THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
1420 
December 5, 
The Rural New-Yorker 
THE BU SIS ESS FARMER'S TAPER 
X National Weekly Journal for Country nn<l Suburban Home* 
Established isso 
Published weekly by the Rural Publishing Company, 883 West 30th Street. New York 
IT krbkrt W. Collingwood, President and Editor. 
John J. Dillon, Treasurer and General Maqager. 
Wm. F. Dillon, Secretary. Mrs. E. T. Royle, Associate Editor. 
SUBSCRIPTION: ONE DOLLAR A YEAR 
To foreign countries in the Universal Postal Union. §2.04, equal to 8s. Od., or 
S($ marks, or lOJs francs. Remit in money order, 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 hacked 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 differences 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 be confused with dishonest 
transactions. We protect subscribers against rogues, but we will not be 
responsible for the debts of honest bankrupts sanctioned by tbe courts, 
Notice of the complaint must be sent to us within one mouth ot the time of 
tbe transaction, and to identify it, you should mention The Rural New- 
Yorker when writing the advertiser. 
A WHOLE lot of gentlemen are getting ready 
to “save the dear old farmer ” by selling him 
some new form of potash. Well, sir, there 
is just one argument worth listening to. .When you 
get ready to offer available potash for less than five 
to six cents a pound eome forward! Until that time 
comes — what’s the use? 
T HIS is another warning about the so-called “Bar¬ 
ron'’ strain of Leghorns and Wyandottes. Take 
our advice and breed these strains pure if at 
all. Do not cross with your American Leghorns if 
the latter now lay a chalk white egg, and do not buy 
breeding stock which represents a cross of the two 
strains. Evidently some of our American breeders 
bought a cockerel or a few eggs of this Barron stock 
and have made a cross with the American birds. 
Now they offer the results of this crossing as pure 
“Barron” stock, when it is nothing of the sort Such 
pullets will make good layers—though the eggs will 
probably show more or less tint, hut they ai'e not 
what you want as breeders. Make the “papers” of 
those Barron birds fit like the paper on the wall, or 
do not use them for breeding! 
* 
W ILL you state clearly the points in the following 
questions: What is customary for a man work¬ 
ing a farm on thirds; the owner finding all imple¬ 
ments and horses? Do we find one-third of any¬ 
thing or does he bear all expenses and pay us one-third 
for work? J. A. 
New York. 
This calls for explanation a dozen times a year. 
The usual plan is to divide the business into three 
parts, real estate, labor and personal property. If 
the owner furnishes the real estate and the tenant 
gives the labor they would each receive one-third. 
The remaining third would be divided in proportion 
as each contributed to it. If the owner provided all 
stock, seed, fertilizer and capital, the entire third 
would come to him. If the tenant provided some of 
the stock and paid a share of the bills he would re¬ 
ceive a share of this third in proportion to what he 
paid in. This is the basis for figuring such contracts. 
* 
S UPPOSE all farmers by improved methods of culti¬ 
vation should increase the output of their farms 25 
per cent, or even 10 per cent. ; the result would be 
disastrous in the extreme in the lowering of prices 
to a non-profitable point. 
A writer in the New York Sun makes this point, 
which we have used repeatedly without serious con¬ 
tradiction : 
The rest of us, not dependent upon the soil for a liv¬ 
ing, would enjoy in some degree cheaper flour, corn, 
cotton, butter, eggs, etc. I say in some degree, because 
the middleman never gives us the full benefit of the low 
rates at which he buys farm products, but where does 
the farmer come in? His efforts to increase the pro¬ 
ductive capacity of his soil, instead of bringing him re¬ 
ward in the shape of profits, may deprive him of any 
profits whatever. It is to the interest of the farmers 
of the country as a whole to curtail production in order 
to maintain high or at least relatively high prices. 
Just now everyone, from the Secretary of the 
Treasury down to the small storekeeper at the South 
who “finances” a colored tenant farmer, is trying to 
compel planters to grow less cotton. In some States 
laws are contemplated which would make it a mis¬ 
demeanor to plant a full acreage. Low prices for 
farm crops will always mean a low grade farming. 
The railroads are all greatly in favor of increasing 
the nation’s crops. This means more business for 
them, and at the same time lower prices for farm 
products. Yet while advocating big crops and low 
prices for farmers the railroads are demanding high¬ 
er freight rates for themselves! The farmer will be 
inclined to take “efficiency” at its college valuation 
when he sees the railroads, the feed men, the fertil¬ 
izer men, and the manufacturer making “two blades 
of grass grow where one grew before.” “Efficiency” 
for all those big interests means making a thing as 
cheaply as possible, and then curtailing the output so 
as to hold up the price. 
