1010 
IShe RURAL. NEW-YORKER 
The Rural New-Yorker 
THE BUSINESS FARMER’S PAPER 
A National Weekly Journal for Country and Suburban Ilomea 
Established isso 
Pnbllsbcd irepkl; b; tbe Rural Publisbine Oompany, S3S Weit 80tb Street, Kew fork 
Herbert W. Colungwood, President and Editor. 
John J. DH.LOJJ, Tre.'surer and General Manager. 
Wm. F. DnxoN, Secretary. Mrs. E. T. Hoyle, Associate Editor. 
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“A SQUARE DEAL’- 
We believe that every advertisement in this paper is backed by a respon- 
eible pei-son. We use every possible precaution and admit the advertising of 
reliable houses only. But to make doubly sure, we will make good any loss 
to i)aid subscribez-s sustained by ti-ustizig any delibei-ate swindler, irrespon- 
eible advertisers or iziisleading advertisements in our coluzzins, ana any 
Buch swindler will be nubliely exposezi. We are also often called upon 
to adjust diiferenccs or mistakes betweezi our subscribezs and Izoncst, 
re.sjx)zz.sible houses, whether advez-tisez's or zzot. We willingly use our good 
offices to this end, but such oases should zioi, be coni'u.sed with dishonest 
transactions. We pz'otect Rizhsczubern against rogtzes, but we will not be 
responsible for the debts of honest bankzupts sanctioned by the courts, 
Notice of the complaint tnnst be sent to t-.s witlitn one znonth of the time of 
the tran-saction, and to Idezziity it, you should mention The Kueal New- 
Yorker wizen writing tlie adveitiser. 
A S \ve close t.his issue of The R. N.-Y. there 
comes from Albany the following brief, some¬ 
what profane, but true report: 
'‘The devil to pay here over the food MUr 
Tliere are times wlien the piain, empnatic lan¬ 
guage of thoroughly aroused and nonest men states 
things properly. This Is such a time. The 11 N,-Y. 
has iii.sisted that the State food bill is not necessary, 
that it is simply a scheme to pay a big political debt, 
and that the farmei'S could kill it if they tried. 
Time is the great clarifier ot truth, and a few days 
have served to prove these statements. Nearly 40 
rural members ot the I.egisiatu'e have refused to 
vote for the bill, and thus far they have stood like a 
rock in their decision. Dnabie to stir tliem, the 
leaders have :id.iourned the Legislature until next 
week. Anyone who knows wnat it means for men 
to stand out against the Aloany machine will realize 
that the report quoted above Is correct. Yet that 
debt must be paid before tbe farmers of New York 
can have what belongs to them. So this figlit over 
the food bill is a small thing compared with the tre¬ 
mendous consequences ot this revolt of rural mem¬ 
bers of the Legislature. Hurrah! We may have 
the GO farmers in the next Tvegislature after all. 
« 
W HILE yd.sike clover will grow on soil too wet 
or too sour to suit Hed clover, lime is always 
desirable for any kind of clover or Alfalfa. A 
farmer should not figure that because Alsike will 
grow on acid soil it will not pay to use lime. We 
believe that some of the newer varieties of Alfalfa 
are much like Alsike clover in their ability to thrive 
on acid soil. If they are inoculated properly they 
will start and grow on soil so sour that the common 
Alfalfa would fade away. Y^et that does not prove 
that such Alfalfas can do their best without lime. 
The safest rule is to assume that all clovers and 
Alfalfas must have lime in order to do their- best. 
!|< 
U NDER tbe new food law the government offers 
to guiirantee $2 a bushel for high-class wheat. 
This does not mean that every bushel of wheat pro¬ 
duced this year is Avorth $2 at the barn or bin. 
This price of .$2 Avill not go into effect until July 1, 
1918. Thus it will not apply to this year’s ei*op, but 
is intended to increase production for next year. 
Just Avhat the $2 per bushel means has not been 
worked out yet, but probably it refers to the export 
price at the seaboard—the pi-oducer paying the 
usual cost of transportation to the shipping point. 
The price in Noav York is noAV about $2.35, Avhich 
means beloAV $2 to the farmer in the Middle West. 
* 
N O doubt the distillers and whisky-makers had 
much to do with boosting tbe price of corn. 
Congress duAvdled and played so long with the food 
bill that the distillers had at least two months extra 
for buying corn and increasing stocks of liquor. By 
getting control of tbe corn mai-ket they were able to 
boost the price so that if later the government de¬ 
manded the grain they could make fortunes by sell¬ 
ing it back. The neAV bill finally shut off all manu- 
factui-e of Avhisky, but the distillei*s can turn their 
corn over at a big profit. The lazy and quarrelling 
Congress has given the food gamblers a chance to 
load up with millions Avhile the food bill Avas being 
sloAvly masticated. 
