322 
February 23, 1924 
The Rural New-Yorker 
THE BUSINESS FARMER'S TAPER 
A National Weekly Journal l'or Country and Suburban Homes 
Established ISSO 
Published weekly by the Rural Publishing Company. 333 " esl 30lb Street, New Vork 
Herbert W. Collingwood, President and Editor. 
John J. Dillon, Treasurer and General Manager. 
Wm F. Dillon, Secretary. * Mrs. E. T. Hoyle, Associate Editor. 
E. H. Murphy, Circulation Mana ger. __ 
SUBSCRIPTION : ONE DOLLAR A YEAR 
To foreign countries in the Universal Postal Union. $2.04. Remit in money 
order, express order, personal check or bank dralt. 
Entered at New York Post Oflice as Second Class Matter. 
Advertising rates, *1.00 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 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 
ollices 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 IIE writer lias been connected with The Rural 
New-Yorker for nearly 40 years. During that 
period we have seen many things drift down along 
the stream of time. They have been grave and gay, 
foolish and wise, stupid and intelligent, charitable 
or selfish—a curious procession of the representa¬ 
tions of human emotions. During these long years 
we have .seen pass before us the full list of ridicule 
and contempt which addle-pated specimens of small 
town and small-witted simpletons have poured at 
farmers. We have seen it all, but, looking back 
carefully, we think the most stupid and malignant 
insult of all is contained in the article on page 305 
which we reprint from the Cattaraugus County Farm 
Bureau News. As an insult to farm intelligence, un¬ 
der the circumstances, that takes the leather medal 
and it ought to be applied with a strap. And from 
the official Farm Bureau organ, at that that! Those 
who have seen Shakespeare’s play of Julius ( ;esai 
properly acted have looked upon the most pow erful 
delineation of human emotions that the stage, can 
present. The climax comes in the great scene where 
the dying Caesar sees his old friend Brutus approach¬ 
ing to stab him with the rest. As the dj ing man 
sees the friend for whom he has done so much join¬ 
ing the other assassins, dagger in hand, a look of un¬ 
utterable sorrow passes over his face, and he puts it 
all in four words: 
“And tli on, too, Brut us!” 
And the New York farmer, harassed and puz¬ 
zled, over-taxed and under-protected, feels the same 
way. These school meetings were more than a pro¬ 
test over the school bill. They gave expression to .an 
instinctive feeling that some of their friends had 
failed to stand by them, and that they must come 
together for protection. A wise and brate leadci- 
sliip would have seen this, and would have risen to 
the occasion. Instead of that, the farmer, in liis 
struggle to express his feelings honestly, sees an 
official of the Farm Bureau coming with clumsy wit, 
vainly seeking to hide the dagger of ridicule. No 
wonder the farmer, like Ctesar, looks at the sup¬ 
posed friend, for whom he has done so much, and 
gives utterance to his thought: 
■ Ami thou, too, Brutus!” 
* 
E VERY year the curious facts about common sor¬ 
rel and lime come up for discussion. It is com¬ 
mon belief that a heavy growth of sorrel indicates a 
sour soil. Some people go so far as to say that sor¬ 
rel cannot iive and thrive where there is an abun¬ 
dance of lime. This is not so, the proof being that 
sorrel is often found growing at the edge of lime¬ 
kilns. or where lime or wood ashes have been scat¬ 
tered. Sorrel requires considerable lime for its 
growth, and some farmers have observed the curious 
fact that soil too sour to grow clover will produce a 
mat of sorrel, thoroughly acid to the taste. Yet 
sometimes when this growth of sorrel is plowed into 
the soil and well decayed, that same soil will pro¬ 
duce quite a little clover. This has been observed by 
farmers, and they have been puzzled by this seeming 
inconsistency. The explanation is easy when we 
consider the nature of sorrel. It needs considerable 
lime for full growth and has the power of extract¬ 
ing lime from combinations in the soil which clover 
and similar plants could not break up. In the sorrel 
this lime takes the form of an oxylate, an acid sub¬ 
stance or form of lime which could not feed the lime- 
loving plants. When the sorrel is plowed into the 
soil and decays, this oxylate of lime breaks up and 
carbonate is formed—this carbonate being the form 
most useful as a fertilizer or soil improver. Thus 
sorrel may grow and utilize the lime in soils so sour 
that other plants could not thrive. In this way the 
W* RURAL NEW-YORKER 
sorrel takes up lime even from aii acid soil, and on 
decaying turns that useless lime into a useful form, 
so that the soil is actually sweetened to some extent. 
