572 
Vie RURAL NEW-YORKER 
March ”!>, 1!)!'.» 
The Rural New-Yorker 
THE BUSINESS FARMER'S TAPER 
A National Weekly Journal for Country and Suburban Homes 
Established JSoO 
Published weekly by the Rnral Publishing: Company, 333 West. 30th Street. New Turk 
Herbert W. Colungwood, President and Editor. 
Jonx J. DibbON, Treasurer and General Manager. 
Wa F. Ditj.on, Secretary. JIus. E. T. Roth:. Associate Editor. 
SUBSCRIPTION: ONE DOLLAR A YEAR 
To foreign countries in tho Universal Postal Union, £ 2 . 01 , equal to 8s. 6d, or 
8>* marks, or 10?* francs. Remit in money order, express 
order, personal check or bank draft. 
Entered at New York Post Office as Second Class Matter. 
Advertising rates, 75 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 tho advertising of 
reliable houses only. Rut to make doubly sure, we will make good any loss 
to paid 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 upon 
to adjust differences or mistakes between our subscribers and honest, 
responsible houses, whether advertisers or not. We willingly use our good 
offices to this end, but such cases should not be confused with dishonest 
transactions. We protect subscribers against rogues, but we will not be 
responsible for the debts of honest bankrupts sanctioned by the courts. 
Notice of the complaint must be sent to us within one month of the time of 
the transaction, and to identify it, you should mention THUS Hr rap New- 
Yorker when writing the advertiser 
I cannot desist from writing- an open postal card; 
want everybody between this city and New York to be¬ 
come acquainted with your super-splendid periodical. It 
has been in our family since it was born, and has con¬ 
tinuously improved until the March 1 number is far 
superior to any other similar publication. Yon are giv¬ 
ing too much for the price. H. B. OLIN. 
Philadelphia. 
{{T^TTILESS publicity” suits us. We are glad to 
■L have our name before all who read postal 
cards in the mail. Our friend notes the three “3s” 
in our address, “333 W. 30th St.,” and says “four of 
a kind heats two pairs.” Perhaps some of our friends 
understand his language. There are plenty of fam¬ 
ilies in which The It. N.-Y. has reached four genera¬ 
tions. 
* 
• 
HE Federal Land bank for the district covering 
New England, New York and New Jersey is 
located at Springfield, Mass. At the end of two 
years’ operation it presents the following figures : 
Maine . 
No. of 
Assoc. 
17 
No. of 
Loans 
335 
Amt. of Loans 
$550,300 
New Hampshire .... 
8 
92 
197,350 
Vermont . 
11 
215 
592.300 
Massachusetts. 
15 
460 
1.150.155 
Rhode Island. 
•> 
w 
30 
67,600 
Connecticut . 
15 
260 
803,950 
New York. 
46 
866 
2.635.590 
New Jersey . 
17 
172 
575.850 
When this system of Federal loans was started it 
was not generally thought that this district would 
patronize it largely. This is the great money center 
of the country, and farm loans had been quite easy. 
These figures, however, show that over $5,000,000 
have been Invested through the banks, and this, we 
think, is only a beginning. Probably a good share of 
this money was borrowed to wipe out old obligations 
and assume new ones. We think that as the years 
go on this bank will give a new character to the 
Eastern farm mortgage and make it a more desirable 
security. The system is not by any means perfect, 
because it does not give the man without capital a 
chance to use his character as an asset. After the 
system has become firmly established we believe it 
will he improved so as to give the tenant and supe¬ 
rior hired man a better chance at capital. 
* 
Farming conditions in New England are at a critical 
point. New England imports So per cent of her food 
supplies for man and beast. She can and should pro¬ 
duce 85 per cent or more thereof. The seriousness of tho 
situation is attested by the recent formation (1918) of 
a league of manufacturers in Massachusetts to promote 
agriculture in order that New England’s industrial su¬ 
premacy may not be further endangered by enforced 
removal to centers of larger food production and lower 
food costs. J - s. B. 
BSOLFTELY true. No nation, no section, can 
endure and thrive unless it can produce the 
larger part of its food supply, or at least a good 
share of its bread and meat. England nearly lost the 
great war through her mistaken policy of neglecting 
agriculture and going to other nations for her food. 
