Delay in Freight Shipments 
This year shippers of perishable fruits to the 
Western markets have a new problem. Before the 
war tender products, like apples, peaches, pears, 
currants, etc., had a three-day run to Chicago, with 
a two-day delivery at Buffalo, Cleveland and Detroit. 
During the war 24 hours were added, making deliv¬ 
eries one day later. Recently another 24 hours has 
been added, making a difference of two days in the 
deliveries to Western points. Both shippers and re¬ 
ceivers are in protest against this new schedule. 
Mr. A. H. Smith, the regional director, who was for¬ 
merly president of the New York Central, is blamed 
for the new regulation. It is asserted that the Dele- 
ware, Lackawanna & Western has a shorter route 
and more efficient service, and often has its cars on 
the Chicago tracks a whole day before they can dis¬ 
charge them under the new rule. The New York 
Central is, it is said, the weak sister in this traffic, 
and Mr. Smith and other Central officials who dom¬ 
inate the traffic board made the regulations to suit 
New York Central conditions and without regard to 
the other lines or the public interest. Whatever 
may be the cause, two days’ delay in the delivery of 
perishable fruit is a serious matter to shippers, and 
can hardly fail to result in damage to shipments and 
loss to shippers. 
Milk Prices for June 
The price for June milk has been figured at $2.89 
per 100 lbs. on the usual basis for 3 per cent milk. 
We find the average quotation for butter 92 score, 
April 20 to May 19. inclusive, <’2!4c, and average for 
green cheese 32c. For butter 3 lbs. fat .84 of a lb. 
of fat in 1 lb. butter = 3.57 lbs. butter in 100 lbs. 
3 per cent milk x .62%c = 2.23 -f .92 for skim- 
milk = 3.15. For cheese, 9.194 lbs. cheese in 100 lbs. 
3 per cent milk x 32c = 2.94 + 22 value of whey = 
3.16: 3.15 + 3.16 = 6.31 2 = 3.155 less .15 - 
3.005 per 100 lbs. for June 3 per cent milk. 
There is a full supply of liquid milk, but the de¬ 
mand for condensed milk remains in excess of the 
supply. 
Substitute For Ice In Milk Handling 
Since the approach of hot weather milk distri¬ 
butors and the city board of health have expressed 
concern about the shortage of ice in many producing 
districts for the cooling of milk. There is no doubt 
about the shortage of ice in some sections, and extra 
care will be necessary to insure safe delivery of 
sweet milk. It is suggested that where the usual 
supply of ice is lacking the milk should be cooled 
as soon after leaving the cow as possible in running 
spring water, and immerse the can two or three 
inches below the level of the milk in the can. It 
is also suggested in order to hold down temperature 
as much as possible a wet blanket be used to cover 
the milk while en route to the creamery or station. 
It is not expected that these precautions will fully 
compensate for the use of ice. but every possible 
precaution should be taken to preserve the milk, not 
only for the convenience of dealers and the safety 
of consumers, but also to save wastage and loss to 
the producer. 
Trouble Over Milk Prices 
Many of us hero joined the League because Borden’s 
was buying here. During the January strike we used 
other channels, with heavy losses. When the strike was 
settled Borden’s held out an extra day because they did 
not want to include the Richmond, Vt., plant, and then 
agreed to do so. They have now paid us at a price 23c 
per cwt. less than the League price for January, and 
proportionately for February and March. Will you 
take the matter up? 
Aside from this they have reported a shortage of 
weights, as follows: 
February . 69 lbs. at 3.60 = $2.4S 
March . 193 lbs. at 3.26 = 6.29 
April . 188 lbs. at 2.96 = 5.56 
Total .$14.33 
I want to get pay for all milk delivered. Will you 
take up these shortages? w. B. wheelock. 
Vermont. 
While it was the published information that Bor¬ 
den’s had backed down on the Richmond proposition, 
as Mr. Wheelock states, the Borden’s Company writes 
that it did not agree to pay the League price at 
Richmond and that it was definitely understood be¬ 
fore the Governor's Milk Commission that Richmond 
was not to be included in the price, and that Mr. 
Wheelock was paid the same price as other patrons 
of the Richmond plant. Under the circumstances 
we could not insist on this part of the claim. 
At first the Borden’s Company denied the short¬ 
age, but after sending for the records to check up. it 
has settled the claim. The lesson is that every pro- 
dueer should keep a daily record of his deliveries. 
lbe RURAL NEW-YORKER 
and check it up when he receives Wis check to see 
that no mistake has been made to his loss. 
Is Your Creamery Bonded? 
On May 15 I received a check for milk for the last 
two weeks of March. There was no statement of the 
weight, and nothing to show how many days’ deliveries 
were paid for, nor the fat test. We need the money to 
pay feed bills and the like. What shall we do? 
New York. , k. e. w. 
First go to the creamery and demand written 
statement to show daily deliveries and fat test, and 
for the future get your weights every day and keep 
a record of it. Second, if you belong to the League, 
see the officers and have them write to the Agricul¬ 
tural Department at Albany, and find out how much 
milk your creamery or milk company is buying, and 
if bonded by the department, and for how much. 
