632 
The RURAL NEW-YORKER 
April 12, 1924 
The McCORMICK-DEERING LINE 
International and G B & Q 
Gorn Planters 
W HEN you plant your corn you plan for the greatest 
possible yield. To get this you must use every 
available foot of land. You must grow a full hill 
everywhere a hill is supposed to grow. If your corn 
planter has passed its most useful days, you cannot do 
this. Missed hills can easily cost you several hundred 
bushels each year. 
Right now the McCormick-Deering dealer in your 
community is ready to show you a new, dependable 
International or C B & Q planter that will help you 
avoid losses from missed hills. One of these planters can 
easily pay for itself this year out of the money it saves. 
Also talk to the McCormick-Deering dealer about 
McCormick-Deering corn cultivators. He can show 
you two-row cultivators, walkers, riders, shovel, disk, 
and surface cultivators. 
International harvester Company 
OF AMERICA _ 
606 So. Michigan Ave. «*co»*o"at«o> Chicago. Ilk. 
FORD TRUCK OWNERS 
The“Chicago” Selective Auxiliary 
Transmission is the latest improv¬ 
ed device for increasing Power and 
Speed of FordTrucks and Cars. When 
attached to standard Ford Transmis¬ 
sion, gives six speeds forward-three 
TCVCTSC. 6 
Doubles the power, elves30 percent 
more speed, eliminates 80 per cent 
use of planetary bands, no change in 
Ford design. Any owneror garage 
man can install without special 
tools. Complete in one unit-sup- 
plied with super strength propel¬ 
ler shaft; gives two-ton performance 
loaded — speed wagon empty at one 
ton Ford cost. . , .... . 
A two - ton Ford truck for hills, sand, 
mud or soft earth. Fully guaranteed. 
AGENTS WANTED r 
CHICAGO TRANSMISSION COMPANY 
332-N So- Michigan Boulevard, Chicago, Illinois 
SPECIAL OFFER 
Handy Auto, Farm and House- 
thold Adjustable Wrench 
FULLY GUARANTEED. Size 8 inches long. Retails for 
$1.00. Price post paid 75e. Orders accompanied with list 
of live names and addresses of local friends will bring 
this wrench to you for sOc post paid. Your money re¬ 
turned if not absolutely satisfied. Notice our general 
catalog of Hardware, Cutlery, and Tools will be off the 
press May 1st. Write for your copy early as supply 
will be limited. 
MAIL PRODUCTS COMPANY 
150-152 Chambers St. New York City 
millllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll 
Edmonds’ P o u 1 try Account Book 
Price $1. For sale by The Rural New- 
Yorker, 333 W. 30th St„ New York 
miiiiimiitiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiimiiiiiiiii 
I 
There’s a Brown 
Sprayer for every need 
on the farm, in the 
orchard, garden, dairy 
_ or poultryhouse. Cata- 
logand Calendar showing “When 
to Spray and How to Dolt,” Free. 
THE E. C. BROWN COMPANY 
892 Maple Street Rochester, N. Y. 
“BROOKLYN 
BRAND” 
COMMERCIAL FLOUR SULPHUR, 99H% pure, for spraying and 
insecticide purposes. 
SUPERFINE COMMERCIAL FLOUR SULPHUR, 99*4% pure) for dusting 
FLOWERS OF SULPHUR, 100% pure.f purposes 
“NIAGARA BRAND” 
AMERICAN CRUDE SALTPETRE 
for Better, Bigger and More Fruit. Also Crude Nitrate Soda. 
BATTELLE & RENWICK, 80 Maiden Lane, New York 
Dept. “B” Write for Prices and Booklet 
Crops and Farm Notes 
Countrywide Produce Situation 
FARMERS PLAN USUAL CROPS—INCREASE 
IN SOME LINES—TRUCK CROPS 
GAIN IN THE SOUTH. 
'V f 
Now that the plow is in the soil again, 
the effect of the Winter’s hard thinking 
can be seen. There is the usual tendency 
to Shy away from crops that did not pay 
last season, and to go in for something 
that made a better showing. Early reports 
of the plans for crops are likely to change 
somewhat, but last season these prelim¬ 
inary reports proved fairly close to the 
truth. 
