7240 
The RURAL. NEW-YORKER 
August 2.°., 1919 
The Rural New-Yorker 
THE BUSINESS FARMER'S TAPER 
A National Weekly Journal for Country anil Suburban Homes 
Establisiied tsso 
Pnhltwhpit wpoklr by the Rural I’nblishinfr Company, 333 West 80th Street. .New York 
Herbert W. Cot.ungnvood, President an<i Editor. 
Joitx .1. Dillon, Treasurer and General Manager. 
Wm. F. Dillon, Secretary. Mrs. E. T. Boyle, Associate Editor. 
SUBSCRIPTION: ONE DOLLAR A YEAR 
To foreign countries in the Universal Postal Union, S2.01, equal to 8s. fid, or 
x'e marks, or 101* 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 subscribers and honest, 
responsible houses, whether advertisers or not. We willingly use our good 
offices to this end. but such eases 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 nmst be sent to ns within one month of the time of 
the transaction, and to identify it, you should mention Tiik Rcral New- 
Yorker when writing the advertiser 
D Ti. OSBORNE’S articles on vitamines are, be¬ 
yond question, the best exposition of (lie suit 
.iect ever published. They tell us about this new 
thing so that anyone can understand. Someone may 
ask what practical benefit such work can come to. 
In answer we may ask if the world is not better off 
for knowing what it does already about the analysis 
of food? Are we not all, and the farmer in par¬ 
ticular, better off because we have learned to com¬ 
bine protein, fat and carbohydrates into what we call 
a balanced ration? No one could have done that 
economically if the chemists had not analyzed foods 
for human and beast, and thus shown us how to 
combine them. Now this work with the vitamines 
simply carries the work further along, and shows 
us how to combine our foods to better advantage 
than ever. TVe well remember how. 25 years ago. 
Dr. Osborne began the study of the different forms 
of protein foods. There were farmers at that time 
who eoukl not see anything practical in this slow 
laboratory work. They thought it was time and 
money wasted. Yet Dr. Osborne lias already shown 
that the proteins differ greatly in nutritive value. 
This is sure to upset the old idea of a “nutritive 
ratio” in feeding animals. This old idea was based 
on the theory that all protein foods were about equal 
in value. The fact is that some of them are about 
twice as valuable as others. It required long years 
to find out about such things, hut anyone can see 
their value when practically applied, in feeding. 
* 
T IIE latest “daylight saver” seems to he Dwight 
Braman, “president of the Law and Order 
Union of the United States.” We never heard of 
Mr. Braman before. Ilis “union” is also a new one 
to us—but it takes a large contract, for Mr. Braman 
recently wrote Senator Cummins as follows: 
“I understand that you have a petition to be signed 
by twenty-five thousand farmers to repeal this act (day¬ 
light saving). I would like to have it verified through 
our agents. If necessary, we could get the signatures 
of 25.000.000 farmers who are in favor of daylight 
saving.” 
In 1900. at the last census, there were 12,059,202 
farmers in the entire country! Mr. Braman ought 
to tell us how he makes two farmers grow where 
one grew 7 before. We lived in a town once where 
it was claimed one political party voted the grave¬ 
stones in the cemetery. But Mr. Braman, with his 
25,000,000 daylight-savers, is a fair sample of the 
hot-air artists who are now painting the portrait 
of the American farmer. 
* 
J OHN ARFMAN of Orange County, N. Y.. is well 
known as a dairyman and breeder. Those w ho 
know him will believe that lie told the truth at the 
Vermont Breeders’ meeting—as reported on the next 
page. The breeders present gave Mr. Arfman a 
standing vote of thanks when he finished his story. 
No one can fail to realize the gravity of the situation 
brought about by this exposure and the confession 
of the guilty man. There are millions of dollars 
(invested in Holstein cattle and, as is the case in 
all breeders’ associations, (lie value of a breeding 
animal depends upon two chief things, aside from 
its physical characteristics, fine is its pedigree or 
blood lines, kept true and honest through the asso¬ 
ciations records. The other, and perhaps the greater, 
is the certified record for milk and fat production 
which is given to the animal. For breeding stock 
is naturally sold on the record of the animal’s mi¬ 
ce Tors. We naturally assume the chances are that 
a calf from a cow of great performance at the pail 
will he likely to inherit the dairy tendencies of its 
mother. So it will when such performance is genu¬ 
ine, but when it. is the result of a fraud or fake the 
deception on the buyer may be as great as when 
the registration papers are illegal. Some years ago 
The It. N.-Y. started and carried through a case 
where “the papers did not. fit. the cows.” In this 
ease one cow was credited with being the mother 
of a calf which was horn several years after that 
particular cow died. We proved this case in every 
detail, and no one can now estimate the vast amount 
of good resulting to all breeders’ associations from 
this incident. The time has now come to face this 
new danger from fraudulent dairy tests. As was 
the case in (lie other incident, the fraud was entirely 
a personal one—not involving the character or credit 
of the association. We feel sure that the Holstein 
authorities will rise to the situation and make a 
thorough clean-up—thus putting their remarkably 
fine cattle in a better public position than ever. 