But no matter whether bonded or not. the buyer 
should be held to prompt payments evei’y 35 days, or 
monthly at most. No individual producer, of course, 
could enforce these conditions, but the organization 
can. and the stricter they are enforced the less will 
be the chances of losses. 
The Argument For “Daylight Saving” 
Daylight saving was adopted in this country for the 
following main reasons: 
1. Because it proved a success in 12 European 
countries. 
2. Because it would bring our time into uniformity 
with Europe, our exchanges being particularly inter¬ 
ested in this. 
3. Because it would save about one-quarter of the 
people’s gas bills. 
4. Because it would save about a million and a 
quarter tons of coal used in the manufacture of gas and 
electric current. 
5. Because it would increase home gardening. 
6. Because it would give added opportunity for 
healthful sports and recreation during Summer after¬ 
noons. 
7. Because it would relieve workers from the strain 
of the last hour’s work in the heat of the afternoon, 
substituting an hour in the cooler morning. All of the 
above mentioned advantages, and many more, have been 
secured by the operation of this very simple plan. 
The only losers by dayligLt saving are the gas com¬ 
panies. The single note of opposition to the idea when 
discussed at the first public conference I called in the 
office of the Borough President of Manhattan came 
from a representative of the gas company. Later on. 
when the Daylight Saving Bill had passed, it was again 
the lighting interests that argued for the extension of 
the plan throughout the whole year instead of only in 
the Summer months. We understood perfectly well 
that such an extension throughout the Winter would 
kill the plan by ’’turning the sublime into the ridicu¬ 
lous,” and we opposed and helped to defeat it. It really 
goes without saying that you can't save daylight before 
daylight. In view of the steady opposition by the 
lighting interests whose profits are affected, it is sus¬ 
pected that they are responsible for the recent systematic 
propaganda among farmers, who themselves never 
showed any particular interest in this matter. The 
farmers have always been daylight savers. They are 
not compelled to rise earlier by the daylight saving act. 
They were always guided and many continue to be 
guided by the sun, while city dwellers have been con¬ 
trolled by the clock. City and suburban people rise at 
the same hour Summer and Winter—the only way td 
have them enjoy the benefits of early sunrise and late 
sunset is through the daylight saving plan of pushing 
the clock forward in Summer. There is a practically 
unanimous sentiment among workers in favor of day¬ 
light saving. While certain owners of farms are said 
to fear the competition of home gardening, encouraged 
by daylight saving, or see a loss in work ceasing earlier 
in the afternoon, the farmhands as a class favor day¬ 
light saving. 
Every new movement requires new adjustment; it 
seems to me that the railroads should show consider¬ 
ation to the farmers in adjusting train schedules to 
meet any new requirement on their part. There should 
be a reasonable attitude on both sides. I am snre there 
is enough patriotism and wisdom among the farmers 
as among all other good citizens to appreciate the fact 
that what is best for the greatest number of our popu¬ 
lation is. in the long run, the best for each one. even 
though there may be some discomfort in one particular 
or another. Such great saving of gas, coal and, most 
important of all. health, by the masses should not be 
upset lightly on account of minor considerations. 
Every fair-minded citizen will agree with me that if 
this or any other legislation is to be attacked it should 
be done openly and frankly and that the scheme which 
was resorted to of attaching a rider to the Agricultural 
Appropriation Bill to repeal daylight saving is cer¬ 
tainly not American. If any interest attempts to take 
away what is considered a great economic and social 
blessing by the great mass of our citizenship, let it be 
thrashed out in the open. The American Federation 
of Labor and local unions, the women’s clubs and 
chambers of commerce have favored and continue to 
endorse the Daylight Saving Act. We hope that this 
e"d oth°r blessings which came to us as by-products 
of terrible war may continue with us permanently. 
MARCUS At. MARKS, 
President, National Daylight Saving Association. 
This is probably the best statement that can be made 
for the daylight saving plan. Mr. Marks is a man of 
high and worthy public ideals, but he is a city man 
and. like most others, unable to understand or analyze 
the conditions under which farmers must work. Most 
city people say “I cannot understand why a farmer 
cannot arrange his work like any other worker.” They 
never will understand until they are obliged to live and 
work as farmers do. Y*et, no doubt, they will continue 
to arrange life for us. The farmers have led a natural 
life—with habits of work and living based on natural 
laws, like the sun, the seasons and the weather. Life 
in the city becomes more and more unnatural with 
ha*bits decided by human rather than natural laws. A 
city man gets up* an hbu"r*earlier and is stHl one hour 
941 
behind the time at which nature forces a farmer 
naturally to rise. The railroads, creameries and other 
agencies which handle the farmers’ goods advance their 
schedules and compel him to get up an hour earlier 
than before. This means before daylight. In our own 
case the new time, instead of saving light, compels 
us to use more oil and electricity at our farm work. A 
city man starts to his work on a dry pavement. IIow 
can he understand that the earlier hour compels work 
m dew-soaked grass, or corn and beans as wet as a 
sponge? On our own farm we figure a loss of 15 per 
cent efficiency through the inability to do good work 
before the dew is. dried. While the city man claims a 
gain for cutting off one hour in the afternoon he forgets 
that the new time puts farmhands in the field when the 
sun is directly overhead. We doubt the great saving 
in gas and electric bills—certainly when the farmer 
is forced out an hour earlier his expenses for light are 
increased. The gas companies had nothing to do with 
any “systematic propaganda among farmers.” No 
statement could be more absurd than that to anyone 
who understands the farmer’s life and habits of thought. 
