•Uhe RURAL NEW-YORKER 
that the Southern farmer i.s the man who i.s getting 
the money for the cottonseed oil and the cottonseed 
feed. Some time ago I heard that the farmers are 
getting for their cottonseed something over $60 
per ton. 
One might pursue these investigations into all the 
varioiis feeding stuffs, and finally show that it is 
the farmer at the other end of the line that’s getting 
the money for high-priced feeds, and it seems quite 
unjust to be continually harping on the feed dealers 
as being the beneficiaries of high-priced feeding 
stuffs. 
Milk Prices in Great Britain 
I X England the milk question is handled in a way 
which would shock many of our people. The 
Oovernment has regulated the price of wholesale 
and retail milk, and makes it a penalty for anyone 
to handle the business otherwise than on the rule 
laid down in the law. As for retail prices, the law 
gives the following: 
(a) “For milk delivered within the area of a rural 
district conned in England or Wales or within a district 
other than a burgh in Scotland at the rate of two shil¬ 
lings per imperial gallon in the month of October, 1917, 
and of two shillings and fourpence per imperial gallon 
thereafter untd the end of March, 1918. 
(b) For milk delivered elsewhere In England, Scot¬ 
land or Wales at the rate of two shillings and four- 
ponce per imperial gallon in the month of October, 1917, 
and of two shillings and eightpence per imperial gallon 
thereafter until the end of March, 1918. 
(c) An addition may be made to the foregoing prices 
at the rate of one penny per quart for milk delivered 
in bottles to the consumer's prenrses if bottled at or 
before reaching the seller’s premises. 
The English shilling is worth about 24 cents of 
our money, a penny about two cents, so that we see 
that milk must be retailed for 56 cents a gallon, 
with two cents added for a quart of milk delivered 
in bottles. The retail prices named above include 
all charges for delivery, but the Food Control Com¬ 
mittee reserves the right to fix different rates when 
occasion demands. 
As for wholesale milk, which is sold by or on 
behalf of the producer, the maximum price is made 
by law as follows: 
(a) For milk delivered during the month of Octo¬ 
ber, 1917, the rate shall be one shilling and five- 
pence per imperial gallon; for milk delivered during 
the month of November, 1917, the rate shall be one 
shilling, 7^ pence per imperial gallon; and for milk 
delivered thereafter until the end of March, 1918, 
the rate shall be one shilling and ninepence per 
imperial gallon, together in each case with a sum 
e(iual to the net amount of the charges for railway 
transport actually incurred by the seller. This 
makes, as we see, 34 cents a gallon as a wholesale 
price during the month of October, with an increa.se 
to 39 and 42 for the rest of the Winter. These prices 
are based on the milk being deliv ered to the buyer’s 
premises at the exi>ense of the seller. That mean.s 
that the milk is delivered to a railroad station, a 
ci-eamery or a store, and transportation beyond that 
point is paid by the buyer. Where milk is sold at 
whole.sale by a middleman or second party, and not 
the producer, tlie ivrice is set -at 40 cents during 
October and 48 cents from then until the end'of 
March. This will give an idea of the difference in 
England between the price received Ivy the farmer 
and the maximum retail price. This means that 
the ivrice of milk shall not go above the figures here 
given. The milk might be sold for less than these 
figures, and in some cases it undoubtedly will be. 
but under the law prices above these figures for 
retail and wholesale milk may not be charged. 
Right on the .same page of an English farm paper 
in which this law is printed we find a table showing 
the cost of milk production, which is printetl as a 
fair sample of such figures. The cows are fe<l on 
roots, hay, straw and u heavy grain ration. The 
total cost of the food for one cow per day i.s given 
at 88 cents, and it is ciaimed that such a cow will 
•average between eight and nine quarts per day. 
This is supposed to be a high class milk, and the 
cost of feed is enormous, running in some ca.ses as 
high as $95 per ton. Thus you see that dairymen all 
over the world have their trouble.s, and we may be 
thankful that this nation has not yet attempted the 
imivossible ta.sk of regulating prices of dairy prod- 
uct.s. In every case that we have yet heard of the 
attempt to make a maximum price has failed. A 
minimum price is a guarantee by the (Ivernment 
that the price of a product will not fall below a cer¬ 
tain figure. The English Government has found it 
necessary to give such a guarantee, covering several 
years in the futui’e, in order to stimulate farming. 
AVhat will happen when peace comes and the world’s 
.snritlus of grain is thrown upon the market must 
be a nightmare to English statesmen. 
