New York Fruit Growers at Poughkeepsie 
The meeting of the New York Fruit Growers at 
Poughkeepsie, February 9 to 11, was the best one 
ever held in the Hudson Valley. It was thought by 
some that the bad weather and the depression caused 
by the slump in apple prices would cut down the at¬ 
tendance. The reverse of this seemed to occur. The 
members turned out in large numbers, and they 
seemed to feel that this is the time of all others for 
farmers to get together and talk over their prob¬ 
lems. For many years now they have been talking 
about co-operative work and organizing. II has 
required much talking to make such a thing possible, 
but now. after these years, plans seem to be matur¬ 
ing which will bring about the desired results. The 
program was different from the ordinary. There 
were a number of formal addresses, but the greater 
part of the time was taken up in informal discus¬ 
sions, or something like the ordinary round table 
talks. This brought out the experience of practical 
men in the most useful way. 
While due consideration was given to problems of 
production, the chief interest in the meeting cen¬ 
tered, around the marketing problem and co-opera¬ 
tive work. President T. E. Cross, in his opening ad¬ 
dress. stated that there is nothing wrong about New 
Y'ork apples. They are noted for their beauty and 
quality, yet our market is being monopolized by fruit 
from the Pacific coast, which, after transportation 
across the country, sells in our Eastern markets at a 
price per box equal to what our Eastern growers can 
obtain for a barrel. Mr. Cross analyzed the situa¬ 
tion and showed why this condition exists. The 
Pacific States are ahead of us in co-operative work, 
in standardizing their products and in working to¬ 
gether to put their fru.it on the market in the most 
effective way. As the situation now stands it is not 
unlike a contest between an unorganized company of 
soldiers armed with old-fashioned muzzle-loading 
guns, fighting against a well-drilled army, with re¬ 
peating rifles. 
The writer of this went to fruit stores in Pough¬ 
keepsie and bought apples. We paid five cents each 
for small and inferior Delicious, brought across the 
country from Washington. The dealer said he had 
no Hudson Valley apples for sale. When we asked 
him why lie sold the Pacific coast fruit he stated that 
people knew more about it. They could hardly open 
a magazine or read a paper without reading adver¬ 
tisements of these Western people, while no one ever 
seemed to put the virtues of the Hudson River fruit 
into print. lie sold what the people called for, and 
they called for what was made popular by printer’s 
ink. That seems to be about the story of the way the 
business is going. A solid beginning has been made, 
however, in co-operative work for the Hudson Val¬ 
ley. One meeting was devoted entirely to a discus¬ 
sion of co-operative association. Two in active oper¬ 
ation were reported from Dutchess Count.\, and 
others are being organized in Rensselaer. Columbia. 
Greene. Ulster and Orange. There is no doubt that 
the younger men associated with the fruit growers' 
organization fully realize the absolute necessity of 
this co-operative work, and they will surely put it 
through and make it successful. 
The marketing problem also received much atten¬ 
tion and all were agreed that the Hudson Valley, 
with its location and nearness to great markets, 
offered the best situation in the world. 
The Condition of the Hide Market 
Along about January 10. this year, w6 shipped to 
Pittsfield. Mass., a choice, prime, carefully skinned calf 
hide, the weight of which was 15*4 lbs. Our returns 
were just 36c net. Isn’t that encouraging, and a big 
incentive to raise more veals and ship more hides? 
When is this abominable big-system well-organized high¬ 
way robbery gang going to be busted wide open? I 
trust Harding will listen to the demands of the agricul¬ 
tural communities. Something has got to be done pretty 
quick. This one-sided skin game will cause more “emi¬ 
gration” to the cities. The next hide we get off this 
farm will be fed to our bogs. paul kiexa. 
Dutchess Co.. N. Y. 
This is only one sample of many similar reports. 
The-hide business has gone all to pieces, yet when 
we try to buy shoes and other leather goods we find 
the price still soaring. The imports of hides for the 
past year have been very heavy. Hide merchants 
and tanners tell us that there are immense stocks 
laid up ahead. The production of leather has not 
been heavy. Apparently the plan has been to manu¬ 
facture leather only fast enough to keep up with lim¬ 
ited demand for shoes. Millions of people are now 
having their shoes cobbled and patched over and 
over again. A few years ago these same people would 
throw away a pair of shoes when the sole first wore 
through. All this, with other enforced economies, 
have reduced the demand for leather, and to this 
must be added the government's work in putting 
The RURAL NEW-YORKER 
army shoes on the market. As a result there is no 
demand for hides, and will not be until the present 
stocks are worked off. Tt is evident that the great 
imports of foreign hides have not helped the con¬ 
sumer by making shoes cheaper, but the result has 
been to force the price of American hides down to 
ruinous prices, while the leather interests have been 
able to keep up the price for leather goods. Thus 
the unorganized farmer, unable to hold his products, 
always plays into the hands of the organized in¬ 
terests. 
