1428 
The Rural New-Yorker 
TUB liVSiyEffS FARMEKH PAPER 
A National Weekly Joiirnnl for foiiiitry and Suburban Homes 
Ef!tabliii?ied isso 
t'nbli>h»d weekly by the Raral Piiblithlnf; Company, 833 tVett 80th Street, »w fork 
Herbert W. Colijsgwood, Prcfddent and Editor. 
John 3. Dn.iX)N, Treasurer and General Mana(?er. 
Wm. F. Dnxojt, Secretary. Mr-s. E. T. Royle, Associate Editor. 
SUBSCRIPTION; ONE DOLLAR A YEAR 
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8)6 marks, or 10)6 franca Remit in money ortfer, express 
order, personal check or bank draft. 
Entered at New York Post Office as Second Class Matter. 
Advertising rates, 76 cents per agate line—7 words. References required for 
advertisers unknown to us , 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 
reliable houses only. But to make doubly sure, we will make good any Toss 
to paid subscribers sustained by trusting any deliberate swindler, irrespon¬ 
sible advertisers or misleading advertisements in our columns, and any 
Rich swindler will be publicly exposed. We are also often called ujion 
to adjust differences or mistakes between our subscribers and honest, 
responsible houses, whether advertisers or not. Wo willingly use our good 
offices to this end, but such cases should not bo contused with dishonest 
transactions. Wo protect Ribscribers against rogues, but we will not be 
resiwnsiblo 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 Rurai, New- 
Yorker when writing the advertiser. 
^ I WISH to say that the subscription price of The R 
N.-Y. may be one dollar, but the dollar’s worth returned 
is not a 35-cent dollar. harry .newton. 
Long Island. 
It is a matter of surprise and gratification that you 
are able to make The R. N.-Y. better with the pa.ssing 
of years. My congratulations to the entire force. 
.Missouri. T. H. polk. 
It is the finest of its kind anywhere; clean, fearless, 
helpful and entertaining and instructive. The larger 
your subscription list grows, the more advanced the 
calling and business of farming will become. It is more 
welcome to me than the half dozen other papers 1 take. 
Maryland. lee E. gilbert. 
E could fill the paper vvith just such notes. 
Our readers are giving us the finest Christ¬ 
mas reminders of true friendshiit we have had in all 
our .30 years of association. 
* 
T he eighth annual meeting of the New York 
State .Agricultural Society will be held in the 
State Capitol at Albany Jan. 14-15. Senator Thos. 
1’. Core of Oklahoma will speak. The milk question 
will be debated by the president of the Dairymen’s 
l eague and Dr. Clyde King of Peuu.sylvania. The 
entire afternoon of Jan. 15 will be given to a dis¬ 
cussion of the New York dog law. New York sheep 
men are determined to have a law that will give 
them a chance, and the dog question will he well 
stirred up so as to report the real needs of sheep 
men to the Legislature, Here is a good chance for 
the organized sheep hei’ders to put in a good day’s 
Work. 
* 
T hink of it! Last year granite—^just plain gray 
stone—to the value of {j;i5,544,957 was Sold 
in this eountiy. Of this $5,293,210 w’orth was 
used for monumental stone—in memory of the dead. 
Of this the New England States alone provided 
$3,458,308. Of marble the total sales came to 
$(5,330,387. Vermont led with $3,024,315. Thus Ver¬ 
mont produced of these stones a value of $5,224,814. 
In the same year Vermont produced $2,093,000 worth 
of oats, $142,000 of wheat and $5,40<),000 worth of 
corn—more to commemorate the dead than to pro¬ 
duce bread for the living! 
He 
C HRISTMAS comes this year with a new and 
deeper significance in its celebration. The 
world rejoices that the shadow of war has lifted, 
jet .sorrow and death have left their indelible mark 
on millions of homes. Mingled with the old-time 
joy of Christmas there is no concealing or denying 
the mighty s])irit of disgust and hatred which the 
world feels toward the Germans and their allies. 
It would be idle to say that the world will soon re¬ 
gard Germany as a generous or chivalrous foe now 
deserving sympathy or mercy. That is the sad 
tiuth, no matter how it may conflict with the true 
.spirit of Christmas or Christian teachings. Not 
.since the days of Napoleon have the nations of the 
eaith .so univei-sally condemned a set of men as they 
now do tlie former Kaiser and his war lord.s. They 
will be punished, and they deserve their punishment. 
