1490 
W* RURAL NEW-YORKER 
November 29, 1924 
Reg. U. S. Pat. Off. 
- \ 
The Years 
Have 
Proven 
That 
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Nothing 
Like 
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For wear, warmth and comfort 
The same good quality of material and care in 
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wool fleece lining and is made to fit the body snugly, 
yet allowing perfect freedom of movement. It 
wears like iron, can be washed and keeps its shape. 
Three styles—coat with or without collar, and vest. 
Ask your dealer 
BROWN’S BEACH JACKET COMPANY 
Worcester, Massachusetts ^ 
Use Your Ford 
YOUR WOOD 
YOUR PEED 
Why Buy an Engine When a Low-Priced 
“WORK-A-FORD” 
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No wear on tirea or transmission. Just drive up and book on 
In three minutes. Friction Clutch Pulley. Governor regulates 
engine speed. Write for free circular end 10-day trial offer. 
WORK-A-FORD CO* 856 Madison Terminal, CHICAGO 
NO-BUCKLE HARNESS 
Send no Money. Try a Walsh for 30 day s 
on your own team. Stronger, neater, handier than 
any other harness. Ten styles. Easily adjusted to any horse. 
Write for Free Book. Direct-from-factory offer. 
$5.00 after a month's free trial—balance easy monthly pay¬ 
ments. Return if not satisfactory. Janies M. Walsh, Pr.s. 
. WALSH HARNESS CO.,532Keef. At. , Milwaukee, Wia. 
OO AFTER A MONTH 
FREE TRIAL 
As Low as $10 
Buy your saw direct at lowest factory prices. 
Guaranteed staunch, durable and depend¬ 
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Saws firewood, lumber, lath, posts, etc. 
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HERTZLER&ZOOK CO. 
Box 3 Belleville, Pa. 
iiiimiiimimimmmiimimiiimmmm 
guiiimmi 
| The Farmer | 
| His Own Builder | 
E By H. ARMSTRONG ROBERTS 
S A practical and handy book of all kinds “ 
~ of building information_frorn^_concrete_to ~ 
ZZ carpentry. 
^ For sale by 
1 THE RURAL NEW-YORKER = 
~ 333 West 30th Street, New York 
nmimiiimiiimiimmiiiimiimmiiiiiin 
PRICE $1.50 = 
Price for Boarding Hired Men 
Would you give me a little informa¬ 
tion relative to the current price which 
is being paid on farms for the boarding 
of single men? I expect good board to 
be furnished and consequently expect to 
pay well for it, but I do not feel able to 
pay more than the current price for a 
similar grade of board and service. On 
the other hand. I do not want, through 
ignorance of changing conditions, to be 
in any way unfair to the party who is 
boarding my men. 
I supply the rooms, furniture, bedding, 
towels, etc. I furnish the fuel to heat 
these rooms in Winter, but do not pay 
for the electric light, as such. I supply 
electricity up to an amount that should 
cover the use of the family itself in the 
farmhouse, but probably does not cover 
the small extra amount used in the single 
men’s room in the ell adjoining. The 
woman doing the boarding is not required 
to do any washing of the men’s clothes; 
only the bedding and towels. 
Her husband has a large garden plot 
as part of his wages, which of course 
produces a great deal of food during the 
growing season and a large quantity of 
potatoes for Winter use. In addition, 
part of his wages also consists of coal 
for heating his house in Winter. The 
farm is not supposed to supply him with 
any produce, but occasionally there are 
little extras in the w-ay of apples, etc. 
after. That care shows in many corpora¬ 
tions in their pensions of long-term em¬ 
ployes. It doesn’t seem quite fair to call 
those pensions a bribe to keep the help 
contented, but at the same time the pen¬ 
sions are a powerful factor to that end. 
Agriculture has not reached the point of 
being able to pension its workers, but 
there should be no hesitation to pay the 
cook enough to keep the workers well con¬ 
ditioned, and then to charge it up to cost 
of production, just as the corporations do. 
Connecticut. G. w. d. 
It occurs to me that this man has a 
proposition in which no one, w r ould prob¬ 
ably have had experience. Since he al¬ 
ready furnishes several things, why does 
he not furnish food also, and simply hire 
the labor? This would certainly simplify 
the problem. 
Supposing one-half the needs of the 
men are supplied, possibly the woman 
could furnish the balance and board these 
persons for 50 cents per man per day, but 
that is a very conservative estimate, and 
no one would take one man alone at that 
figure. Obviously the garden plot is 
worth to this couple what the space would 
rent for, and no more, since it would fur¬ 
nish no food, but for the labor and ex¬ 
pense provided by themselves in making 
it produce; above a reasonable rental, the 
potatoes and other food produced is theirs 
• : 
E. J. Brooks of Morris Plains, N. J., sends the picture of the Guernsey cow, calling 
attention to “the remarkable likeness of Uncle Sam wearing a Western cowboy hat. 
gazing at the lone star.” You will find the picture “printed” in white on the left 
hip of the cow. The black and white Holstein cattle often show such remarkable pic¬ 
tures, but it is not usual for Guernseys to become walking picture galleries. 
