I 192 
The RURAL. NEW-YORKER 
September 13, 1924 
The Rural New-Yorker 
THE BUSINESS FARMER'S PAPER 
A 'National Weekly Journal lor Country and Suburban Homes 
Establis?ied ISSO 
Published neebly by the Rural Publishing Company, £33 West 80th Street, New l'*rfc 
Herbert W. Collingwood, President and Editor. 
John J. Dillon, Treasurer and General Manager. 
Wb. 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, 82.04. Remit in money 
ol der, express order, personal check 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. 
T HE race between Jack Frost and the corn crop is 
exciting. The runners are now in the home¬ 
stretch, and you may take your choice. Millions are 
at stake. One of our Western friends went to the 
Iowa State Fair and talked with many farmers, 
lie says they practically all agree on the following 
proposition: 
They all think that with ordinary average weather 
about one-third of the crop will be fit to crib. The other 
third will be fair hog feed and the last third will be 
practically worthless, except as a poor grade of fodder. 
With unusually good weather, which you might call 
almost a miracle, the proposition would step up one 
place. That is, we might have two-thirds of the crop 
pretty decent corn and another third fair pig feed. That 
is the very most we could hope for. 
On the other hand, an early froet would put us the 
other way one place and would mean one-third of the 
crop pretty fair hog feed and two-thirds worthless ex¬ 
cept as fodder, so if you hear that Iowa has had a 
heavy frost along about the middle of September you 
will know what shape we are in. 
The situation in the East is better. The crop is 
further advanced, and is being greatly helped by the 
present hot weather. An early frost, however, would 
be a calamity, and would send corn prices up out of 
sight, with comparatively few able to profit by the 
high figures. We are all hoping that it will be Hon. 
John Frost this year. 
* 
D ELOS P. TENNY, a well-known fruit grower 
of Western New York, died at his home in 
Walker recently. Mr. Tenny was SI years old. He 
had lived for 5G years on the same farm, taking it 
when in quite ordinary condition and making it one 
of the finest fruit farms in the State, lie lived a 
life of remarkable usefulness, not alone as a fruit 
grower but as a citizen and man. If we desired to 
show a young man what skilled labor, kindly help¬ 
fulness and faith in the land can do to make the 
ideal country citizen, we should point to the life of 
Delos P. Tenny. His life was methodical, and he 
left a very full diary, covering a long period of farm 
progress. We are in hopes that his son, Lloyd S. 
Tenny, will prepare for us the story of this interest¬ 
ing life. 
* 
T 1IE time has come for forestry planting in New 
York, but before you start, realize what it 
means. The timber supply is running short. Steel 
and concrete work cannot fully supply the future 
building needs. There must always be reasonable 
supplies of lumber. Should there come a shortage 
of wheat, corn, cotton or potatoes, it can always be 
relieved in a few years by planting larger crops. 
There is plenty of land available for producing food 
and fiber whenever the price will give proper earn¬ 
ing power to the land. Timber is different. It will 
require 40 or 50 years to get back the investment 
with small interest. A man of middte years can 
hardly expect returns for his money and labor, ex¬ 
cept through selling the reforested land as lie would 
an improved farm. Yet we know of a man of 50 
who, 15 years ago, invested all he had in waste land 
and planted pine and spruce. He has no large tim¬ 
ber yet, but the trees have grown so that he could 
sell the tract for five times what it has cost him. 
Generally speaking, the man of mature years who 
starts forest trees must realize that he is planting 
for a future in which he can have no active part. 
Yet he is leaving those who follow him the safest 
and most useful legacy one can think of. For those 
trees will grow on through the years while men sleep 
or work or play. They will slowly grow into mer¬ 
chantable timber and supply a national need in years 
to come. There are thousands of acres of hill lands 
in New York which should never have been taken 
from the original forests. There is little if any out¬ 
look for any profit to come from them from ordinary 
farming. In the great changes which are coming to 
agriculture they will naturally be assigned the part 
of lumber producers—builders for the future. Many 
a New York hill farmer may well think on these 
things. 