Personally we think those disclosures will have the 
effect of giving up the seven-day test. We do not 
think this is any fair, practical test for a dairy cow. 
and it. evidently gives a greater chance for fraud 
than a longer test. 
W HEN the car began to touch its present popu¬ 
larity most people were ready to predict that 
the day of (lie driving horse was done forever. Yet 
the development of the trotting horse lias gone 
steadily on. and the records for speed are being re- 
dueed. A two-year-old colt, has trotted half a mile 
ip 1 :02. We think the good driving horse will come 
hack. Something of the same thing is true of motor 
boats. Tf jvas thought that the sailboat would have 
no chance against the gasoline chaser. Yet on a 
recent visit to the ocean we found the harbors well 
filled with sailing craft. The fact is that thousands 
of people still like to feel that they are controlling 
some living force, and matching flesh and brain and 
skill, instead of driving an engine, and this feeling 
is not going to die out. 
* 
F ROM (lie beginning of the year The R. N.-Y. has 
claimed that the wheat supply, when harvested, 
would leave no surplus after providing bread for 
Americans and part of Europe. That claim is proved 
true. The harvest was less than expected, and a 
part of the wheat was injured. Instead of having 
millions of bushels (o rot on the ground, as the men 
who were trying to cheapen the price claimed, there 
will he barely enough to go around and leave a safe 
surplus. Wheat would go above the guaranteed 
price if the Government restriction were removed. 
Wo wish to make it clear that “price-fixing” has not 
given the farmers any advantage, but, on the other 
hand, has prevented them from obtaining the natural 
price. Instead of enriching them, it has robbed 
them. And it is doing worse than that through the 
grading rules established by the Government. A 
group of Senators from Western agricultural States 
makes the following charge: 
Hundreds of millions of bushels of wheat have been 
shriveled by extreme heat this season, which under the 
present grading and discount rules may not average the 
producer $1.50 per bushel. Authoritative investigators 
have found such wheat to be of the highest milling 
value, and it is unthinkable that farmers should sustain 
a loss of from 50 to 75 cents per bushel by reason of 
the arbitrary standards that have been established. 
This wheat in large measure will go into the production 
of the best patent flours and be sold to the consumer at 
prices based on No. 1 wheat. The producers are thereby 
defrauded and the consumers receive no benefit. 
These statements have not. been denied. If they 
are true here is a case of clear, open robbery, and 
this should be the first case of “profiteering” to be 
exposed. 
* 
T am glad to sec The R. N.-Y. is talking Alsike clover 
strongly. There is no question in my mind that this is 
a far better proposition than Alfalfa for our New Eng¬ 
land farmers. While the price of seed is high, 50 cents 
a pound or more, we get good seeding* in our orchards 
from five pounds of seed per acre, which is not much 
of an expense for the value returned in the way of a 
mass of green material to be turned under next Spring. 
Massachusetts. E. M. 
E stand by our old friend Alsike clover be¬ 
cause it stood by us. It is far more spectac¬ 
ular to talk about Alfalfa and its big yields. No 
one disputes the great value of Alfalfa where it is 
at home, hut turn it out on a sour, tough hillside, or 
where its feet will get wet. and you have another 
story. For New England and much of our Eastern 
land off the limestone soils Alsike clover is superior 
to Alfalfa. It is small hut mighty. 
* 
E VERY day brings us new questions about con¬ 
tracts for working a farm or garden on shares. 
