1752 
Ine RURAL NEW-YORKER 
The Rural New-Yorker 
THE BUSINESS FARMER'S TAPER 
A National Weekly Jonrnnl for Country and Suburban Homes 
Established IS30 
Published weekly by the Hural Publishing Company, 333 West 80th Street, hew fork 
Herbert W. Collingwood, President and Editor. 
John J. Dillon, Treasurer and General Manager. 
Wm. F. Dillon, Seerotary. Mrs. E. T. Hoyle, Associate Editor. 
SUBSCRIPTION : ONE DOLLAR A YEAR 
To foreign countries in the Universal Postal Union, $2.04, equal to 8s. Od, or 
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“ 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. Wo willingly use our good 
offices to this end, but sucli cases should not bo confused with dishonest 
transactions. We protect subscribers against rogues, but we will not be 
responsible for llie 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 transaction, and to identify it, you should mention The Rural New- 
Yorker when writing the ad.,-rtiser 
Our Best Thanksgiving Suggestion 
Home, Sweet Home. 
jOmn hOAARO PAY ht 
1. Mid pleasures and pal - a . ces, though wc way roam, Be it tv • er SO 
2 . An ex * ilc from home, splendor daz-zlcs in vain; O' give xne my 
l mrn if fr 1 1, ; t ir' 
bumble, there’s no place like home; A charm from l he skies seem s to hoi-low us 
low - ly thatched cottage a-gain,—The binlssing ing gni • ly, tbat came at my 
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there, Which, seek Ihro’ Ihe world is ne'er met with else-where. RomC 
rail; Give me them,with the peace of niinil, dear, cr than all. 
feU/Uji- I : \: \ : 
Cre.i. 
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* home' sweet .sw eet home'Be it ev • er so hum-blr,there’s no place like home. 
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- • f' . ' ■ re 
O NE thing about Ibis new department for tbe 
young folks is that it means “Hands off!" for 
the grown-ups! Let the children understand that 
tiiis department is for them, without interference or 
direction from adults. Mr. Tuttle will simply act as 
interpreter and put into shape what the children 
have to say. Tiie It. X.-Y. lias succeeded because it 
gives fair expression to the thought and desires of 
plain country men and women. In a smaller way 
this department of “Boys and Girls” will succeed 
because it expresses the thought and feeling <>f our 
young folks. 
* 
O XK of our readers thinks lie finds a parallel for 
the recent campaign against Charles II. Betts 
in the story of Achilles, the famous Greek warrior. 
We are not very strong on the classics, hut. as we 
recall it, Achilles was supposed to he invulnerable 
except in his heel. The legend goes that his mother 
dipped him in the River Styx, holding him by the 
heel, so that every part of his body was made im¬ 
mune to weapons except his heel. He won all his 
lights until one who knew the secret directed a 
poisoned arrow which struck him in the vital part— 
his heel! Xow, says our friend. Mr. Betts and most 
other politicians are strong and unbeatable so long 
as they stand hack and pull the wires. When they 
actually run for office, or, as we may say, take to 
their political “heels,” the independent and honest 
voters, fully aroused, will shoot ballots at them like 
poisoned arrows. The comparison is not bad. If 
Mr. Belts had kept off the ticket the old theory that 
farmers will make kindling wood of their best inter¬ 
ests before they will split a ticket would have gone 
on rejoicing. The politicians would have gone on 
buying and selling patronage on the theory that no 
matter wliat they do, Wayne County was good for 
0,000 majority. It is hard to understand what evil 
genius induced Mr. Betts to take the chance, and by 
actually “running” as a candidate, expose Ins vul¬ 
nerable heel! He did it, and his beggarly majority 
of .'107. under the circumstances, is the hardest blow 
the political bosses of rural Xew York State have 
ever had. Yes, Mr. Betts seems like Achilles in this 
fine tiling—he must have a very sore heel, and the 
soreness will spread to other politicians. 
* 
and clearest in his manner of expressing thought. 
Therefore a speaker who expects to Interest farmers 
should think hard and speak easily. We notice men 
who can sit down with one farmer and talk simply 
and well, so that the message is understood. Let 
that farmer meet with 100 others in a room and tin* 
same speaker who did so well in the farm home, get 
up before them to talk, lie seems to forget that the 
farmer lias not in any way changed his nature, his 
interests or his habits. He seems to think he is 
talking to an entirely different man, and lie gets off 
the ground and up in the air. Why not talk to the 
100 men as you did to the one man? 
