692 
The Rural New-Yorker 
THE BUSINESS FARMER’S PAPER 
A National Weekly Journal l'or Country and Suburban Homes 
Established isso 
Published weekly by the Rural Publishing; Company, 333 West 30th Street, Now Sork 
Herbert W. Colung wood, 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 
8J* * marks, or 10!* francs. Remit in money order, express 
order,” persona] 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 IK'rson. 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 
transactions. We protect subscribers against rogues, but we will not be 
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 of 
the transaction, and to identify it. you should mention The Rural New- 
Yorker when writing the advertiser. 
44 T TOLD YOU SO!’’ Some people take supreme 
A enjoyment parading that exasperating quar¬ 
tette before their friends. They may see an event 
surely approaching and remain silent in order that 
they may say later: “I told you so!” That has been 
particularly true of many of the things which af¬ 
fect farmers and their interests. The man who says 
“it is going to be" in advance of performance is not 
always popular, hut he is a better friend than the 
“I-told-you-so” man. Now Mr. Herbert Hoover says 
he is not a candidate for the Presidency, but thou¬ 
sands of his friends are actually at work to make 
him a candidate. This active support is none the 
less effective because it has the silence of efficiency. 
Many farmers have written us that the effort to 
elect Mr. Hoover is a “joke.” That is where they 
deceive themselves, and unless they wake up and 
begin active work they will find it quite the reverse 
of a joke. Some of the most powerful influences 
in American social life are backing Mr. Hoover. 
The great financial and manufacturing interests who 
are interested in foreign loans and foreign trade are 
for him. Thousands, if not millions, of housewives 
in town and city, driven to exasperation by high 
prices, think Hoover would give them cheaper food! 
Thousands of men. utterly disgusted with the mean 
and narrow policy of the old-time politicians, are 
turning to Hoover because they think he is not a 
politician, but a business man, independent of the 
old boss-ruled parties. It is not at all impossible 
that this strong combination may nominate and elect 
Mr. Hoover. Personally, we think it would be little 
less than a calamity to agriculture should Hoover 
be elected as President, and we find that this idea 
is shared by the great majority of our readers. The 
fact is. however, that unless our rural people bestir 
themselves and make the delegates to the national 
conventions understand what they want, they will 
be forced to face the situation too late. We will 
not wait and say “7 told you so!" That we regard 
as a mean and cowardly action. We point out now, 
while there is time, the true situation and the danger. 
* 
V ERY few people realize that California is com¬ 
ing to he a cotton-producing State. The census 
shows that in 1909 California was credited with a 
yield of 183 bales of cotton, valued at $11,740. Last 
year the acreage in Southern California and Arizona 
was about 200,000 acres, with a value, including the 
seed, of about $50,000,000. There is likely to be 
an increase of one-third in this year’s acreage. The 
cotton is largely grown in valleys which have here¬ 
tofore produced Alfalfa and grain. To some extent 
cotton is replacing vineyards of wine grapes—driven 
out of culture by prohibition. The California cotton 
is of very high quality. Under irrigation this cotton 
is not discolored by rains, but of superior grade and 
staple. As Arizona and California have quarantined 
against the boll weevil, it is likely that the acreage 
will rapidly increase until these States rank among 
the leaders in cotton production. Thus we see in 
this another illustration of the eternal round of 
change in the crops and industries of a section. 
Eighty years ago Southern California was regarded 
as an unconquerable desert—unfit for the abode of 
white men. How the Southern statesmen or the 
New England leaders of that day wo.:!? have 
laughed had they been told that King Colton, after 
defying the world, would have been driven off his 
throne by a worm! Yet the boll weevil chewed up 
his royal robes and pulled down his throne. And 
now he finds a kingly place out in the desert, while 
the cow and the hog and sheep are lilting the South 
to affluence. Less than 50 years ago we were told 
that the ticks would prevent the South from succeed¬ 
ing with beef cattle, and that climate made dairying 
impossible. The truth is that the Gulf States are 
The RURAL NEW-YORKER 
to be, in the future, the great productive region for 
beef and dairy products. Many of our Eastern sec¬ 
tions have failed to progress as they should have 
done because they have not changed methods and 
kept up with progress in seeking new crops. 