The Hope Farm Flint Corn 
T he flint corn shown at Fig. 571 gives an idea of 
what can be done in training a plant for a 
definite purpose. We wanted a corn which w'ould 
mature grain in 90 days, or close to it. The object 
of this is to delay planting until the cover crop of 
rye and clover or vetch may make a full growth 
for plowing under. We wanted what we call an 
orchard corn—that i.s, a short-growing stalk which 
will not shade young trees too much, or steal too 
much moisture from them. We .also wanted a variety 
which will give a fair yield of grain and a slender 
leafy stalk which will make good fodder for all 
stock. 
The corn here shown fills the bill better than 
anything else we have tried. To begin with, we 
took a strain of Early Canada flint which had been 
grown in one family for many years. Starting with 
this we hav^e selected in the field, having in mind 
just what we want. The e.‘”‘s .ibont the size 
1231 
here pictured, with tips well covered. The husks 
are heavy, well protecting the ear, and there are 
usually two ears to the stalk. I.ike all flints this 
corn makes a heavy leaf growth, and the stalks are 
eaten clean by horses and cattle. This corn may be 
planted closely, and ranks above the average in 
^'ield. 
We seed the cover crop in the standing corn in 
late August and plow it under the following June— 
using about 500 pounds of lime to the acre. Under 
this plan corn may be grown year after year until 
the trees are too large, and this strain of corn 
usually pays the expen.ses of growing the young- 
orchard. 
We do not, of course, recommend this corn for 
regular field culture or for the silo. A little later 
there will be shown a larger flint very suitable for 
field work. This smaller flint is simply an orchard 
corn. You may compare it with a pony-built horse 
or a Jersey cow. It has l)een trained or selected 
for growing in an orchard, and it is an “expert” 
at the job. 
The Value of Junk 
T he question i.s asked whether the little Italian 
is right, on page 1157, in his statement about 
making more in a year gathering junh, with a hun 
dred-dollar outfit, than farmers can make on a large 
farm. The little Italian is right, and he knew just 
what he was talking about. Twenty-five or SO years 
ago I saw a notice in a paper of a convention of 
rag-pickers, junk dealers or similar occupations, and 
a strange thing it .seemed that these people should 
hold a convention, but since then I have had it 
forcibly brought to mind that they were better able 
to attend conventions than many In other lines of 
l)Usiness, fai-raers especially. It is only a few years 
ago that a junk dealer came to this town, bought 
out a small place or rented the place and took over 
the business. It seemed strange that there was 
much of an opening in that line, or much to be made 
out of old junk, but as time went on and he had first 
one truck, then another and another, until he had 
six trucks, besides one-horse and two-hor.se teams, 
and not only bought other property, but a farm, it 
.soon l>ecame evident there was a big margin in junk 
when a man could make more spread and make more 
money than any business in town, saloons not ex¬ 
cepted. The saloons are gone, but the margin of 100 
per cent to many times that that a junk dealer who 
knows his business can make, and not all of it due 
to war prices, which have made it all the more profit¬ 
able, go to prove that the little Italian was right. 
Junk included rags, paper, iron and all metals, 
and not only in those lines, bur surplus “junk" 
peaches when price went to the bottom in large 
cities, or anything he could make a big profit on. 
all helped, and it was not always that the interests 
of the p.erson bought of or sold to were considered. 
If they bought little, green, immature Carman 
peaches, taken off to thin the crop two weeks before 
ready to use. and found that they were not Early 
Crawford, as the junk dealer sold them for. he had 
their money, they had his junk, and there was no 
redress. Rut there is a big honest margin in the 
junk for the dealer, who does not need to be a crook. 
I. c. R. 
R. N.-Y.—Every year the Geological Survey makes 
a .statement of the value of scrap metal or junk in 
the country. The amount runs far up into the mil¬ 
lions. yet the individual lots are so small that it 
would hardly pay for a single person to make a 
small .shipment. As a boy the writer spent many 
days picking up old bones, rusty iron, old rope and 
other junk. A dealer bought them and shipped the 
bulk to the big city, where the stuff was distribute<l 
among the various manufacturers. Our farmers 
bought the bones back as fertilizer and the old rope 
as twine, and the old rubber as boots, paying about 
10 times as much as the junk was sold for. A few 
men are getting rich collecting junk. Not long ago 
we gave carlot prices for this waste. It will pay 
farmers to combine; gather up carlots and ship 
direct. Here is a great chance for a community to 
help the church, the Grange, the library or any other 
public in.stitution. The junk can be gathered, sent 
by carload and the proceeds donated. 
The latest food-saving plan is a tax on starched shirts, 
collars and cuffs. Thi.s is meeting hard times \vith soft 
linen. We favor it! 
Ix “Rural England” we are told of an unusual form O'f 
lime spreader. In Dorsetshire formerly donkeys were 
used to carry lime. It was loaded in panniers hung 
over the donkey's back with openings at the bottom 
through which the lime trickled out as the donkey 
wa’k''d aciN'fS! tbo field. 
r 
