1096 
SS»c RURAL NEW-YORKER 
September 15, 1917 
Ditch the Fairm 
The 
Martin at 
w 
I T used to cost a lot of money to get proper 
drainage. It does yet if you haven’t found 
out about the new fast method. Find out now. 
Take no more chances of losing high priced crops. 
Your country needs everything you 
can raise. Get your farm in shape- 
chance of a lifetime to make big 
money the next five years. Here is 
crop insurance at a low cost. 
The 
cuts a 
■shaped ditch 
Farm Ditcher and Road Grader 
Makes Ditching Easy 
Cut.s a clean, straight V-shaped ditch any 
depth down to four fee deep, leaves smooth, 
hard sides. Use it for opening and coveringr 
tile ditches. Perfect machine for cleaning: 
old weed-clogrffed ditches. All Steel. Revers¬ 
ible. adjustable. No cogs, levers or wheels 
to get out of fix. ^ 
Terracing—Road Making— 
Irrigation at Low Cost 
The MARTIN is the machine of a hundred uses. 
Fill low places and (rubies, make dikes, smooth up 
the land where blasting or stump pulling has been 
done—reclaims abandoned land. Now .is the time to 
do drainage work. Water standing on the land 
freezes and sours the soil. Put the land in a dry bed 
for the winter's sleep. It needs rest. 
Special War Time Offer 
To aid the farmer in getting the best tools and the 
most out cf his land now, when the country needs 
his help, we are prepared to make a special offer. 
Let us tell the story now. 
10 Day Trial Tesfi: 
Let Us Send You Our Free Book 
We will ship the machine and let yon try it. You 
take no chances. Let ns have your name and we 
will send you a book that tells how to solve the drain¬ 
age problem at low cost. The book is free. 
Owensboro Ditcher & Grader Co., Inc. 
t unsurpassed Box 834* Owensboro, iCy. 
For 
terracing, the 
SAVE WASTE 
Use the Farmers’ Favorite 
Cider Mill to save your apples. 
Wonderful adjustable grinder, 
easy to clean. Selected hard¬ 
wood frame. FK'e sizes. Write 
for special catalog and prices. 
The Cutaway Harrow Company 
Dept. B, Higganum, Conn. 
Build Your Own Mixer' 
FREE 
mu 
Or, yoQ can boy th« compl«to machine of ue. Save big 
.money cither way. Prices $11.bO up. Wo furnish free 
\ plans along with our iron parta so you can build your own 
^ mixer at small cost. Sheldon Batch Mixers aavo their 
m coston a ningle job. Ideal for farm use. Made by a far- 
* mer for farmers. Mix 2 1-2 cubic feet a minute. Keep 
1 to 6 men busy. Do work equal to $4U0 mixers. 
Get Free Cataloe and Special Offer 
ShowBourfulTlinoof mixers which arc sold 
y diro^ to you on strong guarantee. 80 days 
trial.Ten men wanted in every county right 
DOW toacceptour special ouerwhich will 
help you secure a machine at little or no 
cost. Bi^ chance to make $10 to $20 a day 
coDcretingin your section. Write today. 
SHELDON MFG.COa 
Box 827S Nehawksy Nob, 
i^MixYour Own Concrete 
i ^ 
blasted soil 
ALL TOP SOIL 
7WW 
Blast the Subsoil— 
Get Bigger Crops 
Below the plow-sole the soil is rich in mineral plant 
food. Make this subsoil productive! Break it up with 
Atlas Farm Powder and get four or five feet of crop¬ 
growing fertility. The extra profit from one year’s 
increased yield will more than pay the cost. 
The Safest Explosive: 
The Original Farm Powder 
has made thousands of worn- 
out farms rich, fertile and 
profitable, and thousands of 
good farms better. Punch 
holes into the subsoil, load, fire 
and the work is done! Ask the 
Atlas dealer near you. 
Any one can use Atlas Farm 
Powder without experience or 
risk. It is tlie cheapest and 
fastest farm hand for blasting 
stumps and boulders, digging 
ditches, etc. Trees in blasted 
beds bear two years earlier. 
Get “Better Farming” Book—^FREE 
“ Better Farraine" (illustrated) tells how you can 
make more money and protect your crops from drouth 
by using Atlas Farm Powder, It shows the economical 
way of doing many kinds of work on the farm. Mall 
the coupon and get it FREE, 
ATLAS POWDER COMPANY 
General Offices: Wilmington, Del. 
Sales Offices! Birmingham, Boston, Houghton, 
Joplin, Knoxville, Kansas City, New Orleans, 
New York, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, St. Louis 
ATLAS POWDER CO., Wilmittgfon, Del. 
Send me your 74-pagc book "Better Farming. 