At this Christmas time we thinjv there are millions 
of people who feel in their hearts a sort of regret 
tnat thej’^ cannot feel kindlj^ or even charitably to¬ 
ward the miserable wretclies who plunged the world 
into this awful war. That is why Christmas will 
be a more sober and thoughtful celel)ration this 
year than ever before—for, with the memory of the 
past four j'ears in mind, it will be hard for those 
who have golden stars in the service flag to say, 
“good will to men!” Just this form of shadow has 
never before fallen upon Christmas in this country. 
It is our duty to rise above it and drive it away. 
The same power which gave us the victory owns and 
controls the vengeance which will be meted out to 
Jjhe RURAL NEW-YORKER 
the enemy. Let us not fill our minds witli that, but 
rise above it, and see that Christmas means the 
same beautiful .spirit of sacrifice and hope to those 
we love. 
* 
T he open Winter has .started many farmers to 
hauling out muck or swamp mud as a sub.sti- 
tute for manure. There is always an argument 
about the economy of such work. By analysis such 
swamp soil or muck is often richer in nitrogen than 
manure, but as it comes from the swamp this nitro¬ 
gen is of little use as plant food. Tlie muck is 
usually too sour, and must he decayed and well 
broken up before it is worth much. We must re¬ 
member that the swamp holds much of the plant 
food which for years has been washed out of the 
higher soil. Therefore when we dig out the muck 
and carry it to the cultivated fields we take the 
plant food back to where it came from. Some far¬ 
mers simply haul out the muck and spread it over 
the ground—plowing it under in the Si)ring. This 
saves handling, but we do not get the full value of 
the muck in that waj'. Where the manure is kept 
in the barnyard the muck can be hauled and mixed 
with it. The be.st way to make this muck quickly 
available is to haul it to a well-drained place and 
mix it with lime and a little manure if possible. 
This mixture starts a fermentation which breaks up 
the muck and leaves it, in the Spring, about equal 
in value to stable manure. We must remember that 
most samples of muck are fairly rich in nitrogen, 
but contain little or no potash and phosphoric acid. 
Hauling out muck is something like trying to gather 
forest leaves. Tho.se who have never tried either 
job have a large idea of the value of leaves and 
muck, but experience shows that when labor is con¬ 
sidered there is not much i)rofit in the work. 
* 
100 Fruit Trees On Every Farm 
T hat is the latest slogan, and we call it a good 
one. Of all the places in the world a farm 
should be headquarters for vegetables and fi-uit. A 
farm without a garden or an orchard is not a full 
home, and cannot become an attractive place for 
civilized people to live. We have heard people make 
a fair argument against working a farm garden, but 
we never heard any argument worth considering 
against a farm orchard. It requires but little judg¬ 
ment and skill to plant a fruit tree and carry it to 
bearing age. This does not refer to expert care, but 
to good trees which bear good fruit. Apple, peach, 
pear, plum, cherry and quince. Give us one sound 
reason why there should not be 100 trees suitably 
divided among these fruits on jour farm. We 
shall keep right at this until every farm worthy of 
the name has its 100 fruit trees. A long job, you 
may saj’, but that makes it all the better. We shall 
be glad to give advice about varieties for j'our 
section and methods of planting and care—but at 
any rate we must have JOO fruit trees on every 
farm! 
* 
I AM not sure that Westchester Co., N. Y.' would 
tolerate sheep enough to w'arrant a growers’ organiza¬ 
tion, but few though we be we ought to get together 
and stand with the more productive growers for some¬ 
thing definite, and here’s hoping for the future. 
E. J. LIEKERT. 
IGHT! In many cases the need of an organiza¬ 
tion is greater among the few than where there 
are many. Every county in the Eastern States 
should have a sheep growers’ association. On tlie 
first page this w’eek Mr. Liekert gives some thought 
liroducers regarding wool and yam. Why uot get 
together? 
* 
T he picture on the next page is taken from a pub¬ 
lication of the reclamation service. It is sup¬ 
posed to show what the returning soldiers will do 
when they come back from the war. Like many 
other ideal pictures, it is uot exactly true to life. 
