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The Rural New-Yorker 
THE BUSINESS FARMERS PARER 
\ National Weekly Journal tor Country and Suburban Homes 
Established tsso 
I'ublUlird wrrLlr by the Rural Publishing Company. 333 West 30tli Street. New Forll 
Herbert W. Colling wood, President and Editor. 
John J. Dillon, Treasurer and General Manager. 
W». F. Dillon, Secretary. Mrs. E. T. Rovlk, Associate Editor. 
SUBSCRIPTION : ONE DOLLAR A YEAR 
To foreign countries in the Universal Postal Union, $2.01. equal to 8s. Gd., or 
8!' 3 marks, or 10 V. francs. Remit in money order, express 
order j” 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 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 eases 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 the courts. 
Notice of the complaint must be sent to us within one month of the time of 
the transaction, and to identify it, you should mention The Rural New- 
Yorker when writing the advertiser. 
The Favorite Hen Contest 
U l* to April 18 the six leaders among the 30 Favor¬ 
ite Hens at the egg-laying contest—1G9 days 
from the start—were: 
Tilly—White Wyandotte . 113 eggs 
Lotiisine—Huff Orpington . 104 “ 
Polly—R. I. Red . 98 “ 
Petty M.—R. I. Red. 81 “ 
Rose—R. I. Red . SO “ 
Beauty—White Leghorn . SO “ 
Tilly, the leader, went five weeks without laying. 
She lias therefore laid 113 eggs inside of 134 days. 
Something of a hen—and from a farm woman’s flock 
which never was exploited or advertised! 
(( Y DON'T see for the life of me how farmers 
_£ will support a paper that will publish ar¬ 
ticles like enclosed clippings. J. m. 
Pennsylvania. 
Our friend sends us two clippings from a well- 
known farm paper. It refers to “the economic false¬ 
hood of the farm producer’s 35-cent dollar,” etc., 
etc. This paper claims that producers of butterfat 
receive over 71 cents out of every dollar the con¬ 
sumer paid for that fat as butter. Then it says the 
milk, egg and poultry dollars are also exceptions to 
the 35-cent rule. Now, of course, this paper knows 
just what we mean by the 35-cent dollar and you 
notice it is very careful to keep away from potatoes 
and fruit this year. As for poultry, wait and read 
the articles on the live poultry trade that are com¬ 
ing. It happens that we are paying nine and 10 
cents a quart for milk in this city while a relative 
100 miles away is obtaining 3y 2 cents for milk of 
the same grade! Farmers can be safely left to take 
care of these papers. We have given up trying to 
find out why they act as they do. “ Thou art neither 
cohl nor hot," and who cares for lukewarm support? 
I T is reported that the Germans have succeeded in 
making a substitute for butter out of sunflower 
oil. Great crops of sunflowers will be planted 
all over the Empire in vacant places, along roads, 
and at railroad stations, with the idea of securing 
as large a crop as possible for making sunflower 
butter. As everyone knows who has ever tried to 
cure sunflowers in a damp climate, the seeds are 
oily, and the oil has a pleasant odor and taste. 
There is apparently no good reason why sunflower 
butter would be more difficult to manufacture than 
our present oleo. The German chemists work mir¬ 
acles in their laboratories, and there is no doubt 
whatever that they will work out this plan of utiliz¬ 
ing sunflower oil. At the beginning of the war we 
stated frankly that the industrial discoveries grow¬ 
ing out of efforts to obtain food would have a great¬ 
er effect upon the world than any change in the map 
of Europe. We still believe this view is correct 
The discovery of oleo during the siege of Paris has 
certainly had a far-reaching effect upon the dairy 
industry, and such work as this utilizing of sunflow¬ 
er oil, or the discovery of new uses for the potato 
crop will, in the future, change the eating habits 
of human beings, and thus change the agriculture 
of the world. 
* 
The aching longing for some music, pictures, even 
the bustle of the cities. The dreadful stillness; the 
night sounds make her mcdancholy in spite of herself. 
It takes mental and moral courage of the highest type 
and devotion to a husband’s interests or children’s wel¬ 
fare to make it endurable. 
N O; this is not a description of woman’s lot on 
the plains, 30 miles from a neighbor. They are 
the words of a cultured New York State woman 
who has gone with her husband back to the land. 
