188 
TShe RURAL NEW-YORKER 
fjjrni work and nraintain a labor balanoo thnmgh- 
out tho ,«oason. 
May ]f)17 be the banner j-ear for the American 
farmer. trucker, jb. 
“North Dakota Politics in New York” 
Y oT’R ]’ec(>nt comments on the overturning of the 
political i)arties by the farmers of North Da¬ 
kota have been of deep interest to me, becan.'^e in a 
modest way I have been in close range with 
the whole thing. I am impressed with the accuracy 
of your rei)orts, so far as they go, though it wo ild 
take ])ages to tell of the coinHiercial and political 
hardshii)s endured, the long stniggles made to over- 
<-ome them, and the final bursting into flame of a 
passionate resistance that swept everything before 
it. Do you know, it took them three years to get 
enough nione.v together (?100,(X)0) to allow them 
to do business, as the Equity Cooperative Exchange, 
and then the.v were shut out of the market—the 
Chamber of Commerce at Minneapoli.s—and that 
great Chamber sent its emissaries into Dakota to 
break up the farmers’ meetings, meetings that 
would continue till midnight and to attend which 
fai'mei’s would drive 20 miles in midwinter as they 
did from my farm? 
Rut they won and now they have just dedicated 
—that is the correct word—a new .$500,000 elevator 
at St. Paul, free from debt, and Avith a good crop 
next year aauII handle .30,000,000 bushels of grain 
for their member-!. This is all done by farmers, 
every man on tho board, aside from the officers, 
living on his farai. Organization did it. The poli¬ 
tical reaction Avas Imsed on the economic hardships 
unju.stly i)ut upon them; 45,000 faTanei's of North 
I>akota put up $0 apiece to organize tho Non-jiar- 
tisan League that overturned tho State politically. 
We have in the f'tate of New York hiird economic 
conditions, not inlu rited, but put upon us, and noth¬ 
ing but political action Avill make them right. It 
is not likely that a full political party could be or¬ 
ganized at the present time by the fanners of New 
York to resist the thousand and one interests—“Big 
Biz” as they say in North Dakota—that forev'er 
prey on the farmer. We are hit hard enough in 
NeAv York, but don’t yet know it. There are, hoAV- 
ever, things that the farmers of Ncav York could 
do without a full political party. Wlnit? I should 
say that the one thing to do noAV is to turn doAvn 
hard the party that Avill not do the things that the 
farmers of the State need to liaA'e done. If the 
Republicans uoav in power at Albany plajj^ politics 
with the farmers’ interests, turn the RepuhUcans 
out and make a good job of it. Then if the^Demo- 
crats do no better, turn them out. That is mj;.'ad¬ 
vice, To be loved by the politicians along about 
election time is not enough. datus c. smith. 
Columbia Co., N. Y. 
Why the Car Driver “ Moves on ” 
So long as a man drives the old horse at a fair pace, 
he will always stop on the road to give a stranger a 
lift. When he gets a car he sets his fiice and dashes 
by. Tell us why?—R. N.-Y., page 1500. 
HEN the man changes to the auto he does 
not undergo a change of heart, but he finds 
he has changed his steed. The horse-driA^en vehicle 
is light, moves sloAvly and is easily stopped and 
started, but the car is heavy, stops and starts sIoav- 
ly and must be driven at from 12 to 20 miles per 
hour for efficient running, so stopping and start¬ 
ing on short notice me:in great strain and AA’ear on 
brakes, tires, gears .and the AA’hole car. Yer.A’ often 
cA’en when stopping sloAvly the tires are slid or 
drag on the graA’el. AAdiich is a serious wear on the 
rubber surface. If peoide understood the matter 
from the .auto driver’s side they A\'ould not expect 
to be stojiped for, nor resent it Avhen passed by. 
Often I haA’e stopped for some one only to be 
told that they Avere just going a little Avay to the 
next house or that they Avere not going the same way 
or something else. Lots of times the pede.strian 
expects you to stop for him when you are going up¬ 
hill. never thinking AA-hat it means to start a car 
iind get going up a stiff grade. 
Recently T AAms going alone a distance of 75 miles 
and a four-hour driA'o at best. Within 15 miles of 
Chillicothe I was going up a stiff hill at IS miles 
per hour AAffien .some one darted out of a side road 
!ind AvaA’od for me to stop, and then yelled to 
make me hear. While I had room on the seat I 
had a fair load already and kept going. 
Five miles farther I saAv some men on a farm 
Avagon. They drove out of the Avay for a machine 
in front of me but Avhen they saAv me, deliberately 
drove in the road, forcing me into the ditch and to 
slow' down, w'hen one of the men jumped off the 
AA'agon and demanded to ride. You can imagine my 
feeiings and my answer Avas to open the throttle 
w’ider. 
