382 
TShe RURAL NEW-YORKER 
The Rural New-Yorker 
TUB BUSINESS FARMER'S PAPER 
A National Weekly Journal for Country and Suburban Homes 
Established iS50 
Fubllshed wetkiy by the Raral Pnbliihlinr Company, 838 Weat 80lh Street, New Fork 
Herbert W. Collingwood, President and Editor. 
John J. Dillon, Treasurer and General Manager. 
Wm. F. Dillon, Secretary. Mrs. E. T. Roylk, Associate Editor. 
SUBSCRIPTION : ONE DOLLAR A YEAR 
To foreign countries in the Universal Postal Union, $2.04. equal to 8 s. 6 d., or 
8)4 marks, or 10)4 francs. Remit in money order, express 
order, personal check or bank draft. 
Entered at New York Post Office as Second Class Jlatter. 
Advertising rates, 76 cents xxjr agate line—7 words. References required for 
advertisers unknown to us ; and cash must accompany transient oixiers. 
“A SQUARE DEAL” 
We believe that every advertisement in this paper is backed by a respon¬ 
sible person. We use every possible precaution and admit the advertising of 
reliable houses only. But to make doubly sure, we will make good any loss 
to paid subscribers sustained by trusting any deliberate swindler, irrespon¬ 
sible advertisers or misleading advertisements in our columns, and any 
such swindler will be publicly exijosed. We are also often called upon 
to adjust differences or mistakes between our subscribers and honest, 
responsible bouses, whether advertisers or not. We willingly use our good 
offices to this end, but such cases should not be confused with dishonest 
transactions. We protect subscribers against rogues, but we will not be 
responsible for the debts of honest bankrupts sanctioned by the courts. 
Notice of the complaint must be sent to us within one month of the time of 
the transaction, and to identify it, you should mention The Rural New- 
Yobkek when writing the advertiser. 
^V1lcn are you going to resignf 
T HIS question is now asked for the fourth time 
of Charle.s H, Betts, secretary of the New 
York Food Commission. The papers have con¬ 
tained hints that Mr. Betts will be .sacrificed on 
the political altar to satisfy the farmers! “Thrown 
to the wolves” is the way they put it I The voters do 
not want him—they want him to Avalk out because 
he never should have gone in. When are you going 
to resign? 
* 
U P to Feb. 1 the 12 Federal Land Banks paid 
out to farmers $50,782,432, covering 24,020 loan.s. 
The bank at St. Paul leads with $9,760,000. The 
three western hanks at St. Paul, Spokane, and 
Wichita (Kan.sas), loaned, between them, $27,333,675 
—or more than half of the total. The farmers of 
the West and South have been first to avail them¬ 
selves of this chance to borrow, and if the plan 
could be simplified somewhat there would be far 
more business done. The bank at Springfield, Mass., 
covering New England, New York and New Jersey, 
loaned $1,614,665. 
O N page 367 the secretary of the U. S. Grain 
Corporation says that any miller who charges 
more than the authorized price for wheat bran or 
mill feeds will have his license revoked. The rules 
state that the price for bran must be 38 per cent 
of the price of a ton of wheat. This will run about 
$27 per ton and represents the legitimate price to 
the miller. We already have a case Avhere a miller 
in Pennsylvania is charging about $40 for bran. 
This case has been put up to the Grain Corporation 
as a test. Now we shall see what they will do with 
it. The offer on page 367 is direct and clear if 
farmers will take advantage of it and report millei-s’ 
1 trices. Of course in such cases the clearest evi¬ 
dence is needed, and farmers must stand up to the 
battle and do their share. We have one case 
Avhere a farmer has lost both .sheep and poultry— 
killed by dogs. This farmer saw the dogs and 
knows they belong to a neighbor. lie wants the 
State to pay him privately and quietly, so he will 
have no trouble with anyone and not tell whose dogs 
did the damage. The fact is that big public troubles 
are not wiped out until we, as citizens, are willing 
to assume and face troubles of our own. 
*K 
I 
A t Syracuse last week the writer went to various 
stores and did some “shopping.” He bought half a 
peck-of'apples for 35 cents, bi’ead, entire wheat 
floui', corn meal, yarn and other articles of common 
use. Thus he knew what consumers pay, and it 
was quite easy to figure what the farmers received. 
.\ partial list ran as follows: 
Consumer’s Fi^mer’s 
I’rice. Rh are. 
