1772 
The Rural New-Yorker 
THE BUSINESS FARMER’S PAPER 
A National Weekly Journal for Country and (Suburban llomeft 
Established tsso 
ViihlUlird weekly liy tile Rural Pnblllhinff Company. 883 Weat 8<Ub Street, New fork 
Herbert W. Coi.i.iNfiWoor), President and Editor. 
John J. Dillon, Treasurer and General Manager. 
Wm. E. Dillon, Secretary. Mrs. K. T. Kovlk. Associate Editor. 
SUBSCRIPTION • ONE DOLLAR A YEAR 
To foreign countries in the Universal Postal Union, $2.04, equal 1 o 8s. 6d., or 
81s, marks, or 10 k, francs. Remit in money order, express 
order, personal check or bank draft. 
Entered at New York Post Office as Second Class Matter. 
Advertising rates, 1) cents per agate line—7 words. References required for 
advertisers unknown to us ; and cash must accompany transient orders. 
"A SQUARE DEAL” 
Wo believe that every advertisement in this paper is bneked by a respon¬ 
sible person. We use every possible precaution ami 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 eases 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 lie sent to us within one month of the time of 
the transaction, and to identify it, you should mention Tills Rural Nkw- 
Yorkkr when writing the advertiser. 
One of my best friends, that I wait for every week, it-: 
The Rural New-Yorker. I love to read it, because I 
read nothing wrong in it. The tiniest words that I have 
read in The R. N.-Y. were: “No man can serve two 
masters; therefore, find the true one; the one that will 
help you in time of need, and give him all your power.” 
Experience is the best teacher, and I had it. 
New York. john j. pfeffer. 
E think experience Is more than a teacher. It 
is an educator—the great master of life. 
5k 
ECEMBER 9 and 10 have been selected as the 
dates for the annual convention of the New 
York State Federation of Agriculture. All the farm 
organizations of the State are invited to the meeting 
and to the conferences, which it is hoped will detine 
an agricultural policy for the State. Of course all 
farmers, whether members of other organizations, 
are invited, and this includes both men and women. 
The convention will be held in the city of Rochester. 
More details and programme will come later. 
* 
LDER men sometimes shake their heads at the 
enthusiasm of young fellows, and they are very 
fond of reminding their boys that enthusiasm never 
can take the place of experience. We often wonder 
if these wise men have ever turned this subject over 
and considered it from the other side. Tt is true 
that experience is a great teacher of mankind, yet it 
is also true that experience, valued as it is, can never 
take the place of enthusiasm. Either one, alone, if 
carried too far, may lead a man astray. The right 
combination of the two is the best equipment for life. 
That is where the gray-haired man may have the 
advantage over the boy. The young fellow can only 
get the experience by going through the fire. The 
trouble with the older man is that when he goes 
through the fire after the experience, the enthusiasm 
is all burnt away, and a life of dry experience and 
nothing more is about as satisfactory as living upon 
busks. 
* 
What arc tin prospects regarding daylight saving 
in New York? 
HE new Governor, Judge Miller, is on record as 
opposed to the present law. lie will favor a 
law abolishing daylight saving as a State institution, 
but giving the cities the right to change their time 
if they care to do so. In effect that is what we had 
last Summer. Most of the railroads running through 
the State kept'to the old time. The great majority of 
farmers never changed their clocks. The coming 
struggle will be in the Legislature, and if farmers 
want the old time, without “daylight saving,” they 
should begin at once, and make their representatives 
understand. In the last Legislature the repeal bill 
was finally passed by making a political deal with a 
few members from New York City. Next year there 
will be enough country members to put the bill 
through, but it must be forced through. The city 
men will fight hard for their play time. Judge Mil¬ 
ler cannot do it all. You must make the Legislature 
do the job. 
sk 
T seems to lie the general opinion of dairymen In 
the cabbage-growing sections that cabbage, when 
fed iu moderate quantities, increases the flow of 
milk. Some reports show that it is more effective 
than silage as a green or succulent feed. And it does 
not seem to be entirely a matter of feeding value or 
composition. We think it is somewhat like the feed¬ 
ing of lettuce, spinach or other leafy vegetables to 
humans. Without question the addition of such 
vegetables to the diet does improve the ration and 
promote the health all out of proportion to the food 
elements which ordinary analysis can show. With 
humans the scientists now attribute these results 
from leafy vegetables to the vitamines which such 
foods contain. Milk and these leafy vegetables are 
very valuable in improving t.he human diet. We 
The RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
think that much the same thing will be found true 
of the cow. Her proper feeding is not entirely a 
matter of providing a “balanced ration.” Slie needs 
these vitamines in her food no less than man, and 
one reason why cabbage proves so effective is that it 
furnishes these mysterious elements. 
