the RURAL NEW-YORKER 
August 2, 1010 
1156 
Saves all 
your 
Grain 
ana Corn 
Keeps if 
clean 
and 
Dry 
, SATISFACTION 
Cl i i if iP 
E VERY bushel of corn and grain 
saved from waste is extra profit 
'2gF=^'- 
STEEL CORN CRIBS 
AND GRAIN BINS 
in 3 T our pocket. You may toil 
to raise a bumper crop, and then, 
through improper storage, lose a large 
part of it. 
SECURO Steel Corn Cribs and Grain 
Bins will prevent this loss. Neither hre, rats, 
mice, birds, insects, dampness or thieves can harm grain stored in a 
SECURO Crib. 
Sure Protection From Fire 
SECURO Cribs ar.d Bins are practically indestructible. Built entirely of 
heavily galvanized corrugated iron, rust proof. They are easily erected, need no 
repairs, and are just as cheap as wooden constructions. A patented system of ven¬ 
tilation acts as suction and draws fresh through the grain, keeping it dry and free 
from mould. WRITE FOR FREE CA TALOGUE describing SECURO 
Com Crib* and Grain Bins. / AGENTS WANTED > 
FARM COT TIPMfTlMT CO / W« want live ar<-nt« to «ell our line of 
* /AiVIVI CiV^wir IrlLil* 1 CO. I guaranteed farm equipment. Liberal com- 
906 Keyset Building, Baltimore, Md. \' 
mission* and active co-operation eiven. 
WRITE for particulars 
With labor so scarce 
and unskilled, you 
need a seed drill that 
is simple to handle. 
Buy a CROWN Drill. 
, _ Simply move the pointer, 
lo the amount you wish to «ow and drive ahead. 
The CROWN y>ws the right amount and at 
the right depth—Its force feed is accurate. The 
fertilizer feed even handles damp goods successfully. 
Write today for 1919 Catalog. 
We also make Lime and Fertilizer 
Sowers. Traction Sprayers 
and Wheelbarrow Grass 
Seeder? 
Crown Mfg. Co. 
112 Wayne Street 
PHELPS. N.Y. 
Two Excellent Vegetable Books 
By R. L Watts 
Vegetable Gardening.$1.75 
Vegetable Forcing.. 2.00 
For sale by 
The Rural New-Yorker 
333 W. 30th St-, New York 
A FAST CUTTER 
For 
Light 
Power 
This Gale-Baldwin re¬ 
quires about half the 
power demanded by 
other cutters of similar 
size. It has a revolving: 
self-feed table—is a strong, positive feeder, 
and cuts more ensilage per hour than any 
machine operated with same amount of 
power. 
£,'L. 
ENSILAGE-CUTTER 
Also makers of a large line of ROTARY 
HAND and LEVER FEED CUTTERS. 
CORN SHELTERS. VEGETABLE 
CUTTERS and POTATO DIGGERS for 
Fall Use. 
A Catalog showing the full line mailed 
free on application. 
Belcher & Taylor Agricultural Tool Co. 
Box No. 75, Chicopee F'alls, Mass. 
Golvanized — JL Roofing and Siding 
Both farm and city property owners need to know 
the safety and service of reliable metal roofing. 
Apollo-Keybtone Galvanized Sheets insure you satisfaction from 
all forms of sheet metal work, includingCulverts,Tanks, Plumes, Spout¬ 
ing, Gutters, etc. Sold by leading metal merchants. Keystone Copper 
Steel is also unequaled for Roofing Tin Plates. Look for the Keystone 
added below regular brands. Send for free “Better Buildings'* booklet. 
AMERICAN SHEET AND TIN PLATE COMPANY, Frick Bldg., Pittsburgh, Pa, 
- 
r- --- ■ ■■ - - - ■ - --* 
When you write advertisers mention The R. N.-Y. and you’ll get a 
quick reply and a “square deal.” See guarantee editorial page . 
- 1 - ■ ... =. 
Things To Think About 
The object of this department to give readers a ohance 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. 
Soldiers and Farms 
T understand the State of New York 
has a book of “Farms for Sale,” which is 
sent to prospective buyers. I beg you to 
get and send me a copy. I expert a dis¬ 
charge in August, and want a big general 
farm. Have, well, better than $7,000 
rash to start with. Won't you please 
help some one take it away from me? I 
was in New York State looking for land 
two years ago, but did not find what I 
want. I have three boys, and want land 
that will permit use of tractor; want 
some purebred Holstein rows, some sheep 
and hogs. Must, he a good home with 
conveniences, high school, etc., close. I 
am 45 years of age. I. e. i. 
