1072 
RURAL. NEW-YORKER 
The Rural New-Yorker 
THE nrSlSESS EAE.VKR f! TAPER 
A National Weekly Journal I'or t'ountry and Suburban Ilnmen 
Eftabllshed /SfO 
Pnbibbrd weekly by the Rnral Fnbliiihine Company, 383 West 30lh Street. »w Tork 
IlKKBEBT W. CObt-rNGwooD. President and Editor. 
JoHK J. Dii.ix>n', Treararcr and General Manaprer. 
Wji. F. Dn-iOK, Secretary. Mns. E. T. Royle, Associate Editor. 
SUBSCRIPTION: ONE DOLLAR A YEAR 
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"A SQUARE PEAL’* 
"Wo believe that every advertisement in this paper is backed by a respon¬ 
sible jierson. We use every possible precaution and admit the advertising: of 
reliable houses only. But to make doubly sure, we will make jfood any loss 
to paid subwribers su^ained tnistincr any deliberate swindler, irrespon¬ 
sible adverti8ei*s or mislca<linpr advertisements in our columns, and anv 
such swindler will be publicly exposed. We aro also often called upon 
to adjust differences or mistakes between our subscribers and honest, 
responsible houses, whether advertisers or not. We willingly nso our j?ood 
offices to this end, but such cases should not be confused with dishonest 
transaction.s. We protect subscribers acrainst ro^rues. but wo will not bo 
responsible for the debts of honest bankrupts sanctioned bv the courts, 
Nonce of the complaint must be sent to us within one month of the time of 
the transaction, and to identify it, you should mention TnK RfiiAh Kew- 
^ ORKKU when writins: the advertiser. 
HEKE aro .*<01110 peojile wlio do not soom to 
realize what a troineiidous jiolitical quo.?tion 
jirohibitioii lias come to bo. On Aiigu.st the 
Tbiited State.*? Senate voted to make this a “bone- 
dry’’ nation ne.vt year. After .Tnly 1 of next year 
It .'shall be milawful to j;ell foi* beverage pm’pose.<< 
any di.stilled spirit.'^, and during «aid time no distilled 
spirits held in bond shall be removed therefrom for 
'beverage purposi'.s excejit for ex]iort. * * No 
grains, cereals, fruit or other food product shall be 
used in the nninufaeture or proiluctiou of beer, wine or 
other intoxicating malt or vinous liquor for beverage 
purposes. * * * After June 30. 1010, until the 
conclusion of the iiresent war and thereafter until the 
termination of demobilization, tlie date of whicli shall 
he determined and jiroclaimed by the I’resident of the 
1,'nited States, no beer, wine or other intoxicating malt 
or vinous liquor shall ho sold for beverage purposes ox- 
cei)t for export. 
This is to-last until the war is ended and the 
army is demobilized, hut no sen.siblo person ever ex- 
jieets that the liquor bnsines.s tvill ever come back. 
It was at first projiosed to make this ]»robil)ition 
immediate, but one year was given to enable manu- 
factnrers and dealers to close nj) their Im.siness and 
take care of their credits. Congress even goes be¬ 
yond this and gives Ihe President power to estah- 
lisli zones around mines or factories inside which 
no liquor can l>e sold. All tiiis would liavo .seemed 
im])os.sil)le five years ago. Yet it is only one evi¬ 
dence of file tremendons cliauges which this war is 
forcing n))on society. Tlie rumsiiop was never a 
necessity, litit nlwiiys a nuisance, and Id years 
hence Ave .shall all he wondering why wo ever .stood 
for it so hmg. 
» 
T AM building a new barn. 1 aske<l the contractor 
why he hired ;i man to help him in carpenter work 
Avith no hand on his right arm. lie .said, “Because of 
his judgment: Jiin head and left hand are ivorth more, 
to me than the arerat/e man, with hath hands.” That 
is .so Avitli me. I Avould jump at the chauce of puttiug 
this farm into the hands of some of the young men I 
know Avheu they return from the Avar, even if they had 
lost one hand or leg in battle for onr country. 
G. r, s. 
Y Ol"^ will find many farmers Avho feel the same 
Avay. They realize that many of onr hoys in 
Enrojie are studying a uoav type of farming. Land 
is im.shed to tlie limit of iirodnction, and these boys 
.are learning hoAV. TIio.a' are also acquiring a stern 
character and liard diseiiiline AA’hieh Avill make 
strong men of them. When the.y come hack most of 
ihem will look for a iiiece of land, and they are 
likely to sIioaa^ ns a now kind of farming. AAdiicli Avill 
niiike both the farmer and the farm stand higher 
than ever before. In the past farming has been too 
much of a contest betAveon muscle and brute force. 
