Oic RURAL NEW-YORKER 
1243 
The Fixed Price of Milk 
Tho writer is a retired farmer, and a subscriber to 
Tuk Iv. N.-Y., still interested in the welfare of the 
farmer. In The R. N.-Y., page 11(!7. you print the 
milk schedule for October. Will you explain how the 
reduction to the farmer of Sc per 100 lbs. and the 
increa.se of per qt. to the consumer is going to 
help either party, and how it can be of any assistance 
in wunning the war? Mr. Hoover’s mandate will cer¬ 
tainly reduce the farmer’s cash to buy bonds, i.. a. b. 
We certainly cannot explain how a decrease in 
the price of milk to the farmer and an increa.se to 
the consumer is going to help either of them finan¬ 
cially. Neither can we explain how this price-fixing 
can help win the "war. From the start we felt that 
the fixing of prices of farm food products was a 
danger to the country and unjust to the farmer. As 
the war work developed we have seen no reason to 
change our original conviction. So far, the patriot¬ 
ism and devotion of the farmer have overcome the 
danger of price-fixing by the Government and profit¬ 
eering by the middlemen. Farmers have worked late 
and early to keep up the volume of production, and 
in many instances weather conditions have helped, 
but few faimiers and probably no dairymen have 
received the money reward for their services that the 
same labor and talent would bring in other indus¬ 
tries. 
I.ast year we thought the executive committee of 
the Ilairymen's League made a mistake when it stu‘- 
rendered its function to set a price for the milk of 
its members to the Federal Milk Commission. We 
said so. but the men who disputed us then are now 
scolding the Federal Food Administration for doing 
the things we then said it would do. MHiile the 
milk trust made prices there was no demand for a 
pirice committee. Such a committee was not de¬ 
manded until it was found that the farmers could 
enforce their own price. During the big fight they 
failed in the attempt, but the agreement later to 
accept whatever price the Federal Milk Commission 
made established the precedent for the 
present assumption of authority to 
make prices. 
the country. For many years that honor has gone 
to Lancaster Co.. Pa., on the basis of high-class 
farming and value of farm output. Now Monmouth 
County is after the honor, and Lancaster will know' 
there has been a contest. A glance at the map W'ill 
show the superior location of ^ronmouth County— 
close to great markets and easy of access. The soil 
is quick and strong, the land is level and easily cul¬ 
tivated, and farmei’s have formed the habit of using 
fertilizer freely. To these advantages may be added 
the spirit of organized effort and po.ssibility of co¬ 
operation. This last Summer has seen a great “get 
together’’ of potato growers. A study of the demand 
for grading .started it, and out of that grew' a desire 
for further information regarding plant diseases and 
fertilizers. Several new plant troubles appeared, and 
in that quick soil the potash problem becomes very 
urgent. So the potato men ox'ganized to work out 
these questions. They have arrangeil for a great 
fertilizer test next year under charge of the Depart¬ 
ment of Agriculture. They are also alive to the 
seed que.stion, and they ai*e after pure .seed, whether 
from the North or “second crop” from the southern 
part of the State. During the Summer a series of 
Sunday afternoon potato meetings were held. These 
farmers have also organized in a business way for 
the sale of produce and the purchase of farm sup¬ 
plies. So ^Monmouth Co., N. ,T., is starting on its 
campaign for farm honors in the i-ight way—laying 
the foundation .solidly and well. It Avill be W'ell to 
keep an eye on Monmouth County. A few energetic 
and per.sistcnt men are organizing the county, and 
their work will tell. 
.ago he, in a small way, began to let his neighbors pick 
for their owm use, they paying him a certain amount per 
quart. This worked out so well that he has gradually 
extended the privilege until now farmers from a dis¬ 
tance of 10 or more miles get their strawbenues from 
his plantation. The telephone is a considerable factor 
in this work. For a year or two Mr. Cutting placed 
an advertisement in the local paper, giving the prices 
that be would charge per (piart. and calling for buyers. 
