1910. 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
223 
A PROMISING AGRICULTURAL SCHOOL. 
Testing a Theory in Corn Culture. 
The Haight Agricultural School at Muskegon, 
Michigan, is unique in that it is the only school in 
the country where a young man can get the common 
branches of an English education and a practical 
knowledge of agriculture if he has but ten dollars. 
The purpose of the school is to give the foreign young 
man an opportunity to study English and agriculture 
and pay his board and tuition by manual labor. These 
students pay ten dollars in advance, which pays for 
two weeks’ board and tuition. During this time they 
can work on the farm at 15 cents per hour, and earn 
enough to pay their next two weeks’ expenses and 
something besides. If they have money and prefer 
to devote all their time to studying, they can do so 
by paying five dollars per week, but if they do not 
work enough hours during the two weeks, they have 
to remain out of the classroom until they have ten 
dollars to their credit. 
It is not a charity institution, although like other 
schools in the country, it has an annual deficit which 
is cheerfully made up by its founder. Nevertheless, 
it is believed that in time it will be demonstrated that 
the farm can utilize this student labor at a profit and 
that it will become self-supporting. There are thou¬ 
sands of acres of this so-called pine barren or waste 
land lying idle, which can be purchased at a low price, 
but at present it is valueless because of the cost of 
clearing and the lack of knowledge as to how to till 
it successfully. The experiments which have been 
conducted at the Haight Agricultural School during 
the past year have been to ascertain the proper 
methods of reclaiming these pine barrens, that the 
foreigners desiring to engage in agricultural pursuits 
may be able to take advantage of these cheap lands 
and make homes in the country instead of in the over¬ 
crowded cities. Many of these experiments would be 
of interest to the general public, but space permits 
mentioning only one, which was conducted with the 
following questions in mind : 
First, what fertilizer is most essential for the corn 
crop on this land? Second, what is the best method 
of cultivation? A piece of new ground was selected. 
It was a typical piece of pine barrens, covered with 
oak grubs and pine stumps. The stumps were pulled, 
the land plowed and thoroughly disked and harrowed. 
Fertilizer experiment No. 1, as illustrated by the ac¬ 
companying chart, Fig. S4, consisted in spreading 20 
tons of manure to the acre, No. 2 four tons of wood 
ashes, No. 3 one thousand pounds of bone dust, No. 
4 was left for a check, and No. 5 two tons of burnt 
lime. These were thoroughly harrowed into the soil. 
Some prize-winning white dent corn was selected for 
seed and the entire plot planted the same day. Cul¬ 
tivation experiment No. 1 was separated from No. 2 
by one rod of potatoes, No. 2 from No. 3 by one rod 
of beans, No. 3 from No. 4 by one rod of cow peas. 
On the east of No. 4 was one rod ofAlfalfa. Each ex¬ 
periment was four rods square or one-tenth of an 
acre. Cultivation experiment No. 1 consisted in cul¬ 
tivating the corn six times per week; No. 2 two times 
per week; No. 3 no cultivation but weeds kept out by 
hand pulling; No. 4 no cultivation and weeds allowed 
to grow'. 
It was expected that the corn receiving excessive 
cultivation and barnyard manure would do better than 
the other experiments, so cultivation experiment No. 
1 w r as placed next to the road where all might see 
it as they went by, and where No. 3 and No. 4 would 
be hidden from sight. We have not space to show 
all of the experiments, and so have selected but a few 
of the most interesting ones. 
Fig. 86, page 225, shows the corn treated with lime 
at the man’s right hand, and that left for a check 
which received no fertilizer at his left. Neither of 
these experiments had any cultivation, but the weeds 
were kept out. Fig. 87, page 225, shows the same seed, 
the same land, the same cultivation, the only differ¬ 
ence being the addition of bone dust. The ears pro¬ 
duced on this experiment were nearly twice the size 
of any other and the stalks were about four feet tall¬ 
er than the corn raised on the plot cultivated every 
day and fertilized with manure. 
