I 
704 
The Rural New-Yorker 
THE liVaiSESS FARMER'S PAPER 
A National Weekly Journal f'or Country and Suburban Homes 
Established I8S0 
Pnbllsbed nerkijr by tlir Rural l*<ibruihlni; Companj, 333 Wrst 30th Street, New Vork 
Herbert W. Collinowood, President and Ktiitor. 
John J. Dillon, Tfe.'«urer and General Manaprer. 
Wk. F. Dilion, Secretiiry. Mrs. E. T. Royle, Associate Editor. 
SUBSCRIPTION ; ONE DOLLAR A YEAR 
To foreign countries in the Universal Postal Union. $2.01, equal to 8 s. 6 d., or 
8 lfe marks, or IOI 4 fiaiies. liemit in money ordi.-r, express 
order, personal clieck or bank draft. 
Entered at New York Post Ollice as Second Class Jlatter. 
Advertlsinpr rates, 7 .'; cents per aerate line—7 words. References required for 
advertisers unknown to us ; and cash must aecomjiany transient orders. 
“ A SQUARE DEAL” 
We believe that every .advertisement in this paper Is backed by a re.spon- 
Bibie person. We use every iiossibic precaution and ailmit the advertisine of 
reliable houses only. But to make doubly sure, we will make (rood any loss 
to [taid subscribers sustained by trustinpr any deliberate swindler, irrespon¬ 
sible advertisers or misleadinir advertisements In our column.s, and any 
such swindler will be publicly exposed. We are also often called n|)Oii 
to adjust dilferences or mistakes between our subscribers and honest, 
responsible houses, whether advertisers or not. We wlllinftly use our good 
offices to this end, but such coses should not be confused with dishonest 
transactions. We protect subscribers again.st rogues, but we will not be- 
resimnsible for the debts of honest bankrupts sanctioned by the courts. 
Notice of the complaint must be sent to us witbin one month of the time of 
the transaction, and to identify it, you should mention The Rural New- 
Yorker when writing the advertiser. 
I CALLED a neighbor’s attention to that article on 
page 62.3, “The Farmer as a Patriot,” and he said he 
would like to see that printed in every paper in the 
country on the editorial page. lie voices my view. I 
called our local editor’s attention to it, and he had it 
printed complete in the la.st issue. Keep up the good 
work. C. D. K. 
Hempstead, N. Y. 
O use talking, that article got home to the peo¬ 
ple because it expressed their sentiments to a 
dot on the i. Mr. Smith, who wrote that article, 
condensed a hig hook into this paragraph: 
The farmer is engaged in the most hazardous busi¬ 
ness in the world. lie is the plaything of nature and 
the child of chance. lie never knows what he is going 
to raise nor what it will bring him when he gets it. 
lie has to compete in the labor market with the whole 
world. The government, the munition factories and 
the highway interests, will put labor practically out of 
his reach. 
And the world, in dire distress, is now turning to 
the farmer to save human life from destruction. 
The farmer will do more in resiionse to the call than 
any other class on earth ever would do. But he 
wants the world to understand what he is doing, 
and under what a handicap he is working. The 
world is under obligiitions to the American farmer, 
and that obligation must he jiaid in the future. It 
is fine work to have such axdicles printed in the 
local papers, for tlmt brings them ri.ght home to 
the farmers. They are getting too much guff and 
advice from iieople who do not know the true con¬ 
ditions. 
When a boy I reciill a relative had a lino crop of 
beans on a small patch, so he made up his mind to 
plant a line 2G-acre field to them the next yoiir iuul 
made a complete failure. That year a small melon 
patch yielded large returns, and he intended to plant 
that 26 acres to melons the following yi'ar, hut friends 
or lack of time itrevented his planting half of it to 
melons, iind what he had failed to pay expenses. Stick 
mainly to what you know how to grow. Try iiromis- 
ing new crops or varieties on a .small scale and after 
you learn how to care for them from others exper¬ 
ience or good common sense. U. T. cox. 
Ohio. 
II.\T is the .soundest kind of advice. We have 
repeated- it over and over, for dozens of jieople 
have come saying they expected to plant luilf the 
farm in beans, Spring wheat, speltz or something 
they never tried before. In some cases they are 
ready to break up a good new seeding or change 
their entire rotation in order to plunge on these 
new things. It will prove a great mistake. Let the 
.shoemaker stick to his last! We are all soldiers 
this year. Imagine a soldier at the front who had 
become an expert .sharp.shooter. He throws away 
his rifle and tries to run a machine gun—knowing 
nothing of' its mechanism! The farmer who, in 
these times, throws away tried knowledge in order to 
experiment is about as had a soldier! 
* 
To raise a lot of chickens on limited or borrowed 
capital is more than we wish to advise; at the same 
time we feel that if one can pull through the long 
Summer months when the growing chicks are very hun¬ 
gry there is a chance. i’atri()ti.sm is very fine, but 
going broke is quite a idilVerent question. D. l,. 
