788 
The Rural New-Yorker 
THE BUSINESS FARMER'S FABER 
A National Weekly Journal for Country and Suburban Home* 
Extabliahe.d i860 
i‘ubll«h<-d meekly by the Knrnl Poblinblnc Company, 333 We»t SOtb Street, New York 
Hkrbkrt W. COLUNGWOOD, President and Editor. 
John .1. Dillon, Treasurer and General Manager. 
Wm. F. Dillon, Secretary. Mrs. E. T. Rotle, Associate Editor. 
SUBSCRIPTION : ONE DOLLAR A YEAR 
To foreign countries in the Universal Postal Union, $2.0f. equal to 8s. Cd., or 
xy 2 marks, or IOC. francs, llemit. in money order, express 
order, personal cheek or bank draft. 
Entered at New York Post Office as Second Class Matter. 
Advertising rates. 41.00 per agate line—7 words. References required for 
advertisers unknown to us ; and cash must accompany transient orders. 
“ A SQUARE DEAL” 
We iielieve that every advertisement in this paper 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 
offices to this end, but such 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 the complaint must be sent ♦•> us within one month of the time of 
the transaction, and to identify it, > ou should mention Thk Rural Nkw- 
Yurkkr when writing the advertiser. 
Wo agree with you as to housekeepers wanted, and 
about the working woman and her ideas; they make 
one tired. Your editorial about Mrs. P>. T. C. is the 
reverse at this home. The “Mrs.” thinks you do not 
know anything; she does not read The It. N.-Y., only 
what I tell. I have been a reader for SO years or mo-e. 
Massillon, O. P. R. M. 
W E shall not lie surprised if “the Mrs.” is a 
very sensible woman. In the other ease men¬ 
tioned the man of the house thought The R. N.-Y. 
suggested too many things for him to do. So you see 
we enter all sorts of families and get all sides of 
human nature. We hope our friend will read the 
paper for 80 years more, and that the time will eorae 
when lie and his wife will have a good-natured eon- 
test to see which can get hold of it first. 
* 
T HE directors of the Dairymen’s League voted to 
sell June milk as follows: Class 1 milk, .$1.05 
per 10t) lhs.; Class 2, $1.55, and Class 8. $1.50. < )f 
course no price for Class 4 milk can he made until 
market quotations for June are figured. There is 
great concern over the condition of the dairy 
products market. On the day of the directors’ 
meeting hotter was quoted at about 20 cents and 
cheese at 15. That, would mean less than 00 cents 
for Class 4 milk, and that, of course, would bring 
the pooling price down to a low point. Production 
has been high, since pastures are better and earlier 
than in most years. The ice cream trade has badly 
slumped thus far this year in consequence of the 
cold weather. 
% 
A NOTHER meeting of the Education Committee 
of Tweuty-i ne Avill he held at Binghamton, N. 
Y., on June 11. We hope that every farmer who can 
do so will attend. We believe this committee wants 
to know just what farmers desire in regard to the 
rural schools. We do not believe in the policy of 
staying away to criticize the committee. It is better 
in every way to go right to the meeting and find 
fault there, if need he. We think this committee will 
report just what they hear from farmers. Therefore 
it is our part to turn out and tell them what we 
want. 
* 
C ONGRESS finally passed an immigration law 
which limits the number of immigrants to this 
country between now and June 1, 11)22, to 855.000 
people. This is three per cent of the foreign-horn 
residents in the United States as indicated by the 
1010 census. By nationalities this means Germany, 
75,000; United Kingdom, 77.000; Austria, 50.000; 
Italy, 40,000; Russia, 51.000; Sweden, 19,000; Nor¬ 
way, 20,000; Denmark. 5.000; other countries, less 
than 4.000. It seems that of the people who came to 
this country last year only 2.8 per cent were farmers. 
The great proportion of the immigrants flocked to 
the cities—already overcrowded. Had there been 
any evidence that these newcomers were farm hands,, 
or desirous of going to the country for work, this 
immigration bill would not have been passed by 
Congress, for all recognized the need of farm 
laborers. It became evident that the great propor¬ 
tion of those who were coming prepared to crowd 
into the big cities and towns on the Atlantic slope, 
where there are now thousands of the unemployed 
and not houses enough for all. We have already 
taken in more “undesirable citizens” than we should 
have done. We have not been able to assimilate 
them—in many cities they are mastering the men 
and the principles which stand for Americanism. 