T IIE following statement by Fred W. Cornwall, 
farmers’ candidate in the recent Wayne County 
election, shows the right spirit. It is along just 
such lines as Mr. Cornwall suggesrs that we must 
push tiie car of progress ahead: 
Wo have lost this year, hut we have the satisfaction 
of having lost honorably. The campaign was clean, well 
defined, waged for a principle and not for personal 
reasons. I do not. consider cutting the normal majority 
from (i.000 to ”37 as a personal triumph. It is a 
triumph for those who liad faith in the cause and the 
courage of their convictions. It is to all of us a reason 
tor congratulation that the Grange, tiie ministers, the 
IV. (’. T. U. and tiie farmers had a common cause to 
work for, and did work harmoniously, loyally and with 
enthusiasm. Xext year and the year after this move¬ 
ment will grow, quietly perhaps, but inevitably, for 
farmers who have long thought upon these principles 
have begun to speak and to act. We must know what 
we want, ll’c must he sure that what we ask for is 
just. We must work for principles and not for in¬ 
dividual gain, and our voice in legislative affairs must 
ring clearly for what we know is right. 
F. W. CORNWALL. 
* 
The Three L/s—Land, Labor or Learning 
We are about to have a discussion on “Which is the 
mn«<t essential to the farmer of the present, more labor, 
less land, more education?” Which one, to your opin¬ 
ion. is the most essential to the farmer of today? 
Pennsylvania. WILLIAM II. COTTING HAM. 
I X its way that is not unlike asking us to say 
which is most essential of the plant food ele¬ 
ments—nitrogen, potash and phosphorus. The gen¬ 
eral answer would be, of course, that they are all 
necessary. Unless we know by experiment which is 
lacking we should use a “balanced fertilizer” con¬ 
taining all three. We should go on and say that a 
fourth element—lime—i< also needed on most soils. 
Unless lime is supplied the other elements cannot 
lie most efficient. 
Xow, suppose we say that labor represents - nitro¬ 
gen. intensive farming potash, education phosphorus, 
and fair credit or capital, lime. We should figure it 
out about as we would the fertilizer problem. A 
farmer needs them all in order to make his farm pay. 
Unless he knows which one is most essential he 
should try to supply them all, hut he should test his 
job as he does his soil in order to know which one is 
most necessary. In pioneer times when a man went 
into the forest or onto the raw prairie the greatest 
need was labor. It did not require great education 
to swing an ax or follow a plow, unless you call in¬ 
stinct and common sense education. As time went on 
the land grew poorer and thinner, and the markets 
came nearer. Trade was no longer in barter, but in 
cash. Then the farmer needed true ‘‘education” to 
know how to build up or maintain his soil: he had to 
use intensive methods and get more out of each acre 
and use some form of capital in cash or credit. It is 
almost exactly like the development of farming as 
related to flie plant food question. Today the 
answer to tiie question will vary with the locality 
and th(> character of the farming. In our own sec¬ 
tion the greatest need is labor. Our farmers have 
been forced to restrict their operations and reduce 
their acreage. They know well what they ought to 
do, and have the knowledge needed to produce good 
crops, with the natural gain which comes from ra¬ 
tional study. They cannot live up to their knowl¬ 
edge nr wish because they cannot find labor. That is 
therefore our essential need. We know of other sec¬ 
tions where the labor situation is better, but farmers 
lack capital. They cannot buy needed equipment 
or make needed improvements through lack of money. 
Their business stands like a sour soil, unable to 
make full use of its potential plant food through a 
lack of lime! There are other places where a lack of 
knowledge or true education keeps men the slaves of 
old methods or prejudices, hut if you take the east¬ 
ern part of the country at large we think the great¬ 
est farm need is skilled and contented labor, and the 
next greatest need is cash or credit, with education 
third. 
* 
H 5RE are a few suggestions which occur to ns 
after observing Hie efforts of various orators to 
address farmer audiences. The intelligent farmer 
is perhaps the hardest thinker along the lines of his 
work of ..py class of workers. TTo f«s also the simplest 
P ROT1TBITIOX and the sugar shortage have com¬ 
bined to develop a new sweet—malt sugar 
syrup. It is made from the same grains as beer— 
rye, barley, corn,.etc., and may also he made from po¬ 
tatoes: any plant; in fact, which contains starch. 
