1852 
It* RURAL NEW-YORKER 
A Primer of Economics 
By John J. Dillon 
Part I 
There has never been a time during the 
past forty-odd years that we have studied 
and worked for farm co-operative organi¬ 
zation when the need of co-operation was 
so generally recognized as just now, and 
no time when farmers themselves were 
not only willing but anxious for it. If 
people are to have food the farm must 
be made to pay. Skilled work on the 
farm must be rewarded equally with 
skilled work in the factory and shop. 
The farmer must have the means by 
which he can put a fair price on his own 
products; and that price must reward 
him for labor and capital and entex-prise 
ae fully as other industries reward the 
same agencies of production and distri¬ 
bution. 
Only eight years ago acknowledged and 
capable farm leaders in this State argued 
in open meeting that co-operation could 
not be made to work in this country. The 
small band that knew the sound prin¬ 
ciples of co-operation persisted, and after 
many discouragements and apparent 
failures they now have the satisfaction 
of seeing the possibility of co-operative 
organization generally recognized. There 
is no longer any doubt of its ultimate 
success, because it is the only agency that 
promises the farmer relief from the 
tyranny of the middleman system. 
The organization work is well under 
way, but a clearer knowledge of economic 
principles will give the farmer new in¬ 
spiration for it, and a clear understand¬ 
ing of fundamental co-operative pi’inci- 
ples will be a safe guide to the farmer in 
his collective organization work. No ex¬ 
haustive study of political economy is 
necessary; but it is important that cer¬ 
tain well-established economic laws be 
fairly well understood in order that the 
foundation of co-operative structures be 
laid on an enduring basis. To this 
end we shall attempt, in a series of arti¬ 
cles, to define as plainly as possible some 
of the simple economic principles and 
laws that have been developed by ac¬ 
knowledged authorities and apply them to 
farm conditions. We shall try to show 
that the distribution of wealth can be 
best effected in harmony with these funda¬ 
mental economic principles through pro¬ 
perly organized incorporated co-operative 
association. 
The farm student will find some ac¬ 
cepted economic laws that apparently do 
not harmonize with his personal exper¬ 
ience. This is because the economist is 
unable to take into account temporal, 
accidental or artificial conditions. He 
must base his conclusions on broad gen¬ 
eral principles. The results that he an¬ 
ticipates and on which he bases his laws 
may require months or years to work 
out. The laws are not as exact as those 
of chemistry and physics, because they 
deal with human agencies, and they are 
to some extent modified temporarily, at 
least, by the arbitrary acts of society. 
Man finds ways to defeat many laws, both 
human and natural. lie has found a 
way to support himself in the air; but 
his ingenuity does not disprove the law 
of gravitation, The principles that we 
attempt to define in the articles that fol¬ 
low are extremely elementary. If, hap¬ 
pily, they whet the mental appetite for 
more extensive study, the works of Adam 
Smith, John Stuart Mill, David Ricardo 
and an endless list of modern authorities 
on both economics and co-operation afford 
ample opportunity for further study. 
GENERAL DEFINITION 
What is political economy? 
Political economy, or economies, is the 
name assumed by that branch of science 
which investigates and defines the nature, 
production and distribution of wealth. 
THE NATURE OF WEALTH 
What is wealth? 
Wealth is anything that has an ex¬ 
change value. 
Are all useful or necessary things 
wealth? 
Things that we can get freely and in 
practically unlimited quantities are not 
wealth, no matter how useful or necessary 
they may be, because we would not give 
up auythiug in exchange for an article 
that we could have for nothing. Air and 
water and snnsliine are necessary to 
human lives, but since we can get them 
freely in quantities to supply our needs 
and desires gratis, we would give up 
nothing in exchange for them, and con¬ 
sequently they do not come under the 
definition of wealth. Water, however, 
becomes wealth in a city when it requires 
labor and material to deliver it where it 
is needed. So, too, air becomes wealth 
when it requires labor to confine it ill 
places for special use, such as in the tire 
of an automobile or iu a diving hell. 
Do intellectual attainments and physi¬ 
cal skill constitute wealth? 
Wealth and the human acquirements 
have a strong relation to each other, but 
they are not the same things. A person 
may be intellectual, truthful, loyal and 
brave, and yet remain poor. A person 
may not have any of these human quali¬ 
ties, and yet be wealthy. The intel¬ 
lectual endowments and high ideals of a 
people are quite sure to have a favorable 
influence on their material affairs and 
increase their, wealth. So, too, the pos¬ 
session of wealth which may relieve peo¬ 
ple from the necessity of physical toil 
gives an opportunity for study and re¬ 
flection which may result in the improve¬ 
ment of mental attributes and cultural 
refinements. These things and material 
wealth affect each other, but they are not 
the same thing, and are seldom if ever 
mistaken one for another 
Is money wealth? 
Money is wealth. 
Is money identical with wealth? 
Money is not identical with wealth. 
It is simply a part of the wealth of the 
country. While a people might be ser¬ 
iously inconvenienced for want of money, 
just as they would be embarrassed for a 
want of shoes; they may have no money, 
and yet be enormously wealthy. 
