THE R U re A. re NEW-YORKER 
41 
1915. 
THE PROBLEM OF BUYING “OLEO.” 
I WAS much interested in your article, on page 1444, 
concerning the storekeeper, the man who makes his 
living milking cows and the oleo question. Give us 
the other man’s side, the man who works for $1.75 
per day, pays $10 or $12 a month house rent, and has 
a wife and four or five children to feed and clothe. 
What does he think of an agreement between two fel¬ 
low worms that forces him to pay 40 cents per pound 
for butter when he can get a very good substitute for 
half that amount? Wouldn’t he be justified in object¬ 
ing to be the goat and in taking his custom elsewhere? 
G. S. w. 
I fully agree with the suggestion of The R. N.-Y., 
on page 1444, that the dairymen should refuse to trade 
with the country grocer unless he cut out the oleo 
trade. In a good many sections of the Eastern States, 
dairy farming is the main industry. In fact, the very 
nature of the land seems to make it imperative that the 
dairy cow should be the chief source of a livelihood 
for the inhabitants of these sections. Many of these 
now prosperous sections would soon become like the 
poor mountain districts of the South were it not for the 
dairy industry. So it is easy to see that not only the 
farmer himself, but the whole community would suffer 
if the dairy cow should lose her supremacy. A me¬ 
chanic may say that he is in no way connected with 
dairying, and that it is none of his business if the dairy' 
cow is driven out of business; but the man must be 
short-sighted indeed who cannot see that, no matter 
what particular line of work he is engaged in, he would 
suffer at least indirectly if the chief industry of the 
community is hampered. 
I can see no reason why a working man should not 
“go elsewhere” for his oleo if he feels that he cannot 
afford to do otherwise. Of course the country grocer 
could not afford to lose the trade of all those connected 
with dairying in a dairy community just for the sake 
of the pittance that the few who should chance to be 
unconnected with the industry might spend for oleo. 
And also I think that it would be wise for the butter 
makers of these sections to use a little discretion in the 
matter themselves. For instance, I had occasion to 
hire a man from the nearby village, and in the course 
of conversation it came out that this man was using 
oleo on his table at home. 
“Now John,” I said, “I don’t like to have men who 
work for me eat oleomargarine.” 
‘*Oh, but I have to eat it. I can’t afford to buy 
butter while I am only getting the small wages that 
you pay me.” 
“How much do you pay for oleo?” 
“Twenty-five cents a pound.” 
“Very well, I will sell you butter for 25 cents as 
long as you work he >, for none of the money that my 
cows produce shall go towards helping to build up the 
oleomargarine business if I can possibly help it.” 
J. GRANT MORSE. 
CLIMATIC RANGE SHOULD BE STATED 
BY WRITERS. 
NE of the most common errors of writers in agri¬ 
cultural papers is to offer their advice or recom¬ 
mendations without climatic limitations. Editors, 
too, are very apt to base their writings on experience 
obtained within limited areas. Even general principles 
of soil management may be modified by short seasons 
or economic conditions. Before coming into the clay 
country of the North I had repeatedly read in agricul¬ 
tural papers, and even in some supposedly reliable 
books, that soils should never be left exposed through 
the Winter, and that Fall plowing was bad, because it 
leaves the soil in an exposed condition, resulting in a 
great waste of plant food. While these recommenda¬ 
tions will doubtless hold on sandy loam soils, and es¬ 
pecially where such soils are exposed and not frozen 
for many months in the Fall and Winter, they will not 
apply on clay lands and on soils that are commonly 
frozen and covered with snow from November till April. 
The tilth of clay soils is very much improved by leav¬ 
ing them exposed to freezing and thawing without the 
turf covering. It is often impossible to plow and 
prepare such soils for seeding in the Spring. Further¬ 
more, in our short north country seasons it is im¬ 
portant from economic reasons to get our plowing 
done in the Fall when labor conditions do not crowd. 