It is political suicide for any nation or any section to 
degrade agriculture and discourage farmers by giv¬ 
ing preference and privilege to manufacturing. Now 
England lias been traveling the road along which old 
England walked into trouble. The terrible Winter 
of last year and the trouble over freight service 1ms 
shown the New England people their peril. All the 
money and credit of that rich section will not pre¬ 
vail to hold her manufacturing industries unless the 
local food supplies of bread and meat can he in¬ 
creased. And they can be. There is only one reason 
why the New England States cannot produce at 
least two-thirds of the needed bread and meat. That 
one reason is the failure of the New England people 
to believe that it can be done! It is now nearly 
300 years since the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth. 
During these three centuries the New England peo¬ 
ple have time after time aroused themselves as a 
patriotic duty and saved their section. Now they 
must do it again, this time by making their soil pro¬ 
duce more bread and meat! 
* 
I have read in our daily papers that, the city men were 
getting out buttons with “No Beer, No Work.” Now, 
why can’t we farmers and dairymen have buttons with 
“Old Time or No Milk”? geo. waliiizer. 
T is well understood why this “No beer, no work” 
campaign is started. No one seriously expects that, 
the National Prohibition amendment will be repealed, 
but the plan is to secure legislation which will legally 
class mild beer and wine as non-intoxicating drinks, 
so that they can still he made and sold. That is a 11- 
t.here is to that. The “daylight saving” law is a piece 
of fool legislation, unnecessary, and unjust to farm¬ 
ers. It is not, however, a big enough issue to war¬ 
rant us in wearing badges. Wait a little and organ¬ 
ize. Very much greater issues are coming. We need 
all our powder for the big cannon. Let us not use it 
too much in popguns. 
* 
W HEN he was appealing for farm votes Alfred 
E. Smith said if elected he would see that 
the Department of Agriculture and the Department, 
of Markets would he restored to the farmers of the 
State. He promised that each of these departments 
would be placed under the head of a single commis¬ 
sion. 
Since election Governor Smith has forgotten these 
promises. He now proposes to retain the council, a 
majority of which represents the speculative, cold 
storage and food interests; and instead of giving it 
a single head, he proposes to make the Department 
of Markets a little bureau in the Agricultural De¬ 
partment. One of the reasons for the defeat of the 
last proposed constitution by a vote of the people 
was that, it proposed to abolish the State Department, 
of Markets. Now if is proposed in the interest of 
food speculators to change the verdict of the people 
at the polls and by legislation to defeat, entirely the 
purposes and usefulness of this Department Why 
does Governor Smith now seek to change his pre¬ 
election promises? Our farmers have now just about 
reached their limit of endurance. They saw a 
Republican Governor use “agriculture” to build up 
a personal political machine. Now comes a Demo¬ 
cratic Governor apparently willing to use “agricul¬ 
ture” like a man trading jacknives. There seems 
now no remedy but to make the responsible head of 
New York agriculture an elective office within the 
reach of the people. 
* 
W E think the objection made, on page 573, to 
the printed form for figuring out the farm 
income tax is reasonable. We find many farmers 
who are unable to fill in all the blanks. They have 
not. kept an elaborate set of books, and estimates and 
inventories are little more than guesses. Their 
greatest use may be to show a small income. It 
would ho simpler and better to ask the farmer sim¬ 
ply to state what he paid out and what he took in. 
In the long run that would cover his business fully. 
No other class of business men are expected to make 
such an elaborate accounting. If we are asked why 
this objection was not made before, the answer is 
that very few of us ever received our blanks until a 
few days or hours before the return was demanded. 
1 *! 
A ND now apparently we are to have a new sci¬ 
ence—“phenology,” which is “the science of 
phenomena,” if you like that name better. This 
seems to be making a science out of old “supersti¬ 
tions” or sayings of farmers. Many farmers plant 
crops or do other farm work by signs; that is. when 
some plant or tree is in bloom or some leaf is the 
size of a “mouse’s ear” they plant corn or cotton. 
Many a fanner will not plant cotton until the locust 
trees come into bloom, or sow wheat until after the 
golden rod lias bloomed fully. For years “wisdom 
was inclined to laugh at. these “signs,” but now they 
are found to he true enough to found a new science. 
Wo regard this as a tribute to the farmer’s common 
sense and power of observation. Before long we 
may actually find out that the farmer knows more 
about his own needs and desires than the “thinkers” 
do. 
* 
W HAT right has a tenant in growing crops? 
Suppose that last year a tenant, under his 
lease, seeded 10 acres of wheat and rye. Ilis lease 
expired in January and was not renewed. What 
right has he to go on the farm and harvest the grain 
when ripe? We have many questions of that sort. 
The usual rule is that a crop like grain is not con¬ 
sidered a part of the real estate, but more in the 
nature of personal property. In that case the tenant 
has a right to go back and harvest the grain. A 
crop like grass or fruit trees is more of a permanent 
nature, and would become a part of the real estate. 
