1 
671 
She RURAL NEW-YORKER 
A Florida Potato Harvest 
The pioinre given below shows what is 
going on in many parts of Florida at 
the present time. This picture was 
taken at Arcadia, De Soto County. It 
shows the work being done the first 
%vcek in April. It will seem rather a 
strange thing to the man in Northern 
New York that potatoes as large as 
those shown are dug at that date, yet 
all through that section of Florida sim¬ 
ilar things may be seen. This year the 
potato crop is heavier than ever before. 
As we see from the picture, the ’ind is 
very light and sandy. Heavy fertilizing 
is required to produce a crop, but after 
the potatoes are taken out another crop 
beginning to grasp. The farmer is the 
most important man in the nation. All 
that the nation can ever amount to must 
be based upon the farm and the farmer. 
All other i idustries are for convenience, 
ornament or pleasure. Agriculture is the 
one solid, enduring wealth-producing in- 
uustry. England and America have been 
inclined to exploit the farmer and regard 
him as a sort of patient beast of burden, 
who ought to be satisfied to live simply, 
feed the nation and make other industries 
rich and comfortable. Under all the cir¬ 
cumstances it is not surprising that this 
idea prevailed in England, but that it 
should be held in America, where few of 
us can boa^t of being over two genera¬ 
tions removed from immigrants or labor¬ 
ers, is I'emarkable. France, on the other 
hand, has for many years recognized that 
the solid strength of the nation rested 
ELCOLIGHTi 
ELECTRICITY EGR EVERY FARM 
DELCO-LIGHT 
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Digging Potatoes in April in Florida 
like cow peas or velvet beans or corn 
or a number of others may be grown 
to advantage. Thus it is that the South 
can this year be of great service to the 
nation by growing food crops, although 
ns far south as Florida bread crops will 
not be very satisfactory. Sweet potatoes, 
fair yields of corn and cow peas will 
greatly help, however, in supplying food. 
The Northern farmer anxious about his 
crops and made almost desperate by the 
lack of sufficient labor will look in won¬ 
der and something of envy at this gang 
of a dozen men digging potatoes by 
hand. That is one advantage of the 
Southern planter. lie is usually able 
to obtain a good sui>ply of fair labor¬ 
ers. This year, however, many of the 
colored people are leaving the South 
and moving to the North, where they 
think they can obtain higher wages and 
perhaps better opportunity. At any rate 
some of our people in the far North who 
are still waiting for the snow to melt 
on their potato fields will be' interested 
in this picture of other Americans who 
are now digging potatoes. 
Farmers and the War 
No. 2. 
On page 020 v;e gave a brief sketch of 
the farm situation in England. Before this 
cDuntry entered the war the conflict had 
settled down to a test of skill and en¬ 
durance between the English and the Ger¬ 
man farmers. The Gennans have more 
land under cultivation, and a better sys¬ 
tem. because Germany has always recog¬ 
nized tllB importance of the farmer. 
Many of the great German leaders are 
farmers on a large .scale, and in the past 
the German agrarian party has had great 
influence upon national politics. England 
has the advantage of a moister climate 
and vast tracts of fin< rich sod laud, some 
of which is being turned over now for the 
first time in many years. Any farmer 
knows what he can do with a rich, mel¬ 
low sod, with lime and a moist season.' 
I once heard a maa who had visited one 
of the moist section of England say that 
the English must learn to eat fog if they 
ever lost control of the sea. In a way 
that is what will happen, for the abund¬ 
ance of water in the soil will produce 
bread and meat. In ail this war you 
hear very littl. about the need of food in 
France. Thai is due to various cause.s. 
The French .re a proud, thi'ifty, self- 
sustaining peiple. For centuries they 
have lived i; i closely settled communi¬ 
ties. where evei\v piece of available land 
must be worked, and every scrap of food 
saved. They have thus acquired habits o! 
eating, through great skill in cooking, 
which make them nearly self-sustaining. 
The average American family will \,'aste 
enough to support a French family, and 
very likely the French housewife will 
serve those wastes in such a way that her 
family will seem to be living better than 
the American family which threw the food 
France woke up to a 
tact which England and America are just 
upon the soil, and pi'obably no nation on 
earth has given more direct assistance to 
its farmers. 
