1582 
The RURAL NEW-YORKER 
December 27, 1024 
The Rural New-Yorker 
THE BUSINESS FARMER'S PAPER 
A Notional Weekly Journal lor Country and Suburban Home* * 
Established )S30 
I jlilblx-d wt*L!y by the Rural PiiblUhinc Company, 333 'Vest 30th Street, Sew York 
Herbert W. Colrinowood, President and Editor. 
John J. Dillon, Treasurer and General Manager. 
W«l F. Dillon, Secretary. Mrs. E. T. Hoyle, Associate Editor. 
L. H. Murphy, Circulation Manager. 
SUBSCRIPTION : ONE DOLLAR A YEAR 
T- foreign countries in the Universal Postal Union. $2.01. Remit in money 
order, express order, personal check or bank draft. 
Entered at New York Post Office as Second Class Matter. 
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 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. 
Most of the papers I get seem to be afraid of the 
Farm Bureau question. They appear to think it is 
loaded. w. c. \v. 
T may be, but that seems all the more reason 
why it should be fairly discussed. If the record 
of the Bureau reasonably justifies the money and 
labor which has been invested in it the more it is 
discussed the stronger it will appear. This idea of 
being afraid of things because we think they are 
loaded makes us think of Gen. Putnam and the 
gunpowder barrel. “Old Put,” as he was familiarly 
called, had a quarrel with a British officer, who 
challenged him. That gave Putnam the choice of 
weapons. lie did not relish being carved up with a 
small sword or shot down by a pistol, so he brought 
out a gunpowder barrel showing the black grains of 
powder on top. He then sat down beside the barrel 
and invited the officer to sit on the other side. 
When both were seated “Old Put” calmly took his 
lighted pipe and started to knock the live coals into 
the powder. The officer jumped and dodged behind 
a tree. He didn’t propose to be blown up. Putnam 
calmly dumped the burning coal into the supposed 
“powder.” Nothing happened. It wasn’t powder 
at all, but onion seed, a good imitation. Some of 
these terrible things that men run away from are 
loaded, but it is onion seed—not gunpowder. 
* 
ANY of our people are eager to find home em¬ 
ployment, especially during the Winter season. 
On many farms there is little if any cash income 
during the Winter months, and farm women in 
particular are sadly in need of cash. Most of our 
people have read about the vast sums of money 
spent for candy, and especially for milk chocolate. 
Most farm families have a fair supply of milk. Is 
it not possible to develop this into chocolates and 
thus get a share of the millions that people are 
paying for such sweets? All this seems plausible, 
and it would indeed be a great benefaction if one 
could utilize a good share of the milk at home and 
sell it in the form of candy. But here is a report 
from a man who has been in the business for many 
years: 
The vacuum pans or drying cylinders are an essential 
part of the milk drying equipment. To properly make 
a good milk chocolate it would require the investment 
of about $30,000 in machinery, and to my knowledge 
there is no practical way to make same on a small 
scale in a private home. 
It is not impossible that a co-operative dairy 
society, working on a large scale, might develop a 
business of this sort, but evidently it is not suited 
to home conditions where a good quality of fudge 
or molasses candy can be made. The most desirable 
thing that we can think of would be some practical 
way of developing a little home business which will 
give a cash income. 
* 
Y OU will be interested in Mrs. Greenwood’s ac- 
account of that school or college in Idaho. 
Many a man who reads that will wish that his boys 
and girls could be made to earn their education in 
that way. Some of us who were obliged to do it 
well understand how much of character and de¬ 
termined efficiency come out of the labor struggle 
which such young people must make. Such students 
may not think so, but they get more of enduring 
value out of washing dishes, clerking, sawing wood 
or the other self aids to education than they do 
out of the text books. Such values are not orna¬ 
mental or popular, but they are enduring. There 
are many young people in Eastern colleges who are 
doing much the same thing. They will be the lead¬ 
ers of the future. It is harder to work one’s way 
through college in the Eastern institutions. The 
closer you get to the frontier the more men are 
valued for what they really are. They are closer 
to real democracy — nearer the crude, original 
struggle for life against natural forces. We should 
think it a great plan for the Eastern-raised youth 
to be educated in the West, and for the Western 
youth to attend some Eastern college. That would 
be one good way of developing broad-minded leaders 
who can grasp something more than a sectional view 
of this great country. 
