1406 
The Rural New-Yorker 
THE BUSINESS FARMER'S PAPER 
A. National Weekly Journal lor Country and Suburban Home* 
■ Established >sso 
Published weekly by the Rural Publishing Company. 1133 West 30th Street,Kew Vork 
Herbert W. COLLLNGWOOD, President and Editor. 
Jons J. Dillon, Treasurer and General Manager. 
Wu. F. Dillon, Secretary. Mns. E. T. Roylk, Associate Editor. 
SUBSCRIPTION : ONE DOLLAR A YEAR 
To foreign countries in the Universal Postal Union. $2.01, equal to 8s. 6d., or 
81% marks, or 10J£ francs. Remit in money order, express 
order, personal check or bank draft. 
Entered at New York Post Office as Second Class Matter. 
Advertising rates, VI.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 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 Toss 
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 to us within one month of the time or 
the transaction, and to identify it, you should mention The Rural New- 
Yorker when writing the advertiser. 
Three years ago, while employed at my trade as tool¬ 
maker, I ordered through a friend The Rural New- 
Yorker. I then saved all my money, and bought a field 
of Il%acres on State road, built myself a bungalow 
and barn, read The It. N.Y., talked about your articles 
and advice to A.E. Rittenhouse, one of your subscribers. 
All of this year in partnership with A. E. Rittenhouse 
in trucking. I built a henhouse 1Sx24. have 130 Co¬ 
lumbia Rock hens and pullets, know something now 
about trucking, and have my cellar full of good tilings to 
eat this Winter, and money on hand. Attended market 
four days a week all Summer and Fall. Work, work, 
work, and in love with it, and 30 years old at that. 
Have all of this in place of spending my money in town 
like most toolmakers and machinists did. The R. N.-Y. 
is indeed a friend to everybody, not alone the farmer. 
Delaware. harry c. dance. 
T HAT is as line an endorsement as we ever had. 
The R. N.-Y. belongs to the Anti-Poverty So¬ 
ciety. and this man surely points out the anti. It 
is work, work, work, as he says, yet work becomes a 
pleasure when you love it. 
* 
HE New York Supreme Court has just decided 
that Sunday is a “sanctified holiday.” This de¬ 
cision was made in a legal case where a railroad 
hauled goods under an agreement that is was respon¬ 
sible for 48 hours after their arrival, exclusive of 
holidays. The goods were destroyed by fire three 
days after they arrived. The owner of the goods 
claimed that the railroad was responsible, since one 
of these days was Sunday. The court decided in 
favor of the owner and laid down the following: 
The Legislature of this State left the status of Sun¬ 
day a sanelified holiday as it existed in common law. 
The framers of the Constitution found it (Sunday as a 
holiday) in existence. They recognized it. in their acts, 
and they did not abolish it or lessen the obligations of 
the people to observe it. It is a law of nature that one 
day in seven must be observed as a day of relaxation 
and refreshment, if not public worship. Experience has 
shown that the observance of one day in seven as a 
day of rest is of admirable service to a State, consid¬ 
ered merely as a civil institution. The purpose in ex¬ 
cluding legal holidays applies with greater force to 
Sundays than other holidays, for ordinarily such work 
may be done on a statutory holiday, but may not be 
done on Sunday. 
That would .seem to settle the point that. Sunday 
is a legal holiday. What hearing would it have in 
law in case of dairying or other branches of farming 
where Sunday work is a necessity? 
* 
WO years ago there was a frightful scourge of 
mice in the Hudson Valley and New England. 
The deep snow gave this vermin opportunity, and 
they made the most of it. In the Spring thousands 
of trees were ruined, for the mice girdled them, and 
in many cases worked underground at the roots. 
Most of us failed to realize the danger until the 
snow finally melted and the damage was evident. 
Then there were hurried calls for information about 
bridge-grafting. A few trees were saved in that 
way, but the great majority were ruined. It was all 
a case where, as usual, hindsight was not enough to 
save the situation. Now we start early with fore¬ 
sight. All through the Eastern orchard sections 
the mice are more numerous than ever before. We 
have never known such a situation. In some or¬ 
chards the soil is just a network of nests and runs. 
