484 
The RURAL NEW-YORKER 
March 0, 19U0 
The Rural New-Yorker 
THE BUSINESS FARMER'S PAPER 
A National Weekly Journal 1'or Country and Suburban Homes 
Established !S50 
Published weekly by the Rural Publishing Company, 333 West 30th Street,Sew Fork 
Herbert W. Collixgwood. President and Editor. 
John' J. Dillon, Treasurer and General Manager. 
Wm. F. Dillon, Secretary. Mrs. E. T. Ho yle, Associate Editor. 
SUBSCRIPTION ; ONE DOLLAR A YEAR 
To foreign countries in the Universal Postal Union, $2.04. equal to 8s. 6d., or 
»)(. marks, or 10k francs. Remit in money order, express 
order, personal check or bank draft. 
Entered at New York Post Office as Second Class Matter. 
Advertising rates, 90 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 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 ujion 
to adjust differences or mistakes between our subscribers and honest, 
responsible houses, whether advertisers or not. We willingly use our good 
offices to tills end, but such cases should not be confused with dishonest 
transactions. We protect subscribers against rogues, 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 transaction, and to identify it, you should mention The Rural Ne'v- 
Yorkpr when writing the advertiser. 
T HE Guarantee Trust Company, which is tem¬ 
porary executor of the estate of Theodore P. 
Shouts, the late president of the New York City trac¬ 
tion companies, has made application to the courts to 
sell Mr. Shouts’ farm in Pennsylvania, for the reason 
that it costs $400 a month to run the farm, and the 
entire income is only $250. Mr. Shouts made the 
traction companies pay from 16 to 20 per cent on 
stock, watered and otherwise, for 10 years, lie was 
rated as a great success, but the income of his farm 
is only 37 per cent of the monthly expense. This 
would probably be close to the average of many 
other farms, if the men and women and children who 
work them were paid current wages. 
* 
I am employed in a shop (machine smith). In hot 
Summer weather the air does not cool down till the mid¬ 
dle of the night. I remember in particular one night the 
clock struck two before I could drop off to sleep. Now 
I have to get up at five in order to eat my breakfast 
and get to the shop by seven. I would have been glad to 
have another’s hour’s rest, so it is not only farmers, but 
shop men, too. who are objecting to it. but we do not cut 
anv figure with the politicians, only at election times, so 
might as well keep still. h. skinner. 
New Y’ork. 
^IMTE last six words are wrong. It is because peo- 
X pie have “kept still" too long that the politicians 
have been able to run things. We have known for a 
long time that many working men are opposed to 
“daylight saving.” Thousands of parents with little 
children know that the so-called new time starves 
the little people of sleep. Teachers understand that 
very well, and they know that the children show it 
in their school work. As for (lie farmers, every 
test or referendum shows that they stand eight, or 10 
to one against the new time. It has come to he 
pretty much a trial of power between city and coun¬ 
try. The city argument is selfish. While a compar¬ 
atively few city workers will employ the extra hour 
at gardening or similar useful work, the great ma¬ 
jority of them simply demand more time for play! 
They know that the new time must he a loss and an 
annoyance to most farmers. They also know that 
there is no need of any law to gain the extra hour 
if they want it. The manufacturers and business 
men could easily get together and agree upon hours 
for opening and closing if they wanted to. They do 
not need the law, yet with a selfish disregard for the 
rights or habits of others, they try to compel an en¬ 
tire class of people to adopt an uneconomic habit of 
life. If State laws in New York. New Jersey and 
other States were necessary, the daylight savers 
might have some justification for their attitude. The 
Federal law makes the old time legal. State laws 
are not needed, because the business organizations 
which demand these laws could easily arrange hours 
of labor if they cared to do so. All Federal business 
will be conducted on the old time, regardless of what 
cities or States undertake to do. It would be far 
better to have one uniform time and let business men 
settle the hours of labor under our present labor 
laws. We have yet to see one good reason why, in 
the present situation, either New York or New Jer¬ 
sey needs any law to determine when people should 
get up. Let them settle that as a business proposi¬ 
tion. 
❖ 
H ON. DUNCAN MARSHALL, Minister of Agri¬ 
culture in Alberta, Canada, tells this story, 
which many of our readers will understand : 
A man was going nlong a dusty road one day. and was 
very thirsty. Coming to a fine-looking farmhouse he 
espied not far from the road a clean-looking pump, with 
a bright new dipper hanging on it. Being thirsty he 
went in to help himself with the freedom of the country. 
