1126 
Hf RURAL. NEW-YORKER 
July 26, 1010 
Things To Think About 
The object of this department is to give readers a chance to express themselves on farm 
matters. Not long articles can be used—just short, pointed opinions or suggestions. 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER does not always endorse what is printed here. You might 
call this a mental safety valve. 
Fighting Against Odds 
The story of the Maryland profiteer is 
ho fake, for here are two who are still 
in the "Slough of Despond.” We are 
turning every corner to develop a flock 
of 1.000 layers, and find more ways to 
spend a dollar than $5 will cover. So 
you see u'e know what, the “Profiteer” 
ran up against. Poor management? 
Well, perhaps. But I should like to 
have those who claim "mismanagement” 
take the same chances under present con¬ 
ditions, for the same period of time, and 
tee how far wrong the “Profiteer” was. 
Maryland. • \ . M. b. b. 
Scientific Food Values 
1 am thankful you are bringing up 
the matter of milk over the name of* an 
outstanding man in the laboratory. In 
science no one knows apart from the 
experimental worker; the rest of us are 
merely composition writers, and also, 
much of the newspaper stuff on food 
values is "cheap talk.” I should say 
that .scientific talk without scientific 
terms upon the physiological effect of 
the different foods in common use would 
be of great help in the farm home, as 
applied to humans, I mean. You are 
always on the food job for plants and 
animals; it is our turn now. a. h. b. 
Farmer’s Wages 
Hay is a big crop here in the North 
this season . Haying help is reported to 
be asking from $5 to $S per day and 
board. How the farmers can afford to, 
pay it io more than I can see. for with 
the bountiful crop I would expect lower 
prices. Then they tell about the farmer 
profiteering, a letter in one of the daily 
papers today referring to him as receiv¬ 
ing plumber's wages. Why shouldn't he 
receive plumber's wages, or better? 
Doesn’t it take just as much knowledge, 
skill and preparation and isn't there just 
as big an element of risk and as much 
capital invested in farming as there is 
in plumbing, both being carried on suc¬ 
cessfully? Such statements ought to be 
suppressed if possible, or at least have 
their falseness pointed out. so that they 
would boomerang. I would like very 
much to see the farmer come into his 
own. and be permitted returns commen¬ 
surate with his service—a real producer 
of human necessities. K. H. 
St. Lawrence Co., N. Y. 
Farmers and the City Press 
Enclosed find clipping from Meriden 
(Conn.) Journal, just to show the atti¬ 
tude taken toward the farmers by the 
daily prese. Does the editor see any 
chance to secure a larger share of that 
dollar as long as the city press continues 
to rant in this way about the farmers? 
Connecticut. E. M. c. 
Part of this clipping reads as follows: 
“The farmers are fighting strenuously 
for thjs repeal, and in their selfishness 
they have no thought of anything but 
themselves. Before the time of high prices 
and great demands for farm produce and 
before the era of farm credits, the agri¬ 
culturists had a hard row. They asked 
for and received much consideration. 
When the war came prices shot up and 
they made fortunes, but they still think 
they ought to be pampered and favored 
as they were before.” 
Yes, we do! We think these articleo 
will, in the end. help us. Sooner or later 
they will convince the farmers and con¬ 
sumers that they have got to get. together 
and stop this silly business of letting the 
politicians and handlers do the work for 
us. It will need this tery ranting, and a 
lot of it, to make our farmers realize the 
truth. If they are to get any improve¬ 
ment in present methods of distribution 
they must work it out themselves. All 
things are possible to farmers whenever 
they conclude to get together and do busi¬ 
ness. 
The Hired Man Question Again 
On page 1024 I note what a "Hired 
Man” says about the square deal. I 
conclude it is a personal experience, and 
hope it is an exceptional case. I have 
been a hired man myself, and have never 
had such an experience : have been hiring 
more or less help for 40 years, and have 
always made the help members of the 
family. They had as good as there was. 
and if there was any difference, better, and 
they were almost invariably good men. 
Whether it was the treatment they re¬ 
ceived or that we were fortunate in the 
selection of our help. I cannot say. I 
agree with “Hired Man” that such treat¬ 
ment as he speaks of does not tend to 
keep men on the farm, or build up the 
morale of the workers. We have little 
reason to feel above our fellows, and if 
we are going to make better men and 
women, which is our main object in life 1 . 
the success of the farm or factory being 
merely incidental, we must use them 
white, make them our friends, and con¬ 
sult with them about the work. I have 
pursued this course for years, and have 
found that it paid, not only in dollars 
and cents, but in better elations between 
man and man. w. ir. kirk. 
St. Lawrence Co.. N. Y. 
The Farmers’ Union of Maine 
This is an organization of farmers and 
country people. It recently held its an- 
nunl meeting at Waterville. with more 
than 100 in attendance. Some six or 
eight years ago the Maine Department of 
Agriculture started in to establish a sys¬ 
tem of stores, managed, financed and con¬ 
trolled by the farmers. The present 
Farmers’ T'nion is a remarkable out¬ 
growth of that start. There were 5S 
local unions represented at this meeting, 
and as is usual with Maine farmers, they 
were of the solid, conservative type of 
men who do things in a thorough manner. 
