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The Rural New-Yorker 
THE BV81XES8 FARMER'8 PAPER 
A National Weekly .lou rual for Country and Suburban Horn in 
Established, i*o0 
I'nblUbrd nrrkly hj tlie Rural Pnbllibing: C ompany. 333 «oi 30ih Strert.New fork 
Herbert W. Collinowood, President and Editor. 
Joiiv j. Dillon, Treasurer and General Manager. 
Wm P Dili ox Secretary Mrs. E. T. Rotle. Associate Editor. 
SUBSCRIPTION : ONE DOLLAR A YEAR 
To foreign countries in the Universal Postal I nion. §2.04. equal to 8s. Cd. t or 
8h, marks, or 10's francs. Remit in money order, express 
order, personal cheek 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 
advertisers unknown to us ; and cash must accompany transient orders. 
“A SQUARE DEAL” 
We believe that every advertisement in this paper is hacked by a respon¬ 
sible person We use every possible, precaution and admit t he 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 "ism 
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, hut, 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 be sent to us within one month of the time of 
tlie transaction, and to identify it. you should mention TRk Rcral New- 
Yorkf.r when writing the advertiser. 
T HIS Spring brings tlie usual number of people 
who ask if it will be a good plan to use lime or 
wood asbes on the lien manure. A prompt Vo should 
be given to all such questions. ITobably half as 
much nitrogen as is imported from South America 
has been wasted from chicken manure by lime or 
wood ashes. These contain the carbonate of lime, 
which through a chemical action, will set free am¬ 
monia as a gas. That done, the ammonia is lost to 
the farmer. <1 round limestone will not act in that 
way. at least not so.freely, but land plaster, known 
as “gypsum." will hold the ammonia instead of set¬ 
ting if free, Foal ashes, dry road, dust or tine saw¬ 
dust will dry out the manure and keep it. unless it 
becomes wet, hilt lime or wood ashes should never 
he mixed with it. If you do use them you are as 
much of a spendthrift as the man who lights his pipe 
with a dollar bill. The best reinforcement for chick¬ 
en manure is phosphorus. For each 20 lbs. of dry. 
line manure, you can profitably use 7 lbs. of acid 
phosphate. 
* 
OSSIBLY some t»f our readers have had experi¬ 
ence with a case like the following: A fruit 
grower has an orchard near the grounds of a weal¬ 
thy men’s club. During some sort of celeb rat on 
members of this club permitted fire to run off their 
grounds into this man’s orchard. The trees stood in 
sod and the grass was dry. Of course a number of 
trees were killed and others injured. The loss was 
considerable, and the club members are clearly re¬ 
sponsible. They simply ignore any request to settle 
or consider damages. The duh and its members are 
good customers for fruit and vegetables, and buy 
freely of this farmer. If he sues them or presses 
them for payment he is likely to lose their trade. 
What would you do, or what have you done in such 
a case? It is quite a common instance in many parts 
of the Fast. 
* 
1 would like to be told why America should feed the 
starving Europeans and Chinese, while they are ship¬ 
ping esrgs. blitter and potatoes over here in immense 
quantities, flooding our markets. Why don’t they keep 
the.«> foods at home and feed their own people? H. S. 
Essex Co.. N. Y. 
T can hardly bo said that our markets are being 
“flooded” with food from Europe or China. As 
we showed last week, the foreign potatoes have not. 
made much showing here yet. Probably the import¬ 
ers have lost money thus far. Considerable Danish 
butter is coming, and the amount is likely to increase. 
These increasing imports are largely due to the in 
creased use of oleo in England and Denmark. This 
great use of butter substitutes lias driven the Danes 
to find new markets. Eggs from China are coming, 
but thus far they hardly amount to 5 per cent of the 
total number of eggs used in New York City. They 
do not compete with fresh laid eggs yet. If these 
food imports continue and increase they will in time 
have an effect upon market prices here. Thus far 
tlie amount of food sent here from Europe and China 
is too small to be considered in the big problem of 
feeding the starving people. Those who are contrib¬ 
uting money and food to this great world benev¬ 
olence are not considering any selfish or commercial 
motives. They feel that this great country is nov. 
the richest and most prosperous of any nation on 
earth, and out of our bounty they will help what they 
believe to be the cause of humanity. The Farm Bu¬ 
reau Federation has offered 50.000.000 bushels of 
corn from its members, and the railroad trainmen 
offer to carry if to the seaboard, and that is tin- 
spirit which makes the service worth while. There 
can be no doubt that thousands of men. women and 
children are in dire need through no fault of thr¬ 
own. We think it is a privilege to help them, and a 
noble service which will help the giver even more 
than those in need. 
