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The  RURAL  NEW-YORKER 
May  5,  1928 
this  new  country.  Professor  Carrier  presents  an 
imposing  list  of  the  natural  vegetation  of  Eastern 
America.  The  Indians  excelled  in  raising  corn, 
beans,  peas  and  squashes. 
We  cannot  follow  the  book  fully  through.  In  an 
an  article  of  this  short  length  only  a  brief  outline 
can  be  given.  The  Indians  apparently  had  no  do¬ 
mestic  animals  except  dogs.  No  doubt  the  white 
men  obtained  some  of  these  dogs  from  their  Hid 
neighbors.  Park  man  tells  of  the  French  at  Montreal 
who  had  no  dogs  and  were  thus  often  surprised  by 
(he  Indians.  They  sent  to  France  and  obtained  a 
very  smart  little  dog,  which  practically  saved  the 
colony  by  preventing  surprises.  She  and  her  de¬ 
scendants  were  greatly  honored.  We  take  it  these 
Indian  "dogs’’  were  originally  wolves.  The  Indians 
cciii  to  have  learned  quite  rapidly  to  pick  up  hogs, 
cattle,  sheep,  goats  and  horses.  Some  they  stole, 
others  were  traded.  The  Indian  chief  Massasoit 
fell  ill,  and  Edward  Winslow  of  Plymouth  went  to 
“doctor”  him.  An  Indian  runner  was  sent  to 
Plymouth  for  chickens  with  which  to  make  a  broth 
for  the  sick  man.  By  the  time  he  got  back  with  the 
birds  the  chief  was  so  much  better  that  the  chickens 
were  not  killed,  but.  kept  for  breeding.  The  original 
domestic  animals  were  poor  and  small.  It  was  hard 
to  transport  large  animals  in  the  small  and  crowded 
vessels  used  at  that  time.  They  were  not  given 
very  good  care  at  first,  since  food  was  scarce  and 
the  natural  fodder  in  the  Eastern  States  was  not 
luxuriant.  What  is  now  the  State  of  New  Hamp¬ 
shire  was  famous  for  the  domestication  of  the  grass 
now  known  to  the  rest  of  the  world  as  Timothy. 
From  the  beginning  of  American  settlement  the 
great  effort  was  to  find  some  crop  or  product  that 
would  call  for  cash  in  the  old  country.  Most  of  the 
cost  of  settling  the  upper  coast  of  America  was  borne 
by  merchants  or  so-called  co-operative  societies  as  a 
speculation.  The  Spanish  settlements  farther  south 
had  been  successful  in  finding  gold,  silver  ami  other 
than  precious  metals.  The  English  and  French  ex¬ 
pected  that  similar  stores  of  minerals  might  be 
found  farther  north.  •  It  was  a  great  disappointment 
to  them  that  northern  settlers  reported  little,  if  any, 
gold,  silver  or  topper.  Of  course,  no  one  had  pene¬ 
trated  far  enough  into  the  country  to  find  the  pres¬ 
ent  copper  mines,  and  no  one  realized  the  value  of 
the  oil  and  coal  deposits.  At  first  there  was  nothing 
for  export  with  which  to  pay  debts  or  to  offset  im¬ 
ports  except  furs,  lumber,  salt  fish  and  a  small 
amount  of  grain.  The  great  problem  was  to  find 
some  product  which  had  a  cash  value  in  England. 
The  Virginia  colony  and  near-by  settlements  found 
this  in  tobacco.  Their  prosperity  depended  on  the 
spread  or  development  of  a  habit  or  vice,  for  no 
Europeans  used  tobacco  until  after  America  was 
discovered.  Carrier  traces  the  curious  industrial 
and  political  growth  of  tobacco-growing  in  North 
America.  As  tobacco  growers  were  forced  back  from 
the  rivers  in  order  to  find  new  and  fresh  land,  they 
found  it  next  to  impossible  to  cart  their  tobacco  to 
the  rivers  for  marketing.  So  heavy  hogsheads  loaded 
with  the  “weed”  were  often  rolled  several  miles  to 
the  rivers.  Many  efforts  were  made  to  restrict  pro¬ 
duction.  Laws  were  passed  prohibiting  the  planting 
of  tobacco,  hut  they  were  never  very  successful.  Ap¬ 
parently  at  that,  time  the  so-called  “two  blades  of 
grass”  theory  caused  a  glut  in  the  market  and  less 
prices.  Even  at  that  old  day  the  middleman  prob¬ 
lem  was  a  nightmare  to  these  American  farmers. 
