The RURAL NEW-YORKER 
A National Agricultural Policy 
The American Farm Bureau Federation has sub¬ 
mitted 10 questions to Farm Bureau members, and 
asks for opinions. The object of this is io get the 
mind of American farmers regarding questions of 
national importance. Up to this time we have had 
no real means of knowing how farmers stand on big 
questions. This plan if successful will help mark out 
a definite agricultural policy. The following ques¬ 
tions have been submitted. There are many others, 
of course, but if a good referendum on these can be 
obtained it will help us all. 
1. Do you favor commodity financing based on bond¬ 
ed warehouse receipts? 
2. Do you favor the development of a personal rural 
credits system with proper safeguards? 
3. Do you favor live stock financing based on proper 
pledge of animals and feed? 
4. Do you request that authority be granted the 
Federal Reserve Board so to classify rediscounts as to 
give prior consideration to loans for basic production of 
all kinds? 
5. Do you favor increasing the limit on Federal 
Land Bank mortgage loans from $10,000 to $25,000? 
6. Do you favor asking Congress to submit to the 
State a constitutional amendment, prohibiting the issu¬ 
ance of all tax-free securities? 
7. Are you in favor of continuing the excess profits 
tax ? 
8. Are you opposed to the enactment of a general 
calcs tax? 
0. Will you be able to move a materially larger 
amount of agricultural products if the American Farm 
Bureau Federation secures an adequate reduction in 
freight rates? 
10. Do you favor the building of farm-to-market 
roads prior to or concurrently with the construction of 
transcontinental highways? 
11. Do you favor the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence 
waterway for transportation and other purposes? 
12. Do you favor placing the packers under super¬ 
vision by the government, and the vesting of such au¬ 
thority in the Department of Agriculture? 
13. Do you favor legislation making illegal the prac¬ 
tice of short selling in agricultural products? 
14. Do you favor truth-in-fabric legislation? 
15. Do you favor enabling legislation for co-operative 
marketing? 
1(5. Do you favor other waterway development for 
transportation, reclamation and power at this time? 
A Great Long Island Potato Meeting 
The Long Island farmers are fond of alluding to 
Suffolk County as the “Sunrise County” of New 
York. Long Island stands out from the rest of the 
State like a long slender finger reaching out to test 
the temperature of the Atlantic Ocean and get as 
close to the Gulf Stream as possible. The sun rises 
there before its beams reach the mainland of New 
York, and out on this sunny island are some of the 
best farmers in the country, and the crops they raise 
cf corn and potatoes are remarkable. Not only do 
they raise good crops, but during the past few years 
the farmers of Long Island have been able to get 
together and make a great study of the crop con¬ 
ditions. Nowhere else in the country perhaps have 
the problems of fertilizing, spraying and the pro¬ 
duction of certified seed potatoes been so fully 
worked out; and now these farmers are preparing 
for a great meeting at which they will show the 
world what they have been doing. On Wednesday 
and Thursday of June 20 and 30 what is known as 
the fourth annual tour of Long Island potato 
growers will be held. This trip will bring potato 
growers and farm workers together for a great 
Study. A large company is expected, and it will be 
a fully representative meeting. There will be a 
chance to examine the "work done in producing seed, 
as hundreds of tests are under observation. Then 
there are many fertilizer experiments to be shown, 
and a great display of all kinds of potato-growing 
implements. There will be a great field meeting and 
n big dinner at Green port, and practically everything 
to satisfy both the inner and the outer man who is 
interested in potato growing. All are invited, and 
what is more, thoroughly welcome. Those who 
would like to plan ahead about attending this meet¬ 
ing may apply to Mr. Herman Aldrich at the Farm 
Bureau office at Riverhead, N. Y. 
Co-operative Poultry Marketing in N. J. 
The poultry men of New Jersey know that their 
hens are as good as any in the country. They feed 
well, and are located within a day’s journey of the 
finest markets in the world. Yet they find that eggs 
from California—shipped 3,000 miles or more—come 
right into their home market and command a pre¬ 
mium. It seems incredible that this can be so, yet 
the facts cannot be questioned. The California eggs 
sell for something like two cents a dozen more than 
“nearby fresh.” These eggs are no better in quality. 
They cannot be, for by the time they reach market 
they are from a week to 10 days older than the New 
Jersey eggs. The New Jersey hen men rightly con¬ 
clude that California’s advantage is to be found in 
superior organization—which means the ability to 
evade and pack and ship so as to guarantee a uniform 
product. So the Jerseymen intend to meet this com¬ 
petition by organizing in much the same way. 
