453 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
March 21, 
The Rural New-Yorker 
THE BUSINESS FARMER'S PAPER 
A National Weekly Journal for Country and Suburban Home* * 
Established tsso 
1’alilitboi! weekly by the Rural l’abllsiilng: Company. 383 West 3lUh Street, Sow York 
Herbert W. Colljxgwood, President and Editor. 
John' J. Dillon. Treasurer and General Manager. 
Wat. F. Dillon', Secretary. Mrs. E. T. Kohls, Associate Editor. 
SUBSCRIPTION: ONE DOLLAR A YEAR 
To foreign countries in the Universal Postal Union. SJ"W. equal to 8s. 6d., or 
8M marks, or 10 L, lranes. Remit in money order, express 
order, personal cheek or bank draft. 
Entered at New York Post Office as Second Class Matter. 
Advertising rates CO cents per agate line—? words. References required for 
advertisers unknown to us ; and cash must accompany transient orders. 
“A SQUARE DEAL” 
Wo believe that every advertisement in this paper is backed by a respon¬ 
sible person. Rut to make doubly sure we will make good any loss to paid 
subscribers sustained by trusting any deliberate swindler advertising in our 
columns, and any such swindler will be publicly exposed. We protect sub¬ 
scribers against rogues, but we do not guarantee to adjust trilling differences 
between subscribers and honest, responsible advertisers. Neither will we be 
responsible for the debts of honest bankrupts sanctioned by the courts. 
Notice of the complaint must he sent to us within one month of the time of 
the transaction, and you must have mentioned The Rural New-VORKXR 
when writing the advertiser. 
IF you live in New York State take your pen in 
hand this minute and write a note to your member 
of the Assembly and to Hon. Thaddeus C. Sweet, 
Speaker of the Assembly, Albany, N. Y., and tell 
them you are in favor of the Food and Market bill 
introduced by Hon. A. E. Smith. Tell them you 
regard it the most important piece of legislation 
proposed in your lifetime, and request them to help 
secure its passage at this session of the Legisla¬ 
ture. You have not a minute to spare. The Legis¬ 
lature adjourns March 27. Write these notes or 
telegraph at once. 
* 
Some of the worst liold-ups in the fertilizer trade 
seem to be started by the dealers in “patent” limes. 
Farmers are told all sorts of stories about the ]>ot- 
iish and phosphoric acid which such lime contains— 
the object being to make them think a tremendous 
bargain is offered. In one case $0 per ton was 
charged for a “phosphate lime.” A farmer who 
received this “literature” found that he could obtain 
good limestone of high quality close at home for 
about $2.50 per ton, and could buy for one dollar 
more all the phosphoric acid found in a ton of the 
remarkable stuff which the dealers wanted to sell 
ltim. 
* 
Here is the latest news from our old friend 
Imther Burbank: 
Perhaps the most remarkable cradle ever provided for 
si new plant species is the armored bank vault in which 
the latest creation of Luther Burbank, the plant wizard, 
are being guarded against loss or theft until Spring 
planting time. Accounted more precious than diamonds, 
these seeds—less than a peek—are watched with all the 
care of priceless gems. They represent the scientific in¬ 
vestigation and experimenting of a quarter of a century 
by Burbank, holding out promise of great commercial 
value. 
We doubt if Mr. Burbank will take honest or 
well-meant advice from us—but here it is. Take 
that group of hot-air producers who made the at¬ 
mosphere tremble over the Wonderberry and lock 
them in with those “priceless seeds.” Shut off the 
air and fumigate with bisulphide of carbon. This 
will destroy any bugs on the seeds. 
* 
In the February 14th issue reference was made to the 
employers’ liability law in Connecticut and New York. 
I would like to know about the Massachusetts law in 
regard to farm labor. I have been informed farmers 
were liable employing live or more laborers, and others 
have told me farmers were exempt. B. B. II. 
Massachusetts. 
In Masacliusetts this law exempts farm help and 
domestic servants from its provisions. This is spe¬ 
cifically done as follows: 
“The provisions of the eight preceding sections 
shall not apply to injuries caused to domestic serv¬ 
ants or farm laborers by fellow employees.” 
We can find nothing in the law that would indi¬ 
cate the number of laborers employed by a farmer 
would have anything to do with the degree of his 
liability. 
• * 
Farm Management. —It is said that during the 
past few years there has been developed a science 
of managing the farm on true business principles. 
