252 
7ht RURAL. NEW-YORKER 
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. _ 
farms is inevitable. Present conditions 
point to a change in that direction. It 
may come in one or several ways, viz.: 
(1) I .urge individual or corporation- 
owned estates; (2) communist colonies; 
(3) co-operative farm colonies of prac¬ 
tical farmers; (4) co-operative corpora- 
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February 12, 1021 
women would even .shift some of then- 
burdens onto the men. such a* having the 
laundry and baking done as it is in town. 
I. personally, would not object to work¬ 
ing about 44% hours per week instead of 
about 00. as I have been doing some time 
back. 
When the steam engine was iuvented 
Have You Made Your Will? 
Every week brings letters from people 
who ask about making a will. Many 
of*them have neglected this important 
matter, and now, when the necessity faces 
them, they do not know what to do, or 
how to provide fairly by their families 
Some of our people make joint, deeds 
that is. they sign a document which gives 
wife and husband equal rights in the 
property. A deed drawn in this way 
makes it easy to transfer property, for 
on the death of either party the property 
simply reverts to the other. Wills made 
on much the same principle make it easy 
for the survivor to inherit. 
Just how to frame a will properly is 
a matter of personal inclination. It will 
be far better to have some good lawyer 
draw up the will or go over it for you to 
make eure that it is a legal document and 
within reason. Our people will be inter¬ 
ested in the following copy of the will 
made by Frank W. Woolworth, 'the mil¬ 
lionaire merchant, famous the world over 
for his 5 and 10-ceut stores. I tits estate 
was valued at $27,205,283, yet the follow¬ 
ing simple-document covers it: 
“I. Frank W. Woolworth. being of 
sound and disposing mind and memory, 
do make public and declare this to be my 
last will and testament, in manner and 
form following: 
“First, I direct my executrix herein¬ 
after named to pay all my just debts and 
funeral expenses as soon as convenient 
after my decease. 
“Second, I give, devise and bequeath 
to my beloved wife, Jennie Woolworth. all 
the real and personal property ol which 
I may die seized or possessed of. of what¬ 
soever nature or wheresoever situated, to 
her and her heirs forever, trusting to my 
said wife, Jennie, that she will make such 
provision for our children now born or 
hereafter to be born as she may deem 
suitable and proper. 
“Third. I hereby nominate, constitute 
and appoint my beloved wife. Jennie, the 
executrix of this my last will and testa¬ 
ment, without bond. 
“Lastly, I hereby revoke all former 
wills bv me made. 
“In witness whereof I have hereunto 
set my hand and seal this thirty-first day 
of July, one thousand eight hundred and 
eighty-nine. frank w. avoolwortii. 
This will was made 31 years ago, when 
Woolworth was a comparatively poor 
man. but it was never changed. Such a 
will is a fine and well-deserved tribute to 
a faithful wife. Where oue has such a 
companion it would be hard to find a 
better model. 
Ideas of a Western Man 
T am greatly interested in "the discus- 
ion carried on of late iu the pages of 
, 11 j,; i{. N.-Y. on the rural school prob- 
em. All agree that the solution is very 
lifficult to find and adjust, to the satisfao- 
ion of all'. As we are Western people, 
nd tainted with W estern ideas, some 
uggestions on this subject from another 
mint of view may be helpful. t ‘ 
First — One reason why New York 
chools and its school system are rated 
town to the fifteenth place by the Na- 
ional Educational Association is its 
jzarism system of control, from district 
rustees clean up to the head office at 
Albany. This narrow-minded policy pre¬ 
sents progress. . 
Make all school officers elective tor no 
onger term than four years. Make all 
chool district boards eo-responsible, in 
ilac-e of a one-man monarchy. 
Second—We notice a large percentage 
if our townships are strictly rural, hay- 
ng no village or city school within their 
erritory. To my mind this is the prob- 
em: How can we in these rural town- 
hips educate our young people? We do 
iot want consolidation; this is not feas¬ 
ible in our Winter conditions; nor do 
vc want the controlling power so far re¬ 
newed from us that we have no elective 
-oice in it. Allow me to suggest a pos¬ 
able solution for such rural townships 
is we mention above. 
Some Western States have what might 
ie termed a local option school law. Eu¬ 
ler this any township may by voting 
dace itself under a township system of 
idministrative control, elect a board of 
fix trustees, two each year, for a term of 
liree years. Advantages are: Equal- 
zing taxation; makes possible the redis¬ 
ricting of the township, thereby making 
•onsolidatiou in a limited sense possible ; 
mables the township t<> erect a high 
school building suitable for rural needs, 
hereby giving all farm boys and girls 
in opportunity for better training than 
,-ery many cun obtain today. T nder ex¬ 
sting conditions it is verv expensive for 
is. seven miles from our high school. We 
lave three in high school. I make the 
rip over the road four times each week, 
>8 miles a week. Then the room rent 
uid board make our school tax pretty 
high. Relieving better conditions pos¬ 
sible, trusting the discussion will throw 
the necessary light on this knotty prob¬ 
lem. I thank you for what you are giving 
us each week.' JOHN it. mowrY. 