Every such case has some sort of personal applica¬ 
tion which must he considered. We think some of 
these attempts to do business fail because the funda¬ 
mental principle of giving both owner and tenant a 
fair deal are not considered. In hundred 
that we know of what we call the rule of thirds has 
worked out well. Under this plan (he proposition 
is divided into three equal parts. These are real 
estate, personal property and labor. The real estate 
means the land and permanent buildings, and per¬ 
sonal property means stock, tools, capital and money 
paid for seeds, fertilizer, feed, etc. While there are 
some cases where these items of partnership would 
not be equal, in most cases they will not he found 
far apart if the farm is properly worked. Under 
(his rule of thirds the owner would receive one-tliird 
for his real estate interest. The tenant receives 
another third for his labor. The remaining third 
is divided between them in proportion to that part 
of the personal property which each furnishes. Under 
this plan to make n half and half division of gross 
income the owner furnishes the real estate and the 
tenant the labor. Then each furnishes half the 
stock and each pays half the cash expenses. Taxes 
and repairs are considered a part of the real estate. 
We know of many cases where this plan has worked 
out well. Almost any share arrangement can be 
worked out in this way. 
* 
us be fair with our children and not cheat ourselves. 
1 lie children of the nation are being deprived of one 
hour’s rest during each 24; they go to bod by sun time, 
jnt as all animals do. and so do we. Many mothers 
have come to me asking that the schools be opened at 
Id in the morning, and not at nine, in order that their 
children may get proper rest. Of course this cannot 
be done without changing the luncheon hour, and the 
luncheon hour cannot be changed without upsetting the 
home arrangements, since industries close at 12 for 
luncheon. Neither can we organize our primary schools 
for two hours of work in the morning and three in the 
afternoon, because the children are not as mentally 
active for studies after luncheon as before. I believe 
the health of the nation will be seriously affected if the 
present plan were to obtain during the next generation. 
tt , . -r, - T - T - p - CALKINS, 
Hempstead, N. Y. Superintendent of Schools. 
T HAT is a fair sample of many letters we receive 
from teachers. Thus far we have not found a 
single teacher of small children who does not agree 
with the above statement. Our own experience with 
six children is exactly in line. We are of course 
told that children can and should he trained to go 
to bed earlier and thus obtain needed sleep. We 
had that, sort of training in childhood, and can now 
sleep at any convenient time, but there seem to be 
very few modern children who do not “go to bed by 
sun time.” We may discuss theory, but we are 
confronted by a condition. 
& 
S INCE this discussion about men who get drunk 
on silo juice came up we have received several 
reports from people who say they have actually seen 
this strange performance. The one which we have 
been able to trace down comes from Millwood Farm, 
Middlesex Co., Mass. The manager writes: 
Some years ago while filling our silos, two Polish men 
wore placed inside to level off t^e corn and keep it 
tramped down. They certainly started work in the 
morning in a good sober condition. At noon time they 
most certainly were intoxicated. From their own state¬ 
ments later i learned that they drank the juice which 
was at that time running freely from the bottom of the 
silo. . I tasted of it myself, and could not understand 
how it was possible for these men to become intoxicated 
from drinking it. This is the only time in my experi¬ 
ence that I have ever heard of men becoming intoxicated 
from drinking silo juice. 
You could not convict a man on any such evidence. 
It is an even chance that these men carried liquor 
into the silo with them. On a farm, where the use 
of liquor is prohibited, workmen would naturally ac¬ 
cuse the “silo juice.” And you would have to prove 
that this juice actually contained alcohol before 
ranking it with the genuine “hard stuff.” We are not 
convinced. An expert chemist lias arranged to an¬ 
alyze several samples of silo juice for us this year. 
Then we shall know about it. 
Brevities 
Now is the time to use lime. 
Few better cover crops than weeds before they go to 
seed. 
Sun 1 the apple to the soil or you will lose much of 
your toil. 
In parts of New Jersey the girls are organizing 
“baking teams” which are producing fine combinations of 
flour, milk, eggs, water and sugar. 
.The green clover worm is doing great damage to 
Lima beans. It is an eating iusect, and can be poisoned 
by spraying with about the same strength of arsenate 
and water that is used for codling worms. 
East year $2,947,288 worth of marble was sold in 
this country for monumental purposes alone. The 
greater part of it came from Vermont. Apparently 
there never were more marble monuments erected. 
No. we take no stock in the big stories about potash 
discoveries in this country—when the announcement 
comes with an offer to sell stock in a company. We 
take no stock in such yarns, and advise you not to buy 
any stock. 
A good many readers are writing to ask about wlmt 
will be done about making private supplies of light wine 
from purchased grapes. No one can tell about this 
until the enforcement law passes Congress. At present 
it looks as if such private wiue-makiug for home con¬ 
sumption will be permitted. 
