1270 
The Rural New-Yorker 
THE BUSINESS FARMER'S F^ER 
A Xntloiial Weekly Journal for Country and Suburban Homen 
Established tStiO 
I’nblUkrd nerkl; by tb« Rural PnblUhInir Company, 333 Woit 30th Street,Row fork 
Hkrbert W. Colungwood, President and Kdltor. 
John J. ]>illon. Treasurer and General Mnnaprer. 
Wii. F. PnxoN, Secretary. Mrs. E. T. Koyle, Associate Editor. 
SUBSCRIPTION: ONE DOLLAR A YEAR 
To foreign countries in the Universal Postal Union, $2.04, equal to 8s. 6<1., or 
814 marks, or lOlj francs. Remit in money order, express 
order personal check or bank draft. 
Entered at New Ycrk Post Office as Second Class Matter. 
Advertising rates. 75 cents per agate line—7 words. References required for 
advertisers unknown to us j and cash must accompany transient orders. 
“A SQUARE DEAL” 
We believe that every advertisement in this paper is backed by a respon¬ 
sible person. We use every possible precaution and admit the advertising of 
pellable houses only. But to make doubly sure, we will make good any loss 
to paid subrerlbers sustained by trusting any delibcnite swindler, irrespon¬ 
sible advertisers or misleading advertisements in our columns, ami any 
such swindler will be publicly exposed. We are also often called upon 
to adjust differences or mistakes between our subscribers and honest, 
responsible houses, whether advertisers or not. We willingly use our good 
olliees to this end, but such cases should not bo confus^ 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 or the time of 
the transaction, and to identify it, you should mention The Rubai. New- 
Yorker when writing the advertiser. 
Tina is a pretty disreputable looking dollar bill, but I 
gue.ss it is good enough to bring mo the offer that you 
have made me. Some day I want to send you a little 
write-up on what America’s Rural Y. M. C. A. is doing 
for the welfare and happinees of our great “farm fam¬ 
ily.” To tell you the truth, I don’t get much time to 
read your magazine myself, but when I do I always get 
some good out of it, and I am going to make a practice 
of passing it on to some of the boys. Keep up the fight! 
New Jersey. Walter ii. scott. 
I T make.s no difference how “disreputable” a dollar 
bill may look, provided Uncle Sam stands back 
of it. Some of our soldiers, as they come out of the 
trenches, are ragge<l and dii'ty, but are they not 
more worthy of respect than the spick and span pa¬ 
triots who never saw the front? “Always get some 
good out of it!” That is what we like to hear. 
» 
WiiF-N a Western man wishes to buy an Eastern farm 
he should put his money in Liberty bonds and work out 
as a hired man for at least one year in the community 
in which he thinks he wi.shes to locate. He will then 
learn some of the points to consider in buying a farm in 
that community and he will begin to have some idea of 
the relative values of different farms. By following this 
procedure he is likely to save more money on his pur¬ 
chase pi’ice than he could make in several years of farm¬ 
ing. 
T hat advice is given by Prof. Geo. F. Warren, 
and we feel inclined to endorse it. New York 
State does not want any more discontented farmers, 
and it is little short of a critiae to misrepresent a 
farm, get a man’s money and locate him where he 
cannot work out. The Western man in particular 
needs to be careful. He may think “](X) acres of 
land” means a stretch of rolling prairie, only to find 
it up on edge and one-third rock. We shall keep 
right on telling about these Eastern farms, but it 
will be the whole story. We are satisfied that there 
are some good opportunities on these farms, but no 
one can ever say that The R. N.-Y. misled or fooled 
him into going “back to the land.” We w^ould include 
the city man with the Western farmer in Prof. War¬ 
ren’s advice. Too many men think they can take a 
“correspondence course” and then go out to perfonn 
miracles as farmers. In a magazine recently we 
counted over 40 advertisements of various corre¬ 
spondence schools. Six months as a hired man on a 
good farm ■will beat any correspondence education 
that ever was thought out. It might not lead to the 
purchase of a poor farm, but it would give a better 
idea of farming. 
A GOOD many farmers this year have used rye, 
millet, oats and peas and other broadcast crops 
in the silo. For many years we were told that corn 
was the only silage crop worth considei-ing. Corn 
t.<» the best crop for the silo, but these war times have 
forced us to hunt for substitutes in all lines. The 
corn ci’op requires considerable hand labor, while a 
crop like millet can be handled almost entirely by 
horse power. The millet does not requii-e hoeing or 
cultivating. It can be cut into a bundle and the bun¬ 
dles carried right to the silo cutter, thus saving a 
large amount of labor. The millet silage has a little 
better analysis than the average corn. More care is 
required in packing the millet, but otherwise the 
labor advantage is "with it. We think that in the 
futui’e this plan of using broadcast crops for silage 
will increase to save labor and change the rotation. 
