500 
The RURAL NEW-YORKER 
March 20 1021 
The Rural New-Yorker 
tjje nrsj.xEss farmers paper 
A National Weekly Journal lor Country and Suburban Home* 
Established tSSO 
I’ubllsbrd irerkly h, ih«- Rural I’libliiblnr Compiuy. SSR «o*i 8 O 1 I 1 SirrrB V-n York 
Herbert W. Colling wood, Fit-suIi-iii ami Editor. 
John J. Dillon, Treasurer and General Manager. 
Wm. F. Dillon, Hcci-etary. Mrs. E. T. Hoyle. Awmciaie Editor. 
SUBSCRIPTION : ONE DOLLAR A YEAR 
To foreign countries in the Universal Postal Union. 8-Jd. eqmil to Ss. Cd., or 
fdi marks, or 10 ‘a francs. Id-mil 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—T words. References required for 
advertisers unknown to us ; and cash must accompany transient orders. 
“ A SQUARE DEAL” 
We believe that every advertisement in tills paix-r 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 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 upon 
to adjust differences or mistakes between our subscribers and honest, 
responsible houses, whether advertisers or not. We willingly use our good 
offiees to this end, but stieh 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 tlie 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. 
“The people of the nation must conic to understand 
that our prosperity as a, nation depends upon a pros¬ 
perous and wholesome agricult arc.” 
T HAT is till* lirst public utterance of fhe new 
Secretary of Agriculture, llenrv C. A allace. 
You might say ibis is “old stuff.” Some of i s have 
been talking that way for the past 25 years and 
more. It is Ihe truth, however, and the biggest tiling 
that any man can over do is to make the American 
people understand it. In time of a “war scare" it is 
easy to make people realize that the army and navy 
must Ih* strengthened, and that soldiers and sailors 
must have tirst place. The danger from war is 
evident. Anyone can understand it. and there is a 
prompt response whenever there is a call for national 
defense. Now the danger from a degraded and dis¬ 
appointed agriculture is far greater than that from 
any foreign foe. If is slower and imperceptible to 
most people, but it means decay of national spirit 
and ruin of national power if the man who feeds 
the nation must go about his job feeling that he is 
not having a square deal. And that is the spirit 
now developing aiming our farmers. It cannot be 
otherwise when we find ourselves compelled to buy 
at war prices while we must sell our goods at prices 
lower than those of pre-war days. The bitter in¬ 
justice of our present conditions is breaking the 
heart of the farmer—the man who for years has 
made it possible for America to feed the world. The 
American farmer has fed and clothed the nation, 
and has provided the hoys and girls who give vitality 
and strength to the race. They were all raised on 
the farm. The man who thus stands at the very 
foundation of society should, above all men. have the 
right to feel contented—to know that he and his 
class have been fairly treated. To have him feel 
otherwise is like a crumbling at the foundation of 
a great building. Open war from a foreign foe can 
be openly seen and guarded against. A decay in 
agriculture may come silently and unobserved, but 
it means national ruin if not checked. If Secretary 
Wallace can make tlie American people realize what 
an unjustly discredited agriculture means he wi 11 be 
a great man. 
* 
L AST week we gave the figures showing tlie num¬ 
ber of farms in New England and the number 
of people to each farm. Continue this figuring to 
the other States. 
or what we call 
the upper At 
hint ic 
coast: 
Name 
Total 
No of Pc 
rsons 
Population 
Farms per 
Fa rm 
Maine . 
708.014 
48.228 
IS 
New Hampshire... 
443.083 
20.523 
•>•> 
Vermont . 
352.428 
29.072 
?2 
Massachusetts .... 
3.852.350 
31.082 
125 
Rhode Island. 
004.307 
4.084 
150 
Connecticut . 
1,380.031 
22.1555 
03 
New York. 
10.3*4.920 
103.000 
54 
New Jersey . 
3,055.000 
20.072 
105 
Pennsylvania .. .. 
