830 
Iht RURAL NEW-YORKER 
The Rural New-Yorker 
THE BUSINESS FARMER’S PAPER 
A National Weekly Journal for Country and Suburban Home* *) 
Established I860 
Published weekly by the Rural 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. 
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To foreign countries in the Universal Postal Union. $2.04, equal to 8s. 6d., or 
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Ad vert ising rates, 9rt 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 hacked 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 al.-.o 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 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. 
T HERE is a continuation of that story of the 
Michigan farmers’ movement this week. We 
ask for a careful reading of the programme and 
platform as outlined by Mr. Campbell. We shall 
then ask our readers two questions: 
1. Can you find any fault with the work these 
farmers have started out to do? 
2. Can you give any reason why just such a 
movement in New York State would not he appro¬ 
priate, patriotic and profitable? 
We might include New Jersey, Pennsylvania and 
other States in this question, hut it happens that a 
full State ticket is to he elected in New York this 
year. Is there any reason on earth why the farmers 
and country people should not. at the primary, select 
men as candidates who will stand for agricultural 
interests? In past, years the financial interests, the 
railroads, the liquor interests and various racial 
organizations have all had a hand in dividing up the 
tickets. Is there any sound reason why farmers 
should not have the same privilege if they can mus¬ 
ter the votes needed to do it? We cannot sec any 
reason—if there is one we want to have it pointed 
out at once. And have we not, in New York, a man 
who stands for agriculture as Mr. Campbell stands 
in Michigan? Wo need him now. And so, once 
more, ladies and gentlemen, voters of New York— 
WHO IS THE MAN? 
* 
T HERE is a bill before Congress known as H. R. 
10320. It provides for the completion of the 
Government plant at Muscle Shoals, Ala., where 
nitrogen compounds are to be produced. This work 
was started as a war measure, to produce nitrogen 
from the air for making explosives. The close of 
the war found this great work uncompleted, and the 
bill here mentioned would finish the enterprise and 
thus add to the stock of nitrogen available for farm 
purposes. This is a matter of great importance to 
farmers. We must now depend on South America 
for our supplies of nitrogen, while in the air about 
us, and over our heads, are vast stores of it. Some 
of this is utilized for us each year by clover. Alfalfa, 
beans and similar crops, but we need more of it. and 
in more concentrated form. The great enterprise to 
bo built at Muscle Shoals will provide a supply 
which will mean competition with foreign supplies 
and help the fertilizer situation. The bill now be¬ 
fore Congress should he passed. 
ik 
M INERALS for animal feeding! During the past 
few years there has been considerable discus¬ 
sion about feeding limestone and phosphate rock to 
cattle. We understand that some stock foods and 
stock tonics contain 200 lbs. or more of ground lime¬ 
stone to the ton. As for soft phosphate rock, we 
find it difficult to obtain sure information. Here is 
one report: 
It is my understanding that in some sections where 
pl"'sph:ite fertilizer is necessary, such fertilizer is dis¬ 
tributed through the silo in the process of filling, with 
the expectation that the fermentation of the silage would 
liberate the phosphate in the raw phosphate rock. Pos¬ 
sibly this rock is fed for other reasons. 
The thory of this, as we understand it. is that the 
ferments in the silo might make the phosphate more 
available. A small portion of it might be used by the 
animals and nearly all would be found in the ma¬ 
nure. We think fine ground bone would he more use¬ 
ful for the purpose. Many farmers have had cases 
where cattle showed a “depraved appetite” by gnaw¬ 
ing wood or old bones. This was considered due to 
a lack of phosphate in the food, and is often relieved 
by feeding a handful of fine hone in the food each 
day. In cases where the feed is lacking in phos¬ 
phorus the groun'J phosphate might help. 
* 
I notic” on page C02 that S. B. R thinks you are go¬ 
ing too far in recommending Alfalfa for human con¬ 
sumption. Tell him to try it. We were rather doubtful. 
too, so just cooked a little the first time, and all liked it 
so well that no one got very much. We have had it 
twice since, and my wife is out gathering another mess 
at present. The whole family think it makes the best 
greens that we ever ate. even if it is usually considered 
cow feed. Some may have the objection to Alfalfa in 
that it has a rather strong odor. We overcome this by 
parboiling in plenty of water for about an hour, after 
which all the water is drained off, a little fresh water is 
added and plenty of fried meat grease. Then boil in this 
for about 20 minutes. 1 am sure, prepared in this way, 
uo one could possibly find better greens. L. F. i.ocke. 
