The RURAL NEW-YORKER 
791 
The Farm Hand and His Expenses 
HAVE compared the itemized cost of living of 
postal employes, published on page 703, with the 
cost of lining of a farm hand in the Hudson River 
fruit belt, as follows: 
Postal Farm 
Employe Hand 
Rent, a year . $450 $120 
Food . 7S0 680 
Clothing . 360 150 
Fuel and light. 150 50 
Carfare and lunches. 180 ... 
Household equipment upkeep. 102 102 
Recreation . 102 102 
Insurance and saving . 150 150 
Doctor . 30 30 
Dentist . 30 30 
Papers, magazines, etc. 60 60 
Laundry . 30 30 
Church . 12 12 
Total.$2,436 $1,516 
The farm hand gets $3.50 a day when it does not 
rain, is not too cold to work, etc. He averages 
about nine months a year, and receives a wage of 
$875. It is a well-known fact that on many farms 
the farm hand makes more than the farm owner, so 
what is shown relative to the under-payment of farm 
hands applies as well to farm owners. 
The farmer sells a McIntosh apple for 1 cent and 
pays all expenses and maintains a $10,000 farm. 
The city vender, maintaining a pushcart, sells the 
apple for 5 cents. The farmer receives $3.50 a day 
for his labor, while the pushcart man gets $15. The 
farm hand works harder and longer than city work¬ 
ers and, as a rule, his work requires higher intelli¬ 
gence. Compared with city workers, the farm hand 
should receive at least $10 a day, and a properly 
equipped fruit farm with 500 apple trees should re¬ 
turn $5,000 after ordinary operating expenses are 
paid. 
A few years ago the common laborer in the cities 
was paid $1.50 a day; now he gets $7. 
The bricklayer formerly worked for $4 a day; 
now he asks $12. 
The pushcart man, now making $15 a day, was 
working in his native land for 50 cents a day a few 
months ago. So no one need think it revolutionary 
for the farm hand to rise from $3.50 to $10 a day. 
H. P. KEITH. 
The Milk Situation 
T HE announcement on May 3rd of a reduction of 
47 cents per 100 lbs. for May milk by the League 
pool, followed by a corresponding reduction by the 
„ other groups, emphasizes anew the need of a uni¬ 
fication committee. Provision for it was made none 
too soon. 
Arrangements for the first meeting are well under 
way and it is expected that it will he held before 
this number of the paper is in the hands of the 
readers. What the meeting may reveal no one can 
predict; but the heads of all groups have agreed 
to a get-together program in advance. There are 
some misgivings as to the sincerity of the leaders 
for unity, but we have no doubt of the final result. 
The rank and file of dairymen are strong for it. 
The suggestion for a get-together conference has been 
received with spontaneous approval. The sore need 
cries out appealingly and desperately for some 
measure of relief. Nothing can defeat it except un¬ 
willingness of the leaders to co-operate as they urge 
farmers to do. We doubt if the leaders can oppose 
it and long hold their places. 
For the good of both members and leaders we 
must get away from the idea that the dairy or¬ 
ganization isl the group of leaders in the office, and 
visualize the organization in the men on the farms 
and in the barns. These dairymen are the real or¬ 
ganization. No official group could exist without 
them. When they speak wise leaders will listen. 
These dairymen are entitled to a living price for 
milk. They will not go on indefinitely producing at a 
loss. Neither will they abandon their business. If 
the leaders should unfortunately fail them in this 
need dairymen will find a way to do it themselves, 
and it will be done right. 
May Milk Prices Reduced 
O N May 3rd, the League-pool announced a reduc¬ 
tion of 47 cents per 100 lbs. in the price of 
Class 1 milk for May. This makes prices now as 
follows: Class 1, $1.86; Class 2A, $1.70; 2B, $1.80; 
2C, $1.85; Class 3, $1.60. 
The Sheffield Farms group met during the week 
and reduced its May price 30 cents per 100 lbs., 
making the present price $1.70 for all milk. 
The Non-pool Association committee made a mul¬ 
tiple price as follows: Class 1, $1.86; Class 2, $1.70; 
Class 3, $1.60. It made no all-milk price for the 
New York market, but expects to retain its all¬ 
milk price of $1.95 in the Buffalo market. 
These reductions work a real hardship to the 
producers, who -were sorely tried even at the original 
May prices. The unfortunate situation is evidently 
due to conditions that have developed and it is up 
to the whole bunch of us now to change those con¬ 
ditions without further delay. We feel confident 
that the unity conference of lay dairymen will point 
the way to this result. 