These men have started out to make co¬ 
operative organizations a success. They 
know that such organizations cannot suc¬ 
ceed unless they are desired and sup¬ 
ported by the members. It is a good 
thing to realize, as these men do, that 
whenever people of other industries work 
for farmers, thev will demand for their 
services all there is in it. and a little 
more. The Commissioner of Agriculture 
of Maine. John A. Roberts, is directly 
interested in this movement, and spoke at 
this convention. The Maine Department 
of Agriculture has a Bureau of Markets 
which is doing good work in assisting 
this movement whenever a community 
shows a desire to organize a local union. 
Trim It Up 
1 would not be without The R. N.-Y., 
as it is the best paper on the market for 
the money. I would like to answer W. 
L. C. as to the problem of the tenant 
farmer. I am a tenant farmer myself, 
running a farm on shares.' Having spent 
most of my life on a farm 1 can give W. 
L. C. a true story that can be verified 
by many other tenant farmers. City 
farmers will advertise a farm to let on 
shares, and when you answer them they 
will tell you what a good farm they have, 
and how much they realize every year, 
and most always are anxious to have you 
sign a lease which in my estimation is 
only a piece of paper, as it hardly ever 
applies to the farm you are going to lease. 
Nine times out of ten when the tenant 
moves on the farm he will find a run¬ 
down, good-for-nothing farm that will not 
raise a crop of anything, as it has not 
seen manure or fertilizer in years, and 
the orchards have been neglected for 
years. They expect the tenant to work 
these orchards, regardless of all other 
*■ 
crops, when there is no sign of fruit, and 
as W. L. C. eays, the tenant gets the 
lion’s share. I want him to show me one 
instance where the owner did not get his, 
the biggest share, and no good farmer 
will leave his farm and go to the city to 
live unless he is able to retire and leave 
the farm to some of his children or rela¬ 
tives to run. I also would suggest that 
the tenant would get references as to the 
leaser, whether he is reliable and re¬ 
sponsible, as I have seen lots of cases 
where tenant was both, and better off 
financially, as he works for all he gets. 
I would like to hear from some other ten¬ 
ant farmers. H. K. 
New York. 
New Plan for Buying Bulls 
The Farm Bureau of Windsor County, 
Vt., seems to be responsible for something 
a little new in the way of farm improve¬ 
ment. There has been organized in Wind¬ 
sor County the White River Guernsey 
Bull Association. It seems that this as¬ 
sociation is hunting for the three best 
Guernsey bulls that can be bought for 
$000. They propose to make up three 
groups or blocks of stockmen, and each 
block will contribute $200 towards the 
purchase of the bull. The part of this 
sum which each member will pay is to 
be proportional to the number of cows 
which he keeps. At the end of two years 
it is proposed thn* the bulls be passed on 
from one block to another, so as to avoid 
too close inbreeding. By adopting this 
plan these farmers seem to think they 
can get better bulls than if they acted as 
individuals, and also get more years of 
services from each bull. 
Misleading Advertisements 
Please read the enclosed advertisements 
and see if they both do not bear the 
earmarks of graft. I cut them from a 
church paper, and I do not believe that 
your (or rather our) R. N.-Y. would 
take these advertisements. c. S. L. 
You do not give the name of your 
“church paper.” but it is up to a very 
unchristian game in printing such stuff. 
One note is about a hen remedy called 
"more eggs,” the other about a wonderful 
girl who will tell you how to earn $200 
per month making candy. There is noth¬ 
ing to .show that these notes are the 
meanest sort of advertising. It is worse 
than highway robbery, and the Postoffice 
Department ought to get after this church 
paper. 
Gi'EST : "I would have been here 
sooner, but I had the misfortune to punc¬ 
ture a tire on a broken bottle.” Host: 
“But couldn't you see the bottle?” Guest: 
“Well, hardly; you .see it was in the 
pocket of the fellow I ran over.”—Life. 
A DIP 
IT’S DONE! 
jy/y/f ‘ 
DIRECTIONS 
Boil half a can of Babbitt's 
Concentrated Lye and a half 
ounce of alum in 9 gallons of 
water. Place fruit in wire basket 
or thin cloth and suspend in hot 
solution for two minutes. Rinse 
in cold water twice. For small 
quantities of fruit use 4 table¬ 
spoons of Babbitt’s and a pinch 
of alum to one gallon of water. 
T HAT’S the Babbitt way — the quick, easy, 
modern method of peeling Peaches, Pears and 
Plums for preserving. If you are still tediously 
paring off the skins, wasting time, labor and the 
best flavored part of the fruit, you will be interested 
in this better Babbitt way. It’s the method used 
by the big California fruit canners. 
The U. S. Government Board of Food and Drug 
Inspection has ruled that this method does not 
injure quality or flavor of the fruit. 
It enables you to peel a basket of peaches, for 
example, in about one-fifth the time necessary 
by the old-fashioned method of paring. 
And you get better preserves, because the 
best flavored portion, that next to the skin, is 
saved. Get a can of Babbitt’s Concentrated Lye 
at your dealers today and test for yourself this 
quick, easy, modern way of peeling fruit. 
Write for booklet, giving many other labor- 
saving uses for Babbitt’s Lye. 