After pumping some time without results he became 
very hot, but persisted, for the pump seemed to be work¬ 
ing. and he seemed to hear the gurgle of the water! But 
it was unavailing. 
After a while a neighbor came along and asked the 
stranger if he was thirsty. 
“Well, what do you think I’m pumping for?” 
“Do you know what you are doing, stranger?” the 
neighbor asked. 
“Why, yes; I’m trying to pump some water.” 
“Well, friend. I’ll tell you ; you’re helping to fill the 
old man’s tank in the attic!’’ 
Many a farmer has spent his life pumping watef 
“to fill the old man’s tank." while about all the mois¬ 
ture he got for himself was sweat. The politicians 
and the middlemen always had the pump fixed so 
that the water ran into the “old man’s tank.” Now 
farmers are not going to pump out in the hot sun 
until they get down underneath and fix things so 
some of that water will run out into the bucket. 
And politicians accuse us of getting into politics be¬ 
cause we will not continue to “fill the old man's 
tank.” 
* 
In January I received quotation of $4.40 for mixed 
eow r peas and Soy beans. Within a few days I made out 
an order, and asked for quotations on the lot. Reply 
came that cow peas and Soy beans had advanced to 
$5.75. I immediately ordered 10 bu. at $5.75. Another 
reply. They had advanced to $6.15. They cut out 
some of the items, so that my balance was only S5c. I 
6ent them $1 and said they could keep the 15c, as there 
was probably another advance, and it would help make 
up their loss. Please find out how the middlemen ad¬ 
vance their prices so rapidly, and pass the dope on to 
me. Perhaps I can use it in the sale of some of the 
products on my farm. H. A. kratzer. 
Maryland. 
HT~Y\SIEST thing you know.” They make sure 
Ej production is short and then simply put up 
the price and say “take it or leave it.” The “quota¬ 
tions” do not usually count if there is a chance to 
raise prices. Some men will stand by their earlier 
quotations, even when the price goes up—but as a 
rule you will pay “all the traffic will bear.” and as 
much more as your needs compel you to give. Thus 
the “dope” is quite simple. First corner the crop or 
cut down the production of necessities, or keep any 
surplus off the market. Then harden your heart 
and squeeze “the last wrung drop” out of the buyer. 
That is the example set before us by modern busi¬ 
ness, but farmers should rise above it and be fair. 
* 
T HERE seems to be a good-natured difference of 
opinion between the Geneva (N. Y.) and the 
Cornell Experiment station regarding the value of 
dry dust for killing orchard insects. Geneva argues 
for the liquid spray, while Cornell advises the dust 
—at least for codling worm and scab. As a result 
of this difference we shall get at the whole truth. It 
would require something more than an army of ex¬ 
perts to convince us that dusting is not a safe and 
economic practice. As we were situated last year it 
would have been impossible for us to cover all our 
trees with liquid spray. Granting even that the 
liquid would have given fewer wormy apples (which 
we doubt), what would have been the value of that 
argument when we could not obtain the labor needed 
to spray out the liquid? One man and a boy could 
put on the dust in one quarter of the time required 
to spray out the liquid. Our dusted apples sold at $6 
to $0 per barrel. As we have often stated, where 
there is scale on the trees a liquid spray is needed. 
We are not quite sure about plant lice, but for worm 
and scab the dust surely did the work for us. What 
we need is a combination machine with a good power 
and an arrangement for substituting tank for duster 
whenever needed. We have no quarrel with the 
liquid spray men. and have no wish to throw dust in 
the eyes of readers, but dusting has served well in 
our own orchard. 
♦ 
F OR several years the good old horse has been 
taking a back seat—before the car and the truck. 
We had almost forgotten him! During the last 
month, all over the Northern .States, the horse has 
come back to his own. The cars have been standing 
idle in the garage, while the owner either walked 
or hitched up old Dobbin or Gray. In many local¬ 
ities thousands of dollars have been spent trying to 
clear the roads for car service—only to make 
the “going” worse than ever—“gone,” in fact. We 
thought the horse was a back number, but nature— 
with an old-fashioned Winter—has made him No. 1 
once more. When we bought the car and truck we 
began to look down upon the big gray team. Now, 
when we see these fine fellows smash through the 
drifts, while the car stands as helpless as a child, we 
realize that gasoline is mighty, but that good old 
oats are the friend in time of storm! 
* 
I S there any practical market for Sweet clover hay? 
It has about the same analysis as Alfalfa, and 
looks like it, but is coarser and with a peculiar odor. 
