April 2, 
418 
THE FARMER’S SHARE OF THE DOLLAR. 
Farmers haul wheat and barley miles 
to the elevators, and sell it for not to 
exceed l l / 2 cent per pound. They go to 
the grocery store and pay 25 cents per 
pound for that same grain roasted and 
ground and put up in a fancy pasteboard 
box and labeled some fancy name. In 
other words, they pay 23^4 cents per 
pound to have their grain roasted and 
ground. And to get the money to pay 
it they raise more wheat and haul to 
market. Now these substitutes for coffee 
are a mighty good drink and a healthful 
one. At our house we use it entirely. 
We have bought no coffee for many 
moons. But we do our own roasting 
and grinding, and make a better grade 
than we can buy at the stores. We find 
we can make money easier and faster 
roasting and grinding at 23 cents per 
pound than we can raising wheat at V/ 2 
cent per pound. This, I think, explains 
why boys leave the farm. The boys 
are brighter than their fathers. But 
the farmer can keep his boy on the farm 
by teaching him to do his own roasting 
and grinding at home, and use the money 
saved to buy plug hats and “biled shirts,” 
instead of watching and envying the 
other fellow shine in store clothes ob¬ 
tained by roasting and grinding the 
farmer’s product. The farmer must edu¬ 
cate himself. No one else will do it 
for him. Let the farmer educate his 
boy. to stay on the farm and go to the 
Legislature and to Congress, instead of 
paying a lawyer $7,500 a year to make 
laws in his own interest. Fifty years 
ago the creators of wealth made the 
laws, and there were no labor troubles. 
To-day look over the list of lawmakers 
in any legislative body in the country 
and you won't find one who is first 
cousin to honest labor. As a result, the 
whole bunch of statutes is a mass of 
“special privilege” laws. The farmers 
have the votes to stop the whole system. 
All they need is to educate themselves 
to do their own roasting and grinding 
and make their own laws instead of hir¬ 
ing a lawyer to make them. 
Wisconsin. J. m. hatch. 
CULTIVATING MY SMALL GARDEN. 
On page 34S I gave the dates for plant¬ 
ing garden seeds. I will now try to 
say something about the cultivation of 
the crops. The single wheel hoe, which 
I have, has the following parts: One 
pair hoes, three cultivator teeth, one 
three-tooth rake and one five-tooth rake, 
one plow and one leaf-lifter. The hoes 
are most suitable for the smaller plants, 
and at first, as they do not throw any 
soil to cover them up, I generally use a 
single hoe. and you can go quite close to 
the small plants with them. The action 
of the hoe simply lifts the soil and al¬ 
lows it to fall again in about the same 
place, thus stirring the surface and 
breaking up the capillary action which 
would draw the moisture out of the 
ground. Sometimes when the ground is 
level. I put the wheel on the left side of 
its frame, and attach both hoes; then I 
hoe both sides of the row at once, but 
this is only practical while the crop is 
small. You can regulate the depth of 
the cultivation from just skimming the 
surface to four or five inches deep. As 
soon as the plants arc large enough, so 
that the cultivator teeth will not cover 
them too much, I use these teeth, with 
which you can gradually work the soil 
to the plants and cover any small weeds 
that may try to start. If I wish to 
leave the soil high in the middle of the 
row. I pull the middle tooth in advance 
of the other two, and in that way I can 
work the soil away if it is ridged up to 
the plants too much. I think that I do 
most of my cultivating with these teeth, 
as they are adjustable in width on the 
frame in addition to the front or back 
change of center tooth already men¬ 
tioned. The plow I seldom use in culti¬ 
vation of crops except to ridge up some 
crop after it has reached a good size. 
The rakes I use but little also; they are 
RURAL. NEW-YORKER 
mostly good to stir and fine the surface 
of the ground, but unless the conditions 
are exactly right they have a tendency 
to throw little lumps on small plants, or 
cover them with the soil. 
I cannot give any general rule for any 
particular crop. I try to stir the soil 
among the crops at least once a week 
when their size and condition will allow 
me to do so. I also stir the soil after 
each rain before a crust has formed, 
and after it is dried sufficiently not to 
work up lumpy. I work the crops as 
nearly the season through as possible. 
Some I cannot continue to work, but 
wherever there is an opportunity to stir 
the soil with the wheel hoc I do so. I 
farmed the beets all the season, and they 
continued to grow and did not get 
stringy'. The stirring of the soil prevents 
evaporation and lessens the effect of dry 
weather upon the crop. 
