106 
January :i<i, I'.ils 
(>. 'J'lie exi)onf?e of organization had to bo con¬ 
sidered, salaries i)rovided for the clerk, treasurer 
and janitors; also in some cases extra teachers en¬ 
gaged and higher salaries paid. All of which has 
contributed to a higlier tax rate. If the township 
bill now in force is not repealed or amended, a high 
lax rate will be necessary foi- many years to come 
without any visible efficiency from its operation. In 
the first place it provides for the apprai.sal and pur¬ 
chase by the town of all school i)roperty, even in¬ 
cluding the village schools, and ])ayments for the 
same shall be met in five annual installments. 
There is now in many villages a bonded indebt- 
ediK'ss of from thirty to fifty thou.sand dollar.s, in 
addition to the ecpiity owned by the villages, and 
again I reiterate that all village schools should 
be separated entirely in their support from the 
rural schools. At the same time I don’t believe in 
g;ving the Educational Department the right of 
confiscation of school property without just recom¬ 
pense to the legitimate (»\vners, neither is it fair 
to pro])erty owners in a district with a good school 
to be forced to jiay an()ther assessment pjwards the 
ei’cction of .schools in other parts of the town. In 
this the new law has been fair and impartial, and 
after excluding the village schools from its opera¬ 
tion no rural tax-payer could have any just cause 
for com)ilaint. In asking the Legislature for the 
rei>eal or amendment of the bill we should be i»re- 
pared to offer something we know to be better 
than the old. and an improvement on'the new plan, 
and it is too large a matter for .any indivi<lual to 
attemiff alone. The only fair way to do, is for 
tliose who are truly interested in the better hous¬ 
ing and education of our children to un.selfishly 
and impartially state through your columns and 
to our legislators brief jilans from which a bill 
may be produced to meet fairly all conditions to 
Ite found in every rural community throughout the 
State. 
1 truly believe our State 1 )eitartment of Educa¬ 
tion is coni])ose<l of lair and broa<l-minded men, 
and 1 also believe that practically all of our rural 
citizens stand rea<ly and willing to i)ay out their 
la.«t cent if necessary, to give their children a bet¬ 
ter education than they themselves have had. and 
are far alx.ve being classed as “pikers.” The fol¬ 
lowing suggestions of an outline for a bill ma.^ 
st'i've to oixMi up discussion that may eventually lead 
us somewhere near a sohition: 
I. ('onlinue tiie township as a Tinit for taxation. 
II. Exclude all villages over 500 population. 
III. I’eianit the electors in each district to select 
as formerly two directors to serve a two-year term 
ai’ran.aed .“^o that one would be chosen annually, 
such election to be held in their own school building. 
IV. lte(iuire the electors of all districts in the 
town outside the larger villages to assemble for 
the purpo.sp of selecting an executive head of 
three members, from among themselves or other 
(pialified electors of the town, such selection to be 
made by a two-third vote. 
V. The executive body should consist of a man¬ 
ager. clerk and treasurer, the manager and clerk 
to iK* paid a moderate salary in no ca.se to exceed 
.$2(K> per year each, and the treasurer permitted 
to collect the usual per cent on taxes for his re¬ 
compense. 
VI. .Ml of the minor repairs and upkeep of the 
buildings might safely be left with the executive 
body, and the more important matters such as ex¬ 
tensive repairs, new building.s, textbook.s, teachers, 
etc., be considered by the full town board, and ^\heu 
a difference of opinion existed recpiire a two-third 
vote for decision. 
A’ll. I’l'cvent the consolidation of schools withoiit 
the consent of two-thirds of the property owners in¬ 
volved. 
A’lll. .\ppraise all rural school property as now 
planned and provide foi- the purchase of same by 
the town, excluding from such appraisal all vil¬ 
lage schools, 
IX. Make the town.ship its own boundary for 
taxation rather than the i)resent system of joint dis¬ 
trict boundaries. 
X. Provide tuition in full by the State to all vil¬ 
lage schools in ])ayment of all rural children ad¬ 
mitted. 
XI. Provide for the acceptance of pupils in the 
grades of the nearest rural schools regardless of 
town.ship boundary, tuition to be ecpialized between 
towns as i>er avera.ge cost of maintenance. 
XII. Eliminate entirely the special physical di¬ 
rector, military training director, school nurse and 
compulsory medical examination of the pupils by 
the educational department of the town, as the re- 
.sults obtained by the present sy.stem are a farce and 
absolutely worthless in rural communities. 
XIII. Kequire and provide .sitecial courses of in- 
tr/ic RURAL. NEW-YORKER 
St ruction in the training department of our normal 
and high schools for the general training of teachers 
for rural schools. 
XIV. Provide through the State Architects’ De¬ 
partment plans of buildings, including heating, ven¬ 
tilation and sanitation, that are practical and ser¬ 
viceable in rural communities, and not excessive in 
cost of construction and operation. 