The last two years thi.s has not been at all necessary, as 
he has sold his entire crop this year at 10 cent.s. last 
year at eight cents a quart, by means of the telephone. 
In fact, .so many people h.ave wanted to pick this-year 
that he has not been able to sup'ply berries to all. 
His .scheme has been to list those who -wi.sh to pick 
fruit and call them up by ’phone, giving the days on 
which they could pick. He says this scheme has worked 
out so that he never has had fruit spoil on the vines. If 
the picking day should be wet, the next day double the 
number of pickers would put in an appearance and .soon 
clean up the bed. He is fortunate in that most of hi.s 
pickers are from farms or people who are more or less 
familiar with the handling of fruits and vegetables, 
consequently very little damage is done to the vines, 
and, as he says, the fruit is picked cleaner than the or¬ 
dinary paid picker would do. 
The varieties used are Senator Dunlap, Warfield and 
Minnesota No. 3. He has set out near his .strawberry 
field a planting of the Carrie gooseberry. Last year he 
picked in the same manner as the strawberries 1,000 
quarts at eight cents a quart. This year the yield was 
not quite as good, but he picked about 800 quarts at 10 
cent.s a quart. This is from a little over 400 plants. 
The gooseberries are planted near the strawberry field 
as an advertisement. His pickers frequently wish goose¬ 
berries at the same time they are picking strawberries, 
and his entire yield was ea.sily disposed of to the same 
people. 
There might be some more difficulty in administering 
this system near a large town, as there woxild be calls for 
very small quantities, which would, of course, be a nui¬ 
sance. In this country community the pickers desire a 
crate or more at a time. Consequently the Avork is more 
on the order of wholesaling than retailing and much 
pleasanter to handle. Altogether the .syetem has proven 
entirely sati.sfactory to Mr. Cutting from every point of 
vieAv. w. F. 
Minnesota. 
Army Trucks and Use After the War 
Some idea of the magnitude of America’s effort again.st 
Germany is shoAvn by the display of one firm’s shipment 
of army trucks. These will be .sent overseas to help 
carry on against the Kaiser. One cannot help but think 
aboiit the bearing of the truck on agriculture after the 
High-Priced Public Food 
The R. N.-Y. has often stated that 
at least 2.000,000 people in this great 
city eat at least one meal each day at 
a public table. As this is five times as 
great as the entire population of Ver¬ 
mont. or e(inal to the combined popula¬ 
tion of Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, Ne- 
A’ada, Utah. Arizona, Ncav Mexico and 
most of Colorado, it is hard for the 
person Avho has never been in a great 
city to realize Avhat it mean.s. I’liis 
restaurant life is responsible for a 
great margin between the farmer's 
price for food and Avhat the consumer 
linally pays. There are at least 
people here Avbo pay 40 cents or 
one million 
more for a 
qnai't of milk, and prices for other kinds of food arc 
even highei-. The rules of the Food Administration 
have given some of the restiiuriuit or hotel men a 
chance to put up prices and cut down the size of the 
/ 
portion. One company runs a string of restanriint.s, 
and as a result of the last ruling printed the folloAA'- 
ing on its bill of fare: 
“New regulations by tife United States Food Adminis¬ 
tration require bread and butter be served only on re- 
<iuest. Henceforth a charge of five cents Avill be made 
for bread and butter service.” 
***** 
The company, according to figures it has _submitted 
to the Food Administration, .serves about .52,000,(M)() 
meals annually. It is estimated that the neAV charge for 
bread and butter Avill net the company more than .$2,- 
000.000 every year. 
These restaurants serve two pieces of bread to a por¬ 
tion. If they serve the maximum of two ounces. ))er- 
mitted under the neAV food regulations, they Avill still 
be obtaining 40 cents for a loaf of bread, the Avholesale 
j)rice of which even to small^stores is no more than 
eight cent.s, Avhile it is believe(rthe restaurant hujAS the 
bread for even less. 
This is right in line Avith Avhat other restaurants 
are doing. At one place Avhere Ave recently bad a 
meal the charge foi- tAVO thin slices of bread Avas 10 
cents, and for a lai'ge spoonful of bread ])udding— 
made from bread scraps and milk—20 cents! 