The New Jersey Poultry Producers’ Association is 
to be a pure co-operative marketing association— 
non-profit and non-capital stock. Tt proposes to 
control the output of 300.000 bens, having already 
secured about 150,000. Each member must be a 
poultry keeper, and the entrance fee is $10 for every 
100 hens owned by him. 
Members who join sign a marketing agreement for 
three years— this means delivering all salable eggs 
to the association for sale. The association contracts 
to market the eggs to best advantage to the producer 
pooled with eggs of like quality and grade of other 
producers. The association will take out the actual 
costs of operation and pay the net proceeds to each 
member. The association makes no profit—it is to 
be purely co-operative. The expense of operating 
must not exceed two cents per dozen. Any surplus 
left from this expense will be returned pro rata to the 
producers. All eggs of like grade and quality are 
pooled. The eggs are to be delivered at local packing 
houses and sent from that point to market, or to 
cold storage, as the managers decide. The plan has 
been worked out along the lines of the California 
organization, adapted to the laws and conditions of 
New Jersey. The leaders of New Jersey poultry 
husbandry are in this movement, and it will un¬ 
doubtedly be put in operation. The plan of organiza¬ 
tion and the membership agreement are fully ex¬ 
plained in pamphlets, and it will be a good thing for 
New Jersey ben men to study this co-operative 
movement. Mr. Harry Ohcr of Lakewood, N. J., is 
chairman of the executive committee. 
That Holstein Cow Case 
There has been another court decision in the 
famous “Charlie Cole” cattle case. As most of 
our readers know, this case is based on an alleged 
fraud perpetrated by Charles Cole, a cattle tester. 
Cole has confessed that while testing a Holstein cow 
he added cream to the milk by squirting it into the 
pail from a rubber bag concealed under his clothing. 
By means of this fraudulent work the cow gained 
the reputation of making a tremendous record as a 
producer of butterfat. When this dirty business be¬ 
came known the IIolstein-Friesian Association very 
properly started an investigation. Mr. Oliver 
Cabana, a wealthy manufacturer with a herd of 
cattle on the side, held up this investigation by 
securing a legal injunction. The courts decided in 
favor of the association, and Mr. Cabana promptly 
appealed to the Appellate Division. That court 
has now decided against Mr. Cabana. This puts the 
case back where it was nearly 20 months ago, and 
the association, through its directors, may proceed 
with the investigation. Now it is reported that Mr. 
Cabana will appeal once more—this time to the 
Supreme Court—and thus prevent action for perhaps 
another year. This case shows us the peril which 
lies in our present legal system. Here is a man, 
rich, obstinate, and with political power, evidently 
in the wrong, yet able through legal technicalities 
to prevent an open investigation and clean-up of 
about the nastiest mess ever reported in American 
cattle breeding. A poor man, or one without power, 
seeking for plain justice, would be swept aside or 
ground to atoms in such a legal mill, but this obsti¬ 
nate character, by reason of bis wealth, is actually 
able to employ attorneys who keep this miserable 
case rotting above ground! Charlie Cole squirted 
cream out of a water bag to make a “fat record.” 
There seem to be ways of squirting money out of a 
bank to make a fat legal case. We hope the asso¬ 
ciation will chase the records of these cows right 
through injunctions and every other legal obstacle, 
until they run them down and put the proper brand 
where it belongs. 
Milk Bottles; Selling Cream or Milk 
Do you have copies of the law regarding the use of 
milk bottles by customers for other purposes than con¬ 
taining milk? We have a great deal of such trouble in 
our milk station. Would very much appreciate any 
information regarding same. It is getting a serious 
matter with us. S. H. 
New York. 
Article 3, Section 30, of the agricultural law, pro¬ 
vides that no person, without the consent of the own¬ 
er, shall use, sell or buy any milk can, jar or bottle, 
or cream can or bottle, used to ship milk or cream 
to any city, town or place within the State, and 
marked with the initials or name of the owner or 
shipper. The law also forbids any person, without 
the consent of the owner, to place in any such can or 
bottle any substance other than milk or cream. 
The penalty is not less than $25 or more than $200 
for first offence, or imprisonment for not less than 
789 
one month or more than six. months. For second of¬ 
fense imprisonment may he imposed for one year. 
Which pays the better, shipping cream or selling 
milk? W. S. 
New Jersey. 
