The RURAL NEW-YORKER 
542 
The Rural New-Yorker 
THE BUSINESS FARMER'S TAPER 
A National Weekly Journal for Country and Suburban Home* * 
Established tsso 
Fnbllshed weekly L- 'he Rnral Publishing Company, 333 West 30th Street,New fork 
Herbert W. Collingwood, President and Editor. 
John J. Dillon, Treasurer and General Manager. 
Wm. F. Dillon, Secretary. Mrs. E. T. Royle, Associate Editor. 
SUBSCRIPTION: ONE DOLLAR A YEAR 
To foreign countries in the Universal Postal Union. $2.04. equal to 8s. 6d., or 
marks, or lOJs 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 
Bible 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. We willingly use our good 
offices to this end, but such cases should not be confused with dishonest 
transactioi-o. 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 New- 
Yorker when writing the advertiser. 
Some time ago I remember reading the remark in 
your paper that “The Rural New-Yorker teaches 
religion in lettere that are too large to be read.” I 
believe I have thought about that, as I have picked up 
each issue. Those people who continually grumble and 
look on the dark side of life can never be happy unless 
they develop a spirit strong to bear life’s burdens. 
Meanwhile they are a burden to others. I believe that 
if any grumbler would conscientiously read The It. 
N.-Y. for one year, and imagine himself seated by your 
fireplace a few times as a pupil, ho would be cured. A 
business cannot be a success in these times unless we 
put active religion into it. I am thankful that The R. 
N.-Y. teaches us not only how to farm, but how to live. 
D. BOYD DEVENDORF. 
T HE R. N.-Y. is not a religious paper as this term 
is usually employed. We do believe, however, 
that a farm paper should stand openly for the higher 
things of life. These things are needed now more 
than ever before in the homes of our country people. 
The R. N.-Y. makes no apology for presenting them 
as a part of better living. 
* 
T HE State of New York undertook to levy an 
income tax on residents of other States who 
derive an income here. Thousands of people who 
live in New Jersey or Connecticut come to New York 
every day for work or business. They draw wages 
and spend part of their money here, carrying the 
rest home. As most of their income is obtained here, 
New York tried to comi>el them to pay a tax on it, 
regardless of what New Jersey might also do. The 
Supreme Court has now declared this law void. New 
York undertook to tax these Jerseymen, but did not 
give them the same exemptions which New Yorkers 
enjoy. The court says this discrimination is illegal, 
and therefore the law is void. Apparently this is 
only a delay and not a full stop for Jerseymen. The 
New York Legislature is expected to amend the law 
and thus compel those outside to pay. As to the 
Justice of such a tax there are various opinions. 
Should income be taxed where it is earned or where 
it is spent? The former may be easier of collection, 
* 
W HEN, at the last Canadian election, the farm¬ 
ers’ party came into power in Ontario, it was 
freely predicted that *hey would make a great failure 
of government. They have done nothing of the sort. 
Thus far their administration has been sensible and 
conservative. They have shown genuine capacity 
for governing the province. Practically every mem¬ 
ber of the government is a farmer or a workman in 
some industry. Several of them were educated at 
Cornell. Thus far this experiment in democracy is 
a success. 
* 
I have a small place of five acres and am trying to 
raise vegetables and small fruits for a living, using only 
a set of good hand garden implements. Help is very 
hard to get, and wages so high that I cannot afford to 
hire. Of course the heavy Spring plowing is done from 
outside, and once in a while I hire someone to come and 
cultivate corn, potatoes, berries, etc. But this is very 
irregular, and as I am not used to farm work, and. 
moreover, am in my sixty-sixth year, the place is not 
kept up as it should be. Would it pay to purchase a 
tractor, provided the initial cost of one could be ar¬ 
ranged for? B. C. H. 
HERE are thousands of men situated as this 
man is, and with one accord they are asking 
if a one-horse tractor will help solve their problem. 
Up to this time the tractor problem was supposed to 
be one of large farms. Now, with the shortage of 
labor and the general desire to cultivate fewer acres 
more intensively there comes a great demand for a 
one-horse tractor. What is wanted is a machine cost¬ 
ing perhaps a little more than a good work horse and 
capable of turning over a fair furrow or cultivating 
crops like corn or potatoes. With such a tool many 
men of middle age would feel like working 10 acres 
or more. Without it they hesitate, because the labor 
situation is so uncertain. Now then, how close to 
the work of a reasonable farm team will one of the 
lighter tractors come? We have had all sorts of re¬ 
ports. most of them evidently biased one way or the 
other. How can we got the truth? It would be little 
short of a crime to deceive such a man as R. C. H. 