I.et this not be confined to outdoor farm operations, 
but let it take in the household work. In the next 
magazine number of Woman and Home we shall 
begin the publication of the best study of a farm¬ 
house interior—arranged for the business of house¬ 
keeping—that has ever been printed. We say this 
advisedly, and all know how careful we are to 
refrain from making rash promises. The article is 
not by any sanitary expert or theorist, but by a 
farmer’s wife, who took a poorly arranged and 
rather rambling farmhouse and slowly made it 
over, so that a day’s inside work is a pleasant task 
rather than a long, hard journey. 
The New York State Agricultural Department is 
trying to find places ou farms for worthy men now 
out of work in town and city. The Department is 
going at this work in a sensible way. Only a part 
of these city men could ever give satisfaction as 
farm hands. They are the ones who at some time 
of their lives have done farm work, but who do 
not fit into city conditions. They would not prove 
expert farm helpers at once, but if the farmer who 
hires them will he patient and fair some of these 
men will make good. The genuine tramp or “bum” 
should not he sent to the farm at all. He will 
prove a menace and a disappointment, and the city 
man who knows nothing of farming would be of no 
particular value until he learned how to work. 
The department is cooperating with priests, minis¬ 
ters and church organizations seeking to find use¬ 
ful and honest men for this farm work. It is a 
good movement, but a farmer should not expect 
too much from these helpers. Give them a fair 
chance. While they cannot expect large wages to 
begin with, they are entitled to good treatment and 
patient training. It will be better for the Depart¬ 
ment to send out a few good helpers rather than 
a crowd of worthless fellows, who would only drift 
back to the city. 
* 
If you have ever tried to transfer a piece of real 
estate you will appreciate the article by Dr. Price 
on the first page. Of all the various forms of legal 
graft none is more galling or unnecessary than the 
fees for “searching” the ownership records of real 
estate. We have paid $25 for such a “search” of a 
small property when all the lawyers had to do was 
to go to their safe and look at a paper which they 
drew up two years before. In some States the 
“title guarantee” companies have made life a night¬ 
mare to the ordinary owner of real estate. These 
companies pick flaws in titles on the merest techni¬ 
calities, and frighten the buyer into holding up the 
sale until the owner “satisfies” the company—which 
means paying a legal bonus to the lawyers. We 
know of cases where these companies have inter¬ 
fered with a sale on childish reasons, and caused 
trouble and loss to people not accustomed to doing 
business. The Ohio law will enable the real estate 
owner to obtain a certificate from the State which 
will go with the title upon a transfer of the prop¬ 
erty. When such a title is once registered the so- 
called “search” will be unnecessary. Thus the law 
cuts out a useless and expensive legal process which 
modern society has long outgrown and which 
should have been given up long ago. 
* 
On the next page will be found a statement of 
the bill to create a Food and Market Commission 
for New York State. Of all the suggestions for 
helpful agricultural legislation thus far advanced 
none has been so vital and far-sighted as this. 
The suggestion gets down to the heart of the trou¬ 
ble which our farmers have endured for years. The 
35-cent dollar issue dwarfs all others in importance. 
This question of the division of the consumer’s 
dollar into 05 cents for the handlers and 35 cents 
for the consumers is the greatest financial issue of 
the age. It is also the great moral issue of Ameri¬ 
can agriculture, for the present system of division 
is unjust and wicked. The longer it goes on the 
worse it becomes, for the 65 cents which represent 
the handler’s share rarely if ever come back to the 
farm. This unjust share accumulates in the towns 
and cities, leaving the nation in the condition of a 
man constantly threatened with heart trouble. The 
greatest need of our national life to-day is some 
fair and honest system which will bring about a 
fairer distribution of the consumer’s dollar. Give 
the producer a fairer share (for example, 50 cents 
instead of 35), and the extra money flows back to 
the country. There it will be spent to satisfy legit¬ 
imate demands or to purchase necessities, giving the 
most wonderful impetus to trade that America has 
ever known. The country will take on new indus¬ 
trial life. Men and women, feeling that they re¬ 
ceive a fairer recompense for their toil, will take 
new interest and independence and view life with 
broader and happier eyes. If you need confirma¬ 
tion of this statement go into the sections here and 
there where farmers have been able to standardize 
their products, and thus grow and sell them to the 
best advantage. For example, the fruit-growing 
districts in Western New York. These growers ob¬ 
tain their 50-cent dollar and more largely because 
they have taken advantage of natural conditions, 
but partly because their increase of prosperity has 
enabled them to combine and standardize their 
products. The result is that in these sections we 
find a class of free, intelligent, thinking, prosperous 
farmers, who are changing the history of their sec¬ 
tions in the most hopeful way. Let any man think 
what would follow if farmers in all sections of the 
State could feel this same hopeful spirit. There is 
just one thing that will give it—the feeling that 
they receive a fairer share of the final price of 
their products. Thus this 35-cent dollar issue lies 
at the root of the matter. We may talk “two blades 
of grass” until we are green in the face, but one 
strong man in the market place showing how to gel 
a fair price for one blade of hay will do us more 
good than 1,000 men teaching the “two blades of 
grass” theory. As this question directly and in¬ 
directly affects every person in the State it is a 
matter for the State to take up. It will require the 
brains and the energy of a great business man—as 
large a man in Ids way as any who ever governed 
the State. The principle of the proposed law is 
sound and the time is ripe to put it into practice. 
