762 
The RURAL NEW-YORKER 
May 10, 1924 
The Rural New-Yorker 
THE BUSINESS FARMER'S TAPER 
A National Weekly Journal for Country and Suburban Home* 
Established, isso 
I'liblbbrd weekly by the Hural Publishing Company, 333 Mest 30th Street, New fork 
Herbert W. Colling wood, President and Editor. 
John .J. Dillon, Treasurer and General Manager. 
VTm. F. Dillon, Secretary. Mrs. E. T. Royle, Associate Editor. 
L. H. Murphy, Circulation Manager. 
SUBSCRIPTION: ONE DOLLAR A YEAR 
To foreign countries in the Universal Postal Union, $2.04. Remit in money 
order, express order, personal cheek or bank draft. 
Entered at New York Post Office as Second Class Matter. 
Advertising rates, 11.00 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 
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. 
An old teacher who was brought up on a farm and 
The Rural New-Yorker was in my office yesterday. 
He picked up my copy of The R. N.-Y. for April 19, 
and looking at the picture on the front page, which 
shows the family of children and the Jersey cow, he 
said: “Did you ever notice that all the pictures in The 
R. N.-Y. always have a human interest?” 
Minnesota. J. m..drew. 
W ELL, why not? The R. N.-Y. circulates among 
human beings, and ought to contain things of 
human interest. Sometimes this interest seems 
something more than human. People write us that 
these pictures show relatives—father, mother or 
brother. They often insist that we have discovered 
some member of the family who disappeared from 
sight long ago. One farmer is positive that a pic¬ 
ture which we obtained from a photographer in 
Canada shows his wife, who ran away with the 
hired man some months before! Parents are sure 
that they see the likeness of their runaway boys in 
our pictures. Seldom, if ever, do these things prove 
true, but they are all additional proof that these 
pictures contain something of that touch of nature 
which makes the whole world kin. 
* 
Some time ago I read in a farm paper of a section 
of the United States where, when a man came to settle, 
as soon as the board of trade of that place discovered 
his business, they did all they could to help him. If he 
wished to buy a home, they had all places for sale in 
the vicinity listed at rock bottom prices, and did every¬ 
thing they could do to help him find the kind of a place 
he wanted. I don’t know how true this story is, but it 
such a section exists I would like to find it. Can you 
tell me if it is true, and, if so, where it is? 
jj a j ne> PAUL HAMILTON. 
W E repeat, where is it? Such conditions ought 
to be found in every place where new settlers 
or buyers are wanted. That is the way to welcome 
newcomers and help them find a home. It is simply 
good business, to say nothing of being a practical 
application of the Golden Rule. Suppose a new¬ 
comer enters your neighborhood. Perhaps he is a 
baek-to-tlie-lander with a little money to spend. Do 
your people try to welcome him and treat him as 
they do in this ideal community which Mr. Plamilton 
has in mind, or do they try to sell him a spavined 
horse or a worn-out cow or some other rubbish at 
full price? The way to develop a country is to 
“treat ’em right,” and not “treat ’em rough.” We 
confess that we do not know just where this second 
annex to the Garden of Eden is located, but there 
ought to be something like it in every place where 
new neighbors and buyers are wanted. 
* 
HERE is no question that cotton culture is 
slowly working north. There once was an im¬ 
aginary line, north of which it was assumed that cot¬ 
ton could not be grown, and another, south of which 
dairying would not pay. Dairying is now profitably 
conducted south to the Mexican border. Cotton is 
slowly working north of the old cotton belt. It is 
now grown nearly half way up the State of Missouri, 
and will go up farther. Southern Illinois is coming 
in as a cotton country, and we are on record as pre¬ 
dicting that our children will see commercial cottou 
grown on the Atlaitic coast as far north as 1 hila- 
delphia. We are quite well aware that the scientists 
and wise men will ridicule such a statement, but 
have they not ridiculed practically everything in the 
world’s history which for the time seemed improb¬ 
able, as judged by the laws they had worked out? 
