189 
Imported Chinese Farm Labor 
What Do Farmers Say to This ? 
A WAVE of preparedness enthusiasm has spread 
from coast to coast over the United States of 
America. We hear preparedness discussed from tlie 
pulpit, from the rostrum and from the cracker- 
l>arrel at the country store as well as in farm homes 
and city homes. The greatest stroke possible in the 
direction of preparedness just now would be the 
furnishing to the farmers of this continent of an 
abundance of cheap labor. The situation in re¬ 
spect to farm help is more critical at this moment 
than it has ever been in this counti\v’s histoiy. 
Munition plants, and corporations generally, are 
paying enormous wages to the men of brawn of 
every race and color, and the real labor of the 
country has been attracted to the city and away 
from the country. Today it is impossible for a 
farmer to obtain the help nece.ssaiy to produce 
crops, care for stock and do general farm work. 
'I’lie crying need of the nation is cheap farm labor. 
Its procurement would go further in the matter of 
genuine prei>aredness than billions 
spent in any other direction. 
Tlie Congre.ss now in session 
should at once enact a law that 
would enalile the .American farmers 
to contract for the labor of a half 
million Chinese coolies, these for¬ 
eigners to be restricted absolutely 
to agricultural and horticultural 
pursuits. They need not be al¬ 
lowed the privilege of citizcmship 
nor the right to own proi»erty in 
this country. The coolie is the best 
agricultural labor in the world to¬ 
day. He is practically without bad 
habits; he is not dangerous with 
respect to woman; he does his own 
cooking, consuming principally rice. 
His country is over-i)opuhit('d .and 
l>ackward in civilization. Ills 
whole race would l)e immeasurably 
benefited by contact with .Vmeidcan 
civilization and he would rc'turn to 
his home at the expiration of his 
contract period a very much im- 
jtroved liuman being, with suflicient 
money to make him comparatively 
rich. 
-Any farmer with a force of help 
of this kind can double or treble 
the output of his farm. The crops 
of this nation would be augmented 
by billions of dollar's if the farmer 
had access to a half million of the.se 
yellow men. At home the high cost 
of living would be automatically 
reduced, and we would be in a po¬ 
sition to feed a large part of the 
civilized world with the excess 
crops of our fields. The coolie 
would not come into competition 
with organized labor if restricted 
to the w'ork upon the farms and 
ga I'dens. 
.Agricultural schools and colleges, 
farmer.s’ in.stitutes and schmtific 
I)roce.sses, together with all the ma¬ 
chinery T»os.s'ible, cannot change and 
never will change the laws of nature. If you ex- 
IK'Ct to reap, you must sow the seed. Everything 
taken from the soil, whether i'e])re.sented in a bushel 
of wheat, in a i)ound of j)ork, in a dozen of eggs 
or a l)asket of peaches. rej)resents an exchange—viz., 
an exchange of .sweat for ])roduce. Tf the farmer 
has not got the sweat to give in exchange for the 
ent]), he cannot get the crop. 
Every country in Euri>pe has been invaded by 
the American farmer and business man in the 
search for brawn and muscle to do the labor in 
this country. .At this .shxge of the world’s histoi'>' 
we have ab.solutel.v exhausted the suppl.v from that 
quarter. Our wealth as a nation comes from the 
soil solely, and millions of acres of the bes't land 
on Ood’s earth in this country mu.st lie idle unless 
we ju'oeure labor at a i)i'ice that farmers can af¬ 
ford to pay. 
The R. N.-Y. should start a campaign for the ac¬ 
complishment of this i)ro]) 0 .sition of a magnitude 
greater than anything that has heretofore been at¬ 
tempted. I do not believe there is i)rinted in .Ameri¬ 
ca today a newspaper of greater influence tlian The 
R. N.-Y. Tf it will take hold of this proposition, its 
army of readers will swamp Oongress with a de¬ 
luge of letters that will stir it to action. No far¬ 
mer who reads this article will dispute the fact 
that he can double or treble the output of his farm 
Oic RURAL NEW-YORKER 
if he has at hand cheap labor to do the nece.s.sary 
work. THOMAS PENDEI.I,. 