* 
I N some country communities a trouble much like 
the following has arisen. Years ago land was 
given to a certain society to be used for church or 
educational purposes. No deeds were given, but it 
was understood that in case of diversion to other 
purposes the land was to revert to the original heirs. 
Then sheds and other similar buildings were built. 
Now the society has abandoned the place and many 
of the sheds have fallen down. To whom do they 
belong, and what should be done with them? Strange 
to say, there are some bitter disputes over this 
point. We believe that the society should first give 
notice to the builders of the sheds to remove them, 
before a certain time, and if they fail to do so let 
the society dispose of them as they see fit. 
5k 
HIS, the last issue of The R. N.-Y. for 1924. 
goes to you with our sincere wishes for a Merry 
Christmas and the happiest of New Years. There is 
nothing perfunctory about this wish. We do not 
consider it necessary to make any elaborate showing 
or any spectacular protestation of friendship. Many 
of us have worked together for years. We are like 
a great family, so far as it is possible for such a 
loose organization as the readers of a paper really 
to be a family. We doubt if, in all the world, there 
is another such family as we now find grouped 
around the name and record of The R. N.-Y. It 
has been the great pleasure of the present owners 
and managers of The R. N.-Y. to work together for 
nearly 40 years. That means a long time in jour¬ 
nalism. a .profession which in most cases becomes 
stale and unprofitable after 25 years. We have not 
found it so. Our people have been kind and sym¬ 
pathetic. They have been charitable and have given 
us the most loyal support and encouragement. Bet¬ 
ter than that, they have given us reasonable and 
constructive criticism. This has given us courage 
to fight and patience to endure. All this has given 
true zest to life, and we can approach the New Year 
with full confidence in our people and with the hope 
that we may be of renewed service to them. We 
spend no time or space trying to tell what we shall 
attempt during 1925. When brother and sister meet 
on Christmas morning they do not waste time in 
long pledges of loyalty. If the heart is right, such 
things are not needed. We know we can depend on 
you to the full limit of true loyalty. You will find 
us the same as ever—doing our part with all the 
energy and skill at our command to make this paper 
a true friend of its readers. If you watch the face 
of the clock on New Year’s Eve you cannot possibly 
notice any lapse of time when the old year gives 
place to the new. A tick of the clock and the New 
Year has come. That is the way we feel about the 
life of our great family. It has been the greatest 
pleasure of human life to work with you through 
1924. Let us not think for a moment of any change 
or break, but go on in the old way, facing the future 
with confidence and strength. Merry Christmas and 
Happy New Year to all. 
>k 
D URING the past few weeks several wealthy 
men have given property estimated at $120,- 
000,000 value to the cause of education. All this 
money will be used to develop colleges and schools. 
Half a dozen institutions will receive a sum greater 
than the total value of all property in New England 
50 years after the first settlement at Plymouth! It 
is a remarkable commentary on the development of 
industrial wealth in this country that all this money 
should have settled into the control of half a dozen 
enterprises. One case in particular shows how, un¬ 
der our industrial system, the profits from an agri¬ 
cultural crop, tobacco, have gone to the manufactur¬ 
ing side rather than to the farm production. And 
the future of the college funds will depend largely 
on the profits from these great industries, for the 
property thus given to education is chiefly in the 
form of stocks. It has become a fair question as to 
whether the cause of true education is best promoted 
by handing these huge sums to the great colleges. 
