January 26, 1924 
136 
The Rural New-Yorker 
THE BUSINESS FARMER'S PAPER 
A National Weekly Journal tor Country and Suburban Homes 
Established 18Z0 
Published weekly by the Rural Publishing Company, 3S3 « est 30th Street, New lorli 
Herbert W. Colungwood, President and Editor. 
John J. Dillon, Treasurer and General Manager. „ 
Vm F. Dillon, Secretary. M RS - E - T - RoYLE , Associate Editor. 
’ l. H. Murphy, Ci rculation Manager. __ 
SUBSCRIPTION : ONE DOLLAR A YEAR 
To foreign countries in the Universal Postal Union, $2.01. Remit in money 
order, express order, personal check 01 bank diaft. 
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 ■ 
reliable houses only. But to make doubly sure, we will make good any loss 
to* * paid subscribers sustained by trusting any deliberate swindler, 
‘-ihle advertisers or misleading advertisements in our columns, and any 
such swindler will be publicly exposed. We are also often cal)ed upon 
to adiust 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. 
T HE New York State Horticultural Society, in 
its annual meeting at Rochester, endorsed the 
proposed school conference at Syracuse on January 
Mist, and urged selection of delegates and fullest 
possible attendance. In addition to the call on the 
next page, we urge all our readers who can do so 
to attend this conference. This is the way to settle 
our great public questions. We must take them into 
our own hands before they are fastened to us by 
others. It is very important to hold county meet¬ 
ings and elect delegates, but in any event come to 
Syracuse, if possible. 
* 
F OR the past dozen years the great Winter event 
in agricultural matters has been “Farmers’ 
Week” at Cornell University. The agricultural col¬ 
lege opens its doors wide and asks the country peo¬ 
ple of the State to come and look it over. And they 
come from all over—men and women who are inter¬ 
ested in teaching and practicing farming. From 
Monday to Saturday every hour of the week is filled 
with lectures, demonstrations or entertainment The 
organization is complete and anyone may select the 
things interested in and carry them through. The 
attendance usually runs into the thousands. You 
will find farmers from Long Island and from Niag¬ 
ara County—and all counties between—all interested 
and willing to talk and relate their experiences. The 
social features of these meetings are no less valuable 
than the lectures. The “week” this year will he 
celebrated Feb. 11 to .16. A good program, including 
an address by Secretary of Agriculture Wallace, has 
been arranged, and you will see all the notables of 
New York agriculture. 
* 
A JUDGE iu New York has resigned because he 
says he cannot raise a large family properly on 
$17,500 a year! That brings up the old question of 
how much it costs to raise a child up to the point of 
self-support. Some children never seem to reach 
that point, but usually the cost of raising a child in 
the city is twice or three times that in the country. 
Many a farmer has paid for his farm, gained a fair 
competency and raised a good-sized family out of a 
yearly income averaging not over $1,500 per year, 
and those children will make stronger and better 
citizens than the children of the $17,500 judge! It 
is true, however, that in these days when city styles 
and habits are crowding upon us, the cost of raising 
a child is doubled. But if a judge cannot at least 
come out even on $17,500, he can hardly be expected 
to give out even-handed justice. If the judges get 
their salary raised to $25,000 it will all finally come 
out of the producers. 
* 
T HOSE of our readers who have followed Mr. 
and Mrs. J. C. Berrang on their transcontinen¬ 
tal trip in the ox-team express will be interested to 
know that these worthy people are on the last lap of 
their journey. They are now proceeding through 
Oregon—going down the slope to the Pacific. It has 
been a long journey, hut not particularly tiresome or 
hard. The Berrangs have "taken it easy,” stopping 
as they pleased and going on at will. They carry a 
portable radio outfit with them, and after supper, at 
night, they can if they like sit and listen to music or 
speech carried hundreds of miles to them. There, 
in the solitude of mountain or plain, far from hu¬ 
man hands, far from the lights of home, they are not 
alone. America is theirs, for out of the air comes 
the sound of the human voice with song, and laugh¬ 
ter, and wisdom. And, best of all, the Berrangs 
have found each other—they make good company. 