It is no longer an experiment, as a good many farnir- 
ers tried the plan this year. 
» 
HE Department of Agriculture has Investigated 
the cost of hauling various crops by wagon or by 
motor trucks. As a result of many reports they find 
that the cost of hauling one ton of wheat one mile 
was 15 cents in a truck, and 30 cents by wagon. 
For corn the figures were 15 cents in the truck and 
33 cents by wagon, and for cotton 18 and 48 cents, 
respectively. Our own experience shows that these 
GTic RURAL NEW-YORKER 
comparative figures are about right. Where the 
roads are good the truck becomes a groat conveni¬ 
ence, if not a necessity. The Department found one 
man in Oregon who said there was neither road nor 
automobile within 20 miles of his farm. Produce 
must be carried on the back of pack mules in order 
to ship It. We are not told what that American 
grows. Many of us remember the woman in Idaho 
who entered a pen of pullets in the egg-laying con¬ 
test These birds were carried for miles on horse¬ 
back to the express office, but they endured the trip 
and made a great egg record. 
F rom Oregon comes the report of a sulphur- 
Alfalfa club. The members have found by ex¬ 
periment that on their soil sulphur must be used in 
order to obtain a full yield of Alfalfa. We went all 
over this a few years ago. Plants like clover and 
Alfalfa contain a higher per cent of sulphur than of 
phosphorus. For a long time this fact was not rec¬ 
ognized, for by the methods of analysis much of the 
sulphur was burned away. New methods have shown 
the great need of this substance, and in many soils 
it must be supplied. MTien land plaster (or sul¬ 
phate of lime) or acid phosphate are used there is 
generally enough of the sulphur. There are soils 
where the supply is naturally short, and in such 
cases sulphur will pay. It often happens that farm¬ 
ers get too large an idea of the real value of sulphur, 
and use it where it is not needed. We believe there 
are only a few places in the country where sulphur 
will pay as a fertilizer. 
* 
T he New England States will be forced, in the 
future, to produce more bread and meat, if 
they are to maintain their growth and power. In 
his new book on “The Future of Agriculture,” A. D. 
Hall, in speaking of Great Britain, says: 
“If the process continued our State would hecome 
economically parasitic upon the more pHnUtive food- 
producing countries; and a parasite, however, highly 
organized, cannot continue to exist if the connection 
with its host is severed” 
Hall refers in this to the policy of neglecting agri¬ 
culture which so nearly defeated England in this 
war. The English government was willing to let 
Great Britain play the part of an economic parasite 
in order to develop manufacturing. They now see 
that England must produce more bread and meat if 
the nation is to live and grow. In a smaller way 
the New England States find themselves in much 
the same position as old England. Manufacturing 
has been developed at the expense of agriculture, 
and the last terrible Winter found the New England 
people shut off from both food and fuel. That part 
of the country supplies its own people with milk, 
potatoes, fruit and a good share of vegetables, but 
they must depend on other parts of the country for 
80 per cent or more of their bread and meat. Even 
after the war it cannot be said that the chances for 
improved freight service are good. There seems no 
escape from the fact that New England has reached 
the point where her soil must be made to produce 
more grain and live stock. This is possible, and is 
already being worked out. This year the State of 
Maine alone produced 640,000 bushels of wheat, 
while Vermont produced nearly 275,000. Three 
years ago the total wheat crop of all New England 
had fallen to 107,000 bushels! In 1869 Massachu¬ 
setts produced enough grain to give her people a 
better war bread than they had last Winter. There 
is land enough in New England for the production 
of 75 per cent of the needed bread and meat. It 
will require great changes in farming in order to 
develop such crops, but New England can afford to 
go to the limit in encouraging such a business?. 
» 
D uring the week opening November 11 and clos¬ 
ing November 18 there will be a great campaign 
for a United War Work fund. The present American 
Army is better armed, better fed, better uniformed 
and better cared for than any army the world has 
known before. Its material needs are thoroughly 
provided for by the Government, and we all cheer¬ 
fully contribute our share of needed money and food. 
