8X0 
"TU E KUKA.L, NEW-YORKER 
June i::, 
him what he charged for boueset. Tie replied, “Five 
cents an ounce.” Then I got my pencil and com¬ 
menced figuring. If one ounce cost five cents, a 
pound would bring 80 cents: at that rate my crop 
of 150 pounds was worth $120. Then I figured some 
more and found that the middleman who merely 
carried my medicine to the consumer got $114.50, 
while I got only $4.50 for doing all the hard work 
in the boiling hot sun. Then it dawned on me that 
I would be silly to stay on the farm and work like 
a mule for $4.50 when I could go to town and make 
$114.50 in the easier and more genteel end of the 
game. 
After making this discovery I went home and told 
my dad that he could never make a farmer out of 
me, for I was born to be a druggist: so I packed my 
grip and left for the Ohio State University to take 
a course in pharmacy. My chum in the country 
school saw the point too, and left the farm at the 
same time for Omaha, where he now has two drug¬ 
stores and is worth $150,000. I now teach pharmacy 
in a big university, own a grape fruit grove in 
Florida, and a cherry orchard in Michigan, and am 
fairly comfortable. Needless to say that neither of 
us regrets having left the farm for the easier and 
better paying end of the game. The foregoing shows 
very plainly why boys leave the farm. I have 
given this explanation, not to encourage boys to go 
to the city and thus escape an intolerable condition 
but to inspire in them a desire to terminate the un¬ 
just conditions. 
There is a very simple way to change these condi¬ 
tions, so let me explain: While still in college I got 
a copy of the 13th Annual U. S. Labor Report, and 
learned therefrom that practically all of the na¬ 
tion’s products are handled on the same basis as 
boneset. By comparing t^je cost of labor and raw 
material with the retail price I learned that it costs 
from three to ten times more to carry an article to 
the user than it docs to make the article. 
Strange to say, very strange indeed, this astound¬ 
ing fact has not been recognized by our statesmen. 
However, I am pleased to note that at least one 
editor is aware of it. The editor of The R. N.-Y. 
says “The farmer produces $1.00 wo.th of foodstuffs 
but gets only 35 cents for it, while the middlemen 
who merely carry this product to the consumer get 
05 cents." This arrangement of the city people for 
“putting it over” is called a “35-cent dollar.” No 
great skill is required to carry the finished product 
to the consumer. Why then, should the middlemen 
be paid twice as much as the producers? It is ex¬ 
actly the same as paying an experienced chef $1.00 
for baking a cake and a snob of a waiter in a dress 
suit $2.00 for passing the cake among the guests in 
the front room. The middlemen are only common, 
ordinary waiters who, in the world’s work, merely 
pass around the things which other people make 
by hard labor. They are not entitled, therefore, to 
such generous pay for so menial a task. 
To correct this unfairness of the existing method 
I have submitted to Postmaster-General Burleson, a 
plan which will enable him to furnish this dis¬ 
tributive service through a Postal Market at a 
reasonable cost, a cost more in keeping with the 
menial nature of the work. In the Postal Market 
all sorts of foodstuffs would be handled in stand¬ 
ard packages and grades and the charge would be 
■just sufficient to cover the actual cost of hauling the 
product from the farm to the consumer, via the 
Postal Market, probably not more than five or 10 
cents on the dollar. 
Under such an arrangement the farmer would get 
90 or 95 cents of the dollar instead of 35 cents. 
Nearly all of the money that goes to the middlemen 
would go to the farmer u-here it rightfully belongs. 
In this way alone can the boys be kept on the farm. 
Make it worth while for them to stay! As things 
are now you cannot reasonably expect them to re¬ 
main, for no one would stay on the farm and work 
for 35 cents when he could go to town and get 05 
cents in the easier and more genteel end of the 
game. If you would like to have the farmer’s income 
increased three fold in the way indicated, and there¬ 
by make farm life sufficiently attractive to keep 
the boys at home, write to Mr. Burleson and ask 
him to establish a Postal Market. r. l. gi.eene. 
It. N.-Y.—Mr. Greene forgets to state that thou¬ 
sands of farmers are already getting more of the 
35-cent dollar by direct trade through the parcel 
post we now have. Let them not only write Mr. 
Burleson but develop the trade possibilities which 
they now enjoy. 