Let us ask many a busy man of today how he would 
fare if compelled to travel by ox team across the 
The RURAL NEW-YORKER 
country, something like 900 consecutive days, with 
no companion but his wife or child! Many a man 
passes on through all his working years without ever 
becoming acquainted with his wife. What would 
happen to them in the monotony of the ox-team ex¬ 
press? The future of the world depends on the 
thought of what we call society. That depends on 
the children who are the citizens of the future. They 
depend on the home. That rests upon the acquaint¬ 
ance between husband and wife. Take your own 
case. Would it stand three years on the ox-team 
express? 
* 
T HE new Cortland apple will be offered for sale 
this year. We consider this about the most 
promising variety of recent introduction. With near¬ 
ly or quite the quality and appearance of McIntosh, 
it is about a month later, and has the strong, hang- 
on quality of one of its parents, Ben Davis. W hile 
old Ben may not be considered good eating, he may 
give his children a vigor which will enable them to 
present their mother's fine qualities. No one can 
monopolize Cortland. It has been given freely to the 
public. The thing to make sure about is that the 
trees you buy are true. Thousands of Wolf River 
have been sold for McIntosh in the past, for the 
young trees are much alike in appearance. There 
are a few nurserymen who are able to guarantee 
Cortland. We would take no chances on cheap 
trees. 
* 
W E come early this year with our annual re¬ 
marks about Alsike clover. The price of Red 
clover seed promises to be high this year, and while 
Alsike is also high, the seed will, in most cases, be a 
better investment than Red. Alsike has many good 
qualities. It is smaller than Red, but it makes a 
finer and more palatable hay. It stays in the soil 
longer than Red, especially when cut early—before 
seed is formed. The seed is smaller; less is required 
to the acre. Its great value lies in the fact that it 
will make a good growth on land too sour and wet 
to produce Red clover. We have wet, undrained land 
where Alsike cuts close to two tons per acre, while 
Red would show only a few scattered plants. On 
many a farm where small fortunes have been vainly 
spent trying to coax Alfalfa into life, Alsike would, 
with little expense, give a good supply of the finest 
hay. Even when seeding Red clover we put in a lit¬ 
tle Alsike seed, for we know there are always many 
sour spots even when a field is limed. The Alsike 
thrives on these spots, and makes a full stand. The 
stalks are fine and work in with the Red clover with¬ 
out damage. By all means, use some Alsike seed. 
* 
T HE proponents of the school bill claim that this 
measure, once in force, will bring people to the 
country and repopulate some or many of the unoccu¬ 
pied farms. That is what we understand them to 
say, though we have never been able to see quite the 
logic "of this argument. Now comes S. J. Lowed, 
past Master of both the New Y’ork and National 
Granges, claiming that if the bill becomes a law, 
within 10 years one-third of the farms in the State 
will he abandoned. Who is right? The people who 
live in the country districts are evidently with Mr. 
Lowell in this matter. They say that when children 
must be sent out of the district to some central school 
the tendency will he for parents to follow them—not 
for town people to separate from their children. 
These people say that when newcomers appear, hunt¬ 
ing for farms, one of the first questions asked is, 
"How near is the school?” If there is no local school 
and the newcomers have families, the sale is "off’ 
at once if the school is too far away. It does not 
seem reasonable that people will move out to farms 
where their children must be carried away several 
miles to school. Mr. Lowell certainly ought to know 
the conditions in rural New York. We do not know 
of anyone connected with the Committee of Twenty- 
one who is better qualified to give an opinion on this 
subject. We agree .with him that if the rural schools 
are taken away population will go with them, and 
the opportunity of sending children' far away to 
school will prove no inducement to new settlers. 
tors sit up nights reading and studying every bill 
that comes before them. It would break something 
of their faith to learn that their trusted servants do 
not even read the bills which mean so much to rural 
people. There is one very safe bet, however, and 
that is The R. N.-Y. will keep these names before the 
people while the school question is on. Some very 
strange tales from the hills of New York reach us at 
times. One farmer tells us that he went to his Sena¬ 
tor and asked him about the daylight saving bill. 