.\pples. .35 cents 10 cents 
Entire wheat. 12 cents 4 cents 
Corumeal. Scents .Scents 
liroarl. 14 cents ^>¥2 cents 
('ureal. 12 cents 314 cents 
Knitting yarn. SO cents 15 cents 
The apples were very poor, yet they sold at the 
rate of $8.40 iier barrel Thus when a housewife 
went out armed with a dollar bill to buy food we 
see how little of it ever got back to the farmer. Of 
course we know there are still people who say 
there is no such thing as a 35-cent dollar. There is 
no use arguing with them, unless you can put them 
out on a farm and compel them to make their living 
and live on what is left them by the dealers and 
commission men. Then they would be converted 
and realize what is the matter with farming and 
why in 50 years the rural wealth of this country 
ran down from 56 per cent to 30 per cent of the 
total. 
W E think the advice not to plant fruit trees this 
year is unsound. There may well be a fair 
planting without interfering greatly with regular 
crop.s. Bean.s, potatoes, corn or garden crops may be 
planted in the young orchard. For several years 
we have grown practically all our hoed crops in 
such situations. In any event there must be con¬ 
siderable planting to provide for the trees destroyed 
by vermin during this hard Winter. We must not 
let the apple orchards run down, and where crops 
are grown between the trees the work of orchard¬ 
ing will not greatly interfere with food production. 
We advise a rea.sonable planting of apple and 
peach. It will not interfere with regular food crops 
and the fruit will be needed in the future. 
* 
Although I have sold -my farm and am now re- 
vSiding in the city, I am glad to be able to send you the 
name of a new recruit in the cause of 50 farmers in 
the New York Legislature. You would be surprised to 
know the actual foothold this movement has gained, 
and I am certain it will come to pas.s. T. G. 
Onondaga Co., N. Y. 
W E have yet to find an actual farmer who, 
after a little thought, does not fall in line 
for 50 farmers in the New York Legislature. The 
logic is very clear. The lawyers, bankers, busi¬ 
ness men and politicians have held the fort at 
Albany for j’ears, and they have failed to give 
us farm legislation that legislates. Practically every 
law passed, ostensibly in the interests of farmers, 
has carried a rider or a “joker” which made it a 
farce and a failure. It would be impos.sible for a 
Legislature composed entirely of farmers to give 
a worse performance. Fifty intelligent and patriotic 
farmers can and will do much better. At least we 
all intend to try it, and so we line up for 50 farmers 
in the New York Legislature! 
* 
T he way the new.spapers and the politicians took 
the report of file Farm Federation meeting at Syr¬ 
acuse proves that just such a permanent organiza¬ 
tion is needed. Within 48 hours the papers began 
to print hints and suggestions that the member.s 
of the farm council will get out and that fanners 
will be put in their places! These people do not 
seem able to get over the idea that this federation 
is merely a grab for a few petty offices. Some of 
the iioliticians understand the depth of the demand 
made by the.se strong, determined men at Syracuse, 
but most of them ai'e unable to recognize polit¬ 
ical character when they meet it face to face. It 
seems strange to think that well-seasoned politi¬ 
cians cannot grasp the full meaning of that meet¬ 
ing, but for years they have worked on the theory 
that every man has his price, and that a farmer can 
be bought by offering him .some petty office. It is 
true that they have in the past made some bai’- 
gains ill this way, and thus prevented real leader¬ 
ship for farmers. They are now up against a very 
different thing, and the longer they take to recog¬ 
nize it the harder it will be for them. Men have 
now gone out into the open fight for farm rights 
who cannot be bought or bribed, or bulldozed. 'I'liey 
do not want petty offices or perfunctory jobs, but 
they are building a big, broad platform upon which 
all workers will finally stand. The papers state 
that Gov. Whitman and the politicians are “offer¬ 
ing the olive branch.” Our farmers know from ex- 
penence that this “emblem of peace” is often more 
dangerous than a club carried openly. The Feder¬ 
ation is out to fedei'ate, not to capitulate! 
* 
I think it rotten that no re.straint is placed on any 
of the useless habits of men while the women are told 
that “food will win the war.” Meatless, heatless, 
wheatless, porkless, and all kinds of “less” days are 
urged upon the women of the home, and it is all right, 
but let’s have a candyless day, a beerless day, a smoke¬ 
less day, a poolless day, a billiardless day, a moving 
pictureless week, and a lot more things with less on 
them that could be very easily observed. L. c. B. 
Y OU notice that the “authorities” are not saying 
‘‘less” in italics to organized bodies of men 
or to people who have become slaves to useless 
habits. The tobaco burned in New York w'ould pro¬ 
vide for the Belgians and put the Red Cro.ss far 
up in the million class. The women and the farmers 
get most of the scolding becau.se they are not or¬ 
ganized and cannot therefore talk back in a chorus. 
