Xshe RURAL. NEW-YORKER 
1073 
The New York State Primaries 
A larger vote tliau usual was polled in llio primary 
election, especially in some rural counties. Most, 
people who had studied the situation cai’efully knew 
about how the election would result, although there 
were surprises in the size of the majorities. For the 
Democratic ticket Alfred E, Smith was nominated 
hy a large majority over William Church Oshorn. 
The Democratic vote was very light except in New 
York City and Mr. Oshorn earrie<l seven of the rural 
counties. On the Tlepuhlican ticket Oov. C. S. Whit¬ 
man was renominated over ^lerton E. Lewis hy about 
170.fH)0 majority. Mr. Lewis carried only one 
county, Albany, and his .showing in the primary was 
a disappointment to those who did not consider the 
remarkable conditions this w'ar has brought into 
public life. Thousands of voters are now in the 
army, and thousands of women voted for tin* first 
time. ]\Iany citizens fail to realize that many of the 
old party issues have given way to prohilntion. suf¬ 
frage, and a general feeling that the war must be 
pushed through to a finish. IVIr. Lewis was unfor¬ 
tunate to get on the wrong side of popular feeling 
regarding prohibition and suffrage. Tie was also 
unfortunate in joining issues with mmi lik(‘ iNlr. 
Rarnes of Albany and Senator Drown of .lefferson. 
This enabled the clever iioliticians back of Cov. 
Whitman to shift the issue away from the weak 
points of the present administration. If some 
strong man of high character long identified with 
farming could have made a constmetive ctinvass 
based on the agricultural record of the administra¬ 
tion we think he could have been nominated. 
In the Legislature many changes will be made, 
i^enators P.i’own, Emerson and Wicks are out. !\rr. 
Drown saw the storm coming and retired. Emerson 
and Wicks stood up against it and were blown down. 
.Many other old-timers in both Senate and .Vssembly 
were defeated, and there will be many new faces. 
We are miable to t(dl as we go to press just how 
many farmers were nominated. Tn some cases they 
were on an independent ticket and the returns were 
not all in. Next we(‘k we shall have the complete 
list. One feature of the primary was the nomina¬ 
tion of IG women—eight of them stand a goo<l 
chance of election to the Legislature. 
Western New York Notes 
The first car of apples from Orleans County was 
forwarded recently by .Assemblyman Frank IT. Laftin 
from bis Yellow Transitarent orchard in Caines. lie 
harvested GOO bushels from I.“0 12-year-old trees. Afr. 
Lattiu, who has served as one of the judges of fruit at 
the State Fair for the past three years, has again been 
chosen to serve in that capacity. 
At Fairport the farinendtes are rmishiug up tin; 
beau harvest for the preserving companies, and their 
work for the season has been ino.st satisfactory. .Vs in 
other places there is a dennand for the return of I lie 
girls next season. .Vt Sodns the girls engaged in the 
cherry harvest on the S4)dns Fruit Farm and allied 
properties harvested the astonisliing total of slightly <wer 
two hundred tons of cherrie.s. 
Plans are nearing coniphdion for the consolidation of 
the Western New York Horticultural Koeiety and the 
New York State Fruit Crowers’ .Vssociation. They will 
merge next .Tannary. \ me<>ting of tin; consolidating 
societies will be Indd in the third week of next .Tannary 
at Dochester, where tin' report of the joint committee 
will he presented and a(-tion will he taki'ii. The West¬ 
ern New York Ibnticnllnral Society will have been 
sixty-four years in existenee in 1010. Tt, is n jiioneer 
among the horticultural societies of this country, and 
is the oldest in New YTu-k State. It was organized in 
Rochester, and among the first members were the late 
Patrick Barry and George Ellwanger of Rochester; 
J. T. Thomas of Alacedon; Charles Downing of New- 
bui'gh, and S. D. AVillard of Genova. At one time its 
membership nnmhered 1,700. The New York State 
Fruit Growers’ .Association is an offshoot of the old 
society. It was formed about 10 years ago. Tolm Hall 
■will have been secretary of the Western New York 
Society for .‘50 years. The late W. C. Barry up to the 
time of his death had been president f6r 25 years. 