XV. Kequire parents of all pupils admitted to 
schools to present a health certificate from a com¬ 
petent physician on the opening of school each year, 
same to be filed Avith the clerk, thus giving a record 
of the child’s health from its entrance. If the par¬ 
ents are not able to furnish this certificate, the poor 
department of the town are the proper officials to 
appeal to for relief. 
XVI. I’rovide a fund by State aid to enable 
jmpils in limited circumstances to complete a basic 
education, fitting them for more extensive agricul¬ 
tural development in the rural communities. 
q'he writer has served as a school trustee four 
years and is now the chairman of the board of edu¬ 
cation for the town of Sheridan, Chautamiua County. 
P.efore the i)assage of the bill I devoted much time 
in debating the merits of the town.ship plan with 
various State officials, and -did everything possible 
to prevent its enactment, 'riiere are, however, some 
good points in it. and I believe in amendments 
rather than an outright repeal. ki( H.akd 
Dunkirk. X’. V. 
The Farm Labor Question 
q’here never was more trouble in obtaining compe¬ 
tent help on the farm. ’I'lie usual sources of supply 
have been scraped clean and we must now go to the 
unusual places. ’I'liK K. X.-Y. goes to all sorts of peo¬ 
ple. and we often find help in unexpected places. Let 
us s(‘e what can b(* done about labor. Here are two 
unusual letters—fair samples of others. We do not 
know these jtarties personally, but they talk sensibly at 
least : 
Chance for Men Without Capital 
Cll is being written concerning the seriousness 
of the shortage of farm labor, due to high 
Avages Avhich are being i)aid in munition \\'()rks and 
other industries located in our cities. I'liese are 
(h’awing the young men from the farms, causing 
great difficulty, at a time Avhen the Avorld needs 
food, in kee]»ing the farms up to their highest i)ro- 
ductive capacity, and in some instances causing 
g(»od farm land to be abandoned entirely, or only 
being jiaitly AA’Oi’ked. Conditions haA’e become so 
acute as to cause the factory sy.stem of farming to ^ 
be advocated as a .solution to this in-obleju. 
XoAA’, hoAA' about the ))eoi)le who have a desire to 
go back to the farms, men Avho'haA'e been raised or 
IniA’c worked on farms and who liaA'o an honest de¬ 
sire to go back? Why not giA’e them a chance, as 
another solution? ’The Avriter knows man.v, himself 
included, good, steady, industrious men Avith families, 
Avbo understand farming and avIio an* (b'sirous of 
becoming f.armers again, but Avho do not feel that 
they can afford to use their small savings in making 
the reipiired first payment on a farm, as this Avould 
leave them ]tractically Avithout funds for seed and 
eiiuipment lUHHled for the first year's Avork, but aa'Iio 
would be very glad of an opportunity Avhereby they > 
could rent farms or pa its of farms Avith the privilege 
of purchasing same. 
Is there not some Avay by which Ave, of this clas.s, 
may come in contact Avith the owners of farm lands. 
Avho find, that under present conditions, they are 
unable to AVork their full acreage, and who would 
be Avilling to give us a chanc(‘ on a propo.sition 
Avhere they do not stand to lose one dollar. 
XeAv .lersey. t- ’*• 
A Family of Workers 
W(‘ have a (luostion on Avhich Ave reipiest your 
most earnest advice. Doing a Avonian Avith a num¬ 
ber of children to iirovide for I am up against a 
bard i)ro])osition. As Ave are country folks the city 
seems to offer no place for us. A number of these 
children are able to Avork enough to pay tlnnr Avay. 
.Mother wishes to keep the family together as long 
as possible. She thinks that there may be homes 
Avhere the services of such a family would be in de¬ 
mand. Mother is an excellent cook and housekeeper, 
also is a trained nurse. I am 18 years old and 
mother has trained me to do all kinds of houscAVork ; 
also I have hud experience in all kinds of farm Avork 
as Ave have carried on a farm of our oavii for live 
years alone. There is a boy of V2 years avIio is able 
to do chores and all kinds of small jobs on a farm. 
We Avould like to get a place on a farm Avhere Ave 
could Avork all together. We are Avilling to Avork 
• for a very reasonable Avage. We are American peo- 
jile and belong to the (’ongregational Church. This 
family is entirely capable of running a farm pro- 
A’ided it AA'ere all stocked and in condition to AA'oik. 
New ILanqtshire. 
Seeding Oats in the Mud 
I AM much intei-ested in Mr. Shirley’s “sermons” 
on Alfalfa, and have ten acres of corn stubble 
in good condition to try his method. He states that 
it has i)roved successful for five years, but is not .so 
clear about his oat groAving, as he only mentions 
one trial of his oavii and one of his Quaker friend. 