MORE CORN, FEWER HOGS 
It would seem that some land is being 
shifted from wheat to corn. Two years 
ago the fashion was to raise less corn and 
more hogs. Now it will be the other way, 
and quite likely not enough hogs to eat 
the corn. Wool, butter and poultry are 
in favor, but production of these has al¬ 
ready reached a large volume, except 
wool, which is one of the few products 
that might stand increased production 
without selling too low. Flax is another 
crop which the Northwest seems deter¬ 
mined to substitute to some extent in 
place of wheat and potatoes. High prices 
of wool and cotton help the demand for 
flax. Reports from Southern farming 
districts are full of intentions to plant a 
heavy acreage of cotton. 
In the fruit and vegetable line there is 
the usual shifting and some tendency to 
increase. The total gain in potatoes is 
not large, and the greater part of the in¬ 
crease is in the South, where potatoes 
generally paid well last season. The 
Northeast did fairly well as compared 
with other crops, and will plant more, but 
the West became disgusted with the high 
cost and low prices, and will cut down its 
potato acreage. 
TRUCK CROPS POPULAR 
The increase of Florida as a water¬ 
melon State is impressive. In five years 
Florida has gained steadily, while Geor¬ 
gia has no more than held its own. This 
year they will be close rivals in the acre¬ 
age of melons. Florida has the advantage 
because the melons are earlier and meet 
the first keen edge of the hot weather de¬ 
mand. Most of the Florida crop sells 
higher than Georgia melons. Florida is 
planning a big acreage of tomatoes and of 
potatoes, cucumbers and string beans. It 
is becoming the leading State for the hot- 
weather crops, while the cool-weather 
crops, including cabbage, lettuce, aspara¬ 
gus, spinach and peas, are more heavily 
grown in some other States. There is 
heavy planting of truck crops throughout 
the South. As compared with last year 
there will be considerably more Southern 
early potatoes, tomatoes, peppers, melons, 
lettuce, cabbage and asparagus, about the 
same of melons, cucumbers and beans, 
and less of cantaloupes and peas. The 
acreage of cabbage exceeds last year’s 
very light planting, but is not a heavy 
crop and has been selling well thus far. 
The outlook seems good for Northern 
Spring cabbage, which should meet mar¬ 
kets only moderately supplied. String 
beans are a fairly important crop in the 
South, having four times the acreage of 
early peas, and almost as many acres as 
early cabbage, but tomatoes and melons 
are the leaders among quickly perishable 
truck crops, each with 70.000 to 80.000 
acres iu the earlySouthern States. Every¬ 
one likes melons in season, but one likes 
fresh tomatoes throughout the season. The 
melon is the market leader for a few 
months and then forgotten, while the to¬ 
mato is on sale from some section the 
year round. 
PRODUCE ACTIVE 
There is little change in prices of fruits 
and vegetables. The striking feature is 
the steady daily absorption of 800 to 1,- 
000 cars of potatoes, 200 cars of apples 
and as many of oranges; 100 cars each 
of cabbage, lettuce and onions without 
any great market disturbance. Every¬ 
body seems to have money to buy these 
foods and conserving power was never so 
a tive. The two danger points are apples 
and eggs because of the heavy supplies 
still in cold storage. G. b. f. 
Reflections Following a West Indian Trip 
During the past Winter I made a tour 
of the West Indies, in which I visited all 
of the four largest islands, several of the 
smaller ones, the Panama Canal, and 
made two stops on the northern edge of 
South America. It was all very interest¬ 
ing. yet much of it was of a decidedly 
negative nature. The many things denied 
us on account of our rigorous climate are 
quite offset by the many things that these 
countries might have but lack the energy 
or calculation to develop, so that I came 
home more than ever persuaded that old 
frozen-up New York State was not so 
bad a place to live in after all. 
The advantages come from the most 
wonderful fertile soil, the moisture and 
the high temperature. With all these 
plant growth is to us marvelous in activ¬ 
ity, extent and perfection. The difficulty 
is that such a climate is not favorable to 
the best types of human development. If 
this were not so there would not be 95 
per cent of negroes in the teeming climate 
of the Island of Jamaica, and much the 
same proportion in most of the other dis¬ 
tricts in and around the rim of the Carib¬ 
bean Sea. They say that the old Carib 
type, that has given this great body of 
water its name, has about disappeared. 