Me have the report of a farmer who invented an 
appliance, but lacked the capital to manufacture it. A 
corporation has infringed the patent, but the farmer 
would be obliged to mortgage his farm in order to pay 
a lawyer to fight the case. 
ENGLISH WYANDOTTES AS BREEDERS. 
HAVE been much interested in your remarks, as 
well as Mr. Card’s, regarding Tom Barron’s White 
Wyaiulottes. I can see no use in trying to get up a 
controversy. I can see no real benefit in anyone 
trying to prove whether Mr. Barron’s birds are 
sti’aight Wyandottes or not. The fact that Mr. Bar¬ 
ron has produced these birds that can beat all com¬ 
ers is sufficient to prove he is a master. The one 
great thought that occurs to me is just this: Can 
the progeny of those English birds bred by Ameri¬ 
cans in America, keep up the good work. That is the 
real issue from my point of view. The French can 
beat all comers in raising table fowls. Mr. Barron 
seems to be able to beat all comers in rafsing birds 
that can lay eggs. Well and good; I take my hat 
off to them, but what about the hundreds of men and 
women who are and will be sending many dollars 
for this English stock? Are they going to get stock 
that will keep up the question? Birds bred to feath¬ 
er and shape are the real backbone to the whole 
fabric, and the American Poultry Association is the 
supreme factor of all that has been proven in the 
poultry world? I feel that those who go in too 
strong for the English stock will be disappointed, 
and it won’t be Mr. Barron's fault. 
There should be no conflict between utility and 
standard birds, as you call the latter. Anyone, 
whether standard or utility breeder, can sell birds, 
but he cannot sell skill. Anyone can buy paper, 
type, ink, presses, and publish a paper, but in read¬ 
ing Tiie R. N.-Y. T have arrived at the opinion there 
is somewhere behind these necessary articles “skill.” 
a real knowledge on how to get out a paper. Change 
the name, the paper would be just as good, but 
change the management, and no one can predict the 
result. No doubt these birds of Mr. Barron’s could 
not win in a show: at the same time I have seen 
birds that would not win according to the standard 
produce winners. Now then, ca.i Tom Barron’s 
birds produce birds that can equal his records? 
Then again birds as a rule that lay so well are 
not just the proper breeders; it costs too much 
energy. I have had some experience along that 
line. 
Let me use a few more lines to congratulate you 
on your article re temperance; it is surely bound to 
come, this giving up liquor. Men are becoming 
bolder and now are not afraid to speak out against 
this evil. I can remember the time at poultry 
shows drinking was the regular order, not only 
drinking but drunkenness and today—why, it's only 
a few who fall down, and they are also looked down 
on. All things left out just one thing will compel 
the drunks getting less every year, and that is a 
purely business proposition. It is bound to cerne; 
then there is the nastiness of it, the loss to one’s 
standing, etc., and I trust I’ll live to see the day 
when drunkenness will be only history. I like your 
paper bully. i>. Lincoln orr. 
R. N.-Y.—As we saw last week. Mr. Barron takes 
a fair and strong position on this matter. He says 
in effect—“Here are my birds. They are layers; 
that is all I claim for them, and you are under no 
obligation to buy them if you have any question 
whatever regarding their breeding qualities.” 
IS “ BACK TO THE LAND” A FAILURE. 
T HE back-to-the-land movement is not a failure, 
although there is a tendency just now to pro¬ 
claim its end. From 1890 to 1900 there was 
a decided gain for the country. Since that there 
has been a check worth looking into. Here in Flori¬ 
da the larger part of migration is made up of North¬ 
ern farmers, but ( there is at the same time an in¬ 
crease of those who have been merchants, clerks, 
school teachers, and not a few ministers. The diffi¬ 
culty all along the line has been the* small percentage 
of those who desire to create homes. A much larger 
percentage consisted of those who were tired of do¬ 
ing what they were at. or possibly were total fail¬ 
ures, and who got the idea that they could enrich 
themselves out of the land. Three hundred letters 
came to me in one Winter, about the chances here 
in Florida. I suppose this large number was due 
to the fact that I have written two or three books 
on making homes in the country. But I have never 
written a book that would mislead the unsettled 
crowd to imagine it can reap without sowing 
anywhere. 
