742 
The Rural New-Yorker 
THE BUSINESS FARMER'S FABER 
A National Weekly Journal lor Country and Suburban Homes 
Established iS50 
Published weekly by the Rnral Publishing Company, 833 West 30th Street, New York 
Herbert W. Colungwood, President and Editor. 
John J. Dillon, Treasurer and General Manager. 
Wm. F. Dillon, Secretary. Mrs . E. T. Royle, Associate Editor. 
SUBSCRIPTION: ONE DOLLAR A YEAR 
To foreign countries in the Universal Postal Union, $2.04, equal to 8a 6d, or 
8)6 marks, or 10)6 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 the advertising of 
reliable houses only. But 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 subscribei-s 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 bo 
responsible for the debts of honest bankrupts sanctioned by the courts. 
Notice of the complaint must he sent to us within one month of the time of 
the transaction, and to identify it, you should mention The Rural New- 
Yorker when writing the advertiser 
OME one says you cannot do big things when 
you are surrounded by small ones. That is not 
quite correct. By doing the small things well you 
lay the only foundation upon which big things can 
be built. All big things are combined small ones put 
together so they will stick. 
* 
T HE prize offer for plans to guide the Dairymen’s 
League in its future work proved a great suc¬ 
cess. Many plans were sent, and we found it diflieult 
to decide which is best. As stated, we have had less 
regard for literary merit than for plain, honest 
sense and evident thought and experience. As a 
result we have now obtained the best and most 
complete expression of League opinion that has ever 
been made. It comes from the plain dairymen who 
are capable of clear and high thinking. Many of 
them had no thought of winning any prize. They 
wanted to give expression to their thought and also, 
as some of them say, they knew we wanted it for a 
good and useful purpose. The best thought is not 
confined to the prize-winning essays or more elab¬ 
orate papers, but is contained in the letters written 
by hands that milk the cows and carry the burdens 
of practical labor. We shall give, a little later, the 
substance of these strong and sensible letters. There 
has never been anything quite like them before, be¬ 
cause the writers knew they were free to say just 
what they thought. This they have done soberly 
and clearly—without personal feeling or hope of any 
special advantage. The sentiment expressed is pro¬ 
nounced in favor of one organization. They want 
more direct influence of the members on the League’s 
policies, and they want local control of local plants. 
They are all for a wider development of the city 
wholesale trade. The sentiment expressed in these 
letters is overwhelmingly opposed to the plan of 
taking over all the receiving plants and assuming 
the financial and business burdens proposed at Utica. 
It is a fair inference from these contributions that 
the plan must be revised. Many of these writers 
request that any plan be submitted to a fair refer¬ 
endum vote of all League members. This corre¬ 
spondence is the best discussion of League policies 
ever worked out. Never before have the dairymen 
had a good chance to express themselves freely and 
they have taken advantage of it. As their opinions 
are pl’inted you will see how clearly the practical 
men understand what they need. 
* 
I T is surprising how many readers write that a doc¬ 
tor is needed in their locality. The war seems to 
have drained the country doctors into the army, and 
they do not seem inclined to go back to the hills— 
where they are needed. Many of these back districts 
offer good financial prospects for a capable doctor, 
and there is a great chance for social service. The 
medical man may prove the most efficient extension 
worker. 
* 
1 have been a reader of your paper for a number of 
years and I know and appreciate what you are doing 
for the farmers and rural community in general. Now 
I want to ask you if you think it would do any good to 
get a list of signatures and forward to our Congressman 
and Senator, asking for the repeal of the daylight-sav¬ 
ing law at the extra session, or is it too late? 
New York. o. E. price. 
E think such statements and petitions are good 
—though individual letters are far better. 
We have a case now where a man claims that a big 
petition recently sent him does not represent the pri¬ 
vate opinion of the signers. If each one had written 
him separately he would have “come down.” It is 
not likely that the Senators from New York will pay 
much attention now. Senator Calder fathered the 
“daylight saving” bill and is responsible for it. lie 
says he will not change. We do not know how Sen¬ 
Tbe RURAL NEW-YORKER 
ator Wadsworth stands. As a rule he seems to do as 
as he thinks best. The most effective work will be 
done by Senator Arthur Capper of Kansas. He is 
openly and actively in favor of the repeal of this 
law. Give him the ammunition and let him load the 
gun. 