Whenever we press this matter with the men higher 
up they say privately that they do not care (or dare) 
to interfere with the jileasures of the people. They 
must be entertained and cannot entertain them¬ 
selves. They must be amused or they wdll shake 
up organized society! The theory seems to be that 
the organized city labor must be kept quiet while 
the unorganized farmers W’ill do little but talk. We 
shall see about that. 
March 9, 1918 
T he U. S. Geological Survey shows that In 1916 
1,066,376 tons of crushed limestone were used as 
fertilizer in this country. Illinois led with 203,829 
tons, Virginia second with 146,703, and New York 
third with 102,608 tons. Lime and Alfalfa or clover 
will make the team to pull many a poor section up 
to prosperity. There should be at least 500,000 tons 
per year used in New York State. The manure 
spreader saved many a Western farm and made it 
into a garden spot. A lime crusher will put back 
tone into many an Eastern community. 
xHis morning as my husband .started to go to work 
tte car s^ply refused to start. I had read in the 
Pastoral Parson’s letter how he was stalled on the 
road to the schoolhouse on Christmas Eve, and how 
he started the car the next morning by pouring hot 
water on the carburetor and in the radiator, when 
Jazzie responded at once. As my husband earns $4 
a day he said, send The R. N.Y. a dollar at at once.” 
as that day s work would pay for the paper four 
L- . DILLMAN. 
VV'ashington. 
Almost anything from men to maple .sap will 
“go” if you put them into hot water. Take the tea¬ 
kettle to them if they get “cold feet” in the matter 
of doing their duty. The Pastoral Parson has built 
a fire under some slow things and thrown cold 
water on .some that were too fast. Both jobs repre¬ 
sent “good work” and .should be imitated. 
the full history of this -war is written 
VV you will find tw'o good American citizens 
walking off with certificates of honor. One is the 
mule; the other the gi'ade Percheron horse. While 
this is pretty much a gasoline war, so far as trans¬ 
port goe.s, there are many conditions where the 
motor car or truck falls down and the horse or mule 
must come to the rescue. In hauling food and mu¬ 
nitions over mudd.v roads, or I'ushing the guns to 
the front, the mule and the big horse have proved 
invaluable. After the war they will still be in 
great demand in the mighty work of turning the bat¬ 
tlefields into farms. America has given the mule 
and the Percheron first place in the list of four- 
footed fighters. When made in America, with a dash 
of Yankee blood mixed in, the Percheron becomes 
the most useful horse in the world. 
• 
I N England women and girls take their work as 
farm laborers .seriously. We understand that 
about 90.000 women are now doing work on farms, 
which was formerly done by men or boys. They are 
milking, picking fruit, hoeing and weeding, and in 
some cases running farm machinery successfully. 
The English have imported many farm tractors and 
farm machinery from America. I.arger and stronger 
women are learning to handle the.se machines suc¬ 
cessfully and are giving good satisfaction. These 
women have adopted a characteristic dress and take 
pride in their ability to help in farm work. On 
market days these women laborers parade through 
the streets with a band and flags. They have en¬ 
tered plowing and machinery competitions, and in 
some cases have actually won prizes in competition 
with skilled workmen. What is to happen when at 
the clo.se of the war the soldiers come back to take 
their old places? That is one of the great questions 
which must be settled, and the settlement will shake 
up English society to the bottom. 
Brevities 
Most war gardens this year will run largely to beans 
and potatoes. 
Help blacken the Kaiser’s eye by preventing smut 
on the oats by treating the seed. 
In the coining sweetless year a hive of bees will give 
you a little handle on the sugar trust. 
A $5 HIDE when it comes back to the farmer in boots 
and shoes and harness costs $20 or more. 
Mail by air! The IT. S. Post Office Department has 
called for bids on five aeroplanes for carrying the mails. 
Oyster fishing furnishes 115,000 tons of food each 
year in this country. This food is equal to 400,000 
dressed steers. 
A NEW food fish now coming on the market in large 
cities is the eulachon. This neglected fish is found 
on the I’acific coast. War times have brought it into 
use. 
Bird lovers will be interested in a bulletin “How 
to Attract Birds in the East Gentral States,” issued 
by the Department of Agriculture as Farmers’ Bul¬ 
letin No. 912. 
We think inoculation and lime are part of the true 
insurance policy in Alfalfa culture. Where there i.s 
any question about the need of the soil we should use 
both lime and inoculation for safety. 
The more we hear about this plan of growing sugar 
beets in the back yard for the family supply of sugar 
the less practical it seems. The beets are all right as 
a garden vegetable, but do not trust in them to break 
the sugar trust. 
