1387 
New York Farmers Speak Through the 
Grange 
No class of Americans with red blood in their veins 
will stand being told that they must labor long hours at 
inadequate pay in order that another class may have 
shorter hours and .higher wages. Even the faithful 
farmer, who has always produced sufficient, food for all, 
feels he has about reached the limit, and that no laboring 
man of the city should find fault if he applies the same 
rule that his city brother has taught him. 
Why is it that over half our farms have mortgages on 
them and that two-thirds are worked by renters? When 
a class of men demand higher wages, although their 
labor does not earn it. someone else must pay. and they 
become dishonest profiteers. 
We here challenge the city laborer to a cost account¬ 
ing that all the world may see who earns his wage Let 
there be an authoritative cost accounting of farm pro¬ 
ducts and a wage scale for labor the base of which shall 
be its earning power. 
That is part of a statement issued from the State 
Fail* at Syracuse by the New York State Grange. 
It may be regarded as expressing the sentiments of a 
great majority of New York farmers. These farmers 
represent the freeholders and responsible tenants of 
this section. They are solid, conservative, law-abid¬ 
ing citizens, as their long record shows. And that 
well-known and acknowledged record makes the 
above statement all the more impressive. These 
farmers are backing up against a wall—where they 
will stand. 
The Banner American County 
Why Lancaster County, Pa., Leads 
For many years there has been first one and then an¬ 
other county somewhere in the United States trying to 
wrest the position at the top (which has been ours by 
right of organized industry) from us. The only thing wo 
have to do to silence these contenders is to refer them 
to the last census figures, where they will find we are 
well in the lead, or were at that time, and we are not 
going to let anyone stand over ns and give ns the count 
in 1020 without a pretty stiff fight. 
What are the causes for our showing in the past? Is 
it due to our marketing system or to a number of other 
causes. We do not depend on one basket of eggs, which 
may easily he broken by a stiff kick in the shape of un¬ 
favorable weather, overstocked market, or a variety of 
causes. We rather think the more logical method of 
doing it is to have several baskets, not quite so full, sep¬ 
arated somewhat, so that the fellow that may blunder 
along and tramp in one will not injure the others. 
The Lancaster County farmer is not a specialist in 
the true sense of the word, hut an all around handy man 
with half a dozen crops, and a pretty keen merchant, too, 
when it comes to disposing of some of the crops that he 
grows. The individual farms are not large—not very 
many of them running over 100 acres; on every farm 
there is either a herd of cows, or throughout the Win¬ 
ter season there are some cattle fattened, or both. Each 
farmer produces a large quantity of manure, which,, 
with the addition of a liberal quantity of fertilizer and 
lime, keeps the soil in a very fertile condition. 
The regular crops are wheat, corn, clover and forage 
crops, potatoes and tobacco, which is the most valuable 
product, though the acreage devoted to this crop is not 
as large as to the other crops, principally on account of 
the difficulty in securing help to care for it properly and 
the expense of buildings necessary to cure it properly. 
In addition to these crops, a large number of farmers 
produce a great quantity of vegetables each season, and 
dispose of them direct, to the consumer on the Lancaster 
city markets; and right here is where they get their 
merchandizing experience. This city is provisioned al¬ 
most entirely in this manner, the only exceptions being 
vegetables from the South, or sections earlier than ours, 
and fruit shipped in from similar sections. The farm¬ 
ers supply the larger portion of the pork consumed, some 
of them killing quite a large number of hogs annually 
and marketing iu the same manner that they do their 
vegetables. 
The population of the entire county in 1910 was 107.- 
020, and we estimate 175,000 next year. Land under 
cultivation was 472,795 acres. This has increased some¬ 
what. though not. to any great extent. The value of 
farm property then was $$4,420,907. The value of farm 
crops was $13,059,588, and live stock, poultry, etc., 
brought the total up to $20,707,140. Our nearest com¬ 
petitor was McKean County, Illinois, with a total valu¬ 
ation of $18,368,418, and Los Angeles County. Califor¬ 
nia, was third, with total products of $17,987,392. 
The tobacco crop of 1910 was 30.892.800 lbs., from 
32,783 acres; this acreage has been increased greatly 
the past two seasons, and the Lancaster County Farm 
Bureau agent. Mr. Bucher, who is in very close touch 
with the producers and packers, places the value of last 
year’s tobacco crop at $13,000,000. This was the crop 
grown during the Summer of 1017 and marketed Winter 
of 1917-18. In 1910 there were 00,510 steers fattened. 