Seth T. T. Bush of Morton is the president of the 
AV'esrern Now York Society, and AVillis P. Rogers of 
Williamson is at the head of the State association. 
The preparations for the .Tannary meeting have been 
placed in the hands of the two secretaries, .Tohu Hall 
of Rochester and Edward 0. GUlett of Penn Yan. The 
former has charge of securing speakers, and the latter 
will supervise the exhibits, which are expected to he 
unusually numerous. 
Farm bureau managej'S are compiling lists of thrash¬ 
ers in their districts for the purpose of obtaining com¬ 
plete Statistics on the amount of grain pro<lneed this 
season. Monthly reports must he made by the thrashers 
as to the amount of wheat they thrash, while reports 
on other cereals rau.st he sent in at the close of the 
season. .All growers doing their own thrashing are 
rerpiired t<> also make out reports on the grain thrashed. 
In W^ayne County the turnip seed is all thrasheil 
and cleaned, and shows a total of about one hundred 
tlionsand pounds, a greater amount probably than has 
been raised in any similar area in the United States. 
Its value may be imagined when it is stated that a 
valuation of .'?.T.OOO was put on one wagonload forwarded 
recently from Sodus Center by George A. Negus. 
L’uI)He curb markets have been opened at Lockport 
and Fulton, and from the successes of these ventures it 
is believed that other efforts will he made. The market 
idea is being encouraged by officials of the Federal 
Food Administration, as it offers the consumer an op- 
liortnnity to purchase direct froni the farmer and thus 
effect greater economy, while the grower obtains better 
prices than through the middleman. Each Saturday 
will he market day until ci)ld weather sets in. Then 
pos.sihly arrangements will he made for continning the 
market through much of the year. .\. u. P. 
The New York Grange Exchange 
.vt the f^eptemher meeting of Cortland County Po¬ 
mona Grange, W. L. Bean, treasurer of the New York 
i^tate Grange, ami a director and stockholder of the 
new State Grange E.xcliange, organized last AViuter, 
gave a very full account of the later developments in 
the affairs of the new organization. The headquarters 
iire to he in Syracuse, and the man finally chosen as the 
business manager is Richard Hall of Chautauqua 
County. Tlie directors helievt; him to be well fitted 
for his important position. The choice was finally given 
to him on a last test, when the candidates for the posi¬ 
tion were asked to outline their ideas of a plan of operat¬ 
ing the exchange. Mr. Hairs plan seemed most prac- 
ticiil, and, coupled with his agricultural experience and 
good business education, it led to his election. 
AMieu the exchange was organized last AA’iuter it 
was capitalized at .'?!00.000, all of the directors taking 
shares. This forms a start on which to begin business, 
but the scope of the organization is State-wide, with 
.‘ilmost unlimited possi1)ilities. The dii’cctors wish 
every farmer member of New A'ork Subordinate Granges 
to take out one or more shares at .flO each, not only 
to furnish caiiital to broaden out the business with, 
hut to insure the persoiml interest of the farmers. They 
want the farmers to see that the exchange exists to 
serve their Interests both in buying all sorts of supplies, 
and in selling their produce. 
Air. Beau said that this work of selling shares is 
going on so rapidly that this week lie listened to the 
reading aloud of a list of buyers of stock, most of 
them farmers who took from one to five shares, the 
list requiring an hour to ri'ad. Alany Granges are 
buying shares as organizations, hut individual owner¬ 
ship of shares is preferred, as that leaves the treasuries 
intact and insures the interest of the farmers. He said 
there was no organization so complete anywhere today 
as that of the Grange, wirli its National Grange, its 
State Grange, and esi»eoially New York, with over 700 
Granges, and over 120.000 members of Subordinate 
Granges, which are gronjieil in County Pomona Granges. 
.Vll that tin* Grange lacks today to make it the most 
solidly pcrfecti'd organization (fither to buy or sell (and 
many Grangt‘s already have purchasing agents) is In¬ 
terested meinhers. If each owns a share in this new 
exchange he will he interestt'fl, and the work will thrive. 
Great savings are not expecOal at first, as the business 
must start in a small way. Neither do they expect to 
handle big lots of prcdnce the first year, as the organiza¬ 
tion must In; perfected as it goes along, and they must 
learn hy dning. 
