622 
TShe RURAL NEW-YORKER 
The Rural New-Yorker 
THE BUSIXESS FAR^rER’S PAPER 
A National Weekly Journal for Country and Suburban Homes 
Entablished fsso 
riibllshrd weekly by the Ktiral Fiibltnhln(r Company, 833 West 30th Street, New York 
Herbert W. Collin'gwood, President and Editor. 
Joil.s .1. DIU.OS, Tre.'surer and General Manager. 
Wm. F. Dii.txtN, Secretary. Mr.s. E. T. Rovle, Associate Editor. 
SUBSCRIPTION : ONE DOLLAR A YEAR 
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8>4 niark.s, or lOij francs. liemit in money order, express 
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advertisers unknown to us ; and cash must accompany transient orders. 
“A SQUARE DEAL” 
We believe that every B/lvertiseinent in this paper is backed by a respon¬ 
sible person. We use every iMasible precaution and admit the advertising of 
reliable houses only. But to make doubly sure, we will make good any loss 
to paid subscribei's sustained by trusting any deliberate swindler, ii-respon- 
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 willingly use our good 
offices to this end, but such cases should not bo confused with dishonest 
transactions. We protect subscribers against rogues, but wo 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 of the time of 
the transaction, and to identify it, you should mention The Rural New- 
Yorker when writing the advertiser. 
P RESIDENT WI^.SON’S proclamation calling 
upon the Nation for jiatriotic service will rank 
as one of the greatest state papers in the historj’^ 
of this countrj’. We are chiefly concerned in that 
part which refers to farmers and their work in* 
feeding the nation. The farmers have proved their 
patriotism on the battlefield, and no less upon the cul¬ 
tivated fields at home upon the farm. They will 
do their full duty. Ail they ask is a fair chance— 
no more than is given the other interests. They do 
not need advice from people who are without prac¬ 
tical experience—they need useful helpers, fair cap¬ 
ital and assurance that their crojis will be handled 
economically and bring them fair returns'. Give 
them these things (which are guaranteed every 
other interest) and they will take care of the food 
problem. President Wilson’s proclamation gives as¬ 
surance that the government will do its best to give 
the farmers a fair chance at marketing and will 
curb the food speculators. Gov. Whitman, by recog¬ 
nizing all interests, the Foods and Markets Depart¬ 
ment, the Farm Bureaus and all other farm or¬ 
ganizations, gives assurance that the farm crops of 
New York State will be mobilized and handled to 
advantage. The farmers Nvill respond. They know 
better than any of the officials what their farms 
can do. We cannot expect them to do the im¬ 
possible. It is now late to do much with some staple 
crops, but what can be now done will be done well. 
It is a full-sized man’s job and not one for school 
boys, defectn'es or untrained city laborers. This 
nation must understand that if there is to be a 
full supply of food it is just as necessary to have 
skilled laborers in the country as it is to have 
.skill in the munition factorie.s. Given the assur¬ 
ance of fair profit—which other intere.sts have (no 
more, no less)—the farmer will do more than his 
duty. 
S OMEBODY asks why, when we want to learn 
about the farm situation, we do not go to the 
“thinker.s” for opinions. We do—'V^e go to intelli¬ 
gent farmers. They think and they have the ad¬ 
vantage of knowing what they are thinking about. 
We think the farmers are I;‘oining to their own and 
doing more of their own thinking, which is the 
best sign yet that agricultural education is gaining 
ground. 
♦ 
W E under.stand that some .oOO,000,000 bu.shels 
of various grains are used each year for 
making intoxicating liquoi's. If, as the experts 
say, we are getting near to a shortage of bread. 
Why not cut ofl; the rum business as other nations 
have done? There is need of grain alcohol for me¬ 
chanical and medicinal purposes, but absolutely no 
need of liquor. Why then should all this bread¬ 
making grain be wasted if we are to be pincheff by 
hunger? And here is another thing. Suppress the 
sale of liquor in all rural communities and you will 
release more able-bodied men than all the other 
good efforts combined. We are told that the Rus¬ 
sian people never could have gained their freedom 
or handled it after it was gained had it not been 
for the destruction of the trade in whiskey. After 
May 1 New York City will be “bone dry” after one 
o’clock in the morning. A fai'iuer who has never 
seen how the Broadway sports “burn daylight” will 
not quite understand what this means, but it means 
Tvonders to those who know the town. 
