454 
March 23, 101S 
The Rural New-Yorker 
THE BVSJSESS FAEJIER'S PAPER 
A NiitlomiX Wet-klj- Journnl for (’oimiry and Suburban lloinoa 
Estahtinhed fSso 
riiblKhrd irrrklT by ilir Knral Pnblithlnft Company, 3S3 West SOih .SIreel, Ven Vork 
' Ii'ebi'skrt "XV. COLWN'GvrooD, President and Editor. 
Jons J. Dn-tos, Treasurer and General Manatrer. 
tVye. F. Dillos. Secretary. Mrs. E. T. Koyle. .ts.-oeinte E ditor. 
SUBSCRIPTION; ONE DOLLAR A YEAR 
To forelftn countries in tlie Universal Postal Union. $2.01. equal to gs. Cd., or 
Sii marks, or fmncs. Remit in money order, express 
order J’personal check or bank draft. 
Entered at New York Post Ofllce ns Second Class Matter. 
Advert isinft rates. 75 cent.s per atratc lino—7 words. References required for 
advertisers unknown to ns ; and cash must nccomiiany transient ordeiu 
“A SQUARE DEAL” 
tVo. believe that every advertisement in this paper is backed by a respon¬ 
sible person. We use every possible precaution and admit the ndvertislinf of 
wllable hou.“es only. But to make doubly sure, we will make pood any loss 
to paid subscribers sustained by trusting any deliberate swindler, liTes|)on- 
silile advertisers or misleading advertisements in our cohtmns. and any 
such swindler will be publicly exposed. We are also often called upon 
to adjust differences or mistakes between our suli'ioribers and honest, 
responsible houses, whether advertisers or not. We willingly use our goo<l 
offices to this end, but such cases should not be eonfusetl with dishonest 
transactions. We protect subscribers against, rogues, but we will not bo 
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 Ri kai. New- 
Yorker when wiiting the advertiser. 
111 our little town—oh, sad to tell I 
Tliero’.s a morchant who doesn't know how to sell, 
A lawyer who doe.su’t know much of laAv. 
A sawyer who doosirt know how to saw. 
A teacher who doesn’t know how to teach. 
A preacher who doesn't know how to iirt'iieh, 
.\u odd-jobs man with never a job, 
.\ cobbler who doesn’t know how to cob, 
A miller who doesn't know how to mill. 
A butcher who doesn’t know how ro kill. 
And a doctor who doesn’t know how to doc; 
And since none of them are busy men 
You’ll tind them, again and again. 
Round the stove in Mendelsohn’s store. 
Each talking freely—and througli his hat—■ 
Doing the one thing they're good ar-r- 
Oiving advici' to the f.armer. 
—Credit lost. 
* 
MTk'H arc yev yitiny to rrxiyn/ 
HIS que.stion is now addressed to Mr. Charles 
H. Betts, secretary of the State Food Commis¬ 
sion, for the sixth time. Mr. Betts has sent us the 
following note: 
My Dear Editor—T see that you continue to run at 
the iiead of your editorial column the question, 
are you yoiny to rmUni ?" This i.s a question addressed 
to me, and oiie that should have a reply. Ihu-mit me to 
say that I shall never resign, and permit me to add 
that I know of a man who did not have an opportunity 
to resign. lie was summarily removed for good and 
sufficient reasons by the Council of Farms and Markets, 
and his name i.s—.Tohn J. Dillon. Yours very truly, 
C. II. BETTS, 
Secretary. 
Brother Betts is' human after all. We wore cam- 
dently wrong in classing him with the rhinoceros. 