Soldiers’ Compensation Bill 
T HE bonus or soldiers’ compensation legislation 
has turned out about as The Rural New- 
Yorker predicted. A compensation bill passed both 
Houses of Congress by great majorities and has now 
gone to the President for his signature. He has 
given no definite statement as to what he will do 
in the matter, but the chances are that he will 
veto the bill. Should that be done Congress will 
endeavor to pass the bill over his veto. This will 
be comparatively easy in the House of Representa¬ 
tives, where the feeling for this bonus is very strong. 
In the Senate the vote will be close. It will be 
necessary for the advocates of the bonus to obtain 
a two-thirds vote, and there will not be a margin 
larger than two or three votes either way. The 
chances at this time are that the effort to override 
the President’s veto will fail, and that will send 
the matter back to just where it was last year. 
There is unquestionably a strong demand for this 
bonus or compensation. In New York State a good 
many of the soldiers are donating their State bonus 
to the fund for maintaining a hospital and home for 
the soldiers. In spite of the undoubted demand for 
this bonus, especially among soldiers in the late war 
and their relatives, we do not believe it is wise 
legislation, yet we know that the demand for it is 
very strong. 
Organization for Electric Service 
LL over the country efforts are being made to 
improve the electric service on farms. Com¬ 
mittees are being appointed to consult with the 
electric companies and arrange, if possible, for co¬ 
operation. In New York State the College of Agri¬ 
culture has taken this matter up. The college is co¬ 
operating Avith the State Grange, the Farm Bureau, 
the Home Bureau and electric light company. All 
these interests were represented at a meeting held at 
the college on April 29tli. An organization was 
formed with Prof. LI. W. Riley as chairman. The 
first object of the committee will be to give the 
farmers of the State information on the money 
value of electricity. The problems of applying it 
will be explained and all practical questions made 
clear. The gas and electric companies have an 
organization known as the Empire State Gas & 
Electric Association, and they propose to extend 
their rural lines wherever the demand for service 
will make that possible. There is a heavy growing 
demand from the farmers for the electric service. 
It can be made to do all sorts of work and add 
greatly to the comfort of our rural people. This 
organization will attempt to bring the farmers and 
the electric companies closer together, making clear 
the needs of electric service, and showing the best 
way for obtaining it. There are millions of horse¬ 
power running to Avaste in many of our streams. 
This could and should be utilized to provide power 
and light and heat for our country people. The 
organization of this committee is a step in the right 
direction, for without organization nothing of the 
sort could be made possible. 
An Egg Pool in Central New York 
A LL sorts of plans for co-operative work are be¬ 
ing tried among farmers. The following brief 
account of an “egg pool” in Seneca Co., N. Y., will 
shoAV how farmers everywhere are trying to work 
together: 
Ii^ regard to the egg pool of which you inquire, it was 
formed in the Spring of 1922, with about 25 members. 
It goes as the Seneca Egg and Poultry Co-operative As¬ 
sociation, Inc., and is composed of farmers who keep 
preferably the White Leghorn strain, although brown 
eggs are handled. The market is New York City. The 
eggs must be gathered twice a day, cleaned and taken to 
the pool station (Glenora), about a mile or two from 
most producers. Here a man is given 3c a dozen to 
grade the eggs for size, pack and ship. One cent and a 
half a dozen is taken for what is called a sinking fund, 
and crates are furnished by the pool. There is a presi¬ 
dent, beside other officers and committees. A better 
price is expected, of course. The pool, as you see. is 
still in an experimental stage. The plan i« good, if it 
can be made to work satisfactorily. mrs. h. b. 
Labor Condition in Industry 
Can’t you give us farmers some kind of a “summary’* 
of the labor situation of today? I am told that the 
General Electric Works at Pittsfield, Mass., have closed, 
borne time ago, the press stated that the various mills 
of Amsterdam, N. Y., had cut their help 10 per cent, and 
iioav I understand that one mill has dropped one thou¬ 
sand employees. I also understand that the other 
plants are running very slack, and the same with the 
US , ma °u f acturing industries of Utica, N. Y. To 
iT nL 7 e ; X v en f fc 1S the . sarne true in other sections, and will 
finn V i e - ar T er - ln securin S help? If this help ques¬ 
ts 011 . » going to improve, then the farmer is not. war- 
are - the t0p P r ce ’ and if the conditions 
fo'geT'the^p ° ,mprove ' ,b “ he mMt / a / 
New York. F ‘ KIOCK - 
There Avas some slowing down in March but con¬ 
siderable recovery in the first half of April, according 
to direct information from the Departments of Labor 
and of ( ommerce. No great amount of idle labor sup¬ 
ply, is reported except in some of the coal-mining 
regions. The steel, automobile and cloth industries 
are in someAvhat uncertain position as to the future 
but are Quite active now. There is little to indicate 
much relief for farm labor situations in most parts of 
the country this Spring and Summer, although the edge 
]ud us trial boom is plainly wearing off, and if 
the tendency continues there will be less demand for 
labor in the cities. G B F 
Should We Let Up on Apple Planting 
I doubt very much whether anyone knows what the 
a p ple future will be, because of the fact that it is bound 
to be affected by so many things, including the planting 
of oranges and grapefruit as well as the planting of 
apples in foreign countries and as at home. My ob¬ 
servation of conditions in some of the principal apple¬ 
growing districts leads me to' believe that there are not 
too many apple trees, and only in years like 1923, when 
most ot the apple trees and practically all of the orange 
trees bear at the same time, are we likely to have 
serious trouble. 