This is one of the most curious things in the chem¬ 
istry of soils and may partly account for the strange 
“comeback” of some “wornout” lands. 
* 
T HE proponents of the school bill either have 
facts from experience to justify their theories, 
or they have none. Where are the sections in this 
country where the proposed plan has been tried out 
under conditions which lit those of New York .State? 
Name the sections, so that they can be carefully in¬ 
vestigated before we plunge into a revolutionary 
system. Are the school men prepared to prove their 
theory by actual experience, or are they merely ask¬ 
ing us to adopt this new plan because the educators 
and experts favor it? Farmers are sometimes ad¬ 
vised to jump into some new plan of growing crops, 
or to invest heavily in some new variety. Wise 
farmers know better than that. They stick to the 
old plans until the new ones have been fully demon¬ 
strated. Of course they know many of the old 
ones should be improved, but they must be shown by 
actual results that the proposed plan is practical. 
The agricultural college does not attempt to rush 
farmers into trying new fads and theories just be¬ 
cause the scientilic experts think it is right! Why, 
then, attempt to rush these same farmers into the 
far more important thing of turning the school sys¬ 
tem inside out, without giving actual facts from 
experience to prove their case? To illustrate: Years 
ago, when fruit growers were hunting about in the 
dark for some method of killing the scale, lime-sul- 
pliur was suggested. The idea seemed plausible, but 
did the scientists try to rush us into using it, the 
same as the manufacturers did? 
No; they said: “Give us more money and let us ex¬ 
periment further before we are sure!” 
Now, why do not the school men act on that prin¬ 
ciple? They offer us a theory without proof from 
experience, and attempt to jam it upon the people! 
Why are they unwilling to let their theory stand or 
fall as a result of giving it a fair trial in a few 
typical counties? Good lawyers tell us that can be 
done under the present law, or with a few slight 
changes. 
* 
C ONGRESS has killed, for this session, the move¬ 
ment to compel all bondholders to pay income 
tax. At present many State and municipal bonds, 
as well as some government issues, are tax-exempt. 
We think this is unfair to property holders who are 
compelled to pay taxes. Many people are packing a 
good share of their money away in these tax-exempt 
bonds for the purpose of hiding their income and 
evading their fair share of taxes. The reasonable 
way is to compel all property to pay its share, so 
long as our present system is to be carried out. By 
exempting certain forms of securities, a form of 
special privilege is granted them, and this privilege 
is often used to the disadvantage of farmers and 
country people. One of the greatest causes of the 
ruinous taxes is the crazy way in which cities, 
States and other divisions of population have been 
rushing into “improvements.” Congress voted against 
an amendment to prohibit these tax-exempt bonds. 
They will still continue to be poured out, and citizens 
will groan for years in an effort to pay interest and 
principle. One curious thing is that farmers are 
invited to buy these bonds and thus help build up 
the city at the expense of the country. It would be 
far more sensible to put these investments into farm 
banks, after the plan of the labor unions, and use the 
money for financing agriculture. 
T HERE is a strong movement to start a cam¬ 
paign for more Sweet clover in New York 
State. There are some sections where this plant is 
called a “weed”—as much to be avoided as ragweed 
or wild carrot. Yet there are other places, not far 
distant, where Sweet clover, if it could be grown in 
full crops, would come as a beneficent gift from 
Nature. One thing must be remembered—the Sweet 
clover is a lime-loving plant, and it will not thrive 
on sour soils or on many of the old hills of- New 
York State unless heavy doses of lime are used. For 
some reason the New York farmer has not responded 
freely to the long urge for him to buy and use lime. 
