1484 
The Rural New-Yorker 
THE BVSISESR FARMER'S FAI'ER 
A National Weekly Journal for Country mid liuburlinn Home* * 
Established i860 
Published weekly by the Rural Publishing Company, 338 West 80th Street, New fork 
Herbert W. Colijngwood, President and Editor. 
John J. Dillon, Treasurer and General Manager. 
Wm. F. Dillon, Secretary. Mrs. E. T. Koylk. Associate Editor. 
SUBSCRIPTION; ONE DOLLAR A YEAR 
To foreign countries in the Universal Postal Union $2.04, equal to 8s. 6d., or 
81i marks, or 10M francs. Remit in money order, express 
order, personal chock 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 person. Wo nse 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 aro 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- 
Yorki'R when writing the advertiser. 
Apple, apple. Call for apple 
Everywhere you go. 
Closely wateli the bill of fare, 
And if apple is not there, 
Call the landlord down with care. 
He will come with smirking maimer. 
Offering the fat banana, 
Or the orange. Be not shaken 
In the job you’ve undertaken, 
With your problem closely grapple, 
Call for apple! Call for apple! 
E shall have to reprint some of the “nursery 
rhymes” which were written for the old Apple 
Consumers’ League. The situation is simple enough. 
There is a great apple crop in the country. Prices 
for barrels and picking and transportation are out of 
all proportion. Many a man can remember when 
barrels were 30 cents each, picking about 10 cents, 
while freight from some points in the Hudson Valley 
was 15 cents per barrel. Now, in some cases, the 
price of an empty barrel is .$2, picking 35 cents and 
freight over 60 cents! That is what the fruit grower 
must carry on his back, while the market situation 
facing him is worse yet. The high retail prices have 
driven consumers away from apples. The dealers are 
grabbing the storage space and holding up the mar¬ 
ket, so as to obtain the coming crop for a price far 
below cost. The only relief is to increase demand, 
and this must be done by a concerted action among 
consumers. It now becomes a patriotic duty for 
Americans to cat. apples in place of other fruits. A 
big demand created in this way will float the big crop 
safely through the market and save the situation for 
the growers. The prices which retailers and res¬ 
taurants have been charging for apples are wicked. 
The other day we started the campaign in a Southern 
town by calling for a baked apple. They brought 
one—and charged 30 cents! We had been selling 
the same grade of fruit at less than one dollar a 
bushel. Thei’e is no excuse this year for any such 
robbery. The apple crop is large, and prices to 
growers are low. The members of the Apple Con¬ 
sumers’ League must reorganize at once, call for 
a[’ple. and make the people who feed them charge a 
fair price. 
* 
L AST year we told about that “Scientific Search 
for a Peach” which for several years has been 
going on in New Jersey. Prof. Blake and Prof. 
Conners of the Experiment Station set themselves 
to the task of producing a group of peaches which 
will prove superior in New Jersey, and bring back 
the high position in peach-growing formerly held by 
that State. The three most popular peaches are 
Carman, Elberta and Belle of Georgia. It, was 
claimed that J. IT. Hale would prove superior to 
Elberta, but that has not come to pass. Blake and 
Conners have, as we believe, produced a variety 
quite superior to Carman, and have seedlings which 
promise improvement over the other members of the 
great trio. There has not been anything in the his¬ 
tory of peach breeding or improvement like the 
painstaking and thorough work which these Jersey- 
men have done. They have made good in the largest 
contract ever suggested in the peach business. 
* 
T HE Department of Agriculture states that a 
new gas, suitable for driving ears or trucks, 
is being produced from wheat, rye or oat straw by 
distillation. It is said that 50 lbs. of straw will 
produce about 300 feet of gas, which can he applied 
directly to stationary engines. If condensed to 
liquid form, this amount of gas will drive a light 
car about 15 miles. As a scientific experiment this 
is interesting, but we have yet to show that it is 
practical. Could any small machine be made at a 
cost that would warrant a farmer in buying one 
for farm use? We doubt it. Some years ago we 
were all carried away by the very plausible argu¬ 
ments in favor of farm-made alcohol. We were then 
told that alcohol could be made from waste apples, 
•Pit RURAL NEW-YORKER 
potatoes, vegetables and other refuse right on the 
farm. The theory was that a small plant could he 
used to make enough alcohol out of farm wastes 
to give full light and power. It did not work. The 
alcohol can lie made from these wastes, but it is not a 
job for the small outfit, but one for large units. We 
came out of our dreams only to find that we had 
helped put over legislation to promote some monop¬ 
oly without helping ourselves in the least. Since 
then we have had few illusions about these things 
which promise so much for the individual farmer. 
