Vht  RURAL  NEW-YORKER 
Has  Your  Farm  Assessment  Been 
Raised 
HE  following  letter  comes  to  us  from  Central 
New  York.  We  want  to  know  if  this  is  typical 
of  other  farm  localities  in  New  York  State.  Has 
your  farm  assessment  been  raised?  Are  your  farm 
prospects  like  those  mentioned  below? 
Is  a  rise  in  the  assessed  valuation  of  farms  general 
throughout  the  State?  Last  Spring  our  buildings  were 
all  carefully  measured  by  the  assessors,  and  a  minute 
description  taken  as  to  condition,  paint,  kind  of  heat 
used,  and  my  valuation  increased  $1,300.  and  other 
neighbors  in  proportion.  Our  local  paper  states  that 
the  assessed  valuation  in  the  town  was  increased  from 
83  per  cent  to  96  per  cent. 
Uhfortunately,  I  have  a  good  farm  in  a  good  location 
on  a  good  road,  near  town,  well  fenced  (another  thing  in¬ 
dued  in  the  report),  and  people  wha  can  buy  such  a  farm 
are  not  buying  farms  now.  The  last  crop  of  wheat  I 
made  I  worked  what  I  was  able,  set  up  grain,  pitched 
in  the  mow,  raked  scatterings,  pitched  to  the  machine, 
and  besides  this  paid  out  over  $50  more  than  the  crop 
sold  for,  and  I  hired  the  work  done  as  cheaply  as  it 
could  be  done.  I  keep  a  complete  doubly  entry  set  of 
books,  and  know  what  I  am  doing,  and  am  not  losing  so 
much  marking  time,  taking  cattle  for  pasture,  in  which 
1  have  considerable  competition,  let  hay  on  shares,  and 
hope  for  normal  conditions.  Things  will  become  normal, 
but  when?  Do  not  dare  paint  a  building,  as  it  will 
raise  the  assessment.  Fortunately,  I  can  stand  a  deficit 
a  few  years  more,  and  I  hope  can  by  that  time  sell  and 
get  out  from  under. 
N.  Y.  Farms  and  Markets  Department 
IN  his  first  annual  message  to  the  Legislature 
Governor  Smith  said  that  the  last  Legislature 
appropriated  for  the  promotion  of  agriculture 
$5,282,642.24.  He  expressed  the  opinion  that  the 
State  was  not  getting  the  worth  of  the  money  and 
uot  doing  all  it  can  to  promote  the  interests  of  farm 
communities.  The  only  intimation  of  suggestion  for 
better  results  appeared  later  on  in  the  message.  It 
said :  '‘There  is  something  wrong  in  a  common¬ 
wealth  that  permits  so  much  of  the  produce  of  the 
land  to  rot  on  the  farms  while  such  high  prices  are 
being  obtained  for  what  is  being  sold  in  the  cities.” 
This  intimation  sounds  well,  but  the  same  thought 
has  been  expressed  over  and  over  again  for  the  last 
25  years.  It  is  formally  expressed  in  the  law  that 
Governor  .Smith  now  proposes  to  repeal.  It  simply 
intimates  what  a  new  policy  should  be.  It  does  not 
state  definitely  what  results  are  to  be  sought,  nor 
does  it  give  any  details  of  the  way  results  are  to  be 
attained.  These  details  of  means  and  accomplish¬ 
ments  are  of  course  not  expected  in  a  formal  message 
from  the  Governor  to  the  Legislature.  But  the  whole 
plan  in  detail  must  be  submitted  before  the  new 
administration  can  expect  any  enthusiasm  from 
farmers  in  support  of  the  Governor’s  demand  for  a 
thorough  reorganization  of  the  Farms  and  Markets 
Department  under  a  new  law.  The  same  reasons 
that  he  assigns  now  for  the  repeal  of  the  present 
arrangement  of  the  department  were  urged  with 
even  greater  eloquence  by  the  promoters  of  the 
present  law  six  years  ago,  and  if  changes  are  to  be 
made  now  we  would  all  like  to  know  to  what  de¬ 
finite  end. 
It  was  alleged  six  years  ago  that  the  agricultural 
law  was  being  revised  to  take  it  out  of  politics.  We 
said  at  the  time  that  the  alleged  purpose  was  a  pre¬ 
tence.  The  record  soon  justified  our  judgment.  The 
purpose  was  to  pay  a  political  debt  to  one  man,  and 
to  defeat  the  food  and  market  law  which  was  then 
working  with  farmers  to  stop  the  “rot”  of  food  on 
the  farms  and  to  get  it  to  the  city  consumer  at  a 
reasonable  cost  for  delivery.  It  was  a  middleman’s 
law.  Farmers  immediately  lost  all  they  had  pre¬ 
viously  gained,  and  their  share  of  the  consumer’s 
dollar  has  since  been  less  than  it  ever  was  before. 