What has appeared to take its place is 
the decidedly comely negro, but who un¬ 
fortunately seems to be about at his limit 
of development, coming quite short of 
t! e upward push and stability that is 
needed. So the lands almost everywhere 
show a lack of development, partly due 
to their extreme mountain character, and 
’partly because what will grow too readily 
is quite often neglected. We saw nothing 
that looked really like agriculture. If 
there were fields they were more generally 
covered with hushes than with sugar cane 
or fruits. Seldom were there habitations 
outside of the towns, and they were most¬ 
ly far apart. The huddling of the negroes 
into one-story huts, 10 ft. square, makes 
population dense in places, but it speaks 
little for anything but a sort of effort to 
secure the safety that may not always be 
found outside. 
Without risk of being accused of advo¬ 
cating it, I was driven to the conclusion 
that slavery would show results that are 
now impossible. I came to like the negro 
wherever I found him, in Cuba, Hayti, 
the Canal Zone or in the eastern islands. 
He is of the easiest manners, kind, oblig¬ 
ing. deft in all he does. , The negro girl 
or woman, with a big tray of fruits on her 
head, is the most comely figux-e imagin¬ 
able. I found a friend sighing because 
he could not teach his own children to 
assume such a graceful pose. And yet I 
am afraid that the negro has about 
reached his limit, and if left alone 
will stand still and finally lapse 
back to his primitive state. A glance at 
the recent history of Hayti seems to 
prove that. 
We were much disappointed at not see¬ 
ing fields and groves of tropical fruits. 
They were too common to be given any 
such attention as we must give our crops. 
One great cocoanut grove in Jamaica was 
about all. There were no stands of them, 
and the markets sold them only in small 
driblets. Possibly a shipload of 400 
Northern visitors, eager to eat any quan¬ 
tity of oranges, mangoes, pawpaws and 
the like, would, after a term of steady in¬ 
vasion, change things somewhat. Even 
the ship failed to meet our wishes in that 
regard, and fed us mostly on cold storage 
stuff and beef. One reason for all this is 
that the North and the South are too far 
apart. 
Two or three industries only are worth 
noting; that of one New York fruit 
company, the asphalt in Trinidad, but. 
vastly more than all others, the Panama 
Canal. One cannot avoid a feeling of 
pride when it is shown everywhere that 
the United States is alive in the tropics, 
as elsewhere. They took us through the 
great Culebra cut of the canal to show 
us that even a mountain could not drive 
us from our purpose. 
The Canal Zone shows more whites 
than blacks, and the results follow. The 
people we met there all gave our people 
full measure of credit for what has been 
done. Everything they touch goes, and 
the change is quite equaled by the expec¬ 
tations. Would I care to live in the 
tropics? Hardly. On the fourth night 
in February, at Colon. I slept on the 
deck. Even a big electric fan that pro¬ 
duced a gale in the berth, failed to make 
it habitable. And yet the natives did 
not call it warm—yet. 
Only Caracas, the capital of Venezuela, 
seemed acceptably cool, but that is 3.000 
ft. up in the mountains and is reached 
only by a rail or auto road that skirts 
around sheer precipices 2,000 ft. to the 
bottom. In the midst of peaks that seem 
to be without a break, Caracas is hidden, 
as beautiful and complete on a neat pla¬ 
teau as if it had no need at all of the rest 
of the world. How a great country can 
be governed from such a “center” I can¬ 
not see. 
We looked at the endless mountain 
peaks, both when sailing and traveling 
inland, usually too steep for much to 
grow on them, and wondered why so 
many otherwise fair lands should be too 
hot for us to live in comfortably, and too 
uneven often to be valuable only as scen¬ 
ery. J. w. c. 
Concerning Onion Sets 
On page 461 W. T. C. asks about onion 
sets. In my own experience I have re¬ 
sorted to what is known in the catalogues 
as Japanese sets, and found them far 
superior to any ever grown. The yield is 
enormous compared with the common 
sets, while the quality is superior. Put¬ 
ting them out the last of April, it is an 
easy matter to get 2-in. onions in less 
than 60 days. When matured I found 
many weighing 12 and some 15 oz. each. 
My land is light rocky soil, and has been 
well manured. When the tops are 5 in. 
high I sowed ashes liberally on top. cov¬ 
ering the tops, and so escaped any attack 
from maggots. I believe W. T. C. would 
be pleased with the Japanese sets. 
G. M. TWITCHELL. 
