866 
Ih* RURAL. NEW-YORKER 
June 7, 1924 
The Rural New-Yorker 
THE BUSINESS FARMER’S PAPER 
A National Weekly Journal lor Country and Suburban Homes 
Established 1850 
Published weekly by the Rural I'ublishinp Company. 333 West 30th Street, New York 
Herbert W. Collingwood, President and Editor. 
John J. Dillon, Treasurer and General Manager. 
Wm. 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 check or bank draft. 
Entered at New York Post Office as Second Class Matter. 
Advertising lates, $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 i>aid 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. 
R EMEMBER this! Suppose the road leading to 
your farm needs repairs and the town author¬ 
ities do not fix it. Without any orders you turn out 
and fix the road and then send a hill for the work. 
You cannot collect payment unless you can prove 
that you were ordered or authorized to do the work. 
This may seem an injustice to you, but anyone can 
see what it would lead to if Tom, Dick and Harry 
could go out as they saw fit, do public work with¬ 
out orders, and then make the public pay for it. 
This ought to be clear, yet we have dozens of cases 
where farmers have worked the road without au¬ 
thority and then claimed payment for labor. 
* 
N the rural school bill fight last Winter there were 
several diehards in the Legislature who under¬ 
took to defy the sentiment of their people, and who 
supported the bill up to the last "moment. One of 
the leaders in this little group was Hon. J. Arthur 
Brooks of Madison County. It was clear that the 
country people of Madison were opposed to the bill 
--a large majority of them at least. Mr. Bx-ooks 
insisted that public sentiment had changed iix his 
favoi-, and he continued to support the bill. There 
has always been a question about the duty of a 
public man in such a case. Shall he do as his peo¬ 
ple demand, or shall he stand up and defy them in 
case his own personal feeling is against their judg¬ 
ment? Mr. Brooks chose the latter course, and lie 
must now take the consequences. He declines to 
run again, and will not, therefoi-e, be in the next 
Legislature. It is evident that John W. Gates of 
Chittenango will represent Madison County at Al¬ 
bany. Mr. Gates is "out and out against the school 
hill.” We rather regret that Mr. Brooks did not 
run in the primary and give the friends of the bill a 
chance to stand up and be counted. It would not 
have been a serious job to count them. They would 
have been counted out. All over the State, in rural 
communities, the school bill will play a great part in 
selecting candidates for the Legislature Mr. Lattin 
of Orleans County will have serious opposition. A 
movement has been started against Mr. Kirtland of 
Cattaraugus, and several others ai*e under suspicion. 
When the bill was first introduced we were told that 
farmers would soon get over their opposition to it. 
That is not in evidence yet. The opposition is 
growing stronger and better organized every day. 
* 
E would like reports fi-om any who are fruit¬ 
ing the Rockhill strawberry. Last year in 
most cases it failed as an “everbearer.” A few re¬ 
ports indicated a small crop last August, but in most 
cases it gave no more indication of fruiting like a 
Fall bearer than Howard or Marshall. What is it 
doing now? It may turn out to be a superior June 
bearer, or it may come back as an August producer. 
It failed badly last year. What is it doing now? 
* 
VER the line, in Canada, the people ai-e having 
much the same trouble over extravagant public 
expenses that we are facing in this couiitx-y. Educa¬ 
tors, judges, politicians, all who have anything to do 
with spending public money, are demanding in¬ 
creased appi-opriations, higher salaries and bigger 
spending money everywhere. A member of the Can¬ 
adian Senate puts it this way: 
There is nothing but a demand for further expendi¬ 
ture, increased salaries, etc. The cure for this must, 
come from agitation outside. As long as the population 
of Canada is quiescent, the politicians will keep on in 
their old way. If some organization, quite independent 
of political parties, was formed for the purpose of agi¬ 
tating for economy and a cessation of abuses, the peo¬ 
ple might be aroused sufficiently to frighten the poli¬ 
ticians into changing their ways. If there is not some 
big movement among the people we are simply going to 
drift, and add to our public debt fifty millions a year, 
making it impossible to have any reduction of the op¬ 
pressive taxation that we are all laboring under. 
