Vht RURAL NEW-YORKER 
I 1 8(J 
manipulation can put them into elegant, serviceable, 
cheap clothing. 
A LONG FIGHT.—Our tight for sheep and rai¬ 
ment may continue for some time, and it is necessary 
for all to get right on this contention. Everything 
of any value is on our side. It is unwise to concede 
anything to shoddy. Under its present deceptive use 
its advocates haven’t a leg to stand on. ‘'Some 
shoddy is better than some wool.” same as pomace 
is better than rotten apples. There are uses for 
pomace and shoddy, but none for rotten apples or 
rotten wool. Wool will rot from sweating and 
moisture, and the fibers can be broken as easily as 
wet paper, and this is the only kind of wool of less 
value than shoddy. We will see the value of shoddy 
farther down, but it is a waste material, a salvaged 
refuse, a by-product, a parasite that must cling to 
something. It has no character, and must depend 
on some fiber that has, like cotton, wool, jute or 
flax, or be pressed with glue to carry it out of the 
factories and stores, and then it begins to desert as 
soon as handled or exposed. 
SHODDY CLOTH.—Rub a wire brush on new 
shoddy cloth which has been woven ever so well, 
and pressed ever so hard, and see the shoddy ends 
rise. With your fingers, or pincers, pull out and find 
very few an inch long. Put them under a glass and 
find the crimp and enlargements nature puts on new 
wool gone, see the smoothness and shortness, and 
the reason why they slip out of the weave. They 
are fine, smooth, stiff and lifeless as dog hair cut 
in short- lengths, and even the oil used to restore 
life, like new wool carries, is a partial failure. This 
brings another specious and spurious statement 
made that "no mechanical nor chemical test can 
detect shoddy in cloth,” and wipes it off the earth 
as completely as the other about the superiority of 
shoddy over wool. Forget the filth of tags. That 
is never woven into cloth to sell to consumers, and 
look at the virgin wool fibers cleaned. They have 
all the crimp, enlargements and life of natural wool, 
the useful characteristics destroyed in rag fibers by 
wear and grinding. By itself it would make pretty 
fair cloth, better at least than 25 per cent of the 
clothing sold during the past two profiteering years. 
It is virgin wool, and if used as a filler or make¬ 
weight will give three times the respectability and 
service of the best shoddy ever ground, used in the 
same proportions. 
USES OF SHODDY.—Like all salvaged refuse, it 
has its uses. It belongs in carpets, rugs, mats and 
places where it can be tramped in, or in cushions or 
ticks where it can be confined, and it would do in 
blankets for aged people who lie still, but not a shred 
of it has any business in clothing. The trimmings 
of a suit cost $0 up, and union labor to make it $12 
up. and the man who pays more than that minimum, 
$18 for a suit but half shoddy, is stung. Less than 
one per cent of the population has made billions 
selling such two and three, occasionally four times 
that high, making wealth by the profits, by depress¬ 
ing fleece wool price to the cost of gathering, sorting, 
cleansing and grinding rags, and a few clippings, and 
by repeated sales of short-lived clothing. This 
accounts for the commiseration that the public may 
be swindled on virgin wool, for the attempted bluff 
of “misinformed and misguided wool-growers.” as 
well as the public and legislators. If shoddy has 
only a little of the merit claimed for it its apologists 
are invited into the open to prove it. Everything 
else is put on the market that way. Let them make 
some batches of pure, unadulterated shoddy cloth 
and display it for sale in all the principal cities with 
“This cloth is made wholly from shoddy. It 
is better than any virgin wool cloth, because it is 
made from reworked wool. Beware of any adultera¬ 
tion with new wool.” This surely is a reasonable 
challenge, which if accepted and proved successful 
will put a quietus on us forever. If not, we now 
serve notice that our fleece wool has carried about 
all the depraved shoddy under false pretenses that 
it is going to. w. w. Reynolds. 
Ohio. 
Taking a Chance on Potatoes 
Part III. 
MAKING A SALE.—When the vines were in blos¬ 
som and nearly waist high, we learned that the 
Southern crop was only one-third of normal, and 
that early potatoes were soaring. Jim went to town 
to sound the market. He found that the wholesale 
produce men were getting in carloads of South 
Carolina potatoes. He chose one of them and offered 
him our proposition. Jim knew him to be an expert 
salesman, and he owned a large truck. He was not 
very eager, Jim thought, but one day just before 
harvest he came to the farm and examined a few 
hills to see if it would be worth while, I suppose. 
lie had never really believed Jim’s story of his 30- 
a’cre field of Irish Cobblers. He told Jim that they 
were the finest stock he'd seen, and that he would 
sell them if Jim could dig them. This is a little 
different from the ordinary way of selling on com¬ 
mission. He used his ability and reputation to 
secure us the price set, while a commission merchant 
sells for what lie is offered. 
