I 154 
Iht RURAL NEW-YORKER 
September 6, 1924 
T HIS new 726-page Cata¬ 
logue will bring a new 
opportunity for saving and satis¬ 
faction into your home. 
You can tell how much this 
book will mean to you only by 
trial. Therefore, we make you 
this offer—one copy of this Cata¬ 
logue is yours free. Send for 
it. See for yourself that no 
other method of buying is so 
easy and pleasant as ordering 
by mail from Ward’s. You 
study prices and descriptions at 
your leisure in your own home— 
then merely sit down and list 
the things you want. 
It is a very great satisfaction 
to be sure of the quality of 
every thing you buy. At 
Ward’s only reliable goods are 
sold. We offer no price baits. 
We never make a seemingly low 
price by sacrificing quality. We 
offer you only goods that will 
give you satisfaction — goods 
that will win you as a customer 
of Ward’s. 
For 52 years we have defi¬ 
nitely guaranteed every transac¬ 
tion—“Your money back if you 
arenotsatisfied.”For52 yearsour 
name has stood for unquestioned 
reliability and honest dealing. 
Your Savings fVill Be Large 
$50,000,000 worth of merchan¬ 
dise was bought for this book. 
Bought by expert 
buyers in the best 
markets of the world 
—men whose trade is 
“ buying, ” whose on¬ 
ly orders were, “Buy 
merchandise of qual¬ 
ity, but buy at prices 
that will bringourcus- 
tomers the greatest 
possible savings. ” 
500,000 More Families Started 
Buying at JVard’s Last Year 
Half amillionmorefamiliesstarted 
buy ing at W ard’s last 
year! Half a mil¬ 
lion more families 
changed their habits 
of purchasing and 
took up this modem 
way of shopping— 
this most eco- 
nomical way of 
buying. Why not 
you,too? 
Ward’s is a 
House of SERVICE 
Your order will be shipped 
within 24 hours. When 
your order comes to Ward’s 
it is appreciated. It is 
given immediate and care¬ 
ful attention. Our success 
is built upon our service 
to our customers. 
The coupon will bring 
you your Catalogue free. 
It costs you nothing to find 
out for yourself. Clip the 
coupon now. Send for the 
Catalogue today. 
_ ESTABLISHED 1872 
Montgomery Ward &Co. 
The Oldest Mail Order House is Today the Most Progressive 
cago Kansas City St. Paul Portland, Ore. Oakland, Calif. Ft. Worth 
To 
MONTGOMERY WARD & CO. 
Dept. 64-H 
Chicago, Kansas City, St. Paul, 
Portland, Ore., Oakland, Calif., 
Ft. Worth 
(Mail this coupon to our house 
nearest you) 
Please mail me my free copy of 
Montgomery Ward’s complete 
Fall and Winter Catalogue. 
Name.. 
Address 
Crops and Farm Notes 
Countrywide Situation 
DAIRY SIDE LINES; EGGS SELLING WELL; 
SHIFTING CROPS ; FARMERS RAISING 
MORE; INTENSIVE POTATO GROWING. 
Sales of choice dairy cows at $150 or 
more, in eastern dairy sections suggest 
that perhaps some of the back farmers 
with plenty of hay are neglecting a good 
opportunity. Even a fairly good milker 
sells for $100. Such a line of produc¬ 
tion means a number of surplus calves 
and these bring good cash income at $10 
per 100 lbs. They can be fattened most¬ 
ly on separator milk with a little feed 
flour added, if one knows how to handle 
them that way. 
All live stock, even hogs, are selling 
better now, but grain feeds are likely to 
stay high this season. Careful buying 
and plenty of bulky farm-raised stuff 
will be needed to keep the bills within 
limits. There will be a lot of apple pom¬ 
ace and cull apples which will help if used 
in moderation, and some rye for early 
Soring feeding will come in handy. While 
the hay was generally good, some import¬ 
ant dairy sections had a spell of dry 
weather at the wrong time, especially 
the far West and most of New England. 
For Winter dairying the outlook is noth¬ 
ing wonderful because of the price of 
grain and the heavy reserves of butter in 
cold storage. 