Skunks and hawks and cats get some of them, hut 
there are millions left, and unless the trees are pro¬ 
tected in some way there will he frightful loss dur¬ 
ing the Winter. So this year we give full warning 
in time. On page 1399 is an article telling what can 
lie done. In our own orchards we are plowing two 
furrows on each side of the row, turning the soil up 
to the trees. Most of our orchards are in sod. Then 
we clear a space about three feet in diameter around 
the trunks of the tree and make a little mound by 
throwing clear dirt around the trunk. We use coal 
ashes for this purpose as far as our supply will go. 
In addition to this we shall try the poison bait de¬ 
scribed on page 1399. For a few trees one of the 
protectors mentioned in the article may be used, but 
The RURAL NEW-YORKER 
thus far we have not had great trouble when the 
space around the trees is kept clean, except in cases 
of heavy snows. As for painting the trunks with tar 
<>r paint, we do not advise it. Some of our readers 
report success, while others ruined their trees. A 
smear of thick lime-sulphur solution will help, but 
the main point is to keep the earth around the trees 
clear, and a little mound around the trunk. At any 
rate the danger is real, and we hereby give full 
warning in advance. On our own farm some six 
generations ago the farmers of that day fought with 
savage men and savage beasts for the preservation 
of their property. In this generation we are forced 
to battle with mice, and although the mice are 
smaller than the larger enemies of old times, they 
will steal the property and home if we do not master 
them. 
5k 
OMEONE who claims to be good at figuring has 
worked out the statistics regarding the use of 
what may he called luxuries. He shows that during 
one average year Americans spend for candy $450,- 
000,000, for “soft drinks” $650,000,000, for perfumes 
and various toilet articles $800,000,000, and for to¬ 
bacco more than one billion dollars. We do not 
know how these figures are obtained, but we think 
they are very conservative. We became interested 
and got the figures from half a dozen town families, 
all in fair circumstances. We found that these com¬ 
bined expenses ran from $165 to $235 per year, with 
an average of about $180. In families where father 
and the boys smoke the total runs high. In these 
same .families—only one owning real estate—the 
total taxes, Federal, State and municipal, will aver¬ 
age about $40. Of course this inquiry is not broad 
enough to serve as a base for definite conclusions, but 
it will be a good plan for all of us to stop and figure 
what we are paying for useless things. No one will 
be likely to claim that candy or soda water or per¬ 
fumery are necessities of life. Of course, we all 
know people who have become slaves to tobacco, and 
obedience on the part of the slave is a necessity, 
'l'he fact seems to be that Americans are paying more 
for these useless things than the entire cost of gov¬ 
ernment. What is more, millions of town families 
demand wages which will permit them to include 
these luxuries in their ordinary living, and the pub¬ 
lic must pay for it all. 
* 
VERY farm should have a name, as much so as 
each member of the family. It makes the farm 
and the home seem a little better as an abiding 
place, and it helps in business. In some States the 
farm name can be registered with the county clerk 
as a matter of protection, or the United States Patent 
Office will issue a trade mark or copyright which 
will cover the name in all the States. When once 
registered in this way the legal right to use a certain 
name will rest with the person who first secures a 
copyright. There seems to be considerable duplica¬ 
tion of farm names. For instance, we have found 
about 20 places named “Hope Farm” in this country, 
and also know of one each in Nova Scotia, Australia 
and British Columbia. We have no objection to that, 
since hope is one of the finest crops for any farm, 
but there may be those who would not care to have 
their farm name copied. They have a remedy at the 
patent office in Washington. Name your farm and 
get a patent on the name! 
IIE low price of oats will make this grain popu¬ 
lar with poultrymen. Ground oats fed in the dry 
mash will help, and there will be a great increase in 
the practice of sprouting oats. This sprouted grain 
makes one of the best substitutes for cabbage or 
roots, and this is a good method of securing full 
feeding value from the grain. On page 1399 are to 
be found plans for sprouting as practiced by suc¬ 
cessful poultrymen. This is one good way of utiliz¬ 
ing the full feeding value of a cheap-grain. We 
think a man with only one family cow might find 
sprouted oats a cheap food. 
5k 
E would like to have reports from New York 
farmers regarding the operation of the Betts 
hunting and trespass law. Thus far few violations 
of this law have been reported to us. We want to 
know how it is working, so as to be prepared with 
suggestions when the new amendments come up in 
the next Legislature. If it is giving satisfaction in 
your district let us know; if it should he made 
stronger we want to know how to change it. We 
do not favor letting the sports and the experts decide 
what is needed. The farmers and country people 
are the ones to be consulted; therefore we want 
your opinion, with all the facts you can obtain for 
us. This is a good wav to help make laws. 
