RURAL NCW-YORKER 
March 2, 1918 
354 
ssssss 
BUaD THEM OUT 
USD CONCRETE. FOR 
FOUNDATIONS. WALLS 
AND FLOODS 
or* 
No Rat Cut Gnaw Through Concrete-. 
When y<m have huilt inundations, 
walls’ and floors of concrete, you' 
have ^ono a ^^roat way toward 
preventing wa^te, filth, disease, fire.N 
•^'Vou have fdso huilt "nr permanence; 
■ Ask /or your /fee copy of3uIIe/tns /37anJ/A-f 
I'-' '. It- • 
PORTLAND CCMCNTASSOQ^ON 
Of-vicieS 
Kan.$as City 
Milwaukee . 
Minneapolis 
New'lfoirk' 
Parkersburg 
Pittsburgh . 
Salt Iiake City 
San Prancisco 
.Seattle ■' 
.Washin^ton.D.C. 
A.tlanta 
Chicago . . 
Dallas 
Denver 
Indianapolis 
UUlillllD: 
itPT 
1 ; 
I'l 
!!i 
k 
1*11 
ij * 
lit j ^ 
Make Your Farm 
a Natco Farm 
Your farm buildings must shelter your 
crops, stock and family. Erect buildings 
that arefiresafe and storm-proof, afford¬ 
ing complete protection from the elements. 
How? Simply build with 
Natco Hollow Tile 
Natco buildings save painting and repairs 
—will remain in first class condition as long 
as you farm—and longer. The dead air spaces in 
wa’.’.s erected of hollow tile, keep the barns warm 
in winter and cool in summer—prevent dampness 
«nd mildew. The smooth glaz¬ 
ed walls are easy to keep 
clean, sweet and sanitary 
—make it easy to produce 
high grade milk. 
Ask your build ing supply 
dealer to show you sam- 
. leaofourline. He has 
valuable practical 
plans, too—/re« to 
prospective build¬ 
er’s. Write us di¬ 
rect for new 
illustrated 
‘Natco on 
the Farm” 
book-1918 
blclition. 
It’s 
free. 
National Fire Proofing Company 
1121 Fulton Building Pittsburgh, Pa. 
23 Factories assure a wide and economical distribution. 
Use Natco Hollow Tile for dairy barns, silos, corn cribs, poultry and hog houses. 
garages, etc. 
When you write advertisers mention The R. N.-Y. and you’ll get a 
quick reply and a ’‘square deal.” See guarantee editorial page. 
The True Spirit of Farming 
As the Horticultural Number of The 
R. N.-Y. comes to us we shall be starting 
active work for the season of 1918. IVe 
will long remember the Winter. Little 
outside work has been done or could be 
done. We have become dull and to a 
great extent lost much of our active in¬ 
terest in farm work. All around us in. 
the large cities things have been happen¬ 
ing. Great progressive strides have been 
made in turning out materials that will 
help to win the war. In this work large 
premiums have been placed on the in¬ 
genuity of man. There is an industrial 
boom. !Men are getting larger wages than 
ever before, and there is work for all. 
Those of us who have spent the Winter 
on the farm have somehow come to feel 
that our work is being generally consid¬ 
ered as small and of little value as com¬ 
pared with these other things. We had 
thought our work was fundamental and 
of first importance. In our quiet mo¬ 
ments we know it is fundamental. How¬ 
ever, when we think of the tons of fool¬ 
ish advice we have receiveil from all quar- 
The Medium Sized Eight-rowed Flint—The Main 
Standby for New England. See Page 313 
ters, and the very evident lack of real 
assistance that would have served a.s an 
incentive to increase production, and avIiou 
we read the opiliions others have formed 
of us and our efforts as presented in the 
city press we get discouraged. It is hard 
to farm under the most trying circum¬ 
stances that we have ever experienced. 
It is still harder to do this without more 
direct evidence that this woi’k is really 
appreciated. Lack of appreciation is hard 
to bear, but if we go ahead without it and 
do our best to grow the crops that we 
know ourselves will do far more towards 
winning this war than will any other sin¬ 
gle thing we cau do, will we not, after all, 
have the greatest reward that cau come 
to us? We will know in our hearts that 
we have done our best when our best was 
most needed. 
