He RURAL NEW-YORKER 63 
Some Provisions of Pool Milk Contract Illegal 
Last week the Appellate Division of 
the Supreme Court, fourth department, 
handed down a decision at Rochester, 
N. Y., reversing the decision of the trial 
court in the case of the Dairymen’s 
League Co-operative Association against 
Holmes Brothers of Afton, N. Y., and 
directed a judgment for counter claim 
against the association and in favor of 
Holmes Brothers for $377.23, with in¬ 
terest and costs of both trials. 
The case grew out of an arrangement 
by which George Holmes authorized an 
agent of the League to sign the pooling 
contract for him as well as an order to 
direct payment for milk to be paid to 
the League. The provisions of the con¬ 
tract were called to Mr. Holmes’ atten¬ 
tion and he delivered milk for nearly .1 
year and received pay for it from the 
League. . He then discontinued deliver¬ 
ing milk to the League. This was about 
the middle of April, 1922. The court 
held that under these circumstances, the 
agreement, if valid in its terms, was 
binding; it held also that Holmes Broth¬ 
ers violated the agreement in insisting 
on delivering the milk elsewhere. 
The court also denied the contention 
of the defendants that the contract was 
void because there was no compensation 
to the defendants. It held that the com¬ 
pensation was implied. 
While Holmes Brothers virtually 
signed the pool contract they claimed to 
be non-member of the association. The 
plaintiff did not deny it, and the court 
held that the facts sustained the claim 
of Holmes. The court reviews the de¬ 
ductions provided for in the tenth clause 
of the contract at considerable length, 
and holds that the deductions for certi¬ 
ficates of indebtedness are loans without 
period of repayment or assurances of 
fair interest, and as such are disguised 
payments for services of the association, 
and illegal. 
The provision of the contract for de¬ 
duction for which certificates are issued 
is also held to be invalid because there 
Sheffield Farms group had increased 
their price 5 cents per 100 lbs. over 
December to $2.63 for “all milk.” Under 
the “all milk” terms the dealer takes all 
the milk produced and takes care of the 
surplus if any. 
All the dealers that we have been able 
to reach say the reduction was entirety 
unexpected by them. They say there was 
no more surplus than usual between 
stick or flail, or in some cases the heads 
are fed into a thrashing machine, which 
separates the seeds and tears up the head. 
The seeds must be thoroughly dried be¬ 
fore they are bagged or put into a pile. 
The process is difficult in our climate, and 
where they are to be fed to chickens it is 
probably more economical to throw the 
heads into the chicken yard and let the 
birds help themselves. It is not probable 
that any profit could be made curing sun¬ 
lines tight.” He said “back up,” and 
she plunged back in great swiftness, and 
from that time on I never had any more 
difficulty in making her back. 
Many horses considered balky are all 
right if left unchecked when drawing a 
load or climbing a hill. r. p. e. 
New York. 
Christmas and New Years and for a few 
days after the first of the new year. They flower seeds on the Atlantic coast 
say that the reduction was unnecessary __ 
and ill-advised as far as the city trade 
is concerned. But the dealers have no 
appearance of worry. 
The League briefly stated that: “There 
is a surplus of milk in New York City, 
and the reduction in the producers’ 
price is the result of a prompt response 
Making a Horse “Back” 
Having had several years’ experience 
in calling on farmers, I met with some 
who had horses that they could never 
teach to back up one foot; they would 
Ownership of Bee Tree 
Will you inform me of the New York 
State law in regard to cutting down a bee 
tree on another man’s property? s. H. m. 
Susquehanna, Pa. 
It has long been the custom to consider 
the finder of a bee tree in the woods the 
rightful owner of its contents. This is a 
custom that dates from a time when 
woods were more extensive and less valu¬ 
able than now. Custom does not make 
mand.” 
throw their heads from one side to the . _ __ 
on the part of this organization to the other and would do anything but back up, f. tatute ,aw ’ however, and entering upon 
working of the laws of supply and de- and the farmer would hammer and jerk wU 1 /out 1 ’p erm? L?o!i° f 'is'tmjpa s s?and pan¬ 
tile poor dumb animals to make them do ishable as such. Just what punishment 
Bordens Company, whidh denied any it. One farmer told me he would give a court would mete out. in case of prose¬ 
cution, is problematical. It would prob¬ 
ably depend upon the value of the proper¬ 
ty injured and other circumstances in the 
case. My recollection of a case of the 
kind, tried not long ago in Central New 
York, is that the man entering upon the 
property of another to cut a bee tree, 
after having been forbidden to do so, was 
fined $3 by the court. Bees are wild 
game, when astray, but a tree belongs to 
the owner of the land upon which it 
stands, and is not subject to damage at 
the hands of another. Better not cut a 
bee tree without permission, unless very 
sure that the owner would not object. 