He showed how most manufacturers .spend 40 per* 
cent of the retail price of their goods to advertise them, 
.so that they get onto the market. Alillers and mauu- 
faetnrers like to sell to big organizations like this, as 
it save.s advertising, and the buyer gets the benefit. He 
told of a certain sowing machine that is a perfectly 
good machine, retailing for .fT.T. Through the Grange 
it is bought for .$22.50. 
Cortland County Pomona Grange bought three shares, 
and will recommend Subordinate Granges of the county 
to buy individually. Prof. 11. H. Wing of Cornell 
University is president of the new association, and 
W. N. Giles of Skaueateles secretary. Branch offices 
w'ill be established about the State as the hnsiuoss 
grows, and varion.s bureaus will be established, one 
especially to handle complaints against transportation 
companies, losses, etc.; another for markets and others 
:is needed. Tt would seem that at last the Grange had 
the right idea for co-operation among farmers. Let all 
concerned do their hit to carry it out succc-ssfully and 
help to cut out the multitudinous middlemen’s profits 
that now got the farmers both going and coming. 
0. F. 
Bean Crop in the Genesee Valley 
The writer, in company with Mr. Fitch Af. Davis, 
president of the State Beau Growers’ As.sociation, made 
the trip up through the Genesee Valley to attend the 
Farm Bureau meeting at Fillmore, Allegany Co., Ang. 
.‘1, by auto. This afforded an opportunity to study the 
condition of the beau crop, which presents a very 
“spotted” appearance at best. This section of the 
State is noted for its large production of beams, but 
conditions this year have been rather discouraging on 
the whole to the growei*. The good and profitable fields 
of beans seen on this trip were those that had evidently 
been planted early, the last week in Alay or the first 
few days in .Tune. These were now being harvested, 
and made ;i good showing as to quantity and quality, 
one field in particular iK'iug good for a yield of 25 to 
“0 bmshels to the acre. Again, there were hundreds of 
acres of later planting that, while showing a heavy 
growth of vines were innocent of pods, because of a 
root ti’onble, caused by a soil condition which resulted 
after heavy rains which occurred before the beau plants 
had sliowii themselves ab'jve the surface of the ground. 
Fields in this condition are in evidence all through the 
bean-growing section. Our scientists attribute this oon- 
ilition to the disease called “mosaic,” wliich has 1 k'- 
come very prevalent and destructive, hut there are 
farms where the same seed was planted at different 
dates, and where tho.se which were plant('d .so tliat 
they came np quickly and attained a growth of two 
or three inches above ground before heavy rains .-in' 
showing a good crop of sound beans, while the same; 
seed planted and subjected to the heavy rains hefon* 
they came through the ground have this root difficulty, 
and are producing nothing hut leaves and blossoms. 
In looking back over a long series of years as a bean 
grower, and noting the ups and downs of the game, 1 
:im forced to conclude that tlicre is no crop that wt* 
raise that is so susceptible to changes in weather con¬ 
ditions as is the bean crop. When the soil and weather 
are right the crop comes np qniciJiy and gives good 
returns, and this point I wish to emphasize—that this 
condition as often occurs the last week in Alay as it 
does the last week in .Tune; in other words, if we knew 
just what the weather was going to do we could plant 
at any time between these dates and he sure of a good 
crop. _ As we are not likely to get this direct informa¬ 
tion, if wo continue to raise beans we must take our 
fdiances as in the past, and hy careful .seed selection I 
believe the bean crop will still he a source of profitable 
income to the AVestorn New York grower. ir. k. c. 
Girl Help at Farming 
The Business Alen’s Assnciati<ni of this place pa.ssed 
a resolution just before harvesting that no farmer’s crops 
should suffer for want of heli>, even if they had to go 
themselves. The business men did help out in some 
case.s, and one of our ministers actually turned in and 
pitched hay. Tn most cases it was the clerks or em¬ 
ployees who helped. I did not employ any of these 
men myself, as our farm is largely in fruit, and the 
fruit season had not begun, hut h'om Avhat I can learn 
a number of farmers would have had no help at all in 
harvest had they not obtained this help. I know of 
one man who paid .$d a day and board to hoys fr«nn 
town in harvesting barley and oats. There is no ques¬ 
tion hut what our business men would he good help, as 
two-thirds of tliem were once farmer hoys themselves, 
and would know how to go at a job. 
