7ht RURAL NEW-YORKER 
1244 
July 24, 1020 
The Rural New-Yorker 
THE BUSINESS FARMER'S PAPER 
A National Weekly Journal for Country and Suburban Home* 
Established isso 
Published weekly by the Rural Publishing Company, 833 West 30th Street, New fork 
Herbert W. Oolijngwood, President and Editor. 
John J. Dillon, Treasurer and General Manager. 
Wm. F. Dillon, Secretary. Mrs. E. T. Rovle, Associate Editor. 
SUBSCRIPTION; ONE DOLLAR A YEAR 
To foreign countries in the Universal Postal Union. $2.04, equal to 8s. 6d., or 
8>4 marks, or 101$ franca 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. 
himself superior simply because lie was a lawyer. 
The education which teaches any such belief is a 
fraud and a farce. It has no place in a republic 
where, if anywhere, the standard ought to be 
“ ’Tis noble to be good.” 
Yet whenever a plain man of moderate education, 
sincerely trying to help his fellow men, tries to break 
the hard crust of prejudice and error, he runs upon 
that old ingrained habit oi a false education. Those 
inflated souls who imagine that a “profession” gives 
them such superiority should read Tennyson and 
realize what he means: 
“A SQUARE DEAL” 
We believe that every advertisement in this paper is backed by a respon¬ 
sible person. Wc 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 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- 
Yorktr when writing the advertiser. 
A T every picnic or public meeting to be held in 
New York State before September there ought 
to be a vote on the most suitable candidate for Gov¬ 
ernor. The more interest farmers can arouse in this 
matter, the greater will be their power. The poli¬ 
ticians are watching this vote carefully. If the 
vote is small and there is little interest taken it in, 
they will naturally conclude that farmers do not 
care, and they will nominate any man they choose. 
They would be justified in assuming that if farmers 
do not care to express any choice, they will be will¬ 
ing to take what is offered them. If, on the other 
hand, this vote can show that farmers are interested, 
every politician in the State will realize that unless 
some clean and honest man is nominated he will be 
defeated. The size of the vote and the interest 
shown in it will make all the difference between a 
live wire and a dead wire reaching to party head¬ 
quarters. Those wire-pullers do not want to play 
with a live wire! They will do all they can to dis¬ 
credit this plan for a referendum. A picnic or pub¬ 
lic meeting is just the place for a popular vote. 
The R. N.-Y. will supply the ballots promptly. Let 
two or three reputable men put up a box, see that 
the voting is fair and count the ballots. Through 
lack of organization at present, this work must be 
done by volunteers. Will you see that it is dove at 
your picnic? 
* 
O NE of the most remarkable little pamphlets on 
agricultural education we have ever seen is 
“After Fifty Years,” issued by the Iowa State Col¬ 
lege at Ames, Iowa. This college has just celebrated 
its fiftieth anniversary, and the pamphlet gives a re¬ 
markable story of growth—some of “the water that 
has run under the bridge.” Starting with a mere 
handful of students and three teachers, the college 
now has over 4.000 students. There have been 6,000 
graduates, and probably 24,000 young men and 
women have studied in the regular courses. To 
those of us who can remember the hard struggle of 
the agricultural colleges for bare existence, these 
figures read like a romance. Yet they are true, and 
while the Iowa State College may be called the 
largest and most generally successful of its class, 
all these institutions are making great progress, and 
are changing the life and character of our country 
people. The record given in “Fifty Years After” is 
a wonderful performance, fairly and modestly stated. 
* 
L ONG before the land-grant colleges were firmly 
established the old system of classical education 
had made an aristocracy of the so-called learned pro¬ 
fessions. That was carried to such an extent that 
some of these professions had become parasites—* 
living upon other industries. The lawyer, the doctor, 
the teacher, the “educated gentleman” and other 
professioual men came to regard themselves as of a 
higher grade than the farmer, because they had been 
taught that brain training was in some way more 
aristocratic than hand training. The great climb 
which mankind has made up from barbarism through 
civilization may have been legislated by the brain, 
but it was executed by the four fingers and the 
thumb, changed through training from a brutal 
weapon of offense into a delicate machine. Ever 
through history the training of the hand has had 
most to do with the development of the human race. 
