Oic RURAL NEW-YORKER 
1447 
' AN D, M-E 
“Mother’s cow” seems to be the latest 
institution on the dairy farm. Some farm¬ 
ers say frankly that many farm families 
really use less milk as food than the aver¬ 
age city family. This ought not to be, 
because milk is the best natural food in 
the world, and every farm child should 
have the right to drink one quart a day. 
When prices are high the farmer often 
thinks that every pint should be sold, so 
that frequently on a farm w’here 20 cows 
are milked the family will buy butter and 
have but little milk and cream as food. 
So the institution known as Mother’s cow 
is appearing. She is usually a Jersey or 
a Guernsey owned by mother and the 
children, and kept for family use entirely. 
She furnishes milk and cream and butter 
for the family, leaving the rest of the herd 
for the dairy business. In the West, on 
some of the beef cattle farms, we have 
seen a Jersey cow tucked away in the 
barn—Mother’s cow for the family supply 
of dairy goods. 
* 
The sheep is a patriotic if not a warlike 
animal, but if it could give expression to 
its real sentiments what would it say 
about the cost of woolen yarn which the 
knitters are working into soldiers’ gar¬ 
ments? We hear of cases where such 
yarn has been sold at ,$7.20 per pound— 
the original wool bringing about GO cents. 
There is no need of paying such prices. 
Some of the department stores offer this 
wool at 75 and 79e per hank—a little less 
than four ounces. There is a society or¬ 
ganized for handling this yarn at a fair 
figure. It is a shame that trust prices 
should be tagged upon this yarn. 
* 
We understand that Mrs. John II. Bar¬ 
clay of New Jersey won first prize at the 
New Jersey State Fair on baked apple.s. 
She did this with Wolf River, a variety 
not of high quality, but with a flesh which 
stands up well in cooking. Most people 
seem to think a baked apple should retain 
its shape, but to our taste the best way 
to bake an apple is to quarter it and cook 
it slowly until it breaks up and forms 
a sort of jelly. In this way the higher- 
flavored and delicate apples can be used, 
and if there is anything finer than such 
fruit, with cream, tell us where to find it! 
* 
Tins school question comes up in New 
York just at the right time to interest 
the women with their first vote. It is 
with just such questions as this that 
women w’ill take more interest than men, 
and may be trusted to vote for the best 
interests of their homes. On this school 
question most country women are a unit 
against the law, and they will not be 
backward about expressing themselves 
where the welfare of their children is 
concerned. It is a good thing that their 
entrance into active political life brings 
them face to face with this school question. 
Formerly candidates and members of the 
Legislature have been inclined to “jolly” 
the women or give them perfunctory at¬ 
tention, for about all they had was “in¬ 
fluence.” Now they have the ballot and 
they will use it, and we believe they will 
whip every up-State legislator (including 
Senator Brown) into line. 
.service. Of course, the plan here men¬ 
tioned would not be successful unless 
some member of the family traveled about, 
but in most cases a nice trade can be de¬ 
veloped right through the local paper. 
* 
The Dairy Farmer’s Wife Helps Out 
The picture shows a farmer’s wife, in 
Northern New Y'ork “doing her bit” to 
and our Civil War. The young man 
stands with his grandfather at the me¬ 
morial boulder on which are the names of 
soldiers who have in former years gone 
from this old town. In the background 
is the village church which has become 
a true community center. The correspond¬ 
ent who sends us this picture says: 
AVe have tried in this picture to repre¬ 
The Dairywomen Bringing up the Artillery 
help out on the food (|uestion. She is 
taking the milk to the creamery. All 
through the country women are helping 
and doing more than their share to keep 
up the food supply. Tlie story of what 
hundreds of them do is told on the first 
page of this issue. If some of the farm 
critics could be made to follow such 
women through their round of work for 
a month thei-e would be a great silence 
on the subject of lazy and unpatriotic 
farmers. 
The Country’s Call 
The picture on this jiage was taken 
in the cemetery at North AVilbraham, 
sent the traditions and sentiments for 
which our nation stands; also to remind 
this young man that the church and all 
it represents is back of him as he does 
his duty. 
The older man is a veteran of the Civil 
AA'ar, as was his father, who was killed 
in battle. It is a striking picture—the 
past of the nation clasping hands with 
one Avho represents the pride and strength 
of the future. 
Beans and the Wedding Outfit 
I was married in October, 1875. That 
Fall my father-in-law had a 10-acre field 
of medium beans, a good old-fashioned 
crop, free from disease and weeds. They 
AA'e have many questions from farm 
women and others asking how to start a 
direct egge trade. Here is the way one 
man did it: 
This is the way I got one, I am in the 
drygoods husiness. I visit New York 
City twice a year to buy goods. I be¬ 
came acquainted with many salesmen. 