From  the  time  the  tobacco  left  the  river  bank  until 
it  entered  the  pipe  or  cigar  of  the  consumer,  sailors, 
dealers,  agents,  manufacturers  and  sellers  had  a 
linger  in  it  until  it  was  said  that  the  tobacco  farmer 
in  Virginia  was  obliged  to  support  four  families  be¬ 
side  his  own.  Still,  for  many  years  tobacco  was  the 
money  crop  of  America ;  not  only  so,  but  it  became 
the  medium  of  exchange. 
Iu  South  Carolina  indigo  was  for  a  time  a  profit¬ 
able  export  crop,  but  this  trade  was  finally  killed 
through  competition  with  the  tropics.  Cotton  be¬ 
came  finally  a  cash  crop,  as  did  rice,  tar  and  pitch. 
In  the  North  considerable  quantities  of  potash  were 
exported.  This  was  obtained  by  burning  wood  and 
leaching  the  ashes.  New  England  found  it  hardest 
to  find  a  cash  crop  for  export.  The  first  discoverers 
of  New  England  found  wild  grapes  growing  in  pro¬ 
fusion,  and  they  really  thought  that  the  region 
might  become  noted  for  wine  production,  so  as  to 
make  England  independent  of  Southern  France  and 
Spain  for  its  supply  of  wine.  That  dream  faded 
away  iu  practice,  though  we  have  no  doubt  there 
were  even  then  varieties  of  fruits,  like  the  Baldwin 
apple  and  the  Concord  grape,  growing  in  the  depths 
of  the  forests — to  pass  through  life  and  be  lost  for 
lack  of  attention.  Many  efforts  were  made  to  develop 
silk  culture  in  this  country.  Carrier  says  that  a 
few  hundred  pounds  of  raw  silk  were  actually  sent 
from  Georgia  and  South  Carolina,  but  America  of 
that  ag<>  could  not  compete  with  the  pauper  labor  of 
Asia.  Cotton-growing  made  but  slow  progress  at 
first  The  lint  had  to  he  separated  from  the  seed 
by  band,  and  this  put  Americans  in  direct  compe¬ 
tition  with  cheap  labor  in  Turkey  and  India.  Cotton¬ 
growing  could  not  become  a  great  American  industry 
until  the  invention  of  the  cotton  gin — for  picking 
out  the  seed.  Tn  somewhat  like  manner  America 
could  not  he  said  to  become  the  world’s  bread¬ 
maker  until  the  great  labor-saving  machinery  for 
producing  and  handling  corn  and  wheat  was  in¬ 
vented.  New  England  had  little  of  farm  produce  to 
send  abroad  except  a  small  surplus  of  corn.  Thus 
the  New  England  people  were  driven  to  fishing  and 
shipping.  They  naturally  picked  up  the  carrying 
trade  of  the  American  colonies,  and  so  far  as  pos¬ 
sible  developed  manufacturing.  It.  was  really  the 
development  of  these  industries  which  led  up  to  the 
War  of  the  Revolution.  The  English  people  fully 
expected  that  America  would  supply  great  quantities 
of  the  vegetable  oils  which  were  then  a  necessity. 
The  colonies  never  supplied  enough  of  these  oils  to 
fill  England's  demand.  Carrier  in  his  hook  expresses 
some  surprise  that  the  English  people  spent  time 
and  money  at  the  fruitless  task  of  trying  to  develop 
the  silk  industry,  hut  made  little,  if  any,  effort  to 
increase  wool  production.  New  England  was  well 
situated  to  care  for  sheep  and  could  have  produced 
great  quantities  of  wool.  This  would  have  been 
direct  competition  with  England,  which  at  that  time 
demanded  and  obtained  a  monopoly  of  the  wool 
trade.  Later  England  was  glad  to  develop  the  wool 
A  Cow  with  a  Label 
You  have  pictured  some  freaks.  I  believe  I  have  here 
the  prize  winner,  with  fairly  well  formed  “E  K”  on  her 
side  and  shoulder.  willi  am  s.  collins. 
