1430 
- The Rural New-Yorker 
THE BVSIXES8 FARMER'S FA FEE 
K National Weekly Journal for Country and Suburban Home* * 
Established tsso 
rnblUhtd by *hr Rani rnbli*hlnr Company, 833 Wok 30ih S«rt*t,X»w fork 
ITkrbert TV. Cor.i.ivowooD, President ami Editor. 
John J. Diu-ox, Treasurer and General Manager. 
'Vm. P. Diu.o.v, Secretary. Mrs. E. T. liayi.F. Associate Editor. 
SUBSCRIPTION : ONE DOLLAR A YEAR 
To foreign countries in the Universal Postal Union, $2.01. equal to Ss. 6d., or 
8! j marks, or lOtfc francs. Remit in money order, express 
order, personal check or bank draft. 
Entered at New York Post Office as Second Class Matter. 
Advertising rates. 11.00 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 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 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. 
When your paper was first sent to mo I thought it 
was a sample copy. As it continued to come, 1 became 
suspicious, and thought a subscription was being forced 
on me. I wrote to you, and was told who had sub¬ 
scribed for me. Now, although I am not a farmer, 1 
would give up any of several periodicals I get rather 
than yours. Enclosed check is for my renewal and a 
complimentary subscription to a city school teacher, as 
the farmers’,problems are the cities'., problems also, and 
your paper would be an inspiration to itnyone interested 
in a square deal. f. d. Sylvester. 
Pennsylvania. 
ERE was seed which fell on good ground. 
There are thousands of instances just like this 
one. If 5.000 readers go just a step out of their way 
to speak the good word, the result will be' nearly 
two miles along the way. 
HE letters regarding the •‘divining rod" or forked 
stick for finding water are still pouring in. AA'e 
have rarely started a subject which has located so 
many streams of running words. Most of them re¬ 
late incidents which indicate belief in the forked 
stick. Yet there are many doubters. Here is one: 
1 have just refreshed my memory from “Curious 
Myths of (he Middle Ages,” by S. Bariug-Gould, pur¬ 
chased and read as a boy. This forked stick in ages 
past was thought just as efficacious in locating metals, 
in running down criminals, as in the locating of water; 
and just possibly its use might bring as many criminals 
to book as do our more modern systems of justice! 
Who knows? j. m. s. 
We well remember how the stick in the hands of 
the old-fashioned teacher brought many a pupil to 
book. It might be tried on some of the bootleggers 
and auto hogs who infest some communities. ' 
* 
E have got to do it ourselves!” We met a 
man the other day who put up a fierce out¬ 
cry against what lie calls the potash monopoly. ITc 
is a fruit grower on a small place, highly cultivated. 
The soil is light, and potash is a necessity. During 
the war this element of plant food was so high and 
scarce that this man could not get enough, and his 
crops suffered. Now he finds fault because the price 
is too high, and the American potash producers de¬ 
mand a tariff which would make the price lugher. 
His complaint is justified, but there is another side 
to it. This man burns wood almost exclusively. He 
has a woodlot, and gave up buying coal as far as 
possible, so as to beat the coal trust. Every year, 
in stoves and fireplaces, he has been burning tlu; 
equivalent of 12 to 15 cords of wood. In five years 
this has meant more than 60 cords of wood, which 
b ft a vast pile of wood ashes. Here was a supply of 
potash in the best possible form—the finest club on 
earth with which to break a potash monopoly. And 
yet this man has. for the past five years, used every 
pound of this rich fertilizer for making roads and 
walks on his farm. Plain sand or gravel would have 
been far better for the purpose, but right through 
the war. when potash was worth 50 cents a pound, 
all these rich ashes were used for road material! 
Now lias this man any business to declaim against 
the potash trust? Does he not trample the first ele¬ 
mentary principles of economy into the mud when 
lie uses wood ashes as a pavement? “liV hare got to 
do it ourselves,” and begin with common things. 