>|< 
This eubject of school is one close to our hearts, and 
anything we can do to help along should be done. I 
think all this agitation has done some good, for it has 
roused the farm people to see the needs of their schools 
and to realize what a calamity it would be if the con¬ 
trol of the schools was taken from them. 
MRS. C. M. A. 
HE rural school question is, without doubt, the 
most important problem which our country peo¬ 
ple are now facing. It means far more than the 
single proposition of educating country children—im¬ 
portant as that may be. It goes to the heart of the 
question of self-government and pride in local insti¬ 
tutions. Shall we bring the school to the children, 
or shall we carry the children to the school? To us 
it seems a simple proposition that when the State 
aids to improve the local school and helps build up 
and maintain local pride in local institutions it 
strengthens the very foundation of its power. We 
have felt from the first that this battle over the dis¬ 
trict school is the most useful thing for rural edu¬ 
cation that has occurred in years. Not only will it 
tend to district school improvement, but it will re¬ 
vive something of the old-time spirit of Independence 
and regard for local rights which have been so 
largely taken away from us through the growth of 
an. autocratic government. It would, indeed, be a 
calamity if our country people were to surrender 
their control over the rural schools, for that is about 
the last finger grip they have on local self-govern¬ 
ment. Rather than surrender their right they should 
get a fuller grip on it. 
No “ Canned ” Judgment Wanted 
A HEALTHY sign is the growing demand of farm¬ 
ers all over the country for instructions on the 
principles of co-operation and correct information 
as to its record of success and failure. Fortunately 
now the whole country is committed to the principle 
that farmers must be allowed the privilege of organ¬ 
izing their industry and of marketing their products 
through a common selling agency without fear of 
anti-trust statutes. Both national and State laws 
now exempt farm organizations from the provisions 
of laws intended to prevent “restraint of trade.” 
These exemptions have been made under the conten¬ 
tion and the conviction that a monopoly of our agri¬ 
cultural product to force an unfair price on the con¬ 
sumers is impossible in this country. If experience 
should prove that this conclusion is an error, and 
that a monopoly be actually created later, there is 
little doubt that the exemptions would be repealed. 
As Dr. Mechlin of the Wisconsin University points 
out in his report for the American Farm Bureau 
Federation, the function of co-operation is not mon¬ 
opoly of supply, but efficient and economic distribu¬ 
tion. The form of organization that will best accom¬ 
plish this purpose is the best plan for the farmer. 
The hopeful thing about it is that the farmer, 
with but few exceptions, is not taking any ready¬ 
made opinions, conclusions or prejudices as final. He 
is not looking for “canned” judgment, because he 
knows it may be prejudiced by selfish interest. He 
wants to know on what state of facts these asser¬ 
tions are made. He is asking for correct information 
so that he can form a sound judgment for himself. 
This promises well for farm organization. We shall 
do our part in supplying reliable information. When 
farmers have full and accurate information and full 
control of their own organization, The R. N.-Y. 
would not hesitate to back it morally and financially 
to the limit of its power and fortune. 
>{C 
A NUMBER of readers are evidently troubled 
about the disposition of their property in mak¬ 
ing a will. The chief question seems to be whether 
they shall leave the property directly to their wife, 
or put it in the form of a trust, so that she may have 
some little assured income, yet not be able to touch 
the principle. At least a dozen well-to-do people 
have asked us about this. It is hard to answer them 
without knowing more of the circumstances. In 
most of these cases the wife has worked with her 
husband, hard and uncomplaining. But for her 
cheerful willingness to help and do her share there 
would be little if any property. The man realizes 
this, yet practically all they have earned together is 
in his name—legally his own. It would be fairer to 
the wife and solve the problem of succession if some 
of the property (the home in any event) could be 
held by a joint deed or a joint account. That would 
provide for the matter. As to the case of leaving 
the property, it must depend largely on the confi¬ 
dence the man has in his wife. If she is a competent 
manager, sensible, and with some experience, it will 
be better to leave the property to her without re¬ 
serve. If she lacks experience and is of such a na¬ 
ture that she would be easily influenced by people 
who would work upon her feelings, it will be better 
to make some form of trust fund or invest in an 
annuity, so that she may be provided with a fair 
income if possible. Of course, in any case the 
amount of the estate must be considered. 