They are within a half day’s drive of a bustling town 
and are surrounded by villages, yet, for all practical 
purposes, are as isolated as though pioneers in a 
new country. The work of the farm keeps them at 
home; their immediate neighbors are, for the most 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
part, foreigners, hut few of whom can speak Eng¬ 
lish. Six miles from town sounds but a short dis¬ 
tance, in a real estate circular, but for the farmer’s 
family, tired from the day’s work and without other 
means of transport than equally tired horses, it 
may ofttimes as well be 00 miles. Is there a remedy 
for this loneliness of the country? In many cases we 
believe that there is, and that it may be found in 
the development of neighborhood life. The towns 
cannot, and must not. be depended upon for social 
recreation, though this is the most unfortunate 
tendency. The previous generation, our pioneers of 
the hills, were more self sufficient than we. They 
had their country church, now so generally deserted, 
their neighborhood gatherings, and mutual interests 
which the attraction of the town had not yet broken 
up. Much of this can yet be restored in a form 
modified to suit present conditions. In all communi¬ 
ties there are families of exceptional culture and 
ability, and it is upon these that the community 
must depend for leadership. This may mean to 
them frequent sacrifice of their own tastes and de¬ 
sires that others whose standards are lower may he 
reached and helped. Self-sacrifice has never yet 
been without its rewards, however, and what great¬ 
er can one ask than to feel that he has been in¬ 
strumental in helping to raise community life to a 
higher level and in furnishing a bit of the leaven 
which lightens daily drudgery? 
* 
I T seems as if every man who is worth pushing on 
to better things has a certain amount of what we 
call “sporting blood” in his veins. He likes a con¬ 
test of some sort in which the value of pedigree or 
training may be demonstrated. These two things— 
pedigree and training—are back of all permanent 
improvement, and this truth is made clear by a 
contest Now you will remember that we have made 
some strong statements about nut culture and nut 
eating. Off in the New England woods today are 
growing hickory trees that will do more for that 
section than the Baldwin apple or Concord grape 
have ever done. These superior nuts will one day 
be found, tested fully and propagated so as to make 
hickory growing rank with walnut culture in Cali¬ 
fornia or France, or pecan growing in the Gulf 
States. A large contract, you may say, but con¬ 
sider the size of the future and its needs! In the 
future man will cut his beefsteaks and roast mut¬ 
ton off nut trees. We believe fully that the nut 
tree and the hen are to supply the coxuiug man with 
much of the protein he now obtains in meat. Can¬ 
not work and think and fight without meat, you 
say? The fighting may as well be cut out, but when 
it comes to strength and endui’ance the time has 
come to match the nut tree against the beef steers. 
Mr. Ralph Barnes of Massachusetts, is a nut eater, 
and does not touch meat. Here are a couple of tests 
Avhich he claims to have given befoi’e witnesses who 
kept accurate count: 
Test number 1. Standing with the hands on the hips, 
bend the knees till sitting on the heels and then return 
to the starting position. This test I performed 5,102 
times in three houx-s and 55 minutes. 
Test number 2. Standing with the arms stretched 
straight up over the head then bending the trunk down¬ 
ward till the fingers touch the floor (keeping the knees 
straight) and returning to the starting position. This 
test I performed 3,000 times in two hours and 20 
minutes. 
Now we never saw Mr. Barnes play jumping-jack 
in this way, hut for the good of the cause we feel 
inclined to back him against some meat eater of his 
own age. Oxir own poor body calls a halt before 50 
of these exercises have been finished! Here is a 
chance for a contest between the Northern Nut 
Growers’ Association and the National Butchers' 
Association. No doubt the latter could furnish some 
champion with a recoi’d for eating rare beefsteak. 
Come, gentlemen, we can see great possibilities in 
pitting the peanut and the hickory against the prize 
steer! 
* 
Why docs not The R. N.-Y. discuss more of the, 
great world problems as some of the other papers 
do? Why waste, your powers on smaller things? 
s. J. w. 
HAT is a good question to ask. We notice that 
some of the papers do attempt to discuss “world 
problems,” and to be frank about it, they know 
very little of their subject. A vast amount of very 
thin “guff” finds its way into print through the 
mistaken idea which some men have that they must 
look wise and talk profoundly because it is fash¬ 
ionable to do so. The great world problems as we 
see them are governed and settled by the thought 
and behavior of men and women in their own homes. 