THE WOMAN WORKER.—Jim seemed to need 
my help as much as ever, for from now on we were 
swamped with orders. Some time before the coun¬ 
try peddler had left me a pair of men’s shoes two 
sizes too large, which were all that he had. Think¬ 
ing to spare myself a trip to the village, I accepted 
them, just to wear in the back lots, as T assured the 
family. Putting it mildly, these and my blue dun¬ 
garees were not a happy combination. When the 
yard swarmed with sleek grocers and commission 
men how I longed to retire! But Jim was out on 
the tractor, turning out the rows to the army of 
boys that followed the digger, and it looked as if I 
would have to face the music. One cannot handle 
potato sacks in skirts, and besides, if I wore skirts, 
not a man would let me lift a pound, and they would 
lose my help. When the first great truck rolled up 
to the storage shed the chauffeur nearly lost control 
of his machine, but. after a day or two. when I had 
demonstrated that I could swing my end of a bag 
by its ears, he forgot that he had ever laughed. It 
is really quite easy when once one gets the knack, 
and saved Jim having to put them up there alone. 
CASH SALES.—We sold for cash only, and took 
in so much money by day that we were afraid to 
sleep with it at night. It seemed that the whole 
country must be potato hungry, and that we held 
the only patent on spuds. Our returns were esti¬ 
mated at ridiculous figures, and we became con¬ 
spicuous, so that the banker called upon \is. Men 
came to learn Jim’s age and birthplace, and many 
to tell him that he could never do it again. They 
marveled that poor wornout land such as his could 
produce anything at all, and took our brand of 
fertilizer. 
AIR CASTLES.—We have begun building air 
castles again. There is this about a pipe dream : 
You have to have it before you can realize it. Jim 
and T want to know the best in music and literature 
in order that we may build our castles well. We 
do not intend to become extravagant, for one can 
never know what might happen next season. We 
have planned on this one definitely only since we 
found that the Southern early crop was short. Next 
year it may not be short, you know. Even the old- 
timers are afraid to gamble with the potato crop. 
Jim loves his work. There is an element of specu¬ 
lation in it that keeps one interested. One has to 
outwit the weather, and she is more fickle than she 
used to be. She is always learning new tricks. 
Down in the woodlot the saws are turning out beau¬ 
tiful hardwood .floors. Many a tree has taken up a 
now existence in the form of rafters. Electricity 
and running water are, after all, on the way, you 
see. But what I want most of all is a fireplace, a 
real one to use where one can start a splendid blaze 
on cold, damp days. We are intensely happy. 
THE CITY’S CLAIMS.—Will tiny Janet miss her 
kindergarten, her town playmates, the polishing in¬ 
fluence of city life? I will share my secrets with 
you. Sometimes, when just living out with the! 
robins is almost enough to make me forget that the 1 
sun has stolen my complexion. I pull out a favorite 
clipping which I am hopelessly addicted to carrying 
in my purse. It is an editorial, unsigned, and goes 
like this: 
“Large cities have a habit of reaping an unearned 
reward, of accepting undeserved medals. Indeed, 
these fair cities strike off their own medals of honor. 
They continually keep their stock of pride filled to 
the brim without other effort than borrowing from 
their smaller neighbors. 
“The city, someone has said, is nothing but a col¬ 
lection of human beings and a conglomeration of 
brick and iron. This is not an exact definition. A 
city is nothing more than the borrowings from farm 
and small town. 
“For instance: Two great cities are pointing to 
themselves with considerable joy as pennant-winning 
baseball cities. They call them ‘our teams.’ And 
when you get right down to brass tacks, neither the 
Chicago White Sox nor the Cincinnati Reds are big 
city teams. Take from them the small town players 
they have borrowed, and little is left, surely no 
pennant winner! The best players on the two best 
big city teams were born in small towns, gained their 
strength, skill and knowledge in small towns. 
“The largest of American cities called for a man, 
born and educated in a small town, when there was 
need to untangle and weave together a giant trans¬ 
portation system. New York’s biggest financiers, 
July 10, n >20 
doctors, lawyers, captains of industry, once were 
small town boys. That, too, is true of other cities. 