My answer is invariably, “You can make a living 
anywhere in the country if you first study (lie condi¬ 
tions, and are willing to adjust your habits to the 
requirements of Nature; provided in the next place 
that you are comparatively healthy, and your fam¬ 
ily will cooperate with you heartily.” There are no 
two sections in the United States where the condi¬ 
tions are the same. If I had not already a good deal 
of experience with land and land culture, and con¬ 
siderable knowledge of legumes and soil-making, I 
would take a Winter in an agricultural college, be¬ 
fore gathering in an experience of actual experi¬ 
ment. This applies to old people, both men and 
women, as well as to young. You must get the 
knowledge from somewhere, especially the elemental 
knowledge of gardening and orchard work, or you 
will make a failure of it. “There is no place on earth 
today so full of enthusiasm and knowledge com¬ 
bined as an experiment station or agricultural 
college.” 
That is what you want, enthusiasm based on 
knowledge. I)o not come here or go anywhere else 
with a dull suspicion that you are both ignorant and 
unwilling to do what will be demanded of you. But 
by all means the chief difficulty, not only here but 
in every part of the country, is the inci’eased ex¬ 
pectation of getting rich. All about me are unsatis¬ 
fied settlers, who have done nothing for the last 
three or four years but plant huge fields of melons 
or sweet potatoes; or invest in orange groves, ex¬ 
pecting in every case to become wealthy at once. It 
was just so in New York, where the country home¬ 
makers undertook to get rich on hops and straw¬ 
berries. Nine out of ten went bankrupt inside five 
years. One year gives a fine crop of melons, just 
about enough for the market; and the grower gets 
through with a full pocket at the end of the season. 
The next year there will be an over supply of 
melons, and down goes the price. The speculative 
grower goes down with it. 
Nearby me is the great celery section of Florida, 
and it has been advertised so faithfully as to bring 
thousands of planters. Everyone of these planters 
was after money and not after a home. After two 
or three years of profitable culture the crash came, 
and celery was not worth the digging or packing. 
School ma’ams and school masters and ex-lawyers 
went back to the city. If you expect to leave city 
life for country life, there is only one passage for 
you that will lead to success; and that is you must 
make a home for yourself and family. 
You will lie more surprised when I tell you that 
a country home requires something more than eat¬ 
able crops. You will not succeed if you cannot in¬ 
duce the birds to cooperate with you. This is not 
sentiment but facts; and how are you to do this if 
you do not know one bird from another, and have 
never cared to understand their meaning and pur¬ 
pose. Is there a brook on your land, I mean the 
land you intend to purchase? Let me assure you 
that if you are coming into the country to live, brook 
power will be of immense importance to you. It can 
be very cheaply induced to do a lot of barn work, 
and even light your house. 
A recent letter says, “Do you think I can make a 
success keeping bees, growing vegetables, and rais¬ 
ing chickens?” These three things seem easy, but 
within rifle range of my home there is a chicken 
establishment, apparently successful, but closing up 
and selling out as a failure. No money in chickens. 
I cleared over $150 last year on 40 fowls, and know 
there is money in fowls. As for bees, they ai’e a 
very important factor in home-making, to pollenize 
our fruit, and to furnish us honey. A good home 
should realize one hundred dollars a year surplus 
on honey. Some instinct is needed along this line 
as well as experience. Truck growing is not a mat¬ 
ter where one can compete always with success. In 
all cases you have to know when to back out. 
Florida. e. p. powell. 
AGRICULTURE IN CANADA. 
N Western Canada the cry is “away from wheat.” 
That country has been growing nothing but 
wheat and oats. This has made it necessary for 
farmers to pay cash for practically all of their sup¬ 
plies, many of which might just as well be produced 
on their own farms. “Away from wheat” does not 
mean giving up wheat growing entirely, but drop¬ 
ping part of it and attempting to produce some other 
money crop and also part of the supplies which at 
present must be bought. Among other things, farm¬ 
ers were advised to invest in sheep, and this was 
done to such an extent that there was a large crop 
of wool this year. No commercial facilities for 
handling this wool existed, and new markets must 
be promptly found. The Department of Agriculture 
at Saskatchewan stepped in to handle the wool for 
the Government. Farmers will therefore send their 
wool direct to the Department and the Commissioner 
of Agriculture will see that it is marketed properly. 
Here is a case where if the Government did not 
act a very large part of this wool crop would be 
practically given away by the farmers in an un¬ 
organized and undeveloped market. Why should 
not the Government take a hand in such a case? 
