zr/>e RURAL NEW-YORKER 
■ 108 
has boon apparently nphekl by the U. S. Supreme 
Court although there is a possibility that it might 
not have been sustained if it had been i)resented in 
a different way. New York State is now in the 
enrions position of claiming State ownership of 
non-migratory game and ground ownership (by the 
State) of migratory game. We await with interest 
the Supreme Court decision in the case of the 
migratoiy bird law. If this law is declared uncon¬ 
stitutional it is hard to see how the courts can i^e- 
fuse to concede that the owner of any piece of land 
is also the owner of any game that may be living 
on it. 
THE SPORTSMAN’S ATTITUDE.—To date the 
sportsman has been able to impress his point of 
view on the game laws. lie believes that as a 
citizen of the State he owns a certain i)art of the 
game creatures living in that State and he feels 
that he has a divine right to get that share. If he 
can do it legally and without damage to the owner 
of the land wliere his birds or rabliits may be hid¬ 
ing, all right. If not, he tiles to do it some other 
way. The owner of the land is only a poor i>easant 
who has no right to interfere with the pleasure of 
the nobility. 
THE FARMER’S- SIDE.—The farmer feels that 
he is as good as any man and the one who tries 
to lord it over him usually gets a ]>oor reception. 
He sees part of his crops going to feed these game 
animals and he says they ought to be as much his 
as the chickens that pick up waste grain or that 
eat parts of his crojis. He may be mistaken in 
the amount of damage done his crops by the game, 
but he realizes that the greatest damage is done 
by those who are trying to kill the game. He would 
be willing to pasture the game on his land if the 
State would protect him from damage. IMost fai’- 
mers would go farther and would spend money to 
Increase the game without profit to themselves if 
it were not that such a course would invite trouble 
and loss. 
TWO NEEDED LAW CHANCES.—Two .small 
changes in the present game laws would relieve the 
situation and insure a much greater sujiply of 
game in this State in the near future. First, make 
it the duty of any game warden or other peace offi¬ 
cer to ai’rest any person found hunting on pi’operly 
posted lands without a written permit from the 
owner of the land. Second, in the sections per¬ 
mitting and regulating breeding of game, .sub.sti- 
tute the words “game and fur bearing animahs” for 
the Avords “American elk, white-tailed deer, Euro¬ 
pean red deer, and fallow deer, roebuck, pheasants, 
mallard and black ducks’’ wherever they occur. If 
these changes wei’e made the landowners would have 
received a return for the privileges taken away by 
other jirovisions of the law and the game laws 
Avould have measured up more nearly to the stand¬ 
ard of “just laws.” ALFRED C. WEED. 
Wayne County, N. Y. 
Laws Needed by Farmers 
I N accordance with the editorial some time ago, 
in regard to asking for laws that will help the 
farmers, I re(]uest that you (and the rest of us) 
work for the following, this Winter: 
Repeal of Sect. 129 of Art. 5, of the education 
law as amended to Jul.v, 1914, which makes it legal 
to take school districts, unjustlsL 
Amend Sect. 880 of Art. .84, to read as follows: 
“Any person conceiving himself aggrieved may 
ai»peal or i)etition the commissioner of education 
Avho is hereby authorized and I'equii'ed to examine 
and decide the same but his decision shall be sub¬ 
ject to review and final decision in a court of the 
county in which the act appealed from occurs. And 
any school district that has had an appeal before 
the commissioner of education in regard to the 
changing of school district boundaries is by this 
act given the privilege of taking their cases into 
court to be decided by a judge and jury.” 
Laws to enlarge, improve and finance the Depai’t- 
ment of Foods and Markets. 
The school laws of this State are, in some ways, 
vei-y unjust and should be changed. With Sect. 129, 
eliminated, there will be left two other ways to dis¬ 
solve a school district, and in a way that would be 
luuKjrable. The Commissioner of Education will ob¬ 
ject, very seriously, to having Sect. 880 amended as 
suggested, but, in reason, how can he? If he knows 
that his decisions have at all times been fair and 
just, he should not object to having the same re¬ 
viewed in any court. But if they have not been 
just it is only fair that the injustice done should be 
corrected. 
By an actual canvas of the Grange in this State, 
95 per cent, were opposed to the forcible consolida¬ 
tion of school districts. It is the desire of the Com¬ 
missioner of Education to do away with the mral 
schools of the .‘^tate and consolidate them with vil¬ 
lage and city schools. If the school is a good thing, 
why not have it within a reasonal)le distance? The 
township system foi- schools .should not be passed un¬ 
less it allows the rui-al schools to I’emain as they are 
and permits self government. -t. g. hall. 
.Vllegany Co., N. Y. 
A New Plan for Direct Selling 
T he writer was raised on a farm, worked 15 
years in the cities and then returned to the 
farm to find the science of agriculture revolution¬ 
ized, particularly in the matter of marketing farm 
produce. I soon discovered that the one sure road 
to bankruptcy was to produce farm pi’oducts and 
.send them to commission men in the cities to sell. 
IlaA’ing made this -discovery I began to turn my 
A 14-inch Washington Potato. Fig. 43 
efftu'ts to the production of such crops jis I could 
expect to be :ihle to sell direct to consumers. 