/n about six miles of Lancaster there is a long 
AA'inding and rather steep hill, and Avhen about one- 
quarter way up this hill I passed a disabled car 
and as I approached it I saw that they were re- 
l)lacing the tire and were apparently not in need 
of help. This hill is a very difficult one, OAA'ing to 
the length, steepness and cuiwes, so one must start 
up AA’ith some*speed and keep going good or one 
must drop into Ioav gear to finish the hill. So T 
Avas ijrobably running 20 miles per hour A\’hen I 
jtassed the car. When even Avith the car a 200-lb. 
man ran out into the middle of the ro:id and hailed 
me. I did some quick thinking and decided he only 
Avanted to l!eat the other men into Lanca.ster so I 
kept going. With the added Aveight of this husky 
individual to the load I had already I .should liaA'e 
had to finish that hill on low gear, and my engine 
wiis already lad, from its long run. T)o you blame 
me for not stoi)ping? w. e. ouckavali.. 
Ohio. 
Co-operative Wool Selling 
At a meeting of the sheep men of this region a few 
day.s ago we decided to sell our wool together, that is, 
all bring it to one place at one time. i)robably at Bea¬ 
trice the last week in May, and ii.sk the wool buyers 
to come and look it over, and bid on all of it. The 
Avriter Avas instructed to buy wool sacks and twine for 
the lot 'and to take charge of the details in arranging 
for building, etc. Can you tell me Avhere I can best 
buy those sacks and tAvine? I fiincy there Avill be only 
about 1,000 fleeces. Any bints or information that 
Avill help us to make this venture a .sucoe.ss Avill be ap¬ 
preciated. We are (‘specially Avell situatiid here to 
groAV shee]) and aavioI, and I iim in hope.s of building up 
an organization that Avill be a big thing for its mem- 
The Connett’s Peach. Fig. 64. See Page 201 
hers and the region round about. Five months ago 
there were no registered sheep in county. Now there 
are nearly 100 registered ishropshires oAvned by about 
25 farmers. j. ii. T. 
Nebraska. 
E hjiA'e given the information about bags and 
tAvino. The Farm Bureaus of Ot.sego and 
Clinton Countie.s, N. Y., IniA'e AA orkcd out .such sales 
.succes.sfully. The plan has been to get the avooI to¬ 
gether and have it carefully graded. Then adver¬ 
tisements were printed in several of tlie avooI trade 
papers offering tlie wool. lA'tters are also sent to 
Avoolen manufacturers and large buyers, giving the 
amount of wool and samples to shoAV the grade. 
’File object is to interest as many avooI buyers as 
]K)ssible. Be sui’e to have the members of your a.s- 
sodation understand the plan fully, so the.v Avill de¬ 
liver the Avool promptly and stand for a fair 
grading. 
Laws Needed for New York 
II.WE read the article on page 15.50, by Mr. .1. O. 
Hall, AA'ith interest, and AA’ould like to join the 
■•organization” that he mentions, if it has as its 
aim, the enactment of hiAvs that are for the inter¬ 
est of the farmers of this Stiite. That interests me, 
and T Avish that more farmers AA'ould get in line 
and have something to say to the laAvimikers. and 
tell them AA'hat is needed. We ciinnot, of course, 
IniA'e iill the laws we wish, p.issed this Winter, and 
I Avould .suggest that Ave ask for the folloAving, ex¬ 
clusively : 
First: LaAvs to enlarge, impi’ove and finance the 
Department of Foods and Markets. 
Second: The repeal of Section 120, of Article 5 
of the Education Law, which makes it po.s.sible to 
steal .school districts; amend Sect. S80 of .\rt. .34 
to read as folloAA's: 
Any person conceiving himself aggrieved may_ appeal 
or petition the Commissioner of Education who is here¬ 
by authorized and required to examine and decide the 
same, but his decision shall be subject to review in any 
February 10, lOiv. 
court of the county in which the act appealed from 
occurs; And any school district that has had an ap¬ 
peal before the Commissioner of Education in regard 
to the changing of school district boundaries is by this 
act given_ the privilege of taking its case into court 
to be decided by a judge and jury. 
Or if a tOAvnship sy.stem for schools be passed, 
have the above principles AA-ritten into it so that we 
may retain our rural schoohs if Ave Avish, and have 
the privilege of getting back the one.s that Ave have 
lost. In .short allow the inhabitants of the rural 
districts to have .some voice in the management of 
their .schoohs, ajid say Avhere such .schools shall be 
located. 
3’hird : Increase the tux on large motor trucks. 
Fourth : More stringent laivs in regard to keep¬ 
ing dogs and better pay to the lo.sers of .sheep 
killed by dog.s. e. a. powers. 
