46 
Iht RURAL. NEW-YORKER 
The Rural New-Yorker 
THE BUSINESS FA EMEU'S PAPER 
A National Weekly Journal for Country and Suburban Women 
Established 4850 
1'nbiifthed weekly by the Rural I'uhlixlilnf? Company, ICC! Went JtOth Street, Sew fork 
Herbert W. Collingwood, President and Editor. 
John’ J. Dillon, Treasurer and General Manager. 
Wm. F. Dillon, Secretary. Slits. E. T. Royle, Associate Editor. 
SUBSCRIPTION : ONE DOLLAR A YEAR 
To foreign count lies in the Universal Postal Union. $2.04. equal to 8s. 6d., or 
81 a marks, or 101$ francs. Remit in money order, express 
order, personal check or bank draft. 
Entered at New York Post Office as Second Class Matter. 
Advertising rates. $ 1.00 per agate line—7 words. References required for 
advertiser 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. We 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 subscriber 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- 
Yorker when writing the advertiser. 
C tI~pAKMER8’ Week" tit Cornell will be held this 
A year February 14-11). We make the announce¬ 
ment early so that plans lor attendance can be made 
in advance. This is the big event of farm educa¬ 
tional activities in New York State, and plans are 
being made for an extra program this year. This is 
a meeting where farmers go to know and to show. 
They learn much from the lectures and also have a 
chance to meet people from all over the State, com¬ 
pare notes and make acquaintances. It is a great 
occasion. Better go if you can. 
❖ 
HEN, a few weeks ago, Mr. Rogers stated 
that live stock on a hill farm may lead to 
soil depletion, he stirred up a hornets’ nest. Most 
people will tell you that the only way to keep up the 
fertility of the soil is to feed live stock on the farm. 
Yet the fact 4s that in many of our dairy districts 
where cows are kept and great quantities of grain 
are fed, most of the farms are losing in fertility. 
We shall, no doubt, startle many of our readers when 
we say that, take the world over, the farms which 
have best held their fertility and which are most 
productive today, are those where green crops are 
systematically plowed in and large quantities of 
chemicals are used. Thousands of naturally rich 
lands in the West have produced live stock continu¬ 
ously for 50 years and more. According to the gen¬ 
eral theory they should now he richer than ever. 
As a matter of fact they have fallen off at least half 
in their productive power. There has been a loss in 
organic matter and a steady drain of phosphorus and 
nitrogen in the bodies of the animals that have been 
sold from these farms. Every ton of milk which 
leaves a dairy farm carries 12 lbs. of nitrogen, 4 of 
phosphoric acid and 3% of potash. Take a herd of 
25 cows averaging 0.000 lbs. of milk per year, and 
the annual loss to the farm is 000 lbs. of nitrogen, 
300 of phosphoric acid and 250 of potash, or as much 
nitrogen as is contained in 00 tons of ordinary ma¬ 
nure. As we all know, when a silo appears on a 
dairy farm, most of the manure is put on the corn¬ 
field so as to increase the corn crop. In this way 
most of the farm contributes fertility to a few fields 
near the barn. We believe there are many so-called 
dairy farms growing poorer each year through live 
stock. If the sod on the farms could be plowed un¬ 
der and then lime and proper chemicals used, within 
a few years.the soil would be greatly improved and 
all crops increased by at least 20 per cent. 
- 1 - 
HERE is one thing the average American cannot 
understand, and that is why the Greek nation 
prefers a king to a republic. From far back in his¬ 
tory the Greeks were noted for their independence 
and their efforts at self-government. Their king 
was driven out and one of the great statesmen of 
Europe was put at the head of government. Yet 
with the opportunity to form a republic the Greeks 
vote overwhelmingly to call back their deposed king. 
The Greeks one meets in this country are opposed 
to a monarchy. The aspirations of the nation for 
freedom have long been told in song and story—yet 
at the test back they go to the king. What is the 
answer? Of course this has nothing directly to do 
with farmers or American agriculture, but we some¬ 
times wonder if this desire to be bossed or ruled is 
not inherent in human character. Is it not true that 
many of us recognize a “divine right” of habit or old 
customs to rule over us? 