The President of the United States was born in a 
Virginia village, and most of his Cabinet members 
started life where man lives nearest nature—in 
rural communities. .So, too, with most, of our Sena¬ 
tors and our Representatives, and our Governors. 
“The nation has a little Missouri town to thank 
for Pershing. 
“To the successful man of the future we say: Be 
born in a small town, never in a large city.” 
Seneca Co., N. Y. mbs. f. h. unger. 
What Soil for Apple Orchards? 
I would like to know what kind of soils arc best 
adapted to the following varieties of apples: Northern 
Spy, Rome Beauty, McIntosh. Wealthy. Winter Banana 
Duchess of Oldenburg. Delicious. I have two kinds of 
soil—a good gravel loam and Volusia loam. The gravel 
loam is rolling or knolls, the Volusia loam is a sidehill 
along the valley facing the east. Are Winter Banana 
and Delicious good varieties for Central New York? I 
want some fancy apples to box for Winter sales. 
Cortland Co., N. Y. w. A. j. 
OIL REQUIREMENTS.—A great deal has been 
written lately about the kind of soil which must 
be selected for certain apple varieties if they are to 
do the best. We are informed that failure is sure 
to come if, for instance, we plant Rhode Island 
Greening on a deep sand, but some of the best 
Greenings we grow are on a sand which is so light 
that it blows badly if we do not keep it in cover 
crops, and which is many feet deep. It is my belief 
that, there are several other points which are more 
important in the production of good apples. First, 
the soil must be well enough drained so that there 
is no permanent or long-standing water less than 
five or six feet from the surface. .Second, there must 
be a large enough supply of soil water present 
through the growing season. Third, it is an advan¬ 
tage to have a good supply of humus in the upper 
part of the soil. This at first is mainly for the 
purpose of making it possible for us to grow a cover 
crop, because a large part of the feeding roots of 
the tree are below this layer of “soil.” Fourth, a 
good supply of the general fertilizing elements, 
potash, nitrogen, phosphorus, sulphur, etc*., should be 
present. Most of these (perhaps all but nitrogen) 
are present in the soils of the Eastern States north 
of Central New Jersey in large enough amounts for 
all the needs of orchard tree growth. Fifth, it is a 
great help to have a large body of water near to 
modify conditions so that the buds are held back 
until after danger of late frosts is past. The matter 
of water supply is by far the most important, for 
good apples can be grown on almost any type of soil 
if there is always enough and never too much water 
in the soil. 
SAND AND CLAY.—The soil in our orchards is 
of two types: a light blowing sand at least 10 or 35 
feet deep, and a heavy clay loam formed from a 
stiff red clay which will bake to form fair bricks. 
In some places the clay subsoil is so hard that one 
can hardly dig through it in a dry season. Apple 
tree roots larger than a lead pencil have been found 
growing straight down at a depth of six or seven 
feet where the men had to soften the ground with 
water before they could dig the ditch. On both these 
types of soil we have planted commercially R. I. 
Greening, Baldwin. Northern Spy, Ben Davis, 
Wealthy, McIntosh and Black Gilliflower. The last 
three have not yet fruited on the sand, but the other 
four seem to do as well on one as on the other. The 
fruit is rather larger and the red apples better col¬ 
ored on the sand. There is no great tendency toward 
the production of yellow Greenings on the sand. 
The highest colored and smallest Greenings are 
found in the poorer parts of our sod orchards, 
whether clay or sand. 
ADDING HUMUS.—The only way in which Ave 
can increase the capacity of the soil for holding 
moisture is by adding humus. This can be done by 
putting on manure, but it is cheaper to grow cover 
crops and turn them under. We find rye or rye and 
vetch. the best for this purpose. Planted in Job 
they make a great growth before cold weather, and 
may make more growth before AA’e get a chance t" 
turn them under in the Spring. The humus suppl.A 
seems to be a large factor in controlling the color 
and quality of the fruit If there is too much the 
apples will be large and dull colored. If there is 
not enough they may be small and red. In the liisl 
case it is proper to cultivate through the season for 
a year or two or let the land lie in sod a lew si •' 
sons. In the latter case put on some manure and 
try to grow large cover crops. 
DELICIOUS ON TRIAL.—We have no Delicious 
or Winter Banana planted commercially, but expert 
to put out a small block or two of Delicious astern 
as the trees in the nursery get large enough. Wheic 
(Continued on page 11S2) 