* 
N nearly every school district may be found tracts 
of waste land which has been idle and unpro¬ 
ductive for years. In old times farmers may have 
tried to produce some regular farm crop on this 
land, but it never paid. It is now as idle as it ever 
was. Yet if 50 years or more ago this land had 
been planted to pine and other timber wood it would 
now be paying the expenses of the local school, be¬ 
sides adding value to the district. We believe there 
is no question about the fact that forestry practi¬ 
cally worked out in the school districts, would fi¬ 
nance the district schools. It is not too late to 
start the work now in connection with the Rural 
School Improvement Society. By starting groves 
now in each country district we shall leave a great 
legacy to the future. 
* 
HERE are thousands of side-line farmers in the 
country. They are a little different from gen¬ 
tlemen farmers. They have part of their money in¬ 
vested in a piece of land which they farm by proxy. 
They could live without the farm income—in fact 
they usually lose money on their essay into agricul¬ 
ture. Still they keep on and, in some cases, they 
cause quite a little competition with real farmers. 
Their influence in the community is not always 
good. They make hired men discontented by pay¬ 
ing more than the regular wage, and they often 
tempt good men to break their agreement and leave 
their jobs. The influence of their family and social 
life upon young people is often bad. Some of these 
side-line farmers are planning for great operations 
this year. They intend to break up the face of the 
earth and plant more than ever before. It is a 
mistake for them to try to increase production in 
this way. They do not need the money, and by do¬ 
ing all they can to over-supply the market they are 
working a direct injury to those farmers who have 
no outside income and must depend on sales of their 
crops to carry them through. The gentlemen and 
the side-line farmers ought to go slow this year. 
Let them devote their energies to improving their 
farms rather than in crowding production, and give 
the practical farmers a fair chance to obtain reason¬ 
able prices. 
* 
E had our first asparagus out of the home 
garden this year on April 25—a few days 
later than usual. Our soil is naturally cold, the 
crop is a week earlier on light loam. The coming 
of asparagus and rhubarb is an event in most farm 
families, for these delicious products mark the be¬ 
ginning of a long list of fruits and vegetables which 
all through the season until next Winter’s frosts 
we may have for the picking. The gardenless farm 
does not seem quite fit for human habitation. We 
can understand the difficulty on some farms in keep¬ 
ing up a full garden. The folks are over-worked 
both indoors and out by the struggle to make a bare 
living, and there is little time for gardening. But 
what excuse can anyone give for not having a full 
supply of rhubarb and asparagus? They are the 
easiest of all vegetables to grow. Our beds were 
put out more than 10 years ago, and are still in full 
bearing. We find it about as hard to kill an aspara¬ 
gus bed as it is to kill quack grass. Once planted 
only a few hours’ work each year are needed to 
keep it going. It is the same with rhubarb, and 
who can possibly measure the satisfaction not to 
say health, that farm family can have when it is 
possible to go out at any time and pick a full mess 
of this best of all garden stuff? No, there can be 
no excuse for any farmer in the temperate zone who 
goes without asparagus and rhubarb. No use limit¬ 
ing the vegetable part of our diet to potatoes—add 
asparagus and rhubarb if nothing more. P. A. R.— 
the simplest vegetable combination. That spells Par 
—and Pa is too often responsible for the absence of 
the A and the R. Why not take this Presidential 
year to elect a good farm ticket—asparagus and 
rhubarb? 
HIS is written before “school meeting day,” 
but we have every assurance that there will 
be a larger attendance at most of the school meet¬ 
ings than has been known in years before. The dis¬ 
cussion of the school bill has developed a remark¬ 
able new interest in the schools, and it remains to 
organize and develop this interest into a substantial 
gain in the community life of rural sections. We 
think the Rural School Improvement Society offers 
the best opportunity yet suggested for bringing our 
country people together for a common cause. In 
spite of all the energy and money already expended 
to encourage organization among farmers, no one 
Mill claim that permanent success has been reached. 
The great response of volunteers in opposition to 
the school bill—against the machinery of most of 
the present farm organizations—is only one indica¬ 
tion of the mighty social forces at work among our 
rural people. They M-ere thought to be safely bound 
together by the ties of farm organization, yet when 
the issue M’as presented these ties were snapped like 
silken threads. We believe that this strong effort 
to give expression to true rural sentiment can be 
organized and developed so as to be of supreme use¬ 
fulness to country people, and we see no better M r ay 
of making use of it than through this Rural School 
Improvement Society. It offers special attractions 
to young men of ability who want to enter some 
form of public service in which they can do patriotic 
and unselfish M-ork for America. We do not know of 
any other line in which they Will have such a free 
and fair chance to serve their State as in organizing 
to protect and improve the district schools. We urge 
everyone to join this society, and help keep it on the 
ground. 