* 
TIEN the great war broke out the world’s fer¬ 
tilizer situation was well understood. Eu¬ 
rope. England and a large part of this country had 
come to the point where chemicals are necessary in 
order to keep up the food supply. The people of 
these countries could not be fed for 10 years if all 
chemicals were removed from use. Germany had a 
world monopoly of potash. The nitrogen upon which 
the world depended for fertilizers and munitions 
was deposited in South America, while this country 
and Africa supplied most of the phosphates. Before 
the war Germany had been importing enough nitrate 
of soda to furnish 120,000 tons of pure nitrogen, and 
there were vast quantities stored up for war use. 
The Germans expected a short war, but when their 
drive on Paris was held up at the river Marne they 
knew they were in for a long life or death struggle. 
It was to he decided by the amount of nitrogen they 
could obtain. For nitrogen was not only needed to 
produce food to feed Germany, but it also produced 
the life or “kick” in every pound of explosives with 
which the war was fought. Without nitrogen Ger¬ 
many would starve in a few years and her great 
guns would be as harmless as junk. The Allies felt 
confident at first that with England in control of the 
ocean Germany could not import nitrates, so that 
within two years her soil would fail to respond, 
while her guns would remain silent. They had not 
reckoned on the creative power of the German chem¬ 
ists. Germany is now prepared to produce 500,000 
tons of nitrogen in a year, or four times as much as 
was formerly imported. She is now independent of 
the outside world and can supply a surplus to Amer¬ 
ica at a lower price than we pay for nitrate of soda. 
This nitrogen is “fixed” or taken from the air by 
several processes. Driven to it by dire necessity, the 
German chemists made use of water power in fixing 
nitrogen so that they have established a vast indus¬ 
try, almost undreamed of 25 years ago. While Ger¬ 
many was solving this nitrogen problem the rest of 
the world was vainly trying to find potash. This has 
been harder and slower, but the chemists still have 
hopes of solving the problem. The war has shown 
that next to agriculture the world must look to chem¬ 
istry for help and comfort in the constant struggle 
which man must make to hold off or direct the giant 
forces of nature’. The effect of this cheapening of 
nitrogen will reach the farm in time. 
* 
Ill fares the land, to hastening ills a prey, 
Where oleo accumulates, and cows decay ! 
OME penny-a-line “poet” evidently wrote that as 
a joke and thousands will thoughtlessly smile 
at if. Yet Goldsmith, in all his “Deserted Village,” 
never wrote a truer sentiment. The increased tise 
of butter substitutes is a menace not only to the 
dairy business but to society. The average man will 
laugh at that perhaps, hut let him think for a mo¬ 
ment, beyond the paltry fact that he saves a few 
cents through buying “oleo.” The collection of fats 
and oils which grease his bread are unable to grease 
the wheels of growth or physical development. That 
is done by the vitamines which nature has placed 
in milk, and more particularly in butterfat. These 
principles of life and growth are also found in eggs 
and leafy vegetables, but milk is the great medium 
through which they may enter the body. In youth at 
least they are the most essential part of the food— 
ranking next to air, sunshine and water, as physical 
needs of the human race. They are not supplied in 
oleo except so far as milk or possibly kidney fats 
enter that compound. Therefore we are justified in 
saying that while oleo can grease the tongue it can¬ 
not grease the wheels of human growth. Milk is the 
most essential of all human foods. It involves the 
hardest and most constant work in its production, 
and usually the labor of the dairyman is the poorest 
paid of any branch of farming. The use of butter 
substitutes creates a form of competition which will 
in time drive more and more people out of dairying. 
When we consider the importance of milk and butter 
in the human diet we may know that such a result 
would be as disastrous to the human race as shorten¬ 
ing their supplies of air and sunshine. Surely “ill 
fares the land” when dairymen are driven out of 
partnership with the cow—the great mother of the 
human race! In view of all this, what can we say 
of men who, in order to save a few cents, will sell 
milk or butter and then stab their own industry in 
the back by buying oleo for their own use? 
* 
Do you know two men cannot carry enough hides 
across the street, which, when sold, would buy one of 
them a pair of shoes? Do you know a team of horses 
can’t haul five miles a load of hides large enough to buy 
them a set of harness? 
HAT statement is attributed to John Simpson 
of Oklahoma. Is Mr. Simpson right, or is this 
merely wild talk? The last pair of shoes we bought 
cost $14.95. Before the war we bought the same 
shoes for $6. Cowhides bring our farmers at this 
time about 4c per lb., usually less. Thus it would 
need the price of 373 lbs. of hides to buy the shoes. 
Any two ordinary men who try to carry 373 lbs. of 
bides have our sympathy rather than our backing. 
