1508 
Jht RURAL NEW.YORKER 
December 6, 1924 
The Rural New-Yorker 
THE BUSINESS FARMER'S PAPER 
A National Weekly Journal for Country and Suburban Homes 
Established i860 
Pnhllshrd weekly by the Rural Publishing Company, 333 West 80th Street, New fork 
Hkrbkrt W. Collingwood, President and Editor. 
John J. Dillon, Treasurer and General Manager. 
Wm. F. Dillon, Secretary. Mks. 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. 
the number of contacts made between the two, and 
therefore the less will be the number of soil particles 
affected, and the less will be the efficiency of the appli¬ 
cation. 
The action of fire on limestone will give a finer 
powder than can be produced by mechanical grind¬ 
ing. Millions of dollars are spent for lime. A 
knowledge of what lime is and what it will do would 
pay great interest on this investment. 
sk 
Advertising rates, $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 i>ei-s6n. 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 or 
the transaction, and to identify it, you should mention The Rural New- 
Yorker when writing the advertiser. 
We are six miles from Caneadea, the railroad station 
where Rusbford does business. This is a Star Route, 
over which the mail is carried twice daily, with a con¬ 
veyance equipped to carry passengers. Under the new 
motor vehicle law the license to carry passengers costs 
$9 per month, which is more than the mail carrier re¬ 
ceives from his passengers. If he cannot carry passen¬ 
gers, the town is blockaded, so far as a public convey¬ 
ance is concerned. This means a loss to the driver, a 
loss to the town, as well as inconvenience and expense 
to the traveling public. This law may be fair to the 
cities, but not to the country. There are many villages 
hard hit in this way. eddy c. gilbert. 
New York. 
W E are receiving more complaints about this 
new motor law than we remember about any 
other legislation of recent years. The above letter 
is a fair sample of the way the law works in many 
rural communities. Then there is a world of com¬ 
plaint about the regulations for withholding a 
license from all persons under 18 years. Without 
doubt there are cases where this means a genuine 
hardship. There will be a rush to amend the law 
at the next session of the Legislature. In former 
years that has resulted in a conflict between rural 
members and those from the city. If any of our 
readers know of cases like that outlined in the above 
letter we would like to have them reported. They 
will all help in the coming discussion. 
I* 
T HE “come-back’' of the J. B. Hale peach may 
be classed as a romance of horticulture. M(any 
of our readers will remember the glowing statements 
with which this peach was introduced. It was as 
large as a cannon ball, beautiful as a rose, as solid 
in the shipping package as an apple—in fact, the 
very paragon of peaches. Elberta was to retire on 
a pension—driven out of service by a better peach. 
J. H. Hale had won the title of “peach king,” and 
lie risked his title and reputation on the future of 
that pencil. But something went wrong. The peadli 
proved a hitter disappointment to most of those who 
bought the trees. The fruit was usually poor and 
small, while fhe tree seemed feeble and hesitating. 
Most growers concluded they had been bitten by 
another “novelty,” and they quietly dropped the 
peach. But now it is coming back, larger and finer 
than Hale ever dreamed it would be. Time has 
shown what was wrong with it. The flower is im¬ 
perfect, and unless it is properly fertilized by plant¬ 
ing the right varieties near it there cannot be satis¬ 
factory peaches. Yet when close to varieties which 
suit it—when happily married, to use a term which 
all may understand—it develops the sweet, beautiful 
cannon balls, as Hale claimed it would. This dis¬ 
covery of what was the matter with the peach ranks 
as a romance of peach growing and bids fair to ver¬ 
ify all that Hale ever claimed. 
I* 
J UDGING from our letters there are thousands of 
readers who do not understand the difference be¬ 
tween the various kinds of lime on the market. How 
does ground limestone differ from hydrated lime, or 
what is the difference between marl and slaked 
lime? The State Lime Department of the Maryland 
University at College Park P. O., has issued an ex¬ 
cellent bulletin which answers all such questions 
clearly. It is the best brief explanation we have 
seen. Ground limestone is made available for farm 
use mechanically—by the crusher. Fire and water 
are needed to produce hydrated or slaked lime. As 
for the efficiency of lime for soil purposes, the fol¬ 
lowing extract from this bulletin tells the story: 
It must always be remembered that in order for a 
particle of soil-liming material to work on a particle of 
soil, there must be direct contact between the two. 