5k 
EVERAL readers ask us to tell what effect the 
recent election will have on Prohibition. Of 
course the amendment stands. Nothing that we can 
now imagine could change the constitution at pres¬ 
ent. We understand that the next Congress will be 
“dry” by a large majority. There scorns no chance 
of changing or weakening the law. In New York 
the election was a “dry” victory. The new Governor, 
Judge Miller, is pledged to enforce the law. There 
are, without question, many violations of the law at 
this time. They will continue for some years, but. 
on tbe whole, taking the country at large. Prohibi¬ 
tion is becoming more popular—particularly in the 
country districts. 
* 
VERY dairyman in New York feels under obli¬ 
gations to I)r. Geo. F. Warren of Cornell for 
making the cost of milk production clear. For many 
years dairymen wore unable to state positively just 
what it cost to produce a pound or quart of milk. 
Not knowing that, they could not successfully meet 
the arguments of the distributers and place a definite 
price on their milk. This gave every advantage to 
the handlers and buyers. Dr. Warren was able to 
figure tbe cost of feed, fodder, labor and “overhead” 
charges so that it became possible to show accurate 
costs, and thus demand a fair price. For years 
dairymen knew that they were able to keep their 
business alive through "the unpaid labor of women 
and children,” but they could not prove it until these 
accurate cost figures enabled them to compare the 
fruits of their labor with that of others. They never 
could have obtained the full benefits of organization 
without these cost figures as a basis. The economics 
department at Cornell now proposes to go still fur¬ 
ther, and study the marketing of milk, of feed and 
of dairy cattle, just as the production side has been 
studied. Prof. II. E. Babcock will have charge of 
this work, and before he is done with it. we shall 
know the cost of distribution and of mixing and 
handling feed. These things will give us a new 
grasp on the subject. 
* 
E confess to a feeling of disappointment and 
regret that the recent political cyclone blew 
one picturesque figure out of political life. That is 
Champ Clark of Missouri. He has always seemed 
to us one of the most human and lovable figures in 
American public life. We never saw him, yet. he 
seems to have a personality so strong and pent rat¬ 
ing that lie looms up in imagination as a kindly 
and useful character, with ins feet squarely on the 
ground among other human beings. His book of 
political reminiscences is the best study of American 
public life we have ever read. There is not an un¬ 
kind word in it for anyone. In speaking of men, 
Champ Clark tries lo say something good of them. 
Ho forgets the injustice they have done him, except 
in one case, where he tells the bitter truth of one 
public character. A national figure—a genuine Amer¬ 
ican human product—that is what Champ Clark 
may he truly called. We regret to see him blown out 
of public life and we hope he will come back. 
* 
IIE great political landslide grows in size witli 
the “latest returns.” There has been nothing to 
compare with it since McClellan ran against Lincoln. 
Millions of people seem to have pulled up their old 
party convictions by the roots. What will they do 
now? Will they prune the roots and transplant in 
the same place, or will they start a new plant? That 
remains for the next administration to decide. There 
is a general feeling of satisfaction that if this up¬ 
heaval had to come the people did a good job. The 
Republicans have full and complete responsibility 
thrust upon them. They can give no excuse for any 
failure to correct public wrongs if any such correc¬ 
tion is possible through legislation. During the past 
eight years the Republicans have been obliged to 
play the part of critics or obstructionists. Now they 
must give constructive legislation and do it prompt¬ 
ly. We think the size of their 1 remendous victory 
has sobered or frightened the leaders. This mighty 
swing of men and women is as suggestive as the 
waves of approval or of discontent which pass over 
a great assemblage of people, and the politicians 
fully realize it. We know that many strong men 
are already at work telling the political leaders just 
what they want done. We have seen some of the 
latter going to the men who arc likely to influence 
the policy of tbe new administration. iVrsonally we 
November 20, 1020 
believe the day of the “strong man in a blatant land” 
has passed. The American people are not likely to 
stand for any autocratic, secretive government, and 
we are glad of it. Hereafter the President must be 
more the agent of the people and loss of an autocra 4 . 
