■She RURAL NEW-YORKER 
727 
Farmers and the War 
Part IV. 
Gerjiax Farmers. —A roadfi- asUs me 
to stop and tell how the German farmers 
have been able to feed the nation during 
this long war. From such reports as we 
can get it seems that less credit is due 
to the German farmers than to the sys¬ 
tem of military enforcement of food reg¬ 
ulation. We can hardly compare Ger¬ 
man agriculture with our own. Many of 
the nobles or aristocracy are large land- 
owners or agrarians. There is a peasant 
class unlike anything we have in this 
country, and some farmers who would 
rank with Americans owning medium¬ 
sized farms. Most of the food which 
supi)lies Germany is api)arantly grown on 
the large estates, which are either man¬ 
aged by their owners or rented as small 
farms. Under such a sy.stem and with 
Germany's military organization it would 
seem to be easy to increase crops and 
food supply, yet from the figures I can 
get it does not seem that any great in¬ 
crease has been mad<'. Germany seems 
to have been kept going not so much by 
increased crops as by compulsory food 
regulation and .saving of wastes. 
Why Is It? —The big German far¬ 
mers have carried gi'eat influence in pub¬ 
lic affairs, and have worked out an 
‘•agrarian’’ polic.v. so as to prevent for¬ 
eign competition and maintain high i)rices 
at home. Most of the soil is of rather 
low grade natursilly. Yet it produces 
large crops, because the Germans have 
made a most careful study of fertilizing 
and crop rotation. They had the potash 
at home but much of the nitrogen and 
phosphorus had to be imported and 
when the war brt)ke out imports of ni¬ 
trates were soon shut off. The nation 
had great herds of domestic animahs. and 
this large production i>f livestock proved 
a weakness in time of war. In the pre¬ 
vailing crop rotation about one-third of 
the land was in gras.s or fodder crop.s— 
with two-thirds in what we may call di¬ 
rect food for humans. Thus Germany 
found it necessary to import 80 per cent, 
or more of fodder and feed for stock. 
Ax Telustrattox. —AVe may find an 
illustration of this in a smaller way by 
thinking of one of the large dairy farm.s 
near New York or in New England. 
These farms are usually small, and can¬ 
not ju’oduce half feed enough for the 
cows. Alfalfa hay and gi-ain are bought 
from distant points. All of a sudden this 
.siip|)]y of hay and grain is shut off. The 
daiyrmen have contracts to supply milk, 
[lut their cows cannot be fed. and many 
of them must be killed. In a much larger 
way this is what happened to German 
livestock farmers when, as the war went 
on, no fodder and feed could be imported. 
This seems to have been the weakest 
feature of Gei-man agriculture—just as 
it is the weak feature of dairying in 
Eastern North America. AA’hen any na¬ 
tion or any section must import most of 
the feed for its livestock it is at the 
mercy of fate. This hit Germany a dou¬ 
ble blow by cutting down the .supidies of 
meat and fats, and akso reducing tin- ma¬ 
nure supi)ly upon which the German far¬ 
mers so largely depend. 
Laror Prori.e.ms. —Another weakne.ss 
Ilf the German system was the vast 
amount of work done by hand labor. 
There was not enough machinery for do¬ 
ing efficient work. A large number of 
the farm Workers were women—probably 
more than one-half. When England fin¬ 
ally W(d<e ui) and saw the shadow of 
starvation her farmers rushed in trac¬ 
tors and new farm machinery to help, 
while, I should say, the Germans were 
slow to get away from hand labor. Then 
when the men were called to the front 
more women were employed. These 
things show how hard it must have been 
to increase G(*rman crops. AVe are hav¬ 
ing a view of that now in this country 
where farmers are urged to “speed up" 
with the help of unskilled workers. 
I.ACK OF Fat.— Another thing which 
I believe made trouble was a shortage of 
fatty food. The German people as a rule 
are heavy consumers of fats. If you go 
to a restaurant where “French” and 
"German” fried potatoes are served you 
will see what I mean. It seems strange 
chat people like the Germans have never 
worked to develop crops which produce 
fatty food stuffs but have largely de¬ 
pended upon this country and Japan for 
that part of a cattle ration. Personally, 
I believe that the continued lack of but¬ 
ter or cream in a ration can never be 
made up by other fats. 
Chemists Help. —In 1010 about 400.- 
000 extra acres were put in hay and fod¬ 
der crop.s. Then the chemists found ;i 
way of making protein (or muscle-mak¬ 
ing food) by synthesis. That means the 
opposite of analysis. One picks apart by 
chemical action—the other puts together. 
By growing yeast in a solution of sugar, 
ammonia and mineral salts a form of 
protein is produced which can be mixed 
with human food. A.s a cattle food this 
can be produced by mixing the water of 
pulp mills and the wash w.iter of gas 
works. By using yeast in this mixture 
a form of protein suitiible for mixing 
with cattle food is actually produced. 
I’hen by using alkalies on straw a form 
of crude sugar is produced which when 
mixed with the clu'mical protein makes a 
feed .somewhat like oats in composition. 
Kirchen wastes and table scraps are col¬ 
lected in all cities of over 40,000 inhabi¬ 
tants and dried and pressed into cakes 
for feeding stock. Gre.at numbers of 
milch cows eat this food. Dead animals 
are cooked and the parts which formerly 
went into fertilizer are now dried and 
gnumd and fed to animals. During the 
first AATinter of the war, owing to scar¬ 
city of feed, many animals were .slaugh¬ 
tered, but with the help of these chemi¬ 
cal feeds and savings of wastes the flocks 
and herds are now nearly as large as be¬ 
fore the war. This simply gives us an 
idea of wh.'it the world is up against in 
fighting such a nation, and shows what 
a fearful waste is going on in this coun¬ 
try. AA’hat will be the effect of all this 
upon food production after the war? 