M. B. t>. 
was no meeting of minds upon the es-. The Jersey cow here shown is St. Mawes Lad’s Lady 451568. In her second yearly 
’ test, recently completed, starting at four years two months, she produced 15,729 
lbs. milk and 1,032.97 lbs. butterfat. 
sential points of amount, duration and 
interest. 
The court also holds that the deduc¬ 
tion provided in the contract for sub¬ 
scriptions for Dairymen's League News 
is unauthorized by the statute and illegal. 
The provision of the contract in re¬ 
lation to “stipulated damages” is con¬ 
strued by the court as providing for a 
penalty, and unenforceable. This as 
probably the most embarrassing part of 
the decision to the association, as it 
permits dairymen who signed the pool 
contract to withdraw their milk at any 
time without penlaty. For one reason 
or another some dairymen withdrew their 
milk from the League and sold it else¬ 
where in violation of the contract as 
Holmes Brothers did. In many such 
cases the League refused to pay for milk 
delivered by such dairymen during the 
month preceding the withdrawal on the 
ground that the dairymen were subject 
to penalty. Suits are pending against the 
League on these withheld claims. Under 
the above decision holding the penalties 
unlawful it would seem that the claims 
would have to be paid. In other States, 
however, penalty clauses have been sus¬ 
tained and further litigation may be 
necessary finally to settle the status of 
penalty clauses generally. If the de¬ 
cision in this case stands, it need not be 
fatal to co-operation. It may strengthen 
co-operation, if it has the effect of com¬ 
pelling co-operative management to 
rely on service to the individual 
as a means of retaining his membership. 
previous knowledge of the reduction 
promptly declared a reduction to con¬ 
sumers. Their price now is for Grade 
A, 17c a quart; Grade B, 14c a quart; 
Grade B, 7c a pint. 
No other reductions had been made oa 
January 5, but the other groups were 
expected as a matter of necessity to re¬ 
vise prices downward to cope with the 
new conditions. 
If the purpose of farm leadership is 
to ruin one-half the dairymen of the 
State and cripple the other half, this 
policy is understandable. The only 
other rational conclusion is that they 
have gone stark mad. 
January Milk Prices 
On January 4, the Dairymen’s League 
Co-operative Association announced a re¬ 
duction of 47 cents per 100 lbs. on Class 
1 milk to take effect on January 7. 
It had previously made the price for 
January the same as for December ex¬ 
cept that Class 3 has been reduced 5c 
per 100 lbs. from $2.15 to $2.10. Class 
1 remains at $2.80. 
The Non-pool Association prices were 
made the same as for December, $2.55 
for “all milk.” 
Curing Sunflower Heads 
It is rather late in the season to talk 
about curing and handling sunflowers, 
yet, strange as it may seem, we are con¬ 
stantly getting letters about it. It is dif¬ 
ficult to cure sunflower seed perfectly 
along the Atlantic coast, as the damp air 
during the Fall is bad for the process. 
The most successful sunflower growing is 
done in dry climates. On the Western 
plains large quantities of sunflowers are 
grown, both for the seed and also to .>e 
used mixed with corn in the silo. In the 
East, where one has a patch of sunflow¬ 
ers to cure, the best plan is to take a 
dry sunny day and cut off the heads with 
a sharp knife or sickle, leaving a stem 
about a foot long as a convenient handle. 
These heads are thrown into a wagon 
box and hauled to a shed or building 
where it is possible to make the racks or 
bins along the side. These bins are made 
with a slatted bottom, so as to let the air 
circulate freely around the sunflower 
heads. Not over 18 in. deep of these 
heads should be put in one bin or rack. 