In a vei*y much larger way the same is true of this 
country. Our public men, for the most part, are 
frightened half to death by any noisy crowd, how¬ 
ever small. Most of them have less courage than a 
canary bird to stand up and make a fight for real 
economy and constructive legislation. The so-called 
party leaders are not as useful as wooden men in 
leadership and moral power. There must be some 
outside, independent foi-ce, if we are to stem the 
rising tide of expense. We believe the Rural School 
Impx-ovement Society, if it can be fully organized in 
evei’y school district, will give us the foundation fox- 
just such an independent army as is now needed. 
* 
^ I have been reading "Hope Farm Notes” in The R. 
N.-Y. of May 17, and note your reference to the man 
who had little else at home than "a mortgage, a scolding 
wife and a crippled baby.” I am moved to suggest that 
if, after working out of doors under the wonderful sky 
and with nature all around him during the day, he had 
gone straight into the house, called his wife’s attention 
to the beautiful sunset, taken from her the crippled 
baby and attended to the hundred and one things that 
she was doing just at that time, so she could have taken 
10 minutes to draw "from that wonderful picture such 
an exultation of soul,” he would have improved condi¬ 
tions around his home sufficiently to pay off the mort¬ 
gage. A. H. j. F. 
New Jersey. 
ELL, that’s a suggestion, at least, and we 
hope some of our folks are in a position to 
try the experiment. We never can tell until we try. 
It does not seem possible that there can be any- 
scolding wives in the big R. N.-Y. family, although 
we know of mortgages and sick babies. We also 
know that the glory of the sky and the thought of 
the gi-eat mystei-y which lies beyond its glowing pox- 
tals will fit the soul for great deeds. So if any of 
our readers must go home to such a trio as we have 
mentioned, will he please make his home an experi¬ 
ment station and tell us the result? There are many 
farm mox-tgages Avhich should be paid off. 
* 
I was much interested in the article of H. P. Keith, 
page 7S1. relative to the cost of living. I notice the 
contribution towards the church is .$12 per year, which 
is one-lmlf of 1 per cent of the required income of a 
postal employe, and four-fifths of 1 per cent of that of 
a farm hand. I am led to ask the question, where does 
the country pi-eacher get his living, and how much is it? 
llis calling and profession require that he spend much 
more than the layman for some things; for instance, 
papers, magazines, etc. Is the four-fifths of 1 per cent 
contribution the cause of the decline of the country 
church? Your paper is primarily a farm papei-, but the 
contents and sentiment throughout are religious, and its 
teachings are of a very high order. I am wondering if 
you can do anything for the poorly paid country 
preacher. G. E. P. 
Pennsylvania. 
T seems to be time that the average country man 
has sadly neglected the rural church. If we 
compare the money spent by the average family for 
auto necessities and gas with that given to the sup¬ 
port of the rural church we should have some start¬ 
ling figures. It has been a great mistake to let the 
rural church run down. In the past it supplied one 
of the gi-eatest essentials of true country living. 
Nothing can ever quite take its place. With the 
coming of the car many farmers have fox-med the 
habit of dx-iving past the rural church and hasten¬ 
ing to the larger and wealthier congi-egation in town. 
Their theory seems to be that in town they may hear 
better preaching, better music and enjoy more of the 
religious feeling that comes to a crowd. It is much 
the same argument as that offei-ed by people who 
seek to abandon the home district school and group 
all the childi*en in town. The argument is plausi¬ 
ble, but it fails when we consider the deeper mean¬ 
ing of country home life. Roth the rural church 
and the rui-al school are essential parts of the farm¬ 
er’s social life, and they should come fix-st in any 
estimates of family expenses for public mattei-s. 
Both the imral church and the rural school offer 
wonderful opportunities for the devoted band of 
public woi-kers to be found in every country neigh¬ 
borhood. They are usually busy women who work 
without money, without public recognition and with¬ 
out hope of material reward, to keep alive the true 
spirit of religion and a reverence for education. 
They are the ti-ue nation-builders, and are entitled 
to all the support we can ever give them. 
* 
HE poultrymen ai-e "culling.” That means 
throwing out the hens that do not lay as they 
should. Arrest the hen off the nest! That is the 
slogan for the henhouse. Dairymen are urged to 
cut out the robber cows. These are the cattle first 
at the gi-ain bin and last at the milk pail. And now 
the fruit growers are moving against the drone trees. 