I am interested in the use of explosives for the 
purpose before which I mark X. RN13 
Tree Planting 
Ditch Dircing 
Stump Blasting 
Boulder Blasting 
Subsoil Blasting 
Name— 
Address - 
Modern Social Conditions on the Farm 
I am glad to .see that The R. N.-Y. is 
devoting more and more attention to 
social conditions on the farm. That’s 
-vhere onr farm lecturers make the 
mistake. Tliey are too didactic and de¬ 
vote little of their discourse to bettering 
social conditions. My observation is that 
the sine qua non of staying on the farm 
at all is to make social conditions more 
attractive—to make living a little better 
than it at present is fur the farm family 
and above all in some way not yet 
discovered to keep oiir boy.s and girls on 
the farm. 
'J'lie Hope I'arm people appear to be a 
lia))py family, and are to be envied by 
!!() ]icr cent of us. P’ew husbands and 
falbers these days conver.«e or pass a 
social liour witli their wives or fam¬ 
ilies. It is my observation in town that 
wlicn the iircadwinner gets home from 
sliop or office in the evening, he starts, 
after having jiartakcn of his supper, to 
shave and dicss tip preparatory to “go¬ 
ing out,” and that it is seldom he takes 
his wife or children with Biim. Oc¬ 
casionally he does, but usually he goes 
out alone. Otherwise he takes his pipe, 
after supper, and lies down, probably 
glancing over the evening paper in the 
meantime, and .seldom keeping company 
with his wife, who . probably busy p dr- 
ting away the s' things! If a neigh¬ 
bor drops in he gei.s ar ound, and if not, 
he likely drops around to the neighbor’s, 
if he does not go to the picture show. 
Is it a wonder that the wife, probably 
taking the children with her, goes out to 
the picture show? 
In the country on the farm, it is my 
observation that there being no picture 
shows and no recreation of any kind, 
and the neighbor, like himself, being 
short-handed, has no time for receiving 
visitors, and is too tired from his long, 
liard day’s work to care for visitors, so 
that instead of “going out,” the farmer 
usually goes to bed and that ends the 
day. 
Now take around here, which is 
probably repre.seutative of farm life. We 
are all short-handed, and it is usually 
pitch dark before we finish the chores. 
And here is one reason why the farmer 
works late in the evening at chores, etc. 
Doing the chores at his ease in the even¬ 
ing is his recreation time. Why go in the 
hou.se at twilight to sit down? Pretty 
dull in the house at that time. I find 
the twilight hour to bo actually the most 
lone.some hour on the farm. In order, 
therefore, to pass the time I continue to 
do chore work, and keep at it until 
dark. I then go in the house, take my 
bread and milk and go to bed. There 
are no picture shows or bowling alleys 
or pool-rooms to go down and pass an 
hour at, as in the case of my town 
brother. We on the farm go to bed when 
it comes dark. la these strenuous times 
the old-time neighborly visits have dis- 
aiipeared. IMy neighbor would likely he 
in bed if I went over after dark when 
I wa."i ready to go to bed myself. Y'es, 
the “kaley,” or neigliborly visit is a 
thing of the past. 
In this neighborhood there are few 
lights lit in the last two months. It’s 
early to bed and early to rise and all 
appear to have taken Poor Richard’s 
advice. I notice a growing coolness be¬ 
tween the farmer 'and his wife. The 
farmer wife told me the other day, 
“.Tohn is never in except at meal times 
and bedtime.” J. A. siACnoXALD. 
EVENTS OF THE WEEK ' 
-il 
DOMESTIC.—Aiggnst 30tli the (gov¬ 
ernment began an anti-trust fight against 
21 men and 17 corporations who are said 
to represent 80 per cent of the automobile 
accessory industries of the country. In 
indictments filed with Federal Judge 
Julius M. Mayer all of these concerns 
and individuals are acemsed of having 
conspired to hold up the motor car own¬ 
ers of the nation for extortionate pi'ices 
by restraint of trade and unfair com¬ 
petition. All of the defendants are 
members of the National Association of 
Automobile Accessory Jobbers. 
Discovery of 1,000 r'fles, thousands of 
cartridges and some sticks of dynamite in 
a house on Chateaubriand street, Mont¬ 
real, was announced Aug. 31 by the po¬ 
lice. The discovery is associated by the 
authorities with threats made recently to 
o’-eanize resistance to the couscr’ption 
r XU 
Contracts for construction of three 
Government owned shipyards for build¬ 
ing fabricated steel merchant vessels were 
awarded Aug. 31 by the Submarine Boat 
Corporaton for a jdant at Newark, N. 
,1.. the American International Corpora¬ 
tion for one at I log Island, Pa., and the 
Merchants’ Shipbuilding Company for one 
at Chester. Pa. The yards will cost .$35,- 
(KXi.OOO. and an option is * the Gov¬ 
ernment to inirchase the lands on which 
they are ha-ated. The builders of the 
yards received contracts for build jig in 
them 200 ships. 
Ground was broken at Charleston, 
West I'a., Aug. 30 by Secretary of the 
Navy .Toseph Ilaniels for the first Gov¬ 
ernment owned armor plate and projec¬ 
tile plants in the history of the United 
States. On tlie 211 acre site in South 
Ch.-o-leston the Unitwl States Government 
will spend approximately $22.0(X).000 for 
the construction of the munitions and 
armament jdants. 