In  the  preamble  to  the  law  the  State  announced  its 
responsibility  for  the  economic  distribution  of  food. 
It  multiplied  its  appropriations  for  the  purpose,  and 
then  tore  down  the  only  machinery  it  ever  had 
erected  to  perform  the  functions  that  it  proclaimed. 
In  creating  the  Farms  and  Markets  Commission  the 
law  took  the  Agricultural  Department  out  of  politics 
in  the  sense  that  it  tied  the  department  up  in  the 
party  then  dominant  in  the  State.  It  would  be  hard 
to  devise  a  scheme  that  would  make  it  less  respon¬ 
sive  to  the  people.  If  farmers  wished  to  change  the 
policy  of  the  department  by  legislative  measures  it 
would  require  six  years  and  six  successive  annual 
political  victories  on  one  policy  to  do  it.  Altogether, 
without  regard  to  the  work  of  the  department  since, 
it  was  one  of  the  most  brazen  and  disheartening 
pieces  of  political  farm  legislation  ever,  enacted  in 
New  York  State.  It  is  true  that  the  pretence  of  non- 
partisanship  has  been  dropped,  and  with  the  frankly 
political  complexion,  the  department  has  assumed  a 
measure  of  stability  and  respectability  that  was  not 
previously  apparent.  It  is  performing  its  police 
duties  and  its  normal  functions  in  the  interest  of 
production,  but  it  was  designed  to  defeat  any  real 
attempt  to  help  farmers  market  their  produce  and 
to  give  middlemen  a  free  hand  in  the  markets.  Tt 
has  kept  that  purpose,  and  the  men  in  charge  of  it 
have  no  choice  if  they  are  to  hold  their  jobs. 
If.  on  the  strength  of  his  recent  victory.  Governor 
Smith  wants  to  reorganize  the  Agricultural  Depart¬ 
ment  to  get  the  benefit  of  that  $5,000,000  patronage 
for  his  friends,  he  will  not  evoke  much  enthusiasm 
from  farmers.  The  Rural  New-Yorker  has  abso¬ 
lutely  no  concern  with  the  patronage  consideration 
in  it.  If,  however,  results  were  to  be  the  same,  our 
preference  would  be  to  leave  it  as  it  is.  This  would 
at  least  be  a  saving  of  time  and  energy  and  money. 
If,  however.  Governor  Smith  is  really  in  eai'nest 
about  the  “rot”  on  the  farms  and  the  "high  prices 
in  the  cities,”  and  will  give  us  a  practical  plan 
worked  out  in  sufficient  detail  so  that  we  can  see  a 
little  better  share  of  the  consumer’s  dollar  for  the 
man  who  works  the  farms,  he  will  have  all  the 
encouragement  we  can  give  him  for  a  reorganization 
of  the  department,  but  we  should  have  to  have  de¬ 
finite  and  detailed  commitments. 
The  Springfield  Federal  Farm  Loan 
Bank 
HE  annual  report  of  the  Federal  Land  Bank  of 
Springfield  says  that  the  bank  increased  its 
capital  during  the  year  by  $273,445,  and  increased  its 
loans  by  $6,579,700.  Its  net  loans  are  $21,935,192.42. 
It  paid  a  dividend  of  $48,737.58.  It  also  repaid  the 
Federal  government  $49,940  on,  $739,925  originally 
advanced  as  capital  by  the  government.  It  has  7,500 
farms  under  mortgage,  and  has  taken  12  farms  on 
foreclosure.  These  are  estimated  to  be  worth  the 
$41,570.40  which  they  cost  the  bank,  and  are  to  be 
sold  as  fast  as  demand  for  them  appears. 
“The  Price  of  Apples” 
I  am  sending  you  a  clipping  from  a  Washington,  D. 
C.,  paper.  Prices  in  this  city  are  even  higher,  5  cents 
apiece  for  apples  that  weigh  one-third  of  a  pound.  At 
the  restaurants  we  have  to  pay  10  and  15  cents  each  for 
a  baked  one,  or  at  the  rate  of  $5.20  to  $7.80  a  bushel. 
Someone  in  your  paper  a  short  time  ago  was  inquiring 
why  the  demand  for  walnuts  could  not  be  increased. 
An  hour  ago  I  passed  a  fruit  stand  where  walnuts  were 
displayed  for  sale,  and  a  tag  on  the  basket  with  this 
coat  of  arms  at  the  top,  “80  cents  lb.”  'Who  do  you 
think  but  Henry  Ford,  Congressman  Couzens  and  half  a 
dozen  or  so  like  them,  and  possibly  a  few  high-class 
“bootleggers,”  can  buy  walnuts?  If  things  keep  on  at 
the  present  rate  even  the  bootleggers  will  be  compelled 
to  eat  roast  turkey  without  cranberries  or  -walnuts.  I 
know  well  the  farmer  is  not  getting  much,  for  I  have 
been  him  for  30  yeax-s,  until  the  last  year.  It  seems  to 
me  the  traders  have  all  got  that  big  war  profit  idea 
soaked  into  them  so  deep  that  it  will  never  come  out. 