In addition to this the Army has spiritual and rec¬ 
reational needs which must be provided for. Those 
of us who have sent our boys out to fight for the 
nation look forward to the day when they will re¬ 
turn to take up our work and carry it on, as we 
hope, to high success. If the.se boys fail to return 
we shall have the satisfaction of knowing that they 
offered the supreme saciufice for their countiy, and 
we .shall feel a solemn joy that they did so. If 
they return we want them to come with clean habits 
and strong characters, and we realize that the work 
of providing clean and uplifting infiuences for the 
November 9, 1018 
Army is not a part of the Government’s work, but a 
duty which belongs to us. And that is what this 
great campaign for United War Work mean.s. Prot¬ 
estant, Catholic, Jeivish—all religions and faiths are 
united in this work of maintaining the spiritual or 
religious side of Army life. The Y. M. C. A., the 
Knights of Columbus, the Jewish organizations, the 
Salvation Army and others—all have their special 
work to do, and they must be supported. The writer 
has a boy engaged in this work, and he knows what 
it means to the young soldiers. We have got to 
rai.se $170,5(X),(X)0 in this country to put this work 
through. That means something like $1.50 for each 
man, woman and child. It is as sure an investment 
as a Liberty bond. You will not receive interest in 
money, but in that finer and more valuable thing, 
Christian character, which is now far more necessary 
than great wealth. The great campaign will soon be 
on. All help! 
* 
L et no Patron in New York and the other East¬ 
ern States forget the meeting of the National 
Grange at Syracuse, N. Y., November 2.3. War 
time meetings of farmers are doubly important. They 
serve to indicate the loyalty of our country people, 
and they also give a chance for discussing the great 
questions which are sure to arise after the war. 
The National Grange is regarded as the great con¬ 
servative organization of countiy people. It will 
help give power to its declarations if there is a 
great gathering of plain farmers at Syracuse. While 
the National Grange itself is a gathering of delegates, 
there will be great open meetings and abundant op¬ 
portunity for a crowd of earnest farmers to make 
their presence felt. Let us pack Syracuse full to 
.show that the Eastern farmers are alive and alert. 
m 
O N page 1261 is an excellent article on “Profiteer¬ 
ing in Milk.” One of our readers, a consumer, 
in a surburban town, -writes about this: 
People talk about the need of educating the consumer 
to use more milk, because of its food value, rather than 
cutting down on it when high, and thus increasing the 
surplus, and adding to the producer’s difficulties. This 
emphasizes the fact that the great trouble remains the 
excessive cost of distribution, and the only way out is 
for producer and consumer to unite to curb the bandit 
middleman. In talking with housekeepers who work 
out a budget, fitting expen.ses to a regular allowance, I 
find they usually put food, ice and laundre.ss together 
in a certain limit, and of this they will allow about 
one-eixth for milk. Say the housekeeper has about $12 
a week for these expenses for a small family; that 
would mean $2 a week for milk. In our own house¬ 
hold we have two quarts one day, one quart the next, 
alternately, at 17c per quart, giving an average of 
$1.87 a week. With milk at 17 and 18c per quart 
people of small means cannot increase the amount they 
use, and no matter how nourishing it is, you cannot 
make milk take the place of “roughage” in an adult 
dietary. Talking of protein is useles.s. Lower the dis¬ 
tributor s price and we will all use more milk. 
Theory is good, but the practical application of the 
dollar to necessities of human life is what finally 
settles most questions. So far as we can find out 
the Food Administrator has made no effort to cut 
down or change the present excessive cost of dis¬ 
tribution. The farmers have been forced to change 
theii methods, and are accused of profiteering when¬ 
ever they demand a fair profit above expenses. The 
distributors are permitted to keep up the old expen¬ 
sive system and their profits are tenderly provided 
for. At the same time the. con.sumlng public is 
taught to believe that the farmers are entirely re¬ 
sponsible for high prices, when they suffer worse 
than the consumer. 
ifc 
T he Dairymen’s League will hold its annual 
stockholders’ meeting at Jersey City, N. J., on 
Tuesday, Dee, 10. There should be a great out¬ 
pouring of dairymen at this meeting, and we urge 
every member who can pos.sibly arrange for it to 
come. The great value and power of an organiza¬ 
tion like the Dairymen’s League must come from 
the stockholders and their ability to get together 
and act in a thoroughly democratic manner. There 
is safety in a great gathering where men can come 
together, exchange ideas and learn what others are 
thinking and saying. The Dairymen’s League has 
given a wonderful power to our Eastern farmers. 
It is capable of still greater things, and the way to 
make it greater and more efficient is to make it as 
democratic and popular as pos.sible. The stock¬ 
holders ought to crowd the largest hall in the city. 
Brevities 
The favors of fortune rarely bring happiness until 
they arc given away. Happiness depends on a circula¬ 
tion of benefits. 
Forest leaves contain more plant food than equal 
weights of manure, but the labor of gathering them eats 
up most of the profit. 
It is said that in ancient days butter v/as rarely used 
as a food, but used much as we now use vaseline for in¬ 
juries tO'^the skin. 