I T is not necessary to urge our readers to invest 
in the next new Victory loan. From every point 
of view it becomes a privilege and duty to buy the 
new bonds to the limit of economy. Of all the 
securities issued by this Government these Victory 
bonds are the most valuable. They pay 4% per 
cent interest and are absolutely as sure and safe 
as the hills. This great nation (greater than ever 
before through its war record) stands back of these 
bonds—pledged to the last dollar-—the last grain of 
wheat—to redeem them. This is no speculative in¬ 
vestment to be bought and sold later, but a sound 
and solid security in which to put your savings 
against a time of need. While all this is time, the 
financial argument is the smallest part of it. The 
Government needs this money to complete its big 
job. Your boy and mine must be brought back from 
Europe, paid off and given either their old jobs or 
one just as good. It was our duty to help fight the 
war through and help pay for the fighting. We all 
understood that, and we all rose to the occasion with 
each succeeding loan. It is now more than ever a 
patriotic duty to complete the job and pay for the 
cleaning up. We do not attempt to tell people what 
they ought to do as individuals. We are going to 
help this Victory loan to the limit of our resources, 
and we hope our readers will do the same. 
* 
T HERE can be no denying the fact that a spirit of 
unrest prevails in many country neighborhoods. 
It has grown rapidly since the soldiers began to come 
home. We have reports of tenants and hired men 
who repudiate their contracts and move out of the 
neighborhood for no apparent reason except that they 
are restless. It does not seem to be a question of 
wages or treatment. Society is, for the time, in a 
ferment, and working people are curious and ill at 
ease. It is just a desire to go somewhere—to do 
something else. The soldiers have brought back 
great stories of what they have seen and heard, and 
many of those who remained at home have caught 
the spirit of wandering. The women and girls, too, 
feel this desire for something new. Many of the 
girls have been at war work, and most of the women 
have taken part in some public activities. It has 
been hard for busy fingers to give up the war knit- 
ling, and harder still for busy minds to give up the 
war thinking. All this unrest and discontent makes 
harder work for the farmei\ for it complicates the 
labor question still more. In normal times, with 
the present business outlook, there ought to be a 
flow of labor back to the farms, but with the present 
unrest most of our leports show a harder labor prob¬ 
lem than ever. The same thing happened on a 
smaller scale after the Civil Wai*. For a year or two 
there was much wandering about on the part of 
working people. The spirit of unrest finally passed 
away and men settled down to the real business of 
life. So it will be in the present case. There seems 
to be no way of changing it. Young people will con¬ 
tinue to wander and refuse to settle down until the 
spirit of adventure leaves them. We do not think 
that in the end they will be much the worse for it. 
* 
T HE astonishing figures printed on page 722 show 
what robbers some of our common weeds really 
are. Let us realize that a big plant of pigweed, 
lamb’s-quarters or purslane will take out of the soil 
twice as much nitrogen as an equal weight of clover. 
In addition it sucks about twice as much water from 
the land. The weed will grow under conditions 
which would kill clover or corn. It is a robber, and, 
strange to say, many of us help this robber to get 
away with the spoil. We do that when we burn the 
weeds. We all know how ragweed or pigweed and 
other leaved robbers will grow on land too poor to 
produce corn. These thieves have the power to break 
in and steal nitrogen which is locked away from 
corn or clover. Having stolen it they stand with the 
goods in their pockets waiting for man to come and 
burn the field over. That is just what they want, for 
the burning drives the needed nitrogen off into the 
air. When we plow these weeds under, ihstead of 
burning, we make them work, for the nitrogen which 
they have stolen goes to feed useful plants. We 
have seen orchards in which weeds were user] as a 
cover crop with some clover and the results were 
remarkable. It is said that it “takes a thief to catch 
a thief.” It surely takes a weed to get nitrogen out 
of a poor soil, and when it has done this the weed 
April 20, 1919 
should be plowed under and made to work—not 
burned to let the nitrogen escape. Sheep and hogs 
will eat many weeds. Some day these robbers will be 
tamed and trained into useful farm citizens. 