Was money ever regarded as synonymous 
with wealth? 
Previous to the publication in the year 
1816 of Adam Smith’s great book, “The 
Wealth of Nations,” wealth was identi¬ 
fied with money. Up to that time people 
believed that wealth was money and to 
be wealthy a people had to possess large 
quantities of gold and silver. Acting on 
this theory statesmen in England made 
laws to keep money iu the country. They 
encouraged exports of goods on the theory 
that it brought money into the counti'y, 
and discouraged imports because it would 
require money to be sent out of the 
country to pay for them. Adam Smith 
showed the fallacy of this policy, which 
was known as the “Mercantile System,” 
and for the first time made plain the real 
nature of money and its relations to 
wealth. He also showed that if left to 
themselves, without favor or discourage¬ 
ments, the value of exports and imports 
of a country would tend to equalize each 
other. Recent experiences are bringing 
home to the people lessons that we can¬ 
not. hope to sell indefinitely to the people 
of a foreign country unless we also per¬ 
mitted and encouraged them to sell to ns. 
Garden Notes from New England 
Raiding in Automobiles. —Appar¬ 
ently the time has passed when auto¬ 
mobile parties can raid farmers’ or¬ 
chards and market gardeners’ fields with¬ 
out fear of punishment. So loud was 
the complaint the past season that the 
automobile authorities decided upon 
drastic action, and when a Peabody man 
was convicted of stealing apples from 
the grounds of a Wakefield farmer, the 
registrar of motor vehicles called iu the 
man’s number plates and registration cer¬ 
tificate. The announcement was also 
made that in the future all automobile 
drivers who steal in this mauner will not 
only have to face the court, but will 
have their operating licenses and num¬ 
ber plates taken away. I think this is 
the first time, in New England at least, 
that the farmer’s rights to protect his 
own property have been officially recog¬ 
nized. The evil had become so great that 
orcliai'd growers were fonniug vigilance 
societies for their own protection, be¬ 
cause they got little satisfaction from the 
police. Rut the public is getting a new 
point of view in regard to the whole 
question, and it is likely that there will 
he less of this promiscuous thievery in 
the future. 
Bunching Vegetables. —Wheu farm¬ 
ers and others begin raisiug vegetables 
for the market they find that it is 
difficult to dispose of them to advantage, 
at least through the regular channels, un¬ 
less they are bunched according to cer¬ 
tain rules which have been established by 
custom or general agreement. These 
rules differ iu different localities, but 
just now an attempt is beiug made to 
standardize the work to some extent. I 
doubt, though, if this effort will bo very 
successful, because it is very difficult to 
induce buyers to make any change in 
their customary routine. Around Bos¬ 
ton beets, carrots, turnips and onions are 
commonly made up four iu a bunch. Rad¬ 
ishes on the other hand are from ei^ht 
to ten to a bunch, according to size. 
Rhubarb, a considerable amount of which 
goes onto the market during the Winter 
from forcing establishments, is bunched 
in 10-lb. bundles. Eighteen bunches are 
usually allotted to a market box. Anyone 
sending vegetables to Boston should ad- 
adbere to these rules. If marketing else¬ 
where it is important to find out what 
the retail trade desires. In some places 
the custom has grown up of charging a 
uniform price of 10 cents a buncli ; vary¬ 
ing the number' of vegetables in the 
bunch according to the supply. If con¬ 
venient the bunches are often tied into 
dozens and marketed in that way. There 
are also places where the bunches are 
measured by the hand, including as many 
specimens as can be held by the middle 
ringer and thumb. Of course it would 
lie to advantage if all growers and all 
markets would unite on a common plan. 
Thi« would make it easier for whole¬ 
salers and retailers as well as for the 
growers, but it is almost impossible to 
obtain the cooperation or sympathy of 
men who market vegetables in a small 
way, growing them <i ily as a side line, 
and especially when they dispose of them 
in the suburban towns or direct to retail 
stores. 
Making a Truck Pay. —/There is 
a student in one of the Boston univer¬ 
sities who seems destined to become a 
captain of industry, if he is as long¬ 
headed iu future years as he has shown 
himself to be iu his college dayG. This 
young man learned that a great many 
potatoes wore being dug by farmers in 
New Hampshire and sold at a low nriee. 
He bought a truck on time, drove it into 
the farming section of Southern New 
Hampshire, bought potatoes by the sack 
at a low price until the truck was full, 
drove to Boston again and marketed his 
load at an excellent profit. This per¬ 
formance he repeated time after time. 
Then he started out after apples. Apples 
were plentiful, but barrels were scarce, 
December 11, 1920 
and it didn’t seem to occur to the farmers 
that apples could be marketed iu any 
other way except in barrels. This young 
man used hags again, and sold the apples 
without difficulty in the Boston market. 