* 
E do believe that our Northern farmers should 
give Sudan grass and Soy beans a fair trial 
this year. The Sudan may be compared with millet, 
giving a heavier yield, and on the whole a better fod¬ 
der for stock. It can be safely fed to horses, while 
as we all know, millet hay will usually injure a 
horse. Millet will do better than Sudan on wet soil, 
but on most of our M r ell-drained hill lands Sudan 
will prove superior. As for Soy beans, M T e admit 
that at first sight the dried fodder does not look 
promising. It may resemble a bunch of dried sticks, 
but give the stock a chance at it and they M T ill prove 
its value. On 75 per cent of our Eastern farms Soy 
beans will pay better than oats, just as soon as we 
realize that a full substitute for oats is possible. 
Wherever Soy beans have come into the regular rota¬ 
tion on a farm the land has been improved. We do 
not advise any sudden plunge into these new crops, 
but give them a fair trial. 
* 
It is a pity that unemployed city people with an itch 
to direct something cannot find something else to direct 
than the activities of farmers. They have probably 
done some good at any rate. They have united the 
country people, making better organization for any 
purpose possible, and have also brought the defects of 
the country school system to light so that it will doubt¬ 
less be improved by the farmers themselves. 
O, it is not a farmer who makes that observa¬ 
tion, but a successful and practical educator. 
He is right. It has always seemed strange to us 
that when some otherwise idle, well-to-do person 
feels the urge to uplift or reform something, he sel¬ 
dom sees the need of reform in his own class or 
station of society. Usually such people go after 
the “slums” or the farmer, though right in their 
own circle are practices which need reforming. With 
all their bluff and showy methods there are many 
town and city schools which need spraying and 
trimming quite as much as the rural schools need 
feeding! There is no doubt that this contest over 
the rural school has been the most useful thing that 
has happened in years. It will result in complete 
organization and a community spirit which could not 
have been developed in any other M 7 ay. 
* 
HE paper’s tell of an experiment in Chicago 
where a railroad train was run for 10 miles on 
the energy produced by burning dried milk under a 
steam boiler. This dried milk had spoiled and was 
unfit for human consumption. No one pretended 
that dried milk is a cheaper fuel than coal, but the 
object Mas to show in a dramatic way the energy- 
power in the milk. If it can produce power enough 
to haul a train-load of children 10 miles it will, 
when burned in the human engine, drive the child 
along the road to health and power! Many a child 
is doomed to travel on a freight train when a full 
supply of milk would make him an express package. 
Brevities 
We have a novelty this year in a potato which grows 
in the exact shape of a heart. 
Last week a little child died from sampling rat 
poison which its mother had carelessly left in an open 
bureau drawer. 
A woman in this city went to a fashionable hair¬ 
dresser to have her hair “bobbed” and found 88 women 
ahead of her—all bent on the same errand! 
Some of the backers of the late school bill take their 
failure with a very wry mouth. No man can make a 
good run in a second heat while nursing a sore toe. 
And now there is a bill before Congress to raise the 
salaries of Representatives from $7,500 to $10,000. That 
demand can hardly be based on this session’s perform¬ 
ance of work. 
TnE Department of Agriculture has been gathering 
figures on the cost of growing wheat in Western States. 
This cost runs from 90 cents to $3 per bushel among 
farmers who own their farms, with an average of $1.80 
for farm owners and $1.83 for tenants. 
What a craze some of these ladies and gentlemen 
have to get out into the “limelight.” It is regrettable 
that more of them cannot realize how the limelight 
brings out the wrinkles and patches and obscures the 
homely virtue which make for real strength. 
In this city recently a man sued a milk company for 
damages due to swallowing pieces of broken glass when 
drinking milk out of a bottle. At the trial a chemist 
dropped broken glass into a bottle of milk and then 
drank from it to show 7 there was no danger. 