* 
E VERY" sensible farmer will agree that if he is 
to help increase the food supply so as to feed 
this nation and its allies, he will do best with those 
crops which he knows fiiost about. This is no time 
for a man to rush into new crop.s. The greatest 
need is for bread and beans. It is now too late to 
. do much more with the wheat crop. We would 
not advise farmers in this latitude to seed Spring 
wheat. Oats or barley Avill give more food. Buck¬ 
wheat is a good grain for late planting, and we 
shall seed it heavily. Of course the corn crop 
should be large, but most of us who are short of 
labor need a crop which docs not need hand cul¬ 
tivating. Buckwheat is good for this purpose. It 
will grow on rough ground, is easily put in and 
will give a good yield of grain. Beans and cow 
])eas make good food and can be grown in orchards. 
We do not advise farmers to put jn*special crops of 
beans, but there should be at least a few planted 
on every farm. The great need of the army will 
be bread and bean.s. 
* 
A NUMBER of men and Avomen in the State of 
New York have made up a fund to be loaned 
to farmers in the State this j'ear for the purpose 
of increasing food production. The suggestion for 
this fund seems to have been first made by Mr. 
Marc W. Cole to William Church Osborne, who in¬ 
terested himself in the proposition with the result 
that a half million dollars was made immediately 
available with the assui'ance that more would be 
forthcoming as required. The purpose is to make 
loans to individual farmers in the amount required 
up to $500 each, to be used strictly for the purpose 
of securing seed, fertilizers, machinery or help for 
the production of the crops this year. It i5 in¬ 
tended to make these loans to men who may not 
be able to secure bank ]oan.«:, but yet who have 
jiersonal standing sufficient to warrant the assur¬ 
ance that the money will be used as agreed, and be 
paid out of the proceeds of the year's crop. No 
definite security will be necessary. If for any rea¬ 
son it cannot be paid Avheii due, Dec. 1st, an ex¬ 
tension of time on the whole or part of it will be 
allowed. A committee of the Grange in each loca¬ 
tion will endorse the moral risk and the loan will 
be made on this endorsement. No one will, however, 
be responsible for the loan except the man who 
gives his individual note for it. The loan will be 
dispersed through the Citizens’ Trust Comi)any of 
Utica, N. Y, Mr. Marc W. Cole is secretary of 
the trustees in charge of the fund. 
* 
I WOULD ask the question, in ansTA’er to our Presi¬ 
dent’s lu-oclamatiou, what; is the best crop for the farmer’s 
to raise on their farms in the way of food to help the 
country? I have a farm in Ditchfield Co., Conn. We 
use this farm more now as a Summer place, only cut¬ 
ting the hay and raising fodder enough for our own 
animals. I have only one work horse; the plowing 
is hired done but the care is done by our men. What 
crop can I grow that will help my fellow man? L. E. s. 
T here are many people like L. E. S. who want 
to help. They are not farmers, but have idle 
land (most of it rough and raw) and few' conven¬ 
iences for growing cultivated or hoed crops. It is 
foolisb to advise such men to plant potatoes, corn 
or garden crops, W'hich require smooth, well-worked 
soil and hand culture. The best they can do is 
to try to add to the grain supply. In most cases 
barley and buckw'heat will be most suitable for 
their jise. Barley will give more of a crop than 
Spring w'heat. It should be seeded at once. The 
be.st crop for them will be buckwheat. This hardy 
crop can be seeded up to July 1, It will do quite . 
well on rough land, and w'ill respond to lime and 
pho.sphorus. Our suggestion for men with this idle 
land would be to plow and fit as much of it as their 
help can handle, use lime if possible, and seed to 
buckwdieat with Alsike clover seed adiled. Thus 
they will increase the supply of bread food and put 
the land in shape for better crops next year. We 
repeat that this advice is for men who are not busi¬ 
ness farmers, but who have idle land. 
* 
W E have many questions about the value of a 
fruit ti'ee. Such trees are frequently ruined 
or destroyed by wdld animals or fire, or they may be 
misfits from a nurseryman. What are they worth 
in any effort at settlement for damages? We un¬ 
derstand that a few years ago the Missouri State 
Board of Horticulture, through a committee, re¬ 
ported as follow's: 
We value well-grow'u, thrifty apple trees after be¬ 
ing grown in orchards one year at 50 cents; two years 
$1; three years .$1.50; four years .$2; five years .$5; 
six years $4 ; seven years .$4.50; eight years .$5; nine 
years $5.50; 10 years old and over, $0. We recom¬ 
mend that the valuation of apple trees apply to pear 
and cherry trees. We further recommend the value 
of peach and plum trees to be for trees grown in or¬ 
chards one year 50 cents; two years $1; three years 
$1.50; four years $2; five years $2; .six years and 
over, $4. 
