1828 
The Rural New-Yorker 
THE BUSINESS FARMER'S PAPER 
A National Weekly Journal lor Country and Suburban Homes 
Established is:0 
Published weekly by the Rnral Publishing Company. 333 West 30th Street, New York 
Herbert W. Colmxgwood, President and Editor. 
John J. Dillon, Treasurer and ticneral Manager. 
Wm. F. Dii.i.on, Secretary. Mrs. E. T. Hoyi.k, Associate Editor. 
SUBSCRIPTION : ONE DOLLAR A YEAR 
To foreign countries in the Universal Postal Union, $2.01, equal to 8s. 6d, or 
8 Ja marks, or 101$ francs. Remit in money order, express 
orderf 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 t rusting 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 cases should not be confused with dishonest 
transactions. We protect subscribers against rogues, but wo will not bo 
responsible for the debts of honest bankrupts sanctioned bv the courts. 
Notice of the complaint must be sent to us within one month of the time or 
the transaction, and to identify it, you should mention The Rural New- 
Yorker when writing the ad.^rtiser 
A RE you or any other man justified in asking the 
world to do more for you than you are willing 
to do for the world? It seems as if you might well 
develop a good credit of human welfare before you 
demand a large share of wealth. Most of us find the 
end of the year a good time for taking account of 
stock. Suppose we stand ourselves up and ask this 
question fairly : “What have you done for humanity 
which justifies you in demanding more than the av¬ 
erage man receives?” 
* 
The situation for farm help looks bad. Two rich 
men's establishments here have set the pace. One pays 
$000 cash. 4 lbs. butter weekly, free wood, what milk is 
wanted, house and garden. The other, that hires five 
men. $800. house, but not much in privileges. Single 
men are talking $70, board and washing. I hardly know 
what we can grow and get by with, especially if the sea¬ 
son is a bit unfavorable. 
HAT seems to he the story everywhere. Many 
locations are blessed (?) by the presence of the 
rich baek-to-the-laiuler. They have unlimited cap¬ 
ital and carry such a heavy “overhead” charge that 
they cannot pay expenses. They are determined to 
make a showing and do it regardless of expense. 
They seem to think this is the best business example 
they can set for farmers. Thus they entice good farm 
bands away from productive labor and pay them a 
premium for performing what is little better than 
agricultural play. This form of competition drives 
the farmer out of production and gives the hired 
man unbusinesslike habits which unfit him for his 
real job. A practical farmer cannot compete with 
this sort of pastime farming and pay the wage scale 
which the rich farmer establishes, lie will, in most 
eases, do better to seed down more of his farm, select 
the crops or stock which require least care, and do 
what he can with family help. The strange thing is 
that some of these rich farmers think they are doing 
great things for agriculture. 
* 
O UR old friend W. W. Reynolds of Ohio is set¬ 
ting us all an example of what one man can do 
to make a uoise for a worthy cause. Mr. Reynolds is 
a sheep man. He knows about sheep, and has made 
a long study of wool and the history of its use. lie 
knows the great injustice done to sheep men in the 
buying of wool and the unrestricted use of shoddy. 
Now. the sheep cannot hark or roar or bite in her 
own defense. She is a gentle, inoffensive animal, and 
this quality seems to have been communicated to the 
industry. Thus we believe sheep men have received 
fewer favors and greater injustice from Congress 
than any other industry. So Mr. Reynolds lias gone 
out on the hilltops to wake up the sheep men and 
induce them to fight for their rights, lie is making 
a noise, and people begin to listen. All this shows 
what a few strong men can do if they have knowl¬ 
edge and courage and determination. The world 
likes a fighter, and even those who will run from a 
fight themselves enjoy seeing someone else sail in. 
When they find him making headway they join in. 
Come on! 
» 
I N “Pasture and Barn Notes” this week we are told 
of a fat eow which ate little, yet gave milk quite 
high in butterfat. That cow was milking the fat off 
her body into the pail. That is not uncommon, and 
this tendency of some cows is utilized in making 
seven-day tests. When covered with a lot of soft fat 
just before freshening, and then fed sparingly on 
strong protein feeds for a few days, the cow will 
proceed to balance her ration by taking part of the 
fat “off her own bones” and depositing it in the milk. 
After a few days this abnormal performance stops, 
and the milk will drop to a normal composition. This 
is one argument against the seven-day test as a fair 
indication of the value of a cow to produce butter. 
