1656 
7ht RURAL NEW-YORKER 
November 8, 1!>1! 
$ * st 
Piqlets to Porkers! 
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This feed causes rapid and sturdy development of your 
young pigs producing pork at a low enough cost per 
pound to satisfy any hog raiser who gives it a fair test. 
UBIKO PIG MEAL 
can be fed from pighood to finishing off time with increas¬ 
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fibre. A really ideal feed. 
Union Crains. Cows thrive on Union Grains because it is rich, 
concentrated and perfectly balanced. It is palatable, bulky, digest¬ 
ible and the most economical feed known to the science of stock 
feeding. It will bring to perfect milk production any herd not now 
producing to capacity. 24% protein. 
Ubiko Stock»Feed. Made of hominy, oat feed, wheat bran, mid¬ 
dlings, ground barley, linseed meal and salt this feed builds flesh 
and strength. It improves and maintains the health of horses, 
mules and dry cows furnishing the carbohydrates they need. 
Ubiko Buttermilk Egg Mash. A ration for poultry patterned 
after the famous Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture formula. 
Contains 9 different ingredients ideally balanced. A most econom¬ 
ical feed. 19% protein; 8% ash, mostly from bone phosphates; 
and only 6% fibre. 
Ubiko Buttermilk Growing Mash. A mash that promotes 
the rapid and sturdy development of young chicks. A builder. 
Contains 15% protein and only 6% fibre. 
We will be pleased to send you milk and egg cost record 
sheets which will show you what feeds are costing you. 
THE UBIKO MILLING CO. Dept. R Cincinnati, Ohio 
Ik' ioo ib, 
I PrTrarwMMUfrt ti 
""CINNATI. 0*'° ‘ 
Comfort and Health 
Sickrooms need fresh air and 
clean heat. The use of a port¬ 
able Perfection Oil Heater per¬ 
mits both. It quickly warms the 
room after airing, giving clean, 
odorless heat just when and 
where you want it. 
Used with SoCOny kerosene, it 
burns 10 hours on a gallon sup¬ 
ply. No soot, no ashes. Ready 
for instant use. Ask your dealer 
to show you a Perfection. 
STANDARD OIL 
COMPANY 
OF NEW YORK 
PERFECTION 
Oil Heaters 
The Back-to-the-Landers 
A very large share of our questions come from people who meditate moving 
to the country, or who have already made such a move. They have a story to 
tell, or they ask for advice. This department will be a sort of clearing-house 
for the back-to-the-lander. where he may obtain information and swap troubles 
and triumphs, failures, fads and fancies. 
"" Shall I Go Farming? 
I have been a subscriber to The R. 
X.-Y. for several years, and I have read 
your comments on the “back-to-the-land¬ 
er” with much interest. I have some 
ideas along that line and would like to 
have you eojnment on them for me. In 
my case I would not be entirely depend¬ 
ent for my living from the farm, as I have 
an income, but not sufficient for my needs 
and wishes. I have thought of two 
pin Vis. First, I have an income of about 
$125 per month after allowing an ex¬ 
penditure of say $8,000 for place and 
■ capital. I will need an income equal to 
$125 from the farm to live about as I do 
now in the city, where I purchase every¬ 
thing except eggs, for we have kept a 
productive flock of hens for years. What 
size place and stock would you advise? 
The other plan would be to buy a larger 
farm, where I would engage a farmer and 
farm it sufficient to pay all expenses and 
furnish me with home and the usual farm 
products, with the advantage of not be¬ 
ing tied down, as I would be if I go it 
alone. As for personal qualifications, I 
am a seafaring man. age 40. strong and 
active: know farm life, as my father was 
a farmer, and I also consider myself a 
fair “chicken man.” and have gardened 
some. Stated briefly. I have a cash in¬ 
come sufficient for the cash needs of a 
country family, such as clothes, enter¬ 
tainment and the usual incidentals, but 
the expense of table and heat must be 
produced for the five of us. and there is 
an allowance of $8,000 for farm and cap¬ 
ital for that purpose. R. 
New York. 
Of course no man can give our friend a 
definite answer. It all depends on the 
man and his family. This thing of chang¬ 
ing business and habits at middle life is 
too serious an undertaking to permit any 
outsider to decide. Our opinion is that 
this man would probably do bettor in a 
smaller place, with poultry and gardening 
or a small but choice orchard. The size 
of such a place would depend on locality, 
markets, or what you intend to raise. We 
should want 20 to 25 acres if possible. 
It is generally a mistake for such a man 
to take a large place and hire a farmer 
to run it for him. In these days of labor 
trouble and shortage you stand too much 
chance of getting a man who would farm 
the boss rather than the farm. 
A Back-to-the-Lander’s Bees 
Last year. 1018, I had left 14 colonies 
out of 24; the 10 I lost during the Win¬ 
ter. I increased to 24, and took off 000 
lbs. of extracted honey, which was put up 
in green fruit jars and sold for 50c a 
pint and $1 for the quarts. I sold $250 
worth of honey. A quart of honey weighs 
almost 3 lbs. We got about 10 lbs. of 
nice beeswax, which was molded in one 
and two-ounce cakes and sold for 5 and 
10c each. A hundred pounds of honey 
yields about one pound of beeswax from 
the cappings. We use an extractor and 
shallow supers. Were I to got another ex¬ 
tractor I would get it one size larger; 
then I could put two frames in each 
pocket. Our bees are in 10-frame single 
and double-wall hives. For this Winter 
T have made a nice lot of telescope cov¬ 
ers covered with a good grade of roofing 
paper. Our extracting is done in a small 
building in the apiary, 8x8 ft., just large 
enough for one to work in. My hoc-keep¬ 
ing is carried on as a side line to my 
present occupation. I run for extracted 
honey only. My colonies were boiling 
over with bees and our main honey flow 
starts about July C>; sumac and basswood 
looked just fine when an eight-day rain 
set in. and then our crop was cut more 
than half. I am saving, over a nice lot-.of 
Fall lumpy in shallow supers for winter¬ 
ing. We have always had plenty of honey 
for our own use, and remember our 
friends with some. For my honey this 
year I am getting 75c a pint, $1.40 a 
quart. ho bebt peso h ko. 