The average ]iolitician has one strong argument, and 
that is. ^‘You're anotherP' Mr. Dillon might have 
resigned on any one of SOO or more days. He wanted 
to' do so, but some of us urged him to stay, so a.s 
to for<‘P the politicians to act. They wanted him to 
resign so that they could go to the farmei's and 
tell how they begged him to remain! Mr. Dillon 
gave up his salary for nearly a year in order to 
provide funds for the department. Do we hear that 
Mr. Betts has offered to do tin* same? It seems to 
us that the Kaiser is another man who “an'?/ nerer 
risif/n ”—hut we thinlw he will have to he resigned 
to his fate after the war is over. We .still think it 
is a safe het th.-it Mr. Betts irill resign, because if 
he does not the ‘hnachine” will he smashed in the 
rural districts. The imliticians care more for their 
machine than the.v do for Betts. Thei'efore we keep 
on asking —Mlim are you yoiny to resign? 
HE .seed <-orn situation in New York State is 
very had. The farm census proves that, and 
also shows the way out. The Hudson Valley and 
some of the southeim counties have a fair amount 
of .seed, with some to spare. Central and Western 
New York are short, hut it will he possible, through 
the farm bureaus, to obtain a fair supply of seed. 
Every farmer who is short should amily to his 
county Fai-m Bureau at once. And then then* are 
farmers who think they have .good seed, when in 
reality it is not much better than wooden shoeiiegs. 
Out of 22 samples of seed corn tested in 'J'ompkins 
County only one was vital enough to make lirst- 
class seed, while 10 were practically worthless. 
Every farmer who furnished these samples thought 
the seed was all right. Suppose they and hun<lreds 
like them had planted .such seed! They would have 
fouml out, too late, lliiit they had barely 20 per cent 
of a stand. It will he like playing into the hands 
of the Herman war lords this year to ])lant coim 
without testing the seed ! 
T he cartodii on i)ag(‘ 4:J0 tells a great story in a 
few yien strokes. The food situation—by all means 
the most imyiortant ])ai't. of this war problem—has 
been bungled and tied up because the authorities 
seem to think the farmer and his wife are incompe¬ 
tent or incapable of handling their own business. 
Some of the ablest men in the world have been i)ut 
in charge of the food i»ropo.sition. Their very ability 
■Ghe RURAL NEW-YORKER 
has ])roved a handicap, and has come near losing 
the Avar. With all their great poAver and organizing 
ability such men have no conception of the thought, 
the language, the temiter or limitation of the aA-erage 
farmer. They cannot understand his position or 
his ])oint of vieAA'. so that the very strength of their 
Avell-laid ]tlans and rules is doing ino.'jt. to dis¬ 
courage and embarrass the farmer. If they persist 
in trying to rule .and dominate the farming hn.siness 
as they Avould the railroads or the steel trust, they 
will lose the Avar or force this nation to acceiit a 
compromise! The remedy? Ho ri,ght to the farmers 
.and their organizations and say frankly, ‘‘Tell us 
Avhat to do!” Everyone avIio knoAvs the country 
realizes' that, this must he done .sooner or later. 
'Who can tell more about food production than those 
AAho yiroduce the food? The lucture shOAvs a hunch 
of Avise men in a Hying machine trying to find the 
ri'iisons for high food cost. They have left hidiind 
them the onl.A' julot Avho knoAvs the Avay—the house¬ 
keeper. Gentlemen, get Aviso, Fly hack, juit the 
farmer :uul his Avife at the wheel—take a hack seat 
;!nd Avork at what you knoAV how to do, 
* 
As a matter of fact, avc are tbroAVU back on the re¬ 
sources of home production to such an extent as Ave 
have never been before, and a hungry nation turns to 
the farmer for its food. The sad thing about it .all is 
that the possibilities of the present situation Avere not 
realized in the early days of the Avar, Avhen agriculture 
might haA-e been organizt'd to meeti emergencies, AA’hich 
Aveve not onlv possible but probable. As events have 
shoAvn, and strange as it may seem, farmers were the 
only peojile who foretold what might happen. Now we 
are face to face Avith the grave situation that supplies 
from outside are greatly reduced, and 1 he nation .s 
poAvers of endurance dejiend on those Avho cultivate the 
land. 