The profit per head, from Farm Bureau records, with 
4.000 head under close observation for the same year, 
was $30 for dry fed, and $52 for silage fed stock. We 
cannot say how many more steers there are fed now 
than in 1910, so we take that figure and $35 as the av¬ 
erage profit, which gives ns $2,228,060. This is a profit 
on feed, labor not included. 
There were 40.328 cows in the county in 1910. Tak¬ 
ing this number at. the profit per head that was realized 
under the Farm Bureau’s observation of $03. including 
the value of $8 for one calf each, the amount would be 
about $2,530,064. The raising of hogs is auotlier item 
that is assuming very large proportions the farm bu¬ 
reaus estimate, and they claim a very low one, eiug 
over $2,500,000. while sheep will add another quarter 
of a million. Poultry and poultry products will add 
$3,000,000 more at present prices. 
The 1910 wheat crop front 115.568 acres was 2,532,- 
400 hu., and from 80.000 acres of corn there were pro¬ 
duced 3.287,787 bu., while 20,000 acres of oats produced 
022.401 hu. The hay crop was 274,038 tons, and tame 
or cultivated grasses added another 140.181 tons. Po¬ 
tatoes. 12,054 acres, and 831.723 bu. This crop has been 
increased very extensively iu the last few years, as well 
Iht RURAL NEW-YORKER 
ns the 72.279 bu. sweet, potato crop. Vegetables in 1910 
were placed at $1,137,034, and at present would more 
than double this amount, while fruit and nuts will total 
another million dollars. 
From these items you will see the great diversity of 
the products produced in Lancaster County, which only 
emphasizes the former remark that a total or partial 
failure of one crop does not put us in the dependent 
class, as we have a number of others to fall back on. 
There are approximately 11.000 farms with an average 
of nearly 43 acres each—there being 2,569 of nine acres 
and under, and 4,599 from 100 to 175 acres, and the 
others between these figures, with a few over the last 
figure. 
The only proportion of the money the citizens of 
Lancaster (and there are 50.000 of them) pay the 
farmers for produce that they (the farmers) do not get 
is what. it. costs thorn to draw their crops to the city, and 
the time consumed in their sale. It is no difficult mat¬ 
ter to find many people in the city who will assert that 
the farmer is getting $1.50 for every dollar's worth of 
garden truck he exposes for sale. You can go where 
you will and ask any farmer his idea of how bad the 
middleman is treating him and he will give you only a 
blank stare, as the only middleman he has had any ex¬ 
perience with is himself, and the profits are in his own 
pockets. ELMER .T. WEAVER. 
Value of Frightened Sheep; Dog Laws 
“Should your entire flock be raided by dogs, and chased 
for at least a mile, some for several miles, some killed, 
and some bitten, how much less per head would you 
take for the balance, not so killed or bitten?’’ 
In a case like that, or one not even so bad. these sheep 
would scare at a falling leaf for years. Their nervous 
systems would be like a boy with St. Vitus dance. Their 
breeding and wool-growing value would be lowered ma¬ 
terially, and their constitutions, impaired so they would 
be liable to diseases. I would be glad to get half their 
former value for them, but no man who knows sheep 
would buy them. I would order a car at once and send 
them to the slaughter. At the yards they would show 
what was the matter with them, but might bring half 
price from the buyers of objectionable stuff there. I 
sent 144 to Pittsburg with that experience, and have 
been all too intimately associated with many of my own 
sheep and those of others after dog raids. 
You find the dog law unsatisfactory. No wonder. 
There never was a dog law made that was worth 1 per 
cent of its cost. The whole principle is wrong. It is the 
owner or harborer that the law wants to put the guilt 
on, not the dog. 
Every dog acts true to dog nature. He never does 
wrong nor makes a mistake from that viewpoint. He is 
a natural born killer.. That is part of his mission in life, 
hut he needs to be directed to the proper objects to kill, 
and controlled from sheep. A man can keep a tiger or 
a rattlesnake if he wants to. They are killers like a 
dog, but a tiger would kill a sheep and eat it, while the 
dog never eats, but only destroys. 
Any man who claimed the right to let a tiger prowl, 
as nearly all dog owners do with dogs, would be con¬ 
sidered. a criminal, and that is exactly what the dog 
owner is.. The dog is all right, but the man deserves a 
fine and imprisonment, the same as if he turned a tiger 
loose. Until public opinion considers every dog off his 
owner’s premises as vermin, and the man who lets him 
off a criminal, no law will ever be written that will more 
than help the trouble just a little. In the meantime, 
while lawmakers and public opinion has more respect 
for criminal men and dogs than they have for sheep, we 
must do the best we can with dope and ammunition, and 
when misfortune hits us, wrangle to get* all we can from 
the dog fund. w. w. Reynolds. 