Uf coin se, apple growers face the same serious 
problem regarding labor expense that all other farmers 
do, and just hoiv they will finally work out it is hard to 
guess. We have enough faith in the future of the 
apple business to warrant our adding rather heavily to 
our holdings here. 
Adams Go., Pa. c. j. TYSON. 
I am not at all afraid of the future of the anple 
business. Competition is what we New York growers 
need. We have it now, and it will compel us to pack 
our fruit with more care, so the trade will have con¬ 
fidence in our brands. We have the quality, we are 
close to best markets, and we sod-mulch men can pro¬ 
duce at less cost. Why worry? Let’s go on planting 
and advertise. grant g. hitchings. 
Onondaga Co., N. Y. 
The only remedy in sight for our present agricultural 
ills is to curtail rather than increase production, and 
this applies to apple growing. I cannot encourage the 
wholesale planting of apple trees from this time forward 
for some years at least. I believe that we should go 
slow and give better attention to the orchards we 
already have. The great strain for overgrown orchards 
and large production is not going to work in the 
direction of high-class apples, but it certain still further 
to demoralize the markets for a long time to come 
with floods of inferior fruit, and it is going to make 
profit-taking for the best grades very difficult. 
Dutchess Co., N. Y. w. 8. teator. 
Commerical Wool Grades 
As Related to Different Breeds of Sheep 
What grades of wool may we expect from a particular 
breed of sheep? This question cannot be answered ex¬ 
actly, for the reason that in any particular breed there 
are individual sheep that will produce a fleece finer or 
coarser than the average of the breed. Generally, how¬ 
ever, one breed of sheep will produce wools of a re¬ 
markably consistent grade. Of course, if a flock has 
been cross-bred, the commercial grade of the wool will 
tend to assume the characteristics peculiar to the pre¬ 
dominating blood. 
Some time ago a farmer raised an objection to our 
method of grading his wools. His grading record 
showed that his lot of wool was chiefly one-fourth blood 
and three-eighths blood combing, with a email amount of 
three-eighths blood clothing. lie insisted that a mis¬ 
take had been made, for his sheep were all purebred. 
Lie could not understand why his wools were not graded 
purebred. Still another man contended that, judging 
from his wool grading report, there was no advantage 
in keeping purebred flock, since his wools graded one- 
fourth blood. 
Irrespective to the breeds, wools are classified com¬ 
mercially according to their degree of fineness or coarse¬ 
ness and length—long or short staple. The following 
extract is taken from the American Sheep Breeder and 
Wool Grower, in reply to an inquiry as to the commer¬ 
cial grades of wool produced by the different breeds of 
sheep: 
Merino (Llastern States)—Delaine, XX, X or fine 
unwashed, etc. 
Merino (range States)—Fine and fine medium staple 
or clothing. 
Rambouillet—Fine and fine medium staple or cloth¬ 
ing, and a small amount of half-blood. 
Southdown—Llalf and three-eighths blood (chiefly 
three-eighths combing or clothing). 
Shropshire—Mainly three-eighths blood combing or 
clothing; some quarter-blood. 
Hampshire—Three-eighthn and quarter-blood combing 
or clothing. 
Dorset—Three-eighths and quarter-blood combing or 
clothing. 
Suffolk—Three-eighths blood combing or clothing. 
Cheviot—Quarter-1 ’ combing. 
( ixford—Quarter anu * /vv quarter-blood combing. 
Corriedale—Three-eighths blood combing. 
Cotswold, Lincoln, Leicester— Low quarter-blood 
combing or braid. 
Crossbred : Long wool on Merino or Rambouillet— 
Half-blood, three-eighths blood and quarter-blood comb¬ 
ing. 
Crossbred: Shropshire or Hampshire on Merino or 
Rambouillet—-Half-blood and three-eighths blood comb¬ 
ing or clothing. f. f.. robkrtson. 