The Senator told him that no such bill had been pre¬ 
sented. The farmer got the record and showed 
where the bill had been defeated. The Senator knew 
nothing about it! In another case an Assemblyman 
was urged to vote for a certain bill. When it came 
up he ran out of the chamber and hid in the lobby. 
Then he explained to his people that he was very ill 
when the bill came up. In still another case a bill 
which was of interest to farmers came up and would 
have gone through under the rule of unanimous con¬ 
sent. A certain member promised faithfully that he 
would not object. What he did was to sneak around 
and get some member from New York (who knew 
nothing about it) to object, and thus kill the bill! 
We shall find that most of these gentlemen at Albany 
need watching, and one of the greatest things about 
this school bill discussion is the fact that country 
people are coming to understand how the laws are 
made. A hand-picked man usually follows machine 
methods. 
* 
T WO weeks ago a woman told why she wanted to 
send her children to a consolidated school. She 
has stirred up a hornet’s nest, as wfe see on page 128. 
It seems to us very clear that this woman is not a 
taxpayer, and that she is dragging a good farmer 
away from the land—back to the small surroundings 
and petty life of some little village. We suspect 
that part of her reasdn for leaving the country is a 
craving for the poor excitement of town life. And 
we doubt if the boy will have any stronger founda¬ 
tion of education in the average village school in the 
complaining home which this woman seems capable 
of making. If such a woman, instead of demanding 
the moon, would join with other women and try to 
improve the local school she would get far more out 
of public education. We think our contented farm 
women are well able to handle this case. 
❖ 
W E deeply regret to learn of the death of our 
old friend of many years—John Gould, of 
Ohio. The younger members of the present genera¬ 
tion knew little of Mr. Gould, but 25 and 30 years 
ago his name was a household word among those 
who attended the old farmers’ institutes or dairy 
meetings. These were the pioneer days of agricul¬ 
tural education—long before such education had be- 
■corne scientific or highly ox*ganized. It was the time 
when plain, simple, direct men like T. B. Terry, 
Dr. Chamberlain, Col. F. D. Curtis, J. S. Woodward, 
Gov. W. D. Hoard, Prof. I. P. Roberts, and John 
Gould were the real leaders of agricultural thought. 
They were not polished men—most of them were not 
college-trained. They did not have what modern¬ 
ists call the scientific mind, but they had more use¬ 
ful qualities of plain horse sense, kindly good nature 
and full understanding of country life and its needs. 
They did a great work. They were true pioneers. 
But for what they did in their plain, homely way 
our present system of agricultural education would 
have been impossible. And John Gould tvas a 
striking figure among these old heroes. His talks 
were witty and plain and full of homely illustra¬ 
tions. He told us once that he could always make 
good butter, and he won his start on the platform 
by telling how to do it so that others could under¬ 
stand his language. John Gould wandered far at 
institute work—from Maine to California, and from 
Minnesota to Tennessee he went on his way, always 
cheerful, always with a smile, always seeing a bet¬ 
ter day for farmers dawning in the future. A kindly, 
hopeful, useful man was John Gould, a member of 
the faithful old guard who nursed agricultural 
science in her infancy and directed her youth. 
The world has gone rushing by these old veterans, 
but as John Gould passed off the stage we may well 
stop in the bustle and roar of life to remember what 
the little group to which he belonged did for us, and 
the farming of today. 
I have read The R. N.-Y.’s list of 19 New York State 
Senators who voted for the Twenty-one school bill last 
Winter. 1 will bet a big red apple that none of them 
ever read the bill. x - 
I T happens that X. is fully responsible, and is in a 
position where he can see these Senators every day 
during the session. He is good for any number of 
“big red apples,” yet we hope he will lose the bet, 
Most of our country people feel sure that their Sena- 
Brevities 
Advancing prices are reported from London and 
New Zealand wool auctions. 
You will find some helpful advice in that conference 
on cracked hands, page 128. 
It is not too early to study the seed catalogues. Be 
sure to plan for a succession of sweet corn. 
Properly pruned vines are an important factor in 
the grape crop. 