* 
O NE way io increase the consumption of dairy 
products would he to remove the luxury war 
tax on ice cream and “ice cream soda.” This is one 
of the hardest of all taxes to collect. It is not likely 
The RURAL NEW-YORKER 
that the Government really receives half of this tax. 
There is no accurate way of checking up sales. It 
merely means smaller portions and higher prices, 
and that means decreased consumption. Lower 
prices on ice cream would mean greater sales, and 
thus take care of more of the surplus milk. It would 
not fully work out. in New Jersey, for in that State 
Governor Edwards killed the law to prevent the 
substitution of inferior fats in “ice cream!” We 
think, however, that this part of the luxury tax has 
served its purpose, if it ever had any, and should 
now he repealed. 
* 
H ERE is a report of the progress of two 
friends: 
Thinking that you, ns well as the readers of The R. 
N.-Y., would be pleased to know that Mr. and Mrs. Ber- 
rnng, on their Connecticut-to-Ualifornia trip with their 
oxen, were in Chester, Pa., yesterday, and left this morn¬ 
ing (May 10), over the Capitol Trail, which will take 
them through Wilmington, Del., Baltimore, Md., to 
Washington. D. C. They are both well and getting 
along fine. I had a very pleasant time with these peo¬ 
ple. and told Mr. Berrang that he ought to send in a let¬ 
ter once in a while to you. letting the readers of your 
paper know where he was and how he was getting along, 
hut he did not feel that he was capable of doing this. 
W. J*. BULLARD. 
We all remember how Mr. and Mrs. Berrang left 
New York about New Year’s on their trip to Cali¬ 
fornia by ox team. Chester is about 20 miles south 
of Philadelphia. At this rate it will take two years 
to reach the Pacific coast, hut the Berrangs are in 
no hurry. Why should they be? They are certainly 
seeing the country, and they get a far more intimate 
knowledge of men and things than they could by 
glancing from the windows of a Pullman. Mr. Ber¬ 
rang'ought to tell us what he thinks of America as 
it slowly unfolds to the slow tread of his oxen. 
* 
I T is reported that a company will he organized to 
drill for oil in Bergen Co., N. J., just across the 
Hudson from New York City. It is claimed that 
films of oil on the river water show that oil may he 
obtained almost in the heart of the city. A most at¬ 
tractive proposition for selling oil stock could he 
made out of this venture, hut we advise our readers 
P> have nothing to do with it. For many years the 
geologists have carefully studied the soil and rock 
formation of New Jersey, and they are positive that 
there are no profitable deposits of oil below the sur¬ 
face of that State. Those geologists have located oil 
deposits in other States and predicted the supply to 
he obtained from them with wonderful accuracy. 
Do not he deceived by glowing circulars and great 
promises. There is no available oil in New Jersey 
soil, l.et the proposition alone. Another oil scheme 
soon to he worked will he based on oil deposits in 
Alaska. It is true that oil has been found there, hut 
it is too far away. The time has not yet come when 
it can be handled economically. 
* 
W E have had ten reports of annual Sweet clover 
plants which lived through the Winter and 
came up fresh and green this Spring. It may he that 
from these plants seed of a hardy strain may he ob¬ 
tained. That would make this plant even more valu¬ 
able. We understand that thus far no strain of this 
clover has proved continuously hardy, but there is 
always a chance for it, and we hope all those who 
have these wintered-over plants will mark them and 
sow the seed for future testing. 
* 
R ECENTLY, on page 704. we printed the report 
from the Biological Survey about permits to 
kill robins caught stealing fruit. The directions 
seemed fair enough—New York State fruit growers 
were to apply to the State Conservation Commission 
for a permit. A large number of our readers have 
made such application, and they receive a letter con¬ 
taining the following: 
In reply we would advise you that before the commis¬ 
sion issues this permit it will be necessary that we make 
an investigation of the damage being done to your ber¬ 
ries by the robins. Therefore, as soon as your berries 
begin to ripen, if you will notify the commission, we 
will have a protector make an investigation in regard 
to the matter, and, if the robins are doing serious dam¬ 
age to your berry crop, the commission will take under 
advisement the issuing of a permit to shoot the robins. 
In the event that this permit is issued to you it 
would have to conform with the Federal permit issued 
by the United States Bureau of Biological Survey, and 
it. is only effective between the 16th day of May and the 
15th day of July. ELLIS J. stalky, 
Commissioner. 
We wonder if anyone connected with the commis¬ 
sion can appreciate the humor of all this. Long be¬ 
fore tlie “inspector” could get around and make his 
report the robins would have cleaned out the crop. 