Dutchess Co., N. Y. 
R. N.-Y.—We are willing to open a fair dismis¬ 
sion of this subject, but we cannot endorse the 
proposition. We have seen something of this .sort 
of labor, and do not believe it is suited to our sy.s- 
tem of farming, especially in the I'la.stern States. 
We believe every white nation has tiiken strong 
ground against the impoi-fcition of such labor, and 
that most expenments ivith it have been unsatis¬ 
factory. AVe must say that Western men who know 
this labor do not agree with Mr. I’endell’s estimate 
of its value. Ref ore we advise any such radical 
step we want our farmers to know ju.st what they 
are doing. 
Suggested Rotation for Western New York 
As a Methodist pastor I read your paper with much 
delight while I had it. It was a I’est to me. How¬ 
ever, I had no idea that I was so soon to take charge 
of my farm personally. I was obliged to retire on ac¬ 
count of my health. I was born and reared on the 
fjirm. My father taught me that if clover could be 
The Tractor at Work in a Timothy Sod. Fig. 65 
Harvesting Corn With a Tractor. Fig. 66 
grown well anything in the world could be raised on 
tlie land so far as fertility was concerned. My farm 
is in Wayne Co., N. Y. I have 76 acres, with 26 aci'es 
of bearing apple orchard. Outside the orchard there 
is a field of 12 acres, the soil of which varies from 
medium light .sand, gravel, and about two acres of 
muck.v loam. The latter is inclined to be wet, and I 
think_ a little sour. Up to four yenrs ago the field had 
lain in pasture so long that scarcely anything grew. 
No manure for 40 year.s. In 11)12 the mossy sod was 
plowed under and planted to corn. In spite of tlie very 
poor year for corn in tliis section, tlie crop was fair. 
For three years it has been cropped at random with 
oats, corn, potatoes, peas and buckwheat. Attempts 
to got clover or Timothy have failed. Strange to say. 
a narrow strip of Alfalfa sown across the field for an 
experiment made a good .sliowing at first, but in a 
yi'ar it was gone entirely except a few scattering roots 
wliicli grew deej) and strong, two or tliree in a .sipiare 
rod. The field has not paid for the labor to say nothing 
of tlie seed sown on it. 
I am writing to ask for a rotation of crops tliat will 
accomplish two things. First improve' the soil, and 
do it in the shortest time, ^’liere will he some manure 
hut not enough. Hreen crops must ho plowed under. 
Second, I wish to get enough off the land to pay for 
labor and seed as well as the interest on investment 
of .$1,000. I am just building a silo, and expect to 
work into more stock than the fruit farms hero are 
carrying. This is a btfan section and is counted to 
lie first class for apples. Orchard did well last year. 
If wlien July comes I find iiiy corn crop promising too 
light to fill my silo, what can I raise to supplenicnt 
the corn siipplv? c. c. .x. 
Wayne Co., N. Y. 
I T is rather liard to tell wliat is the best rotation 
of crojis in this section. Tlie conimone.st are a 
three-year rotation of oats, wheat and bay. or a 
five-year rotation of corn, oats, wheat and hay. 
Roth have some objections. Com is usually profit¬ 
able {if well cared for) on light soils, but may be 
very unprofitable in w'et years on heavy soils. Oats 
can usually be raised for less than it costs to buy 
tliem, but the margin of profit is very smull. Wheat 
seldom pays the cost of production. On the farm in 
question it miglit be profitaiile to raise hay if tlie 
fields Avere heavily limed. A speaker at a recent 
fruit meeting said that feiv soils in tliis vicinity 
need less than two tons of ground limestone per 
a ere. 