Connecticut. 
Farming a Small Place 
T have just purchased this little farm 
of 13 acres, with the idea of doing inten¬ 
sive farming. I am buying registered 
Guernsey heifers, which are to freshen in 
the Spring. The place is equipped with 
splendid barn, spring water running into 
same. l. a. M. 
New York. 
Your place is rather small for live¬ 
stock keeping. You might be able to grow 
two crops a year niy seeding oats and 
peas, rye or wheat, millet. Soy beans or 
corn and then grow fodder for half a 
dozen good cows, but fruit and vegetables 
will pay better on 13 acres. 
What’s the Matter With Farming? 
T believe the “turn-over” in farming is 
not sufficient to insure the farmer a de¬ 
cent living; all the advice about specializ¬ 
ing, intensive culture, etc., can be con¬ 
densed into a means for increasing his 
“turn-over,” which on the average East¬ 
ern farm amounts to only about $0,000 
annually, with an average investment of 
$20,000, and that in the riskiest business 
I know of. A manufacturer investing 
$20,000 would expect to do an annual 
business of at least $100,000, and I do 
not hesitate to state that it takes more 
study and energy nowadays to manage a 
farm succesfully than to manage a fac¬ 
tory. Personally, I have no complaint to 
make as to my financial returns, so far, 
but have had to plan and scheme and 
study so much that if the same Energy and 
study had been put on any other business 
I would have had a very much greater re¬ 
turn. Were I not in love with farming 
I would not for a moment consider it as a 
business, even with the trimmings (poul¬ 
try, fruit, stock, etc.) that add to one’s 
annual turnover and permit of a chance 
to make a percentage on them. The labor 
question in farming complicates matters, 
also, so I am settling that by putting over 
half my acreage into Alfalfa, and raising 
corn only next year, on the balance of the 
farming land here, both crops lending 
themselves to either machine labor, as in 
the case of Alfalfa, or to hired labor for 
husking and cutting (by the shock) in 
the case of corn, which is practically 
piece work; the asparagus, fruit and 
small fruit will require then only a mini¬ 
mum of extra labor, while the nature of 
the two main crops will leave my steady 
employes free to help with the crops just 
mentioned. r 
Labor on a Farm 
. My son wishes to work on a farm for 
his health primarily, the remuneration be¬ 
ing a secondary affair for at least several 
months. He is perfectly well, strong and 
capable. He is 20 years old. but he has 
fainting spells on an average once or 
twice a month. The physicians advise 
muscular work, declaring that this con¬ 
dition never exists among the laboring 
classes. Our problem is where he can go 
on a farm with the minimum of danger; 
where the farmhouse is lighted with elec¬ 
tric lights, for instance; where he would 
not be required to drive a machine, a car¬ 
riage, or attend to animals. As to the 
compensation, we would wish him to re¬ 
ceive sufficient to act as an incentive, 
probably to study agriculture, with the 
idea of making it a life career, m. m. f. 
Now and then we have letters like the 
above. In these strenuous times such a 
young man would he of little use on a 
farm during the Winter. Most farmers 
would hardly feel like taking such a young 
man without charging board. It is sin¬ 
gular how people get the idea that farm 
work is so simple and easy that anyone 
can do it. and that the crudest form of 
labor has high value. 
A New Back-to-the-Land Proposition 
Here is a baek-to-the-land proposition 
different from anything we have ever had 
before. The man making it is responsible, 
and his offer seems fair: 
I have a 40-acre farm in Rorgen Coun¬ 
ty. N. .T„ which is idle. The place is 
ideal for fruit and poultry. There is a 
very good house on it, a fair barn and 
small chicken-house, excellent water, and 
some fruit; also about $1,500 to $2,000 
worth of standing timber. I think the 
place ought to be producing something for 
somebody. I cannot do it myself, as I 
have a 130-acre farm which takes all the 
time I can possibly give it. I would put 
a price on the place of $7,000. I would 
enter into a contract with any back-to- 
the-lander who would go there, and who 
has sufficient money to build the neeessarv 
poultry houses, say eventually for 1,000 
or 1.500 head, agreeing to sell him the 
place at the end of three years, or pay him 
for the improvements at cost less 10 per 
cent depreciation at the end of three 
years. I would not ask any rent for the 
three years, but the occupant would have 
to pav the taxes. To assist further I 
would let him have a team of farm horses 
and one cow. If the party was ambitious 
and knew anything about peach culture 
and would plant the available space in 
peaches. I would, at the end of three 
years, allow him $2.50 to $3 for every 
healthy tree. 
Controlling Canada Thistles 
Tt has been my experience with Canada 
thistles that if cut off when the stalk is 
hollow it kills that root entirely. Later in 
the season one can pull out quite a deep 
root, dead clear down. II. .T. M.. on page 
1480. says put in Alfalfa. No doubt that 
would he good, though I never have tried it 
But I have had excellent success in Red 
clover seeding. The clover hay. cut when 
nicely in blossom, catches the thistles in 
hollow-stalk stage, and the hay harvest 
gets the thistles without extra labor. Two 
or three seedings to clover, cut for hay, 
gets rid of the thistles, and but little 
trouble is had after the first cutting if the 
seedings follow in close succession. 
Fonnyille, Mich. II. II. II. 