One reason why the plain, common people have been 
at a disadvantage in society is because schools and 
olleges taught this aristocracy of the learned pro- 
essions. Thus the lawyer of a third generation 
ame to regard himself as a superior being—by in- 
eritance, of a higher standard than a farmer of 
aree generations. He might be so poor a lawyer 
mt he became only an economic parasite, but our 
‘ stem of education nmde him, and others, consider 
“In yon blue heavens above us bent, 
The grand old gardener and his wife 
Smile at your claims of long descent!” 
A 
T HE campaign in New York for putting over that 
•big co-operative company has proved a great 
thing for the State farm organizations. Ever since 
the country was first settled farmers have found 
their greatest strength in co-operative work. When 
the neighborhood all got together and built a stock¬ 
ade for mutual defense, or when, in later history, 
they came together and put up a house or a barn for 
a neighbor, the combination or “getting together” 
was the best part of it. The time has long since 
passed when farmers can safely stand back and 
work as individuals. They must combine all their 
forces. This drive for a big co-operative exchange 
has united the Grange, Farm Bureaus and Dairy¬ 
men’s League for effective team work. We asked a 
man who was connected with this movement how 
these organizations compared. He said, after some 
thought, that the Grange might be said to provide 
the sentiment, the Farm Bureau the organizing work¬ 
ers and the League provided the fighters. It is only 
natural that men and women should group them¬ 
selves into the organization which best represents 
their nature and thought. Sentiment, organizing 
power and fighting! We need them all in the battle 
for common rights which lies ahead of us. We can¬ 
not win with either quality alone, or with any com¬ 
bination of two of them. We must have them all 
if we would win. The sentiment makes the mortar 
which binds individuals together, organizing power 
groups them to the best advantage, and fighting spirit 
gives them power! 
* 
O N page 123S a reader wants to know how to get 
rid of a big colony of blacksnakes. This may 
be a case where prejudice works against profit. The 
blacksnake is a harmless creature, and it would puz¬ 
zle anyone to find a sensible reason for killing it, 
except the inherited hatred against all snakes. The 
blacksnake destroys mice and other small vermin; 
in fact, it is the best protector against mice that we 
can find. When the snow finally melted last Spring 
many of us found some of our best fruit trees ruined 
by mice. There was a perfect scourge of them in 
many places. They did about as much harm as the 
retreating German army did in the French orchards. 
Yet many of those who suffered this loss would, no 
doubt, kill a blacksnake at sight if it were possible to 
catch him. Now why? We assume that all our 
readers have a clear motive for doing such things. 
Personally we think the blacksnake is a friend of 
the fruit grower. Why should we fight our friends? 
* 
T HE papers report that the West never had a bet¬ 
ter outfit of harvest helpers than this season. 
Something like 100.000 men came in from outside 
the wheat territory to help. Why? The Kansas 
farmers held a convention and agreed to offer 70 
cents an hour for harvest help. This made a price 
which competed with other industries and the men 
came. There is no doubt that it pulled many needed 
workers away from Eastern farms. Personally we 
doubt if those Western farmers can afford to pay 
70 cents a hour for labor. We doubt if the price 
of grain will justify it. The incident shows, how¬ 
ever, that whenever farm prices reach a point which 
will justify farmers in competing with other indus¬ 
tries in the labor market, they can obtain the labor. 
» 
T HAT “scientific search for a peach” is still going 
on in New Jersey. They have found the peach. 
It now remains to propagate it. New crosses were 
made this season and the old ones will be tested this 
year. It was found among other things that: 
All seedling peaches bloomed very well this Spring, 
but that those of pure Early Crawford blood and others 
of the Persian group have failed to hold the bloom and 
set fruit, while in adjoining rows where such varieties 
as Elberta and Belle have been crossed with these 
seedlings in general show a very fine set. The Craw¬ 
ford seedlings were exposed to exactly the same weather 
conditions as the others, but they were not able to come 
through with a crop where some of the hardier crops 
SI’C«'i'e<]ei! 
W E have endeavored to obtain a ruling from 
the United States Treasury Department re¬ 
garding the manufacture and sale of cider or apple 
juice under the new prohibition law. This is very 
important to apple growers in the disposition of cull 
apples. What most people desire to know is who 
will be held responsible for any change in fermenta¬ 
tion after the cider is first sold. A may sell a sam¬ 
ple of apple juice containing practically no alcohol. 