* 
We usually supplied 25 or 30 poultry men with their 
corn ration and also some wheat and oats, but we shall 
now try the mulch system in our orchard and let the 
rest go bv the board. H. L. 
New York. 
HAT is a fair sample of what many readers are 
planning for this season’s work. They are 
driven to it by the shortage of labor. These people 
would gladly increase production if they could. 
There is good reason to think that farm products 
will bring big prices this year, but it will he im¬ 
possible to produce them without skilled labor, and 
that is not available. Our city friends fail lo so 
why farmers cannot farm properly with boys and 
girls, or the transient labor of clerks on vacation, and 
we are weary trying to show them what to any 
farmer is the simplest proposition in the world. 
Some hopeful souls connected with the Government 
are saying that II. C. L. has reached its peak, and 
food prices will soon fall! We can see nothing in 
sight to warrant any such conclusion. Prices will 
go higher unless the labor situation changes. Thou¬ 
sands of fruit growers will “mulch” their orchards 
this year, and use dust instead of liquid spray. They 
are driven to these practices through necessity, but 
the experience will be a great education. Some of 
us have seen stock turned into a Sweet clover pas¬ 
ture for the first time. At the beginning they would 
not touch this new food. After they found what it 
really is, you can hardly drive them away from it. 
We predict that some of the apparent hardships 
which this labor shortage are driving us to will re¬ 
sult in new methods which will prove a blessing. 
* 
New Milk Prices 
HE April price of milk has been fixed at $2.55 
per 100 lbs. for three per cent milk. The March 
price was $3.36, and the April price last year $2.80. 
It is stated that buyers will take all the milk from 
producers, with whom contracts are made. This is 
interpreted to imply that dealers are not under 
obligation to take any milk except where they make 
individual contracts with producers. 
* 
T HE Agricultural College of New York should 
have a fair chance. It has grown rapidly of 
late years, and has become too large for its present 
equipment and housing. Last Fall a large com¬ 
mittee of practical men and women, representing 
both organized agriculture and individual farming, 
spent considerable time at Cornell, and made careful 
study of the college needs. These needs have been 
embodied as legislation at Albany, and have been 
well supported by country people. These bills are 
likely to pass, and will go to the Governor for his 
approval. The appropriations asked for are rea¬ 
sonable and fair, and they should he granted -this 
season. We need the college and its influence, and 
power must be maintained and increased. 
* 
You hare made many statements that have come 
true, but when you speak of Alfalfa-for human con¬ 
sumption are you not going too far? s. b. r. 
HAT is probably what your great grandfather 
would have said if some one had told him that 
you would eat celery or spinach—and pay good 
prices for them. There was a time when few would 
think of eating lettuce or watercress or similar “cat¬ 
tle food.” At one time rhubarb was considered a 
poison or drug. Yet the annual crop of celery, let¬ 
tuce and rhubarb is probably of greater value than 
the wheat crop of 100 years ago. The writer can 
remember when it was popularly claimed that it 
would mean sure death to eat tomatoes and then 
drink milk! The town drunkard drank too much 
hard cider, which made him hold enough to dis¬ 
prove the popular theory. He ate tomatoes sliced 
in milk. It never hurt him, but the wise ones 
claimed it was the cider that saved him! Rut we 
have outgrown many of our old food notions, as 
science has taught the truth. No vegetable in all 
our long list has the food value or the vitamines 
that are found in Alfalfa. We do not know of any¬ 
thing about it. except habit and prejudice, which 
should make it unfit for human consumption. 