Do we not know that today, when coopex-ation and 
brotherhood are so greatly needed in business and 
in the world’s affairs, the greatest drawback of all 
is the inability of families and communities to com¬ 
bine in tnxe unselfish spii'it? We can imagine a 
May 8; 1915. 
great building towering in magnificence in the city 
on which the humbler workmen thought of nothing 
but the great completed building. Thus they forgot 
the importance of inspecting material, looking after 
concrete, small bolts, perfect joints and all the 
petty little details—and thus the building proved a 
failui’e. It is a fair criticism of our agricultural ed¬ 
ucation that it is getting away from the ground— 
dealing too much with “big world problems” and not 
enough with those of home and family. We think 
farmers should consider the great world’s changes 
which are sure to affect agriculture, yet the most 
important thing of all is to try to put vision, thought 
and principle into the common things of farm life. 
Prof. Emery of Yale put the thought we have in 
mind in the following words; 
You can place the Decalogue—yes. a thousand deca¬ 
logues—on your statute books, and all based on the 
soundest principles of political economy, hut you will 
not thereby abolish poverty, or misery, or injustice. 
But put the Sermon on the Mount in the hearts of your 
people, and it matters not who makes your laws. 
For years The R. N.-Y. has tried to teach that 
principle. Common people can influence the things 
they can touch. The way to make our nation and 
the world better is to begin with ourselves, our fam¬ 
ilies and our own neighborhoods. 
* 
S O far as we can learn the first attempt at pub¬ 
lishing an agricultural or farm paper was made 
in England in 1081. John Houghton started the 
••Collection of Letters For The Improvement of 
Husbandry and Trade.” As the name implies Hough¬ 
ton had the right idea of a farm papex*. He filled 
it with the practical experience of his readers. That 
plan has always beaten the long essay type of paper. 
In that age, 200 years ago. America was supposed 
to he a wilderness, yet it is probable that Boston 
and New York knew more of each other than one 
rural county of England knew of the next one. 
Those were the days when, in order to stimulate 
the clothing trade, the English Parliament passed 
laws ordering the burial of the dead in woolen cloth. 
There is no record as to how Houghton obtained 
his subscribers. We hope he had friends, as The 
R. N.-Y. has. to go out of their way to increase the 
size of the family. 
* 
T HE New York Legislature gave a curious illus¬ 
tration of the power of public opinion in its 
handling of what is known as the cannery bill. 
Under the old law women and minors are not per¬ 
mitted to woi’k more than 00 hours in one week. In 
the rush seasons at the canning factories, stock often 
accumulates so that it cannot he handled before 
spoiling unless the helpers work overtime. A bill 
was introduced making it lawful for women to work 
72 hours in one week, or an average of 12 houi’s per 
day. This passed both houses and went to Gov. 
Whitman. lie granted a healing at which such 
fierce opposition was shown that the Governor de¬ 
cided to veto the bill. He finally suggested that the 
bill be called back and amended so as to give the 
v 
State Labor Commissioner the light to grant the 
72-hour limit in case the canuers could prove it 
was necessary. This was finally done, the Legisla¬ 
ting recalling its bill. There was bitter argument 
on both sides, but it became evident that public sen¬ 
timent is still stubbornly in favor of shortening the 
hours for woman’s labor in factories. Put what 
about the labor of farm women? Do you know any 
who work 72 hours or more per week? What is the 
length of woman’s home work anyway? Suppose 
we gather a few statistics about the farm as well 
as the factory. 
* 
Brevities 
The conceited man is certainly an / specialist. 
It seems that we may set the barn owls after the Eng¬ 
lish sparrows. 
Give one good reason why your boy should have an 
easier time than you had at his age. 
“I hasten to approve of your work through my re¬ 
newal,” says E. I). P. Very satisfactory proof to us. 
As a first lesson in political economy, find out who 
represents you at the State capital and at Washington. 
The authorities of Maine will not permit the ship¬ 
ment of poultry into the State on account of the foot- 
and-mouth disease. 
We have never received our money back when spread¬ 
ing lime on a grass sod. The lime should be worked into 
the soil to be effective. 
There are people who make their mark in life and 
then fail to use the blotting paper of common sense. 
Then life becomes a smear. 
Let it be recorded. Muck or swamp soils contain 
some nitrogen hut very little potash or phosphoric acid. 
Lime is needed to sweeten such soils and put them at 
work. 
Do we not all know men who keep horses and yet 
know so little about them they never should be per¬ 
mitted to come near a good horse? If tLis is true_ it 
is all the more a sure thing that no man should think 
of buying a tractor unless he is enough of a mechanic 
to know how to handle it properly. 