In the future it will he more of a trial of brains 
and .skill. 
t’fi 
T he United States Treasury Department states 
that over tAventy million people in this country 
liave become bondholders. That number of Ameri¬ 
cans have tluis far bought Liberty bonds. The 
amounts held by these bondholders run all the way 
from $50 up, and the great majority of them are of 
the smaller amounts. The loans thus far have been 
over-subscribed by more than one billion dollars, 
and interest has been paid on them promptly and 
thus put hack into circulation. The fourth Lib¬ 
erty loan campaign Avill hogiu on September 28, and 
a great effort Avill he made to dispose of another lai'ge 
issue of these bonds. There can be no question about 
the way these bond issues are affecting the life of 
cur people. Thon.sands of people who never before 
made any great effort to save money haA'e been, dur¬ 
ing the Summer, denying themselves- in little ex¬ 
penses here and there in oi’der that they may accu¬ 
mulate the money needed to buy another bond. This 
haliit of saving Avill become fixed, and it will be 
greatly to the advantage of the American people as a 
whole. Not only is this true, hut the purchase of. 
these bonds has given hundreds of thon.sands of onr 
citizens a new idea of their government and their 
pev.^onal share in its responsibilities. Nothing can 
be better for the future than to have the pulfiic debt 
of this nation owned and controlled by millions of 
plain peojfio, each Avitli a comparatiA^ely small amount 
inA’ested in these bonds. It has been well said that 
the future of this nation will belong to its creditors. 
That is probably tmer now than of ,ony other time 
in onr history, and in the future thi.s country is go¬ 
ing to belong to the big financial interests or to the 
plain people, very much as they uoav take hold of 
the ju’ojAosition and handle these bond i.ssnes. Let no 
one say that hecan.se they can only .accnmnlate $2.5 
or $50 their hnmble offering Avill he of no nso to 
the country. It is .just that kind of an offering that 
the nation needs, and avo may well make an effort to 
saA’e Avhat we can so as to put onr savings into those 
goA’crnment securities. 
* 
M ore cover crops haA-e hoeii started this Fall 
than ever before. Farmers see the adA’antage 
of making the land produce its oaa'ii manure, by 
growing a green crop Avhen it would otherAvise he 
idle. Yon AA-ant to realize, though, that a maiuirial 
crop, ))loAA'ed into the groniid, is ne\'ei’ quite ecpnil to 
manure. The latter contains certain haeteri.-i Avhich 
work to break up organic matter in the soil. That 
is Avhy a small jimonut of good manure ])lowed un¬ 
der along with the coA'or cro]) AA’ill .alAA’ays giA-e 
great results. This light coat of manure Iirings in 
the bacteria AA'hich A\'ork through the cov’er crop 
and hel]) make it into plant food. Rye is a good 
coA'cr croii, as it makes a lieaA’y groAvth to he turned 
under, hut unless it is handled just right the rye 
does 'not decay fast enough to make actiA’e pl.ant 
food. A light coat of manure plowed in Avith it 
Avill (inickon n]> decay and make a great difference 
in the folloAving croj). 
T he onilook for jlie labor situation next year is 
h.-ul. The new draft Avill cut us both Avays— 
by Liking more of our l.-ihor and forcing the other 
industries to hid higher than OAmr for our farm 
hands. Most of ns must change onr jtliins to meet 
war_condition.s. In our oaa’h case avo plan to seed 
rye or Avhoat on every acre of hai'o land tliis year. 
If, next Spring, Ave can obtain suitable labor, these 
crops can he itlowed under for gri'cn manure. If 
labor is impossible, avo can let the rye and wheat 
mature and saA-e the grain and straAv. Tliousands 
of fruit and truck farmers AVoiild do Avell to follow 
this jtlaii, and thus he lUA'ii.-ired for next year. 
* 
W E believe this country must face anotiier fuel 
shortage next Winter. It does not seem 
possible that there oA’or can he another Winter as 
savage as the last one, hut Avith i)resent transporta¬ 
tion there cannot he a full distribution of coal. If 
Ave have anything like last year’s Aveather, many 
of us who live in the country must ex])eet to ilepeml 
largely on Avood for fuel. In onr own case Ave know 
that last Winter AA’e spent too much fuel trying to 
heat \ip the “universe.” There Avero cracks around 
doors and AvindoAA's, and places Avhei’o the cold air 
Avorked in under the house. We estimate that on 
the coldest days at least 20 per cent of the fuel 
was Avasted in trying to overcome the effect of this 
leakage. Other farmhouses are as had as ours, and 
a good share of the fuel consumed in the lionsehold 
fires Avill be wasted. We shall all make more money 
plugging up these cracks than Ave ever can by crit¬ 
icizing the coal distribution, and it is time to start 
UOAV. 
S UNDAY, September 1, Avas a notable day in our 
section. Usually on such a bright Sunday 
there will bo hundreds of cars rushing along the 
road in front of the farm, jhese travelers are not 
going anywhere in particular, but just Avaudering 
about for the joy of “going.” On Se]itomber 1 the 
roads in our country were nearly as still as the 
path in a back pasture. Not half a dozen cars Avent 
by. In several ca.ses men avIio oavh beautiful cars 
and have sold their driving horses hitched up the 
slow farm team to carry them to church. There 
Avas no laAV or “regulation” or commaud about it. 
