1406 
The Rural New-Yorker 
Tim Busiimss farmer’s paper 
A >'«tlonnl Weekly Journal for Country and Suburban Homed 
BstabUshed isoo __ 
I'nMtfibed weekly by the Roral Pnblishinr Company, 888 We#t 80Ui Street, Hew Tork 
HEitBEitT W, CobUNOwooD, President and Editor. 
Jons J. DlUOK, Treasurer and General Manager. 
Wh. F. PibbON, Secretary._ Mbs. E. T. Royi.e, Associate Editor. 
SUBSCRIPTION I ONE DOLLAR A YEAR 
To foreign countries in the Universal Postal Union, ^04, equal to 8a. 60., or 
06 marks, or lOJj franca. Keinit in money order, express 
order, personal check or bonk draft. 
Entered at Ketv Tork Post Ofllco as Second Class Matter. 
Advertising rates, 7S cents per agate line—7 -worda Jlefercnces reqnlr^ for 
advertisers unknown to ns | and cash must accompany transient orders. 
-A SQUARE DEAL” 
We believe that every advertisement In this paper Is backed by a respon- 
pihle person. Wo use every possible iirecaution and admit the advertising of 
reliable houses only. But to make doubly sure, wo will make good any loss 
to i>aid subscribers sustained by trusting any deliberate swindler, irrespon¬ 
sible advertisers or misleading advertisements In our columns, and any 
such swindler will be publicly exposed. We are also often called npm 
to adjust differences or mistakes between our snljscrlbers and honest 
responsible houses, whether a<lvertlscr8 or not. We willingly use our Rom 
oOicea to this end, but such cases slionld not be confused with dishonest 
transactions. Wo protect subscribers against rogues, but we will not be 
responsible for the debts of honest bankrupts sanctioned bv the courts 
Notice of the complaint must be sent to us within one month of the time ot 
the transaction, and to Identify it, you should mention Tub Bubal Nbw- 
Tokkeb when writing the advertiser. 
I F you wish to send a subscidption to this paper 
to a friend as a Christmas present, send the order 
jiromptly now, and we will mail an appropriate 
riiristmas card with your good wishes in time for 
Christmas. 
* 
I HAVE been a suhsoriber to your paper for many 
years, and found it both interesting and helpful. Of 
the many publications that we take it is about the only 
one that gets read clear through from cover to cover by 
hiitli Diy wife and my-self. One of our leading new-s- 
pnpers here acclaims to itself the phrase “A paper with 
a heart and a soul.” While In this case it is a matter 
of radical dispute, it does seem to me that it might he 
applied to The Rural New-Yorker with peculiar fit¬ 
ness. Of all the farm papers with which I am acquaint¬ 
ed it is the only one written from the farmers’ own 
jioint of view, from among them, looking out rather than 
from that of the self-appointed expert and critic outside 
looking in. For this reason I regard it as indispensable 
to anyone who cares to be well informed on farm condi¬ 
tions as they are and farm problems as they develop in 
respect to the national welfare. For the actual farmer, 
its strong and pensistent leadership in the legislative 
battles in which it has been engaged, leads me to the 
view that while politicians may come and politicians 
may go, The R. N.-Y. goes on forever, and, I may add, 
hangs on forever until it gets what it goes after. More 
power to you. H* c. miller. 
Denver, Col. 
HAT expresses what we are trying to do far 
better than we cun express it ourselves. We 
shall continue to “hang on forever”—or at least that 
i>art of the forever which is allotted u.s. 
» 
HAT is a very good jioint nmde by Mr. Corn¬ 
wall on page 1.‘199 about fruit growing. It will 
apply to any sort of farming. A jack of all trades 
will never be known as “Hon. John” at any of them. 
Mind climbs up above matter, and the spirit of the 
man is what determines his degree of success. A 
fruit grower who has done his work properly must 
have his mind on the job every day in the year. It is 
very much a matter of concentration, and the same is 
true of dairying, poultry keeping, grain growing, 
gardening or any other department of soil culture. 
It is a good point, well taken, and should be kept 
sharp. 
lit 
A GOOD many of onr re.-idors have received let¬ 
ters and circulars about ‘T’hos-Pho-Germ,” a 
new biological cure-all for poor soils! Some strong 
claims are made for this stuff. The argument naight 
he called the germ theory on a spree. We know 
that certain bacteria work on the roots of legume 
idants, and extract nitrogen from the air. Then we 
know that “cultures” of these bacteiia can be made 
and distributed in bottles, to be u.scd on the seed. 