Many writers are recommending the growing of 
Hairy vetch as a cover crop and green manure, but 
in nearly every instance that has come to my atten¬ 
tion, the writer advises August and September seeding. 
But in Northern New York the Spring seeding of 
Hairy vetch is proving valuable, while the late August 
or September seeding is uncertain because the crop 
does not get sufficient growth in one short Fall season 
to prevent winter-killing. Grown with oats, howevei’, 
if wanted for plowing down the next Fall, we get a 
heavy growth by the latter part of October. If the 
crop is to be carried over Winter and the usual grass 
and clover seeding is made with the oats, the vetch 
makes a valuable addition to the first year’s hay crop. 
Within a few weeks, a writer from Northern New 
York recommended the growing of Soy beans with corn 
as a mixed silage crop, basing his advice on practice 
in this section. In an editorial note the writer’s recom¬ 
mendations were questioned, and the editor said he had 
many letters from farmers advising the growing of 
Soy beans for hay, but they preferred using the corn 
as silage by itself. The editor, no doubt, failed to 
consider that under Northern New York conditions it 
would be practically impossible to make hay of Soy 
beans in the month of September - , especially of the large 
growing kinds that we do find make a heavy growth as 
silage. Over much of Northern and Western New 
York, Soy beans as a silage crop, mixed with corn, are 
proving valuable, but I do not know of a single in¬ 
stance of Soy beans being grown and cured as hay with¬ 
in the same territory. 
Another practice that is recommended without limi¬ 
tations by some writers, is the seeding of grass lands 
in the Fall without a protecting crop. If this were 
done over much of the North, the clover seeding would 
be wasted, but when grass and clover is seeded with 
Spring wheat, barley or oats, it rarely fails. The 
moral, it seems to me, is that writers should give cli¬ 
matic range in all their recommendations. 
St. Lawrence Co., N. Y. ciias. s. piielps. 
R. N.-Y.—This is excellent advice. Mr. Phelps will 
see that in printing the note about Soy beans we fol¬ 
lowed his own suggestions. For, if method, suitable 
in the latitude of New York do not always apply for 
the north country the reverse is also true. While it 
may be best to grow corn and Soy beans together in 
Northern New York there is a growing conviction with 
farmers to the South that they are better separated—• 
one in the silo, the other dried as hay. 
ROOT CROPS IN FARMING. 
N England the root crop has long been the foxinda- 
tion of agriculture. Turnips, beets and cari'ots 
very largely take the place of our silage crops, 
as the corn plant does not do well in England. The 
humble turnip has played a large part in the devel¬ 
opment of English farming—without it the English 
people could not have supplied themselves with food 
through their long wai’s. No wonder some of the 
old-time farmers had sti’ange turnip notion^. In 
1G94 a prominent agricultural writer said: 
“Some in Essex have their fallow after tur¬ 
nips, which feed their sheep in Winter, by means 
of which their turnips are scooped and so made 
capable to hold dews and rain water, which, by cor¬ 
rupting, imbibes the nitre from the air, and when the 
shell breaks it runs about and fertilizes.” 
Those were the good old days—not entirely passed 
away—when farmers judged the value of a manure 
by its smell. That was one reason why they be¬ 
lieved in turnips, and that belief has been justified. 
The turnips not only saved English fanning, but it 
developed the fertilizer industry. It was at one 
time the practice to use neai’ly all the manure on the 
root crop. Then it was found that supei’pliosphates 
or what we call acid phosphate or bone were what 
the turnip specially needed. This led to substitut¬ 
ing the chemicals for manure on this crop. The ma- 
nure could be put on other ci’ops and the fertilizer 
business developed as a substitute for manure. In 
this country most farmers think they have but little 
use for root crops. Corn gives them a silo full of 
succulent matter and the present craze is for Al¬ 
falfa. Thus we are likely to overlook such humble 
friends as rye and turnips. For manurial crops on 
poor soil this combination often makes a remarkable 
showing. We feel confident that turnips have the 
ability to use forms of potash which would not be 
available to corn or other crops. Thus when the 
turnips are plowed under the results are far better 
than any analysis would indicate. As turnip seed 
sprouted into a new English farming it will help us 
in America. 