The Vermont Horticultural Society figured these 
values higher but it does not seem to us pi.issible to 
put down any definite price for such a tree. We 
ha^ 14-year-old apple trees which, last season, pro¬ 
duced from $12 to $15 worth of fruit each. This 
value ran high largely because we are close to a 
fine market and can sell the fruit in baskets. Such 
April 28, 1917. 
trees far back from market would hardly earn .$0 
each. Who will say that one tree is worth as much 
as the other, even though they are alike in age, 
size and vigor? In estimating such values the loca¬ 
tion and the market should be considered. We have 
lO-yeai'-old McIntosh trees which earn each year, 
a great dividend on a valuation of $40. If a rail¬ 
road were to destroy them by starting a fire in the 
orchard what would we think if offered $0 each in? 
damages? On the other hand in large orchards 
far back, such a value might be fair. 
* 
A BILL introduced in the Maine Legislature pro¬ 
vided .$2.5.000 with which to purcha.se and 
equip five farm.s. They were to be located in differ¬ 
ent sections of the State “for the purpose of de¬ 
termining the capability in fundamental agriculture 
of prospective professors of agriculture at the Uni¬ 
versity of Maine and of county farm demonstrators 
working under the Smith-Lever appropriation." 
The State Auditor is to go over the figures showing 
the business done on these farms. Under this bill no 
man could serve as professor of agriculture or farm 
demonstrator after 1921 until he had passed three 
years on one of these farms and received a certi¬ 
ficate .showing that he had run the farm at a 
fair profit. 
Sect. 7. In the requirement for a certificate from 
the State Auditor, shall be reckoned charges for in¬ 
surance, taxes, and .support of a family of two admits 
and four_ children, who shall be fed, clothed, schooled 
and furni.shed with a reasonable amount of recreation 
and amusement, repairs upon buildings and farm ma¬ 
chinery and fence.s. No credit shall be given for. the 
growth of wood or timber, and no salary shall be paid 
other than the profit from the farm, all of which shall 
belong to the operator. 
The committee which considered this bill reported 
that “it ought not to pa.ss,” as it would be likely 
to fill the chairs at the agricultural college with 
men without needed college training. A very broad 
question comes up in connection with this idea. Is 
it nec6S.sary for a man to be able to make a pi'ac- 
tical success in oi'der to be a good teacher? Does 
teaching require imagination and vi.sion which 
would be something of a handicap for the practical 
farmer? Could the practical farmer whose mind 
runs entirely to making a farm pay really make a 
success in the class room? The.se are things to con¬ 
sider. We are told that this bill will be .sent to 
the Maine Legislature year after year until it is 
finally passed. 
* 
H ere is a ca.se which we think is typical of 
many others this year. A fax-mer near New 
Yoi'k wanted about 10 bari'els of seed potatoe.s. 
About April 1 he was informed by a well-known 
company that the pi'ice would be $7.50 per sack. 
Very cax'eful figuring showed that with the South¬ 
ern crop coming on thei'e was a supply of potatoes 
on hand which would with uni'estricted trade re¬ 
duce the price. Then a speculative I'i.se in flour 
was announced, and the President called upon all 
to inci'ease the potato ci'op this Summei*. The I’e- 
sult was that when our friend went to buy his seed 
the price had suddenly jumped to $10.50. Now 
those potatoes wei’e pi'obably conti'acted for at the 
planting last year—certainly at the digging, and 
did not cost the dealer over one dollar a bushel. 
Thei'e was no occasion for this last jump in price. 
It was simply a hold-up or commei'cial I'obbei-y. 
Evei'y man should have a fair mai'giii of profit 
between co.st of production and selling pi'ice, but 
the government should prevent extortion in holding 
up a necessity. 
Brevities 
The farmer is expected to increase the potato crop, 
but why does not the housewife thin down the peelings 
or boil with the jackets on? 
One way to serve your country this year is to use 
formalin on the oats and potatoes and spray the latter. 
Better do that than to double the acreage. 
A SOMEWHAT unusual call comes from a woman who 
wants to breed swine in a partnership contract. She 
claims to have had full experience—and also that she 
likes the work. 
In a London (England) letter written March 2(), 
a correspondent speaks of the high cost of potatoes— 
three half pence (three cents) per pound! We are 
now giving about six cents a pound. He says weli-to- 
do people do not buy potatoes, so that the supply may 
be used by the poor who depend on them so largely. 
Mobilize the sitting hen. Meat is needed and dur¬ 
ing the Summer the chicken will produce it cheaply 
by utilizing seeds, weeds and insects. The lively chick 
beats any songbird as an insect killer. Where they 
can have wide range a flock of chickens Avill make 
most economical meat. We do not advise feeding them 
over Winter, but to sell them when frost de.stroys vege¬ 
table and insect life. Thus we shall utilize our sitting 
hens instead of trying to break them up. A per.sisteut 
sitter beats a slack or lazy human for efficiency. Put 
the latter on the firing line and give the hen a chance. 