Composite Test Sample of Cream 
I am selling cream to a creamery. We get our pay 
once a month. In Summer they test, our cream only 
twice a month : in \\ inter only once a mouth. Can the 
patrons of that creamery get good tests on our cream 
under such system? a. c 
New York. 
At factories composite samples of milk may be 
kept safely for two weeks by the use of preservatives 
to keep the milk from souring. Corrosive sublimate 
tablets are generally recommended for this purpose; 
but other substances are sometimes used. To make 
accurate tests considerable care must be taken to 
get a daily sample of the milk after it lias been 
thoroughly mixed. These samples are added from 
day to day to the accumulating sample. This sample 
should be thoroughly shaken as the new daily sam¬ 
ple is added, and the bottle or other container must 
be kept sealed to prevent evaporation. The test 
should be made as often as once in two weeks to se¬ 
cure accuracy, but if the sample is kept in proper 
condition for a longer time the test should be accu¬ 
rate when made. 
Use of Oleo in England 
The attached clipping was taken from The Cotion Oil 
Press for December, the official monthly bulletin of the 
Interstate Cottonseed Crushers’ Association, and should 
be of value in your case against oleo. Maybe this is one 
icason why Danish butter is being shipped to this coun¬ 
try : 
“Margarine, as a substitute for butter, in England is 
on the ascendancy and now represents To per cent of 
the consumption, practically all of it being manufac¬ 
tured locally, according to a review of the situation in 
the United Kingdom just published in the United States 
Department of Agriculture’s Market Reporter. The re¬ 
view says : ’Margarine now represents To per cent, of 
the country's consumption of edible fats and might well 
be recognized as the public’s main source of supply, ac¬ 
cording to Weddel’s Dairy Produce Review for the year 
ending June 30. 1920. Up until 191T British manufac¬ 
turers were able to supply tbe entire margarine re¬ 
quirement for the country, being at that time about 
11.200.000 lbs. weekly. The consumption lias now in¬ 
creased to about 15.680.000 lbs. weekly, of which British 
margarine manufacturers supply 13.440,000 lbs., while 
there are some 2,240,000 lbs. imported each week.’ ” 
U. H. WANDERS. 
R. N.-Y.—It is a long fall from “the roast beef of 
old England” to tbe tub of oleo. It is probably true 
that one reason for increased shipments of Danish 
butter to this country is the fact that the English 
people are eating more oleo in place of butter. It is 
also -mid that the Danes themselves sell their butter 
and eat large quantities of the substitute. That 
seems to us all the more reason that American dairy¬ 
men should be faithful to their own business. 
Bacon at $10 Per Pound 
We are glad to see the 35-cent dollar making its 
way into the magazines. Tt is a good place for it 
to develop. The following is from the editor of 
Leslie's Weekly: • 
We were drumming along 50 miles an hour through 
the fat lands of Nebraska. Outside, broad cornfields, 
the corn still unharvested, stretched away to the hori¬ 
zon. Herds of cattle and hogs dotted the pastures, now 
brown and bleak under gray November skies. 
In the diner I ordered a half portion of bacon, and 
the colored gentleman brought me three tiny fragments 
curled up in the center of a platter large enough to hold 
a square meal for a grown man. And all this for 40 
cents—13 1/3 cents per strip. 
Of course I knew that I was buying a good deal more 
than a Christian Science portion of bacon with that 
hard-earned 40 cents. I was paying for my share of a 
big railroad, including the finely appointed dining car, 
with napery, shining silver, furniture, engine, track and 
a thousand other items, personal and impersonal. But 
I figured at 13 1/3 cents a strip that I was paying for 
my bacon at the rate of .$10 a pound. 
Tf 1 could afford such luxuries, and the price was 
prohibitive because bacon was like humming birds’ 
tongues, scarce and hard to get. there would have been 
no ground for complaint. But just outside there were 
thousands of fat bacon hogs which the farmers could 
not afford to sell at 10 to 12 cents a pound (the Chicago 
price that day) because they had cost about double that 
to produce. And the question that I could not answer 
was. who gets the $0.88 after the farmer gets hie 12 
cents? 
Daylight Saving in Massachusetts 
The daylight saving hearing was attended by over 500 
farmers yesterday at the State House. Boston: also the 
Boston & Maine Railroad, through its counsel. Judge 
Allen G. Buttriek, announced that it would be unable to 
adapt its train service to the requirements of the law 
again this year. The New England Ayrshire Club was 
represented by Chas. F Riordan. president. and R. M. 
Handy, seertary and treasurer. Mr. Handy said that since 
287 
the landing on Plymouth Rock agriculture has been the 
foundation of this government, and the mis; obnoxious 
piece of legislation ever placed upon the statute books 
is daylight saving. It has cost the farmers thousands of 
dollars: that in the pastures at 3 a. m., rounding up 120 
milking cows, through the brush and grass, with a lan¬ 
tern. getting them to the barn to be milked in order to 
get milk to train, is no joke. The New England Ayr¬ 
shire Club emphatically opposes daylight saving, and 
asks repeal of the law. m. 
ft- N.-Y.—The people who landed at Plymouth 
Rock did not need laws to pull them out of bed. 