In. the months to come the public gen¬ 
erally may re-alize the great mistake that 
has been made. Frantic efforts may be 
made to see that the farmer has a just 
reward for his work, and receives a high 
enough price for his produce to enable 
him to compete successfully with others 
and thus secure the necessary labor- to 
maintain, and, if need be, increase produc¬ 
tion. These efforts will probably come too 
late. We can glimpse some of the suffer¬ 
ing and misery that may result, and we 
wonder at the slowness of reform. We 
are apt to censure our leader for stupid¬ 
ity and develop a full-sized grouch for 
ourselves. Such feelings are harmful. 
We must refuse to entertain them, and 
as the season opens, enter with a whole¬ 
hearted spirit into our work. Someone 
asks how he can put his whole heart into 
a work in which he is so badly handi¬ 
capped. My answer is to face conditions 
squarely, realize that he is handicapped, 
and then go ahead and do- his best under 
existing conditions. Personally we would 
like to know how to produce as maich food 
as usual on a 150-aere farm, and do it at 
a profit, or at least without loss, with less 
than one-third the usual amount of help, 
and with all supplies, if oibtainable at all, 
at least 100 per cent higher than usual. 
Wc know it cannot be done. Yet we feel 
we should do all in our power with the 
facilities at hand to prod^ice as much food 
as possible, and if we begin the season 
with the right spirit, who knows but what 
we may produce much nearer the usual 
amount than we have ever before thought 
possible! False moves on the part of our 
leaders and unfair treatment by unscrup¬ 
ulous dealer’s and othei-s who manipulate 
markets to enrich themselves at the ex- 
pense of the producer will not excuse us 
from going the limit to do our full part. 
For our own conscience’ sake we must do 
our best. To do this we must awaken 
ourselves to the possibilities before us. 
The day of opportunity for farm de¬ 
velopment is not past. It is just begin¬ 
ning. For the young men especially there 
is opportunity to be of great service. Who 
knows what developments in farming will 
come about as the result of studies and 
experiments .made by these young men 
the coming season? The past shows tis 
the possibilities. Think of the thousands 
of hales of cotton that would never have 
been produced had it not been for the in¬ 
vention of the cotton gin. Think, too, of 
the millions of bushels of potatoes that 
are now grown relatively easily because 
someone invented the planter, digger and 
riding cultivator. Think .also of the mil¬ 
lions of bushels of grain it is now possible 
to produce because someone invented the 
reaper, thrasher, etc. A book could pos¬ 
sibly be filled with.instance.s where a new 
machine has ni.ade production easier and 
at the same time enabled one man to 
grow more than 10 men did formerly. 
Most of these wonderful inventions were 
possil)le because a thought or idea took 
definite form in some farm boy’s brain, 
and he had* sufficient interest, energy and 
perseverance to work it out. 
Think also of the tremendous impor¬ 
tance of developing new varieties of 
fruits, vegetables, grain.s and grasses. 
Can anyone reckon the value to the world 
of the Cobbler i)otato, the Elberta, Car¬ 
man, Belle of Georgia and other peaches? 
The Baldwin, Spy, AVinesap, Delicious 
and other apples, the Gandy, Klondyke, 
Missionary aud other strawberries, the 
Earliana, Bonny Best, Stone and other 
tomatoes. Ruby King, Giant and other 
peppers? This lis't could be lengthened 
to fill this entire paper. Can anyone ever 
reckon the value of the many wonderful 
varieties we no’.v have? It cannot‘be done. 
It is simply another instance of God’s 
blessings placed within the reach of man. 
Some of these valuable varieties came as 
a result of scientific work in cro.ssing 
and experimenting. By far the greater 
part, though, have been the work of na- 
tui-e, and were only saved for the use of 
future generations by the fact that .some 
wideawake farmer or farm hoy saw them, 
realized their value and .savixl them for 
propagation purposes. Few plant breed¬ 
ers will ever get the reward in dollars and 
cents that is due them, hut somehow I 
have always thought they must realize 
within themselves that, after all, their 
work was worth while. 
That, I feel, is the attitude we farmers 
should take for this coming season. 
AVhether others say so or not. we know 
our work will count. The food we pro¬ 
duce this year will be more of a blessing 
to mankind than any food we have ever 
before produc-ed. Let us try to worry as 
little as possible over qur troubles, and, 
in place of worry, let us all try to see 
wherein we cau make some short cuts in 
our work, and to keep up our interest let 
us try some new method, -some new crop, 
or some new variety of an old crop that 
we have never tried before. 
TRUCKER, JR. 
