620 
■^he RURAL NEW-YORKER 
Api'U 28, 1917, 
HOPE FARM NOTES 
Asparagus Notice 
We found more asparagua roots than 
we expected, hut the orders were 10 times 
lohat we looked for. When the flood 
started ice cut the number down to 00 in 
order to make them go further, but even 
with this many orders could not be filled 
and the money was returned. Wo refused 
several large orders and mailed about 
12,000 to our readers. Wc had no idea 
{when we made the offer) that there 
would be any such demand, and vw only 
regret that we did not have 50,000 roots 
to distribute. 
Bullets and Biscuits.— A iiunibor of 
people wi'ite asking what we think of all 
this talk about the patriotism of the far¬ 
mer in the war discussion. The Hope 
Farm man cannot imagine that his views 
are of any great impoi*tance in this 
“crisis” and he is inclined to take the 
sound advice given by the Attorney-Gen¬ 
eral : 
"Obey the law and keep your mouth 
shut.” 
To that I would add "Keep at work!” 
There is one thing about all this talk of 
farmers and their duty which may be con¬ 
sidered. 
The Big War Question.— This war is 
likely to do more to give the farmer his 
rightful place in society than anything 
which has happened in years before. All 
through the ages the fighting men regarded 
the farmer as a sort of necessary evil or 
drudge to be exploited and robbod, to feed 
and clothe the soldiers and raise children 
to keep up the military organization. This 
idea has per.sisted in a different form 
down to the present day. In jilace of the 
old-time lord or baron we have the poli¬ 
tician or the big captain of industry. 
They have tried to woi’k the farmer, keep 
him fairly good-natured, give him prom¬ 
ises, but hand performance to other 
classes. 
England’s !Mistake.— This went far 
along the road in England. The nation 
seemed to go insane over manufacturing 
and trading, and agriculture Avas more 
and more neglected. Thousands of acres 
once cultivated in grain went back to per¬ 
manent sod because the spirit of the couu- 
ti-y had turned against farming. The 
young and ambitions will always chase 
after the spirit of their country ! It came 
so that the English farmers produced only 
food enough to feed England for a few 
weeks of the ye.ar. The leaderr and rulers 
seemed content. They could control the 
sea, and buy their food of other nations, 
and by this A'cry buying develop trade in 
exchange Avhich made marketf. for their 
manufactured goods. Not only so, but 
they claimed that this worldwide trading- 
kept the world at peace—the theory being 
that so long as necessities were exchanged 
in this way the nations could not afford 
to fight. Thus when this horrible Avar 
broke out the English farmers Avere not 
regarded as a national necessity, but moi-e 
of a convenience for producing milk cr 
fruit and vegetables. They were there¬ 
fore ranked beloAv the manufacturers, 
.ship men or soldiers. 
Bui.i.ets vs. Biscuits.—T hen like a 
thunderclap the Avar cloud broke and the 
English people found themselves unpre- 
I)ared to fight the enemy or to feed them¬ 
selves. At first the entire world had the 
old idea that Avars are and must be de¬ 
cided by bullets. That idea has noAV been 
exploded like one of the modern shells, 
and I think the explosion Avill bloAV aAvay 
the social and business burdens Avhicii 
have so long rested upon the farmer. The 
English at first made the mistake of re¬ 
cruiting too many big, husky farmer.s and 
farm laborers as soldiers. They seemed 
to think that schoolboys, clerks and un¬ 
trained city men could go out on the land 
juid feed the nation. You see that after 
all these centuries of regarding the farmer 
a.s a convenience or a man to be praised 
or patronized every nation, in time of 
trial has got to learn that successful 
farming is the most complicated and ex¬ 
acting business in the Avorld—requiring 
greater skill and clearer brains than any 
other industry or profession. England 
had spent too much time in developing the 
manufacture of bullets and too little in 
the business of providing biscuits. I 
mean that feeding the nation is more im¬ 
portant than fighting the enemy. Ger¬ 
many understootl th^t better than Eng¬ 
land, and that is the chief reason Avhy 
this war has gone on so long. 