Tills wiiole section is working into new crops, and 
it is not possilile now to say bow they will best 
work into a rotation, Tliere are canning factorie-s 
within a few miles of this farm and if a good yield 
can be obtained peas and beans can be grown profit¬ 
ably, The pea vines make good silage. At present 
prices of vetch seed it might lie well to try rye and 
vetch in the rotation for a few seasons. It lias been 
recently suggested that a good way to grow this 
crop is to kee]) it on the .same land for two 
or tliree seasons witliout replowing, simply de¬ 
pending on the seed that shattera 
off for the next crop. A good cul¬ 
tivation Avith spring-tootli harrow 
or disk riglit after harvest Avill 
coA’er the seed and insure a good 
stand. 
A rotation whicli might be tried 
once around with fair jirospects of 
success AA'ould be corn on sod land ; 
rye and A'etch seeded in corn at last 
cultivation; rye and vetch laud cul¬ 
tivated I'ight after liai'A-est and al- 
loAved to come up to rye and A'etch 
again; rye and A'ctcli land culti- 
A'ated right after bai'A'est ami al- 
loAved to groAV, rye and vetch to lie 
]doAved under for oats next Spring; 
cloA'cr and q'imothy seeded witli tlie 
oats and alb>v\'ed to stand for hay 
one or tAvo years. As indicated this 
AA'ould lie a six-year x'otation, but if 
eight-acre fields Avere tliought too 
small it could lie made a four-year 
plan by cutting out one year of rye 
and A'etch and one year of hay. 
If i^eas AA'ere found regularly 
profitable, .a good soil-improA’liig ro¬ 
tation miglit be corn Avith rye and 
vetch seeded in at tlie last cultiva¬ 
tion; rye and vetch cultivated in 
after lini'vest once or tAvice; peas 
on the x've and vetcli sod folloAvxid 
by Urimson clover, rye or some 
otlier cover ci'op; corn on the cover 
ci'op sod. As a thrx'e or four-year 
I'otation this AA'onld turn under a 
sod almost every year and, then- 
rcflrallif, vshouhl iielji improA'e the 
land. In practice either of those 
rotation.s might prove of no value. 
In eitlier of these rotations it AA'ould 
be Avell to soAA' limestone whenever 
a sod AA'a.s plowed under. In either 
of these rotations beans might lie 
u.sed in place of the corn. Root 
disease, hoAvever, may put this sec¬ 
tion out of the bean-groAving busi¬ 
ness if it cannot lie controlled. Soy 
beans or cow >eas might be Avorked into these ro¬ 
tations either for seed, hay or silage. It is often 
hard to ciii'e hay Avlion these crops are ready to cut 
for this pin'])ose. a. c. av. 
R. N.-Y.—Is lliere not some danger of mixing 
A'otch ill Avitli tlie ealining ]teas? We huA'e found 
tliat vetch spreads all OA'cr tlie farm if groAvn as 
luu'e suggested. 
Practical Use of Tractors 
T he picture at Figs. 65 and 66 show a tractor 
at Avork on a farm in Washington Co.. N. Y. 
Mr. Clifford A. Ala.son. aaIio oaviis tliis machine, has 
tills to say about its Avork: 
I tliought you Avoidd be interested in some tractor 
operations on a Nortliern NeAV York State farm. I 
imrehased a 10 to 20 tractor in the Spring, and I have 
put it to about every job yon AA'ould expect to do Avith 
horses and I am very much pleased with same. It does 
tile various farm operations niueh (piieker. and Avitli 
less help and at less expense tlian 1 could keep enougli 
liorses to do tlie same amount of work. I am enclosing 
a picture of ploAving Avith three 14-in. ploAvs in heavy 
Timothy .sod, and the engine handled it Avith ease. 
Our reiiorts-from tractor farmers \'ary consider- 
alily. q^iere is (piite a difference in results due to 
condition of .soil and perhaps more to tlie men aa'Iio 
undertake to run tlie tractors. On wet .soils and steej) 
hills the tractors give troulile. but oil reasonably 
leA'el and dry ground they do well. 
