lie 
January 24, 
DOUBLE HEADED RYE. 
Inclosed find a rye head which my 
day-lielp cut out of my wheat field. lie 
said there were a great number like 
this one he saved. I would like to know 
what you think about it. Would seed 
from such a head produce a field of dou¬ 
ble heads? j. c. R. 
J. C. R. has hei’e an interesting and 
perhaps valuable variation in rye. This 
type of variation occurs occasionally in 
grasses, and the condition is more or less 
transmissible by the seed. Thus, it is 
not to be expected that the seed from 
such heads would produce a crop of all 
double heads; but it is to be expected 
that it would produce a large number, 
say 25% or more, of such stalks. It 
should be possible then, to separate out 
a pure strain of double-headed rye. At 
any rate, the probability seems well 
worth the trial. I would suggest that the 
seed be saved and planted well away 
from all other rye. Then since rye, 
like corn, cross-fertilizes freely, cut out 
all single-headed stalks before the blos¬ 
soms open. A few years of this pro¬ 
cedure may separate the pure strain, al¬ 
though it is more likely that more re¬ 
fined methods involving hand pollination 
will have to be adopted for the final iso¬ 
lation. However, if the double-headed 
character should show up each season 
for a few years in a considerable number 
of plants, it would show the presence of 
the pure strain in the mixture, and the 
more refined methods could then be em¬ 
ployed. c. A. LUDWIG. 
NEW YORK STATE NEWS. 
State Fair Commission. —At a meet¬ 
ing of the State Fair Commission held 
in Albany recently acting Lieut.-Gov. 
Robert F. Wagner was elected president. 
Commissioner Iluson vice-president and 
A. E. Brown secretary and treasurer. 
Assignments were made of the various 
commissioners to their departments at 
the next annual fair. Commissioner Ilu¬ 
son has farm horses, dairy, Grange and 
farm boys’ camp. Commissioner .Tones, 
concessions and machinery; Commission¬ 
er Wieting, cattle, sheep and swine; 
Commissioner Cummings, police, liberal 
arts building, domestic science and trans¬ 
portation ; Commissioner Driscoll, poul¬ 
try, State institutions exhibits, woman’s 
building and fire department. 
Dairymen’s League. —At the annual 
meeting of the Dairymen’s League, held 
in Albany the first week in January, the 
following officers were elected: President, 
John Y. Gerow, Washingtonville; vice- 
president, F. II. Thompson, Holland 
Patent; secretary, Albert Manning, Otis- 
ville; treasurer, Louis M. Hardin, Sus¬ 
sex, N. J. A strong effort is being made 
to get as large an enrollment as possible 
by February 1, when it is proposed to 
close the books. The number of cows 
pledged is still below the needed number 
to make the organization as strong as 
it should be to carry out the plans made 
for it by its officers and directorate. .Sev¬ 
eral organizers are now in the field. 
New Farm Bureau. —About 400 rep¬ 
resentative farmers met at Oneonta the 
second week of this month to consider 
the organization of a Farm Bureau. M. 
C. Burritt, State leader of the Farm Bu¬ 
reau movement, addressed the meeting 
and explained the operation of the Bu¬ 
reau. An organization was effected and 
officers elected. A. W. Brown of Plain- 
field was chosen president, O. C. Cham¬ 
berlin of Richfield vice-president and D. 
W. McLaury of Portlandville secretary. 
The location of the proposed Bureau 
caused considerable discussion, Coopers- 
town and Oneonta both desiring it. The 
matter was finally left with the execu¬ 
tive committee for decision. 
State Forestry Association. —The sec¬ 
ond annual meeting of the State Forestry 
Association will be held in the Educational 
building, Albany, on January 22. Na¬ 
tional and State experts will discuss some 
of the pressing questions with which 
the association has to deal. A State¬ 
wide forest fire law will be one of these. 
Central Rural Schools. —A bill has 
been introduced in the /Legislature by 
Senator Brown which provides for the 
organization of central rural schools. 