* 
I enclose for your delectation an editorial clipped 
from the “Elmira Advertiser” of March 18. This paper 
has hitherto manifested no understanding of the farmer’s 
problems or sympathy therewith. It seems that a first 
ray of light has penetrated its cranium. The real ani¬ 
mus of the change, I fear, is not far to seek. The 
Democrats (Mr. McAdoo) raised the wages of the rail¬ 
road men and others, thus supposedly commandeering a 
large labor vote; therefore the Republicans will counter 
by taking up the cudgel for the farmer and pocket bis 
vote as a matter of course! What then? Notwithstand¬ 
ing, every way, whether in pretense or in truth, the 
farmer’s cause is preached; and I therein do rejoice, 
yea ,aud will rejoice. j. w. cowan. 
New York. 
IIE article referred to repeats what The R. N.-Y. 
and other farm papers have been saying for 
years about the injustice of farm conditions. Per¬ 
haps Mr. Cowan does not size the situation up prop¬ 
erly ! We agree with him that “whether in pretense 
or in truth” every sermon along this line helps. The 
trouble is that in the past too many of us have 
thought more of the preacher than of the preach¬ 
ment. The great aim of political education now is 
to reverse that estimate of values. 
* 
W HAT is the matter with the bureau or the bar¬ 
rel organ which is responsible for the news 
about the wheat crop? First we are told that the 
new crop will reach over one billion and a quarter 
bushels, with “conditions” at this time never better. 
With this statement comes the wail that the nation 
will have too much wheat and that the guaranteed 
price should be cut down! Now we are told that we 
must all begin to economize on eating wheat as the 
starving people of Europe must be fed. It makes us 
think of the farmer who received two bulletins in 
one day. One informed him that he must cut the 
corn and save all the stalks for fodder. The other 
told him he must pick off the ears and plow the 
stalks under. Each bulletin proved its case by sci¬ 
entific figures! Those who are familiar with base¬ 
ball language know what a “pinch hitter” is. There 
comes a desperate time in the game. It is the last 
inning, with the other side ahead. There are two 
men on bases and a notoriously poor batter in turn. 
Then the manager, if he is wise, takes out the poor- 
batter and puts up the best man he has in the hope 
that he will smite the ball and save the game! We 
have had enough fooling with this food question. 
Put up the farmer as a pinch hitter. 
* 
I N the first page article this week Mr. Hathaway 
has started a great question. It is really larger- 
arid more compelling than the great school question 
which was fought out last year. The same men who 
put that school matter over and who have held the 
Dairymen’s League together may now settle this dirt 
road question if they will take right hold of it. Mr. 
Hathaway says the dirt roads leading to the hill 
farms are a fright. They are all of that and more, 
and largely so because they are neglected and given 
second place to the main roads where the cars go 
through the country. This condition creates unrest 
among farmers, cuts down the price of farm land and 
discourages the very people who ought to remain in 
the country. In fact, these miserable dirt roads run¬ 
ning back among the hills do more than anything 
else to make young people look across the hills to 
the smoke rising from the town. We have now come 
to a time in the farm development of our Eastern 
States when the improvement of these side roads is 
of greater importance than building new main roads. 
The time has come when people in the back country 
districts must make a fight for better roads to the 
hill farm. The thing to do is to organize and go after 
it as we did last year on the school question. The 
R. N.-Y. offers its best services in the battle, for we 
are convinced that the need is great. 
Brevities 
There is a difference between the whole truth and the 
truth with a hole in it. 
The highest analysis we can find for any legume hay 
is 23 per cent of protein in dry Alfalfa leaves. Yet 
some of the dried weeds contain more. 
A good boarding-house keeper may satisfy her board¬ 
ers with “corned beef hash and a smile,” but a herd of 
barn boarders will not accept anything less than a full 
meal. 
As the asparagus pokes its nose above ground this 
season we are more than ever inclined to urge every 
farmer to plant a bed of it. It is a vegetable far up in 
A as a farm credit. 
We understand that the Government threatens to ar¬ 
rest anyone who attempts to spread the report of sol¬ 
diers who have come back from the war with both arms 
and both legs amputated. Right! Such reports are not 
true, and are intended to do damage. 