Fig. 85 gives the comparison of some of these ex¬ 
periments. Stalk No. 1 represents the plot fertilized 
with bone dust and cultivated every day. Stalk No. 2 
partially represents the experiment with bone dust 
and no cultivation, weeds kept out, but this stalk was 
broken off and the top spliced on so it is not the 
actual height. No. 3 represents bone dust, no cultiva¬ 
tion and weeds, No. 4 represents no cultivation, barn¬ 
yard manure and weeds. No. 5 represents no cultiva¬ 
tion, lime and weeds, and No. 6 which blew down just 
as the picture was taken, but which was about 12 
inches high, represents no cultivation, plenty of weeds 
and no fertilizer. The only difference between No. 2 
and No. 3 was weeds. The difference between No. 1 
and No. 2 was much labor expended for nothing. Mr. 
Haight personally conducted these experiments, and 
for some time was at a loss to know why the corn 
which received no cultivation should be so much bet¬ 
ter than that which had received the utmost care, and 
he did not realize the cause until he began to study 
the root systems. F'ig. .. shows the difference in the 
roots between stalks No. 1 and 2, Fig. ... The roots 
CULTIVATED AND UNCULTIVATED ROOTS, Fig. 83. 
of the cultivated stalk were coarse and went straight 
downward, while those on the uncultivated stalk ex¬ 
tended three feet or more in every direction and were 
close to the surface of the ground as well as the tap 
roots striking downward for a distance of nearly 12 
inches. Tt would seem that cultivation had destroyed 
these fibrous or feeding roots, and that was the solu¬ 
tion of the problem. 
The theory advanced by Mr. Haight last Spring has 
not yet been proved, that these pine barrens are due 
to the soluble plant foods being washed down from 
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(DIAGRAM OF COHN EXPERIMENT. Fig. 84. 
the surface soil by the Spring and Fall rains, and that 
they are not available for the ordinary crops, but 
that they rise with the capillary waters during the hot 
Summer months and could they be incorporated into 
some root system which would hold this food at the 
surface in the form of humus until the following 
Spring, these waste lands could be converted to 
profitable agriculture. However, these theories will 
be worked out in 1910 when the corn experiment will 
be repeated. If the great quantity of fibrous roots 
developed on the uncultivated corn land can be util- 
1 2 3 i fi G 
SHOWING STALKS FROM VARIOUS PLOTS. Fig, 85. 
ized as a storehouse for this soluble plant food, it may 
be found that the corn plant is a positive benefit to 
sandy soils, especially where sand vetch or clover is 
sown among the corn about the twentieth of August. 
___ L. P. H. 
Enormous quantities of Soy beans are being grown in 
Manchuria for their oil. which it is said will come into 
competition with American cotton-seed oil. England, 
France. Denmark and Germany are buying the oil. and 
the residue left after pressing will be used for stock food 
and fertilizer. 
CUTTING UP “THE CONSUMER’S DOLLAR.” 
I, too, was in the buckwheat deal; bought a five- 
pound sack for 25 cents. 1 believe the article in The 
R. N.-Y. stated that the producer got $ 1.25 per 100 
pounds for his buckwheat, and the 100 pounds made 
55 pound-s of flour, which will fill 11 five-pound sacks, 
and will amount to $ 2 . 75 , and that $ 1.25 leaves $ 1.50 
that the buckwheat eaters have to pay besides what 
the farmer gets. It is evident that some one, and more 
than one, gets a pull out of it. Then there is the bran 
gone out of it. 
Now, buckwheat eaters, is it the farmer’s fault that 
this article of food is so high? The farmer raises the 
wheat; the miller takes his toll, but how much I don’t 
know; the wholesaler raises the price; the retailer 
raises it still more. The buckwheat flour will raise 
itself overnight, if it is rightly set, and the cook, if 
she knows how, can raise some might} r good cakes 
from the griddle, but they come mighty high. 