Erie  Co.,  O. 
HERE  is  the  picture.  You  may  judge  for  your¬ 
self.  It  surely  is  surprising  how  nature  can 
use  the  black  on  the  side  of  a  Holstein  to  make 
“strange  matters.”  No  other  breed  seems  to  show 
such  curious  markings. 
trade  in  Australia  and  New  Zealand.  All  these 
things  combined,  early  in  American  history,  to  de¬ 
prive  New  England  of  a  cash  farm  product  and  drive 
her  people  away  from  farming  into  industries  which 
made  New  England  a  rival  of  old  England. 
(To  Be  Continued) 
New  Yorkers  and  Boosters 
N  page  252  I  noticed  a  letter  from  W.  H.  II., 
who  wants  to  know  why  a  New  Yorker  isn’t  as 
much  of  a  booster  for  his  own  State  at  home  as  he 
is  for  California  after  lie  becomes  a  resident  out 
there.  You  say  lie  is  trying  to  solve  one  of  the  great 
mysteries  of  the  universe.  Even  The  R.  N.-Y.  can¬ 
not  answer. 
I  cannot  speak  for  the  whole  State  of  New  York, 
but  1  am  pretty  well  acquainted  with  people  in  four 
counties,  and  I’ll  say  the  average  New  Yorker  lacks 
enthusiasm.  He  is  by  nature  a  pessimist  and  a 
doubter  and  seems  to  have  an  aversion  to  anyone 
who  is  a  natural-born  booster.  The  people  of  the 
West  in  general  are  natural-born  boosters.  I  am 
not  familiar  with  California,  hut  as  far  West  as' 
Colorado  I  know  the  Westerners,  and  they  are  so 
full  of  enthusiasm  and  boosting  that  the  germs  of 
both  are  in  the  air,  and  no  Easterner  can  live  out 
there  very  long  without  becoming  inoculated.  If  he 
does  not  really  “catch  the  spirit”  of  the  West  he 
packs  up  and  comes  back  East  again. 
Do  not  understand  me  to  say  that  all  New  York¬ 
ers  are  pessimists  and  knockers.  But  the  air  is  so 
full  of  that  kind  of  thing  in  this  State  it  takes  a 
strong  optimist  and  booster  to  keep  from  getting 
into  the  rut  with  the  rest  of  them.  In  this  I  think 
W.  H.  H.  will  find  his  answer.  A  New  Yorker  sim¬ 
ply  has  to  he  a  booster  and  enthusiast  in  California 
if  he  wants  to  live  there  in  peace,  and  by  personal 
experience  I  know  that  a  Westerner  must  bury  some 
of  his  enthusiasm  if  he  wants  to  live  in  New  York 
State  in  peace — if  not  peace,  at  least  with  any  degree 
of  harmony.  As  long  as  native  New  Yorkers  find  so 
much  fault  with  everything  in  general  they  cannot 
become  genuine  boosters. 
New  York  State  is  truly  “God’s  country,”  and  I 
could  go  on  for  pages  telling  your  people  what  they 
have  that  they  cannot  see  for  themselves.  But, 
what’s  the  use?  Until  they  can  see ’it  for  themselves 
they  will  not  thank  a  “Westerner”  for  pointing  It 
out  for  them.  New  Yorkers  need  auto-suggestion  of 
the  right  sort — (Jouc's  best  brand  preferred.  Baste 
this  in  your  hat:  “Every  day,  in  every  way,  New 
York  State  is  getting  better  and  better.” 
A  TRANSPLANTED  WESTERNER. 
Advice  About  Food 
MANY  people  are  telling  us  what  we  ought  to 
eat.  No  human  being  has  the  capacity  to  sur¬ 
round  all  the  food  which  the  experts  suggest.  If 
one  did  his  full  duty  as  the  vitamine  chasers  lay  it 
out  for  us,  he  would  eat  a  pound  of  beef  or  ham. 
