892 
Oic RURAL NEW-YORKER 
The Value of Moth Traps 
D URIN(^ the past few weeks we have had a 
number of letters from people who have be¬ 
come interested in various moth-traps, and they want 
to know what they can aljout them. Th(‘ prin- 
cii)le of the moth-trap or moth-catchei’ isvcery simple. 
A light is provided for the purj«)se of attracting the 
insects. This light is u.sually imt over an open di.sh, 
generally containing water with a lilm of kerosene 
at the toj). The theory is that the moths, being 
attracted by the light, will fly to it and fall down 
into the dish, where they are finished by the kero¬ 
sene. This theory is good, and anyone who will 
hang up a lantern or other light at night wiil find 
that it attracts a large number of insect.s. We only 
ne(*(l to look at an electric light t(j observe the gj’eat 
number of winged insects flying around it. The 
(piestion, of course, is whether the destruction of 
insects in this way is of practical value. Some of 
the moth-fI'appers go so far as to claim that these 
traps or lights are entirely taking the place of 
spraying for the codling worm and m<»st other in¬ 
sects. No one is justified in making any such 
claim as thi.s, for the facts will not .support it. Some 
years ago we submitted this (lue.stion to the late 
I’rof. M. V. Slingerland, and we printed the follow¬ 
ing reply from him. These destructive insects have 
not i)articularly changed their habits .since then, and 
we think thi.s is a fair statement of the case. Un¬ 
questionably the man who tries one of these light 
traps can kill many of them, but he will make a 
great mi.stake if he thinks that these traps will en¬ 
tirely take the place of spraying or the other well- 
known methods for keeping our fruit clean. 
.\uy device consisting of a light and .some destructive 
agent will catch night-flying insects. During warm 
nights great umnbers are destroyed by the arc electric 
light, which as an insect killer is more effective than 
most of the moth-traps advertised. The difliculty is that 
more beneficial than injurious insects are destroyed. In 
<‘areful tests made in ('anada and elsewhere it was 
found that thr«e-fourths of all insects caught were of 
the decidedly beneficial type, most of them being 
ichneumon Hies, which kill many destructive insects by 
laying eggs on their bodies. In nearly all te.sts re¬ 
ported practically no codling moths were caught. The 
moths of many destructive insects, the cabbage worm, 
for example, fly in daytime, and hence w’ould not be 
trai)ped by the.se lanterns. If one wishes to destroy 
as many night-flying insects as possible, regardless of 
their habits or usefulness, he will find the moth-trap a 
help, but he need not expect it to take the place of 
si)raying, nece.ssary hand work or vigilance of the brand 
essential to succe.ssful fruit growing. 
The Curb Market in Lancaster, Pa. 
T he market que.stion i.s, in my opinion, the sal¬ 
vation of the small farmer and the tenant 
farmer, and, to a certain extent, it relieves the con- 
.sumer of many gouges practiced by the middleman. 
I my.self do jiot go to market, as I have a market 
right at my door for all the truck and poultry and 
eggs that I caji produce; in fact, people con.sider it 
a favor if I keep back some kinds of ijroduce for 
them; but I have been a close observer of the mar¬ 
ket system in I.ancaster County for .some years, and 
the .subject assumes special impoitance at the pres¬ 
ent day, because of some of its economic aspects in 
relation to the prevention of food waste and the 
elimination of profiteering in foods. In the first 
place, the curb market system is not confined to 
I.ancaster County, but extends well over York Coun¬ 
ty, and, I am informed, is getting a foothold in :Mary- 
land. 
When 1 refer to the prevention of food waste. I 
mean that every ounce of food that is produced, 
whether inferior in (piality or size, can. by this 
system, be marketed at a price. Fallen api)les ai-e 
in demand for pie and preserving purposes and for 
ajtple .sauce, and all that are brought to market can 
be sold; the consumer has been educated up to this, 
and many prefer the green apples for these pui-- 
po.ses. Then, as for the .specked peaches, no dealer 
will buy them, but a hou.sewife learns from other 
housewives that they can be used for jams and 
jellies by cutting away the sjjecked portions, and, 
as a matter of fact, some buy them for eating pur¬ 
poses. In the peach sea.son, other farmers and their 
Avives drive here to buy the soft and specked peaches, 
and I .get rid of nearly all I have in thi.s way, and 
the people from neighboring towns come in the same 
way for the .same puii)ose. I don’t know what 
w. uld happen to a man who would offer this class 
of fruit in a .section Avhere the market s.vstem was 
not in existence. 
This rather desirable state of affairs was brought 
about by the farmer coining in direct touch with the 
consumer, and getting a chance to explain matters. 
Then another aspect of the matter is that when a 
farmer offers good.s on the home market the first 
question he^ is asked is, “.\re they home-raised? 
They wTll not buy anything but home-raised stuff. 