What  do  you  think  about  it?  z.  c.  B. 
Connecticut. 
OUR  thoughts  would  hardly  be  fit  for  publication. 
This  correspondent  sends  us  an  advertisement 
which  appeared  in  Washington  papers: 
APPLES 
Our  stores  are  supplied 
with  the  biggest 
and  best  stocks  of  apples  they  have  had  for  a 
long  time.  Buying  direct 
from  the  packers 
in  carload  lots  enables  us 
extremely  low  prices. 
to  sell  them  at 
York  Imperials,  6  lbs.  for.. 
Spitzenburgs,  2  lbs.  for.... 
Grimes  Golden.  2  lbs.  for.. 
Wagner,  4  lbs.  for . 
Delicious,  per  lb . 
.  10c 
Special  Prices  by  the  Box 
Those  farmers  who  saw  good  apples  rotting  on  the 
ground  last  Fall  because  the  price  then  obtainable 
would  not  pay  for  picking  and  packages  will  read 
these  figures  with  interest.  A  remedy?  There  will 
be  no  adequate  one  until  we  all  understand  that  we 
must  quit  working  as  individuals  and  get  together 
to  do  it  ourselves.  Here  and  there  are  men  like  D. 
L  Hartman  who  can  profitably  “go  it  alone.”  but 
the  great  mass  of  us  must  get  together  and  stay  to- 
gethei'.  and  thus  have  some  control  over  the  markets 
and  distribution. 
A  Rabbit  Swarm  for  Pennsylvania 
I  am  inclosing  a  clipping  from  the  December  31 
North  American.  In  The  R.  N.-Y.  of  December  30 
there  was  an  article  on  planting  rabbits  at  the  roots 
of  tx-ees,  and  I  think  the  farmers  of  this  State  (Penn¬ 
sylvania)  should  know  that  the  State  is  to  furnish  them 
in  plenty.  I  think  it  is  time  the  farmer  had  something 
to  say  about  this  kind  of  legislation,  a.  k.  carleton. 
Pennsylvania. 
WE  think  so  too,  and  thus  we  print  the  clip¬ 
ping  : 
Topeka.  Kan.,  Dec.  30. — Pennsylvania  is  to  be  re¬ 
populated  with  rabbits  from  Kansas.  “Cottontails”  for 
the  brush  and  timber  sections,  and  jaekrabbits  for  the 
open  spaces,  will  he  delivered  in  the  Spring. 
Moon  C.  Beck  of  Hutchinson  has  a  contract  with  the 
.  87 
Pennsylvania  Game  Commission  to  furnish  10.000  live 
rabbits  for  propagation  in  that  State.  Mr.  Beck  is  a 
professional  trapper  of  live  game  and  ships  rabbits, 
ducks,  geese,  antelope,  throughout  the  United  States 
and  Canada,  and  coyotes,  wildcats  and  other  animals  to 
zoos. 
Mr.  Beck  has  just  announced  that  lie  will  pay  30 
cents  each  for  live  cottontail  rabbits.  These  rabbits 
can  be  trapped  in  homemade  box  traps.  Jack  rabbits 
are  rounded  up  and  driven  into  netted  inclosures. 
Nearly  every  farm  lad  in  Kansas  has  one  or  two  box 
traps  for  use  this  Winter,  and  the  fact  that  one  rabbit 
will  pay  for  one  box  trap  is  expected  to  stimulate  the 
small  boys  in  trapping  the  cottontail. 
In  the  woods  and  waste  fields  around  our  own 
fruit  farm  are  all  the  rabbits  we  need — and  more. 
They  are  a  great  nuisance — killing  many  fruit  ti'ees 
each  year.  We  can  see  no  reason  why  our  farmers 
should  be  expected  to  maintain  this  horde  of  rab¬ 
bits  in  order  that  city  hunters  may  tramp  over  our 
fields  and  have  a  day  of  “sport”  now  and  then.  We 
try  to  live  up  to  the  reputation  of  a  “good  sport” 
ourselves,  but  we  can  see  no  value  in  the  proposed 
importation  of  these  Western  rabbits.  We  are  al¬ 
ways  ready  to  be  “shown,”  but  with  the  history  of 
the  Australian  rabbit  curse  (not  to  mention  local 
damage)  in  mind,  we  think  this  car  ought  to  be 
switched  off  the  line  before  it  reaches  Pennsylvania. 
