156 
7h t RURAL NEW-YORKER 
January 29, 1921 
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.’ 
always fmy 
There never was a time when good fertilizers, with 
any kind of a fair chance, didn’t pay for themselves 
and leave a profit besides. And especially now good 
fertilizers extend a helping hand toward off-setting 
declining prices by increasing yields. 
Furthermore, by increasing the number of bushels 
per acre good fertilizers cut down the cost of produc¬ 
tion. They produce and they save—they earn at both 
ends. They are an investment in crop insurance! 
A AC Fertilizers, under whatever brand you may 
know them, are good fertilizers. Their formulas rep¬ 
resent years of indefatigable study of soils, plant life 
and plant foods. In co-operation with practical farmers, 
our chemists and agronomists are continually making 
field tests in various sections. Let them suggest the 
fertilizers which will grow the largest and most eco¬ 
nomical crops on your soil. 
Consult us on any matter pertaining to crops and 
soil fertility. When writing ask for booklet on “How 
to Get the Most out of Fertilizers. ” It’s free. 
If there isn’t an A A C agent near you, 
we want one. Write for the agency. 
The American Agricultural Chemical Company 
Address nearest office 
Atlanta Boston 
Baltimore 
Buffalo 
Cincinnati 
Cleveland 
Ch arleston 
Columbia 
Detroit 
Jacksonville 
Los Angeles 
Montgomery 
New York 
Philadelphia 
Rutland, Vt. 
St. Louis 
Savannah. Etc. 
A’A’ C 
“A A Quality” 
FERTILIZERS 
HEAVE?,, 
COMPOUND 
Booklet 
Free ____ 
$3.25 Box guaranteed to trive satisfaction or money back. 
$1.10 Box Sufficient for ordinary case9. (Includes War Tax.) 
MINERAL HEAVE REMEDr CO.. 461 Fourth Are., Pittsburgh Pa 
Farm or City Property Wanted 
for Hi 3-yr.-olii Registered Holstein heifers and 9 
Registered Chestei White Brood sows, 2 yrs. old. 
$5,000. Harry Vail, New Milford, Oraiioe Co , N. Y. 
F ARMS AND homes in Delaware where the climate is pleas¬ 
ant. the lands productive aiul prices reasonable. For in¬ 
formation write STATE BOARD OE AGRICULTURE. Dover, Oelowire 
P PIWTIMf 2(H) letterheads and Knvs. with name and ad- 
Itlll 1 Mu dress, delivered, for S2. Write for sample. 
MILLER PRINT SHOP, P. O Box 2854, PHILA . PA. 
New York State FARMS TOWoTl*? 
making farms for sale. We have n size, location and 
price to please yon. Stock and tools included on many of 
them MANOEVILLE REAL ESTATE AGENCY. Inc., Dept. I. Olein, N T. 
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Roger Pea & Bean Thresher Co.,Morristown,Tenn. 
When you write advertisers mention The R. N.-Y. and you'll get a 
quick reply and a “square deal.” See guarantee editorial page. 
Things To Think About 
The object of this department is to give readers a chance to express themselves on farm 
matters. Not long articles can be used—just short, pointed opinions or suggestions. 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER does not always endorse what is printed here. You might 
call this a mental safety valve. ___ 
A Farm Owner Talks Back 
There have been many articles in the 
recent issues of The R. N.-Y. finding 
fault with farm owners in their attitude 
toward farm labor. It is true that there 
are many employers who are overbearing, 
stingy, selfish and unappreciative. In 
fairness, however, it would seem that the 
other side of the question should also be 
presented to your readers. 
First there is the hired man who when 
sent out to work alone sits down beneath 
a tree and waits for the dinner horn ; the 
man who thinks it a great joke on his 
employer to break up all the tools he 
can in the course of his work ; the man 
who can when given a decent pleasant 
room come in and lie on the bed with 
his hoots on just after eomiug through the 
barnyard. Another one brags to all the 
neighbors how much smarter he is than 
A Despondent Hill Farmer 
Before this interesting discussion of 
hill versus valley farm is closed I wish 
to state our experience. Our one great 
aim and hope in life was for a home of 
our own. Not having enough cash for 
payment on a valley farm, we bought a 
rundown 125 acres on the hill, put all 
we had in payment down, went in debt 
for stock, team and tools. That was 
eight years ago; Then there was a cheese 
factory near. There was then a sale for 
what colts we could raise. But we had 
no sooner bought the farm than the milk 
company bought cheese factory ; then we 
must draw our milk to valley and then 
pay as much for hauling to condensery 
as valley farmers had to pay. * 
To cool milk and haul to wagon com¬ 
pelled us to he up before four o’clock 
(three by daylight saviug) : to put up 
Ice. which had to be hauled a loug dis¬ 
tance uphill. Well, we had to quit dairy, 
also raising colts, as there is no sale for 
them, not even draft colts, since autos 
and tractors are the rage. 