I used to think this was merely a local prejudice. 
but as I got into farming myself I understood it 
better. Fruits and vegetables and all kinds of farm 
produce, allowed to ripen and picked at the right 
time, are necessarily better in quality than when 
picked a little before ripening, as most shipped 
good.s must be, in order to stand tran.sit. As for 
poultry and eggs, the situation needs no. explanation. 
The system allows also of the cultivation of the finer 
varietie.s. as in the case of the Marshall .strawberry; 
the.se usually do not stand shiiunent. 
As for the profiteering end of the matter, you can 
have no idea of the infinite variety of things that 
are_^offered at the markets, all in open competition 
of farmer against farmer, so that a fair price is 
assured to the consumer, and a most peculiar a.spect 
of the matter is that the goods are offered at a 
slight advance above the Philadelphia wholesale 
price, instead of. as one might su])pose. at a figure 
under that ]U'ice. I never could reason this out for 
myself, I)ut figure that as it would cost something 
to bidng goods from there hero, the farmer is en¬ 
titled to that advance to cover cost of attending 
market, and the consumer gets the goods at a .slight 
advance over wholesale market price. On the other 
hand, in very .•<harp contrast with the prices made by 
These tiro rats were fed on the same kind of food ex¬ 
cept that the larger one had a small amount of huiter 
fat, while the other had sunflower oil instead. They are 
the .same age. Hce preceding page. 
dealers, their price is always set enough below the 
price at Philadelphia to cover the cost of tran.sport 
there and a profit to the middleman. 
I forgot to refer to one impoitant feature of the 
markets, and that is in regard to grading. Take 
potatoes, for instance; .vou have probably had the ex¬ 
perience of having to feed small potatoes to stock at 
some time. Nothing of that kind here; small pota¬ 
toes can be marketed at a fair price, not given away, 
because a farmer at market meets his customer di¬ 
rect, and many peoj)le jirefer a certain quantity of 
small potatoes for certain uses. I have a very wide 
acquaintance, and my fidends when they order their 
potatoes from me sometimes .say, “He sure to keep 
.some .small potatoes for me for salad,” or for some 
other jmrpose. l. rui’pin. 
Lancaster C’o., Pa. 
More of the Coal Dealer’s Dollar 
I AM a back-to-the-lander. and I read evex*y word 
of your good paper each week. I have also been 
a coal dealer for 24 years, and while we have done a 
good business we never seemed to get very rich 
The rat at the left received five per cent of cotton oil m 
its food, while the larger rat had one and one-half per 
cent of butter fat. Otherwise their food was the same, 
tdee preceding page. 
over it. It always seemed to me much le.ss than the 
farmer.s’ 85-cent dollar, and that is why Ave are noAV 
gi-owing flowers, vegetables, and ginseng and golden 
seal to piece out, so as to get the 85-cent dollar. So 
I was natural 1.V much interested in your article on 
page SOU. “The t’oal Dealer's Dollai’.” 
The Fuel Administration ties us all down pretty 
tight, and limits our i)rofit and requires us to take a 
license, and to report each month to the United 
States, to the State, and to the Uounty Fuel Admin¬ 
istrator. We have always handled some hard coal, 
and this year the Fuel Administrator has given us 
permission to distribute about half rations, and we 
haA^e had it ordered since March, but as Ave have 
never received any of it and never expect to, I 
cannot .give you any report on this. Hut Ave are 
still getting enough soft coal from Illinois and In¬ 
diana to sxii)plA’ nearly all of our trade, and here 
is how we get rich on it. According to Government 
re.gulations this coal in prepared .sizes costs us: 
.$2.65 at the mine; $1 per ton freight; 8c Avar tax; 
25c unload charge, used to be 7 cents; 7.5c hauling 
charge, used to be 25c; 16c per ton shrinkage aver¬ 
age the past year; I2c per ton actually paid out on 
repairs to office Avareroom, barn, sheds and equip¬ 
.Tuly 20, 1918 
ment; 14c per ton interest on monej^ invested; 1.5c 
per ton profit, as AA’e are now selling coal at .$5.25 
delivered into a man's ba.sement, and also hire a 
man’to moAv it back Avithout extra charge tq.the con¬ 
sumer. We*received al Avritten order this mornin,g 
from our County Fuel Administrator to meet him 
immediatei.A’ to show' cause whg this price should 
not be reduced to $5. Some one can have my job, 
and I will fry^to eke out'my existence on the back- 
to-the-lander's' .8.5c. dollar, a.s I am already .gettin.g 
half my living there. We are also a licensed avooI 
handler, and Ave are alloAved .$80 per ton for han¬ 
dling this, gross. I Avill not .go into detail on this, 
but the Avool Ave have so far actually handled has 
cost uS $44 per ton. We haA’e quit buA’ing avooI. 