STARTING A CHEESE FACTORY. 
W E have an ideal location here for a cheese fac¬ 
tory, as it is a central point and on the rail¬ 
road. The farmers are very anxious to have one 
established, but no one seems to have the initia¬ 
tive or ability to put it through. There has been some 
talk of building a cooperative factory but I do not be¬ 
lieve that would be successful. What we desire most is 
some man with experience and money to build and 
operate it himself. We will give ground, furnish ma¬ 
terials, lumber, etc., at cost prices. We will endeavor 
to raise a small purse also. If we are unable to se¬ 
cure such a man, we might erect the building and 
lease it for a term of years to the right sort of cheese 
maker. What is the minimum number of cows neces¬ 
sary and the cost of building and equipment for same? 
Wheeler, N. Y. b. c. W. 
Your best plan is to write to the Department of 
Agriculture at Albany, N. Y. You can obtain plans 
for a cooperative society and if you desire it, workers 
will be sent to help you organize and get the company 
started. Also correspond with the College of Agricul- 
ture at Cornell University; they may be able to locate 
the proper man for you. At any rate the first thing 
to do is to let people know what you want, as this is 
a form of advertising for your purpose. Very likely 
you are right in your ideas of a cooperative factory, 
unless there are three or four strong and capable men 
in the community who are willing to do most of the 
work, and honest and patriotic enough to do this work 
for the good of the community. Many so-called co- 
opei’ative schemes have been started. In theory they 
ought to have done well; in practice however, most of 
the members stand back and let a few of the stronger 
men run things. In many cases this finally changes the 
whole character of the enterprise. Human natui'c is 
vei - y sti'ong, and a few workers often begin to think 
that as they do the work, they ought to have the pro¬ 
ceeds, and so finally, instead of being a cooperative in¬ 
terprise, it is run for the benefit of a smaller minority. 
Probably your people would have to put up your build¬ 
ing and lease it to a responsible cheese maker, and he 
ought to be a man, who not only knows how to make 
cheese, but also knows how to sell it. It will cost from 
$600 up to equip a factory for making cheese. In 
some cases it pays to make butter along with the 
cheese, and the equipment for doing this would call 
for more capital. Of course the size of the factory, the 
local conditions and the number of cows available 
would determine the cost. In order to be really profit¬ 
able, a cheese factory ought to have the milk from 
400 or more cows. 
New York State News. 
T HE AGRICULTURAL TRAIN.—New York’s 
agricultural train, which has been ti'aversing the 
Middle West, has been visited by more than 15,000 
persons. What is most wonderful is the fact that 
many of its visitors were interested, from the 
showing made, in the farms of this State, 
and asked for detailed information concerning 
our farm lands, or made appointments to visit and 
inspect these lands. The train was purposely taken 
through the sections of the West where the farm lands 
were worth from $200 to $300 per acre, and there the 
farmers were asked to compare the px - oduets of their 
own farms with those of New York State, farms that 
can be bought for from $25 to $125 per acre. It is the 
difference in the amount invested that it was necessary 
to take into the comparison, so that when the returns 
wei’e considered, and on the western farms they are un¬ 
deniably large, the net returns on amount invested were 
sought. If the Western farmer is not making more 
than two per cent, on his investment in land worth 
$250 an acre, when New York State land will show as 
good returns from soil of the same quality but costing 
half as much, then there is good reason for making a 
change of location. It is said that the Department of 
Agriculture and real estate agencies in certain sections 
of the State, have had many inquiries as to farm lands 
here since the train has been on its itinerary. 
EASTERN FRUIT GROWERS.—On Feb. 17 to 
19 the annual meeting of the State Fruit Growers Asso¬ 
ciation for the eastern part of the State, will be held in 
Poughkeepsie. The convention will continue one day 
longer than usual, and there will be a large exhibit of 
fruit and fruit-growers’ appliances. A banquet on the 
evening of the 18th will be a feature of the meeting. 