The time is short, for the Legislature will adjourn 
soon; therefore we must act at once. The K. N.-Y. 
never asks its friends to get busy with the Legis¬ 
lature unless there is some supreme need for it. 
That need has now come. Write your Senator and 
Assemblyman at onee and urge them to push this 
Market Commission bill through! 
* 
All this talk about lime means largely that farm¬ 
ers are trying to fit their land for crops not natu¬ 
rally suited to them. It is now well known that 
Alfalfa, lied clover, Timothy and similar crops de¬ 
mand a “sweet” or alkaline soil in order to grow 
properly. On many of our Eastern soils the lime 
supply has been greatly reduced. Such soils were 
not limestone to begin with, and many years of cul¬ 
tivation have removed much of the original lime. 
Thus only i>oor crops of clover or Alfalfa can be 
obtained from these acid soils without heavy appli¬ 
cations of lime. The great advertisement which 
Alfalfa has received in late years is greatly re¬ 
sponsible for the lime craze. We call it a “craze” 
because that is the proper name for a practice or a 
theory, useful within reasonable limits, when it is 
carried to unreasonable extremes. Attempting to 
grow clover or Alfalfa on very acid soils is an un¬ 
natural process at best. We may easily come to a 
point where the large amount of lime required to 
sweeten and maintain these lime-loving plants may 
cost more than it brings in. We know of cases 
where in their efforts to grow wheat, Alfalfa and 
Red clover farmers have used so much lime that 
these crops cost too much. These are cases where 
there is a long haul by railroad from the limekiln, 
and which makes the lime cost too much for prac¬ 
tical purposes. In such cases reason would show 
us that it is not good policy to try to naturalize 
these crops on an acid soil. It is far better busi¬ 
ness to grow those crops which do not need so much 
lime, but which will grow and give a good yield 
where the ground is sour. Rye, buckwheat and 
corn grains will thrive on sour soils. Soy 
beans, cow peas and Alsike clover are legumes 
which gain nitrogen from the air, yet make a fair 
crop under acid soil conditions. Red-top will make 
a good growth where Timothy fails. There are 
thousands of localities in the East where these 
acid-enduring plants are far better adapted to our 
soils than the lime-loving wheat, Alfalfa or clover. 
We believe in lime, and use it on our farm yearly, 
but it should be bought and used with judgment, and 
in many cases the acid-soil plants will pay best. 
BREVITIES. 
Raise the weeds first, and then raze them with a fine¬ 
toothed or dragging tool—while the weeds are small. 
It is claimed that English sparrows are good to eat— 
they make a good “pie.” No, thank you; others may 
have o r share. 
New York’s big snowstorm, February 14, cost the 
city $480,000 for snow removal, employing 16,000 
men and 5,000 horses. 
The best late Summer garden peas we have had are 
the dwarf varieties. Let the early crop ripen and use 
this ripened seed for August planting. 
There seems to be great interest in the sunflower 
crop. Without question there is a demand for the dry 
seed. We have had several good articles about it. 
In these days of autos and rapid travel there is 
no better advertisement for the farm than a good 
lawn and well-kept flower garden. This pays now 
that direct dealing with consumers is on. 
Many people write about seeding pasture crops in old 
orchards for hogs or sheep. Among other things they 
should plant several good fences. By dividing such or¬ 
chards, they may have one crop growing while the stock 
cut up another. 
Some of our readers say that the eggs come out of the 
water-glass solution in bad condition—stale or even rot¬ 
ten ! Before you blame the water-glass be sure the eggs 
were clean and fresh when they went in. The “glass” 
cannot cure a bad egg. It can only hold a perfectly fresh 
egg in fair condition. 