Treasurer Ohio Sheep and Wool Growers’ Assn. 
Up-State Farm Notes 
THE STATE FAIR.—The State Fair is holding 
a record exhibit, with record attendance, this week. The 
county exhibits are unusually interesting, with much 
rivalry for rating. There are many new features, one 
of the most interesting of these, to rural workers and 
residents, being the “Little Country Theater,” which 
gives free entertainment each day at. 11 a. m. and 2 30 
p. m. in the old Horticultural Building, known as the 
“Dome” building. One-act plays depicting rural life, 
easily staged, directed by Alec. Mv Drummond, of the 
State College, are given daily, illustrating the type of 
work that may be done iu any rural community. The 
rapidity with which the hall fills for each session, and 
the large percentage of the audience that sign slips and 
leave with attendants asking for literature acquainting 
them with this work, shows the response of the people 
to help along this line. This may be said to be the most 
popular of any of the new movements demonstrating at 
the great exposition. 
CO-OPERATIVE FARM ORGANIZATIONS.— 
Among the co-operative farm organizations represented 
at the fair two are worthy of more than passing note. 
The fruit display of the Clintondale Co-operative Fruit 
Growers’ Association, of Ulster County, is most interest¬ 
ing. with its collection of beautiful fruit, properly graded 
and packed as for the market. This association was in¬ 
corporated June 1, 1919, with a capital of $75,000, be¬ 
ginning with 40 members. It now numbers 100 mem¬ 
bers and has a cold storage and central packing plant in 
erection with a capacity of 25,000 bbls. They have al¬ 
ready shipped 46 cars of currants and 14 of Bartlett 
pears. They will ship 3.000 bbls. of Kieffers and 40,000 
bbls. of apples. They are located within easy reach of 
all the Eastern markets and within 2(4 hours of the ex¬ 
port points. The Cortland County Maple Sap Products 
Co-operative Association has by far the most attractive 
exhibit of maple products on the grounds. They show 
models of a modern evaporator and other equipment, 
and have succeeded in securing at least $1 per gallon 
more for producers of this section than unorganized pro¬ 
ducers of other counties have had. C. R. White. State 
manager of farmers’ co-operative organizations, has an 
immense map showing all the organizations of this sort 
in the State. It is encouraging to note the gain iu such 
organizations in the past year and the gain over unor¬ 
ganized territory in results achieved in selling farm pro¬ 
duce of various sorts. 
ANOTHER CURB MARKET.—The Common Coun¬ 
cil of Ithaca has authorized and established a new curb 
market for use of farmers and truck growers in supply¬ 
ing the city with fresh foods. A market master will be 
appointed by the mayor, who is chairman of the com¬ 
mittee to control the market. The hours are from 6 to 
11 a. iu., and the fee 15 cents a day, with combinations 
to fix prices prohibited. 
NEW POTATO BULLETIN—The State College of 
Agriculture in its new bulletin, No. 143, brings out in¬ 
teresting facts regarding potato growing iu this State. 
The statement is made that 75 per cent of the varieties 
grown iu the State belong to the Green Mountain or 
Rural New Yorker groups. Growers are ui*ged to learn 
to identify one group from another and thus avoid the 
present undesirable mixture of varieties. Potatoes are 
classified into 11 groups, according to color of sprouts 
and blossoms, shape, size, depth and frequency of the 
eyes, texture of skin, etc. These groups are: Cobbler, 
Triumph, Early Michigan, Rose, Early Ohio, Hebron, 
Burbank, Green Mountain. Rural, Pearl and Peaehblow. 
There are standard varieties under each of these groups, 
as Gold Coin, State of Maine, Norcross, White Lady, 
Mills Prize. Carman No. 2 and Lincoln, all belonging to 
the Green Mountain group. The Rural type predom¬ 
inates in Western and Southern New York, being more 
disease and drought resisting, while in Long Island, 
(Minton County, the Green Mountain type prevails. 
Send for this bulletin and learn the type best adapted 
for your oonditions. 
FREIGHT AND EXPRESS TRUCKS.—Farmers, 
business men and consumers are finding the heavy motor 
truck to he the most economic means of transportation, 
and the demand for good roads is gaining fast. Old 
communities are being brought back to life by means of 
the motor car and truck. The central bureau of truck¬ 
ing service has 66 branches in the country, and new 
routes which would support trucks are being constantly 
searched out. 