But simply figuring on what she is en¬ 
titled to get, would you advise me what 
would be the going pay per week, per 
man, for boarding and care of the rooms 
and washing bedclothes and towels? w. 
Massachusetts. 
This has proved about the hardest nut 
we have ever asked our readers to crack. 
Few seem to have had experience, and 
few care to make an estimate. Among 
the reports received are the following: 
We have some tenement houses on our 
farm which we furnish, and we make ar¬ 
rangements with some of our families to 
bodrd extra single men whom we employ. 
Furnishing, as we do, the house, wood for 
heating, milk and most of the potatoes, 
w r e pay 25 cents per meal for board. 
Vermont. e. s. brigiiam. 
I have no information on this subject 
and know no one from whom to get it. In 
any case, it would depend largely on the 
qualify of the men employed. Foreign 
laborers would be satisfied with a cheaper 
bill of fare than Americans would. Of 
course the boarding mistress wants a 
profit. I should say the rate per week 
would range from $0 to $12. That’s my 
best judgment, but it’s a guess. 
GEO. A. COSGROVE. 
If W.’s inquiry is stripped of related 
things, the matter of the garden and its 
products, the matter of coal for heating 
the house and the “little extras” do not 
appear to enter into the question of 
boarding the men. It is quite clearly a 
matter of labor and food supply. The w r ife 
must do all of the labor or have it done 
by somebody. That means preparing and 
having ready on time 21 meals a week for 
each worker. From the pay she receives 
she must keep her pantry well stocked to 
supply those 21 meals per week per work¬ 
er. In addition to paying for the food, 
she should have a profit for attending to 
that detail of keeping the workers well 
fed and contented. It is plain that W. is 
solicitous for this very feature. It seems 
that under present conditions the wife 
should be paid $S per week per worker. 
If that turned out to provide pay for the 
supplies and a reasonable recompense for 
her labor, it would mean a continuity of 
conditions favorable to the operation of 
the farm. On the other hand, if it did 
not, there would quite likely follow dis¬ 
content on the part of the workers and 
on the part of the woman doing the cook¬ 
ing and cleaning. Contentment and con¬ 
tinuity of conditions favorable to the do¬ 
ing of the work of corporations both great 
and small are factors carefully looked 
to do as they like with, and the owner of 
the land has no claim whatever upon it. 
I fail to see where in the fact that “a 
part of the man’s wages consist of coal 
for heating the house” has any bearing on 
the price of board ; it is his wages, and 
not a gift in any sense. The question 
eventually resolves itself into one of 
board, without rooming (except that the 
rooms are to be cared for), and for that 
50 cents per day would be sadly inade¬ 
quate. I’m afraid most of us would hes¬ 
itate to consider much less than $5 or $6 
per week. MRS. E. M. a. 
New York. 
We have always been in the habit of 
giving board and lodging free, so that we 
had not figured the matter out in dollars 
and cents, but when we do this we un¬ 
cover the great handicap to farming at 
present, as the labor costs are out of all 
proportion to the possible profits in the 
business. I cannot see how this tenant 
woman could do her part in this problem 
for less than $2.50 a day and make any 
money at it, and still if the owner pays 
this and then pays the laborer $2.50 or 
$3 a day, it totals too much for the farm¬ 
ing business as carried on here. I have 
given this inquiry a close study and made 
inquiries. A man near here who, in con¬ 
nection with general farming, grows ex¬ 
tensively certified grains and seeds, etc., 
pays his single men, or I believe his help 
generally are paid $3.50 a day. and they 
board and lodge themselves. If they al¬ 
lowed $1.50 a day for this it would leave 
them $2 net for labor. Labor on farms 
here gets from $3 to $5 a day, and this 
sometimes with board, according to the 
class of work done. When any business 
is up against such a general proposition 
as this is under present conditions, the 
outlook is not a jolly one. One thing is 
certain ; a laborer can board and lodge at 
home much cheaper than the employer 
can get him boarded out. The way I fig¬ 
ure the problem is this, and even this will 
have to be shaded or enlarged, according 
to locality, customs and other features: 
Per day 
Board, including labor and expense 
of preparation and serving. $1.50 
Care of room, etc. .25 
Necessary laundry work. .25 
Extra.. • -50 
Total. $2.50 
The fact that there is a large^garden. 
etc., does not count, as the rent of the 
house and garden is a part of this wom¬ 
an’s husband’s wages. If he owned or 
paid rent for these he would receive all 
his wages or salary in cash, and could 
figure the expense of keeping a boarder 
in a different way. h. e. cox. 