* 
NYONE who has lived in a family of children 
must know that the little ones are as varied 
in character and ment l ability as the young stock 
on the farm vary in color. No two children are 
exactly alike in their inclination or ability to absorb 
training. Too many of our educators seem to assume 
that educating children is much like pouring some 
" arm and sticky material into little forms or molds 
w’ ere it may harden and make n “graduate.” AVe 
have had much to do wifi children, and have never 
Vht RURAL NEW-YORKER 
found any two just alike. They all need some 
special oversight and care if they are to be developed 
properly. In this we see an argument for the smaller 
school and the smaller class, where the teacher may 
have more of personal control over each pupil. AA'ith 
a good and conscientious teacher, the smaller district 
school, if properly maintained, ought to give the in¬ 
dividual child a better chance than the large and 
crowded consolidated school. 
* 
W E understand, of course, that this statement 
will be resented by most educators. The 
writer of this does nob pretend to be a teacher, but 
lie has talked with hundreds of men about their 
school days, and what life has taught them about 
education. They all say that a large share of their 
work in school was given up to non-essential things; 
that is, things which they were quickly forced to for¬ 
get in the struggle for a living which most of us pass 
into when we leave the schoolroom. AVheii people 
tell us about the splendid and costly equipment of the 
modern school house, anil the great number of studies, 
somehow we do not feel greatly impressed. We 
think a child would be as well off with a thorough 
groundwork in English, a practical knowledge of 
arithmetic, and what we call the dictionary habit; 
that is, the fixed habit of hunting up definitions and 
needed information. Such a child will go on and 
educate himself in all useful and needful things. 
He will usually do it better than if he were encum¬ 
bered or entangled, with the red tape of modern 
education. 
* 
T HERE are a few city daily papers who seem 
willing to discuss farm economics fairly. Most 
of the daily papers seem to think that they have 
only one duty; that is. to defend city practices and 
city prices, no matter whether they are right or 
wrong. It is a popular thing to attribute all the 
nation’s evils to the farmers. Should there be an 
epidemic of disease—the farm sent unhealthful food! 
If retail prices of food are high—the farmer is a 
robber. Practically everything which is regarded 
by city people as calamities are credited to the 
farmer. This has become a form of propaganda 
which is doing great injury to farmers by fostering 
discontent and hatred. It is therefore a great pleas¬ 
ure to see a paper like the Newark (N. .T.) News 
printing a strong editorial on the middleman. This 
paper says that the stage is being set for the middle¬ 
man's elimination, and that the said middleman is 
responsible for his own troubles. He lias tried to 
hog both ends and the middle, too. The fact is that 
there must always be someone to act the part of 
middleman. He has an honest and important place 
in trade. AVhat is going to happen in the near 
future is a cutting out of the useless middlemen. 
Just about half of them today serve no useful pur¬ 
pose. and they will have to go. A few papers like 
the Newark Xcivs see this and have the courage to 
say so. 
M OST of us at one time or another, when si well¬ 
ing along the road, have suddenly discovered 
that the gasoline was low. In the old days when we 
drove old Jack or Gray it did not seem to matter so 
much if the horse was hungry. The faithful brute 
■wont on and brought us home. The car is a selfish 
master. We feed it or we stay right where we are. 
llow often we have driven up to some wayside sta¬ 
tion and watched the garage man pumping the gaso¬ 
line into the tank. It is all invisible. AA T e may hear 
the liquid running in. but that is all we do know 
about it. There is no way of telling whether we get 
good measure or whether it is short AA r e pay and 
go on. often wondering how much we really got. The 
New York Director of AA r eights and Measures has 
been trying to find out. He made 100 such purchases 
in various parts of the State. Of these 45 were 
short, from a half a pint to a gallon in a three-gallon 
purchase. Twenty-three were correct and 32 ran 
over the amount paid for, the over run being one- 
half pint or less. It was also found that prices for 
gasoline run from 21 to 33 cents per gallon. Most 
of the pumping devices now in use are right in prin¬ 
ciple; it seems to he lack of principle on the part of 
pumpers that causes the trouble. AA'e concluded 
some time ago that this was a case where “ire have 
got to do it ourselves.” So we buy gasoline by the 
barrel and drive past the pumping stations. 