Chenango Co., N. Y. 
A Level Farm for Me 
I have been reading the hill farms vs. 
valley farms in The It. N.-Y. I was 
born and raised in the hilly country of 
Somerset. County. Pa. I farmed those 
hills and stony, rocky land, and had my 
ribs caved in with the plow handles when 
it struck a rock. I had my share of up¬ 
sets with loads of hay and grain on the 
rough hillsides, and a good share of all- 
around hill farming, till I got spunk and 
sense enough to leave the hills and rough 
land for good.. I have lived and farmed 
here iu level Sussex County, Del., for 14 
years, and you couldn't pay ns to go back 
to the hills to farm. Two years ago all 
of us went hack to our old home on a 
business trip. 
“Some trip” it was, though our Lizzie 
was in good shape till we struck the hills 
of'Maryland and the mountains of Penn¬ 
sylvania; went more on low gear that 
trip than we would have in 10 years, 
and used a lot more gas and oil. Our 
youngest boy was born in Delaware. He 
used to say “Such a country; let’s go 
home.” lie told his cousins they have a 
job digging potatoes among the rocks. 
Farming is much easier work here than 
our farming was in among the lulls, and 
when we tend our crops right can grow 
good crops here. ju*t as good as we did 
on our hill farm, with less expense. As 
for climate, this beats what we had; as 
a rule we have a nice breeze here during 
the Summer. If you ever pitched hay or 
grain on a wagon” along a hillside when 
the sun was beating clown on you full 
force, and you did not feel a hit of breeze, 
as we did at times along those hillsides, 
you would know how to appreciate a cool 
breeze, such as we generally get here. 
Sussex Co., Del. G. w. G. c. 
Co-operative ^arming 
On page 86 you ask what would be¬ 
come of the seven or eight men who would 
be put out of independent ownership by 
the change. I would say that 1 believe 
the change from small farms to larger 
Oxen for Farm Work 
Cut above shows an ox hauling a hay- 
rake on a Vermont farm. This ox is 
owned by Mr. C. B. Folsom, who sends 
us the following notes about oxen as farm 
workers. We find that oxen are coming 
back on many New England hill farms 
coming back with the automobile and 
tractor. 
“These oxen are five years old and 
weigh about 3,000 lbs. They are broken 
to drive with lines or whip, whichever is 
most convenient. Either one will work 
single with lines. For plowing they will 
get just as much done as any team of 
ing these one by one, 1 think the greatest 
menace is from the first class. Class 2 
is hardly apt to be so numerous as to be 
of much importance. Classes 3 and 4 are 
of direct concern to us. Class 3, to my 
mind, is the hope of the farm masses. I 
see no reason why anyone should be out 
of a job who enters such a scheme. The 
surplus human labor can be absorbed by 
doing without the hired help or by work¬ 
ing shorter hours. It might be that 
horses around, and no grain. You see 
they are cheaper than horses. They will 
do anything that a team of horses will 
do; even go to church if you want them 
to. For working in the woods they are 
much handier than horses, as you do not 
need to bother with lines. 
“We use them single for raking hay. 
I generally ride one of them when I go 
for tin* cows in Summer. At first we used 
a straight yoke, but we bought a slide 
yoke, and they worked so much better 
that we use it altogether now. I do not 
know how they were trained, as we have 
only had them about a year. I think they 
were trained in the usual way at first; 
lines and bits added after.” 
a cry went up as to what would become 
of the laborers. Few laborers today 
would welcome the old treadmills to re¬ 
place steam or electricity. I believe in 
co-operative farming, but we must go 
slow. It is bad policy to scrap the old 
engine till you are sure the new one will 
carry the load. Lenine and Trotzky have 
proven that it is easier *to pull down than 
to build lip. W. RRONStOK TAYLOR. 
New York. 
S soon as you get behind a Farmers’ Favorite in the field, you recog¬ 
nize it as a better grain drill. Then, when harvest time comes, you 
see quickly how well this better 
seeding has paid. There is no 
spilling of seed on top, no half¬ 
way covering, no clogging and 
leaving of empty furrows. 
Every seed sown with this drill 
ripens to a perfect head of 
grain. Furnished with steel or 
wood wheels. Made in a large 
variety of styles and sizes. 
For Team or 
Any Tractor 
A special power lift and ad¬ 
justable tractor hitch make it 
the leading drill for use with 
any tractor. You raise or low¬ 
er discs while in motion with¬ 
out leaving tractor seat. 
Your dealer will be glad to show 
' and explain all special features . 
The American 
Seeding-Machine Company, Inc. 
Springfield, - - Ohio 