Then those Avise owls will take the matter “under 
June 4, 1921 
advisement.” Possibly the permit might he issued by 
Thanksgiving. In that case the fruit grower would 
be obliged to chase the robins to Florida or Georgia 
in order to shoot them. Then he would require some 
other “permit.” A great farce. The robins have 
begun early on our strawberries. They seem to knoAV 
the true value of these “permits.” 
A day or two ago two Bills came to me. one from the 
country, where a man hauled some lumber for me. Avith 
a team, from a sawmill, at 90c an hour; another, a 
linoleum layer’s bill for putting down linoleum in our 
office. $2.25 an hour. When one considers that the 90- 
cent man had a team, etc., valued at $500. and the 
other’s tools were worth a few dollars, it opens up 
some channels of thought for farmers’ unions, or some 
method of securing a fairer share of the consumer’s dol¬ 
lar. More power to you ! r. a. 
I T does open up such channels of thought, and the 
thought should run through at full speed. The 
city worker cannot claim that he was paid for su¬ 
perior skill. Tt. required more skill to drive the team 
properly and load and unload those logs. The farmer 
could learn the other man’s trade in half the time 
required to learn how to farm. The high rate of 
payment was based on organization and the ability 
to control the market. Every other worker on earth 
except the farmer lias striven to obtain this con¬ 
trol, and most of them have secured it. Now that 
the farmer intends to do the same thing his efforts 
are ranked as “class legislation.” Well, it is class 
legi sla tion—ff rst-cl a ss. 
* 
If anyone thinks that a woman’s services on the farm 
are not in demand, just let her advertise in The R. 
N.-Y. and ses what happens. M. L. 
T HIS woman says she advertised for a position 
and received over 70 offers. There is no ques¬ 
tion about the great demand for Avoman’s help on 
the farm. Many farm women are sadly overworked, 
and they must have help, hut it is almost impossible 
to find it. Now and then women write saying they 
prefer to work in the country. Were they to let their 
Avants he known, as M. L. did, their could he no 
question about their securing employment. The R. 
N.-Y. family is iioaa' so large and varied that, it would 
be practically impossible to name any ordinary 
article which some reader cannot supply and which 
some other reader does not want. 
* 
W HEN a dog leaves his owner’s property and 
goes roaming about the country he has no 
rights which the public should he asked to respect. 
Most dogs AA'lio do such roaming are driven from 
home by hunger. They are not half fed. and as hun¬ 
ger will drive a man to crime, who can expect a half- 
starved dog to pass by a tame rabbit, a chicken or a 
sheep? It is true that some dogs appear at times 
to he crazed by a desire to hunt and kill sheep, but 
seldom or never do we hear of a sheep killer who 
Avas reasonably fed or trained at home. Wo think 
the dog owner is usually more responsible for dam¬ 
age than the dog. Tt is a crime to starve or half¬ 
feed a horse; it should be considered even a greater 
crime to starve a dog. The hungry horse is not 
likely to damage the neighbors, while the hungry 
dog is. 
Brevities 
A new fraud is being attempted in New Hampshire, 
Avhere a faker is trying to get farmers to pay him money 
for soil analysis and “advice” to l>e given by the State 
Experiment 'Station. All such folks are frauds. 
There is no doubt that good crops of potatoes can he 
grown Avithout cultivation if the ground is well mulched 
after the crop is planted. Any coarse material like 
straw, coarse hay, weeds or coarse manure Avill answer. 
The plants grow up through the mulch, most of the 
weeds are smothered and the soil is kept cool and moist. 
We are getting reports about the behavior of kudzu 
in the North. While it is denounced as a pest by some, 
all agree that when well rooted it can make more growth 
than any other plant in one season. All seem to agree 
that it makes good cattle feed. Near the house or gar¬ 
den it will take possession of the soil and drive other 
plants out. If it will do that on some of our old pas¬ 
tures it would prove a blessing. Our own plants arc 
making good growth. 
If we assume that Lot’s wife was a woman of fair 
size she weighed about 130 lbs. The Geological Survey 
figures that all the salt produced in the United States 
for 1920 would average about 130 lbs. for each of the 
106.000,000 inhabitants. The survey also says that if 
all the saline matter in the ocean were solidified it 
would make a block measuring 4.800.000 cubic miles. If 
crushed and spread all over the entire surface of the 
United States:—excluding Alaska—it would form a 
crust more than a mile and a half deep. 