Large quantities are handled, but not 10 per cent' of 
the amount needed if Alfalfa and Sweet clover are 
to become general over the State. The Sweet clover 
boomers are engaged in a great work, but they must 
remember that the heavy use of lime will be the 
measure of their success. If we could get more of 
our old hill pastures into Sweet clover it would be a 
fine thing for New York dairying, but unless farm¬ 
ers are prepared to use limestone freely, Soy beans 
will be more profitable. The Soy beans will make a 
good growth on soil that is quite acid. The grain, 
when crushed, gives a feed nearly equal to linseed 
meal. The stalks look like brush or sticks, yet when 
fed properly they give a feed nearly equal to clover 
hay. This seems like an impossible combination, but 
we do not, like the school men, ask you to accept 
the whole story without experience. Try a bushel of 
the beans this year. 
T HE letter signed by “A Mother” on page 334 
is commended to the people who complain about 
their children. This woman lias deservedly won the 
crown of an earthly life by her devotion to her chil¬ 
dren. She has had no easy time, and has had little 
chance to chase after fads and trifling pleasures. 
She made the training and companionship of her 
children a life work, and it has nobly repaid her. 
There is no other way to bring up children as they 
should be trained. You cannot safely turn them over 
to teachers or tutors or taskmasters. There are cer¬ 
tain things which are needed in every successful 
child that can only come out of the lives of father 
and mother. No deception can ever take the place 
of firm discipline. There is a story going the rounds 
about one of the Coolidge boys. He worked on a 
farm last Summer, and continued to work after his 
father was called to the White House. One of the 
other boys is reported to have said: “If my father 
was President I wouldn’t work on a farm!” And 
young Coolidge answered: “You tcould if it was my 
father!” A good answer and a good idea. 
* 
N his Lincoln Day speech in New York, President 
Coolidge gave a good share of his talk to agri- 
(ulture. No one will question the truth of this brief 
summary: 
Production has outrun the power of distribution and 
consumption. The farm population is not increasing, 
but the improved methods of tillage and invention in 
farm machinery have all contributed to increase the per 
capita output. It is in this direction that the agricul¬ 
tural schools and colleges have placed their major em¬ 
phasis. Their education has been substantially all on 
the side of improved methods of production and none 
<m the side of distribution, consumption and marketing. 
For many years now The R. N.-Y. has predicted 
the outcome of the “two blades of grass” theory. 
While farm population has not increased in propor¬ 
tion to that of other industries, the productive power 
of each worker has increased, while distribution and 
consumption have not kept up. Yet the agricultural 
colleges have for the most part gone ahead teaching 
greater production without giving adequate thought 
to the more important matters of marketing and dis¬ 
tribution. That is one way in which agriculture has 
fallen behind other industries. They have learned 
to regulate production to distribution and demand, 
so that the more farmers produced the worse off they 
found themselves. A bumper crop always bumps the 
producer harder than anyone else along the line. 
President Coolidge brings out another point. The 
troubles of the Western farmers while indirectly due 
to overproduction and low prices are more directly 
caused by demands made by creditors—banks and 
other money-lenders who call in their loans. As the 
President says, advances by the Government would 
avail but little if the money was promptly gobbled 
up by these money-lenders to satisfy their demands. 
The farmers need capital for equipment and stock, 
and if they are to recover and “come back” their 
creditors must be willing to adjust the debts and give 
the farmers a chance. It is not therefore a case ef 
Government aid entirely, but the money-lenders must 
do their share and give the farmers a chance. 
Brevities 
Vitality comes in vitamines. . 
Try a few cotton plants this year. 
A stout wire muzzle for the cribbing horse. 
Knowledge without wisdom is pretty poor stuff. 
Cod liver oil for little chicks is the latest. Its advo¬ 
cates claim that it is not a food but a fact. 
Now we have a letter from Texas discussing the rural 
school question, and fully agreeing with our New Y’ork 
farmers. 
Coarse pine needles make a good mulch for straw¬ 
berries. We think sphagnum moss will pack down too 
hard over the plants. 
A number of readers ask if a landlord has any legal 
lien on his tenant’s tools and farm machinery, used on 
the rented land! The answer is, No! 
When moss appears on fruit trees, spray with con¬ 
centrated lye—1 lb. to 7 gals, of water. The lye can be 
added to the lime-sulphur mixture if need be. 