In the course of the Fall he made enough, 
I understand, to pay for the truck and 
leave a balance to his credit. A number 
of men are making money in a similar 
fashion. In a suburb of Boston there 
lives a man whose name appears on 
honey containers eokl throughout Eastern 
Massachusetts; but he has only a single 
hive of bees on his own place. Every 
Fall ho drives out through the country 
districts buying up honey in small lots, 
and bottles it for the trade. Still other 
men follow a very similar practice in 
marketing poultry. It is not a difficult 
matter to make a living in this manner 
if one 5« reasonably good at making a 
bargain. 
Covering Berry Bushes. —Although 
the plan isn’t commonly followed in New 
England, probably because of the labor 
involved, it is worth while in many sec¬ 
tions to cover raspberry hushes in early 
Winter. This fact is illustrated by the 
experience of a Littleton man last sea¬ 
son. This man covered a portion of 
his raspberry plantation, but left the 
rest unprotected. ^ The results were 
shown in the Spring when many of the 
unprotected bushes were found winter¬ 
killed, and that portion of the field 
yielded a much smaller crop. The sim¬ 
plest way to cover the plants is to use 
earth. Two men are needed for the 
operation, and if a third can be provided, 
so much the better. One man, who must 
wear gloves, grasp« the canes and pulls 
them to the ground, while his helper 
throws enough earth over the clumps to 
hold them in place. On the large plan¬ 
tations it is well to run a wheelbarrow 
or plow between the rows before the 
work is commenced. It is a simple mat¬ 
ter to hoe the earth away in the Spring 
and let the plants resume their normal 
position. When raspberry bushes are 
treated in this way it is best to loosen the 
roots on the opposite side with a fork 
before they are tipped over. The mid- 
dlescx County Bureau estimates that it 
will cost $50 or $00 an acre to cover 
berry bushes, but that is not a great 
expense considering the prices which 
berries have been bringing of late. 
Potato Tests. —Several times T have 
mentioned Dibble's Russet as being a 
good potato to grow in Massachusetts, 
and one which the amateur as well as 
the professional would find more pro¬ 
ductive and less susceptible to rot than 
Green Mountain or Irish Cobbler, which 
are about the only two kinds which the 
average small grower seems to he fa¬ 
miliar with. Sylvester Smith, of Plain- 
ville, carried on a comparison test the 
past season between Dibble’s Russet and 
Norcross, at the request of the Norfolk 
County Agricultural School; The total 
yield from a 10O-ft. row showed a wide 
difference. Tibbie's Russet produced at 
the rate of 250 bushels per acre and Nor- 
ei'oss at the rate of 147 bushels. Both 
varieties of seed were home-grown and 
the care that they received was identical. 
Apparently Dibble’s Russet is to be 
reckoned with ns one of the most de¬ 
pendable potatoes for Massachusetts con 
ditions. The value of spraying potatoes 
has been proven so often that it hardly 
needs to be argued, but it is interesting 
to note an experiment made at Canton 
by Mr. A. A. Boutelle, of Wampntuck 
Farm. Two lots of Green Mountain po¬ 
tatoes were sprayed, one with poison 
alone and the other with poison and Bor¬ 
deaux mixture. Those sprayed with 
Bordeaux did not die down until 15 days 
after the others, and gave an added yipld 
of 108 bushels per acre. 
Apple Pomace as Feed. —It is rather 
surprising that more liberal use is not 
made of apple pomace as dairy feed, es¬ 
pecially in a season when an unnarnl 
leled amount of cider has been made. Ex¬ 
periments have shown that this pomace 
has about the same feeding value as corn 
silage, and some farmers who have been 
able to obtain it for little or nothing 
have felt themselves well repaid for cart¬ 
ing it home. Although cider makers were 
in a doubtful state of mind at the begin¬ 
ning of the season, most of them have 
fiually gone ahead and made cider iu 
large quantities. Certainly I never re¬ 
member seeing so much of it displayed 
for sale along the roadsides, in the mar 
kets and even in drug stores, where small 
kegs on the counter have become fa 
miliar sights. The cider makers in New 
Hampshire seem to have had the most 
trouble, but one of them, A. L. Curtis, 
of Wilton, took the bull by the horns, 
advertised for trade in a Boston paper, 
and sent out hundreds of circulars ex¬ 
plaining the general situation. 
A Good House Plant.* —I seldom see 
iu country homes a plant of the Ismeue, 
and yet it is one of the most interesting 
plants which the housewife can grow. 
D. iri sometimes called the Peruvian daffo¬ 
dil. and grows from a bulb treated in 
much the same way as an Amaryllis. L 
throws up a long ebalk similar to that 
of a lily, and the blossom itself is lily¬ 
like in character, but carries several 
unioue hornlike extensions of the petals, 
producing a curious effect. The flower is 
white and attractive. Moreover, it is 
remarkably fragrant, tilling the room with 
its perfume. The Game bulb may also be 
used to flower in the garden, although 
it is tender, of course, and must he taken 
up in the Fall. It is one of the odd things 
not common aud yet calculated to give 
added interest aud variety to the Win- 
. ter window garden. B. I. Farrington. 