* 
F ARMERS who sel. goods on the market in John¬ 
son City, N. Y., receive a “bonus,” or gift, for 
each day they come. This is in addition to their 
sales. The market master recently made a can¬ 
April 3, 1920 
vass to see what was done with this bonus. lie 
found that three men were saving it to educate their 
children, six to use as capital and buy needed ma¬ 
chinery. three to pay feed bills, six to pay mortgages 
and interest, while two handed it over to their wives 
for their own use. Others used it for charity, or for 
the family and home, one was buying a car; others 
were saving it, while still others used it to buy 
shoes, and other necessities for the children. There 
was little, if any. foolish expense among those 
thrifty people. They use every dollar of added in¬ 
come wisely and well. Tt goes into circulation in 
the right way. And that is where the millions rep¬ 
resenting a 10-cent increase of the 35-cent dollar 
would go—right into the highest class trade. 
Strange that manufacturers and merchants cannot 
see that an increase in the farmer’s cash income will 
mean the finest new markets the world has ever 
known. 
* 
I N discussing the problem of finding a new presi¬ 
dent for Cornell University one of our readers 
says: 
It is a sad commentary on our university organization 
that it seldom trains up big executives within its mem¬ 
bership. (This is equally true of any college or- univer¬ 
sity in the country). A factory or commercial organi¬ 
zation would have another man lined up—probably 
already on the staff— who would step into the position 
vacated without any intervening period of chaos. A 
university and our United States Government are a 
good deal alike in that- respect. 
That is very true. A great business organization 
will have one or more men “warming up”—preparing 
for each vital position, so that there will be no hitch 
or great change of policy. That should also be true 
of a farm. One of the hoys should he ready to step 
in and assume responsibility when father passes on 
or retires. It is one of the weak sjiots in a republi¬ 
can form of government that every few years there 
is liable to be a complete change both of personality 
and policy in the government. Speaking of Cornell 
University, this very thought suggests an additional 
reason why Dr. Liberty Hyde Bailey should be 
selected by the trustees. Dr. Bailey knows Cornell 
and its history and needs as few other men do. He 
has been connected with the University, or in close 
touch with it. for more than 30 years. No man in 
the country is better known to students, to the 
patrons or to the people.of the State, as educator, 
scholar and solid public character—the true type of 
man needed to head the university. Some years ago 
the governors of a great American college went seek¬ 
ing for a new president. We were asked to suggest 
a man. We asked them what they wanted—a politi¬ 
cian. a great business man. a great educator, a good 
collector of funds, a dignified figurehead—or what. 
They did not know, had not thought—they simply 
wanted a president. The trustees of Cornell know 
what they want and what the University needs, and 
also what the people desire. They can find no man 
sizing up to these requirements better than Dr. 
Liberty Hyde Bailey. 
Brevities 
Treat ’em right—not rough. 
Of course, the theory of a mixture of grasses for 
pasture is to have different sorts which ripen at different 
times and grow under varied conditions—so as to have 
a full succession. 
Now we learn that during the past Winter a good 
many devices were tried for cleaning snow off the road 
with a scraper under or ill front of a motor car. Will 
anyone who has tried it tell us the result? 
A reader wants to know all about the Scots Gray 
breed of poultry! Says he must have a gray fowl 
somewhat like the R. I. Red in quality. What is wrong 
with our old friend, the Barred Plymouth Rock? 
We hear from a number of people that if one will 
catch a rat alive, pour pine tar over him and then let 
him go he will drive all the rest away—and follow 
them. It seems easy, but did anyone ever really try it? 
A number of readers report that the census enumera¬ 
tors never came near them. The thing to do in such 
cases is to write or call up the county enumerator at the 
county town and tell how you have been skipped. 
Everyone should get in. 
Keep right on repeating it. Manure never contains 
any more plant food than on the day it was made. It 
is doubtful if it loses any more when spread on the field 
than when piled beside the barn. And you save time in 
Spring by having it out of the way. 
There are many questions about black-knot on plum 
trees. You will know the disease by the rough black 
warts or knots which form on the twig and branches. 
The remedy is to cut these knots off, cutting back into 
the clean wood. Burn these cuttings and spray the 
tree thoroughly with strong lime-sulphur or Bordeaux 
mixture. 