THE DEER AND THE NEW LAW.—Game pro¬ 
tectors fear a very heavy slaughter of deer beginning 
()ctoher 1. as the new law allows each hunter one wild 
deer of either sex. A great influx of hunters is expected 
in the North Woods. Trappers and hunters will do well 
to note that there are many changes in the law* regulat¬ 
ing the hunting of wild duck, skunks and raccoons. 
There are believed to be 50.000 white-tail deer in the 
State. 
MILK INVESTIGATION.—In a survey of 30 milk 
routes of New* York City only two blocks were found to 
have less than four to 10 milk w*agons to the block, and 
two-thirds of the blocks had five wagons or more, add¬ 
ing unnecessarily to expense of delivery. It was also 
found that the producer gets 40 per cent of the retail 
price, and the dealers 60 per cent. It is made clear, as 
has been done many times before, that the dealer’s sys¬ 
tem and unjust profits are at fault. Farmers are much 
dissatisfied with the make-up of the new fair price com¬ 
mission so far, as being made up of people who do uot 
understand conditions. 
SHEEP SHEARED FOR GOVERNOR—There is 
interest in the plan of shearing 16 sheep exhibited at the 
State Fair on Monday, the wool to be transformed into 
cloth on Tuesday and cut to pattern for an overcoat for 
the Govenior on Wednesday, to be presented to him 
with ceremony on his visit the day following. The wool 
is donated by sheep breeders and the work of making 
it up by the manufacturers. Eight officers and 45 
picked horsemen of the State troopers will police the 
grounds during the fair. m. G. F. 
Figures on Cost of Production 
We farm 275 acres out of 337 of rolling Bucks County, 
Pa., land, with motive power of six horses, a four- 
cylinder 8-16 tractor, occasional use of an old one- 
cylinder 8-16, and a two-ton truck. All figures given 
are based on the actual results obtained by the use of 
the four-cylinder tractor, the other being only used in 
emergencies, not being a satisfactory machine for our 
conditions. 
We use the tractor for all four-horse work, except 
when horses are standing idle. From March 15 to May 
15 we ran 304 hours, plowing 97(4 acres, tilling the 
same with double disk and spring-tooth harrow. May 15 
to July 15 we loaded and hauled with tractor S7 acres 
of hay and cut 77 (4 of wheat in a total of 127 hours. 
To do this work we attached a headlight and at times 
used two operators, the greatest day’s work being 18 
hours. 
ALFALFA SEEDING 
Per acre 
Plowing . $2.40 
Flow shares . 1.00 
Rolling. .53 
Disk three times. 1.80 
Spring-tooth four times. L44 
Lime drilling . .80 
Seed drilling . .53 
Lime. 1000 
15 lbs. Grimm. 9 00 
$27.50 
Rental (Interest) . 15 00 
Total . $42.50 
It cost us an average of $4 per acre to harvest hay 
from the standing grass to the mow. our best record this 
season being 16 acres second cutting Alfalfa, 15 tons, 
half-mile haul, at a cost of $3.81 per acre. 
corn 
Plowing . 
Per acre 
. $2.40 
Disk two times. 
. 1.20 
Harrow twice. 
.7*2 
Rolling . 
.53 
Dialling . 
Seed . 
Fertilizer. 
Cultivate five times. 
. 
. 5.00 
$19.95 
Gnttinp - (’9181 . 
. 3 00 
LTnsking ilDlX^ . 
. 7 00 
( Tnfprpst^ . 
. 15 00 
Total . 
. $44.95 
WHEAT 
OATS 
Per acre 
Per acre 
Plowing . 
$2.40 
Plow shares . 
1 00 
.30 
Roll. Harrow . 
1.25 
1.25 
Disk, float . 
.60 
— 
Drilling. 
.80 
.80 
Seed .1%.\2.25 
3 94 
2x1.00 2.00 
Fertilizer . 
5 20 
2.t>0 
$15 19 
$9.35 
Harvest . 
2 85 
2 85 
Haul, thrash, bale, haul grain. 
7 00 
7.00 
Rental. 
15.00 
15.00 
Total . 
$34.20 
I shall be glad to defend any of my figures with more 
detail and the description of a number of tests of tractor 
work from which I have obtained the per acre costs 
used. CHESTER W. AMBLER. 
Bucks Co., Pa. 