EGG MARKET ACTS WELL 
The cost of poultry feed may lead to 
considerable thinning out of flocks. In 
that case the early seller will have the 
best of it. Hens beginning to lose their 
tail feathers will do their owners little 
more good as layers and should be culled 
out. Late molters include the majority 
of best layers. Live fowls bring 25c 
per pound now, but may sell lower when 
the rush comes. The egg market acts 
well for this time of year, exceeding 50c 
in some markets. But the usual rise in 
the late months may be checked some¬ 
what by the heavy stocks in cold stor¬ 
age. Holders who lost money last year 
probably will not hold so late this season. 
DANGER IN JUMPY FARMING 
After all it is little use to jump from 
one product to another provided a farmer 
knows how to make the old line pay in 
good seasons. During the past 10 years 
conditions have favored first one thing 
and then another and back again re¬ 
peatedly. Farmers are like a group of 
people on a raft. All goes well when the 
water is smooth and the heavyweights 
stay in the middle of the raft while the 
others keep fairly still. When the stream 
gets a bit rough the crew is likely to be¬ 
come nervous; a group shifts from the 
wheat side to the corn side, or to the 
dairy end, and others dodge to the cot¬ 
ton corner. The raft tips under, and 
back they run until the other end begins 
to tip. It is only the heavyweights at 
the center that prevent an upset. They 
are tied down by training, habit, and 
capital invested, and stay where they are 
while the quick movers are jumping ner¬ 
vously about, trying to restore the bal¬ 
ance. The raft went through the war¬ 
time rapids without tipping over and 
now seems likely to go through the whirl¬ 
pool at the foot, although the grain side 
is still tilting dangerously, and too many 
are trying to stand together on some of 
the corners. This bit of fancy does not 
mean fo show that a farmer should not 
consider his position carefully and make 
some changes from time to time for good 
cause. That is quite different from a 
sudden shift just because something paid 
or did not pay the season before. 
IS FARMING TOO GOOD? 
Part of the trouble with farming the 
last few years can be traced to the 
greater effectiveness of the farmer him¬ 
self. During the stress of war time he 
learned to get along without much out¬ 
side help and to use more and more ma¬ 
chinery and bought in considerable new 
land. Now with a million fewer men on 
the farms more stuff is being raised than 
before the war. That is what ails po¬ 
tatoes for instance and with this crop 
and others too, improved methods tell 
the story. The average yield the country 
over used to be hardly a hundred bushels. 
Lately it has been from 106 to 112 which 
means a big difference when applied to 
four million acres. In Canada, which is 
a better potato country, excepting our 
great northern tier of potato States, they 
get about 150 bushels an acre. Our best 
growers are doing far better than the 
average. In Maine they expect at least 
200 bushels. 
THE 300 BUSHEL CLUB 
Here is a report from the “300 Bushel 
Club” of Michigan, whose 22 members 
average 342 bushels per acre on fields 
from two acres upward. They credit use 
of certified seed with about 75 bushels 
of the gain over the State average of 114 
bushels. This means good, sound seed 
stock free from germs of scab, mosaic, 
etc. Most of them used manure aver¬ 
aging 11 tons besides an average of 614 
lbs. per acre of fertilizer. They used 
plenty of seed, 19 bushels per acre, and 
they averaged fully five sprayings and 
five cultivations. They planted on sandy 
loam and clay loam sod land, preferably 
clover and Alfalfa. Best yields were 
crops planted 3 ft. by 16 in. They sold 
the crops mostly for seed and made good 
profits. Even in the ordinary market the 
crops would pay well, but what would 
happen if all the northern farmers joined' 
the “300 Bushel Club?” At present the 
members have no need to worry. Even a 
small profit means a fair income, and 
by skillful marketing they are doing very 
well indeed. Such yields suggests what 
will happen when farmers really set out 
to raise big crops of any kind, and plenty 
of them will do it whenever increasing 
population makes better markets. 