No general rule can be given. It all depends on 
the milk, the market and the man. Milk of low fat 
test is not profitable for making cream. On the 
other hand, milk rich in butterfat is at a disadvan¬ 
tage in the fluid milk market, generally, though it 
comes nearer holding its own at the present time 
than formerly. Tf you have milk rich in butterfat, a 
steady customer at market prices or a little above, 
and are prepared to make good use of the skim-milk, 
you will probably realize more for the cream than 
from the milk. We like the idea of having skim-milk 
to use on (lie farm, when one can plan to do so per¬ 
manently, but it is not profitable or agreeable to be 
obliged to make frequent changes. If the cream mar¬ 
ket is uncertain, or if the milk is light in fat, it will 
be better to stick to the whole-milk shipments. 
Can We Use the Barge Canal 
Last Fall I tried apple picking in the Catskills as a 
cure for bronchitis; gained 20 lbs. To see tons of 
apples wasting on the ground nearly broke my heart. 
Inspirations came to me in those swinging tree tops, 
and I would jot down a thought or two to the effect 
that those Catskills are undiscovered as orchard fruit 
land. Giant Kings grew on trees that have not been 
trimmed in 20 years. But how shall we get the produce 
to market? This problem, I understand, confronts the 
whole State. I have been interested in the descriptions 
of the Barge Canal, and am going to study it more care¬ 
fully. State Engineer Williams says there is a shortage 
of barges, and the most optimistic never expected such 
favorable conditions for the canal. It is finished, and 
waiting for shippers to wake up. Why not spread the 
facts about this great four-system waterway before the 
farmers through your paper and see if it would not be 
feasible to have the farmers’ organizations own and 
operate their own barges and trucks? The railroads 
would have another surprise when they saw self-pro¬ 
pelled power and sail barges loaded with apples and 
other produce making 20 miles an hour down the Hud¬ 
son to New York. There will be such a thing as an 
express barge. 
The April number of “Speed Up” has two articles on 
the canal by Cadle, Superintendent of Public Works, 
and Frank M. Williams, State Engineer. Every New 
York Stater should read them. 
What do you think of farmers owning their own 
barges or freight boats, doing an inter-port business in 
general freight if necessary ? e. r. north. 
New York. 
Sheep or Wild Dogs 
Mrs. August Belmont's abandonment of sheep-raising 
is noteworthy but not singular. Thousands of persons 
in the Eastern and Middle States have had experiences 
similar to hers. They have engaged in sheep-raising, 
only to have their flocks decimated or worse by lawless 
dogs. 
Mrs. Belmont, rightly conceiving that Massachusetts 
and other Now England States are well adapted to 
sheep-raising, sought to promote the industry through 
the importation and culture of some of the fine thor¬ 
oughbred stock. But when dozens of her sheep were 
killed by “wild” dogs and the courts awarded her trifling 
indemnity, she gave it up in despair. 
Dogs which are properly trained and kept within 
bounds seldom do sheep harm. To develop sheep it is 
not necessary to exterminate or to banish man’s best 
animal friend. It would be sufficient to do away with 
merely the hungry, lawless tramp dogs, whose owners 
permit them to he a nuisance to the community. It 
should be as much an offense to starve a dog as a horse. 
It ought not to take thoughtful legislators long to 
choose between the promotion of a beneficent industry 
and the toleration of a public nuisance.—New York 
Herald. 
Developments in Poultry Standards 
What is the matter with the Leghorn hen? 
Dozens of- our readers begin to ask that ques¬ 
tion. When the egg-laying contests started the Leg¬ 
horns seemed to have a walk-over. They laid rings 
around every other breed entered in these contests. 
Then there came a change. Tom Barron’s W.van- 
dottes came over and heat the Leghorns at their 
own game. Then the Reds came to the front, 
and for the past few years at all egg-laying con¬ 
tests one or more of the American breeds has 
led the procession. Ail this is true, and yet there 
is nothing the matter with the Leghorn hen. She is 
still tin* great producer of the commercial egg—espe¬ 
cially where white-shelled eggs command a premium. 
In New England, where brown eggs, yellow sweet 
corn and blondes generally are considered superior, 
the Leghorn hen is at a disadvantage, but she is 
probably the most economical egg producer we have 
when all the food must he purchased, and where hens 
must be grouped in limited areas. But the Leghorn 
is not the "whole circus” any more, as some of her 
backers used to claim. They must now admit that 
“there are others.” We think the egg-laying contests 
have done much to develop the American breeds. 
The Rocks and the Reds and the “Dottes” always 
carried great possibilities for egg production, but 
they were shadowed by the Leghorn’s reputation. As 
has been the case with other reputations, the actual 
working test has shown that the Americans have 
nothing to fear by comparison. The Leghorn is all 
right, but she can no longer be said to be a champion 
in any free-for-all race. 