Texas. 
E have never called for personal experience 
yet without, obtaining it. Why not eat Al¬ 
falfa? We eat spinach, dandelion greens, turnip tops, 
asparagus and celery, and pay great prices for them. 
Not one of them can' compare with Alfalfa in its pro¬ 
tein and vita mines. Outside of nuts, beans and peas, 
there is probably no vegetable product giving a bet¬ 
ter substitute for meat than Alfalfa. Its use as 
food would prove an economic blessing to humanity. 
If you feel inclined to ridicule the idea, try to give 
one single reason for not eating Alfalfa, aside from 
the fact that it has not yet become fashionable to 
do so. 
* 
Can you tell us why the leaders of most farm organi¬ 
zations do not seem to want criticism? All they seem 
to care for is approval of their plans. j. n. E. 
0, we cannot tell, but we have an idea about it. 
We have noticed much the same thing. Some¬ 
times the leaders ask for a frank and honest opinion 
of their methods. When you offer a fair criticism, 
e\ en though it he constructive you quickly find that 
it is not utilized. As a rule these leaders are obliged 
to work out a definite program. They have many 
conflicting elements to smooth out and reconcile. 
The policy of every strong organization must he more 
or less of a compromise between extremes in order 
to enlist the power of all. Most of the leaders know 
that their program is not perfect and that parts of it 
are fairly subject to criticism, yet they argue that it 
is better not take the chance of a discussion of pol¬ 
icy. for no one knows where it might run to. They 
think it hotter to go as far as the average man will 
go and stop there. For that reason, when they ask 
your opinion they really want your approval. No 
one can ever move an organization or a political 
party any faster than the average member is ready 
to go. Therefore, the way to‘hurry along reform is 
to educate the average man. 
* 
__ N i«igo M<) is a question about the plan of buy- 
ing purebred heifer calves. We have quite a 
number of such questions lately. There are appar¬ 
ently a good many people with limited capital who 
want to work into purebred cattle. They usually 
have a herd of grades with a reasonable amount of 
milk and feed but are short of capital and cannot 
buy mature cows. They think they can buy well 
bred calves and raise them with less outlay for cash 
than if they bought cows outright. These men are 
usually young enough to wait several years for the 
calves to grow. We think there is likely to be a 
large mail order business developed in these calves, 
but then* will '■'•<* to he some plan for guarantee 
worked out. It will lie much easier to substitute a 
grade calf than ; t would lie to work off a grade cow 
as purebred. The trouble for the buyer is going 
to he in knowing just what lie gets. If that can he 
settled the plan will work well in many cases. 
* 
G O and ask the price of a pair of shoes and you 
will find that the price is rising. The papers 
regularly state that we must all expect to pay more 
for our footwear. The reason always is that leather 
is very high because hides are so scarce that it is 
almost impossible to find any in the country. Now, 
every dairyman or farmer with cattle to sell knows 
that hides have dropped in price. Why should hides 
drop while shoes go up? And there is no such thing 
as a shortage of hides. The last report of the Agri¬ 
cultural Department states: 
Practically all kinds of hides and skins' show largo 
increases, compared with a year ago. Total holdings on 
February 28. 1920. were: Cattle hides. 0.520.977; calf¬ 
skins. 1.825.445; kip skins, 1.13(5.879; horse bidets 253,- 
515: horse fronts (whole). 97.071 ; horse butts (pairs), 
336.251; horse shanks, 39.189: kangaroo and wallaby, 
784.089; deer and elk. 181.39(5; goat. 16.407.301; kid. 
601.981 : earbretta. 2,1(57.547; sheen mid lamb. 9.340,- 
074; buffalo. 508.834; pigs and hog skins (pieces). 66,- 
008 • pig mid hog strips (lbs.), 1.728.099. 
That disposes of the argument of scarcity of hides! 
Now. what excuse can the shoe men offer? Have 
they anything except the argument of every hold-up 
agent? 
* 
P ROF. M. T. MI NN of the New York seed labora¬ 
tory at Geneva says that seed corn shows a very 
low percentage of life this year. There are a few 
high tests at the laboratory, hut most of them run 
very low. He says that many farmers who thought 
they had good seed have been surprised to find on 
April 24, 1020 
testing that the seed was poor. This is no year for 
taking chances on poor seed. The cost of fertilizer 
and time is too great to justify anyone in fooling 
with dead or dying seed corn. Now if ever is the 
time to test out the seed and reject the had ears, it 
will take time, but an hour spent in this testing will 
save weeks of hard work in the cornfield. Two 
weeks ago we gave a good story of a “rag doll” 
tester. Here is a case where it will pay a farmer to 
play with a doll. 