Blacksmith  and  Veterinarian 
NOT  long  ago  we  received  the  following  letter 
from  a  blacksmith  in  a  country  town  of  New 
York  State: 
I  am  a  blacksmith  by  trade  and  do  a  thriving  busi¬ 
ness.  I  Mike  the  trade,  but  would  far  rather  be  a 
veterinary,  and  whether  I  could  learn  it  under  my  con¬ 
ditions  and  whether  it  would  be  advisable  and  how  to 
go  about  it  is  what  I  would  like  to  know.  I  am  27 
years  of  age,  married,  and  have  one  small  child.  <  )nly 
part  of  first  year  high  school  education.  Could  I  move 
to  some  veterinary  college  town,  gain  my  high  school 
points,  working  way  through  and  support  self  and 
family  by  out  of  school  work,  or  would  it  be  too  hard 
to  attempt  it? 
Now  it  seems  to  us  hard  to  conceive  of  any  train¬ 
ing  that  would  fit  better  as  a  foundation  for  good 
veterinary  practice  than  a  successful  business  at 
blacksmithing.  Yet  this  man  is  apparently  ruled 
out.  We  are  told  by  the  Cornell  Veterinary  College: 
The  requirements  for  veterinary  medicine  have  ad¬ 
vanced  so  rapidly  in  the  last  few  years  that  it  has  be¬ 
come  impossible  for  a  man  to  take  up  the  subject  with¬ 
out  having  a  preliminary  education  equivalent  at  least 
to  graduation  from  high  school.  In  fact,  the  law  of 
the  State  requires  this.  Further,  the  curriculum  has 
become  so  full  that  students  do  not  have  time  to  do  a 
large  amount  of  outside  work. 
The  requirements  for  an  entrance  examination 
show  that  this  blacksmith  could  not  possibly  acquire 
a  student’s  certificate  with  the  school  work  he  has 
had.  He  could  make  up  his  school  work  and  enter, 
and  then  go  through  the  course,  but  it  is  doubtful 
if  he  could  get  time  to  do  much  at  his  trade.  It 
could  be  done,  however,  and  we  would  like  to  see 
this  man  of  27  lay  aside  his  blacksmith’s  apron  for 
a  time  and  exchange  it  for  a  certificate  of  veterinary 
science.  We  think  he  could  teach  some  of  the  pro¬ 
fessors  a  thing  or  two  about  the  foot  of  a  horse. 
Winter  Prices  for  Eggs 
HE  last  report  of  the  Connecticut  egg-laying 
contest  at  Storrs  P.  O.  contains  the  following 
statement : 
During  the  last  10  days  the  bottom  of  the  egg  market 
seems  to  have  been  lost,  as  eggs  dropped  during  that 
period  12c  per  dozen.  The  method  of  marketing  eggs 
has  become  a  serious  problem  with  the  poultryman.  and 
the  following  table  will  show  the  avei'age  wholesale  price 
for  “nearby  Eastern  hennery  uncandled  extras,”  as 
quoted  by  the  New  York  Producers’  Price  Current  for 
the  last  five  years  for  October,  November  and  Decem¬ 
ber  : 
October 
1918 
1919 
1920 
1921 
1922 
1st  week . 
.$0.70 
$0.83 
$0.96 
$0.72 
$0.75 
2d  week . 
.  .74 
.84 
1.02 
.78 
.77 
3d  week . 
.  .  83 
.86 
1.10 
.82 
.85 
4th  week . 
.  .  89 
.94 
.95 
.90 
.92 
November — 
1st  week . 
.  .92 
.95 
.95 
.90 
.92 
2d  week . 
.  .98 
.98 
.99 
.90 
.94 
3d  week . 
.  .94 
.99 
1.07 
.92 
.90 
4th  week . 
.  .90 
.99 
1.07 
.93 
.90 
Decern  ber — 
1  st  week . 
.  .94 
1 . 03 
1 .08 
.75 
.82 
2d  week . 
.  .94 
1.04 
1 . 05 
.72 
.  To 
3d  week . 
.  .01 
.91 
.  90 
.72 
.70 
4th  week . 
.  .83 
.80 
.85 
.72 
*  73 
We  have  felt  that  the  increased  use  of  artificial 
lights  in  the  henhouse  has  something  to  do  with 
this,  since,  without  question,  this  lighting  induces  a 
greater  production  of  eggs.  This  will  have  to  be 
considered  in  figuring  future  egg  prices.  This  year 
the  late  October  and  November  eggs  seem  to  have 
been  most  profitable.  At  the  Connecticut  egg-laying 
contest  the  lights  are  being  used  this  year,  and  there 
has  been  a  great  increase  in  production  over  previous 
seasons.  We  shall  now  have  some  definite  data  as  to 
whether  the  lights  will  really  increase  the  total 
year’s  production,  or  whether  it  simply  means  a 
lively  spurt  during  the  Winter  months. 