January 8, 1921 
A team of horses would have their work cut out for 
them in trying to haul the price of a new set of 
working harness in raw hides! There is probably a 
wider margin in price between raw hides and leather 
goods than in most other materials, although wool 
goods are about as bad. No one begrudges the work¬ 
ers who prepare this leather fair compensation for 
their labor, but any such margin as the present dif¬ 
ference between hides and shoes or harness is 
“graft.” After the above was written, the follow¬ 
ing direct confirmation was received: 
Isn’t your 35-cent dollar too high? I sent a calfskin 
and a ho’-sehide—both large—direct to a tannery com¬ 
pany. I received $3.75 for the two, less expressage of 
$1.25, or $2.50 net. At that rate I should have to pay 
three large horsehides and the same number of calfskins 
for one pair of shoes. Why? E. E. n. 
Pennsvlvania. 
* 
T am informed that the district superintendents of 
schools have taken a strong stand in favor of the rural 
school and the rural people, that they are willing to aid 
in investigation of conditions, but also demand that the 
work of the committee be done in the open and will see 
to it that evidence is not juggled. It. seems to me that 
Tite R. N.-Y 7 . can render the rural people of our State 
invaluable service in keeping before the public the im¬ 
portance of a school within walking distance of every 
farm and the equally great importance of local control. 
R. M. 
T HIS refers to the committee of 21 now investi¬ 
gating the rural school problem. The people 
very properly demand that the work of this commit¬ 
tee must he done in the open. Any attempt to force 
a change of the present system through obscure or 
hidden methods will surely fail. The system must 
be overhauled and improved, but the rural people 
will not sit quietly by and see the control of these 
schools taken from them. Before any change is mad' 
the country people must he made to understand just 
what the changes mean and what they will lead to. 
T nless that is made clear, we shall have a repetition 
of the campaign of two years ago. We shall do our 
best to explain any proposed changes. 
* 
T HE “emergency tariff.” putting duties on farm 
products, passed the House by a great majority 
and is now before the Senate. It is meeting with 
considerable opposition. At first it was thought this 
tariff bill would push through with little comment, 
but it has been held up and must take its regular 
course. We think it will finally pass the Senate 
and then be vetoed by President Wilson. The House 
will pass it again over the veto, but at this moment 
the chances are that the Senate will refuse to do so. 
The opposition comes chiefly from the manufactur¬ 
ing States and from the South. The Eastern States 
prefer to wait until the entire tariff can be over¬ 
hauled. The South has always opposed any form of 
protective tariff, and most Southern people seem to 
regard this bill as a scheme to put them on record 
when other tariff bills are brought up. The Western 
farmers are standing solidly by the bill and will put 
it through if they can. 
Brevities 
.Our opinion is that McCann should be canned. 
To make a .child as fine as silk, let it fill up on good 
sweet milk. 
The man who does not know his cow will not get 
wealthy anyhow. 
Disease germs love darkness rather than light. Let 
the sunshine in at them. 
Tiie man who knows he has a wart on his nose will 
keep out of the limelight. 
ITf. strikes the dairy cow a stunning blow who sells 
his milk and then buys oleo. 
Some weeks ago a reader asked about leather boots. 
Practically everyone has discarded boots for shoes, but 
we have had at least 30 letters telling where the boots 
can be obtained. 
The State 1 of Pennsylvania has prosecuted during the 
past year 1,835 persons for keeping unlicensed dogs or 
for letting dogs run at large. In that State the un¬ 
licensed dog is as much an outlaw as a wolf. 
TnERE are about 19.000 restaurants in New YiV'k 
City, each serving an average of more than 600 meals 
per day. This is in addition to the regular hotels. You 
can imagine therefore how high food prices affect the 
public. 
Give the strawberries their Winter overcoat. This 
should go on while the ground is frozen hard. The ob¬ 
ject of the overcoat (mulch) is to hold the frost in the 
ground around the plants. Do not use sawdust, forest 
leaves or anything that will mat down close over the 
plants. It will smother them—for they must have air. 
Coarse manure, straw or cornstalks are all good. 
It may not be known generally that the Conservation 
Commission and various organizations are making a 
drive to have all the cats killed unless they are kept in 
the immediate vicinity of occupied buildings. This is 
done for the avowed purpose of preventing these cats 
from killing young birds, either game or song birds, and 
there will be a serious movement right along this line. 
Many farmers regard the cat as a very useful animal in 
the work it does at keeping down vermin. They should 
know what these organizations are trying to do, and get 
ready to fight the movement if they want the cats left. 
