1.148 
lh* RURAL NEW-YORKER 
The Rural New-Yorker 
THE BUSINESS FARMER'S! FA TER 
A \uttonul Weekly Journal l'or Country- ond Suburban Home* * 
Established tsr,o 
e.iMUhrd weekly by the Rural Pnblishinfr rompany. 333 >Vent 30th Street. New York 
Hbbbkrt W. Coi.i.tNO wood, rresident and Editor. 
Jons .1. Dillox, Treasurer and General Manager. 
Wm. F. Dit.i.on', Secretary. MRS. E. T. Royle, Associate Editor. 
SUBSCRIPTION: ONE DOLLAR A YEAR 
To foreign countries in the Universal Postal Union. $2.01. equal to 8s. 6d. or 
.s 1 :. marks, or 10 l j francs. Hem it 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 spate 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 pood any loss 
to paid subscribers sustained by trustinp any deliberate swindler, irrespon¬ 
sible advertisers or luisleadinp 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 willinply use our pood 
offices to this end, but such cases should not, be confused with dishonest 
transactions. We protect subscribers apainst ropues. but we will not be 
responsible for the debts of honest bankrupts sanctioned by the courts. 
Notice of the complaint must be sent to us within one month of the time of 
the transaetion. and to identify it, you should mention Tim Ruraj. New- 
Yorker when writinp the advertiser 
TTE New York wool growers demand a law com¬ 
pelling manufacturers of clothing to stale plain¬ 
ly on their goods the amount of shoddy mixed witli 
pure wool! If they push this seriously into Congress 
we can promise them the biggest tight over known at 
Washington. We have had some little experience at 
this game, and we know how bitterly the cloth and 
clothing trade will tight any attempt to make them 
admit and show up wool substitutes. Yet why is it 
not as fair to regulate (lie use of shoddy as it is to 
regulate the manufacture and sale of oleomargarine? 
We well remember the first attempts to legislate 
against the substitution of inferior fats as a counter¬ 
feit for butter. Tlio same line of argument now 
put up for shoddy was then advanced for oleo. hut 
no one now doubts the wisdom of regulating the sale 
of butter substitutes. The wool growers are suffering 
from the sale of shoddy just as the dairymen suffered 
from the sale of lard, suet and cotton oil under the 
guise of butter. The sheepmen helped the dairymen 
in their fight. 
W E have told how the Danish dairy business 
was badly injured by the war. The trade 
with England was destroyed, and failure to obtain 
feed made it necessary to sell off a considerable share 
of the dairy cattle. Now the dairymen of Denmark, 
in trying to recover their trade in the English mar¬ 
ket, find a new trouble: 
On the English market Danish butter will probably 
have to count on a serious competition with English 
margarine, for which people formerly had a traditional 
dislike. War. however, has overcome that prejudice, as 
butter rationing in England reduced the weekly con¬ 
sumption per individual to 1% ounces. The hospitals 
are regular customers at the margarine factories, and 
while one factory represented the bulk of the margarine 
production before the war. there are now a great num¬ 
ber of English margarine factories, which not. only cover 
home consumption, hut also give a considerable export 
surplus. 
We shall find something of the same thing in this 
country as prices settle back-to the old levels. There 
is no doubt that, during the war, thousands of Amer¬ 
ican families have come to use oleo regularly. For¬ 
merly they could not he induced to eat it, hut they 
have now become accustomed to it, and it will he 
necessary to fight the battle for pure butter all over 
again. 
T HE very clear article on “Laying Out Founda¬ 
tions for Farm Buildings” (page 1831) will he 
followed by others prepared by Prof. Smith. lie 
will tel] us about measuring and computing areas of 
irregular shaped pieces of land. IIow to run lanes 
through the farm is another problem. There are 
many questions about getting levels, or simple farm 
surveying, which puzzle our readers. Prof. Smith 
will make them clear in a series of simple and prac¬ 
tical articles. 
* 
T HE Vermont Pliocnix (Brattleboro) makes the 
following sensible suggestion about putting a 
fair valuation on farm land: 
If Vermont communities could organize and place a 
fair appraisal on all farm properties that are for sale, 
have prospective purchasers come to their committee and 
learn what the fair valuation is, and thus be assured of 
a fair price, these inexperienced men could start their 
farming experience on a much safer basis. It would be 
of untold value to the community because it. would start 
new farming population upon a basis that makes success 
possible. Every successful farmer that, can lie brought 
to Vermont farms is an asset to the State, while every 
farm failure discredits the community ami the State. 