We want to know what the eow can do in 250 or 300 
•Ike RURAL NEW-YORKER 
days as a dairy animal—not what she ear. do in two 
or three days at using up her body fat. For butter- 
fat, not body fat, is what the dairyman is after. 
* 
Fifty years ago the profits of the North Atlantic State 
farmers ran high. The country had to endure another 
after-war economic crisis. Let our dairy farmers take 
warning by what happened then. New farming regions 
opened up made food cheap and drove the farm profiteer 
of the East into penury. Even to this day parts of 
New York State have not recovered. 
IIAT is taken from the Evening Sim of New 
York. The last sentence of it is true, at least, 
and that is one sound reason why our farmers op¬ 
pose the scheme for spending millions for watering 
the deserts and draining the swamps in order to 
provide new farm lands. The Sun says that new 
districts will be tapped for milk to supply New York, 
and it seems to think that our farmers are entirely 
responsible for present high prices. Where will it. 
find any new sections for milk production? The 
increasing railroad rates and the shortage of labor 
will make it impossible to bring milk from distant 
points cheaper than it is now being produced. The 
tendency is more the other way—to concentrate cows 
nearer the city, with a shorter haul for milk and 
direct sale from the farm. We are now going 
through an economic crisis, and the farmer is having 
more than his share of trouble, but he is learning 
some things which he will never forget. Hereafter 
he will keep more of his money at home, invest it in 
home co-operative enterprises and less in city bonds 
and stocks. He will solve the milk problem finally 
by acting as his own distributor. That will mean a 
lower price to the consumer and a higher price to the 
producer. Some of (he “economists” say that is im¬ 
possible—but it is just what will happen. 
* 
Chickens have gone to 20 cents. Think of giving 50 
lbs. of chicken for a pair of shoes, and they containing 
less than 30 cents’ worth of cowhide! That looks like a 
square deal, doesn’t it? Do you believe anyone can 
raise a pound of poultry, counting all cost, loss, etc., for 
less than 50 cents per pound? To raise a hen it costs 
between $2.25 and $2.50, to feed one nine months, and 
it is impossible to feed for less than one cent per day, 
and get any results. Don’t you think so? 
Washington Co., Teun. airs. d. n. Phillips. 
HIS woman in Tennessee, with these remarks, 
strikes a bell which rings from Vancouver to 
Key West, Fla., and from Eastport, Me., to Los 
Angeles, Cal. The sound of that hell should call 
every country man and woman inside of a line drawn 
through these four points to attention. At Thanks¬ 
giving we sold a crate of live poultry at 34 cents a 
pound. They were sold direct to the retailer—the 
consumer paying from 55 to (50 cents. The chickens 
which Mrs. Phillips sold at 20 cents were probably 
sent to some Northern city where the consumer paid 
at least 50 cents. It is not likely that she could buy 
a good pair of shoes for $10 in her local market. The 
returns on the cowhide made into leather will depend 
on local prices now being paid. Will our readers tell 
us just what hides bring in their local market? We 
know how much hide is required for an ordinary pair 
of shoes, and with local prices we can figure it out. 
So let us be entirely fair about this, and got down 
to the bottom of it. We know how (he prices of 
things we buy have been boosted; now let us have 
the exact figures on the produce you sell and the cost 
of production. One cent a day, or seven cents a 
week, or 30 cents a month, seems large for feeding 
chickens, yet many of us are paying $3.75 per 100 lbs. 
for chicken food. At that price a cent’s worth is 
hut little over four ounces. Your city man will say 
that Mrs. Phillips does not know what she is talking 
about—though he knows less! What are the facts 
and figures from your account books? 
* 
Enclosed fiiul check for $2 instead of $1, ns you asked 
for in your letter. I am not only sorry, but somewhat 
ashamed of this neglect, which is simply nil it means—- 
neglect—but I am not at home very much, although 
Tiik R. N.-Y. goes to my home once a week, and I 
could not think of having it stopped for many times the 
price. I feel that I know the value of this wonderful 
agricultural paper because of my work as chairman and 
organizer of the Dairymen's Co-operative Sales Com¬ 
pany. with primary market at Pittsburgh. I feel that 
every farmer should have this paper in his home. 
P. S. BRENNEMAN. 
NY souse of shame which prompts one to send 
two dollars in place of one may well he encour¬ 
aged. Blushing in dollar hills is very becoming, and 
a habit to be encouraged. 