November 29, 1919 
Up to a certain point the process of making this new 
sweet is the same as that in beer making. With 
slight changes of fixtures, breweries can be utilized 
for syrup making, and some of them are being thus 
used. The new syrup looks much like maple syrup 
and can he used for any sweet purpose. Its manu¬ 
facturers promise fully to care for the barley crop 
formerly used in beer making. In fact, the use of 
this new malt syrup promises to put this country on 
the way to providing our own sweets. 
* 
“By every honorable means I am trying to help my 
daughter gain a high school education .” 
T HAT comes in a letter from a hard-working 
farm woman who has small opportunity for 
earning money. Many of our town and city people 
do not realize the size of such a woman’s task. She 
must not duly do her farm work, help support a fam¬ 
ily, but probably send her daughter away to town in 
order to have her attend a good high school. In the 
city or large town the high school is close at hand, 
hut on many a lonely farm attendance at such a 
school means a sacrifice which some of us have never 
realized. The things which some parents will do in 
order that their children may have the power which 
comes from education are nobly pathetic. The best 
there is in education should be carried out and down 
to the humblest and placed within reach of the lone¬ 
liest. 
* 
T IIE French people are having a desperate strug¬ 
gle to save and reorganize their country. Great 
tracts of their best soil have been hopelessly ruined. 
It will he 50 years before the orchards and gardens 
in the war zone can he restored. Many of the great 
French manufacturing'cities are in ruins, with ma¬ 
chinery destroyed and mines wrecked. In addition 
to all this the flower of the French manhood has 
been killed or crippled or depressed. To add the 
crowning touch of trouble, a fierce spirit of unrest, 
not unlike that of the French Revolution, seems to 
have seized upon the city workmen. There is dan¬ 
ger that the spirit <>f Bolshevism will spread over 
France before she can even start to pay her debt or 
repair her mins. Yet those who know the solid 
character and plain, homely sense of the French 
farmer, do not despair. M. Clemenceau, the great 
French statesman, recently warned his country of 
the dangers which the extreme radicals offer. 
lie added' to this warning and advice another remark 
which, judging from t lie commentaries of Socialist news¬ 
papers, has given labor something to contemplate. It 
was that, the French peasantry, the veritable backbone 
of the nation, would never admit a systematic appeal to 
violence and the.disorganization of industry which crip¬ 
pled the production of the nation. lie said they were a 
force to be reckoned with. 
The French farmers have always been the back¬ 
bone of France. The world hears of Paris, the scene 
of riot or of frivolity, but it represents little more 
than the froth on the milkpail as compared with the 
sober, silent men and women working in the sun¬ 
shine on the French farms. These sober workers 
hold the destiny of France secure. That is even 
more true of this country, where the people in rural 
districts are still tlie dominating class. We may 
hear of riot and disorder and radicals and ruin in 
Xew York. Chicago, or the other great cities, but the 
soul and destiny of America does not reside amid 
brick and stone. It is still to he found in the “open 
country,” and there it will continue to he found. In 
France the wisest statesmen realize this fact, while 
here, most leaders continue to hold the foolish notion 
that the city dominates the country. What we need 
most is the prompt and complete acknowledgment 
on the part of our public men that this nation is still 
at its foundation ail agricultural nation, with all 
other interests of secondary importance. 
Brevities 
Most farmers have a full supply of rainy-day work, 
but this year there has been so much rain that such 
work is about caught up. 
The Delaware Board of Agriculture offers prizes for 
the best managed flocks in that State. This does not 
mean the big commercial flocks entirely. Any farmer 
can compete. 
Why has quince growing passed out of the Hudson 
Valley? We quit the business because the quinces would 
not set their fruit. They are less ready to “set” than a 
Leghorn hen! 
While Xew Zealand threatens to become a strong 
competitor in the sale of fresh fruit, like apples, it has 
also become a great buyer of dried fruit. Last year this 
country sent fl.205.02S lbs. of dried fruit to New Zea¬ 
land. 
Who says the Leghorn hen is not a good mother? 
One of our Leghorns “ stole her nest” in late October 
and hatched nine chicks. Six* is wild as a hawk and 
led her brood away from the buildings, but eight of the 
little birds are strong and lively. 
The Ohio Experiment Station states that the blue or 
mottled subsoils so frequently found in wet places soon 
change to a brown or yellow soil after a good system of 
tile drainage. The drained land showed a gain of US 
bu. of corn, 7 bu. of wheat and 700 lbs. of clover to the 
acre. 