We also know that other bacteria work in manure 
or in organic matter to hasten decay and perhaps 
obtain nitrogen. These bacteria can also be “cul¬ 
tivated” and distributed. The “I’hos-Pho-Germ” 
people attempt to imike the public believe that they 
combine all these bacteria in a sort of “happy fam¬ 
ily,” and start them in a sub.stance which looks like 
dried peat. The theory is that when this stuff is 
scattered over the soil all these bacteria start at 
work and provide a complete manure. The circulars 
carefully refrain from imiking exact claims, but 
most readers would conclude that this stuff contains 
hiicteria for coni, oats or vegetables, and that other 
hjioteria produce potash and phosphoric acid. It is 
hard to combat or explain such statements, for they 
are usually based on some well-known fact, but so 
skilfully worded that it is almost Impossible to 
.show just where the truth ends and speculation be¬ 
gins. Dr. Lipman of the New Jersey Experiment 
Station, one of the highest authorities on soil biol¬ 
ogy, says: 
The pamphlet on Phos-Pho-Germ contains so many 
statements that are misleading and inaccurate tlnit I 
am entirely disinelined to give serious consideration to 
the product which is described in the pamphlet. I do 
not Ixdieve tliat an all-erop soil inoeulant is iiraetieal, 
nor can I accept the claim that mere cultures of bac- 
7he RURAL NEW-YORKER 
teria will, to a great extent, replace fertiliners and ma¬ 
nures. ■ JACOB G. LTPMAN. 
New Jersey Experiment Station. 
It is now generally admitted that the use of bac- 
t(*riii for Inoculating clover and other legume seed is 
good practice. There Is a limit to such work, and we 
ndvi.se our readers to forget the dream about using 
bacteria to take the place of all fertilizers and ma¬ 
nures. 
e 
Is it true that the price of cotton has been fixed by 
the Government on the same principle as that of wheat? 
8* B* J• 
O—^the price of cotton has not been fixed. Our 
understanding Is that the President appointed 
a commission to Sivestigate and sugge.st such a fixed 
price. This commission reported that price fixing 
was not desirable, and there the matter seems to 
have been dropped. Our repoi’ts from the West in¬ 
dicate that this question had much to do in deciding 
the recent election of Congressmen. The Westera 
grain farmers felt that during the war, at least, cot¬ 
ton was as great a necessity as wheat, and they felt 
it a case of unjust discrimination when wheat was 
“fixed” while cotton prices were left open. It was 
eviuently this feeling which caused the political over¬ 
turn in the next Congress. 
» 
D ay after day we have letters from people who 
liiive little money or credit, yet who want to 
own a farm. In most cases they seem industrious 
and Honorable, and would make good farmers. They 
are just the people needed on the unoccupied farms 
or places where elderly men and women can no 
longer do the work. Yet these industrious and well- 
meaning farmers cannot obtain cash or credit on 
any reasonable term.s. In one particular case a 
couple paid a small sum on a farm under promise 
of hcip from friends. These friends are now unable 
to help, and the woman writes: 
Everybody seems to have their money in Liberty 
bonds, and so I thought maybe you would know of some¬ 
one who would help me, as we rent, but wjint to get our 
own place to make a home. We are in the dairy busi¬ 
ness. Please believe me when I say we are honest, as 
our references will show, and only hope you can see 
some way of helping me at this time. My husband seems 
to think there is no one to lielp him, but I told him I 
W'ould not give up until I asked you. 
What are such people to do? The Federal Land 
Bank, as at present conducted, could not loan enough 
on this farm to enable this couple to obtain posses¬ 
sion. Where are they to go for ca.sh or credit? A 
few weeks ago we reported a case vvliere the owner 
took a great risk and gave a young man, who had 
but little besides a good wife and his hands, a chance 
to own a farm. ’I'liere are very few who Will do 
that, yet some liberal scheme for obtaining credit 
must be worked out if this most deserving class of 
people are to be located in farm ownership. Some 
of these people are a little bitter because no one will 
lend them money without full secunty. Yet if the 
positions were reversed and they had the money they 
would expect full legal protection. 
» 
W HAT about the following proposition? There 
appears upon the market a new ins^ticide, a 
fertilizer, a feed or a machine. A number of well- 
known farmei's try it and consider it n.seful. They 
have no means of making any scientific experiment, 
but their judgment and observation tell them that 
the new thing has merit. The scientific men at the 
colleges and stations, when asked for an opinion, 
will not give it iintil they have conducted a series of 
expei’iments—mea.surod, •weighed and analyzed. This 
takes years before Juiy truly scientific results can be 
obtained. Now, whiit shall a farmer do? Shall he 
wait for the slow and cautious scientific work, or 
shall he accept the verdict of practical men and 
invest in the new thing? Has science the right to 
condemn the unscientific verdict of practical farmers 
until the .slow, exact experiments have been worked 
out? Scientific work is of necessity slow and cau¬ 
tious. Shall we wait for it, or take a chance on 
practical observation? 