* 
I N all this commotion about Increasing grain crops 
Ave think it remarkable that no one has stai'ted 
a demand for the use of lime. Surely when Ave get 
off the natural limestone lands in New York we 
cannot hope for successful Avheat culture without 
using lime. Most of the increase in the rye crop 
will come from new land or soil plowed up after 
lying some years in sod. There is hardly an acre of 
such land in Noav York that does not need lime be¬ 
fore it can respond to grain production. While rye 
does not require lime as wheat does, it will respond 
to its use in old .sod, and that kind of soil should 
not be planted in any crop Avithout liming. Thei-e 
should be tAvo tons of lime used for every ton of fer¬ 
tilizer in NeAV York State, and limestone crushers 
are needed all over the State. Right now is the 
need of “booming” lime. The State has many ledges 
of limestone, and at every one of them lime crushers 
should be at Avork fitting this stone for use. 
* 
T he Dairymen’s League propo.ses a scheme for 
buying feed for its members. A dairy ration 
is to be made up from a formula prepared by the 
New York College of Agriculture. As is well known, 
this college uoav issues a monthly formula of feeds 
arranged to suit changing prices. Various reliable 
manufacturers are to mix feeds i:ito this balanced 
ration and sell it to League members through IocjiI 
representatives. There is to be a cash Imsiness 
Avith a set of discounts for buying in carload lots 
and personal handling and storage. The vital fea¬ 
tures of the plan are the general balances! ration 
and the local representatiA-e. Of cour.se, there Avill 
haA-e to be more than one such ration to make 
economical feeding. A man feeding clover or Al¬ 
falfa to big milk coAvs AVDuld hardly want the same 
combination as one feeding mixed hay to butter 
coAA^s—but this can be easily arranged. For in¬ 
stance, the College of Agriculture suggests the fol- 
loAving ration for August: 
Mixture 1—100 pounds distillers’ grains, 500 pounds 
gluten feed. 400 pounds lioniiuy, 500 pounds whesit 
bran, 200 pounds oil meal. 
Mixture 2—500 pounds malt sprouts, 500 pounds 
wheat bran, 500 pounds gluteu feed, 500 pounds 
hominy. 
The League advi.ses the folloAving: 
Where possible it is advisable for each local branch 
of the Dairymen’s _ League to recommend a local feed 
dealer to act as its purchasing agent under a con¬ 
tract. 
This may work best in some places, but in gen¬ 
eral it will be better for the League to get entirely 
aAAmy from the present system of distribution. Ul¬ 
timately, as AA-e see it, the only hope for the liOague 
is to do its OAvn business in both selling and buying. 
The milk business is large enough to justif.y this. 
Working into the hands of the distributors and feed 
dealers is like playing AA'ith fire, and the dairymen 
already the sears from former 'burnings. 
Why not plan to do your own feed mixing? For 
example, the South will this Fall dispose of thou¬ 
sands of tons of A'elvet beaus AA-hich will give the 
cheapest pi-otein food on the market. The experi¬ 
ment stations should at once test these beaus in 
various combinations Avith grain and thus Avork up 
a good ration. Then let tbe dairymen liaA-e tbe bene¬ 
fit of this cheaper feed. If they do not do some¬ 
thing of tbe sort they Avill soon be paying four times 
the cost of these beans—in mixed feed. 
♦ 
A STUDY of that new dog law must convince 
anyone that if it be fully enforced, Jack and 
Fido and Sliep Avill have very restricted lives in 
NeAV York. Dogs are iio longer free! 
Any person may kill a dog ivliile it is attacking 
or icorrying ang domestic animal having a commer¬ 
cial value, or attacking folds, or while such dog is 
heing pursued thereafter! 
On its face this means that if my dog chases my 
neighbor’s trespassing hens, the neighbor may shoot 
the dog. Or, if hi log chases or “Avorries” my cat, 
I ean kill the dog while he is doing it. We doubt if 
tbe courts would uphold such actions, but that is the 
way it reads. Then this clause relating to a dog 
that attacks a person or a hor.se. Many dogs run 
out in the road and bark or jump in play. Some 
nervous person or some one Avith a personal spite 
against the dog’s oAvner can use that to make trouble 
OA^er a hai-mless dog. On the other hand, it ought to 
take care of the savage dog, which is often a real 
menace. In the case mentioned on page 1001, Avhere 
the hound frightened the sheep AAdthout attacking 
them, this laAV would, we thiuk, giA-e damages to the 
sheep owner and compel the dog oAvner to keep his 
dog shut up at night. In fact, under this law there 
is only one safe place for Shep and Tige—that is at 
home, behaving himself. So long as a dog keeps on 
ills OAvuer’s place and attends to business—if he has 
any—this hiAV Avill not be likely to injure him. His 
OAvner aa-UI have to pay more for enjoying the dog’s 
society, but the dog must stay at home. After all, 
what business has any dog to go at large, running 
the neighborhood and up to all sorts of mischief? 
The damage is done by these idle and unresti-ained 
dogs—most of them untrained and never taught to 
behave. Our own dogs stay at home, and they know 
we want them there at night. Except for the in¬ 
creased liceu.se fee, this strict law Avill hardly injure 
any OAvuer of a dog that is Avorth keeping. We 
August 25, lOlT. 
think it av 1 |’, result in a better quality of farm dogs 
—better br^ and better trained. We think the law 
will help the sheep industry, both in giving actual 
protection and in giving sheep men greater con¬ 
fidence—provided the law is enforced! 