In one case the donation has been made to a school 
organized for the purpose of training orphans in in¬ 
dustrial pursuits, largely agricultural. We think 
there is a greater need for such well-equipped in¬ 
dustrial schools, close to country people, than for 
greater aid to the great universities. Of course we 
realize that this is not a popular opinion among 
those who are supposed to control our machinery for 
education, but we are expressing what we have 
learned and observed in a rather long and strenuous 
life experience. The trouble with the richly en¬ 
dowed college is that it is apt to lose its spiritual in¬ 
dependence, being in no way responsible to the gen¬ 
eral public for its support. We are told that this 
very freedom from financial obligations to the pub¬ 
lic will make it freer and more democratic, but that 
does not seem time in our experience. We would 
prefer to see this money spent on some plan for im¬ 
proving the common schools rather than in putting 
higher education still higher. It seems as if the 
long, everlasting struggle between aristocracy and 
democracy enters into education as well as every 
other department of life. 
5k 
W HO is qualified to serve as a trial juror in 
New York? What are the property quali¬ 
fications? These questions are now asked so fre¬ 
quently that we answer them here: 
In order to be qualified as a trial juror in a court 
of record a person must be a male citizen of the 
United States and a resident of the county, not less 
than 21 years nor more than 70 years of age, as¬ 
sessed for personal property belonging to him in his 
own right in the amount of $250, or the owner of a 
freehold estate in real property situate in the 
county of the value of $150, or the husband of a 
woman who is the owner of a like freehold estate 
belonging to her in her own right, but a person who 
was assessed on the last assessment roll of the town 
for land in his possession under a contract for pur¬ 
chase thereof, upon which improvements, owned by 
him, have been made, to the value of $150. is quali¬ 
fied to serve as a trial juror. 
5k 
W E think the Grange can do a great service to 
the country by keeping alive and populariz¬ 
ing the old songs which belong to the time of the 
Civil War. In these days of jazz and foolish music 
the generation is likely to forget the beautiful old 
melodies which grew out of the struggle to preserve 
the Union. “Tenting on the Old Camp Ground,” 
“Rally Round the Flag,” “Just Before the Battle.” 
and dozens of others sprang out of the troubled soul 
of a nation, and they should not be permitted to die 
out of memory, any more than the great hymns 
which; have come down through generations of 
church people. The Grange is just the organization 
to keep these songs alive. It must be said that some 
of the standard Grange songs are dreary in music and 
dull in sentiments, but these fine old war songs will 
enliven any gathering. A few years ago we attend¬ 
ed a Grange meeting which seemed about to taper 
off into a stupid dullness. Then a quartette of four 
elderly men came out and sang that forgotten Amer¬ 
ican song beginning “Lift up your heads, desponding 
freemen!” The audience responded to it. It was 
wonderful. These elderly men seemed to have 
stepped out of the past with a great message to 
youth. Keep up the old songs. 
Brevities 
They say, rightly, that “idleness is an enemy of the 
soul.” 
Minute men are all right, but we want day and year 
men too—who will get on the job and stay there. 
A Rhode Island girl of 13 was recently married. 
The truant officer has just decided that this child-wife 
must remain in school. 
In Pennsylvania 771 cows each gave more than 1,000 
pounds of milk during the month of October. The two 
best cows gave 2,508 and 2,303 pounds respectively. 
They were Ilolsteins. 
In 1730 Rhode Island passed a law prohibiting 
lawyers from being elected to the Legisature. It was 
soon repealed. Out of 51 members of the New York 
Senate, 29 are lawyers! 
There may be sour spots in every field, no matter 
how well limed. That is one good reason why seed of 
Alsike clover should be mixed with the Red. The Al- 
sike will grow on the sour spots. 
Several, people have asked for the analysis of peanut 
hulls. We have finally obtained the following: "I 
find upon analysis recently that peanut hulls contain 
13 per cent crude protein, 16 per cent fat and 13 per 
cent fibre.” 
It is said that during the World War large quantities 
of quack grass seed were sold to the Canadian govern¬ 
ment for seeding on aviation fields. The severe Canadi¬ 
an Winters prevent great spreading of quack grass. A 
thick stand of quack grass has sent many an American 
farmer “up in the air.” 
A New York woman has brought suit against her 
husband because he would not talk to her. This she 
claims is “cruel and inhuman treatment.” We have 
known cases where a woman’s flow of language might 
be characterized in that way. 