AVERAGE NORTHERN TRUCK CROPS 
Various leading northern truck crops; 
cabbage, onions, lettuce, celery, carrots 
and cantaloupes have been coming along 
about as usual, with usual production, 
expected if the season is long enough to 
carry the late plantings. Many crops are 
two weeks late and some cold weather 
lately caused fear that freezing may oc¬ 
cur early. 
The commercial carrot crop may not 
be excessive. It promises about one-fifth 
more than last season but still about that 
much below the production of 1922. For¬ 
tunately some farmers who felt like 
planting heavily to this crop changed 
their minds when they saw what was 
going on and so left a fair chance for 
those who stayed in. g. b. f. 
Crop Notes 
We have had a very backward season 
here in Otsego County, N. Y.. but the 
haying is done' at last. The neighbors 
helped the last few days, and things 
moved faster than when we were alone. 
The vegetable garden looks good, all but 
the corn. The crows had a feast, and we 
replanted, but it was so late before we 
knew why it did not grow. I have not 
many flowers and I miss them very 
much, but I had so much painting and 
papering to do I could not find time 
to start them in the Spring, so I will 
have to look at the new wallpaper in¬ 
stead of bouquets I might have had. We 
have over 200 acres and only my hus¬ 
band, myself and four-year-old son to 
work it. Help is scarce and wages high 
this Summer. g l ti 
Otsego Co., N. Y. 
Crops in this locality are magnificent; 
elsewhere corn is spotted ; lack of drain- 
fl»e, probably. A dry cold Spring was 
followed 'by wet cool June and July ; two 
weeks of scattered days will count all the 
hot weather. Clover is wonderful. From 
our experience would not recommend 
Mammoth. Red clover; a hard job to get 
rough, coarse stuff; slow and hard to 
cure. A neighbor sowed White clover 
and I reckon he wishes he had tried out 
Alfalfa instead ; finally cut and bound it 
with a harvester, and shocked it. Per¬ 
sonally, I believe the western papers did 
more “hollering” about the McNany- 
Uangen bill than the farmers did. An ab¬ 
solute prohibition immigration 'bill would 
help more; the hordes of immigrants cut 
down wages and react on all interests. 
Better transportation 'by water is what 
the Mississippi Valley needs most of all. 
The tribute of freight rates is next to pro¬ 
hibitive to shippers. Thousands of acres 
of finest grass in South Dakota, with 
none of the big herds, bear mute testi¬ 
mony to the freight tax. The railroads 
are fooling themselves. A person can 
drive all day in South Dakota and never 
see a herd or drove of cattle. “Owners 
went broke’” is the reason. May the 
punch in The R» N.-Y. never grow 
less - MRS. G. L. T. 
Spraying- to Kill Brush 
1. I have an orchard surrounded by 
brush, and find it a little expensive to 
keep it cut back. Would it be feasible 
to spray the brush, , S ay in August, with 
dormant strength lime-<siilphur, the idea 
being to kill all leaves an-d thus kill the 
young trees? Would the new lubricating 
oil emulsion now being recommended as 
a substitute for lime-sulphur, and costing 
about one-sixth as much, serve the same 
purpose? It would have to be used at 
about double the dormant strength, as I 
notice they claim to use it in Summer for 
San Jose scale without much leaf burn 
2. What is humus value of plowed-under 
corncobs? h. Dallas m’cabe. 
Pennsylvania. 
1. We shall have to pass this on to 
someone who has tried such spraying. A 
flock of goats would clean up that brush. 
We have found that cutting the brush 
and burning late in August or early in 
September will in time clean it out. The 
most effective time to cut brush is just 
when it has ended its Summer growth. 
If anyone has tried spraying to kill such 
brush we want their experience. 2. Corn¬ 
cobs have but little value as humus. They 
are too slow to decay. 
Minister: “Why do you not get a 
wife, Donal’?” Donald: “I micht get a 
bad one.” Minister: “Trust to Provi¬ 
dence, an’ you’ll be all right.” Donald: 
“I’m no’ so sure, minister, for ye ken 
Providence has to dispose of the bad as 
well as the guid.”—The Humorist. 