* 
F DR some time past certain daily papers have 
been printing sensational articles about the so- 
called school war in Delaware. The firmers of the 
State were pictured as fighting all school improve¬ 
ments. and opposed to all progress. Whenever there 
is any question of this sort The It. N.-Y. goes to (lie 
farmers themselves for opinion. They, being the par¬ 
ties most interested, are best capable of expressing 
their views. We find, after interviewing many Dela¬ 
December 13, 1910 
ware farmers, that there is a great division of opin¬ 
ion. The situation seems to be fairly summed up in' 
the following extract from a farmer’s letter: 
The opposition to the code is probably * *ot so rabid as 
it was. At present it seems probable to me that the law 
will not be repealed but that it will be amended. Intel¬ 
ligent opinion seems to be that it is a very radical and 
expensive innovation among a conservative and econom¬ 
ical people. 
There seems to he no doubt that the old school law 
of Delaware was about as slack and backward as it 
could ho. The new code seems to have been framed 
by men high up in the science of education, hut with 
little or no knowledge of the life of Delaware farm¬ 
ers. The truth seems to be that these experts framed 
a law well-nigh perfect in theory, but thoroughly 
unadapted to the habits of the people, and with no 
local public sentiment to enforce it. It looks like the 
old story of an attempt to force a good but arbitrary 
measure upon a people who are in no way prepared 
for it. 
* 
T WO things this week about the dairy business 
must be considered. One is that story of the 
Canadian dairymen who cut out most of the middle¬ 
men. They had to take up the retail business. In 
order to do that they had to establish a credit. That 
made it necessary to make farmers’ notes good at 
the bank for their face value. These men did it all. 
The other thing is that advertising campaign for 
milk in Boston. By making use of the school chil¬ 
dren and of popular amusement facilities the in¬ 
creased use of milk became fashionable—a part of 
common life. Both of these things prove the point 
that ive have got to do it ourselves. 
* 
My chickens got out of the coop today and wont over 
the road into a neighbor’s field. lie set his dog on the 
chickens and the dog badly mangled three fine birds. 
The dog has killed chickens before for a neighbor on the 
other side of the road under same conditions. What re¬ 
dress have I under the Wicks law? The chickens were 
on the dog owner’s property when hurt by the dog. 
Dog does not wear a dog tag, hut the owner bought one 
from the town clerk. The local justice here says no 
case at all. Dog owner refuses to pay for chickens hurt. 
New York. n. n. T. 
F course the chickens had no business on the 
neighbor’s property. They were trespassers, 
the same as a horse or cow would be, and the owner 
was justified in driving them away. In many eases 
such owners kill the chickens and throw them over 
the fence upon their owner’s property. About all 
such owner can do at law is to bring suit to recover 
the value of the chickens. The other party can sue 
to recover damages done by the birds. Most wan¬ 
dering liens will lay more trouble than they do eggs, 
and hardly a day passes without some case of (his 
sort being reported to us. A chicken, like a dog, has 
no legitimate business off its owner’s property. So 
much for the chickens—now for the dog. Under the 
New York dog law, any animal caught worrying or 
chasing domestic animals (including fowls) may be 
shot in the act by anyone, and the owner of the dog 
or the State is liable for the value of chickens thus 
destroyed by dogs. Thus, aside from the common 
law of trespass, we think this dog can he killed and 
that the owner must pay damage. Our readers must 
know that it is no longer safe to “sic” a dog after 
trespassing animals! 
Brevities 
Soy beans for the cow-—soiled beans for the sheep. 
Oftentimes hard kicking will remedy a case of “cold 
feet.” 
Bran or cottonseed meal will go well fed with apple 
pomace. 
The production of wealth ought to be the production 
of welfare. 
Very little is said this year about homemade syrup 
from sugar beets. 
The “embattled farmers” of Revolutionary days are 
now (he organized farmers. 
Can you tell the prosperity of a country town by 
the number of moving picture shows it can support? 
Which would you call the harder job—to put com¬ 
mon sense into a dreamer or a soul into a corporation? 
John Burroughs tells of a hen that went 18 days 
without food ! She was light in weight, but alive and 
cheerful. 
We begin to get letters claiming that a few billygoats 
kept with a flock of sheep will fight off most of the dogs. 
Is it true? 
Tn Western Kansas it is said that a “nurse crop” is 
as linrd upon Alfalfa as a crop of weeds. That is about 
our observation. 
The heifer is a tender young cow. Give her a chance 
these cold nights. Do not let her go into Winter quar¬ 
ters decorated with lice. 
Lighting the henhouse. Does it not cost too much? 
Two or three eggs a day above the usual supply at this 
time will pay for “lighting” 200 hens. 