A friend said to me a few days ago: 
“You did not go far enough in your 
article. You did not say what it cost 
you.” My capital has been invested as 
follows: Planet Jr. wheel hoe, $5.03; 
garden barrow, $3.35; 100 feet garden 
hose and reel, $10; five tin plant pans, 
made by turning a one-half-inch edge 
on a 20x28-inch sheet of tin and painting 
it, $1; 30 bean poles at four cents, $1.20; 
and in 1909, 10 more 10-cent flower 
pots, $1.00; rakes, hoes, etc., $2.50; to¬ 
tal, $24.98 for five years, and, with the 
exception of 25 per cent renewals of 
bean poles from now on, and new hose 
in about another year, this stock will 
be good for many years more. 
Mv expenditures in 1909 were as fol¬ 
lows: Plowing and harrowing, 75 cents; 
seeds, $3.40; cabbage and egg plants, 50 
cents; manure, $4; bone meal, $1; 10 
pounds muriate of potash, 50 cents; 14 
pounds salt for use on celery, 20 cents; 
total, $10.41, which should be charged as 
annual expense. The actual expendi¬ 
tures were $13.69; this includes 200 
pounds of bone meal, of which I have 
used less than one-third to date; flower 
pots, 78 cents, and bean poles, 40 cents, 
which I would charge to capital ac¬ 
count. Adding six per cent on the in¬ 
vestment of $25, $1.50, to the $10.41, I 
receive about $100 for my labor, but the 
pleasure of eating strictly fresh vege¬ 
tables grown by myself cannot be meas¬ 
ured in dollars and cents. My experi¬ 
ence is that the same time will farm a 
garden that it would require to keep a 
lawn of the same size in proper care and 
condition. stanton kirkbride. 
Camden Co., N. J. 
STANDARD FOR VINEGAR. 
p. 8 . C., Danville, Pa .—Could you tell 
me what this State requires to make vine¬ 
gar to come up to the pure food laws? I 
have six or eight barrels of vinegar, and 
the merchants will not buy it unless I can 
guarantee it to come up to the law. Why 
do they make such laws when the farmer 
could certainly make as good vinegar as 
most of the factory siulTV 
Ans.—V inegar made from pure cider, 
not watered, is quite sure to be a lawful 
product if the proper acetic fermentation 
has taken place, but the only way to be 
certain is to have it tested for. acidity 
and solid content by some one who has 
the proper acetometer and hydrometer. 
A copy of the state law with regard to 
vinegar should be got from the Dairy 
and Food Commissioner at Harrisburg, 
so that you may be sure about the latest 
regulations. To make vinegar quickly 
special apparatus for letting the liquid 
trickle along troughs exposed to the air 
is needed. It often happens that farm- 
made vinegar kept in casks in a cellar 
is very slow in forming acetic acid, yet 
it may have enough alcohol to bring up 
the acid content later. Some inspectors 
make an allowance in cases where there 
is a shortage of acetic acid and an excess 
of alcohol, but others do not. The only 
safe way is to comply with the law 
strictly, as the man unintentionally guilty 
of a technical violation often gets more 
punishment than the rogue. 
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POTATO IMPLEMENT COMPANY 
Box 525 Traverse City, Mich. 
Single Bit, $1.50. Double Bit, $2.00. 
T HE C. A. C. Axe will cut the most wood in 
the shortest time with the least grinding. 
And this is why. It is strictly hand-forged and 
hand-tempered from the finest axe tool steel 
that is made. That’s why it holds its edge 
and gives a degree of service that is not even 
approached by any other axe that is made. 
It’s the axe that Ed. Moot used when he 
felled, cut and split s'/i cords of wood in io 
iiours and 21 minutes. 
Go to your dealer and ask him 
to show you a C. A. C., and if lie 
hasn’t it, send us his name, and 
we will tell you how to get it and 
will send you "The Story of 
Ed. Moot.” besides. 
T1IE <•. A. C. AXE CO., 
12 Pearl St.. Boston, Mass. 
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you trust. 
If you have farmed long, you have learned to buy the brand of fer¬ 
tilizer in which you have confidence,—confidence based on youi personal 
knowledge of the reliability of the fertilizer and of the concern that 
makes it. 
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Agents wanted in unoccupied territory. 
The American Agricultural Chemical Company 
BRADLEY FERTILIZER WORKS 
Buffalo/N. Y. 
92 State Street, Boston, Macs. 
2 Rector Street, New York 
Cleveland, Ohio 