We have not noticed that these young men run with 
great speed away from the girls after a farm! Most 
ot them want some girl to go along with them, for a 
farm without a contented housekeeper is at best an 
apologj' for a farm—an attempt at a home. And it 
is right at the hands and inclination of the girl that 
many of these elaborate farm plans Avill break 
down. -At the end of the Civil War it could be said 
with truth that it was a necessary part of our Na¬ 
tional life raid development that great tracts of land 
in the Far West should be subdued and civilized. It 
was necessary, oi' considered .so. that tliousands of 
men and women should he sacrificed and endure pri¬ 
vations and hardships in order that the nation 
should find a place to stretch and develop a new 
spirit. Many of the old pioneers did as much for 
their countiy on the prairie or iu the forest as our 
December 28, 1918 
soldiers did on the battlefield. Then a battle with 
the desert wnis necessary. It cannot be said today 
that reclaiming the waste and cut-over lauds of the 
West and South is a national necessity. There is 
land enough in the sections now well inhabited to 
produce all needed food and provide eiiiployment. 
For example, a Jerseymau might well ask this ques¬ 
tion : 
“If it is desired to drain swamp lands or make 
dry lands profitable through Government aid, why 
not start with Ocean, Atlantic and Cape May coun¬ 
ties, New Jersey? AATiy go thousands of miles away 
from where people live?’’ 
There is no question that the idea of owuiug a 
farm and paying for it on easy terms will appeal to 
many young soldiers. Some of them will succeed; 
others will be back-to-the-landers without experi¬ 
ence or frue farm spirit. These latter should not be 
encouraged to start, for there are two things which 
must be avoided. Farming must not be made the 
great social dump heap upon which every man or 
woman who fails iu other industries will be thrown. 
Again, there must not be such a rapid increase in 
food production iu one part of the country as to ruin 
another section. 
That w’as just about what happened throiigli the 
Government’s land policy after the (’ivil AVar. The 
writer of this “went AVest” in the late •“seventies.’’ 
He left a farm neighborhood iu New England where 
farmers faced ruin iu con.'^equence of the cheap bread 
and meat poui’od in from the AA'est. In a week he 
pa.ssed fi'om that neighborhood into a AA’estern coun¬ 
try where farmers were in debt and sadlj' discoui-- 
aged because thej^ could get little or nothing for 
what they raised. The pi-osperous peojile were the 
money-lenders, dealers and buj’ers and transporta¬ 
tion people. There was the organization and starting 
of our modern 35-cent dollar, made possible b.v ex¬ 
ploiting free or cheap land until there was an over¬ 
production of food. 
lit 
T he present organization of the Red Cross in 
country districts is the most active and etiieient 
machine for rural improvement that has yet been 
devised. J'he women who have handled and organ¬ 
ized this work have done wonder.s. They have not 
onlj' raised money and accumulated supplies, but 
they have built up a spirit of .sacrifice and endeavor 
which cannot possiblj' be valued in material things. 
Now that the war is nearing its end there should be 
no thought of giving up this Red Cross work. It is too 
valuable, and its possibilities for countrj' improve¬ 
ment are too great. Is there not some waj’ of utiliz¬ 
ing this mighty organization so as to help the human 
side of country work? Those of us wdio believe iu 
the future of country living and iu farming must 
realize that something besides farm education and 
business co-operation will be needed to make our 
rural homes wdiat we want them to be. There must 
be a soul or spirit in the work, and the women who 
have given such noble service to the Red Cross may 
well take charge of it. About the worst thing that 
could happen would be for the educators aud pm- 
fes.sioiuil oftice-holders to try to direct such a woi-k 
for agriculture. Let these women alone—only en¬ 
courage them to keep up their organizations aud con¬ 
tinue their work in their own way. 
Brevities 
1‘HosrHORUS and liine ! Phosphorus and lime! Both 
of them are needed to bring the soil to time. 
The chances are that your little Avorld at home needs 
jou more than the great world does. 
The latest scheme is to start a Belgian hare re.s- 
tauraut in New York Citj-—to “boom” a demand for 
this meat. 
You will be interested to know that the farmerette 
who advertised for a farm job secured more than 50 
replies. 
Several people have written asking when they can 
write to friends iu Germany or obtain money from Ger¬ 
man legacies. Not liludy until after peace is definitely 
signed, and that will be May or later. 
In AA’yandotte Co., Kan., school children init up a 
great sujiply of canned fruits and vegetables. This food 
will be used this AA'inter in providing school lunches for 
the children. 
AA'e have no confidence in any scheme of selling Bel¬ 
gian hares and guinea pigs at high prices with a “guar¬ 
antee” of buying back all the increase. \A'e consider 
all such schemes to be “too good to be true.” 
No DOUBT about it. Dried grasshoppers make good 
chicken feed. From their name they should supply both 
green food and energy. Tons of them will be fed this 
season—carried over from the grain and grass fields iu 
the. AVestern States, where they were caught by the 
millions. 