* 
R EGARDING that recent article on annual Sweet 
clover. Many people write asking where they 
can buy the seed. We doubt if it is for sale any¬ 
where. The Towa Agricultural College at Ames, la., 
offers to send small packets of the seed to those who 
wish to start with it, but there is not enough to pro¬ 
vide any commercial quantity. We take back noth¬ 
ing we have said about the possibilities of this an¬ 
nual clover for farmers in the North. We would 
rather add to it. A legume that will make the tre¬ 
mendous growth credited to this clover in one season 
will do wonders for our Northern soils and give us 
much of the manorial opportunities enjoyed by the 
South through its longer season! 
* 
M OST of the big farm organizations working to 
establish national headquarters seem to think 
it desirable to locate in Washington, New York, Chi¬ 
cago or some other great city. It seems to us that it 
would he better for these leaders to keep away from 
the big towns, and particularly away from Washing¬ 
ton. Did you ever, in all your life, know a man car¬ 
rying delegated power to go to Washington and not 
fall into the usual political game? In the great po¬ 
litical nest by the side of the Potomac some strange 
birds are hatched out of plain farm eggs. We think 
leaders of farmers should keep away from the big 
cities. They cannot fully retain their sympathy and 
their understanding of farm life and farm needs un¬ 
less they can keep in close touch with farm condi¬ 
tions. We think they should he dominated by farm 
thought rather than by city and political influences. 
The “headquarters" ought to he close to the farm. 
* 
B REEDERS of Holstein cattle in New York have 
arranged a State Holstein Club which will, we 
think, put New York where it should he—in the lead. 
The secretary is E. R. Zimmer, formerly Farm I’u- 
reau agent in Tioga County. There is no doubt as 
to the size of the job which Mr. Zimmer has under¬ 
taken. hut he is good for it. We expect to see this 
club finally develop into a system of well-organized 
county clubs working together as a sort of State 
federation. The Holstein business will soon come 
back larger than ever , for Holstein cattle are insep¬ 
arably connected with New York dairying. These 
State and county organizations have a big job before 
them. They can do great good in driving out (lie 
“jockeys” who have done too much to give New York 
cattle a had name. 
ft 
T HAT letter from a "Scenery Farmer,” printed 
on page 720. has brought out a great crop of let¬ 
ters. They come from everywhere and are promptly 
sent to the man who wrote the letter and owns the 
farm. This man wishes us to make it clear that his 
offer is made in good faith and that he does not ex¬ 
pect his farm to pay any profit. With his equipment 
it ought to at least pay expenses, and he wants a 
man who can guarantee to do that. We agree with 
the "Scenery Farmer” that such a place ouyht to pay 
expenses, hut it is a poor start in that direction to 
admit that no profit is expected. “Scenery Farmer" 
would do better to separate the “scenery” from the 
farm. That is. let him take the house and its sur¬ 
rounding as one separate proposition and simply vim* 
it as a playground. Then let him run the farm by 
itself on strict business principles and make it pay 
if possible, with the “scenery” as its best customer, 
and not. as now, a parasite upon it. 
Brevities 
“Tins season must suit, the farmer who does not like 
to work.” says one reader. 
Tub latest claim seems to he that “daylight saving' 
makes plants grow by giving them extra sunlight5 
It is 10 to one that you have done some of that false 
“mind reading” which the Hope Farm man tells about. 
Yoir may think it out of season to speak of rolling 
down snowdrifts in April, but now is the time to think 
about it—while the memory of had roads is with us. 
Waterglass and eggs. The waterglass is si lira tv of 
soda. You take one part of it and dissolve it in nine 
parts of water. Yon first boil the water and let it cool. 
You take fresh eggs, with entire shells, wipe them 
clean and put them down into the waterglass. Use a 
wooden or a stone package—never one of metal. See 
that the eggs are all covered by the mixture. Cover the 
package, put it awnv in a cool, dark place and think or 
somethimr else. The eggs will keep five months oi 
longer and be good for all cooking purposes. They eau- 
rot he sold like storage eggs. Infertile eggs keep better 
than others. 