FARM AND GARDEN.—A price of 
$2.20 for No. 1 Northern wlieat at Chi- 
<-ago with differentials for the other large 
market.s and other grades wr.s jumk itc d 
Aug. 29 b.v President IVilson as appli¬ 
cable to the Rll7 wheat crop. 
I’lie I’resideut has nominated and the 
Senate has confirmed Clarence Ou.'^ley. 
I firector of Agricultural Extension Of 
Texas, and Dr. Raymond A. Pearson, 
President of Iowa State College of Agri¬ 
culture, as Assistant Secretaries of Agri¬ 
culture. Dir. Ou.siey took the oath of of¬ 
fice before Assistant Secretary Carl 
Vrooman on August 21. Dr. Pearson is 
now in the M"est holding a series of con¬ 
ferences with State agricultural officials 
and farmers regarding increased plauUjig 
this year of Winter wheat and rye. lie 
took the oath of office at Kansas City 
on August 22.^ The appointment of two 
additional Assistant Secretaries was pro¬ 
vided for in the recently enacted food 
production measure. 
Prof. Herbert W. Mumford. the live¬ 
stock specialist, i.si now associated with 
the Bureau of .,uarkets, II. S. Department 
of Agriculture, as consulting snecialist 
in live-stock marketing. I’rof. Mumford 
will retain his position as I’rofessor of 
Animal Husbandry in the University of 
Illinois and Chief in Animal Husbandry 
in the State Experiment Station. 
The 33rd annual convention of the 
Society of American Flori.sts and Orna¬ 
mental Horticultnrvsts was held in New 
York. Aug. 21-23. It was decided to 
hold the 1918 convention in St. I.onis, 
and the 1919 meeting in Detroit. Chas. 
H. Totty of Madison, N. J., was elected 
president; Jules Bourdet of St.' Uouis 
vice-president; .Tohn Young, New York, 
secretary; ,1. ,T. Hess, Omaha, Neb., 
treasurer. The allied Radies’ Societv of 
American Florists elected the following 
officers: PresMent, Mrs. Julius Roehrs, 
Itutherford, N. ,T.; first vice-president, 
Mrs. Bertha Meinhardt, St. Louis, Mo.; 
second vice-president. Mrs. .To.sepli A. 
Manda, Orange, N. ,7.; secretary, ]\Irs. 
George Smith, Cleveland, O., and treas¬ 
urer. Mrs. Albert Herr, Lancaster, I’a. 
South "Windsor, Conn.—Alfred (I. 
Gulley, for 23 years pi'ofessor of hor¬ 
ticulture at the Connecticut College of 
Horticulture, diedi at h's fruit farm here, 
August 10. He was 49 years of age. 
Ti'o New Y'^rk State Fruit Growers’ 
A.ssociation will operate an information 
hur.eau for j^each shipper.s, it was an¬ 
nounced Sot. 1. I’Im' )'"r('au wiil liave 
the cooneration of the New York Cen¬ 
tral Railroad. Daily reiiorts will show 
the nnm1)er and destination of every car¬ 
load of peaches shipped in New York 
State, the object being to jirevent market 
overloading. The total crop in t.'u> West¬ 
ern New York fruit belt ’s estimated at 
six thousand cars. 
WASHINGTON.—.Subscript'ons to'the. 
second Liberty Loan, to he used in pro¬ 
secuting the war, will be opened not 
later than October 1. and the camimign 
will close tin November 1. Interest will he 
at 4 per cent., if the terms of the Mc- 
Adoo bond bill pending in the House are 
carried out. The IMcAdoo plan makes 
the bonds subject to the ’ncome tax so 
far as affected by the supertax on in¬ 
comes. This wonhl make the bonds yield 
about 3% per cent, (o the large holder 
and slightly more to the small holder. 
A regiment of 2,400 negro stevedores 
for foreign service has been authorized 
1 :> the "War Department to meet the de¬ 
mand for experienced men to handle war 
supplies for the American expeditionary 
force in Fiainee. Recruiting officers, es¬ 
pecially those in Southern seaport cities, 
have been instructed to seek men for the 
regiment. An effort is being made to get 
exemption from draft for negroes of draft 
age who would prefer hard work behind 
the lines to duty in the trenches. 
Steps look’’ng to investigation of the 
supplying of defective cartridges to 
American forces in France were taken 
Sept. 3 by Brig.-Gen. Crozier, Chief of 
Ordnance, and by the Senate Military 
Committee. Gen. Crozier asked that a 
hoard of inquiry he named, lie said a 
small quantity of bromide, which retards 
fire for a fraction of a second, had been 
found in about 2 per cent, of the army’s 
cartridges. Confidence was expressed by 
the General that the board would find 
that the defect was unavoidable and not 
due to negligence either on the part of 
the manufacturers who supnlied the 
chemical to the Government arsenal at 
Frankford or to Ordnance Department 
in.spectors. 