The point is to have the heads separated 
so that the air will work up through the 
mass. In this way the heads are slow’y 
dried out. The seed contains considera¬ 
ble oil, and is difficult to dry in any damp 
place. After the heads are dried in this 
way the seed is beaten out with a heavy 
anyone $25 that could teach his horse to 
back. I made a swap with a farmer for 
a six-year-old mare. I had her for a 
short time when I discovered she would 
not back up one foot. I happened to meet 
a band of gypsies on the road, and they 
wanted to swap with me, but having had 
a little previous experience with the 
swapping game, they could not persuade 
me to dicker. When they discovered that 
they could not hook me in on a kicker or 
something, one of the gang said to me, “I 
will teach your horse to back up in five 
minutes for a sawbuck” (meaning a $10 
bill). I said, “How do you get that way? 
You couldn’t do it. Another thing, $2 a 
minute is too much. I’ll make it $1 a 
minute if you can teach her in this time little pig is so treated, it is best, perhaps, 
to back.” He insisted on having the to repeat the treatment when it becomes 
Hog Cholera 
We have lost 18 pigs, old and young, 
with cholera. The veterinarian tells us 
we must not keep pigs on the same 
ground for two years. Is there a breed 
that is cholera proof? ir. m. b. 
Hog cholera is no respecter of breeds, 
although it used to be claimed that the 
mule-footed hog was immune. That is 
not the case. The disease attacks swine 
of all breeds, kinds and ages, unless they 
have been artificially immunized by vac¬ 
cination. There is no need for you to be 
without hogs on the farm. You can buy 
immune sows with pig and start another 
herd of hogs. The sows may be immune 
by having had cholera and recovered from 
the disease. Such sows, while proof 
against cholera, sometimes have weak lit¬ 
ters following the attack from which they 
recovered. The second litter should be 
normal, if the sows are well fed and 
cared for. It would be better still to buy 
sows that have been artificially im¬ 
munized by being given the double or si¬ 
multaneous vaccination treatment. That 
consists in an injection of the blood se¬ 
rum of a hog that has been made intense¬ 
ly immune, or hyperimmune, as it is 
called, and an injection at the same time 
of some virus from an affected hog. That 
form of vaccination confers active or last¬ 
ing if not permanent immunity. When a 
money in advance. I couldn’t see it that 
way, and told him my word was good, 
and if I failed to make good they could 
all take a punch at me. He puffed hard 
on his cigarette, rolling his eyes from un¬ 
der his slouch hat, said in a low voice, 
“Get in the wagon; now, when I say 
back don’t jerk, but pull hard on the 
reins, and do it as soon as I say back 
up.” I picked up the reins and waited 
with ears and mouth wide open to see 
what this human animal was going to do. 
Finally he said, “Hold the reins fairly 
tight and get ready and keep them tight, 
and pull hard every time I say back up, 
for I will say back up five times, and 
after this your horse will always back 
without any more trouble.” He then 
placed his thumb tightly on the mare's 
chest in the center of the breast about 
three inches below the collar, shutting 
his hand tightly, and with his thumb 
sticking out he ran his thumb in the 
breast as hard as he could and in the 
meantime repeating the words “back up.” 
Each time I pulled hard on the reins, and 
mature, if it is to be kept' for breeding 
purposes, although it might be quite like¬ 
ly to escape an attack if exposed to the 
disease. The second vaccination is mere¬ 
ly to “make assurance doubly sure.” Have 
the work done by a qualified veterinarian. 
Before introducing even vaccinated hogs 
we should advise perfectly cleansing, dis¬ 
infecting and whitewashing the infected 
houses. As a distinfectant use a mix¬ 
ture of one part of compound cresol solu¬ 
tion and 30 parts of water, or one part of 
coal tar disinfectant and 20 parts of wa¬ 
ter. Also mix 1 lb. of fresh chloride of 
lime with each three gallons of freshly 
made limewash. Flood it on the floors 
as well as spraying it upon the wrnlls and 
ceiling. Also plow and crop all old hog 
yards and paddocks or. pastures. It 
would, indeed, be better to provide entire¬ 
ly new quarters for the new hogs. If the 
sows are immunized their pigs will be 
immune for a short time after farrowing, 
but they should soon be vaccinated by the 
veterinarian to insure them against at¬ 
tack. Where it is merely desired to give 
the mare, to my surprise, backed up five hogs passive or temporary immunity from 
times, throwing back her ears and shak- hog cholera, serum alone may be inject¬ 
ing her head. Then he said, “I will say ed; but the double vaccination always 
back up without poking her in the breast, should be done when cholera has ben pres¬ 
and watch her back if you pull on the ent on the premises. 