As I understand it the oats Avere soAvn on the sur¬ 
face Avithout coA’ering, .'^ame as the Alfalfa. If it is 
possible to groAV them in that Avay it should be gen¬ 
erally proven in these scarce labor days, as earliness 
seems to be (piite imi»ortant, as shoAvn by Prof. Hop¬ 
kins of Illinois University in his account of “Poor- 
land Farms’’ doing for 1017. TAventy-tAvo acres 
soAvn in Alarch gave 75 bushels per acre. Avhile 22 
acres soavm a month later yielded only 40 bushels per 
acre. If thought too ri.sky to leave Avithout cover¬ 
ing Avhy not drag Avhen the surface tlniAvs tAvo or 
three inches? The freezing afterAvard Avould )»reA'ent 
injury to clay soil. 
Half AA'a.A' from my i)lace to toAvn is a model farm 
of GO acres, and on it a young cherry orchard. OJie 
end of Avhich is on a steep hillside. The OAvner 
groAvs lots of Alfalfa, but the little plot of half an 
acre on the hillside alAvays shoAvs up be.st. When 
asked for the rea.son he could not account for it, but 
.said the funny-thing about it Avas that that little 
patch Avas muddied in, explaining that after soAving 
Alfalfa in the orchard and dragging all but the hill¬ 
side he Avas stoi)i)ed by rain, Avhich lasted tAVO or 
three days. Fearing the ,Tune sun AvouId diy up the 
sprouted seed Ixffore the soil Avas fit to Avork he 
dragged it over Avhile so Avet and slippery that the 
hor.ses could hai'dly keep fi-om sliding doAvn the hill, 
.vet it resulted in the best stand he ever had. Will 
you ask Mr. Shirle.v for further light on the sub¬ 
ject, abso his vicAVs on the “mudding” scheme, and if 
either plan is feasible for oats Avhy not for spring 
Avheat? Let us be ready to “celebrate Washington’s 
birthday’’ in a manner Avorth AA'hile. 
LemiAvee Uo., Mich. av.altek cleme.nt. 
K.-N.-Y.—Several readers report failure Avith this 
oat seeding in the frozen m id. We should tr.v it as 
an experiment onl.A', and if it failed agree to charge 
it up to experience and blame no one for doing it. 
A Fence for the Snow 
We have a AvindoAv facing the north right OA’or our 
cistern. We are short of raiiiAvater and thought Ave 
would stop the snoAv by placing a tight board bi’eak, 
siich- as they use on the railroad. We placed the break 
just east of the north AvindoAV. It has snoAved hard for 
tAVO days from the nortliAvest, almost north-northwest, 
but Ave have failed to stoii any snoAV. My neighbor says 
Ave should put the break to the Avest of the AvindoAV. 
lIoAV about it? You see Ave thought to make a suoav- 
bank right by the Avindow and shovel it into the cistern. 
Wayne Co., X. Y. E. n. 
NOW, Avben driven before the Avind, obeys prac- 
ticull.v the same laAVs as silt and sand carried 
in a SAviftly floAving stream. They are very com¬ 
parable ca.ses. In each ca.se particles are carried by 
a medium that is not capable of .supporting them 
Avhen it is at rest. In the case of a stream a sandbar 
is built up or deposited, Avhen/ for any reason, the 
velocity is checked or le.ssened, and in the same Avay 
a snoAA'drift is left Avhere an obstruction of any kind 
civates an eddy current or checks the velocity of the 
Avind. It has been my observation that the largest 
banks are left on the lee side of an obstruction of 
this kind, due to the air current ri.sing to sAveep over 
the obstruction and then eddying doAvn into the par¬ 
tial vacuum created on the other side. 1 think that 
I’ailroad companies usually ob.serve this rule Avhen 
setting snoAV fences, placing them on the side of the 
road from Avhich the ])revailing storms come, and 
far enough l)ack from the ti'ack so that the .suoaa'- 
bank is deposited betAveen the fence and the right-of- 
.vay. 
If your prevailing storms are from the direction 
of the one that you mention, 1 Avould expect the 
fence jilaced as your mdghbor suggests to catch the 
’ ".ore snoAV, although eddy currents caused by your 
buildings might make another placing more efficient 
in forming a bank Avhere you desire. A little ex- 
]ierimenting and observation on your part Avill shoAv 
you just Avhere the bank is most likel.A' to torm in 
this particular case. 1 do not understand the idea 
of filling the; cistern Avith siioav. It Avill recpiire a 
tremendous amount of heat to melt this siioaa'. and 
unless you are provided Avith some read.v means of 
obtaining this 1 Avould expect the scheme to be a 
failure. «■ »• 
Ip’ “suoav is luaimrc*.’’ as avc have hoard old farmers 
say. there should be no need of fertilizer in the North 
this year. But there is very little fertility in suoav. 
Another thing that seems to baffle stockmen and 
naturalists is the star in the forehead of the horse. We 
find a very large proportion of red horses shoAviug this 
white spot or star. Where does it come from? 