There are such trees in every orchai-d. Sometimes 
they are wrong varieties, not suited to the soil and 
conditions; sometimes they are pooi-ly grown, or 
located in wet spots. At any rate, they do not pay 
for their room, and should come out. Orchard men 
are moving against them. Llere is one report from 
the Hudson Valley: 
We have been practicing what I have been preaching, 
"to get rid of all trees that do not genex-ally pay,” and 
have dug out all our Kieffers, Spitzenbergs, and those 
not bearing this year of Wealthy. Grimes and some 
others, together with 40 each of Bartlett and Clapp. 
All strong, healthy trees, under 20 years old, or, I 
inight say. about 20. Some eay this takes nerve. I call 
it, however, just good business sense. We are not going 
out of business, as we are planting more than we are 
taking out, beside grafting over a lot. 
It does require nerve to take out strong, healthy 
trees, but in many cases it is the most businesslike 
thing to do when we know a tree does not pay. One 
of the hardest things the fruit grower has to do is to 
cut out “fillers” after it is evident that they are too 
big for their place. We know they ai-e good for 
many crops of good fruit, yet they have begun to 
reach out and interfere with the permanent trees. 
It is hard to cut them out, but it must be done if we 
ai-e to look to the future. The drone tree must go! 
* 
it with flowers!” The constant repetition 
O of that advice—holding it right up before the 
eyes of the people—has been the salvation of the 
florists’ trade. The advertiser must appeal to the 
emotional side of the public. The so-called “pocket- 
book nerve” connects with the mind and eye. The 
Society of American Florists is planning to use one 
million dollars for advertising the general use of 
flowers. Sooner or later the apple growers will be 
obliged to follow this example; raise a good-sized 
fund, invent a popular slogan and keep it right be¬ 
fore the eyes of the public: Some of the apple 
growers of the West are now advertising their 
particular brand of apples, but what is needed most 
is a general advertising campaign to make the pub¬ 
lic realize the host of good qualities tucked away 
under the skin of a good apple And another, simi¬ 
lar campaign is needed to help the potato. Sales of 
that vegetable are falling off through the use of 
substitutes such as macai-oni, l-ice, cornmeal, etc. 
Some of the doctors are helping this along in their 
present craze against starchy foods. The potato is, 
as it ever has been, the best food of that class, and 
a campaign to make the public understand it is 
needed. 
* 
I am in the poultry business, also keep four cows. 
I buy practically all my feed, as my aci-eage will not 
permit of growing much, although I have two acres of 
wheat which looks excellent. I wish to get this two 
acres into Alfalfa this Summer and as the present 
prospects are that the wheat will not be off before 
near August, I am of mind to cut this wheat for cow 
hay in order to get the Alfalfa in. As the cutting 
would cost me about $8 with a binder, and $8 or $10 
for thrashing, do you not think it would be advisable 
to use it for hay, taking all into consideration? When 
should wheat be cut for hay, or rather at what stage? 
New York. c. J. w. 
NDER such circumstances we advise cutting the 
wheat when the grains are just forming in the 
head, and curing it for hay. That is what we do 
with rye, and wheat makes a far better hay. Such 
a course will enable you to fit that land pi-operly 
for Alfalfa. The grain and the straw will not be 
worth enough more than the hay to pay the cost of 
binding and thrashing. A lai-ge proportion of our 
eastern-grown small gi-ain might well be handled 
in this way. When cut for hay you will get the 
feeding value of both grain and stalks, and the sav¬ 
ing on the thrasher’s bill will be considei-able. This 
may not be true where large yields of small grain 
ai-e grown, but in most cases of small acreage it is 
the wisest plan. 
Brevities 
The breaking of one contract will not justify you in 
breaking another. 
Yes, sir, the slave of debt is often a happier man 
than the slave of money. 
Well, Nature seems to be attending to any over¬ 
production thus far this year. 
The latest suggestion is to deport any foreigner who 
does not take out his first citizenship papers inside of 
one year after reaching this country. 
A reader tells us how he bought a piece of ground 
with a guarantee that the stumps had all been pulled, 
and the ground graded. After a heavy rain it was 
found that soil had been dumped over the stumps, with¬ 
out pulling them. The rain washed the secret clean. 
About this time thousands of acres of gi-een rye will 
be plowed under for green manure. Always roll or 
pack the soil hard after such plowing. If the furrows 
are left open and loose after turning under the rye air 
will work in, the rye will sour and prevent the proper 
rise of water from below. 