B may buy and hold it until through natural fer¬ 
mentation the cider contains three or more per cent, 
and thus becomes legally “intoxicating.” Who would 
be held responsible—A or B? This is the point of 
most interest to cider makers. The following state¬ 
ment does not cover it, though we infer that if the 
alcohol develops after the first sale, B would be 
held responsible, yet A would be obliged to prove by 
analysis that what he sold was not “intoxicating.” 
In reply to your letter of June 22, 1020. you are 
informed that non-intoxicating fruit juices may be man¬ 
ufactured for home use only in the manner provided 
by Mimeograph No. 84 of .Tune 3, 1920. but any such 
fruit juices manufactured by cidermakers or others for 
removal to the home must actually contain less than 
ore-half of one per cent of alcohol by volume at the 
time of removal from the place of manufacture to the 
home of the user. Any such fruit juices containing one- 
half of one per cent of alcohol or more by volume are 
regarded as intoxicating liquors, and may be manufac¬ 
tured only by a person holding permit, and may be 
sold only for non-beverage purposes to properly qualified 
committee, as provided by Article Y of Regulations 
No. GO. 
It would appear, therefore, that the cull apples to 
which you refer may be converted into cider containing 
one-half of one per cent or more of alcohol by volume 
which may be transported, sold and used for non-bev- 
eiage purposes as provided by Regulations 60 in the 
case of intoxicating liquors. joiin f. kbamer. 
Treasury Department. Prohibition Commissioner. 
* 
T HE Department of Agriculture at Washington 
prints a monthly statement of raw stocks of 
hides and skins on hand. Month by month this stock 
increases. As compared with last year, the stock 
of cattle hides is 30 per cent greater now. Many 
kinds of hides have more than doubled in quantity. 
The price paid to farmers has been reduced, but 
prices for shoes and all leather goods are sky-high. 
We were just charged $14.75 for exactly the same 
quality of shoe which formerly sold for $4.05. There 
will be much expensive shoe leather worn out in 
political parades this year. Why should not the 
various candidates tell us why hides accumulate 
and shoes mount in price? 
■* 
T HE first exchange of courtesies between Candi¬ 
date Cox and Candidate Harding is brought 
about by agriculture. There seems to be no doubt 
that the farmers have induced both party manage¬ 
ments to sit up and take notice of the farm vote. 
Mr. Cox starts it. by saying that if he is elected he 
will select a real “dirt” farmer for Secretary of 
Agriculture. We take it this means a working 
farmer and, by inference, that we have never had 
such a man as Secretary. Mr. Harding comes back 
by saying that James Wilson, who organized and 
built up the present Department, was a real “dirt” 
farmer, and .that as soon as Mr. Cox’s party got a 
chance they got rid of the dirt and put in a college 
professor, following him with a newspaper man! 
The honors seem to he easy on that little debate. It 
is encouraging, though, to have them discuss agricul¬ 
ture. 
Brevities 
Here is a good t.no —Dogson & Ilogg, dealers in barks 
and roots. 
Every State should have a “watch dog” of the 
treasury—but it’s a thankless job. 
Not long ago an airship flew from Miami, Fla . to 
New York in' 13 .hours. It. carried 1,000 pounds of 
grapefruit as an advertisement of the possibilities of 
aerial express. 
Arizona reports a new native clover—Trifolium 
laeerum. It is propagated from seed and from under¬ 
ground stems, and seems to grow only where the water 
table is close to the surface. It ought to be good tor 
damp pasture. 
There will be a novelty at the Connecticut Summer 
Farmers’ Week, held at Storrs P. O.. August 3-6. Lius 
will be a “mock auction.” The college herd of dairy 
cattle will he offered. Each winning bidder will tell viie 
company why he offered more than others. 
Wiiat about this plan of transplanting roots of 
Alfalfa? We have followed it for some years. W 
roots grow and make plants whiek can hardly be P" 1' 
or killed out. In these days of high-priced labor tm 
plan will not pay except on a small scale. 
’he 
; world’s entire production of gold last year 
it $345,000,000, or about $30,000,000 lessi than the 
before. This country produced $58,285,196 "oit 
old, or about 10 per cent of the value of the potato 
for the same year. It may seem remarkable, out 
nv last year the rye crop was worth twice as im a 
tie gold production: or $119,041,000, while the barley 
was worth four times as much as the gold. - • 
American corn crop, it was worth nearly tun 
inch si.- t! c ged ’. 