Next week let us see what the German 
government has done to regulate food 
distribution. h. av. c. 
Corrosive Sublimate for Potatoes 
AA’hy is it that a ding store will refuse 
to sell corrosive sublimate to a farmer 
for treating seed potatoes, when at the 
same time the government is urging us 
to increase our food supply in every line 
pos.sible? j. j.‘ w. 
AYalcott, N. Y. 
AA'e are not able to understand why 
the colleges and experiment stations con¬ 
tinue to advise the use of cori*osive sub¬ 
limate for the potatoes. AA’e have ob¬ 
tained good ivsults with the formalin, 
which is not poisonous to handle, and 
appears to give general satisfaction. 
There may be some reason for the advice 
to use the other material, and if so we 
should like to hear from those who tell 
us to use it. AYe find it very confusing to 
some farmers when both methods are 
printed together, as the people do not 
know which to use, and are apt to be¬ 
come confused over the proi»osition. AA’e 
prefer to give one method and make it as 
simple as possible. Having obtained g(X)d 
results from the formalin, we advise its 
use entirely. If, however, there are good 
reasons for the use of the sublimate, we 
should like to know what they are. 
Liquid Manure on Farms 
Can you give me any liiterature or ad¬ 
vice about the use of litpiid manure, out 
of gutter and cow stable, to be sprinkled 
on a lawn? I have seen this done in the 
hay-fields of Europe, but never knew 
what proportion it should be diluted. I 
.also have used this in the garden on roses 
and sweet iieas, but never on a lawn. 
New Y"ork. w. B. w. 
You should dilute the liquid manure 
wiith equal parts of water. Used gallon 
for gallon in this way it will not injure 
the lawn, and will make an effective fer¬ 
tilizer. It acts very much like a solution 
of nitrate of soda, and will furnish nitro¬ 
gen in available form. The same is true 
of chamber slops, and these li(iuids are 
frequently used for lawns and gardens. 
In some cases the stable liquids are di¬ 
luted with water and then a quantity of 
acid phosphate and one of the potash 
salts will be add(‘d. Both contain solu¬ 
ble plant food, with the result that the 
litiuid becomes a complete fertilizer, .sol¬ 
uble and active as plant food. 
Those Urga Beans 
Thank you for your timely work in 
showing to the people of Alaiile the beau 
fraud. The agent was here, but I did 
not buy them ; knew what they wore, be¬ 
ing a Canadian woman myself. Alost of 
my neighbors bought some. 
^Uliue. MRS. s. R. w. 
aCASON MIU.AC8 
Stewart Hand Operated Warning Signal 
Motor Driven Type 
Stewzu-t A 
Autoguard u 
West of Rocky 
Mts. $9.75 
Special Ford Model 
$7.50 
West of Rocky 
Mts. $8.25 
Board for Fords 
Takes Vibration 
out of steering 
wheel. 
Improves Appear¬ 
ance. No bolts— 
No screws — No 
Brackets. 
Instantaneous In¬ 
stallation. 
Can be installed in 
One Minute. 
Stewart 
V-Ray Spark Plug 
West of 
Rocky 
Mts. 
^ 5.50 
> Stewart V-Ray Searchlight 
J UST AVHAT every Ford owner wants. 
Anyone can install it—takes only a minute. 
No bolts, no screws, nuts, or brackets. 
Not like any other instrument board. When 
installed it becomes a part of the car. 
To install it, merely exert a downward pull 
on the steering column, slip the board into 
place and it is there to stay. 
Top edge of the board is grooved to fit the 
cowl just below the windshield. The lower 
edge rests tight against the steering column— 
eliminates every bit of vibration from the 
steering wheel. Makes driving a pleasure— 
no more tired arms, no matter how far 
you drive. 
You can install on the Stewart Instrument 
Board a clock, headlight control, priming 
lever, starter control, and any other acces¬ 
sories you»desire. If idesired, the Instrument 
Board can be pvirchased without the Speed¬ 
ometer. 
It is exactly what is needed to give the 
Ford car that look of finished elegance. 
Hundreds of thousands of Ford owners will 
want the Stewart Instrument Board, because 
of its many featvires: also because it is furn¬ 
ished with a Stewart magnetic type Speed¬ 
ometer. 
The Stewart Speedometer is a flush ty-pe 
instrument. The large figures are white on ^ 
black. Has season register and also a trip 
register which can be reset to any mile or tenth 
of a mile. 
You need a Stewart Speedometer to tell 
how far you travel, how fast you go to avoid 
arrest for speeding; what mileage you get from 
gasoline, oil and tires. You can buy the Special 
Ford model Stewart Speedometer for $10: the 
Stewart Instrument Board for $1.25,or the 
combination complete for $11.23. 
Better see your dealer today. 
The Stewart V-Ray Spark Plug, with its 
four sparking points, will put a V-Ray flame in 
your cylinders. Sure &e, oil-proof, compression 
tight and practically firacture-proof. Price $1. 
You need the ever-reliable, far-sounding 
Stewart Warning Signal. A commanding 
warning blast just when it's needed. Motor- 
driven type$6.00—hand-operated type, $3.50. 
The Stewart V-Ray Searchlight throws a 
big full daylight ray in any direction. It's a 
beauty too. You ought to have it. Price $5. 
The Stewart Autoguard is another big pro¬ 
tection. Exceedingly light but very, very 
strong. Every Ford ought to have the Auto¬ 
guard—yovirs included. 
Stewart Products are for sale by leading 
accessory dealers, jobbers and garages. 
.. 