The feature of all this is that the farmer is accused 
of holding the public up by charging high prices for 
all sorts of food. When this restaurant charges 40 
cents for a loaf of bread the farmer secures 2i/j cents 
for the AA'heat out of Avhieh that bread Avas made. 
He receives less than that, because the substitutes 
used bring him less money than the Avheat. That 
makes Avhat Ave call a six-cent dollar. 
Army Trucks Made h]/ One Concern 
war. The truck will then come into its own. and all 
indications ppint to a paralleling of the popularity of 
the truck with that of the automobile. Hor.seffesh has 
other Avork to perform than comiieting Avith the truck in 
market hauls of a heavily producing farm. 
Here is the story of Frederick W. Reckling, a truck 
gardener, who is most enthusiastic over the truck: 
’’Manure fertilizer is Avorth .$8 a ton, right in the barn¬ 
yard, to say nothing about cartage, and every time I go 
to market I take back from the city Avith me from two 
to two and pne-half tons of fertilizer, AVorth from .$10 
to .$20. The fertilizer has made my farm extremely 
productive and Avorth very much more as an invest¬ 
ment. With horses I could not keep my farm fertil¬ 
ized. for the animals Avould be too tired to carry back a 
heavy load of fertilizer, and I might he too_ tired to 
bother myself, making the entire trip about five hours 
longer. 
“Suppose I Avere still driving to market with a team. 
It Avould take two hours longer to get to marked. For 
putting tAvo horses in n stable, if I came in the cA'ening, 
the fee Avould he 00 cents a hoi’se—.$1.20 for both horses. 
If I came in the morning the fee would be 70 e-euits for 
each horse. Gardeners living the distance I do usually 
go to market at midnight or late in the afternoon. _ I 
leave at 2 a. m. and arrive at the market at 3.30. With 
a team of horses I Avould have to leave at 12 o’clock— 
and how I value those tAVO hours’ sleep only one Avho 
tries doing a hard day’s Avork and then rising at 2 
a. m. can realize. 
“A trip in my truck to market costs me SO cents fin' 
gasoline and oil. Dn this investment I realize the 
profits on the increased prtxlnce my truck enables me to 
carry, the .$20 AA'orth of fertilizer and the five hours 
that I save. Would I go back to the old horse days? 
Not if I had to make a truck myself.” A. n. P. 
R. N.-Y.— Another thing about these army trucks. 
After the AV'ar many of them Avill be offered for sale at 
loAV figures. They Avill have considerable Avork left in 
them, and their u.se Avill induce many a farmer to buy a 
new truck. That Avas true of army hor.ses, guns and 
clothing after our Civil War. 
Monmouth Co., N. J., After the Prize 
The farmers of Monmouth Co.. N. .1., are out to 
make that section the leading agricultural county in 
New Way to Market Fruit 
Fred E. Cutting, a graduate of the Minnesota School 
of Agriculture,, living at Byron. Minn., has developed a 
rather unique scheme for selling his small fruits Avith 
the least amount of AVOrk on his part. This year he sold 
betAveen three and four acres of straAvberries, or about 
8.000 <iuarts. for something over $000. X year ago he sold 
about 1.5.(X)0 (piarts for $1,200 from the same area. He 
lives near a .small country toAA-n, and found it difficult to 
get good pickers to pick the fruit for him. Several years 
State-Wide Jottings 
AGRICULTTHIAL ADVISERS.—Announcement is 
made of the following men to act Avith the district 
draft board of Ncav York as, advisers regarding agri¬ 
cultural exemptions: George W. Dunn, Webster, 
District Board No. 2, Rochester; 
C. M. Watkins, Penn Y^an, District Board 
No. 1, Watkins; Charles Parker, Lock- 
port, District Board No. 3, Buffalo; H. A. 