This is the time for farmers and their friends to 
make the men they have elected understand what, is 
wanted. We cannot hope to get all we need at once. 
That must he a matter of political growth, but we 
can make tbe new administration understand our 
case and give us a fair chance. 
* 
LONG ISLAND official has been for some time 
issuing permits to carry firearms under tlio 
present law. These permits cost .$2.50. No name 
was written on them, and they were peddled out to 
whoever would buy. Some of them finally found 
their way into the hands of burglars and “hold-up" 
men—tbe very class of people the law was supposed 
to exempt. These criminals willingly paid $50 for 
such a blank permit. By writing in their own name 
they shot the law through its own weapons. Prob¬ 
ably every law which gives a license in this way is 
misused or violated more or less. Some of the so- 
called “hunters” who roam about our fields should 
no more he licensed by tbe State than men who 
would go about with disease germs to contaminate 
wells and springs. 
* 
ANY of our readers are interested in finding 
small woolen mills where fair-sized lots of 
wool may be sent for carding or for making up into 
blankets or cloth. There is a growing feeling that 
we must go hack, at least part way, to these small, 
community-owned mills, in order to break the stran 
glo hold which “big business” seems to have fixed on 
us. It lias often been reported that many of these 
small mills are still operating in Ontario, Canada, 
and we have been investigating such reports. It 
’seems that most of these mills have disappeared, 
though a few of them are left. We have one report 
in which the following appears: 
The coming of the hydro (Niagara) power all through 
Western Ontario may be the "Lord’s mysterious way” 
to decentralize “big business.” It. seems to me that 
cheap power ought to make it possible to have smaller 
industries in smaller cities and town, for electricity not 
only manufactures but transports. J. N. D. 
Drayton, Out. 
That has been our own idea for some time. We 
believe that the development and distribution of 
power will, in time, make it possible to break up 
many of the large industrial centers, and build up 
in their place many smaller units in the country, 
closer to the farms. These smaller operations will 
have to be financed and developed by country people, 
and this, we think, will be one of tbe ways in which 
the rural districts will regain their old population 
and power. 
5k 
Reports are coming to the Farm Bureau office almost 
daily of the doings of seed agents about the county, and 
farmers seems to be only too glad to fall in line and 
again get stung on prices. An agent is reported selling 
seed corn about the county for $(5.50 per bu.. a priee 
even in excess of war prices, and he was having good 
business amon^ the farmers. Another agent was selling 
a new kind of potatoes for $5 per bu., and oats accord¬ 
ingly. Farmers! What are you thinking of to pay such 
outrageous prices for seed, and rely upon the agent’s 
information as to the merits of the goods? The season’s 
increased production of corn, oats and potatoes does 
not warrant any such price as the agents are asking. 
IIAT report comes from Orleans County, Ver¬ 
mont—up close to the Canada line. You may 
start from there and travel to the lowest tip ol‘ 
Florida. Then start, at Eastport, Me., and travel to 
the extreme western point of Oregon. In every coun¬ 
ty inside these points you will find farmers ready to 
pay extravagant prices for “novelties” or seeds 
which are inoculated with “hot air”' by some glib 
agent. We have never been able to understand how 
a stranger can go into a farm territory and induce 
farmers to sign these contracts, when plain experi¬ 
ence must show that the big stories cannot be true. 
Is it really true that the average man likes to be 
humbugged? It seems so at times. 
Brevities 
If you keep a dog is it through habit or because the 
dog is necessary? 
True co-operation requires that farmers must be tied 
together with a square knot. 
We ought to hold up the highest ideals of citizenship, 
even though we may know they are at present out of the 
reach of most of us. 
"A farm should always be selected wisely.” Right! 
But suppose grandfather selected it for you 100 years 
ago and times have changed the conditions? 
Has anyone ever been able to keep a naturally wet 
cellar dry by waterproofing the concrete walls and floor? 
We have never kept out the water except by full 
drainage. 
We understand that Northern Vermont now has more 
certified potato seed than ev> . before at this season. 
’Phis is seed guaranteed by the a , 'rnment. Our experi¬ 
ence this year shows that, this certified seed is as supe¬ 
rior to common stock as purebred cattle are to scrubs 
or grades. 