Learning The Lesson.— The banks of 
England were stuffed Avith money, and it 
Avas thought easy to buy food from other 
nations. Then came the new peril of the 
submarine. SloAvly but surely a great 
truth about money greAV into the mind of 
the English people. You may feed a man 
on ,$5 gold pieces until he doubles Aveight, 
yet he will die of starvation. Gold can¬ 
not feed the merest child until it is tr.ans- 
imited into food by the farmer—Avorkiug 
along with nature. It is the old stoiy of 
the Arab famishing in the desert. lie 
found a bag Avhich he thought must con¬ 
tain dates, but on opening it he found 
nothing but valuable pearls! Even when 
England began to feel the pinch of hunger 
the English farmer did not come to fuU 
size in public estimation. The people ex¬ 
pected these farmers to plunge in as a 
matter of patriotic duty and double farm 
croi)s at once. There was a chorus of 
Avrath from many city people when these 
farmers even tried to state their side of 
the ca.se. 
The Farmer’s Side.—F or years land 
in England had been going into meadoAv 
and pasture. In order to increase the 
acreage of grain as was demanded, thou¬ 
sands of acres of this beautiful, laAvn-like 
grass must be ploAved. This would mean 
great expense for new tools and labor, 
and Avould break up rotation of crops, so 
that several years would be needed to get 
back into their present plan. The far¬ 
mers needed credit to finance such oper¬ 
ations, iind the government had taken 
their Avorkmen, so that old men, boys and 
■^•omen AA-ere about jjl they had left. Sup¬ 
pose they borroAved money, tore up their 
farms and increased their grain cx'ops, 
and Avhen they had taken all this risk 
peace were declared as suddenly as the 
Avar started. What then? hloods of 
Avheat noAV stored in Bussia would be set 
fre<4 their Avheat would sell for le.ss than 
it cost to produce, while they Avould be 
left Avith their debts, their farmsi disor¬ 
ganized and frightful war taxes to be paid 
on a falling market. Manufacturers did 
not contract to make munitions until the 
guaranteed price covei-ed the cost of their 
material and their new factories. Bank¬ 
ers did not lend money or buy the bonds 
until they Avere guaranteed enough in¬ 
terest to cover all risks. Why should the 
farmer, noAV recognized as the big public 
factor, be asked to do all this Avithout as 
sure a guarantee as the others received? 
Guaranteed Crops.—T hat Avas the po- 
.sition taken by those English farmers. It 
Avas sound, and in much the same way our 
American farmers must folloAV. At first, 
in England as he:o, the idea seemed i)re- 
posterous, for generations of tOAvn and 
city people had come to think that the 
farmer must do the nation’s hard and dis¬ 
agreeable Avork Avithout complaint. Is it 
not one of the strangest things in life 
that people Avho groAV v-p under the artifi¬ 
cial conditions of the toAvn come to_think 
themselves better .md more culthaited 
than those Avho live free and natural lives 
in the country? I think it is because 
most of our talk and teaching have been 
to the effect that the farmer is not as im¬ 
portant a citizen as the laAvyer, doctor, 
clerk or mechanic. Happily this idea will 
now be blown up. With all its efforts the 
English government could not induce 
farmers greatly to increase crops until 
they received as fair a guarantee as 
other.s. To compel farmers to Avork longer 
hours than others, to go in debt for caiii- 
tal and outfit, in order to produce food 
Avhich might sell for less than it cost, Avas 
a form of confiscation which Avould cause 
a strike or a mutiny in any other indus¬ 
try. So they had to come to it by guar¬ 
anteeing minimum prices for grain, pota¬ 
toes, milk, meat and other farm produce. 
This means that for the next tAvo years 
Avheat must bring a certain price or more, 
and that for the next three years it must 
bring at least another price—someAvhat 
lower. Tluus the farmer has a guarantee 
for his labor and time the same as the 
manufacturer or the banker for their 
money or their skill. I believe that the 
effect of all this Avill be remarkable. It 
Avill lead to iiermaneutly higher prices and 
clean out the useless middlemen. It will 
make farming a better business for credit 
and capital, encourage co-operative work 
and put farming in a higher rank among 
other industries. England Avill, here¬ 
after, come much nearer supporting her¬ 
self, and Ave must all remember that in 
figuring for our future foreign markets. 
Not only is all this iSO, but it will make 
England a stronger, finer and better 
nation, for the surest road to national 
prosperity and strength lies through a 
profitable and hence a contented agricul¬ 
ture. Thus far I have talked about the 
English situation because there AA'e have 
something definite and settled. This na¬ 
tion will have to folloAv along the same 
track. Let us see next Aveek Avhat Ave 
can make out of it, ii. av. 0. I 
Prices arc 
^oing ap, 
but ipaylbe 
same formy 
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