1244 
THE RURAL, NEW-YORKER 
The Rural New-Yorker 
T1IF. BUSINESS FARMER’S PAPER 
A National Weekly Journal for Country and Suburbnn Homes 
Established 1850 
Published weekly by the llnral Publishing Company. 338 West 30th Street, New Tort 
Hkrbebt IV. COLLtNGWOOD, President and Editor. 
John J. Dillon, Treasurer and General Manager. 
Wm. F. Dillon, Secretary. Mrs. E. T. Roylk, Associate Editor. 
SUBSCRIPTION: ONE DOLLAR A YEAR 
To foreign countries in the Universal Postal Union, $2.04, equal to 8s. Od., or 
8 J 4 marks, or lOVs franca Remit in money ordor, express 
order, personal check or bank draft. 
Entered at New York Post Office as Second Class Matter. 
Advertising rates, 75 cents per agate line—7 words. References required for 
advertisers unknown to us ; and cash must accompany transient orders. 
“A SQUARE DEAL” 
We believe that every advertisement in this paper is backed by a respon¬ 
sible person. We use every possible precaution and admit the advertising of 
reliable houses only. But to make doubly sure, we will make good any loss 
to paid subscribers sustained by trusting any deliberate swindler, irrespon¬ 
sible advertisers or misleading advertisements in our columns, and any 
such swindler will be publicly exposed. We are also often called upon 
to adjust, dilferences or mistakes between our subscribers and honest, 
responsible houses, whether advertisers or not. We willingly use our good 
offices to this end, but such cases should not bo confused with dishonest 
transactions. We protect subscribers against rogues, but we will not be 
responsible for the debts of honest bankrupts sanctioned by the courts. 
Notice of the complaint must be sent to us within one month or the time or 
the transaction, and to identify it, you should mention The Rdral New- 
Yorker when writing the advertiser. 
T HE foreign war lias produced a demand for oleo¬ 
margarine and butter. Europe demands most¬ 
ly an “oleo” containing cocoanut oil, and Ger¬ 
many has been the great center of production of this 
oil. In this country “oleo” is chiefly made from 
oleo or beef oil. neutral lard and cotton oil. Eng¬ 
land alone imports SO,000 tons of pure butter from 
Denmark, and 100,000 tons of oleo from Europe. 
This country has been exporting the oleo oil to Eu¬ 
rope, where it has been mixed with cocoanut oil and 
other fats. In Europe this mixture is sold for what 
it is, as the laws are very strict against imitating 
pure butter. In France and Germany many fine 
dairy herds will be destroyed and Denmark will lose 
part of her dairy export trade. All these things 
ought to help American dairymen if they can com¬ 
bine to make and ship a standard product. 
* 
P OTATO digging is now on. In dry compact soils 
or in wet weather handling one of the large, 
powerful diggers is a serious thing for the 
horses. The digger itself must he made with groat 
weight in order to stand the strain, and the ma¬ 
chinery working in dust and dirt requires great 
power to lift and sift out the tubers. It now ap¬ 
pears that farmers are experimenting with small 
gasoline engines mounted on the frame of the dig¬ 
ger. These little “strong-arms” operate the machin¬ 
ery, so that about all the horses are expected to do 
is to move the digger onward. This plan of mount¬ 
ing the little engine on a binder or reaper to operate 
the working parts has proved successful in the West 
—saving the work of one or more horses. The dig¬ 
ger proposition is harder and more complicated, but 
we understand it is working in many cases. 
* 
T HE people of the Gulf States are getting their 
full share of advice just now about breaking 
away from all cotton growing. The latest 
comes from Dean W. M. Jardine of the Kansas Agri¬ 
cultural College: 
The war will be of greater benefit to the South than 
to any other part of the United States, because it will 
force the Southern planter to abandon his single crop¬ 
ping system and adopt diversified Tarming methods. 
This will, in the long run, help the Southern farmer. 
Since long before the Revolution efforts have 
been made to induce the Southern planters to pro¬ 
duce more bread, butter and meat and the same 
amount of cotton on fewer acres. The boll weevil 
and the war together will do much to change South¬ 
ern farming. There are other “one crop” sections 
which should be stirred up. There are the dairy 
districts which provide New York cities with milk. 
Side crops are badly needed there, and they are slow 
to work in. 
* 
S OME time ago a farmer wrote making serious 
charges against a business firm. He expected 
that we would, on his statement alone, and with¬ 
out any investigation, denounce this firm publicly. 
We do not do business that way hut after a long 
and expensive investigation it became clearly evident 
that the farmer was right, and the firm in question 
finally paid him a good sum of money in settlement. 
A little later the farmer came with another trouble. 