The quest for consumer customers raised a new 
question, that of the expense of finding the cus¬ 
tomers. This suggested a new idea and I organ¬ 
ized my farming neighbors, both nearby and dis¬ 
tant, into a bureau for the purpose of coiiperating 
in the expense of getting in touch with city con¬ 
sumer,s. This plan proini.ses to solve our latest dif¬ 
ficulty. lender the supervision of the “Direct Tra¬ 
ders Bureau” I am now publishing a monthly peri¬ 
odical or catalogue containing announcements of 
the articles of farm produce offered for sale to con¬ 
sumers 
logue 
of names being 
expense which is almost nominal Ave are able to 
place the rural producer in touch Avith the city 
fifiie plan is not limited to any geographical area. 
January 27, 1917. 
8ome of our adA'ertisers liA’e as far aiA’ay as Cali¬ 
fornia and the Mississippi River, and we believe 
that the idea is capable of practically indefinite ex- 
Itansion. The monthly peidodical or catalogue ia 
called the “Direct Trader” and is published for 
the service of its patrons and not for profit. 
Washington. joe smith. 
A Washington Potato 
W E have the folloAving note from a lively friend 
in New York: 
Out on I.ong Island, they are accepting potatoes in 
payment for drinks, so they say. A friend of mine 
out in Yakima Valley. Washington, heard about this, 
and sent me a few samples of his spuds, suggesting 
that I n.se one as a pocket-piece to prevent rheumatism, 
in case it would not be accepted at the bar. 
With the spread of Prohibition there AA-ill come a 
lively effort to tui-n off stock on hand at any reason- 
.•ihle value. At seA-eral city churches people have been 
asked to give their contributions to the poor in the 
form of potatoes—big baskets being put at the doors 
for the luirpose. They Avould need large ones if 
“coin*’ like these tubers from Washington Avere 
used. We do not know the variety .shown at Fig. 
4.3, hut the quality is good all the Avay thx’ough. A 
tuber of this size can be boiled with the jacket on 
and then caiwed or sliced like a sausage or lump 
of Hamburger steak. This size would suit some of 
the NeAv York cooks Avho have a way of throwing 
the raw tubers into the garbage pail as too hard 
to jiare. As a rule the average potato buyer does 
not Avant the big i*ound tubers as he expects to find 
a “black heart” in the center. The long, thin tu¬ 
bers like the one pictured ai-e less likely to liaA^e this 
black spot and most buyers expect to find them of 
better (piality. Compare this Wa.shington tuber 
with tape line and see how it stretches out. We 
hear some big stoiies of the potatoes grown on the 
Pacific coast. One man tells us he saw a tuber so 
big that Avhen boiled it gave six Iri.shmen all they 
could eat and there was enough left to furni.sh them 
all Avith friend potatoes for a .second meal! We 
know that this one from Washington AA'ent a long 
way toAvard serving our big family Avith “French 
fried” of high quality. 
The Test of Orchard Planting 
T here has been much discussion during the 
past feAv years about the future of the apple 
business in this* country. As we know, millions of 
trees hai’e been planted, and hundreds of thousands 
of them haA^e come through to fruiting. There are 
many places throughout the country Avhere apples 
can be Avell grown, and there are ahvays those peo¬ 
ple who fear that the business will be gi*eatly over¬ 
done. We have always taken the position that Avith 
a bulky perishable crop like apples the market facil¬ 
ities must settle the matter. In the future the best 
profit in apple culture will be made in medium- 
,sized orchards, Avell located so that direct trade 
can he easily deA’eloi)ed in suitable A^arieties. There 
Avill also be a good business done by the larger 
orchai-ds, Avell cared foi’, so that either singly or 
in combination the oAvners can send out a standard 
-package and a guaranteed pack. 
Not long ago Ave saAV a neAvs item to the effect 
that in certain paids of Idaho apple orchards AA’ere 
being pulled out so that the land could be seeded in 
cloA'er for the production of .-Joed. In order to make 
sure of the matter Ave Avrote to some of our read¬ 
ers in that location and have received the facts 
about it. The folloAving letter is a fair sample of 
others. 
Many of the farmers are pulling their orchards, in 
Avhole, or in part, not only to grow clover seed, but 
other farm crops as Avell. It is simply for the reason 
that there is no profit and often a big loss in raising 
apples this far from market. The freights, commis¬ 
sions and expense of spraying, pruning, cultivating, 
harvesting and boxes, does not leaA’e even the 35-cent 
dollar and I think there are cases where .035 on the 
dollar would be nearer the truth. 
I speak of the average run of seasons and farmers. 
The exceptions are generally Avidely advertised. We 
have the soil, climate, sunshine and water (irrigation) 
W fruit, but until Ave can mai-ket our crops in air¬ 
ships, think we can do much better raising seed crop.s, 
for Avhich this country seems exceedingly well adapted. 
ii. e. bailey. 
It appears that in Idaho there are fine locations 
for fruit groAving and apples of the highest quality 
can be produced. The market facilities are so poor, 
hoAvever, for large quantities of this fruit, that it 
Avill not sell to advantage. Therefore, the trees are 
taken out and other crops like clover .seed Avhich 
Avill pay better are introduced. We think that this 
is a fair illustration of the Avay the apple business 
Orchards Avill be 
planted anjl cared for, but the money test of the 
cost of putting a fruit on the market Avill finally 
decide whether the orchards are to be continued or 
not. 
by our members. This periodical or cata- 
is mailed to prospective city consu“iers, lists of the future Avill be determined. 
oI)tained from various s.^arces. At an 