* 
T HE average man seems to be afraid of the 
Greeks, or in fact anyone else who comes offer¬ 
ing a horse, a barrel of apples or a farm for nothing, 
or for less than it seems to be worth. That is one 
reason why most Western people seem to fight shy 
of chehp Eastern farms. They think such spots on 
the landscape must be “too cheap to be good.” That 
will actually apply to some of them, while in other 
cases the farm offers a great bargain. We are just 
trying an experiment with the offer of a Vermont 
farm, made on page 11S6. W 7 e think this offer is 
genuine. It looks like a going proposition from the 
start for a man with fair capital. No others should 
apply, if they ever expect to work out. Here seems 
to be that much desired chance for a tenant or hired 
man to work out a farm—if he really wants to do so. 
W E look for another effort to exploit the so- 
called turk-hen or turken. Pictures of a bare¬ 
necked bird are beginning to show up in the news¬ 
papers. It is claimed that these hideous looking 
creatures represent a direct cross between a hen and 
a turkey—-with the laying qualities of a Leghorn 
and the fine meat of a Bronze turkey. There is ab¬ 
solutely nothing to the claim. We imported good 
specimens of these bare-necked or leather-necked 
birds and have made a full study of them. They are 
merely mongrels, or crosses from an old bare-necked 
breed found in Europe south of the Danube River. 
These birds were carried to the West Indian Islands 
and crossed with the poultry stock found running 
about. We imported from the island of Jamaica and 
were given our choice of any color we wanted! 
There is no turkey blood in this stock; just a hideous 
mongrel, looking like a vulture, and with no superior 
qualities of meat or egg production. Let the turken 
alone. If you are interested in novelties, why not 
try some of the strange breeds which are described 
by Prof. Thompson in this issue? 
* 
W E are often asked about putting chemicals in 
sweet cider to prevent or delay fermentation. 
The best plan is to pasteurize the cider and bottle 
and seal it while hot. We do not advise the use of 
chemicals; still there are many calls for advice, and 
we are assured by scientific men that the following 
is safe: Three ounces of benzoate of soda and one 
ounce of salicylate of soda. These four ounces of 
chemicals are to be dissolved in a little warm cider 
and then poured into 40 gallons. That is the amount 
needed for a 40-gallon barrel. Of course it will have 
to be figured out for smaller lots of the chemical 
when you use less than a barrel. Personally we 
would rather not drink this “doctored” stuff. 
Brevities 
Too much garlic and cockle seed is put in with wheat 
and rye. 
The hot weather is melting the city folks—but it is 
maturing the corn crop. 
We understand that a new effort will be made to 
“boom” the so-called turk-hen, or turken. 
As a sample of how co-operation may develop a to¬ 
bacco pool, Kentucky is sending 10-lb. lots C. O. D. by 
parcel post. 
In one village of New York State recently three 
farms were sold under mortgage foreclosure proceedings 
brought by the Federal Land Bank. 
We learn from a local Southern paper that “a de¬ 
lightful chicken roast was enjoyed by the Proposal Club 
and a few friends.” That’s a new one to ue. A pro¬ 
posal club? We thought that was more of an individual 
affair! 
We understand that a good pen of Black Jersey 
Giants has found a place at the royal gardens in Spain. 
Some of the early breeders of this strain lived in a “cas¬ 
tle in Spain” for some years. 
During the first seven months of this year 88 people 
of Pennsylvania were bitten by mad dogs. That is 43 
more than - during the same period last year. No deaths 
resulted—the Pasteur treatment saved the majority of 
them. 