.\llegany Co., N. Y. 
Express Companies and Egg Smashing 
On page 1.544 Mr. Mortimer P. Lee prints the copy 
a letter he wrote President Wilson—^about egg 
breakage.s by express companies. Mr. Lee says he re¬ 
ceived no answer whatever. Can that be true? 
s. B. R. 
T Avas true. No ansAver came to Mr. Tvce except a 
letter from the Interstate Commerce Commission 
asking for a copy of The R. N.-Y. containing the 
story of the poultryman aa'Iio aa'hs mined by j)oor 
express service. Thus we are getting up into ex¬ 
alted .society at least, and Ave AAill try to make 
things intere.sting AvhereA'er Ave go. We Avanted to 
read President Wilson’s opinion of this case. He 
may not feel that he can do anything, but we should 
all like to knoAA' AA’hat he thinks about a class of 
public carriers who can ruin a man and then “get 
aAA'ay Avith it.” .Since that letter Avas lu’inted 
others have Avritten Avith the same story. AVhat 
are Ave going to do about it? One of our readers 
puts it as fdlloAvs, and you may be sure AA’e shall 
endeaA’or to live up to our I’eputation: 
I have just been reading the article on page 1.544 
about the expres.s companies. Now, if I were a director 
m’ .stockholder in an express company and kneAv The 
R- N.-Y. Avas starting a reform again.st my methods, 
I .should certainly call a meeting of the rest of the di¬ 
rectors and stockholders and try to beat The R. N.-Y. 
at their own game. But the express companies won't. 
Oh,^ no; instead they aa’III sit back in their chairs AA’ith 
their thumbs in the armholes of their vest.s Avith the 
“Pve-just-sw’allowed-the-canary” expression on their 
faces, and pvirr. Well, let them. Some day they Avill 
wake Tip and remember some of the things they learn(*d 
in school, which they seem to have forgotten.* h'or in¬ 
stance, they Avill i-emember, “The constant dropping 
of Avater will AV’car aAvay a stone.” Keep hammering 
away at them. 
If I were a tru.st or other form of abuse I would 
rather buck up against the meteoric reformer that goes 
off with a fizz and a bang than to bnck np agaimst the 
old reliable, .sIoaa', steady and .sure kind like The R. 
N.-Y., for the meteoric kind soon goes out in a fizzle 
and sputtei', but the old reliable keeps everlastingly 
hammering until .something is a(?compli.shed. 
Another thing they will learn over again, “Every 
dog has his day,” and “He laughs best who laughs 
last.” Tliey are having their day now, but Avhen the 
long-suffering, good-natured public once gets aroused 
against them they Avon’t have time to laugh ; they Avill 
be too bu.sy defending themselves. And they Avill fiml 
that in spite of the fact that appearam^s seem to be 
against it sometimes, “God does love the common peo¬ 
ple, for he made so many of them” as our beloved 
Lincoln sjiid. You nuiy not pose as a reformer, but 
the farmers have more than one reform to thank you 
for I 'am sui’e. a. 
A Fight Against Quack Grass 
Here is another Avire-grass proposition. I have an 
eight-acre field infe.sted Avith quack or Avire grass. 
Avhich I have been trying to clear up for the past three 
years, but OAving to the Avet seasons the grass has the 
b.est of it so far, and now seems to have everything its 
oAvn Avay except for a feAv spots. The field is partly 
led .shale and partly a loose clay loam, and upon the 
batter part especially, the grass thrives. In an or¬ 
dinary .sea.son the field is a nice piece to work, but in 
seasons like our last three it is quite wet most of the 
year. I am beginning to despair of getting rid of the 
pest, unless the slu'ep Avonld do the trick. Would it 
be well to seed this field to grasses Avhich would make 
a dense sod and croAvd the joint grass in such a way 
that with the help of the sheep I can in three or four 
years again make use of this field in my regular crop 
rotation? What grasses and what quantity of seed 
AA’ould probably 'bo best to use? 
Susquehanna Co., Pa n. z. a’dams. 
T is time Ave had another discussion about quack 
grass, for the past fcAV Avet seasons have given 
it a great start on many farms. We have had no 
experience in the line here suggested, and must pass 
it on to our readers. We have found thick seeding 
to ImckAvheat and millet very u.seful in smothering 
out the quack. BuckAA’heat is particularly good for 
this purpose, and also seems a good crop for seed¬ 
ing to grass and cloA’er. We think j'ou Avould stand 
a better chance by soAving oats and peas early. 
Make .a thick .seeding and cut in late June for hay. 
Then Avoi-k up the soil and make a thick seeding to 
huckAvheat Avith gras.s and clover. Of course this 
Avill mean an extra ploAving and fitting, but it ought 
to prove effectiA'O. 