Georgia. 
This is the way some of the soldiers 
talk, though most of them do not have 
much capital. The Department of Foods 
and Markets at Albany, X. Y.. has a 
bureau to handle such cases. We have 
asked them to send their pamphlet on 
unoccupied farms. New Jersey also has 
a Land Development Bureau at Trenton. 
You ought to be able to find a suitable 
place in New York or New Jersey. As 
for helping someone to take your money 
away, you can find plenty without any 
help from us. Our help will come in 
seeing that you get an equivalent for it. 
Our opinion is that the upper Atlantic 
slope offers today the best, opportunity 
for farming that you can find in the 
country—if you will go after it. right. It 
will require some capital to start right, 
but the soil and the markets are surely 
waiting for success and the man. 
The Hired Man's Food 
There was a recent letter from a hired 
man complaining of the food and treat¬ 
ment given him in a farm family. My 
experience is that there are two sides to 
this. It is true that some farmers are 
close and inconsiderate of the hired man. 
but on tin' other hand, some hired men 
would he far from angels even if you 
fitted them out with a full pair of wings. 
I have known such men to find fault 
with good food and reasonable accommo¬ 
dations. As for having the same food 
that the family has. if a farmer is wise 
he will treat the hired man fairly and 
cut his meat from the same piece which 
serves the others, but I cannot, think of 
any law which will prevent a farmer 
from giving his family the food they 
want—provided the hired man has enough 
first. When I worked out I was well 
fed. and found no fault when the children 
and the women had a few extra dainties. 
FARMER. 
Good Work in Education 
I enclose a letter which I recently sent 
to T.eslie's. They printed an editorial in 
which the following appeared. So I took 
a hand in the discussion, for while I am 
not a farmer, he has my sympathy: 
“Farmers have had a taste of Govern¬ 
ment price fixing, and they like it. There 
can ho no doubt they will ask the Gov¬ 
ernment to fix a high price for wheat, and 
if this is conceded, high prices will he de¬ 
manded for everything else produced on 
the farm, from corn to cotton. When an 
abnormal price is fixed for a basic com¬ 
modity like wheat, it is an excuse for in¬ 
flated prices on everything. People are 
getting tired of this sort of paternalism.” 
I wrote as follows: 
“After reading your short editorial on 
bread in last issue. I see that you are not 
very well posted on what the farmers like. 
I am taking the liberty of enclosing clip¬ 
ping from editorial page of The Rural 
New-Yorker, issue May 24; this will ex¬ 
plain the farmers’ desire in this neigh¬ 
borhood. I suggest that the writer of 
above-mentioned editorial read The 
Rural New-Yorker for one year and he 
will then be better posted on such sub¬ 
jects. It is needless to say that I enjoy 
Leslie'*.” t. l. showers. 
Virginia. 
R. N.-Y.—This is good work, and hun¬ 
dreds of our people seem to be doing it. 
Such correspondence helps all of us. The 
farmers did not ask for price fixing and 
did not want it. They would have been 
better off without it. On the strength of 
the Government's urgent request and 
promise they raised this year's crop of 
wheat. Now they expect the Government 
to live up to its agreement. 
Experience with the Federal Land Bank 
I have iust been reading the article 
about the Land Bank Ixian Association, 
and would like to give you my experience, 
which might show another side to the 
defects of this law. I am owner of a 
piece of land of about 15 acres in Somer¬ 
set Co., N. J., which I bought about 
eight years ago, and which was wood¬ 
land. I have cleared off about four acres, 
and have planted fruit of various kinds, 
including apples, pears, peaches, grapes, 
cherries and small fruits. The grapes 
and peaches are now bearing, also all the 
small fruits. I have also put up a small 
building, costing about .>100, used at 
times during the Summer. I have in all 
spent about $800 in improving the place, 
besides the purchase price, which of 
course was quite cheap. We do not live 
on the place, but I am engaged in farm¬ 
ing on rented land near Newark, tN. J.. 