8,723.017 
202,250 
43 
Thus in this territory there are about 30.000.000 
people, or a little less than one-third of the total 
population of the United States. There are more 
consumers for each local farm than can he found in 
any other territory of equal size in the country, if 
not in (he world. With the millions of well-paid 
factory workmen in this section there is more money 
per capita spent for food than in any other territory 
of like size. No such local markets can he found 
elsewhere. Roads are improved so that transporta¬ 
tion by truck is possible. The soil varies, but on 
the best of it the yields of corn and other grain and 
of grass are higher per acre than in any other part 
of the country. The need of home production of 
food is greater here than elsewhere, and tlie cost of 
importing food is higher than ever before, thus giv¬ 
ing our farmers an advantage. Why then is not this 
the most promising agricultural section in the! coun¬ 
try? It is. Nature lias given it climate and soil, 
while man has established great nwirkets here. The 
section lacks two elements for great success. One 
is complete organization among fanners, the other 
a better agricultural spirit. If our people on this 
Atlantic slope could get together its (he California 
fanners have done they would dominate tlie nation 
as they did 50 years ago. There have been mighty 
few statesmen from this section since manufacturing 
and commerce crowded past agriculture. 
* 
T HE Press Hull'tin of the Wisconsin Agricultural 
College prints the following: 
When the soil Ibis not been built up to (lie needs of a 
potato crop, and where the farmer wants immediate re¬ 
sults. a fertilizer that contains nitrogen as well as phos¬ 
phorus and potash should be used. A 3-10-2 fertilizer, 
which means one that contains 3 per cent of nitrogen. 
10 per cent of phosphorus and 2 per cent of potash, will 
give good results. 
On moderately heavy soil the fertilizer should be ap¬ 
plied at a rate of about 800 to 1.000 lbs. to the acre, 
while on light sandy soils 000 to 700 lbs. will be suffi¬ 
cient. 
That arouses strange memories. Over 25 years ago 
the writer was asked to go to Wisconsin and discuss 
potato growing. As soon as it was learned that we 
expected to discuss fertilizers, we were promptly told 
not to come, as “Wisconsin had no use for chemicals, 
and probably never will have.” It just shows how 
times change and how one generation can never lay 
out cast-iron rules for the next one. 
* 
The Slate of Wyoming Inis enacted into a law it truth 
in fabric bill patterned after the French-Capper hill, 
and the information comes that seven other States have 
similar legislation under consideration. Among the s** 
are Colorado, Utah. Washington, Oregon. Idaho and 
New Jersey. Michigan also is in the throes and : t ap¬ 
pears the people do not like their present style of ch th¬ 
ing, and I know the sheep men think the forgery of their 
name “wool” very distasteful. w. w. R. 
HE truth in fabrics bill will compel manufac¬ 
turers and dealers in clothing to state what 
proportion of so-called “woolen” cloth is true wool 
and what proportion is shoddy. The need of such a 
law is iis urgent as a law compelling butter substi¬ 
tutes to be marked as such. Had there been no 
“oleo” laws the dairy business would have been about 
wiped out except for tlie sale of liquid milk. The 
use of shoddy has nearly ended the sheep business, 
or at least that part of it which is connected with 
small farm flocks. No one can compute tlie vast, 
sums of money taken out of the people through the 
sale of “all wool” goods from cloth made largely from 
ground-up rags. They say the “truth in fabrics” 
bill cannot lie enforced. Well, we are willing to take 
a chance on that. Not only the sheepmen are in¬ 
terested in Ibis, hut every tier son who wears or wants 
to wear woolen cloth. 
* 
As I understand it. the government lias appropriated 
$300,000 for free seed. I wrote to the Agricultural De¬ 
partment ar Washington for information and list of 
available seed, and they sent me the enclosed answer. 
How shall I unwind the red tape? R. b. 
TTTS is what R. B. received from the Depart¬ 
ment : 
Referring to your communication of recent date. I 
would state that vegetable and flower seeds are distrib¬ 
uted only on requests of Senators and Representatives 
in Congress. 
That is right—members of Congress are respon¬ 
sible for this free seed humbug. The Agricultural 
Department would like to get rid of the farce, hut 
Congressmen regard it as a form of petty “graft.” 
and when did you know a Congressman to cut off 
his own graft? The House of Representatives voted 
this year to cut out free seed, but the Senate voted 
it hack. Our New York Senators divided on the 
question, Wadsworth voting for free seed and ('aider 
against. The whole business is a humbug. These 
free seeds represent tlie most transparent form of 
“sucker bait.” The Congressman figures that the 
average farmer will exchange a good share of his 
manhood for a few .cents worth of common garden 
seeds. Any self-respecting farmer will resent such 
a statement, but that is just the way the usual Con¬ 
gressman regards him. and he will continue to have 
that opinion until the farmers themselves reject this 
sucker bait. The way to “unwind red tape” is to 
write to your Congressman or Senator if you want 
the seeds. We would not touch them as a matter of 
principle. 