Many farmers know its great value as pasture, green 
fodder and hay, yet there is practically no demand 
for it in the large hay markets. Dealers are pre¬ 
judiced against the Sweet clover and do not advise 
shipping the hay. Are there any points where this 
prejudice has been overcome? Here seems to be a 
case where a genuine countryman known on the farm 
as a useful citizen can gain no standing in the city. 
* 
I N some parts of the West what is known as 
“stover silage” is coming into use. Instead of cut¬ 
ting the green corn into the silo as usual, the crop is 
cut and put into shocks. The ears are husked off 
either by hand or machine and the dry stalks are 
cut into the silo. Water is added as needed, and in 
some cases waste molasses is put in with the stalks. 
This silage is fed out in the usual way, and then the 
silos are filled once more. Thus all the grain is 
saved for separate feeding, and the cut stalks in the 
silo are eaten up much cleaner than the long stalks 
would be. Years ago we found a few dairymen try¬ 
ing this plan, but most farmers considered it of very 
little value. Now the plan is being carried out suc¬ 
cessfully on many farms. The fearful price of grain 
has forced farmers to experiment, and some of them, 
at least, conclude that dry grain is more economical 
than the corn ears in the silo. This is one of the 
things which the war and its effects have forced 
upon us. 
* 
I T becomes harder each year for market gardeners 
and farmers to buy city manure. There are fewer 
horses each season, more farmers calling for the pro¬ 
duct. and more stringent health laws to regulate the 
handling. The quality is poorer than ever and the 
price is higher. Most of the valuable liquids are now 
run info the sewers—street sweepings and trash are 
often mixed in with the solid manure. What are 
market gardeners to do in the future? They cannot 
keep stock on their small farms, and they regard ma¬ 
nure as a necessity. The best solution comes in the 
use of cover crops, such as rye, clover, vetch or tur¬ 
nips. These can be seeded after a Summer or Fall 
crop, and will give a good growth to plow under in 
the Spring. This saves much fertility which might 
leach away through the bare soil, and it gives much 
organic matter without interfering with regul r 
crops. Most of us who have tried this know that 
while the cover crop adds organic matter and plant 
food, it does not give as quick or sure results as the 
manure. That is because the latter contains certain 
bacteria which work to break up the organic matter 
and make its plant food available. These tiny, al¬ 
most invisible bacteria do in the soil much the same 
work that the powerful acids do in the fertilizer fac¬ 
tory. The chief value of manure comes from the 
work of these bacteria: it is doubtful if it is worth 
the present, high price for plant fond alone. When a 
few tons of manure are spread over a cover crop of 
rye, vetc-h or clover, and all plowed under, there will 
be a far better response in the following crop than 
where the cover crop was used alone. That is be¬ 
cause the small quantity of manure added the needed 
bacteria, which spread all through the soil and 
worked up the organic matter. This indicates the so¬ 
lution of the problem. Let the soil be covered each 
Fall with a cover crop. Then in the Spring, instead 
of trying to put 15 loads of manure on one acre, 
spread two or three loads on the cover crop and plow 
it all under. This means using the manure for inocu¬ 
lation—in its way not unlike what many of us use 
on the seed of clover, Alfalfa, beans or peas. This is 
what many of us will have to come to as the manure 
supply grows shorter. We have no doubt that in the 
future dried manure from the back farms will find 
good sale to market gardeners for this purpose. 
Brevities 
Good drinking water is the first essential on a farm. 
Snow is not manure. It helps the soil by protecting 
it and slowly filling it with moisture. 
Lime and organic matter represent doctor and nurse 
for the soil that hardens and bakes in time of drought. 
Suckers, whether vermin or human, must be fought 
with some contact spray. No use trying to poison them. 
We have a friend who says his wife is the greatest 
loafer he ever saw—that is, she can make the finest loaf 
of bread in the world! 
Tiie report now is that a small airship weighing a lit¬ 
tle over 500 lbs. has been made practical. It has a 
speed limit of 70 miles an hour. 
That is a great article on using asparagus tops for 
bedding (page 505). Practical thought running through 
a good brain will do wonders with some very simple 
things. 
The Connecticut College Press Bulletin tells of a case 
where two carloads of grain were unloaded in a certain 
town at the same time. One belonged to a local dealer, 
the other to a co-operative society. The price to the 
farmers was $7 per ton less for the same kind of grain 
than the dealer’s price. The difference was that the 
farmers paid cash, while the dealer sold on .‘10 days’ 
credit'. 