T HERE is a model flour mill located at the Kan¬ 
sas Agricultural College—with a capacity of 75 
barrels every 24 hours. Wheat is grown on the 
college farm. The students and faculty have pledged 
a carload of wheat grown and milled at this college 
to be sent to relieve the suffering Belgians. The flour 
.sacks will be stamped “Aggie’s Best”—in purple and 
white—the college colors. A noble and characteristic 
charity! This bread upon the waters will return in 
the form of cake for Kansas. Over 30 years ago the 
writer lived in a Colorado town. Wheat was the 
staple crop, but there was such a tremendous yield 
that prices were at the bottom, and many a farmer 
stood to lose his land. A river flood did great dam¬ 
age to Memphis and towns below that city, and there 
was a call for help. Out of their poverty the farmers 
contributed a carload of wheat. It was ground at 
the local mill and sent on without thought of any 
return. The quality of that flour from Colorado 
wheat was so superior that as a result of that ship¬ 
ment orders for more came rushing in, and it proved 
the beginning of a superior and profitable trade. 
* 
i {T'LL sell you the straw stack for $3.50.” There 
[ were 2% tons of straw in it. The buyer held 
off. He said: “I can get a straw stack for 
hauling it away, but I would rather pay something 
for this one than go that much further and pull over 
bad roads.” The first farmer had a partly worn-out 
property, he was paying tribute to fertilizer interests 
to the extent of nearly $100 a year, and was forget¬ 
ting a conservative estimate of the value of that 2 1 / £- 
ton straw stack would easily he $6.50, according to 
fertilizer values. Many men are selling straw from 
the farm at $5 a ton, hauling it to station over a half 
a dozen miles of bad roads, and hauling back fertil¬ 
izer or trading their straw check to even up fertil¬ 
izer account The average ton of wheat straw con¬ 
tains 12 pounds of potash, of oat straw 25 pounds. A 
ton of the straw used as bedding will absorb and hold 
about 50 pounds more potash—most of which would 
otherwise be lost in the liquid. In northern New Jer¬ 
sey we often sell rye straw at $20 or more per ton. 
This may pay, but to let the straw go for less than 
$10 per ton is robbing the farmer to pay the taxes. 
* 
W E have expressed our opinion of “stone meal” 
on various occasions. We do not believe it is 
worth much more than many common soils 
found in the State of New Jersey. Mr. C. Schnell, of 
the Stonemeal Company, still takes his product se¬ 
riously and he comes back in a long letter which con¬ 
tains the following: 
We have unsolicited, un-bought-and-paid-for expert 
evidence that about 4 per cent, of our potash in the com¬ 
position is water-soluble, and as a very considerable 
portion of our potash in silicate of potash, the only 
form congenial and assimilable to plants and the only 
form supplied for their use by the All-wise Creator, we 
are to-day the only concern in this country able to make 
the inexhaustible masses of potash in our feldspatic 
rocks available. Therefore we ought to get friendly co¬ 
operation from “farmers’ friends” ; yes, from every pat¬ 
riotic American, instead of sneering, insinuating con¬ 
demnation. That, however, has always been the lot ot 
missionaries. 
The muriate, sulphate, kainit and other forms of 
available potash so largely used as fertilizers were 
also supplied by the All-wise Creator! If this “stone 
meal” contains four per cent, of available potash 
(which we doubt) that makes it worth about $4 per 
ton. Now when farmers are charged $30 per ton for 
this stuff where do they find the other $26 of value? 
Our agricultural chemists have worked out definite 
methods of estimating the value of plant food. They 
say this “stone meal” is worth about $4 per ton. The 
company selling it asks a farmer to pay $30 for it. 
It is up to them to explain where the $26 difference 
in value comes in. As for the claims that this 
crushed rock will prevent blight, rust or rot. we call 
that “guff” pure and simple—not worth considering 
in the light of agricultural science. 
* 
W HENEVER the price of wheat goes above the 
average the city man claims that all farmers 
must be getting rich. He seems to think that 
wheat is grown on every farm in the country so that 
all prosper when that grain brings one dollar or 
more per bushel. The fact is that high prices for 
wheat and flour prove a hardship to a large propor¬ 
tion of our farmers, because they buy most of the 
flour they use. In only 18 of the States is the wheat 
crop large enough to give a surplus above the local 
requirements, while in 30 States wheat and flour 
must be brought in from other sections. In the nine 
States comprising New England, New York, New Jer¬ 
sey and Pennsylvania, thei'e is a yearly deficit of 
115,800.000 bushels of wheat below the crop produced 
in this territory. Years ago New York produced 
wheat enough to provide flour for her entire popula¬ 
tion and then had a large supply for export. Now 
the State requires 45,000.000 bushels each year in 
addition to what her own soil produces. Of all the 
Atlantic coast States, from Maine to Florida, only 
two—Delaware and Maryland—produce a small sur¬ 
plus of wheat. Even Ohio falls short over 6,000,000 
bushels. Indiana is the only State left east of the 
Mississippi that produces any large surplus of wheat. 