This time he was clearly in the wrong. He had 
made a definite agreement, knowing what he was 
doing, and was under legal and moral obligations to 
carry out his contract. Yet lie came and asked us 
to help him as we had done before, and to use our 
power to “get him out of a scrape.” The point is 
that this farmer expected us to take his side and 
bring power to bear upon the other man, whether 
the cause was right or wrong! Such cases do not 
often occur, but now and then we are expected to do 
battle for a man just because he is a farmer, and 
without regard to the true merits of the case. We 
spend time and money freely in trying to help our 
readers—in cases of misunderstanding or injustice 
giving all sides a fair hearing. Whatever power 
we may have to compel the righting of a wrong 
comes entirely from the backing of our readers. 
They would never knowingly stand for a man, who 
was in the wrong, simply because he was a farmer. 
LIME FOR LIBERATING POTASH. 
ROE. WM. P. BROOKS, of the Massachusetts 
Agricultural College, questions the statements 
or teachings that an application of lime to the 
soil will serve to liberate potash from unavailable 
combinations and make it soluble for plant feeding. 
He says that this theory has usually been taught, 
but his own experiments do not justify it. 
It would be presumptuous for me to take the position 
that lime never has this effect, but facts connected 
with one of my most important lines of experiment ap¬ 
pear so conclusively to indicate that the effect of lime 
in this direction is insignificant that it seems to me 
best to call attention to these results. 
For the past 25 years Prof. Brooks has conducted 
fertilizer experiments on a soil naturally rich in 
potash. Analysis of this soil shows a good sup¬ 
ply of available potash and also a large amount not 
soluble. Most leading farm crops have been grown 
on this field, but corn more frequently than others. 
The application of 160 pounds muriate of potash to 
the acre has increased the yield of corn 27 bushels 
of grain and 220 pounds of stover. This shows'that 
an application of available potash was needed to 
obtain a good crop of corn. Now on one plot of this 
experiment large quantities of lime have been ap¬ 
plied. As it has been shown that the corn needed 
more potash than the natural soil supplied, Prof. 
Brooks reasons that if lime renders the potash in 
the soil available there should have been an increase 
of corn where the lime was used. The facts are that 
the corn crop was smaller where the lime was used. 
On one plot where, all told, 9,620 pounds of lime to 
the acre have been used, the crop was quite inferior 
to the unlimed plots. Prof. Brooks says that much 
the same results have followed the use of land plas¬ 
ter, and he offers them as evidence that lime will 
not substitute indirectly for potash. As we have 
stated, the scientific men do not quite agree on this 
question, but the majority of them seem to believe 
that the chemical action of lime, particularly in 
heavy clay soils, is to take the place of potash in 
soil combination—leaving the latter free. This 
chemical action is clearly described by Dr. A. D. 
Hall in his book on “Fertilizers and Manures,” which 
is a record of the famous Rothamsted experiments: 
The action of lime upon the potash compounds in the 
soil is equally marked; as the soil water carries down 
the dissolved calcium bicarbonate it attacks the zeolitic 
double silicates in the clay and a portion of their solu¬ 
ble bases, potash among them, changes place with the 
lime and comes into solution. Thus lime is precipitated 
and potash is found in the soil water. The action is the 
converse of that which takes place when potash salts 
are applied as manures; whatever base is in excess in 
the water reaching the soil will turn the others out. and 
be precipitated in the solid zeolite. When potash salts 
are applied to the land the strong solution thus formed 
attacks the zeolites and replaces calcium by potassium, 
thus the potash is precipitated and lime salts go into 
the drainage water; when lime is applied to the land 
the process is reversed and potash goes into solution as 
bicarbonate. 
It is quite possible that Prof. Brooks has over¬ 
looked the fact that corn (and some varieties in 
particular) is not a “lime plant,” and does not 
respond to lime as most other grains do. In our own 
work we have found that both corn and rye prefer 
a somewhat acid soil, and are really held back in 
development by heavy applications of lime. We 
think there is a difference between dents, flint or 
sweet corn in this respect, and from our own ex¬ 
perience we do not wonder that the corn did not re¬ 
spond freely on this heavily limed soil. Where the 
authorities disagree it is hard for the practical far¬ 
mer to decide. Most soils long in cultivation need 
lime in any event. We should not use it freely on 
corn, but we expect good results from its use on 
small grain, grass and clover or cover crops. 
* 
F ROM your experience I would like to have your 
opinion as to what can be made per year per hen 
over and above all expenses, buying all feed. There 
must be some big chicken men in your list who 
could give you this information. I expect to go into 
the chicken business, and I would like a good solid base 
to work on before I take the leap. M. M. 
During the past month we have received at least 
25 such questions. How much profit will a hen pay? 
