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THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
The Rural New-Yorker 
THE BUSINESS FARMER'S PAPER 
A Notional Weekly Journal for Country and Suburban Ilomea 
Established iSiO 
Published weekly by the Rnral Publishing Company, 333 West 30th Street, New Pork 
Herbert W. Colli vg wood, President and Editor. 
John J. Dillon, Treasurer and General Manager. 
Wm. F. Dillon, Secretary. Mrs. E. T. Royle, Associate Editor. 
SUBSCRIPTION : ONE DOLLAR A YEAR 
To foreign countries in the Universal Postal Union. 82.0f. equal to 8s. 6d., or 
81fc marks, or )0!$ francs. Remit in money order, express 
order, personal cheek 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 
advertisera 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 w illingly 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 the courts. 
Notice of the complaint must be sent to us within one month o t the time of 
the transaction, and to identify it, you should mention The Rural New- 
Yorker when writing the advertiser. 
Thanksgiving. 
Let us be thankful—not alone because 
Since last our universal thanks were told 
We have grown greater in the world’s applause, 
And fortune’s newer smiles surpass the old. 
But thankful for all things that come as alms 
From out the open hand of Providence— 
The Winter clouds and storms—the Summer calms— 
The sleepless dread—the drowse of indolence. 
Let us be thankful—thankful for the prayers 
Whose gracious answers were long, long delayed, 
That they might fall upon us unawares, 
And bless us, as in greater need we prayed. 
Let us be thankful for the loyal hand 
That love held out in welcome to our own, 
When love, and only love, could understand 
The need of touches we had never known. 
Let us be thankful for the longing eyes 
That gave their secret to us as they wept, 
Yet in return found, with a sweet surprise, 
Love’s touch upon their lids, and, smiling, slept. 
And let us, too, be thankful that the tears 
Of sorrow have not all been drained away, 
That through them still, along the coming years, 
We may look on the dead face of Today. 
-—James Whitcomb Riley. 
* 
T HANKSGIVING is essentially a farm holiday. 
Established at a time when American city life 
was unknown the holiday still brings to mind old 
scenes, country hills and old-time family reunions. 
There are no doubt families which have not for two 
or three generations had their roots in the soil. We 
can hardly understand how such people can ever 
get the true spirit of Thanksgiving—and we feel 
sorry for them. This spirit comes naturally to the 
old farm hoy or girl—no matter how far he may 
have wandered from the old home. Dr. L. II. Bailey 
says that: 
“A man cannot be a good farmer unless he is a 
religious man." 
What he means is that a good farmer does not 
work his farm for himself alone but that, day by 
day, perhaps unconsciously, he comes more and more 
to dedicate his few acres to the true service of 
family and country, and to the unseen power which 
sustains him. Thanksgiving, as a holiday, grew out 
of the thought of such farmers. It still retains 
that character in the country—no matter how it 
may have changed in city and town. It seems to us 
most desirable that the true spirit of this festival 
should be kept alive. Let there be one day at least 
for a public confession of heartfelt, cheerful thanks 
for the blessings of the harvest, for remembrance of 
the needy, and for old family reunions. In the rush 
and roar of modern civilization these old-fashioned 
festivals are needed as a social balance-wheel. 
* 
D URING the past year many of our people have 
marvelled at the wonderful power and endur¬ 
ance of the German people. What is responsible for 
it? David Lubin, speaking of the need of a farmer’s 
marketing organization, last Summer said: 
Let us not be mistaken; the great strength of the 
German Empire does not come from the “goose step” 
of her soldiers, nor from her Krupp guns; it comes as a 
direct and indirect result of her Landwirtschaftsrat 
system for the scientific distribution of her products, 
of the food products of Germany. 
Under this German system every farmer who 
owns land supports this organization through a part 
of his tax—set aside expressly for it. He votes for 
a township chamber of agriculture and the represen¬ 
tation goes on up through county, State and section 
and to a national marketing organization. In con¬ 
nection with this is a system of rural credits for 
farmers. Thus the real backbone of Germany is 
made from the soil. The nation is strong and “pre¬ 
pared” because farmers are organized and reason¬ 
ably well financed. They are not at the mercy of 
market men and monied men, as is the case in this 
country. If any of us see any menace in the strength 
and unity of Germany we should understand that 
the way to “prepare” is not only in organizing a 
great army and navy, but in organizing to give our 
producers a fairer chance at the markets and the 
money of the country. Just at this time President 
Wilson, ex-President Roosevelt and Mr. Bryan are 
making free use of the Scriptures in their advice to 
the American people. The prophet Ezekiel is their 
favorite: 
But if the watchman see the sword come, and blow 
not the trumpet, and the people be not warned ; if the 
sword come, and take any person from among them, he 
is taken away in his iniquity; but his blood will I re¬ 
quire at the watchman’s hand. 