AA’'hen I started an egg farm, and wanted 
a select private trade, I sent two dozen 
eggs by parcel post, with my compliments, 
and asked them to let me know in what 
condition they were received. In every 
instance but tvro I was requested to send 
them eggs regularly (just what I w'ant- 
ed), and in a short time I could not fill 
the orders I received, although I got as 
many as 25 dozen a day. E, c. ii, 
AA’’est A’'irginia. 
Most of the efforts to use parcel post 
for mailing eggs have not been very suc¬ 
cessful. Of late, in these war times, 
there is much complaint about the mail 
The Past of the Nation Pledging the Future 
Mass., and tells a whole volume of pa¬ 
triotic history. The young man in the 
picture was drafted from this little coun¬ 
try town. .lust as he was about to start 
for Camp Devens, the neighbors met at 
the church to show their good will and 
appreciation. This revived an old custom 
which prevailed during the Revolution 
were ripe and harvested by the middle of 
September. AATshing to use a consider¬ 
able amount of money in giving that only 
daughter a proper setting out as regards 
household equipment, and as the weather 
conditions were ideal, these beans were 
drawn direct from the field to the large 
barn floor and thrashed out by the use of 
horses treading over them. The yield 
was around 26 bushels to the acre and 
the price was $1.50 per bushel. That 
good father and mother have long since 
side, hale and hearty. Our four sous are 
sure is bles-sed. The household outfit has 
served its intended purpose, but the only 
daughter and good wife is still by my 
side. Hale and hearty, our four sons are 
in the front rank of life’s industrial ac¬ 
tivities. Our only daughter, with her 
sturdy farmer husband, is at the head of 
a little brood of four calling her mother. 
There are also three other grandchildren. 
AA'e call ours a fairly successful life. I 
find'in looking over my old farm accounts 
that the item of sales of beans recurs an¬ 
nually, and I am still raising beans. Are 
beans a profitable crop? My answer is 
“I guess yes.” ir. e. cox. 
* 
Easy Dishwashing 
We hoped to give our womenfolks a 
Christmas present of a new and easy way 
of washing dishes. It would be hard to 
think of anything more appropriate. AA'e 
had in mind some electric combination 
which would shock off the dirt and giaaise 
or some chemical mixture which would 
cause the leavings to fade away while you 
wait. 8o we confidently applied to our 
chemist and found our hopes dashed : 
Partly for economy and partly because 
reliable help is almost impossible to get 
in this town at any price, I have washed 
the dishes at home more or less for years, 
and most of the time for the last five years 
I have handled the dinner dishes every 
night. So if there wore any magic thing 
to use you bet I avouUI use it. My plan 
is the best I know; a stream, small but 
constant, of hot water, and a little soap 
if needed. But this is impossible for 91) 
per cent of the readers, and the next best 
thing is the pan of hot water. 
Now let us see if any of our housekeep¬ 
ers have developed any “magic” over this 
prosaic job! 
♦ 
New York Women and Their Vote 
In our election district there was a 
large majority against woman suffrage. 
This was probably due to the large for¬ 
eign population. But at the same time the 
women of my acquaintance were not espe¬ 
cially interested in gaining suffrage this 
year. AA’e felt that all our spare time and 
energy should be given to war relief work. 
It is so now. AA’ork for our own soldiers 
and for our Allies i.s occupying everyone’s 
time to the exclusion of other interests. 
This is woman’.s work now. How it will 
be by another election, time alone can tell. 
Normally we are considerably interested 
in all public questions, and show a good 
deal of independence in arguing the same. 
But as we gain most of our knowledge of 
public afl’airs from the men of our house¬ 
holds, and listen to their opinion, in sea¬ 
son and out of season, it may be that our 
political decisions at the polls will be the 
same as those of our menfolks. Of 
course, we will think that we are being 
very independent. 
AA'ill we vote? Oh, yes! x\.nd there is 
one question on which we will all vote the 
same way. The present school law of 
New Y’ork State must be repealed, and 
every mother in the rural districts will 
help. In these days of conservation there 
is no excuse for wilful extravagance. 
Numberless incidents are being cited in 
the papers of increased expenditure and 
wasted money. But more fundamental 
than this increased expense with de¬ 
creased returns, which is bad enough, is 
the question of the upbringing of our 
children. AA’hen my two are old enough 
to go to school, I don’t want them away 
from me from seven in the morning until 
five in the afternoon. One golden day of 
childhood after another gone, away from 
the influence of mother and father. 
I think the whole idea is most illogical. 
Rural life cannot be consolidated. It ra¬ 
diates. It spreads out, developing more 
and more land, opening new sections. 
And the school must follow instead of 
calling to the children to come back away 
from the farm, back to the center. The 
farmer’s child belongs on the farm and 
he has a right to be educated at home. 
We will all vote on the school question if 
we have the opportunity. 
FLORENCE FORBES CORNWAXL. 
AATiyne Co., N. Y. 