Let me ask the orange producer how much he got 
out of a dozen of oranges that I purchased here for a 
Christmas treat. Paid 45 cents per dozen; I learned 
afterwards that they sold in the city for 25 and 30 
cents per dozen. In that case this retailer here made 
no less than 125 per cent profit. Now, orange eaters, 
did the man who owns the orchard hold me up for 
45 cents per dozen? This same orange 'seller a year 
or more ago, sold me a hay knife, price $ 1 . lie 
knocked off five cents, got it for 95 cents. As soon as 
I got home I opened the catalogue of a mail-order 
house and found same knife quoted at 54 cents. Flow 
much and what per cent did the retailer make? I be¬ 
lieve it to be an easy matter for Secretary Wilson’s 
coterie of investigators to figure out who raises the 
prices on some articles of food. Citation: A long 
time ago I sold to my grocer a fresh-cured ham. 
Before I left his sanctum he was slicing that ham and 
selling it for ten cents a pound, thereby making 66 2-3 
per cent profit, and no work except cutting it up and 
wrapping. Of course he had sometimes to step to the 
money box and get some change. geo. bender. 
Illinois. 
HOLD-UP BY THE FARMERS. 
In view of the fact that many articles are printed 
in newspapers blaming the farmers for the increased 
price of food stuffs, and also to back up your con¬ 
tention of the producer’s 35-cent share of the con¬ 
sumer’s dollar, I enclose western market report of 
prices paid to producers, and prices paid by con¬ 
sumers. There are millions of cords of wood within 
40 miles of Spokane, all close to railroads; the Roslyn 
coal mine, about 180 miles, where coal, f. o. b. cars 
costs from 50 cents to $ 1.00 per ton. The highest 
price paid to farmers (in this locality) this last year, 
for one, two and three-year old steers was 4 r /2 cents, 
live weight. On December 4 last, the writer was 
offered S x / 2 cents for dressed fat hogs by two local 
butchers. Compare these prices with the enclosed 
list of retail quotations, and it indicates that the 
“consumer” is getting it in the neck worse than the 
producer. Local bakers charge 10 cents for a single 
loaf of bread or four loaves for 25 cents of one 
pound weight each. Flour costs $1.55 per 50-pound 
sack, and they acknowledge a sack will make 70 loaves 
of bread. These prices, in the heart of a wheat 
country, that is credited with a 1909 production of 
35,000.000 bushels. henry fowler. 
Whitman Co., Wash. 
R. N.-Y.—This market report is from “The Chron¬ 
icle,” of Spokane. Here are a few samples of retail 
prices: 
Fuel—Sawed, tamarack and fir, $8.25 ; pine, $7.50. 
Full length, tamarack and fir, $7; pine, $6.25. Coal—■ 
Carney, Sheridan, Tabor. Rock Springs, $9 per ton ; Bear 
Creek, $8.75 per ton ; Roslyn, $8.50 per ton; Lille, $7.50 
per ton. 
We see from the above letter that Roslyn coal at the 
mine ISO miles away costs 50 cents to $1.00 per ton. 
Retail Meat Prices. 
Dressed Poultry—Broilers, 50c to 65c each ; fryers, 25c 
lb; roasting chickens, 25@30c lb; hens, 22c lb; ducks, 
22 c lb. 
Beef—Porterhouse steak, 25@80c; sirloin steak, 20@22c 
lb: round steak, 15@18c; shoulder steak. 15c; prime rib 
roast, 22 c; pot roast, 12%@l4c; beef boil, 8 @ 10 c. 
Lamb—Shoulder. 18c; leg, 25c ; chops, 35c. 
Pork—Roast, 18®22c; chops, 22c; sausages, 15@20c; 
bacon, best, 28@35c; plain bacon, 20c to 25c; plain ham, 
20 c to 22 c; picnic ham, 12 c: best ham, 22 c to 25c. 
Mutton — Shoulder. 10(gl2%c; chops, 15<t/25c; leg, 20c. 
Veal—Roast, 15@25c; chops and steaks, lS@2Sc. 
As our friend says, “compare these prices” and see 
how much more than 35 cents on the dollar the 
farmers receive. Florida grape fruit is quoted in this 
same market at from 14 to 20 cents each! Our folks 
in Florida get returns of less than one dollar a box 
and paid for box and packing out of that. And yet 
there are thousands of city people who say farmers 
are “holding them up.” So they are, for without 
their long-suffering patience the cities would soon 
fall down! 