As it is now, most of these farms arc put into the 
hands of real estate agents who tack on a fictitious 
price, and often induce inexperienced people to pay 
far more than the land is worth. These people usu¬ 
ally lose what they pay down, and within a few years 
the farm is sold again. Everyone except a few 
speculators is injured by such practice. With a fair 
chance, some of these failures would make good and 
prove a strong asset to the town. The community 
might well help out on these valuations, and also or¬ 
ganize to help these newcomers get a fair start. 
Sueli work is needed not only in Vermont, but in 
every State where the rural population is drifting 
away from the farms. It is part of tlie program 
which we so often refer to —got to do it ourselves. 
* 
I T does not appear at this time that the acreage 
of wheat for bread this Fall will equal that of last 
year. There lias been so much criticism and fault 
finding about the so-called “guaranteed price” that 
many farmers are disgusted, and will not seed their 
full acreage. The future is uncertain, and most 
farmers believe that they have not been fairly treat¬ 
ed in ibis entire wheat incident. We think, how¬ 
ever, that in most parts of the East more wheat than 
over will he seeded. This will ho particularly true of 
New England and Eastern New York. This increase 
represents small fields seeded by poultrymen. They 
need wheat for feeding, and the past two years have 
taught them that they can raise it cheaper than they 
can buy it, by using liberal quantities of chicken 
manure and nckl phosphate. A good share of this 
wheat will he fod in the sheaf, and, of course, not 
count, as bread grain. With present prices for eggs 
and poultry, such wheat growing will pay. hut, so far 
as we can learn, the acYeage of wheat for bread-mak- 
i ::g will he short. 
• 
T HE recent outbreak over fraudulent dairy tests 
and fake cattle records has set men to thinking 
how such records may be absolutely guaranteed. 
Borne years ago wo had a case where a cow was re¬ 
ported as giving milk so high in bntterfat that few 
experienced cow men could believe the story. There 
was r.o direct evidence of any fraud, hut after a full 
study ef the performance of other cows it was de¬ 
cided to reject tlie record. It was a wise decision, 
for a breeders’ association cannot possibly he too 
careful about its records. A group of cows might he 
forced into abnormal performance, and command 
great value as breeding animals, hut in the last 
analysis tlie dairy cow is a plain working animal, 
and not a sport or overworked machine. There is a 
general feeling that the Holstein people have neglect¬ 
ed to “play uir” into prominence the honest 30-lb. 
cows which are, after all. the greatest credit to the 
breed. No matter what the Holstein directors finally 
do about these tests, most high or abnormal records 
will in the future he viewed with some suspicion. 
There should he some new plan for conducting these 
tests so that there can he no question about them. 
In order to start a discussion we suggest a plan 
somewhat like that followed in the egg-laying con¬ 
tests. In these contests tlie poultryman simply sends 
his pullets to some central place and keeps hands off 
in their feeding and care. The birds are well han¬ 
dled and fed, their records are carefully kept, and 
they have a fair chance to show just what they can 
do under practical business conditions. These con¬ 
tests have now been going on for some years, and 
have given great satisfaction. The records are re¬ 
garded as honest, and have been of great value in 
working out selection and improved breeding prob¬ 
lems. No claim for private egg-laying records re¬ 
ceives anything like the consideration given to the 
certified reports issued by the experiment stations. 
Now, our suggestion is that similar contests he ar¬ 
ranged for dairy cows. Let them he entered as the 
pullets are and sent to some central place where they 
can lie fed and handled by experts during their lac¬ 
tation period. That represents the working period 
for a cow. It could, of course, cover seven days and 
30 days if desired, or a year if need he, though the 
business dairy cow usually works about 10 months. 
We would have the owner of the cow enter and de¬ 
liver her and tlieu—hands off, as in the case of the 
poultryman. Whatever the cow did under such con¬ 
ditions would he regarded as honest—not as an ab¬ 
normal forcing test, hut as a demonstration of her 
business ability. That, we think, is what the public 
want. We understand at once just what objections 
will he made to such a plan. They were all made by 
the poultrymen when the egg contests started, but 
time has answered them all. The chief objection is 
that the cow does better at home. She can he made 
to give more milk under expert and personal home 
care. Undoubtedly, lmt it has been found in the egg- 
laying contests that the certified public record is re¬ 
garded as a business performance, and a very much 
truer indication of what a hen can do to pay the 
mortgage or hold the home. That is what a cow is 
for. There never would he any question about a 
record made in this public way. Sooner or later 
some such arrangement will have to he made. We 
would like to have a discussion as to the best way to 
start it. 