Illinois. C. M. GRIFFIN. 
Cost of Wheat Growing 
AHMEH.S everyAvhere are trying to figure as ac- 
cui’atel.v as i)os.sible Avhat it costs to produce a 
bushel of AA'heat. We shall print, from time to time, 
a feAA' of these estimates, and AA'e iuA’ite discussion 
from farmer.s, in order to obtain a fair basis to Avork 
on. 
The farmers of Montgomery County, Maryland, 
make the folloxving estimate: 
COST OF PRODUCTION PER ACRE 
HloAAing . .$.5.00 
Preparing laud. 2.50 
Seeding Avith drill. ].s.5 
Seed AA’heat (1% bushels). ,8.90 
Fertilizer 4500 pounds i)er acre, at .$.86 per ton; 
one-half charged to Avheat crop) . 4.,50 
Hauling fertilizer from station.,50 
Cost of lime, applied once in four-year rotation 
(.$6 per acre charged to Avheat) . 1.50 
Cutting and shocking. 2.00 
Binding tAvine.,5() 
Hauling to barn. 1.50 
Thrashing. 2.40 
Marketing. 2.00 
Interest on land valued at $100 per acre. 6.(X) 
Insurance (fire) .i({ 
Taxes on laud. ’qg 
Interest and taxes on equipment. 2.50 
Total cost of production per acre.,$86.27 
In estimating the cost of production at .$1.80 per 
bushel, no charge Avas made for the time of OAVuer 
or manager, nor alloAvance for damage. 
COMPARED AVITII 40 YEARS AGO. 
A reader in NorAA’alk, Ohio, sends the following 
figures from his local paper. The editor says this 
statement comes from a practical farmer, AA’ho chal¬ 
lenges any farmer to dispute them: 
F01!TY YEARS AGO 
TAveut.v acres of land, valued at ,$50 per acre. 
Interest on above, at 6 per cent... .*. $60.00 
Ta.xes . (j.po 
Plowing (one man 10 days at .$2.50 per day) .,. 25.00 
Other AA’ork, dragging, etc. 25.00 
Seed Avheat, 40 bushels, at $1.25 per bushel. 50 00 
Heai)er (cost $1,50. lasts 1.5 .years) cost one year. 10.00 
Six men tAvo days to bind by baud (25 cents per 
^.day) . 1,5.00 
Five men one day to draAV it to market). 6.2,5 
Two teams one day to draAV ($1.25 per day) .. . 2.50 
Sixteen men, one-half day, to thrash it L$l-25 
day each) . 10.00 
YTeld 15 bushels per acre, or .800 bushels, cost 
three cents per bushel for thrashing. 9.00 
Total co.st.$218 7,5 
800 bushels Avheat at .$1 per bushel. ,800.00 
Net profit. ,$81.25 
Today 
Twenty acres of land, valued at $100 per acre, $2,000. 
Interest on above, at six per cent. 120.00 
Taxes . 18.00 
Plowing, one man, 10 daj’S at $6 per day . 60.00 
Other Avork. 60.00 
Seed Avheat, at .$2.50 i)er bushel. KKl.OO 
Fertilizer, tAvo tons at ,$.'50. 60.00 
Binding tAvine, 8 pounds to acre at 25 cents per 
pound ..^. 15.00 
Hinder (.$280, lasts 1.5 .years) cost one year.... IS.fJO 
ILvo men, tAvo days to cut, etc., .$5 per day. 20.00 
Five men, one day to draAv, $4 per day. 20.00 
Eight men, one-half day to thrash, .$4 per day... 16.00 
Tield 18 bushels per acre, or 860 bushels, cost 7 
cents ])er bushel for thrashing. 25.00 
Total cost ..,$582.66 
.'560 bushels, at $2.10 per bushel. 7,56.00 
Net profit ..$228.84 
Now, the man Avbo sends us this article says: 
I Avould be as much justified in saying that because I 
have hh’ed carpenters for 1.5 cents per hour, and recently 
paid 45 cents, the carpenter Avas making three times as 
much in net profit, Avhich .you and he knoAvs is not true 
on account of increased oA’erhead expenses, an item that 
is not considered in the article referred to. 
He is right. According to these figures, a bushel of 
Avheat 40 years ago cost about 70 cents to produce, 
AAliile this year the co.st is ,$1.49. W? doubt if the 
yield this year is any greater than 40 years ago. If, 
as Ave think, the yield is about the same, the cost per 
bushel Avould be $1.77,’Avhich is nearer the average. 
Even Avith this. Avhen ava^ consider the present heavy 
“overhead cost” of the farm and that the Avheat land 
must carry its shs^’e of this^ Avith the increased cost 
of Avhat farmer must buy, it is doubtful if the present 
farmer had more money left after paying bills than 
his father had from dollar Avheat. 