President Wilson .simply asked tlie people not to 
use gasoline for mere pleasure driving, but to save 
it for Avork or war. Put the price of a pleasure trip 
into a tank that it may help smash the German 
line. The way our people responded to tliis idea 
was great. The Kaiser and his Avar lords figured 
that there can he no spirit of national .service or 
personal sacrifice in a rejnihlic. They think a re- 
jivihlic is like a bundle of sticks, loosely thrown to¬ 
Septeraber 14, 101 s 
gether, without solid cohesion or foundation. They 
begin to know better, .and that knowledge, sunk 
into their hearts, will do n.s much a.s .shot and shell 
to break down “the iron walls of Germany.” 8ucii 
things as this abstaining from pleasure in order to 
save gasoline for a truck or a tank are great, he- 
canse they indicate personal sacrifice, without 
Avliich we cannot win the war or make a ]ieae(‘ 
AA'ortli having. 
P RESIDENT WILSON has now set the price of 
wheat at a minimum price of .$2.20 per bnslipl. 
That is for Western interior markets, the price in 
New York reacliliig .a little under $2.40. The Presi¬ 
dent practically admits that he does not 7.-»oir 
whether this price will leave a margin of profit 
oA’cr cost or not. Tie thinks it will, Imt he promises 
to appoint .a commission next year to find out just 
Avhat a bushel of Avheat actually costs to pi'oducc. 
That Is AA’oll enough as far as it goes, provided aa-c 
have SI fair commission. The majority should lie 
farmers; not paper farmers, hut actual farmers, 
who know Avhat work is. As the Avork of Ihis 
commission will he to find the cost of Avheat, Ave do 
not SCO wliy haAA'ycrs or doctors or professional men 
are needed on it. Give us for once an actual farm¬ 
ers’ commission to deal Avith an actual farm sub¬ 
ject. We think our farmers ought to start right 
now and begin to suggest suitable men to determine 
this cost of AA’heat. Pre.sident Wilson’s chief worry 
oA'er the wheat situation is that peace might find 
Ibis government with <a losing contract on it.s hands. 
If AA'e guaranteed .a minimum price of $2.50 and 
then peace suddenly came, the wheat stored np in 
other countries would ho rushed to market .-ind Eu¬ 
rope Avould buy it at less than the govei’iimont had 
agreed to pay. The President states that such an 
ontcoine would moan a loss to the government of 
half a billion dollars. But, would it he a loss? The 
money Avonld he distributed among the farmers, 
and it would all come hack into circulation for hus- 
iiicss or investment. It would stai't up and impi'ovo 
farming in many .sections now going hack, ami 
Avnuld increase tlie crop so that the government 
could store np .a big surplus of grain again.st the 
future. As a nation.al iin'cstment, tlie guarantee 
of .$2.50 for wheat would pay groat returns, and aa’o 
think President Wilson has not been fully advised 
in this matter. At any rate, lot ns make sure that 
this iiGAV commission is composed of farmers or 
fi'iends of farming. 
" r.( 
A new typo of pioneer life is mentioned in the 
second “Back To The Hills’’ article thi.s week. 
It AA'onld seem that several things aro desiralile or 
e.s.sential if these unoccujiicd hill farms are to lx* 
redeemed. The farmer must haA’e a reasonable 
amount of capital, and strength and staying poAver 
of a high oi'dei*. He must undersland farming and 
have a good-sized family to provide labor and 
“society.” Also that family must carry the true 
pioneer spirit, Avhieh includes a cheerful Avilliiigness 
to work and save and emluri'. Givmi these things, 
we believe a family can make a good home on some 
of these hill farms—pros)ier and do a great service 
to the 8tate. Without these things wo doubt frankly 
their ability to make the plan AA'ork out. Ncav York 
State does not need any more discouraged and 
broken farm home.s. We have enough of them uoav. 
Yet one of the supreme needs of the lionr is tlu‘ 
deA'elopment of these hill farms and the repopnlating 
of country eommunitie.s. That is why we are giving 
.space to this hill farm proposition. It is in no way 
a campaign to help people unload a farm upon a 
“hack-to-the-laiidor” hut it is a genuine effort to tell 
the truth about these hill farms .and their surround- 
ing.s. That truth can only he obtained from those 
who have lived in the “hill country.” Therefore avo 
call for experiiaice—particularly from those Avho 
have made the struggle to redeem a farm. 
Brevities 
Now comes silo filling. 
Wiiicu is it—honchoud or brain head? 
The man who gets up in the morning Avith Lis Avork 
calculated for the day has got it jiartly done. 
Ir is said that a sure-footixl man is one Avho never 
misses Avhen lie kicks. 
'I’oo much of the soft corn last year Avas due to a 
lack of jihosplmtes. Available phosphorus used witli 
the manure will quicken maturity ami harden the corn. 
A xi'-AiUKK of readers aro reporting quite a second 
groAVth on potatoes. The vines apparently, stopped 
growing, but now the tubers start in to make new 
groAvth or "prongs.” 