The bill was “put over” on the farmers. They did not 
know how it would affect them until it was tried. Now 
that they find it. as they believe, injurious, they are 
justified in trying to have it modified or repealed. As 
for the argument that farmers are opposed to home 
gardens—we have received hundreds of letters of pro¬ 
test. Very few are from gardeners. The great majority 
are from dairymen and general farmers who do not, in 
any way, come into competition with home gardeners. 
The R. N.-Y. represents the great majority of its readers 
in this matter. After a careful canvass we became 
convinced that at least 85 per cent of our readers are 
opposed to the law. TV e think their arguments and 
their evidence are sound, and we know that a good pro¬ 
portion of workmen in town and city also oppose the 
law. The unfortunate thing about it is that the city 
man will not or cannot appreciate these arguments, 
because he knows nothing of farm work or farm con¬ 
ditions. 
The Otsego County Improvement Asso¬ 
ciation 
The Otsego County (N. Y.) Improvement Association 
was organized by about 350 farmers and business men 
following a luncheon provided by the Oneonta Chamber 
of Commerce, at Oneonta, N. Y., on May 15, 1919. 
This organization is the result of a developed abilitv to 
work together; mutual confidence, and better under¬ 
standing that has been given the farmers of Otsego 
County through the Farm Bureau, and the business men 
through their Board of Trade organizations. Now we 
have the two groups together in a single organization. 
PURPOSES.—The main purpose of the organization 
is. generally speaking, to develop the resources of Ot¬ 
sego County—-particularly its agricultural resources— 
and along this line to “cash in” on the educational work 
that has been done in the county in the past. Particu¬ 
lar purposes are: 
1. Organization of a Farm Settlement Bureau to pro¬ 
tect desirable settlers from fraud in the purchase of 
land, and to assist them in locating and starting farm¬ 
ing operations in the county. 
2. Reforestation of waste lands : and the development 
of the farm woodlot. 
3. Improvement of the hill roads of the county. 
4. Development of co-operative buying and selling 
groups to handle lime. feed, seeds, fertilizer, etc. 
5 Development of extension agricultural education 
with the boys and girls of the county. 
6. To support morally the Farm ‘and Home Bureaus 
and to work with them on a joint program. 
ORGANIZATION.—The board of directors of the 
association is composed of one business man and one 
farmer from each of the 24 towns, and two from the 
city of Oneonta. A significant thing about the board of 
directors is that the constitution provides that no direc¬ 
tor can stand for re-election. • The board of directors 
will elect its own officers and executive committee. 
Membership in the organization is $5. It is desired to 
secure 1.000 members. Individuals or firms can sub¬ 
scribe for plural memberships, but will only have one 
vote. It is expected through the rale of these plural 
memberships to raise an annual budget of at least 
$25,000. 
RELATION TO FARM BUREAU.—All Otsego 
County recognizes the new organization as an out¬ 
growth of the Otsego County Farm Bureau. As far as 
the farmers are concerned, it will be the same men who 
for the past several years have kept the Otsego County 
Farm Bureau Association the largest in the United 
States, who will develop the new organization. It is 
purposed that the Bureau and the Improvement Asso¬ 
ciation will occupy joint offices, and that while they 
will maintain a separate and distinct organization and 
staff, they will work together on joint projects. The 
Improvement Association has employed the Farm Bu¬ 
reau manager as its secretary. 
COMMENTS.—Undoubtedly, the Otsego County Im¬ 
provement Association is an outgrowth of a sentiment 
that prevails throughout the country for more activity 
by farmers along commercial lines. Also, because of its 
dual membership, it may be said to be the result of a 
recognition by business men of the progress that farm¬ 
ers are making along organization lines. Theoretically, 
to combine the rural and town interests of a county into 
a single organization to develop that county is an ideal 
arrangement. Whether or not it is practical, we will 
have to depend upon Otsego County to answer. Fast 
experience has proven that so far as farmers are con¬ 
cerned. the more general the organization the less effect¬ 
ive it is. It is the County Sheep Growers’ Association 
that sells the wool, the Dairymen’s League which sells 
the milk, the Fruit Growers’ Association that buys the 
spray materials, and so on, which have given the best 
results in the past—principally because they render a 
vital service. If the farmers of Otsego County are led 
in their enthusiasm for the new organization to lessen 
their support of the old agricultural organizations, they 
will lose by it. If through the new organization they 
can in co-operation with the business men stimulate the 
agricultural organizations of the county, they will be 
gainers. h. e. raboock. 
■ -. - County Agent Leader. 