Hl.VT is good sense from a New York poultiy 
man. AVe hear from men who are in great 
trouble over this question. Everyone, except those 
who pay the bills for chicken feqd, is calling for 
more chicken and the chickens are calling for grain. 
It is pretty much a question of credit and patience. 
Future prices for eggs and iioultry cannot help be¬ 
ing high, hut unless this year’s corn crop is f;ir 
above the average grain will run higher in propor¬ 
tion with the price of eggs, and they will not he 
produced at a profit. Every business man knows 
that there are times when he must run his business 
at a loss in order to hold on and finally strike a 
combination of large stock and high prices. Many 
fruit growers have* run for several year.s—losing 
money each season and stretching their credit to 
the limit until at last one big crop sets them free. 
Oic RURAL NEW-YORKER 
It is a sort of gamble which requii-es a man of 
iron nei've and steady brain, and we could not ad¬ 
vise such a policy for all. It is ju.st a questioa of 
the price of feed next Fall. If any hen man de¬ 
cides to stay in he should put in all the corn and 
buckwheat he can, and sit up nights if need be to 
take care of it. 
* 
W INDHAM COUNTY, A^ermont, contains seven 
cooperative creameries. These have now 
been federated into an organization for genei’al im¬ 
provement. The city board of trade has offered a 
lii’ize to the creamery showing the neatest condition 
and the most attractive surroundings. Neatness 
pays. Any young man will tell you that when he 
blackens his shoes before going to call on the girl. 
So will any country family when they try to sell 
the farm and the purchaser finds a lawn and shrubs, 
and roses around the house. So will any man who 
puts on a neat, clean coat when he goes out to .sell 
food. Neatness means the polish on trade which 
people gladly pay for. 
* 
T he New York State Food Commis.sion has 
bought 22 tractors which are to be distributed 
through the State and used to help farmers fit their 
land. The Commission .says: 
In tiiking this action the Commission realizc.s that 
it has taken a radical step, but it is of the opinion that 
the nece.ssity for increased production ju.stifies it. AA'ith 
tractors made available to any community on compara¬ 
tively short notice, and with seed potatoes and other 
seed procurable through the Commission’s representa¬ 
tives in the counties of the 'State, it is believed an 
important advance has been made. 
Last week a correspondent put it a little differ¬ 
ently : 
How quickly the State turns to the socialistic theory 
of a cobjierative commonwealth, and government con¬ 
trol of the means of transportation and distribution, 
when war clouds rise, and what a pity it is that in 
peiice times the government leaves us to the tender 
mercies of the capitalistic system. 
Thus far the chief efforts of all these various 
committees are devoted to heliilng the farmer to 
produce larger crops. AVhat is being done to make 
sure that he is bellied to distrihitfe those crops to 
adviuitage? Every farmer who is capable of thought 
must see that in the event of a bumper crop the 
tractors and the seed will be of much less value to 
him than cheaper transportation without discrim¬ 
ination, and free sale without speculative monopoly. 
As a fiirmer puts it on thi.s page, “patriotism is a 
fine thing, but going broke is quite another.” The 
marketing question comes next, and will be harder 
and more complicated than production. To operate 
it prope«iy there must be some form of co- 
oiierative work in assembling farm products, and 
selling them in fair-sized quantities. Personally we 
think this war and the economies it must entail upon 
us all will make cooperative work imperative. But 
these committees will face their real work when 
they come up against the transportation and sale of 
the big croj) they are now developing. Then they 
will run upon the holders of the 65-cent share of the 
dollar, and not one of the speculators, middlemen 
and handlers will part with a penny Avithout a 
light. 
* 
H ebe is another point about cover crops—par¬ 
ticularly Crimson clover. The Maryland Ex¬ 
periment station compared yields on fields where 
the clover was plowed under with other fields where 
the clover Avas cut and fed to cattle, or pastured be¬ 
fore plowing. The best yields Avere obtained Avhen 
the clover was turned into manure before being 
ploAved. Of course this could not have been due to 
any increase of plant food, since none Avas added, 
but it seems clear that manure is more effective 
than the clover plowed before being fed. The rea- 
,son probably is that the manure contains certain 
bacteria not found in the green or cover crop. 
The.se bacteria are evidently added by the animal, 
and they h.ave a good effect upon the soil. That is 
Avhy a light coat of manure spread on an old sod 
before plowing will give results far greater than 
would be exjiected from the actual plant food in 
the manure. For we must all remember that the 
soil is not like a factory dealing only with dry, dead 
material, but a thing of life in which growth is 
made. 
* 
T he farm census recently taken in New York 
shows a falling off in the number of heifers be¬ 
ing raised. This means less milk and higher prices 
in coming years unle.ss more of the heifer calves 
are kept. (!ood cows are sure to be high. It Avill 
pay to raise more heifers. Some farmers on back 
farms Avith good pasture land can make some money 
running “heifer farms”—that is raising calves in¬ 
stead of selling all the milk. In several places in 
the West farmers buy dairy coavs and keep a good 
May ID, IDIT. 
beef bull at tiie head of the herd. Some milk is 
sold, but most of it is fed to the calves, which pay 
Avell as beef at pre.sent prices. This plan was Avorked 
out to save the high cost of labor, since it gives one 
man a chance to handle a good herd of cows. It 
is a “war measure” which will suit some farmers. 