They turn out to he man-sized jobs, practical only 
for large operations. 
* 
F EW of us realize how auto trucks and good mads 
are changing the transportation problem for 
farmers. The quick service performed by a truck 
over a smooth road has changed many a line of 
business. In some places dealers run their trucks 
40 miles or more into the country, picking up all 
sorts of supplies at the farm. Formerly most of 
this would have been hauled by horse power to the 
railroad, unloaded into the car. and loaded once 
more at the city. Now the swift truck runs out to 
the farm arid saves three handlings. Then, of course, 
many farmers own trucks and do their own deliver¬ 
ing. It. is needless for us to show the great con¬ 
venience in having this swift and capable transport 
at hand. The great increase of trucks has had con¬ 
siderable to do with railroad freights. Millions of 
tons of produce formerly sent by railroad are now 
carried by tracks. The loss of this revenue is one 
thing which has compelled the railroads to demand 
higher rates. There are even greater developments 
yet. to come. But let no one suppose that all this 
truck service is done for nothing. We gain in speed 
and capacity over the horse and wagon, hut we pay 
as much or more for the service. It cost us nearly 
$275 to repair our own truck and make it fit for 
the season’s work—aside from the cost of gasoline 
and timely repairs. This will add considerably to 
the cost of each package carried to market, yet it. is 
a good investment, considering the time and labor 
saved. 
* 
Lot’s soo. You were the people who said there would 
be a shortage of food. Now food is rotting on the 
ground for lack of price. What have you to say for 
yourself? J- K- 
IIY, we go right on saying that there will he 
a shortage of food! The present situation 
will only make it sure. Right at this time of appar¬ 
ent market glut there is not too much food in the 
country. We can find thousands of people in town 
and city who are hungry, and who do not have 
proper nourishment. The trouble is not from over¬ 
production, but from under-distribution. With the 
exception of apples, crops are hut little, if any, 
larger than last year. Some of them are smaller. 
The frightful prices charged by the retailers have 
shut off buying. The hold-up on sugar has prac¬ 
tically stopped home canning of fruits and certain 
vegetables, and the dealers have combined to force 
down prices to farmers. This has caused the present 
“glut” and led the people to think there is a great 
abundance of food. There is not! Before Winter 
is over this will be apparent. A few lines of food 
may be cheap for a while, but there will he little, if 
any, surplus. The present conditions are so dis¬ 
couraging to farmers that many of them will surely 
cut down their operations next season, and produce 
less food. A favorable season this year helped pro¬ 
duce a good crop of early potatoes and some other 
vegetables, but if all could have the food they need 
there would he a shortage right now. Do not be 
so foolish or feeble-minded as to believe the wild 
stories about surplus crops now appearing in the 
daily papers. That is merely part of a propaganda 
designed to discourage farmers so they will sell 
their produce for less than it is worth. There is 
and there will be no surplus of food. It is true that 
some perishable crops have been lost, but, on the 
other hand, thousands of city people have not had 
enough to eat, and there will he less for them in 
the future until farmers can be assured of a living 
price for their labor. 
* 
Will you inform me whether apples blackened by 
aphis would pack A grade under New York apple law? 
The apples in Western New York are more or less af¬ 
fected by aphis, and if we have to pack want to know 
haw. One buyer said it would pack “A” grade, hut 
I wonder, seeing the law reads: “Free from dirt.” 
G. D. P. 
HE law requires that apples packed as “New 
York Standard A Grade” shall be free from de¬ 
fects. dirt, insect injury, etc. We understand that 
the New York inspectors will rule that apples in¬ 
jured by aphis or soiled by “honeydew” will not he 
up to the requirements of Standard A grade. They 
can be included in B grade. This discoloration is on 
September 18, 1920 
the surface, and most of it can be removed by wash¬ 
ing or rubbing. The inspectors will rale that it 
injures the appearance of the fruit, and that apples 
so soiled in A grade packages would be a violation 
of the law. 