The commissioner of education is auth¬ 
orized to lay out in any territory, ex¬ 
clusive of city school districts, central 
school districts and provide for the es¬ 
tablishment of schools wherein instruc¬ 
tion, as given in the common and high 
schools, shall be given including instruc¬ 
tion in agriculture. Fifteen resident tax¬ 
payers may call a meeting to determine 
the question of establishing such a school 
and if there are 15 qualified voters pres¬ 
ent at such meeting a majority of that 
number will be sufficient to establish the 
school. The meeting shall also elect a 
board of education which shall possess 
the same powers as similar boards in 
THE RURAL, NEW-YORKER 
Chicken and Lime Refuse. 
I haul manure eight miles from St. 
Louis. At some meat shops it is mixed 
with chicken entrails and chicken man¬ 
ure. Is that better than horse manure? 
My neighbors say lime is good; I can 
get at a limestone quarry the residue 
from rock crushed for the roads for noth¬ 
ing. Will it pay to haul eight miles? 
Wallstou, Mo. j. r. 
The chicken manure and entrails will 
add to the value of the horse manure. 
Lime is good for sour land, but do not 
mix it with this manure. The crushed 
limestone is not as valuable as the burned 
lime and would hardly pay to haul eight 
miles unless you know your soil is very 
sour. 
union free school districts. These rural 
schools are to receive State aid on the 
basis of attendance and additional aid 
where the school gives instruction in 
agriculture, as in the case of other 
schools. 
Holstein Breeders Meet. —It was de¬ 
cided at a recent meeting of the State 
IIolstein-Friesian club to make an ex¬ 
hibit this year, the first time, at the Na¬ 
tional Dairy show at Chicago next Fall. 
A big showing will be made if present 
plans carry. E. A. Powell of Syracuse 
is at the head of the committee having 
charge of the matter. It was stated that 
the management of the show will allow 
the club to make a group exhibit and also 
allow animals in the group to be shown 
as individuals. The National Hoistein- 
Friesian association will meet in Chica¬ 
go and arrangements are to be made to 
carry a large delegation of New -York 
breeders. This meeting will be in June. 
' New York State Grange. —The 
forty-first ‘annual meeting of the New 
York State Grange will be held at Pough¬ 
keepsie on February .‘1 to 6. Headquar¬ 
ters will be at the Nelson House, sessions 
at the Columbus Institute. The voting 
membership of this annual meeting' will 
be about (500 if associate delegates ac¬ 
company the elected delegates, there being 
about 225 of the latter. Jefferson county 
has the largest delegation which will 
number 21 elected delegates. The Grange 
membership of that county is about 2,800. 
The session will open on Tuesday morn¬ 
ing with the master’s address. Reports 
of officers and presentation of resolutions 
for reference to all committees will oc¬ 
cupy the second day. In the evening 
there will be a public meeting under the 
direction of the Dutchess county Pomona. 
Fruit Growers Oppose Bill.— Fruit 
growers in the western part of the State 
are intensely opposed to the McKellar 
bills now before Congress. This opposi¬ 
tion was voiced at the recent convention 
of the State Fruit Growers’ Association 
in Rochester and the Rochester Chamber 
of Commerce and other organizations 
have been asked to lend their aid to pre¬ 
vent the passage of the bills. The Mc¬ 
Kellar bills provide that interstate ship¬ 
ments “of meats, fish, butter or eggs or 
other perishable edibles or food stuffs 
must not be kept in cold storage for a 
longer period than 90 days.” They also 
make unlawful the restorage of food pro¬ 
ducts including fruits, and two of them 
contain requirements as to tagging and 
branding which fruit men feel are un¬ 
necessary and would entail much expense. 
What the fruit growers want is to have 
fruit exempted from the provisions of the 
bills, and it looks as if the 1,200 members 
of the association would let the interstate 
commerce committee and Congress know 
what they think about these measures 
promptly. President Morrell of the as¬ 
sociation expressed himself as in favor of 
better and more honest packing of fruit, 
lie thought the Wilson bill was about as 
satisfactory as any he had seen. This div¬ 
ides apples into three grades, provides 
that the names and addresses of growers 
be placed on the boxes and imposes a 
fine for deceptions. He said he would 
favor a bill to put plates on barrels and 
boxes to show just what was inside them. 