* 
OU knoAV that woman who gives her experience 
Avith city-raised student labor on page 696 is 
a farmer—familiar with farm conditions. Now 
Avho will .say that her statement is xinfair? This 
is a larger question than ever now that all this stu¬ 
dent labor is being offered or urged upon farmers. 
We have gone out of our way to find practical far¬ 
mers Avho AA’ant this sort of labor. Noav Ave ask de¬ 
finitely if this .statement is fair? By the Avay, why 
do Ave not haA^e advice to .send this sort of labor 
to the factories and thus set fi'ee Avorkmen there 
Avho know about farm Avork? 
* 
N the same mail last week came tAvo letters. One 
was from a man who begged to knoAv Avhat his 
big, strong son could do to avoid entering the army. 
The other was from a poor widow Avho .says her 
boy is to be a soldier, and .she adds, “(lod bless him 
for his decision.” It seems to us an appropriate 
time to print Abraham Lincoln’s letter to Mrs. 
Bixby—written near the clo.se of the Civil War: 
Dear Madam :—I liaA-e been shown in the files of the 
War Depaitmeut a statement that you are the mother 
of five sons avIio have died gloriously in the field of 
battle. I feel how weak and fruitless must be any 
words of mine which should attempt to beguile you from 
the grief of a loss .so overwhelming. But I cannot re¬ 
frain from tendering to you the consolation that may 
be found in the thanks of the Republic they died to 
save. I pray that our Heavenly Father may assuage 
the anguish of your bereavement, and leav'e you only 
the cheri.shed memory of the loA'ed and lost, and the 
.solemn pride that must be yours to have laid so costly 
a .sacrifice upon the altar of freedom. 
Yours very .sincerely and respectfully, 
ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
❖ 
This Towner bill seems to me to be sure of defeat. 
If defeated tlie plan ought, it seems to me. to be 
worked out with fiirmers back of it for stockholders. 
The politicians are after the influence of business iii- 
tere.sts the same as of old. Farmers hav'e a hard time 
to keep even, and I doubt if they can secure their 
i-ights in the Legislature. AA^'e should keep right on 
trying though. ii. ii. 
T he true story of the ToAvner bill Avill be told 
51 little later. We think .Senator Elou R. 
BrOAvn of Watertown is mainly responsible for the 
result. He found it possible to take advantage of 
the great Avar excitement in order to kill thi.s need¬ 
ed legislation. It is the old politician’s theory that 
Avhenever Avar talk starts, the people Avill forget all 
about domestic or business reforms. Acting on this 
theory Mr. Brown and his comrades thought it safe 
to kill the Towner bill. Their theory is Avrong, 
and Ave think Ave can prove it so. Most of the great 
characters in history have been stronger after 
death than they Avere in life, for the memory of 
Avhat they stood for liA'es in the gr;iA'e. The far¬ 
mers Avlll remember that the ToAvner bill presented 
one of the best methods of heljiing both producer 
and con.sumer yet .suggested. It was not .so radi¬ 
cal as many other things Avhich the government is 
now doing. The farmers Avill remember that, and 
they Avill also remember that Elon B. BroAvn is re- 
.siionsible for the failure of the Legislature to pa.ss 
the bill. Noav for the fii’st time in many years Ave 
liaA'e a great i.ssue tied definitely to a man—like a 
tin cjin tied to ii dog. Now Ave shall have a chance 
fo see Avhether the cynical old political theory is 
correct. 
Brevities 
Bose bugs are poisonous to chickens. 
Keep your eye on the man who tries to commercial¬ 
ize friendship. That is one thing which should be kept 
out of commerce. 
If you h;ive tried any mechanical repellent for peach 
borers tell us how it worked. AA’e luive found nothing 
better than knife or wire. 
AA''e are all asked to do our bit to help out the food 
problem. Soon we may all have to do our “bite” by 
changing our habits of food. 
The “iceless icebox” will be used this year. We 
have often described it. The principle used for cooling 
is evaporation of water from Avoolen cloth. 
One thing is sure, you can stand the worry and .strain 
a little better if there are good patches of rhubarb 
and asparagus out in the garden. I’he.se patches do 
not Avear out! 
There is strong complaint that the various chicken 
rations advi.sed by the poultry experts cost too much, 
(’an these same experts put up a cheaper mixture that 
will produce results? 
Eatery mail brings us a great basketful of circulars 
containing “advice” to farmers. They come from rail¬ 
roads, bfinkers and about everyone else Avho knows 
nothing about the practical situation. Those Avho do 
know say little (as a part of their knowledge). AA’e 
estimate that these talkers are .spoiling about .$75,000 
of good paper in putting out this printed guff. Is 
there no way of stopping them and applying this money 
to useful practices? 