DAIRYMEN’S LEAGUE IN LITTLE FALLS.— 
It is announced that the Dairymens’ league, which was 
organized several months ago at Little Falls, will erect 
there a large milk station in the Spring, and the farm¬ 
ers will then handle their own product. The plant will 
also have facilities for the making of butter and cheese 
so that when the entire product is not needed for ship¬ 
ment to New York some of it may be converted into 
butter or cheese. It is the plan of the league to form 
these dairy companies throughout central New York. 
VEGETABLE GROWERS TO MEET.—The State 
Vegetable Growers’ Association will meet in Ithaca on 
Feb. 9 to 12. Richard Hittinger, of Boston, and Em- 
mon Robex-ts, of Moorestown, N. J., are two of the 
speakers for the occasion. Other speakers from the 
State Agricultural College and from among the grow¬ 
ers will make out an interesting program. The State 
Association is planning to hold one-day sessions in va¬ 
rious parts of the State, the first meeting to be in Buf¬ 
falo on Jan. 14. 
PRISON FARMS.—The forthcoming report of the 
Superintendent of State Prisons will recommend to the 
Legislature a plan for State farms to be located near 
the various State prisons to furnish some of the food 
supplies for these institutions. All this garden truck, 
he believes, can be raised by convict labor, and save 
a large amount each year to the State. It is stated that 
the cost of potatoes used last year at the prisons 
amounted to $21,000. The Superintendent will also 
report on the employment of convict labor on the high¬ 
ways which was pronounced a complete success. 
vicinity it is said there have been, or will be, 25 herds 
of cattle slaughtered on account of the foot and mouth 
disease. In 20 herds there were 380 head of cattle, and 
besides thex'e were also killed 61 swine and a few sheep. 
TOMPKINS COUNTY BREEDERS.—On Jan. 5 
the fifth annual meeting of the Tompkins County Breed¬ 
ers’ Association will be held at Ithaca. Among the 
speakers are Prof. M. W. Harper, E. G. Misner, E. S. 
Hill, H. E. Babcock, V. B. Blatchley, and Prof. II. II. 
Wing. j. w . D . 
Hay and Potato Outlook. 
O UR entire area in hay this year was 49,145,000 
acres, 191,000 more than last year, and 385,000 
less than in 1912. The total yield approximated 
70,071,000 tons, nearly 6,000,000 more than last 
year. The per acre yield was 1.43 tons, or .12 ton less 
than in 1913. 
Throughout the Fall the New York market ranged 
from $15 to $20 for medium to good grades, until ship¬ 
ments were quarantined by the outbreak of foot-and- 
mouth disease. This caused a temporary advance of $2 
per ton, which was followed by a decline and since 
then the market has settled down quite closely to $20 
for No. 1 and around $15 for “feeding” grades. There 
will probably be an increase of one or two dollars at 
the above advances, but with the large crop on hand no 
great rise seems likely, unless it be on some grades, 
which get scarce. Sometimes clover mixed will run 
temporarily short and make an abnormal advance. 
Our total acreage in potatoes was 3,708,000, and the 
yield, approximately, 405.900,000 bushels. The area 
was 140,000 acres more than last yeai - , and the yield 
64,000,000 bushels larger. The average price for the 
whole country is slightly less than 50 cents per bushel, 
or lower than in 1912, when the crop was nearly 20,- 
000,000 bushels larger. 
Reports from interior points are that lax-ge quanti¬ 
ties of potatoes are being stored, as the primary mar¬ 
ket price is too low for present shipment. On the ex¬ 
tent of this storage, both as to quantity and time, will 
largely depend next Spring’s prices. This is a season 
for those with the crop still on hand to keep in ver” 
close touch with their natural market, so as to take 
quick advantage of any temporai’y advance. 
f 