HAT i.s taken from the English M.ark Lane Ex¬ 
press to shoAV hoAv, everywhere, exceyit in 
France, the farmer Avas consulted last of all about 
food supplie.s. It Avoiild seem .self-evident that the 
farmer, the natural food producer, ought to knoAV 
most about how to increase food supplies, yet no 
one in authority seems to have thought it Avorth 
Avhile to ]uit farmers in charge of their OAvn busi¬ 
ness. LaAvyers, hankers, hii.siness men and pro¬ 
fessional men liaA'c had tlieir turn, and they IniA’e 
all fallen short because they cannot realize the truth 
about farming as a business. They might organize 
agriculture, hut they cannot organize f.arming. In 
Canada during the first year of the Avar everyone 
talked increased prodiu.-tion—regardless of <-ost. 
The second year it aamis all “organization” and the 
third year “distribution.” Noav the leaders come 
stniight to the farmer and hold ipt their hands :ui<l 
say, ‘"Tell ns ichat to do non: to iiierrasc the jood 
supplyP' In this country Ave should cut out the 
three years of mistakes and get to business at once. 
If the New York Fe<lei-ation of l-'a ruling had half 
the power and half the money now being spent by 
commissions and councils it could guarantee to in¬ 
crease food iiroduction in New York by 10 per cent! 
* 
Inclosoil stamps for a good cigar and tbanking you 
for your kindnesfs A- !-• K- 
HIS man asks a question Avhich it ik a pleasure 
for us to ansAver. We do not smoke, and the 
st.-niips are used to buy Avar stamps for the children.' 
We AVoiild like to start a campaign to encourage 
putting the price of cigars and drinks (hard and 
soft) into these stamps. The Government needs 
cA'ery penny it can get to carry on this A\"ar and 
]»ay the postage in mailing those German aamiv lord.s 
<)ff to some de.sert islaiul. Why not quit smoking 
.and guzzling until the AA’ar is OA’er? 
* 
T he poultry biisuiess at this moment is in a bad 
situation, and the immediate outlook is not 
good, 'riie aAvful price of grain, the falling price of 
eggs and the effect of the terrible Winter IniA-e all 
combined to make the poultryman’s life A’ery much 
of a trageily. There neA-er Avas a AVtu-se combination, 
and to make it eoinjilete comes the order prohibit¬ 
ing the slaughter of hens. Many commercial poultry- 
men Avoiild naturally get rid of a lot of drones at 
alioiit this time, hut under this order they must 
carry them until May at a loss. .Vs Ave IniA^e pointed 
out, the chief and only gainers through thi.s order 
are the pairker.s. The.v Avill obtain cheap eggs foi* 
storage and cheap poultry after May for packing and 
holding. :Many a poiilti-y-keeper poav sees ruin 
staring him in the face in tlie shape of nni)aid feed 
hills, past and to come. No Avonder many of them 
are di.vcoiir.aged and ready to quit the business. Yet 
there is another .side to it. -Vt some time in the 
future there must he a sAving hack to poultry. The 
Avorld must have eggs and meat and should there he 
a large corn crop this year the inace of feed must 
fall. The Government, too, must .sooner or later act 
to regulate the feed dealers. They are .shutting up 
mills Avhich charge more than .18 per cent of Avheat 
jirices for bran and they must soon find a way to 
regulate the dealers. We shall not Iuia'c cheap feed 
again for years, hut ]»rices must become more i*eason- 
ahh'. and then there Avill he a rush hack to poultry. 
When that comes the men Avho uoav hang on ami 
improA'e their stock aamII get their rcAvard. It AA’ill 
require capital, iiatience and great courage to play 
a lo.sing game until the ti<le SAvings back, and it 
does not look like a great chance to take with 
borrowed money. If a man has fair capital, hoAv- 
ever, .and good nerve, Ave .still think it Avill paj’ to 
hank on the hen. 