December 3, 1921 
FEW weeks ago we told how wool has been 
sent to Germany from Australia and made into 
cloth. The Germans were so anxious to obtain work 
at almost any price that they manufactured this 
wool at. a figure which enabled the owners of the 
cloth to sell it at a good profit on the English mar¬ 
ket. Now much the same thing is being done with 
American cotton. It is said that some of the finest 
cotton mills in the world are located in the present 
republic of Czecho-Slovakia (you may pronounce 
the name to suit yourself). These mills stood prac¬ 
tically idle, the owners being unable to buy cotton 
at present rates of exchange. The workmen were 
willing to work at almost any price, which would 
provide labor. So American cotton is being sent 
from the South and even from Southern California 
direct by water to this faraway country. There it 
is made into cloth, either on commission or at a 
Price per yard. This cloth is being sold in the 
world’s market for enough to net cotton growers 25 
to 28 cents a pound for the raw cotton. In many 
cases this cotton would hardly have brought these 
growers eight cents a pound for use in American 
mills. Europe needs the cloth, and her workmen 
are willing to work at a low figure in order to get 
industry started. In America too many workmen 
stand still or kill time in an effort to keep up an 
artificial increase of wages. 
5k 
HE milk drivers’ strike in the city drags on past 
the third week. House to house deliveries of 
milk have not been fully resumed, but a full supply 
is available at the company stores and at some of 
the other stores. The big companies say they have 
all the men they want, and are hiring the old men 
only on the open shop plan as individuals. They 
refuse to deal with the ufiions, but claim the drivers 
have the route hooks and names of consumers, with 
amounts due, and they cannot get the drivers to 
give them up. 
The outstanding news of the last week was the 
filing of complaint by the drivers’ unions with the 
District Attorney and with the Attorney-General of 
the State, charging the dealers with violation of the 
Sherman law and the State Donnelly act in creating 
a monopoly in restraint of law. It has been sug¬ 
gested that an investigation of the charges would 
follow. The drivers charge that this monopoly 
created by the New York Milk Conference Board, 
Inc., made it possible for the dealers to make a 
profit of four cents to six cents a quart on milk. It 
would seem useless to hold an investigation on these 
charges. Everybody knows that it is all true. No 
cne seriously disputes it in well-informed circles. 
The Government should drop its pretence. Investi¬ 
gation is only for the purpose of leading the people 
to expect something, and then forget it. The Gov¬ 
ernment should either destroy the monopoly or leave 
it alone. 
5k 
T HE case against Henry Wolohon, the Jerseyman 
who shot the chicken thief, seems to have been 
quietly dropped. It may be brought into court yet, 
but we think not. Something over $200 was contrib¬ 
uted by our readers for the defence in this case. Mr. 
Wolohon seems to be a man of good character—he 
refuses to take the money, as he bus been put to lit¬ 
tle if any expense. We have returned most of this 
money, retaining a small part for use in case any 
new effort is made to press the case. Some readers 
ask us to credit their contributions to their subscrip¬ 
tion account. Others ask us to hold it as an emer¬ 
gency fund. We will do anything they say, but it 
should go back to them in some form. 
Brevities 
Clean litter is the hen’s door mat! 
On November 13 Mr. and Mrs. Berrang with their 
ox-team express reached Dayton, Ohio. 
There are a good many Ph. Li.'s in the Agricultural 
Department. It is something to be thankful for—some¬ 
times. 
Never soak a dirty egg to remove the dirt. Glean 
with a damp cloth. Rub as little as possible, and do 
not wipe the shell dry. 
A Pennsylvania butcher cut up and sold a hog 
which had died a “natural death.” They caught him 
at it, and he is now under bail for trial. It seems that 
such meat is worked up into sausage—‘‘hot dogs,’ most 
likely. 
Many of our factory workers tell farmers that high 
wages should be kept up. because that will make better 
markets for farm produce. How, then, does it happen 
that in spite of these high wages prices for farm products 
steadily fall? 
The United States Government has a breeding farm 
at Middlebur.v, Vt., where Morgan horses are being 
bred. This fine breed nearly passed our of existence 
in the rage for big drafters and cars. The Morgan is 
the best of the chunky or middle-sized breeds, and ought 
to be preserved. 