* 
I have so tons of hay left over from last year. I 
bought my farm April J st, 1016; paid $4,500 for 100 
acres. I still OAve $2,500; have 12 coaa-s now and 
seven heifers that I shall cai-ry over so they will 
freshen next Fall. Which AAmiilcl pay me the better, to 
sell all my hay and use proceeds to pay on the farm, 
or use .$200 of it and erect a silo? I have a good 
foundation Avhere the old one was. E. A. S. 
Pennsylvania. 
E have many questions like this one Avhere 
farmers are puzzled about investments. We 
cannot answer them without knoAving more of the 
man, his family and his ambitions. In these days 
you cannot run a dairy farm at full capacity Avithont 
a silo. If you intend to stay in the dairy business 
and push it hard, the silo will prove a far better 
invostment th.an tbe plan of reducing the debt by 
$200. The silo AA-ill earn far more than its cost, and 
if you plan to continue dairj-ing you should carry a 
full-sized herd—which the silo AA'ill enable yon to 
do. If, on the other hand, you do not intend to 
make dairying your business, do not build the silo, 
for its only earning caizacity Aviil come out with a 
full herd of cows. Therefore, it depends on your 
own intentions and courage AvUether the $200 shall 
go into an economical fixture or an ornament and 
plaything. 
* 
“WnEX Ave find men of one profession or class pi-ac- 
tically in control of every bnnioh of the Government, it 
is not being admini.stered as was Intended. Lawyers 
are properly chosen to administer the .judicial branch 
because this is the line or sphere in Avhich they are 
trained. Lawyers are praetioally in control of the leg¬ 
islative branch of oiir Government and hiAvyei-s are ne- 
iug elected and appointed to administer the offices of 
the executive branch. Therefore Ave iiave a (jovern 
meut of lawyers, by laAvyers. and, I might say. for 
lawyers, at the expense ('f the taxpayers and others.” 
IIESE remar-ks by Judge Jolin F. Hylan are very 
pertinent right iioaa". In the present New York 
Legislature there are 77 laAvyers and 25 who profess 
to be fanners, though most of these Avuuld not dare 
put their profession to the test of milKing a coaa- or 
driving a ploAv team. Yet at the last census there 
were in New York 17,451 iaAA' 5 -ers and 518,404. per¬ 
sons who made their living at farming! There is 
no earthly reason Avliy a Legislature, supposed to 
represent all the people, should be composed so 
largely of hiAA-yers. The laAV has been called a pro¬ 
fession of tricks and troubles, and from their very 
training and habits no class of people ax-e so poorly 
qualified to make ucav laws or i-evise old ones as 
such “hiAvyers” as are usually found in the Legis- 
latui*e! ”lieir province shoxild be to administer the 
law, but they .should never so conti'ol legislation as 
to give us lawyers’ goA-ei-nment! There ought to be 
at least GO farmers in the next New Y’'ork Legis¬ 
lature, and two dozen laAvyei’S would add all the 
legal flaAmr the State can stand. To make this 
criticism definite instead of genei-al, let ns give a 
concrete case. Yates County, New Yoi-k, is an agri- 
cultui’al section. For the past tAvo years Yates has 
been repi-esented in the Legislature by H. S. Ful- 
lagei*, a capable and pi-ogi‘essive fai-mer. He ought 
to go back, but politicians Avill ti-y to displace him 
by nominating, at the pidmai’ies, a law-yer. This 
laAvyer, Ave undei-stand, has aliility and cliai-acter, 
but there is no reason Avhy Mr. Fullager should be 
turned doAvn. Yates County, a fai-m section, sliould 
keep a farmer in the Legi.slature, Avliei-e there ai-e 
already too many lawyei's. Tell us AA-liy Yates 
County should sw-ap a fai-mer for a lawyer? 
Brevities 
Oh ! What a weed growth ! 
No man should be a slave to a hen. 
No wheat without available phosphoi-us. 
The surplus rooster eats himself into a deficit. 
The cigarette fiend seems to be fond of smoked 
tongue. 
The dry hot weather came so suddenly after the Avet 
that the soil baked hard. 
There is still gi-eat argument over the advice to 
cultivate or disk Alfalfa. * 
As a rule we think August-seeded Alfalfa will do 
better alone without any “nurse crop.” 
Most stock will not eat the legume seeds readily un¬ 
less they are mixed with palatable gi-ain. 
We understand that tne war, by shutting off supplie.s 
from Germany, has CTeated a neAV demand for cat 
skins. 
Ohio repoids a new potato disease knowm as Ver- 
ticillium albo-atrum. It causes leaf spot and roll and 
happily is not yet dangerous! 
New England people are still writing to know if 
there is not some gi’ain they can seed now and get 
a crop before frost. At least a month too late. 
Barley would come nearest to it. 