Thus, when the pinch for food comes 
we find the warring nations turning to 
their farmers as their final test of 
sti'ongth. Germany has years of habit 
and a military organization wdiich can 
compel farmers to increase their crops or 
do what they are told to do. France has 
a national spirit and a national policy 
toward agriculture which convinces her 
farmers that whatever they do will be 
fairly recognized and paid for. If a 
French farmer Avorks hard and doubles 
his wheat crop he knows the government 
will protect him on the price, even though 
the world’s supply be doubled. England 
has found that she cannot make her far¬ 
mers greatly increase the food supply un¬ 
less she guarantees them a living price for 
what they grow. That is because the 
English farmers remember the past and 
demand that the promise to acknowledge 
their labor and credit must be as good as 
a government bond given to a banker. 
The question is clearly understood in 
these three countries; _ now Avhat of the 
American farmer who is expected to feed 
his own people and part of the rest? 
Where does he come in? 
First of all the American farmer has 
begun to understand this “two blades of 
grass” theory. All this fine talk by the 
“economists” and interested people fooled 
the farmer for a while, and he kept on 
producing big crops without knowing 
what he was to get for them. Then he 
began to think, and finally saw two things 
clearly. One was* that Avhile other in¬ 
terests Avere urging 1 im to raise the tAvo 
blades every one of them in its own busi¬ 
ness Avas producing a scant one blade. 
The farmer bought tools, books, clothing, 
machinery—supplies of all kinds. He 
saw that all Avho tried to sell him any¬ 
thing kept doAvn production so as to pre¬ 
vent competition in price—Avhile he was 
being urged to groAV more so as to bring 
about fierce competition in AA'liat he had 
to sell. Then he began to see that he did 
not have his most prosperous year Avhen 
crops Avere all big. and consequently 
prices Avere Ioaa*, though it Avas in those 
years that the other interests Avere most 
prosperous. His best years came in sea¬ 
sons of moderate crops and high prices. 
Sir ,Tohn B. LaAA’es saAv this years ago, 
Avhen he Avrote. “///y/;. formiuf/ is no rem¬ 
edy for Join prices.” 
Thus AA-hen the American farmer is 
asked to increase his crops both history 
and common sense lead him to ask about 
prices. Let us for example take the 
wheat crop to-day. The farmer Avill look 
at it fairly. Suppose the English and the 
Ru.ssians succeed in Avaking up until they 
capture Constantinople. That Avould re¬ 
lease the surplus of three Bus.sian har¬ 
vests and send it into the Avorld’s market 
in competition Avith American Avheat. 
Suppo.se on the other hand, the Socialists 
in Russia and in Germany get together 
and demand peace betAA'oen the two na¬ 
tions. That opens neAv resources to Ger¬ 
many and prolongs the Avar. So that as 
it stands the future price of Avheat is a 
gamble. Should the American farmer be 
expected to take the risk any more than 
the French or English farmer, both of 
AA'hom are jirovided for? Let us go fur¬ 
ther Avith this next Aveek. h. av. c. 
The Best Lighted 
Farm in the County 
One prominent farmer says: 
“Delco-Light has actually added to 
the value of my farm— 
“The neighbors speak of it as the 
best lighted farm in the county— 
“But it is more than that—it is the 
best place in "which to live—and 
to raise a family.” 
Delco-Light brings city comforts 
and conveniences and economies 
to the farm. 
It lights the house and barn—it 
furnishes power to pump the 
water, wash the clothes, churn 
the butter, separate the cream— 
run the vacuum cleaner and the 
electric fan. 
It is so simple that a child can 
operate it and so economical that 
it actually pays for itself in time, 
labor and fuel saved. 
The Domestic Engineering Company 
Dayton, Ohio 
Distributors 
DOMESTIC ELECTRIC CO., Inc., 52 Park St., New York City 
P. E. ILLMAN .... 65 South Avenue, Rochester, N. Y. 
J. S. SNYDER . • . 824 N. Broad Street, Philadelphia, Pa. 
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i 