As things look now, considering this new draft law. 
there is no question hut what we will liave to <lei)en(l 
upon those college girls to help out with the frnii 
another year. This year our fruit crop was entirely 
wiped out l)y hail Al.ay 25, and consequently will need 
no help. Whether these girls will turn in and helj) 
pick apples is a question. They could do it all right on 
the young trees, hut to climb a 20-foot ladder would he 
another proposition. Even if they did no more than 
pick the lower limbs they would be worth something. 
With this new conscription law in effect, when another 
year rolls around it may mean girl help or no help 
at all. w. .\. n. 
Interlaken, N. Y. 
R. N.-Y.—On our own fann the favmcrette.s pick from 
ladders np to 20 or 25 feet above the gi’onnd, and do 
good work. 
Farmers* Wives* Sugar 
xVt the September meeting of Cortland County Po¬ 
mona Grange the fact was brought out that the two- 
pound sugar snpi)lies hit the farm cooks heaviest, 
especially during thrashing and silo filling, when they 
have to furnish meals for days at a time for a dozen 
to 20 hungry, hearty men. One farmer’s wife told of 
furnishing .30 meals a day for three days in succession, 
and of her gratitmlo for the speci.'il recognition of her 
needs when her county food administrator announced 
that he would make a special allow.-ince to the farmer’s 
wife_ for thrashing and silo filling. By simply signing 
a slip of paper acknowledging it she is grven a pound 
a day extra for as many days ;is she has to feed such 
help, over and above the regular allowance. This, of 
course, is not much, and in this case just served to keej) 
the sugar howls filled. But it helped a lot. Other 
neighbor women who did not know of the new regula¬ 
tion did not put on any sng.u* howls. 
The women of the Grange were glad to learn of this, 
and hastened to avail themselves of the opportunity 
and to i)ass the information along. The question was 
brought np as to whether sugar used to sweeten apple 
saiice for daily use, e.s])ecially tAn- thrashing and silo 
filling help, can he regarded as canning sugar. One 
woman said she know of this question’s being put be¬ 
fore the county food administrator, and at fir.st he 
emphatically said no. But on further thought and the 
suggestion of his own wife that it was conserving the 
apples, or putting them to best nst', and that some sugar 
at least was required to use them, though corn syrup 
ns part of the sweetener makes a palatable food, he 
decided that canning sugar could he used for this pur¬ 
pose. Berries and other fresh fruits can be sweetened 
with syrups, but apples are a different propo.sition. 
r. 
Trouble Over Sale of Rye 
On page 1021 yon print a question hy C. W. N. in 
regard to the rye situation, and in yoiir answer you 
state that the government restrictions have been re¬ 
moved, that the millers may grind and .sell rye and 
its products as they see fit;, that it may be used for 
feeding live stock as desire<l or sold. Are you sure that 
yon are right? Here in South .Jersey the millers ai-e 
not allowed to grind rye for feeding purposes. I was 
talking with a miller only yesterday, and he said they 
were not allowed to grind it for stock; that he was 
only in the market for a limited amount, to .sell to 
farmers for seed, which is the only way we can sell 
onr rye, except through the food authorities. What 
they will allow ns we do not know. For seed it is sell¬ 
ing for .$2 per bushel here. We also understand that 
we are not allowed to feed the gr.aiTi Avholc or without 
grinding. j. k. 
New Jersey. 
R. N.-Y.—The statements made on page 1024 are 
based upon information given ns hy officers of the 
TL S. Grain Gorporation in New York. A’'ou can take 
this ease np direct with the Grain Administrators in 
New York or Philadelphia. As was stated, the local 
administrator can use his judgment to some extent in 
making their rulings. AVe do not think the grain ad¬ 
ministration would uphold such a ruling as you quote. 
We believe there are cases where the miller does not 
want to handle the rye, or has not found out what his 
rights are. The. Grain .Administrator iu New York 
(42 Broadway) will settle it for you. 
V 
