'i'MLC RUKAL NEW-YORKER 
1215 
Tompkins County, N. Y., Fruit Growers 
Organize. 
W E have organized the Tompkins County (N. 
Y.) Fruit Growers' Association for the pur¬ 
pose of handling and selling our fruit. Our articles 
of organization will show you the way in which 
we are associated and methods of procedure. The 
organization arose out of the fact that one of our 
members conceived the idea that the medium to 
small-sized orchards in this vicinity could to good 
advantage, grade and pack their fruit at one central 
point. There is not enough fruit produced in this 
region, so that competent packing forces are avail¬ 
able in the fruit season, and the orchards are not 
large enough to incur any large expense for a single 
owner to secure a trained packing force. Further, 
the new law regulating grades, in¬ 
creases the difficulty. It seemed that 
if the growers could come together, 
they could ship in car lots and perhaps 
in some cases, make up full cars of a 
single variety, thus getting the ad¬ 
vantage of carload rates. Also it ap¬ 
peared that the advertising of the re¬ 
gion might be done by the organiza¬ 
tion with the object to bring buyers to 
our packing house or call the attention 
of purchasers in other quarters to our 
fruit. 
For this year the organization is 
confined entirely to grading and pack¬ 
ing the fruit, and no responsibility is 
assumed for the selling end. The 
fruit is disposed of at the direction of 
the owner. 
Having conceived the above general 
outline of the organization, the larger 
growers in the region were communi¬ 
cated with concerning the proposition 
and all expressed themselves favorably. One or 
two preliminary meetings were held in connection 
with the Farm Bureau office, with the result that 
the above organization was effected. Several grow¬ 
ers in the region including one or two of the mem¬ 
bers that started with the movement have disposed 
of their fruit in other ways, because of plans that 
had been made in advance, but they are in sympathy 
with the movement and probably would stand with 
it another year. 
We found a large frame building on a railroad 
switch in Ithaca, which had formerly been used for 
grain storage and more recently as a vinegar fac¬ 
tory. It has been leased by the week for our pack¬ 
ing operations. Barrels were purchased by the as¬ 
sociation at a figure three cents below quotations 
that were otherwise secured. Charge for this is 
pro-rated according to the number used 
by the owners. 
We have secured a packing force and 
have begun operations within the last 
week. We have the aid of the Depart¬ 
ment of Pomology', of the College of 
Agriculture, in fixing our grades in 
the minds of the packing force. The 
aim has been to keep operations as 
simple as possible and to supplant the 
owners’ individual efforts no further 
than he desires to have that done and 
at the same time to get the advantage 
of centralization and a larger quan¬ 
tity' of produce. The vinegar house is 
equipped with the facilities for the 
manufacture of vinegar and already 
inquiries have been made as to wheth¬ 
er the association would extend its 
range of operations another season. 
All that remains to be determined by 
the produce growers of the region. 
e. o. PIPPIN. 
It. N.-Y.—Such organizations are 
possible in every county, and they 
point the way to a solution of the marketing prob¬ 
lem. They will enable the individual growers to get 
together and standardize their fruit. The auction 
market can handle the apples and get them right 
to the retailers or consumers. 
gin with three or four cows, and as his capital in¬ 
creases will increase his dairy to 15 or 20. Now, T 
do not know more about the case than that. My 
guess is that he has read certain papers that are 
intended for entertainment, and possibly some farm 
papers, until he has a false idea of farming. lie 
seems to be living in town. He probably does not 
realize that farming is a close business, and that 
even a man who is closely up to times in farming 
has quite a job to make any money. Farming is 
a business for the man who understands it and likes 
it, and who wants to live in the open and develop 
along the lines of country living. It is not a place 
to get rich quick even when fully understood. 
A hundred acres can be bought for $2,000. but it 
will not be a level flat. After much looking some 
such place may be found on a hilltop that will he 
Live Stock on a New York Dog Farm. Fig. 461. 
fairly level. I am unable to point out just such a 
place as this man wants, but if he did not care about 
getting farther from the big city, it would be easier 
to find one. With so small an amount of money to 
begin with, unless there is other money to start the 
business, it will require the highest experience and 
most rigid economy to pay one’s way r , to say nothing 
of increasing the capital. Knowledge gained at first 
hand from the farm, with hard work of an efficient 
sort, and close economy, might enable this man to 
gain a home in the country. n. h. Lyons. 
The Back-to-the-Lander. 
T HERE is such a diversity of cases of people that 
want to get to farming that one is puzzled 
sometimes how to advise. One correspondent says 
lie was brought up on a farm, but does not state how 
long he remained there. He wants a farm in the 
Hudson Valley, but at an elevation of 1,000 to 2,000 
feet. He does not want a hilly farm, but a run-down 
farm he thinks he can shortly improve. It must be 
a farm of about 100 acres, and should not cost over 
$2,000. He can pay down $200 or $.”00. He will be¬ 
automobiles. Their farms are sustaining soil fer¬ 
tility, instead of depleting it. j. mifflin. 