A t several places in this country a truck express 
in connection with parcel post is giving good 
service. The truck runs over a certain section of 
country road, tiikes up parcels of produce, and car¬ 
ries them to the market town. In some cases they 
are delivered direct to customers, while in others the 
goods are left at the school, where the scholars act as 
distributors. The packages are stami>ed like regular 
parcel post mall, and the cost of transportation is 
light. In tills way produce of all sorts is carried 
quickly and cheaply direct from farm to consumer, 
and where the schools help such trade is very satis¬ 
factory, because there is often co-opei’ation between 
one or more country schools in collecting the goods 
December 21, 101.S 
end town schools in selling. The Post Oflice De¬ 
partment now propo.ses to use the great number of 
.‘irniy trucks available after the war in extending this 
delivery. It Is a great work, the best develuf.iueiit 
of parcel post we have had yet. 
» 
A YOUNG man located in one of the Southern 
army camps writes as follows; 
I intend to buy a ffirm in Maryland or Virginia. I 
have about $500 saved up. The farm will cost about 
one thousand dollars. I have a $10,000 war insurance 
policy. Do you think I could get a loan of $500 on it? 
Who would be the best people to get it from, an insur¬ 
ance company or a bank? 
There are many others like him, and they will 
need advice. This present capital of $500 in too 
small to ensure him success. He may be a farmer’s 
boy or a back-to-the-lander, but he can hardly hope 
to make good on a farm without a larger capital. 
It would be safer for this man to work for some 
good farmer a year or two and get more experience 
and increase his capital. As for borrowing money 
with the war insurance as security, that is a new 
proposition. The regular insurance policies are 
sometimes used in this way, but all you can borrow 
on them is part of the money you have paid as 
premiums. In our own experience we have not been 
able to obtain more than GO per cent of the amount 
of such payments. We presume the war insurance 
policies would be handled in about the same way. 
♦ 
A KING looks out of his palace window and sees 
a rough, unorganized mob gathering at the 
gates. He remembers that his people have been 
abused and deceived, and he trembles. The farmer 
on a lonely farm looks out at a group of hired men 
coming across the pasture. He owes money to two 
of them and cannot pay it. Both king and farmer 
feel a form of terror at the heart, because it is true 
that from the king on his throne all down the scale 
of labor employers, everyone is afraid of the hired 
man. No one fears the hired man at his best—con¬ 
tented, well provided for, and feeling that he is hav¬ 
ing a “square deal.” In that condition the working 
man has always been the most faithful friend in the 
world. The fear comes from the hired man or 
Workman at his worst—^when he carries in his heart 
a sense of injustice and wrong. Any man who is 
slow of thought and inclined to prejudice will be 
found slow to anger, but equally slow to recover from 
it For centuries it was the pol'w of the ruling 
classes to restrain the laborers by teaching them it 
was their duty to accept an inferior position. With 
various modifications tlmt idea has worked out in all 
lines of society. Most of our modern education has, 
perhaps unconsciously, worked out class distinctions 
and widened the gulf between the classes which we 
separate as employer and hired man. Some years 
ago it was hoped that our modorn agricultui’al educa¬ 
tion would remove much of this feeling. Has it done 
so, or has the “^o-called higher education for the 
farmer tended to separate farmer and country peo¬ 
ple into classes? This country must soon face that 
question and answer it Many of our methods of 
farming, and many of the old foundations of coun¬ 
try society, are going to explode before long unless 
someone can put into the mind of the small farmer 
and hired man the conviction that he is getting a 
square deal, or that such a deal is coming to him. 
Brevities 
The slaughter of apples in collar storage has been 
heavy during the past warm Fall. 
liOOK at the pile of coal ashes and you will find a 
black fuel record. 
“I WANT to thank you for a snggofition in The K. 
N.-Y. for removing warts from the Iniiuls by using castor 
oil. My boy got rid of them by rubbing the oil in a doz¬ 
en times,” says B. P. B. of Massachusetts. 
The Government issues a bulletin on “Nematode 
Galls in the Marketing and Milling of Wheat.” This 
refers to a disease, but a worse one is the gall of some 
millers and dealers who take advantage of small farm¬ 
ers. 
The Spinose ear tick locates in the ears of cattle, 
horses, dogs and sheep, and even man. They are mostly 
lonnd in the Southwest. Thq remedy consists in injeot- 
ing a mixture of two parts of pine tar and one pin t of 
cottonseed oil into the ear. 
This coming season will witness many meetings of 
farmers. Our advice is to attend as many of them as 
imssible. Help make a good showing for agriculture. 
If you think the spirit of the meeting is not fair to 
farming, get up and tell the people so. 
Starch is made from the sweet potato by grating the 
root. Then pjit the pulp in a muslin bag and dip into 
water, squeezing occasionally. Let the starch settle and 
pour off the Avater iuul dry. By boiling down the wash 
water you can make syrup or sugar. 
At the Connecticut Agricultural College the big apple 
crop would have been at least partly lost had it not been 
for the young women students. They handled the crop 
and “the work was never done more expeditiously or 
efficiently.” 