:|c 
ARMERS of Monmouth County. New Jersey, are 
making a supreme o*ffort to organize a great co¬ 
operative organization for the sale of their potatoes. 
Nothing quite like what they propose has ever been 
attempted in the East before. It means practically 
a monopoly of the potato crop of Central New Jer¬ 
sey—held in the hands of the growers. On a strip 
of land running from Sandy Hook across to the Del¬ 
aware River and along it below Philadelphia lies 
what is probably the best natural potato soil in the 
country. Tt is part of the famous Jersey green sand 
marl, rich in potash, level and easily worked. Some 
of the finest potatoes in tlie world are produced 
there. The season for their ripening naturally fol¬ 
lows Delaware and Southern Jersey, and fora limited 
period Central New Jersey dominates the great po¬ 
tato market for New York and New England. Dur¬ 
ing these few dominant weeks is the time for farmers 
on this natural potato land to put their crop upon 
thp market and handle it promptly. It has become 
evident during the past few years that the only way 
to make the most of this natural potato monopoly is 
for all the growers to combine like a big army, es¬ 
tablish a good marketing system and submit to dis¬ 
cipline. The limited area in which these potatoes 
are grown and the intelligence of the growers make 
it sure that such a plan can be made successful if 
the growers can form an organization like that of 
the California fruit growers. Already men repre¬ 
senting over 10.000 acres of potatoes have signed a 
pledge to market through this organization. It is 
expected that by July there will he 100 per cent co¬ 
operation on this strip of potato land. 
* 
AST week the writer attended a meeting on 
Farmers’ Day at the Essex County Farm School 
at Hawthorne. Mass. In that State the county farm 
schools are secondary schools of agriculture, sup¬ 
ported jointly by the State and county. As is the 
case everywhere, some of these schools arc highly 
successful, while others are less so. Their success 
dt-pends chiefly upon the local support from fanners. 
When tli*' farmers realize that theg must do it Ihcm- 
selres and take up Iho management in a sensible way 
tin* school prospers because it reflects the spirit of 
the county. Essex is one of the few Massachusetts 
counties which lias increased the number of its farms 
in the past 10 years. A good share of this progress 
is due to the school, and the group of energetic men 
and women who enter into its life. It is a great 
illustration of what a few earnest and energetic peo¬ 
ple can do to help agriculture if they will get down 
and work together. About 1.000 people came to the 
meeting. They belong to the solid, substantial class 
which in former years made the New England fann¬ 
er a national power. These people were not eng red 
in fanning just to make money or to make a showing, 
hut because they are naturally rooted to the land, 
and have no other place which suits them so well. 
Men and women will come and go. drift hack and 
forth from the farm, complain of their lot and decry 
farming, but the natural farmers belong to tin* soil. 
They are rooted in it. and through br’glit or nark 
days they will remain. Surely the Psalmist had suit* 
men in mind when he said : 
“And he Shall he like a tree planted hy the r'r>'rs 
of water , that hrinyeth forth his fruit in h s season, 
liis leaf also shall not wither and wh ad soever he 
(ha th shall prosper .” 
* 
P ROF. C. O. YOUNG of Cornell comes out with a 
plan for a “Summer schedule" to take the place 
of legal daylight saving. Let business places and 
factories simply agree to open an hour earlier and 
close an hour earlier for six months, if they care to 
do so, or let their employees vote on the question. 
That would settle it without any law or government 
interference. The daylight savers know that they 
can have what they clamor for if -they will simply 
get up an hour earlier. But. no—they want the law 
to step in and pull people out of bed. 
* 
NEWTON BILES. Master of the New York 
• State Orange, died in Rochester on March 
14. lie had been in failing health for some time, 
hut continued his work beyond the point where he 
- might well have turned aside for a needed rest. He 
died in the harness, as he always wished to do. 
Brother Giles was a familiar figure in Grange affairs. 
He had been connected with the New York Grange 
almost from its very beginning—or since 1877. Thus 
another member of the old guard dies on the field 
of battle, and he will he greatly missed. 
Brevities 
THIS warm weather is simply boiling up the buds. 
We are not very thankful for the present mild Win 
ter. It will force the fruit buds before their time. 
It seems that a good many fruit growers who use the 
dust plan to apply it at night, as at that time it seems 
to stick better. 
The Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animr's 
offers $500 for a humane trap to take the place of the 
ordinary steel trap. 