It. N.-Y.—It is strange how so many western 
farmers have come to believe that the purchase of 
chemical fertilizers is evidence of poor farming. It 
is no more so than the purchase of feed, machinery 
or live stock. It is true, as we have often pointed 
out, that thousands, if not millions of dollars have 
been spent foolishly in the purchase of fertilizers 
which were not needed, or which should have been 
utilized from home supplies. For example, it is 
not good economy to spend money for organic ni¬ 
trogen in tankage, blood or fish, while clover or 
vetch can be grown as a catch crop and supply such 
nitrogen free of cost. It is poor economy to buy 
potash, while great quantities of it are being wasted 
in the liquid manure. It is bad business to keep on 
buying potash or phosphoric acid while 
your soil is abundantly supplied with 
these elements. While money spent in 
buying chemicals is not usually lost 
through such mistakes it is not wisely 
invested. 
The proper use of chemicals, how¬ 
ever, is just as sensible and profitable 
as the use of machinery or of grain 
for feeding stock. The best and most 
profitable farming in America today is 
based on the liberal nse of chemical 
fertilizers, and this will be true more 
and more in the future. We might 
find farms which maintain their crops 
and their fertility out of their own 
soil without importing either manure, 
feed or chemicals, but it would not 
follow that this was the most profit¬ 
able or the highest type of farming. 
If by the purchase of certain chemi¬ 
cals like potash and phosphoric acid, 
to help out or “balance” the manure 
made on such a farm larger crops could be grown, 
it would be a good investment to use the chemicals. 
That is the way a farmer should look at this sub¬ 
ject and regard an investment in chemicals the same 
as he would one in feed or machinery. 
Good Farming and Good Fertilizing. 
Y OUR correspondent F. R. on page 1002 wonders 
whether any farmers in the East are operating 
farms that are self-sustaining as to soil fertility, etc. 
Winter Storage For Celery. Fig. 462. 
If F. It. will take the trouble to take a short trip 
through Lancaster and Cumberland counties, Penn¬ 
sylvania. and look over many of the farms there, he 
will have little to wonder about. Many farms are 
not only self-sustaining as to stock food and plant 
food, but have such a surplusage that they buy live 
stock from other sections to feed their surplus to. 
As for plant food, the fact that a man buys plant 
food does not indicate that his farm would not be 
self-sustaining in this direction; it would indicale 
that he was progressive and working for the best 
possible results. The buying of fertilizer and feed 
do not indicate anything as to the self-sustaining 
features of a farm. Many farmers throughout 
Pennsylvania have nothing to depend upon but their 
farm, and are feeding more live stock than they 
raise themselves, sell a fair proportion of their 
crops, aside from what they feed, and are buying 
The Luther Burbank Society. 
|It seems to be a dead one now, but it has some live 
wires for touching up the pocketbook through, the 
bump of vanity. Therefore it may be well to see how 
they did it. The following is from an “Honorary Mem¬ 
ber” who did not pay for the honor.] 
I NOTICE an editorial headed “What is Their 
Little Game Anyway,” referring to the Luther 
Burbank Society. There is another side or game 
which I have not seen in your paper. I am an hon¬ 
orary member—the membership being offered me be¬ 
cause of my “standing” as "prominent 
citizen,” etc., and the assurance given 
that I would be at no expense and 
would only be asked to help spread the 
Burbank knowledge in this vicinity. 
All the correspondence was ready for 
me to sign and they even sent stamped 
envelopes, it looked so easy I won¬ 
dered where I was to pay this money. 
After a few exchanges of correspond¬ 
ence (as noted above) and receipt of 
some handsome color pictures (photos) 
of Burbank looking at some seedlings, 
etc., it came; and in this way. it 
seems that the regular members were 
entitled to or had got together for 
themselves (no outsider could have 
any—not even an honorary member) 
a limited number of sets of valuable 
Burbank books. But as the new mem¬ 
bers, etc., heard of these priceless 
books, they set up such a cry that they 
wanted to bring it up before the so¬ 
ciety, as to letting, others have these 
valuable books, and as I was an hon¬ 
orary member, I was entitled to vote on the mat¬ 
ter, and they did it in this way, sent a printed pos¬ 
tal card, on which all I had to do was to make my 
X mark in the square “yes” or “no,” and sign my 
name. But the reading after the “yes” was some¬ 
thing like this: “I vote (X) yes—and reserve me 
a set of the Burbank books for which I agree to 
pay eighty-one ($81) dollars,” etc., etc., (you know 
the rest). Needless to say—I didn't agree to take 
the books. I did vote “yes” but multilated the 
agreement part—and said 1 was willing that they 
should let any one cine have them that wanted them 
—but that / didn’t want them. I have never heard 
from them since. As you said once, it was the slick¬ 
est thing that came down the pike. o. 
If we had a good crop of cow peas growing for green 
manuring purposes we should plow them under about 
October 1 and sow rye for a Fall and Winter covering. 