How long is a piece of string? It looks as if there 
is to be a great migration into the chicken business 
on the part of men and women who know little or 
nothing about it. Some of them may have seen a 
hen, and perhaps have studied books and bulletins, 
but most of them are untried, and have the practical 
part of the business to learn. Now what can an 
honest man tell such people? If he has ever paid 
Oetol»er 17, 
the feed Hill of a flock of hens he knows that the 
bird does not count so much as the man. Is this 
man strong and self-reliant? Has he bulldog deter¬ 
mination and fight? Has he capital enough to carry 
him a year? Is there any streak of laziness in him? 
Does he know what breed lie likes best? Is he capa¬ 
ble of that affection and gentleness which enables a 
man to gain the confidence of a hen or a cow? Un¬ 
less lie has these qualities, or most of them, his hens 
never will give him any profit, and he will merely 
discredit the business by going into it. Let us 
know your character before we make a guess as to 
what a lien will do with you. There are many “big 
chicken men” on our list. Let u« see if any of the 
really big ones who have nothing to sell, will criti¬ 
cize these statements. 
* 
NGLISH farm and garden papers contain ad¬ 
vertisements like the following, from London 
Gardener's Chronicle ; 
WANTED—Two Active YOUNG MEN for Kitchen 
Garden and Pleasure Grounds, for period of war; 
men not eligible for the Army, with slight physical de¬ 
fects; wages 18s. per week, Bothy, etc.—Apply, E. 
STEELE, Acryse Park Gardens, near Folkestone. 
This shows how the European War is affecting 
English labor. Not since tlie danger of Napoleon’s 
invasion a century ago have the English people felt 
the necessity of making every effort to recruit theii 
last available man. Napoleon kept a great army 
on the coast of France for months—waiting for a 
chance to slip across the Channel and strike at Lon¬ 
don. Day and night the English warships watched 
him. and when Nelson won the naval fight at Tra¬ 
falgar there was no hope for a French invasion. 
To-day there is a new peril for England. Her fleet 
may control the water, but who can tell when a 
swarm of airships will fly out. of German territory 
and drop their horrible explosives into the heart of 
London? Surely this is no time for able-bodied 
men to stay at home working in English gardens! 
* 
D R. T. N. CARVER makes a good point out of 
the fact that would-be philanthropists are try¬ 
ing to locate the city cheap and unskilled labor 
on farms. Gangs of cheap labor in our country dis¬ 
tricts will injure social conditions: 
With an abundance of cheap labor at his disposal the 
big farmer will crowd the man of moderate capital from 
the field. If the time ever comes when there is cheap 
labor in the country, as there is now in the city, two 
large classes will be developed, the large land-holding 
class and the working class, with a small third class 
which will hold much the same social position as did 
the poor whites who competed with slave labor in the 
South. 
This point was brought out in our little book. “The 
Child,” and it is one of the great questions which 
this generation must face. The true strength of this 
nation lies in the class of smaller freeholders who 
own and occupy their farms. It is universal history 
that when this class is removed or weakened the 
nation goes down. The “factory system” applied to 
farming—under which gangs of homeless laborers 
produce the nation’s food—will crowd out the free¬ 
holder. The proposed land banks, with the oppor¬ 
tunity they offer for small safe long-time loans, will 
help farmers over and save land, and that is the 
most desirable thing that we can think of. 
BREVITIES. 
Kansas farmers boast of 7,137 silos against 60 in 
1909. 
If your hens cat salt or other food likely to injure 
them as good a thing as you can do is to give a cathar¬ 
tic at once. One or two teaspoonfuls of castor oil to 
each bird will help. 
Magnesite has mostly been imported from Germany. 
There are large deposits in California. The war cre¬ 
ates the necessity and the Panama Canal gives oppor¬ 
tunity for California to supply this mineral. 
A constable or special officer in New Jersey ar¬ 
rested an Italian for stealing fruit. The prisoner 
broke away and ran. The officer fired and killed the 
man. Judge Garrison of the Supreme Court has decided 
that this officer may now be tried for murder. 
The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania has decided 
that the amount of damage collectible on growing tim¬ 
ber set on fire through negligence is not only the value 
of the wood destroyed, but also the injury to the prop¬ 
erty as a whole through the destruction of the young 
growth. 
While this country has supplies of most minerals 
there is a shortage of tin. We must depend on foreign 
countries for our supply. Each year nearly -40.000 tons 
of tin concentrates are sent from Bolivia to Europe to 
be smelted and then brought back here. Now a tin 
smelter is to lie built in this country and the Bolivian 
ores brought directly here. 
Here is a new one from the North Dakota Experi¬ 
ment Station, advising farmers to leave every fourth 
row of corn standing to hold the suow on the land. 
“It was found that oue-fourtli of the cornstalks left 
standing stopped about as much snow as when all were 
left. This will in many cases mean a good deal to the 
next crop. The added moisture will make the soil less 
liable to blow, and the standing stalks will check the 
wind a good deal, near the surface, and this also re¬ 
duces the drifting. Better try leaving a few rows and 
see if it does not pay.” 