* 
A capable nitrogen hired man. 
T has often been said that if the better class of 
farmers in Northern New England or New York 
could grow cow peas, Crimson clover and similar 
crops, as is done in the South, these Northern sec¬ 
tions would in time become wonderfully prosperous. 
Nature has given the North strong soil, a bracing 
climate and a Summer which forces quick growth 
upon most crops. The Spring is too cold and the 
season too short to give the wonderful nitrogen col¬ 
lectors of the South a fair chance. Therefore, these 
Northern farmers must for the most part measure 
their crops by the manure or chemical fertilizers 
which they can produce or buy. Now we think this 
is to be changed. They are to have the help of what 
we believe to be the greatest manurial plant ever 
brought to their attention. This is the annual white 
Sweet clover described on page 521. This plant 
may not always form seed in Northern New England, 
but on fair soil, with an abundance of lime, it will, 
inside of 100 days, bring to the soil and distribute 
about as much nitrogen as a farmer can hope to get 
in 15 loads of manure to the acre! It seems like an 
incredible statement, but we believe time will fully 
vindicate this judgment. This accidental discovery 
of a new plant offers many of our Northern farmers 
the greatest opportunity to improve their farms at 
less expense of money and labor that, has yet been 
presented to them. This annual clover may be seed¬ 
ed with Spring grain, or as a cover crop, and give a 
big crop of pasture or forage. For years to come 
the seed of this clover will have great value as a 
farm crop. It is to give our Northern farmers a 
manurial crop equal in value to Crimson clover or 
cow peas at the South. Most of our Eastern farmers 
have never been able to realize the great value of 
Sweet clover or its ability to improve the soil. In 
New England several million dollars have undoubt¬ 
edly been wasted in trying to make Alfalfa thrive on 
soils which never were fit for it. A fraction of that 
money spent in seeding Alsike clover would have 
paid far better returns. The fact is that some of our 
farm troubles are due to the fact that certain habits 
and prejudices have grown upon us until we can 
hardly get rid of them. Some of us have thought 
there could be no substitute for manure and chem¬ 
ical fertilizers, so we have failed to make the soil 
provide its needed organic matter and part of its 
nitrogen. We have regarded Sweet clover as a 
“weed,” and other plants as enemies of mankind. 
So we have fought them with a fierce hatred and 
with an expense and energy which have drained 
pocketbook and body. The present labor shortage 
will compel us to change some of these ideas. We 
shall have to realize that any plant, no matter what 
it is, which can be plowed into the soil to decay 
there, before it goes to seed, is a helper, no matter 
if our ancestors for 10 generations have cursed it for 
a weed. Then we must learn that Red clover is not 
the only respectable member of the clover family. 
Little Alsike is often far more profitable. And now 
comes this annual Sweet clover—like a capable son 
out of a family you have never felt like associating 
with. You may not think the relatives are quite up 
to your standard, but this young man comes back 
home a prosperous and successful hustler, capable 
of turning your farm into a nitrogen factory, and 
changing your unprofitable barn into a profitable 
munition factory. That is annual Sweet clover. 
Take him in and put him at work. 
* 
I T now seems to be definitely settled that lime¬ 
stone ground to a fine dust is as effective as hy¬ 
drated or burnt lime. In fact, some of the scientific 
men seem to think that in a loug rotation file coarser 
ground lime is better, since its effect continues over 
several years. With fine limestone or hydrated lime 
a comparison of values will depend on the actual 
cost per pound of lime. Get the actual analysis and 
figure out the number of pounds of actual lime in a 
ton. Then get the actual cost, including freight and 
handling, and find the cost of one pound. It often 
happens that the burned lime at a higher price per 
ton gives a cheaper pound, because the freight on 
the limestone is too high. 