The RURAL NEW-YORKER 
HE influential dairymen of Vermont are working 
to obtain a proper dairy equipment at the State 
Agricultural College. Of all the Northern States 
Vermont comes nearer to being purely agricultural 
than any other. It is said that the Vermont dairy 
business amounts to $30,000,000 annually, and NO per 
cent of the farm revenues come from the dairy. The 
green hills and pastures and the hay lands on the 
river bottoms represent, as they always have done, 
the true power of the State. Yet. in spite of these 
facts. Vermont seems to have been slower than any 
other State of the Union in making use <>f the scien¬ 
tific aids to dairying. For instance. Wisconsin and 
Vermont are in much the same latitude, and both are 
dairy States. There seems no good reason why Wis¬ 
consin should have distanced Vermont in the race for 
dairy wealth and honors, except that Wisconsin has. 
through her colleges, made use of every power of 
s’cience to develop the dairy business. Vermont, on 
the other hand, has done little or nothing in compari¬ 
son with more progressive States. Vermont is today 
the only State in the Union which makes no appro¬ 
priation for her agricultural college! There is now 
a hill before the Vermont Legislature which provide- 
the funds needed for erecting a building in which 
dairy science may be taught, and in which men may 
he trained to organize and develop the State’s dairy 
business. The need is great and the demand is just. 
We think every Vermont farmer who pulls his living 
out of the cow should support this bill. 
A S S E M K L Y.M A N EVERETT of St. Lawrence 
County lias introduced a bill in the New York 
Legislature to amend tlie membership co-operative 
law to require co-operative associations to make a 
full report in writing each year in tlie month of Jan¬ 
uary to the Department of Farms and Markets. The 
report is to be under oath, and to cover the preced¬ 
ing year. The report must give an accounting of ail 
money received for any purpose, and the amount ex¬ 
pended. and a statement of tlie sources of the re¬ 
ceipts and for what expended. The report is to be 
made in the form required by the Council of Farms 
and Markets. The proposed amendment to the law 
also provides that the association is always subject 
to visitation and examination by tlie department, and 
that at least one examination be made once a year, 
and oftener whenever in the judgment of the Council 
of Farms and Markets examination is necessary, or 
when reports have not been made as provided. A 
forfeiture of $10 per day is also provided in case the 
report is neglected, but an extension of 20 days ma\ 
be allowed for reasons. The Council of Farms and 
Markets is required to publish a full report of the 
condition of the association. 
* 
IIE Franklin County (Massachusetts) Farm 
Unreal< Hulletin tells of asking this question of 
farmers: “What is the greatest living and social 
problem which farmers have to face?’ Among others 
answers were t he following : 
One farmer replies that “automobiles tire a great curse 
to the farmer, as he spends his time and money riding 
around the country instead of staying tit home and 
working.” Another farmer replies. "The greatest hope 
for the future of our hill farms lies in the automobile, 
bv the use of which the young people can enjoy the pleas¬ 
ures of the town and at the same time remain on the 
farm, and that nothing has done so much to help keep 
the right young people on the farm as the automobile. 
Here are two opinions, both evidently honest, yet 
absolutely opposed to each other. We think both 
men are right up to a certain point. We know of 
several cases where the ownership of a car and the 
resulting power to rush about the country have done 
great injury to farmers and their families. Some ol 
those who breathe gasoline fumes seem to take on a 
•wild spirit of adventure which robs farm life of its 
greatest power and charm. On tlie other hand, we 
all know of cases where the car has proved a great 
blessing by breaking up the loneliness of farm life. 
The ear represents only one of the great changes in 
modern life which are coming upon us with 
bewildering speed. They all contain both good and 
evil for farming, depending on the way we use or 
abuse them. Use produces a blessing—abuse brings 
a curse. 
Q UITE a number of our readers are spending the 
Winter in travel. There is Mr. Berrang and 
his wife, who are slowly traveling across the country 
with their ox team. A number of others are in Cali¬ 
fornia. and more in Florida. Several spend the M in¬ 
ter in Washington. They are mostly married people 
of middle age who have no children, or whose chil¬ 
dren have grown up and made homes of their own. 
The people we speak of are farmers who have ar¬ 
ranged their farm work so that 'there is little or 
nothing to do in Winter. When cold weather comes 
they are free to do as they please. In one particular 
February 30, 1021 
case a middle-aged couple have a good farm in New 
England. They have an apple orchard, and raise 
such crops as sweet corn, hay and early potatoes. 