They got ui> of their own will and thus took in all 
the sunshine they needed. Nothing has arrayed the 
country so solidly against the town as this daylight 
saving proposition. With the town it is a matter of 
extra play time. With the country it is a clear case 
of injury or shortage in production. The town peo¬ 
ple will fight hard for their play, and they have a 
complete organization to force the law into operation. 
If the Ayrshire men are as hardy and efficient as 
their cattle of course they stand with the farmers on 
this question. 
The New York Grange on Trespass Laws 
At the recent meeting of the New York State 
Grange at Utica, the following resolutions embody¬ 
ing the Grange position on the game and trespass 
laws were adopted: 
1. That entry upon the lauds of another' for the 
purpose of fishing, trapping, hunting or sporting, or 
tor purposes of interfering with nuts, fruit, berries 
or other personal property of the owner shall he 
deemed to be without consent of the owner and dealt 
with as a trespass unless consent of the owner thereto 
is evidenced by a writing signed by the owner. 
2. 1 hat such t"'s*msser shall be liable in a civil 
action for treble 2 i age arising from such trespass 
to he recoverable by he owner in a civil action against 
the trespasser. 
3. Such trespass with intent to take, injure de- 
st}’ 0 /- kill or remove any crop, vegetable, fruit,' fish, 
wilrl bird, animal or other real or personal property 
or which shall be attended by such injury or taking 
shall constitute a misdemeanor, punishable bv fine or 
imprisonment—provided that the nunishment for tak¬ 
ing. killing or injuring any such fish, bird or animal 
or attempting so to do, shall not be less than that 
prescribed by law for such attempt, taking or killing, 
outside the season when such taking or killing might 
except^ for this statute, be lawfully done. 
4 1 hat the owner of such lands, in whose presence 
such offense is. committed, shall have all the powers 
of a.peace officer to arrest and arraign anv person com¬ 
mitting such an offense. 
The carrying on such lands of firearms, traps 
or fishing tackle shall he evidence of intent to hunt, 
trap’ or fish upon such premises. 
6 These provisions shall not be deemed to ex¬ 
clude remedies provided by the laws in refereuce to 
posting lands, but shall be in addition thereto. 
How to Detect Shoddy 
. Where can T send a piece of cloth and get informa¬ 
tion as to whether it is wool or shoddy? 
A. G. SINGLETARY. 
You do not need to send it anywhere. I am inclos¬ 
ing a shoddy rag, a tuft of shoddy, dyed black, ready 
for weaving, a lock of raw wool, as well a« scoured 
wool Sln-ed some of the rag and untwist it. Try all 
ot them under a good glass and notice the difference 
of fibers. The length and worth of the fiber governs 
the value of the cloth. On the live fibers you will find 
strength, length, crimp and enlargements, while the 
worn refuse of wool shows straight, smooth, dead hairs’ 
few ot which are an inch long. The naked eye and 
the glass show the reason why. when the refuse i« 
passed on the public as our wool, it begins to desert 
the^ textile as soon as worn. 
Shoddy advocates claim that “some shoddy is better 
than some wool,” and that “experts cannot detect 
reworked wool (reworked rags) in textiles.” I take 
from your letter that you are not an expert. You try it. 
Ohio. W. W. REYNOLDS. 
“ The Spirit of the East” 
Your article on page 117. under head of “The Spirit 
of the VV est,” asks how near does he get to it? I would 
say he doesn’t get there at all. We in New York State 
don’t, have to blow our horn to advertise, as most 
Western States have to. It must be in the air there. 
We have faith in our country ; here in New York State 
we can grow anything that will grow in a temperate 
zone—grain, vegetables and fruit of all kinds—and are 
not restricted to a few things. 
We never worry over a crop failure; our crops are 
so diversified that there ie never a total failure of all. 
The only thing that worries us is our production, as 
this year. Our land is not worthless. T think you will 
find that New York has some of the best, producing 
counties in America. 
Our products are some of the best, our fruit hs known 
in all the markets of the world, both green and dry. We 
produce the best 6eed and nursery stock, as it is well 
matured. We have some of the best herds of cattle in 
the country, grow the best-flavored grapes, peaches and 
apples. Iu one or two counties we grow the best wil¬ 
lows for basket-making that are grown in the world, 
and I don’t believe you ever heard that before. 
There is more, produce shipped out of a few counties 
in Western New York than in some whole States in 
the West. We have one of tin- best departments of 
agriculture in our State, with all its faults, the best 
agricultural school, and an experiment station at Geneva 
that can’t be beaten. 
Our system of State roads, v/bieh are the best in the 
Country, enable a farmer to go anywhere in the State 
with trpek or auto. The State of New York is awake 
to its possibilities, but we don’t do the boosting or 
blowing of horns to advertise. We know we are one of 
the rocks on which agriculture in this country was 
founded. 
We don’t think, but we know, we are one of the 
leading agricultural States in the U. S. A. 
Wayne Co., N, Y, M0BTIMEB A. TUBPIN. 