W ELL, how would you like to take such a trip 
as Mr. Berrang tells about this week? The 
ox-team express moves about 10 miles a day. and 
misses a number of days at that. You see that what 
the car drivers call a good road does not give the 
December 10, 1021 
oxen much of a footing. Two years on the California 
trail! It Would at least give you a fine chance to 
become acquainted with your wife and family. If 
the wife still considers you something of a hero, do 
you think you could maintain such a reputation all 
through this trip? AVe understand that the Ber- 
rangs are not forced to travel in this way. They 
are filled with an adventurous spirit which finds 
expression behind an ox team. They are quite able 
to afford a car if they cared for one. At any rate, 
they are having a good time, and the most wealthy 
reader of The R. N.-Y. may well envy their ability 
to find happiness in humble things. 
W ILL the disarmament conference ever amount 
to anything? Thousands of Americans have 
begun to ask that question. When Secretary Hughes 
broke all the old precedents of “diplomacy” and 
stated openly and bluntly what America proposed, 
we all somehow expected that the other nations, 
weary of war, would immediately agree. Instead of 
that, the conference seems to have come to a stand¬ 
still. The Chinese delegates have done too much 
talking, and the Japanese have done too little. This 
means that the “Far Eastern question” has upset 
the original program. Japan insists upon a larger 
navy than Secretary Hughes suggested, while France 
refuses to cut her army severely while the German 
menace continues! We never did expect that the 
nations would agree to abandon all preparations for 
war. While human nature remains as it is, such 
dreams are impossible. Wo still believe, however, 
that before the conference ends some substantial 
gain for world’s peace will be made. AVe rejoice 
that America made the original proposition in good 
faith and with emphasis. A substantial cut in the 
world’s navies, and especially in submarines, will be 
the most practical• means of preventing war. This 
country is now the richest, strongest and most secure 
nation on earth. In the end she will have her way. 
We must remember, too. that some settlement of the 
“Eastern problem,' or the difference between China 
and Japan, will go far to prevent future wars. We 
feel hopeful that something practical will result 
from this conference. 
M ANY of our dairymen friends will be in New 
York City next week to attend the annual meet¬ 
ing of the Dairymen’s League. This year the meet¬ 
ing will be held on December 13, in Jersey City, just 
across the river from New York. We extend a cor¬ 
dial invitation to each and every one of the members 
to visit us at the publishing office, 333 West 30th 
Street. It is within a block of the Pennsylvania 
Terminal and the new general postoffice. The 
presses will he running, and our friends will have an 
opportunity to see just how the mechanical work is 
done. We may be able to furnish information to 
save time, and we shall be glad of au. opportunity to 
help in any way to make your visit to the city pleas¬ 
ant and profitable. It will be a great personal pleas¬ 
ure for us to see any of our friends who may honor 
us with a call. 
Brevities 
Men who lie down on the job will soon be lying about 
the job. 
Some pigs were merely born to eat, while others live 
to make good meat. 
Burning corn in a poor stove or in a scrub animal 
is much the same thing. 
Can you beat it? What? Your wife’s carpet, and 
wear a smile when she says: “A little more on the 
under side !” 
Now they tell us that honey contains vitamines, the 
only commercial sweet which does carry these growth 
elements. 
AVe have many letters about that case of the typhoid 
carrier, stated on page 1371. AVe hope something worth 
while will come from this. 
The Government is trying to have the interest on 
postal savings raised from two to three per cent. The 
bankers oppose it. though it would probably bring out 
of hiding considerable money which the banks never can 
fret 
AVhere one -signs a contract or other instrument with¬ 
out knowing the contents, there is usually no relief 
unless fraud or duress can be proven. Iu case the eye¬ 
sight is so bad as to make reading impossible, there 
might be an exception, but in general whatever a man 
signs he must stand for. 
The following advice about telling the age of cattle 
comes from the Ohio College: “On the horns, count 
the ‘annual rings’ and add two. In the mouth, one pair 
of permanent teeth, upper and lower, indicates IN 
months of age; two pairs. 27 months: threp pairs. 36 
months, and four pairs, 45 months. It will be noted 
that each pair of permanent teeth comes nine months 
after the other,” 