We might substitute the receding plow for the 
approaching sword in this quotation. If these 
statesmen and others want to be fully prepared let 
them give half the thought to organizing credits and 
markets that they do to the army and navy. 
* 
L AST week alone we had over a dozen letters 
from people who are in trouble because no 
definite contract was made. Most of these troubles 
are over labor or the division of income from land. 
They “agreed” verbally to do certain things, but 
as the season went on disappointments and trouble 
arose, and now one claims one thing and the other 
another. * There were usually no witnesses and noth¬ 
ing in writing. Of course we cannot help much at 
settling such trouble, as it is very hard to get at the 
facts. We must again urge our readers not to enter 
upon any business association without having a 
written contract drawn up in legal form and speci¬ 
fying just what is intended. Then you will know 
just what is meant at all times. It will usually pay 
to have a good lawyer look the contract over before 
you sign it. At one time a well-to-do farmer sent 
us a contract with his tenant and asked our opin¬ 
ion. It was a long, high-worded instrument, but a 
little study showed that the farmer could enforce 
his side while the tenant never could. We pointed 
this out to the farmer and he said openly: “That 
is just what I wanted to do—tie him up and be 
free myself!" Our advice is to make a contract 
before doing business, and be sure it is a contract! 
* 
I never dreamed how many ministers read Tiie R. 
N.-Y. till I began these articles, for so many have 
spoken to me about them. Last week on the steps of 
a hotel in Concord, N. II., I was asked by a minister 
if I were the Gilbert that wrote the articles as the 
Pastoral Parson. g. b. gilbert. 
E find that several thousand clergymen sub¬ 
scribe to The R. N.-Y. and read it regularly. 
They frequently refer to it in their sermons to coun¬ 
try people. The R. N.-Y. does not pretend to be a 
religious paper in any sectarian sense, but we long 
since recognized the fact that the question of in¬ 
spiring and developing farm life is essentially a 
moral question. No man can live unto himself alone 
and ignore the church and Christian brotherhood, 
and do his full duty as a farmer. 
* 
L AST week we referred to the farm papers in re¬ 
lation to the Strout advertising. With a few 
notable exceptions these papers ran the advertising 
even after they well knew its full character. The 
few papers which stood firmly in this matter and 
could not be bought are: 
Hoard’s Dairyman, Fort Atkinson, Wis. 
Farm Stock and Home, Minneapolis, Minn. 
Progressive Farmer, Raleigh, N. C. 
We feel it a duty to print this honor list. If, out 
of the 1,000 or more farm papers we have omitted 
the name of any who refused this advertising, let 
us know, for we wish to make the list complete. The 
publishers of these papers must now feel a great sat¬ 
isfaction in view of the latest developments in this 
advertising. 
* 
T HE commission men are attacking the auction 
system of selling produce. Since they offer no 
substitute we assume that they claim their present 
method is superior. If it is superior that fact must 
be susceptible of proof. If we are wrong in claim¬ 
ing that the auction plan is more economical and 
fairer than the commission business we want the 
truth. Every legitimate commission sale involves 
a plain statement of figures showing what the goods 
brought and the cost of delivery and sale. Such 
a statement is printed on the next page, and anyone 
can see from this that the method was very ex¬ 
pensive. There would have been a decided saving 
if this fruit had been handled at the auction. Now 
we want to get hundreds of these returns just as 
they came from the commission men. They may say 
it is not fair to take one or two instances, so let us 
have hundreds of them, so that a fair average can be 
made. We will ask our readers to send us such pa¬ 
pers so that there can be no question - about the 
November 20, 1915. 
figures. If the commission men are doing this work 
economically we all want to know it. There was no 
economy in Mr. Loop’s case, but perhaps your re¬ 
turns make a better showing. Let us have them. 