They keep one cow. one horse and a tractor for the 
’evel land, using fertilizer and cover crops for main¬ 
taining the soil. From April 1 to the middle of 
November they work hard. Most of their crops can 
lie sold at the door, trucks running out from the city 
after them. When the last apples are sold there is 
little to do for nearly five months. The horse and 
cow can be rented, the house closed and the farmer 
and his wife are free to go as they like. They are 
able to do this because the use of fertilizer makes 
live stock unnecessary, and therefore they do not 
need to winter on the farm in order to care for the 
animals. These people regard Miis as an ideal way 
to live, since they are free to travel and see the 
world. We should not regard it as ideal, for a home 
without little children would not seem right. We 
n would gladly give up much of the travel for the 
sake of remaining at home to care for the little 
folks. Such a life is possible, however, to the farmer 
who can run his farm without live stock, and. strange 
as if may seem to some of us, it is quite possible to 
do that. 
* 
N the next page W. W. Reynolds gives advice 
about detecting shoddy and separating it from 
“virgin wool.” Mr. Singletary, who asks the original 
question, now comes back with this: 
I wtis just looking at an announcement in The 
World’* Worlc that Gilbert K. Chesterton, English 
writer and dramatist, is in this country to lecture. One 
of his subjects is “The Ignorance of the Educated.” 
That hits me. 1 have paid a good many hundred dol¬ 
lars for shoddy. I am now wearing a $75 suit that I 
believe is all shoddy, which was sold to me for all virgin 
wool -not “.-til wool”—but pure virgin wool. 1 am look¬ 
ing into the thing, and if I find that I am correct in 
this surmise. I may decline to pay for suit, and let the 
house sue if they wish to do so. As I say, I have paid a 
good many hundred dollars for shoddy without knowing 
anything about cloth. Take the general buying public, 
omitting manufacturers and dealers, and about, one per¬ 
son in a million knows anything about wool cloth. It’s a 
great pity you can’t educate us on wool. 
Mr. Singletary is right. The “educated” are often 
most in need of education. The people look to the 
educated classes for guidance, and if these same 
“educated” people are ignorant of common tilings 
their ignorance is made to sprout in millions of 
minds. Tt will be a blessing to wool growers if tlie 
man who sold that “wool” suit will only sue for the 
money. We shall do our best to keep up the cam¬ 
paign against Hie fraudulent use of shoddy. 
A N elderly man left alone—without wife, children 
or near relatives, lie lias lived in tlie country 
all his days, and has developed a good farm, largely 
through the labor of his own hands. ITe has never 
known any other home. Now he is forced to admit 
that he cannot do the work needed to keep the farm 
in the condition which pleases him. There is a de¬ 
mand for the property. Tt can be easily sold to 
young, enterprising people, who will keep it going. 
What is such a man to do? It is a hard problem 
which, no doubt, some of our people are facing. In 
our magazine number, next week, we shall have an 
prticle on the subject which will surely start a dis¬ 
cussion. What shall these elderly men do with 
themselves when their days for hard work are over 
and they have gained a competence? 
Brevities 
He is. of dairying, the steady foe—who sells his milk 
and then buys oleo. 
“To err is human.” Remember that you are very 
human before you find fault. 
We would not seed clover with oats and peas. This 
crop is usually too thick to make a clover seeding sure. 
Stij.i. the questions about, tanning or dressing a hide 
come in. We have another statement this week. 
When you come to set out tomato plants, remember 
that these are frail and delicate things, and the quicker 
you get them where they are going the better chance 
they will have. 
One of tht‘ hardest things for the ordinary hired man 
to learn is that manure or fertilizer should not be piled 
around the tree trunks. The months of the tree are not 
in the trunk, but out at the ends of the feeding roots, 
about as far as tin* branches extend. 
Well, here are some population figures which may 
have a bearing on prohibition. The population of New 
York prisons on June 30. 1010, was 11.010. One year 
later, or lart June, this population had fallen to 0.154. 
There was also a decrease of 2(5,142 in prison commit¬ 
ments during the year! 
The National Dairy Union calls for a high tariff on 
“the Hood of Oriental oils coming into this country, 
used in the manufacture of cheap and inferior imita¬ 
tions of butter.” There is no question but that these 
oils are coming, and that they are being used in butter 
substitutes. We see from the article last week bow 
these oils and soft fats are chemically hardened for 
such use. Thus far the committee which is arranging 
the tariff has refused to place a duty on thes** oils 
though putting high duties on dairy products. 