where we live. This place is about six 
miles from Plainfield, and 20 miles from 
Newark, my object being to develop this 
place as a fruit farm while doing my 
other work. In January, 1918, I applied 
to the Federal Farm Loan Association 
in Somerville, N. J.. which is the nearest 
association, for a k>an of $400. in order 
to get a well and some other improve¬ 
ments on the place, and to do some more 
clearing. Some time in April or May 
the local committee looked the place over 
and gave a favorable report, and finally 
about August the Federal appraiser, or 
whoever it is attends to that part, was 
up there and looked it over. In Septem¬ 
ber I received a final communication from 
the secretary of the local committee that 
although both reports were favorable, and 
they realized I had done a lot of work 
on the place, and brought a wild piece of 
land under cultivation, which is a rare 
thing in New Jersey, because I did not 
live on the premises I was not entitled 
to a loan from this source, according to 
the law governing this act. In the mean¬ 
time I had waited six months to hear this 
verdict, and had paid $5 for the investi¬ 
gation. 
New Jersey. t. a. toriassox. 
Price of Farm Labor 
In his article on the Farmer’s Eight- 
hour Day. published on page 1065, R. G. 
Kirby complains of the price of $P> per 
day which is now charged by the farm 
laborers. Nor is lie alone. There is 
scarcely a writer on economics who does 
not regard this as an excessive price for 
the unskilled labor commonly employed 
at general farm work. And at first 
thought it seems to bo such. Yet, as a 
matter of fact, the price of farm labor 
was never so low. relatively, as at present. 
Nor was the farmer ever so well able t<> 
hire his labor as in the present reign of 
high prices. 
Looking backward for a generation we 
find that 25 years ago the established 
price of farm labor was but $1 a day. 
That was a low rate compared with the 
present rate of $2. Yet. at that time, a 
man might work one day and receive $1. 
or lie might, in lieu thereof, carry home 
to his family the following articles, at 
the following prices, all the product of 
the farm upon which he was employed: 
One bushel of potatoes at 40c, one pound 
of butter at 16c. one dozen eggs at 12c. 
one pound of salt pork at 8c. one pound 
of lard at 8c, one pint, of dry beans at 
4c. one quart of milk at 4c, and by the 
way of luxury, one pound of maple sugar 
at Sc. making 81 in all. or the equivalent 
of one day’s work. I know what I am 
talking about, for I was a farm laborer 
at that time, and the above figures are 
taken from the accounts that I kept with 
the various farmers for whom I worked. 
Now. with farm labor at the so-called 
excessive price, and the price of farm 
produce at its present level, how far will 
the money that the farm laborer receives 
for a day's work go towards purchasing 
the above named articles? 
Take another illustration: At that 
time the price paid for chopping wood 
was uniformly $1 a cord. And the price 
of the wood, when cut. was closely around 
$.2 a cord. So that a man might chop 
three cords of wood and receive one cord 
in payment for his labor. People talk 
about chopping three and four and even 
five cords of wood in a day, but. as a 
matter of fact it is a pretty good man 
who can average one cord for a day’s 
work. Last Winter the price paid for 
chopping wood was $2 a cord, and the 
price of the wood whim cut was $10 or 
more. So that, even at the advanced 
price for chopping, a man was required 
to cut five cords instead of three in order 
to pay for one cord of wood for himself. 
I remember that farmers complained then, 
as now. that the hired men were getting 
the lion’s share, and that the owners 
were operating their farms at a positive 
loss. Yet men went in debt for their 
farms even at that date and under those 
conditions, and made their payments 
when due and paid for their * farms 
promptly on time. c. 0. oumsbee. 
The Local Lightv'ig Rod Agent 
1 note on page 1009 is an article re- 
ferring to the protection of lightning rods, 
in which you advise the farmer to avoid 
lightning rod agents; that a rodded build¬ 
ing may be damaged by lightning, and 
that there are concerns that will direct 
the farmer how to install rods on his own 
buildings. About eight years ago my 
father-in-law had a system of lightning 
protection installed on his buildings by an 
authorized agent. I have since made a 
very thorough study of the protection of 
lightning rods and their proper installa¬ 
tion. and I do not believe any concern can 
direct the farmer by mail how to rod his 
buildings properly. It is from just such 
work that we get damage to rodded build¬ 
ings. Good grounds are very essential, 
but there are a great many other things 
that enter into the question of properly 
rodding a building. I think this article 
an injustice to the local agent, who is 
trying to do an honest, legitimate busi¬ 
ness. f. F. S. 
Connecticut. 