* 
Your editorial of July 17 on building up the little 
town is so timely, and so exactly along the line of my 
thinking, thqjt I want to express to you my apprecia¬ 
tion of it. So far as civil welfare is concerned, it is 
the most important subject concerning the future of 
this or any other civilized country. I wish you would 
devote much space of The R. N.-Y. to the topic. 
Pennsylvania. e. w. s. 
ITE little town is the most important civic com¬ 
munity in the country. It gets near to the 
heart of things—carries society back close to the 
farm. Most people have the mistaken idea that the 
great city is the most important thing which a na¬ 
tion can produce. That is a mistake. The world 
could exist comfortably (it has done so) without 
any great cities, but every nation that has ever tried 
to get on without the little town and the country 
has failed miserably. The great nations of the 
earth are today sick with the big-city disease. They 
ascribe their troubles to other things, but in reality 
the trouble with the world is that too many people 
have tried to crowd into the cities. These have bred 
discontent, lawlessness and worse. The remedy for 
this disease is to keep more of the best of youth in 
the country. That can only be done by building up 
and improving the little town. This will carry more 
of entertainment and opportunity back near the 
farm. We need to forget the big city awhile and 
put our minds on the small town. There are men 
who came from the small town years ago, and have 
made fortunes in the city. Sometimes they think 
kindly of the old town and desire to “do something 
for it.” Usually this take the form of repairing 
the graveyard or building a public library. These 
are good as far as they go, but the old town needs 
business and capital rather than graveyards. The 
best thing such a rich man can do is to go back to 
the old town and start a small factory, or some 
business for handling fine special products. These 
towns need a profitable job to put them on the map. 
* 
I have asked a number of women if they expect to 
vote. Their answers are varied. One will express a. 
marked preference for a candidate and say: “I could 
not think of voting.” Another said: “I voted once at 
a school election—such a mob!” When asked if the 
mob voted as she wished, she said “No,” and the ques¬ 
tion if she did not think now it was her duty to oppose 
mob rule with her vote seemed to suggest she had a 
duty. Another said: “I will leave that to the for¬ 
eigners.” Think of that as a conception of duty. I 
asked a foreigner who had been in this country for 20 
years. She said : “I never wanted the franchise, hut 
now that it is given to women T am going to vote. I 
have very decided opinions on affairs of the day and the 
conduct of affairs, and I should feel it a criminal neglect 
not to vote and express myself.” There seems room for 
education of our women in their duties and responsi¬ 
bilities to our nation and themselves. D. e. r. 
New Jersey. 
OU are right! A great responsibility comes to 
woman along with the ballot. Leaving the 
privilege of voting to foreigners is about the worst 
conception of duty we have yet heard of. The for¬ 
eigners will all vote, anyway. If Americanism is a 
thing to he proud of, we must remember that it has 
been made so only by the use of the ballot. That is 
the great essential difference between a monarchy 
and a republic. We think the great majority of 
women will make good use of the ballot. 
* 
Brevities 
Give the hen a fair chance this Winter. 
One of the blindest men on earth is he who thinks 
that by saving his party, no matter how corrupt it ma$ 
be, he is saving his country. 
The air has all the nitrogen it needs. Why, then, 
burn anything that may be used as mulch or manure? 
When you burn a ton of cornstalks, you waste over $6 
worth of nitrogen. 
Where rye is early sown and makes a good growth, 
pasturing during the Fall seems to help it. Of course, 
the pasturing should not he overdone, especially when 
the ground is too wet. 
Everyone knows that the well-fed child is best able 
to throw off disease and other physical afflictions. It 
is also true that the Fall grain crop seeded on well- 
fitted land and well fed has the best chance to get 
through. 
One hundred dollars a bushel is the record price for 
apples. Eight high-toned thieves in a car robbed a New 
York farmer’s orchard and took two bushels. He caught 
them, pulled them before a justice and they were were 
fined $25 each ! 
At the Illinois State Farm Bureau picnic there was 
a State horseshoe tournament. The old game of throw¬ 
ing tlie horseshoe attracted over 7,000 people, there 
being 17 teams entered. Well, why is not this game as 
sensible and useful as golf? 
Next year’s corn crop will lie half made this Win¬ 
ter—in the seed. Most advice about seed saving starts 
too .arc We ought to select the seed in the field now 
and make sure that it. is properly kept through the 
Winter. We are doing that with sweet corn seen, 
starting now to select the ears in the Fall. 