Will you give the folloAving st.ateinent, that probably 
Avill save other farmers from disappointment? To 
secure !i loan from the Fede.r.ql Land Bank of Louisville 
amounting to .81,200 cost me: 
Apidication ...lO 
Application fee . sT.^O 
Appraisal . 4.00 
Abstract bringing down to date.. 2.2.1 
Extr.a work for my abstra<‘tor re¬ 
quested by the bank. 0.1.00 
.Vffidavits . 2..10 
Stamps for note;. .24 
Five per cent .stock. 00.00 
.$1.‘50.00 
Thi.s is more than 11% per cent of the loan, (‘ei-- 
tainly some help for the birmers. 
Ohio. GEORGE NEUXDORFER. 
HESE figures sIioav one Aveakuess of most of 
these schemes for providing farm credits. The 
cost of starting the loan is too heavy. In a building 
and loan association all this money AVoiild finally 
come hack to the shareholder.s, so that the men 
Avho paid it Avoiild get a little hack in earnings. We 
AA'ould like to IniA’^e figures from other horrower,s for 
comparison. The chief criticism of such loaning 
plans is that they do not giAU? the hired man or pour 
tenant farmer a real chance to buy a farm. 
T he AA’ar comjiels us to study wonoms’ of produc¬ 
tion. That stiid.A' lea«ls us into places Avhich avc 
tliought AA’ere shut tight. For instance, corn as a 
crop for silage. T'p to last year Ave accepted Avith- 
out argument the proiiosition that corn is the most 
economical crop for the silo, Noav avg find that 
Avheu AA’e (‘onsidei’ the cost of cultiA\ating, some 
broadcast croi» like .Taiianese millet or oats and 
peas may jiay bidter. Dii rich moist land we mjiy 
groAv a crop of oats and peas and then a crop of 
millet—both going into the silo, and with the liirhtesi 
(‘xpense for labor. 
T he Ncav York .Vssemhly voted 107 to .1(5 to 
rejical the Machold .school Iraa’. Mr. Machold him¬ 
self—AA’ho introduced the hill last year—A'oted for its 
repeal, convinced that it did not Avork out a.s Avas 
ex])ected. We think the .Senate Avill go the same 
Avay, though the vote may lie clo.se then'. Eai-ly 
in the campaign a .strong .sn)iporter of rei)ea'l said 
it looked like a hopeless task. “You might as avcII 
try to niOA’e the Gajiitol as to make the Legislatui’c 
rcA'crse itself!” That Avould liaAui been true il 
country luHiple had gone .at it in the usual Avay of 
asking ]>oli1icians to do it for them. A politician 
can no more “moA’e the Gapitol” than he can lift 
him.self by his hoot straps. .Vn organized demo- 
ci-acy c.in—.and Avill—take the politicians by the 
neck and lift them out of the job. The fight for 
repeal is the greatest object les.sou iu public service 
Ave have ever had. 
Brevities 
The bon Avill fight off the Hun, says one city advista-. 
The robber hen. secure in her life, aa’111 help the Hun. 
“.Vrizon.a. bee.s to sting the Kaiser”—is the Avay they 
announce extra bee-keeping in Arizona. 
SpiURRELS are worse than ever before with >i.s. They 
seem to have cleaned up all their Winter .store.s early. 
Do XOT try feeding experiments on the children. Try 
them yourself. 
The bluebirds in our country surely tind March a 
blue |)rosi)ect. 
Huxurehs Avill try bridge-grafting this year in an 
effort, to save girdled fruit trees. With most of them 
the result Avill be more in the line of a lu-idge of siglns. 
The use of dust in the jdace of liquid spray Avill be 
very large this year—ns a “Avar measure” to save labor. 
The suliihur dust often proves veiy irritating to the 
eyes’. We ai-e advised to use SAveet milk applied to the 
eye Avith a medicine dropper as an antidote in severe 
cases. 
The latest proposition is to put potatoes into c(jld 
.storage as apples and eggs go out. In this way the po- 
tatoe.s can be held off the market to steady the price. 
There is a big crop due from the . 8 outh this year, and 
many city people have .stopped eating potatoes as they 
did tAvo years ago. 