The Northwest has now become the great granary 
of the continent. Wisconsin, once a great wheat pro¬ 
ducer, now runs 9,000,000 bushels behind. It is no re¬ 
flection upon the Eastern farmers that they have 
given up growing wheat. It is an indication of good 
management, since they have taken up dairying, fruit 
growing or the production of more profitable crops. 
California was once noted as a wheat producing 
State, hut now fruits and nuts pay so much hotter 
that 8,000,000 bushels must be brought from other 
States to meet home requirements. Our opinion is 
that with higher prices more wheat will be grown 
in the Eastern States. At present, however, an in¬ 
creased price for wheat and flour means that the 
Eastern farmer must pay more for his broad and 
also for his feed, since all feeds rise in price when 
wheat and corn are high. The average city man 
cannot grasp the idea that Eastern farming is com¬ 
ing to be a business of specialties. Whereas years 
ago each farm produced its own bread and meat and 
a large share of needed fibre now many of them 
produce some specialty like milk or fruit or vege¬ 
tables, and with the money thus obtained buy what 
other farmers also produce as specialties. 
* 
T HERE are all sorts of middlemen. Some farm¬ 
ers sell their produce to commission merchants, 
other sell them to animals—cows, steers, 
sheep, hogs or poultry. This thing of selling produce 
to animals is not well understood—hut it is just 
what a dairy, hog or poultry farmer does. The cow, 
hog or hen accepts the hay, grain or fodder, and 
turns it into a cash product. When the commission 
man gives us a 35-eent dollar we have a name for 
him, and the other string of handlers which would 
not look nice in print. What about the friend on 
four legs or the friend in feathers who gives us a 
35-cent dollar? We have this friend under control, 
while the human middleman is out of our reach. 
Consider the yeai''s record of those Hope Farm 
“hens.” During the year one of them laid 79 eggs, 
while another laid 190. It is safe to assume that 
the poor bird ate as much as the other. From her 
appearance we should judge she ate more! Yet, in 
returns com paired with the good one this hen gave 
but a 40-cent dollar. It was really less than that, 
for the poor bird did her laying when eggs were 
cheapest. With a flock of that poor character a far¬ 
mer would lose money on every bushel of grain he 
fed, while there would be a good profit in selling to 
the other bird. This difference will run through all 
kinds of live stock. The Department of Agriculture 
finds this true in figuring the income and capital of 
general farming: 
Investigations relating to profits in farming show 
conclusively that the efficiency of the animals to which 
the crops are fed is one of the most important factors 
in determining the farmer’s net income. This is to be 
expected, since on many farms in this country the bulk 
of the crops is in reality sold to the dairy herd or to 
meat producing animals. If these are of such poor qual¬ 
ity that they yield low returns for their feed the in¬ 
come to the farmer must be correspondingly small. 
Hence, no matter how large the total investment, if the 
quality of the equipment is deficient financial failure is 
inevitable. 
There is no question about that. A scrub may 
prove a good individual producer. The chances are 
10 to one against her, because no effort has been 
made to take the failures out of her pedigi-ee. There 
are 10 chances to one in favor of the purebred be¬ 
cause every effort has been made to keep these fail¬ 
ures out. 
BREVITIES. 
Frozen roots—poor food. 
“Back-to-the-landing” seems to be expanding. 
Under Mendel’s law which would carry the dominant 
principle—a scrub man or a purebred cow? 
A farmer says this new motto, “An apple a day 
keeps the doctor away” is not correct. The local doctor 
stops for an apple every time he drives near. 
The time difference between Paris and Washington 
has been settled as five hours 17 minutes and a fraction 
over 36V-> seconds. In miles the distance is 3,831. 
We have several readers who ask us to tell all about 
whitewashing with a pump. How make the whitewash 
and how put it on? What nozzle? How much power? 
Parties come and parties go—politics work to and 
fro, but you cannot legislate man into a moral State. 
He must work it out himself or be left upon the shelf. 
Tiie things of life which all men prize, come unto 
those who advertise, who come right out where all may 
see with character and pedigree stamped on the package 
full and fair. They get the trade and some to spare. 
The war is upsetting all forms of industry in Europe. 
Formerly wood was used for mine props in English 
coiil pits. Germany declared such wood contraband of 
war. Now steel tubes from old boilers covered with 
concrete are being substituted. 