Some years ago we had a case where the tenant 
planted strawberries. lie left the farm, but de¬ 
manded the right to come back and harvest the crop. 
The court sustained him on the theory that straw¬ 
berries are picked only one year, thus being different 
from bush fruits. Hi this the court was wrong, but 
the case was never appealed. 
* 
“Ye are the salt of the earth.” 
OR many centuries the honest old word “salt” 
•lias represented about the ideal of good citizen¬ 
ship. For salt gives' sound, homely flavor and 
quality to food and also preserves it from decay. 
Applied to human life that means sound and ripe 
experience and the ability to apply it without 
egotism and great noise. We have had an age of 
“salt” and it has developed most of the world’s great 
characters. Now there seems to be an effort to 
change the standard from salt to “pep.” We are 
told that farm methods and thought and polities 
must, have more/’pep” put into them, and usually 
“pep” goes with a large appropriation—which the 
men of sober “salt” must pay. The pepper of youth 
is a very line quality. It is a condiment and not, 
like salt, a necessity of life. We all need a certain 
amount, of “pep.” Perhaps some of us need it more 
than we realize, but let our young friends stop for 
a moment and think this over. True progress in 
agriculture mill never get ahead of the slow, solid 
menial growth of the plain, middle-class farmer. All 
the “pep” ini the world ran never build the solid ' 
foundation which must be produced bg the “salt” of 
the earth. 
* 
If city people want to use the daylight-saving plan, 
why should they not go to work an hour earlier in the 
morning and quit an hour earlier at night, and let the 
clocks alone? By that method they could enjoy the same 
benefits they do now, and at. the same time they would 
not disarrange the working schedule of anyone else. 
This plan would not require any fool laws; merely an 
agreement between the employers and laborers. 
HAT question is asked by E. L. Horton in the 
Ithaca (N. Y.) Journal. . It seems that the 
Journal undertook to lecture the farmers oil “day¬ 
light saving,” and the farmers at once proceeded to 
let a little daylight into the paper. That is what we 
have long urged our people to do. The farmers and 
country people help support the local newspapers 
and they can dominate or direct them if they will 
make it. their business to put the farmers’ side into 
print. The large city dailies are at present beyond 
us, but let us begin on the papers which need our 
support and “organize them with ink.” Mr. Horton’s 
question is a fair one. If the city people want to 
get. up early why not do it for love instead of de¬ 
manding a law? 
* 
I bought a barrel of New York 8tate Baldwins a few 
days ago and paid $8 for them, because I supposed they 
were fancy fruit, but after I had taken off the first two 
layers I found this barrel was tilled with culls. The 
trees had not been sprayed, and I felt that whatever the 
price the New York farmer received for that barrel of 
apples he was dishonest, for if they were sold for culls 
t^ie barrel should have been marked so, and they should 
not have been faced with firsts. L. 1*. ii. 
Michigan. 
AN you send us the head of this barrel, or a 
•photograph of it and some of these cull apples? 
Under our laws, anyone who packed such stuff as 
“fancy fruit” can he reached and punished. Send us 
the evidence! You must remember, however, that 
good apples are now selling at $10 per barrel by the 
carload, or about $15 at retail. We know of one 
case where a New York retailer paid $14 for Green¬ 
ings, and these awful prices do not prove that the 
apple grower is getting rich. 16 sold the fruit last 
Fall at around $3 for first-class licit. At present 
retail prices your $8 barrel would rank as culls. 
How were they marked? When you paid $8 it is 
doubtful if the grower received $2.50. 
Brevities 
It is a high test of character when a man can take his 
dose of bitter medicine standing up and call it. a tonic. 
To all you good people who talk of seeding oats for a 
hay crop, let us ask, Why not add Canada pens to Gl¬ 
oats? 
Love is blind! Perhaps that is why some parents can 
see wings sprouting on their children, while to others 
those buds are more like horns. 
Many poultrymeu have developed a good trade in 
eggs for water-glass preserving, and some of them offer 
to sell the water glass with the eggs. 
Some Eastern poultrymeu object to growing small 
grain because of the trouble in thrashing it. But why 
not feed it in the sheaf and let the hens do the thrashing, 
and also provide their “litter”? 
The Ohio Experiment Station snvs that Alsike clover 
is resistant to anthrnenose ami root rot, which are 
serious where Red clover grows. The seed is smaller 
that that of Red clover and goes further. We believe 
in using Alsike freely. 
