wide range of conditions to be found 
in the potato districts of Wisconsin. The potato fields 
of the State, on the whole, are in a thrifty condition 
and give promise of abundant yields. In some of the 
red clay districts growers are having considerable diffi¬ 
culty with “black leg.” a bacterial disease, which, if 
not controlled, does much damage. They are finding 
the most effective remedy is to disinfect the seed with 
formalin. Pulling all diseased plants also helps to pre¬ 
vent tin* spread of the infection. 