Therefore, the finer the liming material applied, the 
greater the number of particles there will be to come 
into contact with particles of the soil; and the coarser 
the particles of liming material applied, the less will be 
O N the next page is an interesting report of a 
mock trial in New Jersey. Mr. N. J. Potato 
was put on trial, charged with bringing trouble and 
loss to farmers in Central New Jersey. We have 
explained several times how these Jersey farmers 
have specialized for 3 'ears on potatoes, and how for 
the past few years the business has steadily failed. 
Has the potato crop gone back on them, or is it the 
fault of their methods? This mock trial was de¬ 
signed to bring out the points on both sides so they 
could be clearly understood. The lecture or demon¬ 
stration would be useful up to a certain point, but 
this idea of regarding the potato as an individual 
on trial for a supposed crime will put the situation 
into the human mind as nothing else can. It is a 
fine way of humanizing a hard farm problem. We 
should like to see the same plan worked out in New 
York State—putting Mrs. N. Y. Cow on trial as be¬ 
ing responsible for the present milk conditions. Let 
her face a judge and jury as the potato did in New 
Jersey. In that way all the facts regarding the pres¬ 
ent situation could be brought out so as to be easily 
understood. This would he a good work for the 
Grange. Which Grange will start it? 
School Meeting; Syracuse, December 31 
S INCE the announcement last week we find that 
through inability to secure a suitable hall, the 
meeting of the Rural School Society has been post¬ 
poned until December 31. This will give us all more 
time for preparation. Remember the date, Wednes¬ 
day, December 31. It will be an important meeting 
in every way, and it is very desirable that we have 
a large attendance. Plans for school legislation will 
be submitted, and they should be carefully consid¬ 
ered by country people—out in the ‘open, not by any 
star chamber or privileged group. It seems evident 
that the old school fight will be renewed by those 
who favor a blanket bill making a complete change 
in the rural school system. Those of us who fa-vor 
evolution rather than revolution must organize and 
prepare for the battle. This Rural School Society is 
the only organization standing four-square and with¬ 
out any apology for the district school and what it 
stands for. We need all the help that can be ob¬ 
tained. Let us end the old yea-r right by preparing 
for the new. Come out and stand up for the district 
school. 
& 
S OME of our valued contemporaries are quite in¬ 
sistent-for the reduction of taxes. We are all 
in favor of lower taxes as a general principle. Who 
ever heard of a tax-payer who desired to present his 
government with more than his share? We are all 
likely to forget that we cannot have lower taxes 
unless we reduce the public expenses. These ex¬ 
penses are made up of payments for running ex¬ 
penses such as salaries and upkeep of public build¬ 
ings, interest on- bonds or other public debts, cost of 
improved roads, and of education, including school 
buildings. We cannot expect to reduce taxes to any 
perceptible extent unless we cut down some of these 
public expenses in some way. We will not get very 
far calling for lower taxes unless we can agree on 
what should be cut in order to reduce expenses. The 
trouble is that most people are quite willing to cut 
out what the other fellow wants, but will make a 
bitter fight for the particular expense which benefits 
them. That is why we never get very far in trying 
to reduce public expenses. It is also why, when the 
time does come to cut, that we slash right and left, 
and often do injustice and injury. It is much like a 
family contest over fitting expenses to income. In 
some cases father loses his job, or finds that he must 
live on less. During flush times the family’ have 
fallen into expensive habits of living. These habits 
must be trimmed, or father will be a bankrupt, and 
any man who has faced such a situation knows that 
he is not riding on a theory, but that a condition is 
on his back. As a nation we are facing something 
like that. The car, the radio -and the motion pic¬ 
ture or similar entertainments take more out of us 
than we have ever paid as taxes, and they have also 
given us larger and more expensive ideas about pub¬ 
lic improvements. Since absorbing the gasoline and 
radio taxes into our year’s expenses there is nothing 
left, and there is little hope that the income of the 
average man will go much higher. The problem is, 
what public expense can we cut in order to reduce 
taxes? We think some of the great road-building 
projects should be held up. We think the number 
of public employes can safely be cut by 25 per cent. 