I have bad no experience along that 
way. When I have help we usually give 
them a price per month and their board. 
I have never done any figuring as to what 
it is actually worth. Under the condi¬ 
tions named should think perhaps $5 per 
week might not be far out of the way. 
j. c. c. 
Countrywide Situation 
The Thanksgiving season finds the 
farmers quite hopeful in the mass, but not 
in all sections alike. Such is the change 
of light and shade in farming prosperity; 
the'Northwest and South feel better than 
the East now. 
LIVE STOCK AND GRAIN 
The very things that have pulled the 
grain farmers out of the pit have raised 
the cost to the dairy and poultrymen. 
The high price of wool and cotton ad¬ 
vance the cost of clothing. The live stock 
situation differs according to the kind of 
stock raised. Just now it is expensive to 
feed hogs and cattle. There are too many 
cattle in The market, 'but not so many 
hogs. Indications are that livestock will 
be sold off closely to obtain the cash. A 
year from now there may be the reverse 
of present conditions. Farmers have been 
planting winter wheat heavily. If they 
do the same with spring wheat and other 
grain there will be a lot of feed next year 
and not very much live .stock to (Consume 
it. Besides, it is not likely we shall be 
helped out next year with a world-wide 
grain shortage. Argentina will market a 
great deal of wheat in the Spring, and 
probably other producing regions of the 
world will plan to have more wheat to 
sell this year. , 
iFor these reasons it looks safer to go 
light on grain next year and to plan to 
raise plenty of hogs to provide a sure de¬ 
mand. In other words, if present tenden¬ 
cies continue, the hog raiser aud probably 
the owner of sheep and poultry, will be in 
a better position than the man with grain 
to sell. When most people are getting ex¬ 
cited over raising grain, but selling their 
hogs, a few of the contrary ones are plan¬ 
ning to raise more pigs and less grain 
and see what happens. For this reason 
no doubt the grain producers hit the bulls- 
eye better than most farmers. 
„ THE RECORD POTATO CROP 
Vegetables have been scarcely bringing 
a new dollar for an old one. The potato 
crop piled up a record-breaking total dur¬ 
ing the long late growing time in October. 
Every potato State shows a tremendous 
yield. The 300-bushel per acre crop of 
Maine is a sample. If potato farms were 
like the cotton factories and steel mills, 
the farmers would have shut down when 
they saw what was coming, but a farmer 
has to go ahead after the crop is started. 
It is not impossible that the market may 
end fairly well after all. A good many 
Far Western potatoes will not be dug, 
nor even some of those owned by disgust¬ 
ed farmers in the East. Times are rea¬ 
sonably good and consumers are using all 
the vegetables they want. It may turn 
out by March or sooner that the supply 
of good potatoes is not very great. No 
one can tell about these market surprises, 
but they do sometimes happen in the big 
crop seasons. 
APPLES SELLING WELL 
On many farms the apple crop is the 
only one that will pay the taxes this sea¬ 
son. Price variation is wide. A good 
deal of stock in New England is selling 
at $3 to $5 per barrel for No. 1 or A 
Grade of standard vrieties. Mid-western 
cities quote mostly $5 to $8. The general 
city range on Baldwins is $5 to $(». The 
light crop in Michigan makes the Central 
West the best apple market, and consid¬ 
erable Eastern stock is being sent there. 
Otherwise the wide difference in prices is 
caused by the poor color and finish of 
much of the fruit. Different grades of 
standard kinds of Northwestern boxed ap¬ 
ples bring $2.25 to $3 in the cities. Tak¬ 
ing the leading commercial packs and va¬ 
rieties together, the Eastern growers are 
getting about as much for their apples as 
the Western growers. In both regions 
they are receiving as a class about 50c a 
bushel more than last season, and the 
apples have been much easier to sell. Ap¬ 
ple growers have more reason to feel 
pleased than most other producers, be¬ 
cause there was no over-production. 
THE LONG RANGE FOR APPLES 
Even for the long pull, the apple indus¬ 
try has not increased much despite the 
heavy plantings at times. Dividing the 
past 30 years into six-year periods, to 
even up season by season variations, it 
appears that no more apples were raised 
in the later, periods than in the early 
ones. Meanwhile, the home and foreign 
markets have been growing. That is the 
real reason why apple producers meet a 
paying season oftener than many other 
farmers. The production figures are not 
quite what they seem, because nowadays, 
under better methods of orchard manage¬ 
ment and larger preparation, the crop is 
of good market grade, but with all allow¬ 
ances of long range outlook for orchard¬ 
ing is as good as for any kind of farming. 
Onion markets at $1.50 per 100 lbs. in 
the country, and $1.74 average in the 
cities are slow and dull. Cabbage went 
as low as $3, but hard storage stock is 
selling at about twice that figure. City 
markets range $8 to $18. G. b. f. 