half  a  pound  of  potatoes,  three  eggs,  a  full  head  of 
lettuce,  three  slices  of  bread  and  butter,  a  pint  of 
milk,  two  oranges,  half  an  apple  pie  and  other  side 
dishes.  That  is  better  designed  to  decrease  popula¬ 
tion  than  to  increase  consumption.  There  is  one 
food,  however,  that  may  well  he  consumed  more 
freely;  that  is  old-fasliioued  cornmeal  mush  and 
milk — “spoon  victuals.”  That  is  a  form  of  poor 
man’s  pudding  which  should  he  freely  consumed.  It 
was  the  staple  food  of  pioneer  days — cheap,  efficient 
and  satisfying.  In  fancy  we  refer  to  Plymouth 
Rock  as  the  cornerstone  of  America.  In  fact,  the 
said  cornerstone,  and  most  of  the  arch  as  well,  is 
founded  solidly  on  the  mush  and  milk  with  which 
the  pioneers  regaled  themselves.  We  need  more 
mush  and  milk  Americans  to  save  a  mushy  America. 
Carbon  Dioxide  as  Fertilizer 
In  a  recent  magazine  of  large  circulation  there  ap¬ 
pears  an  article  giving  the  latest  results  in  scientific 
investigation  along  various  lines,  and  among  them  that 
or  fertilizing  growing  crops  with  carbon  dioxide  gas, 
thereby  increasing  the  yield  from  25  to  250  per  cent. 
Where  were  such  experiments  made,  and  can  bulletins 
describing  those  experiments  be  had?  joiin  r.  perry. 
Connecticut. 
DR.  J.  G.  LIPMAN  of  the  New  Jersey  Experi¬ 
ment  Station  gives  us  the  following  brief  state¬ 
ment  about  this  matter.  There  have  been  several 
technical  papers  or  bulletins  on  the  subject,  but  most 
of  the  references  are  in  German.  As  I)r.  Lipman 
states,  this  new  process  is  not  likely  to  have  any 
immediate  value  outside  of  garden  culture.  It  is, 
however,  interesting  as  showing  how  even  the  smoke 
and  gases  from  chimneys  may  be  utilized  as  plant 
food.  Dr.  McCollum  states  that  in  some  parts  of 
Iceland  or  the  Shetland  Islands  the  thatch  of  straw 
"i-  weeds  used  to  cover  the  roofs  of  dwelling  houses 
is  taken  off  each  year  to  he  used  as  manure.  There 
are  no  chimneys  to  such  houses.  A  fire  is  built  in 
the  center  of  the  room  and  the  smoke  finds  its  way 
up  through  the  thatch.  These  islanders  believe  that 
in  passing  out  through  the  straw  roof  the  smoke  is 
filtered,  leaving  its  plant  food  or  fertilizer  in  the 
straw.  This  is  a  crude  understanding  of  the  modern 
chemistry  by  means  of  which  sulphate  of  ammonia 
and  other  chemicals  are  now  taken  out  of  smoke 
and  fumes.  Considerable  quantities  of  potash  are 
taken  from  the  smoke  of  cement  factories. 
It  is  argued  in  favor  of  applying  carbon  dioxide 
beyond  the  amounts  naturally  supplied  by  the  atmos¬ 
phere  that  the  air  may  not  furnish  maximum  amounts 
of  carbon  dioxide  for  best  production.  Hence  it  has 
been  suggested  in  Germany  that  Hue  gases  containing 
carbon  dioxide  be  utilized.  In  one  of  the  processes 
pipes  are  laid  in  the  soil  and  carbon  dioxide  passed 
into  these  pipes.  The  holes  in  the  pipes  allow  the  gas 
to  escape  into  the  soil  and  ultimately  enrich  the  soil 
air  and  the  soil  above  the  air  in  carbon  dioxide.  In¬ 
creased  crop  yields  have  undoubtedly  been  produced  in 
this  manner.  It  is  to  be  remembered,  of  course,  that 
such  procedure  is  only  practicable  in  small  gardens  and 
for  crops  that  return  a  relatively  high  money  value  per 
acre.  Under  field  conditions  the  use  of  carbon  dioxide 
for  this  purpose  would  not  he  economical. 
JACOB  G.  LIPMAN. 
A  dozen  people  write,  telling  how  they  cure  cases  of 
“sick  headache.”  As  the  causes  are  all  different,  the 
disease  can  hardly  be  the  same.  We  think  most  cases 
are  caused  by  eating  too  much  or  eating  improper  food. 
We  do  not  believe  iu  taking  medicine  to  cure  an  ailment 
caused  by  eating  too  much  mince  pie, 