* 
v ABOR unions of hired men'have appeared in 
the Central West, and “organizers” are at work 
in some farm districts. The professed objects of the 
new union are to demand and obtain a minimum 
wage of $2 per day and board, shorter hours or 
“overtime,” and better living conditions. The work 
of organizing seems to be done by city union work¬ 
ers, who know how to “organize,” but have little or 
March 13, 1920 
no knowledge of farm needs or conditions. We 
have felt for some time that it was only a question 
of a few months before something of this sort was 
attempted. We think our farmers must face this 
new situation before long—as manufacturers and 
city business men have been forced to face unioniz¬ 
ing of their labor. It will never be possible to or¬ 
ganize or “combine” farm labor as completely as 
the work has been done among factory hands, yet 
in many sections we think the plan will be at¬ 
tempted. Farmers should get ready for it. The 
relations between farmer and hired man are closer 
than those between capital and labor in any other 
line of business. We ought to be anle to make a fair 
adjustment without any “labor war.” 
* 
Whenever anything is printed in our local papers 
that does not agree with the digestion of the farmers 
tee take an ink tablet and cough up a protest. 
c. o. w. 
HAT is the way one of our readers puts it, and 
to prove his words he sends clippings showing 
what he wrote to the local paper. 
“Write Up for Your Rights !” 
That is the motto our friend suggests. We have 
been surprised and pleased at the way farmers have 
taken up this matter. Formerly the papers which 
circulate among country people could print about 
anything they liked without thought of correction. 
As farmers did not protest, it was Put natural that 
middlemen and city interests should dominate the 
policy of such papers, though the farmers provided 
its chief support. Now this is changed. Let any slur 
or sneer or false statement about farming appear in 
print, and without delay some sensible and clear¬ 
headed man or woman will answer it in a convincing 
way. The result of this is evident in the tone of 
these papers, and in their willingness to present the 
farmer’s side. Here is another case where we have 
got to do it ourselves —and many of our people are 
doing it 
* 
T HE R. N.-Y. favors Dr. Liberty Hyde Bailey as 
the new president of Cornell University. There 
are many good reasons for this choice, which, we 
find, are shared by the thinking farmers of New 
York. Of all the men yet produced by our system of 
agricultural education. Dr. Bailey comes nearest to 
the type now needed in New York agriculture. lie 
represents the clear, scholarly thinker—clean, in¬ 
corruptible. and with no trace of the party poli¬ 
tician about him. Our colleges and agricultural de¬ 
partments have tried “great business men,” poli¬ 
ticians and cold-blooded “educators.” This has given 
great “efficiency,” but it has not developed the spirit 
and sentiment which agriculture needs in its fight 
for life. There is such a thing as pushing the craze 
for efficiency so far that it leads to the condition 
known as effete. Under Dr. Bailey, Cornell would be 
recognized as a great agricultural university—law, 
arts, science—all the rest of them—of secondary im¬ 
portance to farming. Taken out of politics, dominat¬ 
ed by agriculture and openly responsible to farmers 
and country people, the university would become the 
noblest institution of learning in the world. All 
these things are possible. We think the farmers of 
New York should get right back of their college and 
give it all needed financial support. They should 
then take personal interest in it and control it. Let 
them begin at the head with a man of their choice. 
Brevities 
Keep the home fires burning. 
There is said to be a great demand for cow testers 
—the human kind. 
Certainly —tobacco stems have nitrogen enough to 
wind up a good crop. 
The only way to make good fertilizer out of corn¬ 
cobs is to burn them and use the ashes. 
Many a woman during the hard Winter has found 
happy company in the canary bird and the flowers. 
We saw a man the other day using a great pile of 
wood ashes to make a road—while paying at the rate of 
$250 a ton for potash. 
A small amount of nitrogen may pay on the young 
clover, but where the crop has fair size we doubt the 
value of feeding it anything beyond lime, potash, phos¬ 
phorus and sulphur. 
We recently mentioned the “dry” method of treating 
oats for smut. One pint of formaldehyde is mixed with 
one pint of water, and this is sprayed thoroughly over 
50 bushels of seed oats. Then the oats are shoveled 
together and covered with a blanket four hours. 
Some fat or oil appears to be the best material for 
clearing cattle of lice. It seems to have been demon¬ 
strated that some cows secrete moi'e fat or oil through 
the skin and are thus less troubled with lice. Also the 
cow that is well brushed or curried every day will not be 
greatly troubled. Perhaps some of the benefit noticed 
from daily brushing of cattle may be due to this. 