On general principles we oppose the bonding of coun¬ 
ties for expensive school and other pubMc buildings. 
The building plays a comparatively small part in the 
education of our children. The .teacher is the thing 
that counts. We think the time has come to thor¬ 
oughly overhaul our system of agricultural educa¬ 
tion. The expense has grown enormously, and we 
are convinced that certain features of it might well 
be cut out without greatly injuring the general plan, 
while reducing expenses materially. This, of course, 
will be unpopular with many, for there is no doubt 
that the general plan of agricultural education has 
developed a great army of workers and leaders who 
live largely to obtain an appro*priation. We have 
come to a time, however, when these things must be 
met sternly and impartially. We think our farm 
papers will have greater influence on tax reduction 
if they will confine their efforts, first of all, to a fair 
study of the mounting cost of agricultural educa¬ 
tion and law enforcement, and strike boldly at what 
is evidently unnecessary. 
* 
Will you write us if you were a farm boy choos¬ 
ing your life work at this time., would you choose 
farming? 
W E get that question from a leader in farm 
journalism in a Western college. It is easily 
answered. If we could go back 50 years with the 
full chance to decide a future occupation and our 
present knowledge, we would, from our experience, 
choose farming. That is because the years have 
taught us that when a man comes to be 45 or 50 
there is no life so satisfying and full as that of an 
independent farmer. The hurrying years of youth 
have little value unless they can prepare and earn 
contentment for a serene age. We would not select 
farming as the occupation most likely to win a great 
fortune, because common sense must tell one that is 
not likely to happen. With fair economy and reason¬ 
able energy it is possible to win a fair competence 
at farming, and the great glory of the life comes 
with the feeling that this is enough for any reason¬ 
able man. We would choose farming because we 
love the life and feel that it offers far greater op¬ 
portunity for self-culture and help to others than 
any other job or profession. We should want a 
reasonable education, a true reading habit and prac¬ 
tical experience. We should obtain the latter by 
working out as hired man for farmers, in various 
parts of the country—north, south, east and west. 
After many years of experience we cannot think of 
any better preparation for practical farming. What 
we mean by the love of the land and the glory of 
farm labor is ivell brought out in the character of 
Selina De Jong as portrayed in “So Big,” by Edna 
Ferber. If we had Pur way, the farms would all 
be occupied by people of that type—natural farm¬ 
ers who love the life with all their soul. The mis¬ 
fits and the discontented are the ones who give farm¬ 
ing a bad reputation. 
Brevities 
A promissory note outlaws in six years from the date 
of the last payment, or the date when it is dire. 
You will usually get further along the way walking 
after a fact than you will by running after a fad. 
Yes, nine out of 10 points in keeping seed corn go to 
keeping it. dry. It is the wet seed that is injured by 
frost. 
If you have signed a promissory note and it becomes 
due you can make but little defense for not paying it, 
unless you can prove fraud or deceit in obtaining it. 
The old American Pontologlc-al Society seems to have 
taken a new lease of life. Younger men ar»e certainly 
putting steam into it, and this is one case where the 
old bottle Can stand a full dose of new wine. 
Tiie one-wheeled trotting sulky is fhe latest. There is 
one rubber-tired wheel, like an automobile tire, with the 
seat above it. The shafts give the balance. It is nea rly 
60 years since Dexter made his record in a> four-wheeled 
cart. 
Up to November 15 in New York State 68 hunters 
were shot. Of these 16 were killed, while 52 were more 
or less injured. Some of these were mistaken for deer; 
others shot themselves. In other cases the shooting was 
accidental. The hunters, generally speaking, were more 
deadly to themselves than to the game. 
Please do not send us legal questions about cases 
where you have already employed an attorney. Some 
of these questions read as though people were trying to 
find. out whether their lawyer has given them sensible 
advice. We do not enter such cases. If you employ an 
attorney give him your confidence, take his advice, or 
drop him. 