September 13, lOlfl 
HE facts given on page 1330 about deep wells and 
the heat of the earth’s interior naturally bring 
up the possibility of ever utilizing this great heat for 
what we call practical purposes. There seems no 
doubt that within a few miles of the earth’s surface 
may be found a permanent supply of intense heat, 
so fierce that all our burning of fuel will seem like 
a puny effort beside it. Will the time come when 
this interior heat can he used to warm our houses, 
provide power and light, and possibly change cli¬ 
mates? To learn the secret of boring deep enough 
to reach this heat and then transferring it to the 
surface will not seem more remarkable than gaining 
the mastery of the air or harnessing the great forces 
of electricity. We do not doubt the power of the 
human mind to master the secret. 
* 
'"TMIE world is filled with plans and suggestions of 
X advice for farmers. Every day brings half a dozen 
of them. They are mostly proposed by city men, or 
people who are riding a theory. One man suggests 
a universal system of draft—not for the army but 
for farm work. Under this plan every young man 
would be obliged to go out and work on a farm for 
cue or two years, instead of drilling at. a training 
camp. The theory is that this would supply a full 
outfit of farm labor and greatly increase food pro¬ 
duction. But what sort of labor would those drafted 
men make? Why not put them at work in other in¬ 
dustries. and thus greatly increase the output of 
shoes, clothing and other necessities? Why single 
out farming as the resort for unskilled and enforced 
labor? Why not indorse the principle of making 
farming so profitable that farmers can compete in 
r.ny market with labor? As for all this great effort 
to increase the food supply, it can safely be stated 
u.s a great truth that any effort to force farmers to 
produce more under our present system of distribu¬ 
tion will certainly end in disaster to farmers. They 
know that now as they never did before. If half 
the time spent in preaching greater production were 
given to showing up the present distribution system 
there would he some hope of improving the situation. 
* 
T IIUS far (lie “investigating” and shouting over 
high cost of living has done nothing except cut 
down the prices paid to farmers for tlieir products. 
The consumers arc paying as much as they ever did 
for food, while prices to the producer on all perish¬ 
able food have been cut. We know this is so in our 
own case, as we are selling fruit and garden produce 
and buying certain kinds of food. We know that 
many retailors are obtaining produce for less than 
they did before all diis shouting began, and that 
they are making more money out of its sale. Apple 
buyers have disappeared from the fruit districts, 
and whenever we send a load of produce to market 
we are met with a falling price, which is made pos¬ 
sible by all this talk about “profiteering.” The 
present situation is an outrage upon farmers and 
consumers alike. The unorganized farmers have 
been made the victims of price-cutting for the benefit 
of other interests which arc organized. 
* 
W E have repeatedly told of the unsigned letters 
which come to us every day. Here 3s a 
sample: 
Can you give any information regarding a bill being 
passed during the early part of 1918, that all New York 
State farmers who raised grade heifer calves to the age 
of one year were to receive $5 per head for the purpose 
of encouraging the dairy business? Hoping to hear 
from you through the columns of your Rural New- 
Yobkeh, I am, yours very truly, a ruscruier. 
Now there can he no good reason why “subscriber” 
should not give his name when asking such a ques¬ 
tion. In fact nearly a dozen others ask the same 
question about heifer calves. We have already 
answered it six times. There is no sueli law, and 
there is not likely to he any. Nor is there any 
penalty for killing a lieifer calf. We cannot imagine 
liow such ideas ever get into general circulation. 
Nor can we understand why all these people con¬ 
tinue to ask more or less important questions with¬ 
out giving any name or address. 
Brevities 
It is surely a case of the reign of the rain. 
The consumption of oleomargarine doubled in Great 
Britain during the war. 
There are many questions about what to do with as¬ 
paragus tops this Fall. We let them alone. 
Who ever heard of Esthonia before? It is a little 
country located on the Gulf of Finland, and a new cus¬ 
tomer for wheat, sugar and cotton. 
Three things to consider about hen manure for next 
year’s garden. Keep it dry, crush or grind it line and 
use some form of phosphorus with it. 
Mr. Hoover claims that the present “profiteering” is 
due to the failure of the Allies to lift the food blockade 
just after tin* armistice. This enabled the speculators 
to till up their hoards with food at a low figure. 