Now when we have a nice Hock of sheep 
The picture was sent by Mrs. Stella 
M. Peterson of Montgomery Co., N. Y. 
It shows her two young farmers, her 
sou. 10 years old. and the colt. 10 months 
old. That is certainly a good team for 
any farm, and we wish there were more 
siidi teams to be found in the country. 
Youth must he held on the land. If we 
tin- boss, and how the old farm would go 
to the bow-wows if he left. Another one 
must have a vacation just when the work 
is unusually pressing, and tliiuks at least 
one holiday a week should he allowed with 
full pay. 
Then there is the hired man’s wife, who 
insists on having every convenience and 
luxury for herself and children, that the 
family of the owner enjoy. When her 
husband’s salary falls short of supplying 
them there is a “tantrum” and trouble 
all around. The fact that the owner 
carries all the responsibility and has from 
$5,000 to $15,000 invested in addition to 
putting in his time, means nothing in her 
young life. 
A man would uot think of taking his 
children with him to work iu a factory 
and look after them all day. Yet some 
farm help think they are entitled to take 
their children with them and stop aud 
put them on or take them off a wagon 
a dozen times a day, or make a whistle, 
or amuse them some other way. Is it any 
wonder the owner next time would try to 
get a family without children? 
A certain farmer wont to get a man 
to work for him aud live iu his tenement. 
While he was there one of the children 
was amusing himself with a hammer. He 
divided his attention impartially between 
legs of furniture aud the walls of the 
room, both of which showed much pre¬ 
vious playing. Needless to say he did not 
hire the man. who probably put him 
down as a hard-hearted old rascal op¬ 
posed to children. 
Not a single one of these cases is the 
result of imagination, hut are all from 
personal experience of the writer. I do 
not say that all help, or even the major¬ 
ity. are like these examples, but they are 
fully as plenty as the kind of employers 
who have been so badly torn to pieces 
in recent articles. They also make a lot 
of trouble for the really desirable class 
of hired men. If you do uot believe this, 
take uotice of some really desirable job 
that you know iu your section. Then see 
how ioug it is before some mau gets both 
feet in the trough and spoils the job.^uot 
onlv for himself, hut for his immediate 
successors. kennetii n. atwood. 
Vermont.. 
do not have a change soon many routers 
of the rural districts will he inhabited by 
middle-aged and elderly people entirely. 
That is not right, aud we all know it. 
The country is the place to breed aud raise 
fine meu and women, but it should also 
he the best place for them to stay and 
work. 
started we fiud their products unsalable. 
It is a costly, hard proposition to haul 
lime and fertilizer to a hill farm, hut if 
this run-out land isn't limed it will not 
grow clover. 
Hired help high, and uot to be had at 
any price, aud my husband’s health being 
poor, has compelled me to do all kinds 
of outdoor work, driving all kinds of farm 
machinery, loading hay and grain, sawing 
wood, etc.; have often nailed shoes on 
the horses, filed and set crosscut saw. As 
children kept coming until there are six. 
I had to be nurse, cook, milkmaid, home 
barber, seamstress, washwoman, often 
working at housework at night. Children 
have all helped, little ones with their 
small pails picking up potatoes or drop¬ 
ping seed at planting time, picking ber¬ 
ries, helping bunch hay and doing chores. 
Now I fiud myself broken down iu health 
under 40. but I would uot complain if our 
home was free from that awful mortgage. 
I know when we were sick it cost $5 a 
trip more for a doctor than the valley 
folk had to pay. I know that mowing 
machine guards and knives, harrow teeth, 
plow points, cultivators, horseshoes, buggy 
aud wagon wheels, as well as a person’s 
shoes, wear out twice as fast on this 
stony hill land as on valley land. I know 
that children require twice as much foot¬ 
wear over stony, muddy or deep-drifted 
roads to school, aud I know it takes more 
than twice as much fuel to warm a house 
that is exposed to cold winds where it is 
all of 20 degrees colder when the wind 
blows than in the valley. 
As for trespassers, how about the 
scores of auto loads that come, some of 
them 20 or 30 miles in Summer, to pick- 
huckleberries or gather nuts or hunt? 
Many of them will drive their cars right 
through a field of hay, or park their cars 
in a field of oats, aud they will say: 
“How do you ever live in such a lonesome 
place?” Will the hill farm be aban¬ 
doned? What better evidence do we need 
that they will than that there are 13 va¬ 
cant homes on this hill, some with build¬ 
ings torn or burned or rotting down, never 
to be occupied again? The few that are 
left are anxious to sell if anyone would 
buy. and I have traveled over other hills 
where conditions were the same. 
We will hold on a little longer, as we 
cannot pull stakes and buy in the valley 
when all we have is tied here : but later 
one, when the last “hanger-on” has quit, 
the hill farm will then he abandoned. 
Allegheny Co.. N. Y. c. E. G. - 