* 
T HE great success of the Wyandottes and Reds 
in the last egg-laying contest will increase the 
great interest in these breeds. As popular farm 
poultry both are very useful, but they lay brown 
tinted eggs, which are at something of a disadvan¬ 
tage in the New York market. There is no sound 
reason on earth why a Leghorn egg should bring a 
higher price than one equally large and fresh laid 
by a Rock or Red or a “Dotte.” It is a fad or fash¬ 
ion and nothing more. The tinted egg men are now 
organizing a movement to educate New York people 
to quit eating with their eyes entirely. As they have 
common sense on their side they will win out if they 
stay by it, but the white egg fad is strongly built 
into the system. 
* 
I have in the past applied for work to men here in 
Massachusetts owning farms, and in talking to them I 
would tell them that I could grow Alfalfa here, and 
thereby reduce the cost of producing milk. Some of 
the men would get peevish, and tell me that Alfalfa 
would not grow here. g. c. k. 
HAT is from a hired man. Now any man who 
could make Alfalfa grow in New England 
would be worth his weight in silver—if he were of 
ordinary size. Most of these men seemed to think 
he was made of brass when he claimed that Alfalfa 
would do well. If New England farmers could and 
would grow Alfalfa with half the success that is 
obtained in Kansas or Nebraska, dairying and live 
stock keeping in the Northeastern part of this 
country would be the most profitable form of Amer¬ 
ican agriculture. Can it be done? Frankly we do 
not believe it when the old single tap-rooted varie¬ 
ties of Alfalfa are seeded. While these will grow 
we believe they are playthings for the gentleman 
farmer, rather than business tools for the prac¬ 
tical man. The newer Siberian varieties, like Cos¬ 
sack and also Grimm will be far more likely to suc¬ 
ceed and we believe they will come into quite gen¬ 
eral and successful use in New England. Brought 
from the cold Siberian deserts to aid the farmers 
on our Northwestern plains, they will, we believe, 
add immense value to the agriculture of New Eng¬ 
land. And the hired man who can make them grow 
will be worth more to the farmer than the college 
graduate who can write a thesis on Alfalfa! 
* 
W E see by the figures on the next page a case 
of this “vain repetition of an economic fal¬ 
lacy." Mr. Loop sent 2,933 baskets of plums to a 
commission man because he was led to believe that 
the fruit would bring 18 to 19 cents a basket. He 
got a check for $110.41, or 3.7 cents a basket. He 
had the great pleasure of paying the railroads $98 
for carrying the plums and the commission man 
$55.85 for selling and handling them. The commission 
man assumed no risks and paid no part of the ex¬ 
pense, yet he took half as much as the producer— 
who paid all expenses for producing, picking and 
packing! No matter how low the fruit sold the 
fixed charges for carrying and handling remain the 
same. We can fill an entire paper with similar 
cases. They are known to all men who consign goods 
to this market. The commission men and their trade 
papers know that they have developed a system of 
distribution which is wasteful and full of graft. 
They make no effort to reform it, and have no sug¬ 
gestions for improvement. Yet when the auction 
system comes with the only practical plan for im¬ 
provement that has been suggested in years these 
dealers and their papers turn on it like wolves 
eager to devour a lamb. The great trouble with them 
is that they find the lamb well armed with teeth and 
claws, and quite competent to use them! 
Brevities. 
“The future meat supply in a nut shell” is what the 
nut growers say. 
If you cannot have a turkey, have a hen—and if 
you have no poultry thank the Lord and say “Amen.” 
The “wet” years seem to bring most prosperity ex¬ 
cept for those who are flooded out. 
Let yourself alone! Give yourself a chance! Keep 
away from medicine and worry and growling for a 
while—and eat apples. 
Why are you keeping those old hens around? They 
will not lay before February, and the most expensive 
feeding months have come. Eat them up. 
Johnson grass hay “made in Mississippi” is the lat¬ 
est. In a feeding test with mules this hay proved su¬ 
perior to Timothy. 
“Fudge sandwich” is the latest for Missouri school 
children. Sounds good and is better than the fat pork 
“hunks” we had as a child! 
The thousands of readers who have followed the re¬ 
cent articles of Rev. Geo. B. Gilbert will be glad to 
know that next week they will have a chance to see 
what he looks like. 