Adams, Manlius, Northern District Boayd, 
No. 3, Syracuse: O. S. Morgan, Ncav 
York District, Nexv York city; Earl 
LaidloAV, Northern Di.strict Board No. 1, 
Malone; A. W. BroAvn, Northern Dis¬ 
trict Board No. 2, Albany; Enos Lee, 
Southern District, White Plains. The 
agricultural advisers are not to be mem¬ 
bers of the district board.s, but are to 
furnish to the boards facts relative to 
farm labor requirements in adjusting 
community needs to the requirements 
of the draft. 
RESTRICTS S.VLE OF COAL.—As 
.a coal conservation measure county fuel 
administrators have been authorized to 
restrict coal sah‘s to persons, who, re- 
siding't’outside of established cities, toAvns 
and villa.ges,” have either standing or cut 
wood available. Consumers Known to 
possess such Avood and Avho apply for 
coal Avill be asked to submit in writing 
their reason for not using the wood. If 
the restrictions lea<l to excessive prices 
being charged by dealers for wood, such 
dealers “avIII subject themselves to the inference that 
they are takin.g advantage of the present .situation for 
the purpose of making unreasonable profit” and will be 
informed that they are not proper per.sons through 
Avhom the Government can equitably dit;tribute fuel. 
FIRST WOMAN RURAL CARRIER.—Miss Ethel 
Aker, of .Vvon, has been appointed as mail carrier on 
the .Vvou Rural DellA'ery Route No. 1. Miss Aker en¬ 
joys the distinction of being the first Avoman rural car¬ 
rier in Western NeAV York. Her route is 28 miles in 
hmgth, Avith only about five miles of improved roads. 
Much of the route is noted for the clay roads, AA'hich 
are almost impassable Avith an automobile in the Win¬ 
ter or even in the Avet season. 
SENECA COTTNTY FARM BUREAU.—The first an¬ 
nual rejxort of the Seneca County Farm Bureau shows 
results that have more than justified its organization. 
Since organizing, .Tan. 1.5,' it has distributed seed corn to 
over 400 farmers ; obtained a poAver ditcher from the 
State Food Commission ; assistecl in selling 4,000 pounds 
of Avool at an average price of 72 cents; organized a 
county loan association Avith the Federal Land Bank, 
stiirting Avith api)lications for loans amounting to .$44,- 
SOO: organized a county co-operative hay growers’ asso¬ 
ciation ; held six pruning and 10 poultry selection dem¬ 
onstrations. A sheep breeders’ association Avill be or¬ 
ganized this Fall. Four farmers’ institutes will be held 
this Winter at .Junius, Waterloo, Lodi and C^xvert. Tavo 
five-day extension schools will be held at Romulus and 
^Magee’s Corners. Five men in .Tunius and Waterloo 
are co-operating Avith the hureau in carrying on test 
work in growing potatoes. One farmer has started a 
plot for improving the yield and quality of hi.s seed 
Avheat. The men are using lime in connection Avith 
growing Alfalfa, to determine Avhether lime is a benefit 
in the raising of this and other grasses. Thirteen silage 
tests have been coiuhicted. 8ix of these tests Avere har¬ 
vested in September, Avhich showed that Luce’s Favorite 
and Golden Nugget varieties Avere best adapted to the 
county. During the month of September 101.217 bush¬ 
els of Avheat Avere thrashed from 5,000 acres. The Farm 
Bureau has 035 members, and during the year its man¬ 
ager. Wilb\ir D. Chase, traveled 0,480 miles, holding 81 
meetings with an attendance of OA'er 2,000. 
PLANS TO KEEP ROADS OPEN IN WINTER.— 
Plans are being laid to keei) the three trunk lines lead¬ 
ing out of Rochester and connecting with State Route 
No. 0 free from snOAvdrifts this Winter and open to 
auto traffic. The routes selected are from Rochester to 
East Bloomfield via Ionia; to East Avon via Henri¬ 
etta, and to Caledonia via Scottsville. These routes 
were selected as the best to connect Rochester with 
Route No. 0 from Buffalo to Albany, which will be 
(Continued on page 1253) 