Farm Bureau Exchange. —The Farm 
Bureau of St. Lawrence county has es¬ 
tablished a produce exchange with a 
view to bringing producers and buyers 
closer together. It is simple in its work¬ 
ings and is just a medium of exchange 
between them. Any farmer may list 
with the Bureau what he has to sell and 
may write to ascertain where he may 
procure the things he needs. The Bu¬ 
reau is in position to advise farmers 
where farm machinery, fertilizers, lime, 
improved seeds, etc., can be produced 
most advantageously. This is a practical 
plan for each co nty and would seem to 
help shorten the distance between pro¬ 
ducer and consumer, and in this case the 
farmer is both. One day a farmer (not 
in St. Lawrence county) discovered that 
lie had a few more bushels of seed rye 
than he needed and he took some of it to 
town to sell. He was informed by the 
dealer that seed rye “wasn’t in much de¬ 
mand” just then but he would give 80 
eents a bushel for it. He got it. The 
same day in the afternoon another farm¬ 
er came to the store in search of a little 
seed rye. The same dealer said he had 
a few bushels that he could let him have 
for $1.50 a bushel; it was very nice. The 
farmer took it. A little later the trans¬ 
action got out and it was discovered that 
these two farmers lived only about one 
mile apart on the same road. This is 
no fairy story, either. It is such condi¬ 
tions that the Farm Bureau is intended 
to eliminate. 
How to Supply Your Soil 
Just the Plant-Food Needed 
for Certain Crops 
S OIL FERTILITY is a subject that must be 
handled to meet individual soil conditions and 
particular crop requirements if you would avoid wast¬ 
ing money when buying fertilizers. 
After you have decided what mineral elements your soil 
needs, your next question is how to purchase these 
elements in the most efficient and economical form to apply. 
We offer high-grade fertilizers to meet every soil condition and 
special crop requirement. Ourproductsarescientifically correct 
fertilizers, made from the highest-grade chemicals and materi¬ 
als, and are practically odorless. No cheap, worthless “filler” is 
used which only adds weight and makes more labor to apply. 
CONSUMERS 
BRAND FERTILIZERS 
are prepared from your own specifications made out to meet 
the actual plant food requirements of your soil for any par¬ 
ticular crop. You eliminate all waste of expensive elements 
when you order your commercial fertilizer direct from us. 
The same soil of any field needs different fertilizers for differ¬ 
ent crops. The different soils of different fields need different 
fertilizers for the same crop. We make high-grade fertilizer 
to meet the exact needs of any field for any particular crop. 
Don’t waste money buying more nitrogen or more potash or 
more phosphoric acid—or any other element of plant food— 
than your soil needs for any particular crop. Commercial 
fertilizers are too expensive to apply from “stock” formulas. 
Write today for free circulars. We sell only direct to the farmer. 
Consumers Fertilizer Co. 
301 Longacre Bldg. New York City 
Build your 
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will keep the ensil¬ 
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unspoiled condition 
Look to 
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Blame it or give it credit for 
concrete results if the other materials 
are right. Cement is the chief 
material in making concrete. The 
other ingredients—sand, water and 
gravel when clean — are usually 
difference in cement 
makes all the dif¬ 
ference in the 
world in the fin¬ 
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Choose cement 
wisely and you’ll 
choose 
¥ PUTAII PORTLAND 
LLnUlH CEMENT 
Because of its exceedingly high tensile 
strength, made possible by our distinctive 
and scientific process, Lehigh Cement im¬ 
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strength and lasting endurance. 
It’s a double safeguard. It protects your 
initial building cost and your whole building 
investment. 
Send for our hook, “The Modern 
Farmer.’’ It tells all about Lehigh 
Cement and gives full instructions 
for making all farm buildings. 
Lehigh Portland Cement Co. 
lOI Young Building. Allentown, Pa 
113 
101 Consumers Bldg.. 
Chicago, 111. 
Aw* 
' istf. 
When you write advertisers mention The R. N.-Y. and you’ll get a 
quick reply and a “square deal.” See guarantee editorial page. : : : 
