«06 
The  RURAL  NEW-YORKEP 
The  Rural  New-Yorker 
THE  BUSINESS  FARMER'S  PAPER 
A  National  Weekly  Journal  for  Country  and  Suburban  Home! 
Established  isso 
l* *!i blUbt**!  urrbly  by  tbe  Rural  Publialiinx  Company,  833  West  30th  Street,  »w  fork 
Herbert  W.  Collingwood.  President  and  Editor. 
John  J.  Dillon,  Treasurer  and  General  Manager. 
Wm.  F.  Dillon,  Secretary.  Mrs.  E.  T.  Royle,  Associate  Editor. 
L.  H.  Murphy,  Circulation  Manager. 
SUBSCRIPTION t  ONE  DOLLAR  A  YEAR 
To  foreign  countries  in  the  Universal  Postal  Union.  82.04.  Remit  in  money 
order,  express  order,  personal  cheek  or  bank  draft. 
Entered  at  New  York  Post  Office  as  Second  Class  Matter. 
Advertising  rates.  11  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  nr  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  he 
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  Nkw- 
Yorkkr  when  writing  the  advertiser.  v 
Why  <lo  you  spend  lime  mid  space  over  this  school 
hill  of  the  Com  mi  tree  of  Twenty-one?  Everyone  knows 
til!  about  it  already.  s.  e. 
IS  that  so?  We  did  not  know  it.  Not  satisfied 
with  our  former  canvass  of  public*  sentiment  or 
understanding,  we  are  making  another,  even  more 
complete.  The  it.  N.-Y.  lms  about  750.000  readers 
in  the  rural  districts  of  New  York,  and  we  know 
how  to  obtain  their  opinions.  Here  is  a  sample  state¬ 
ment.  made  by  an  intelligent  farmer  in  Madison 
<  'ounty : 
I  will  say  1  do  not  understand  the  hill  you  write 
about.  1  also  showed  the  letter  to  some  of  the  people 
here  who  have  been  trustees  of  school  districts,  and  they 
do  not  know  what  the  new  school  bill  is.  We  would  be 
pleased  to  bear  more  of  what  it  is.  o.  w. 
Of  course  this  will  shock  the  members  of  the  Com¬ 
mittee  of  Twenty-one.  Their  strongest  argument 
has  been  that  people  fully  understand  their  bill  and 
indorse  it.  <  Hu*  figures  show  that  at  least  70  per  cent 
of  the  real  rural  people  are  either  opposed  to  the 
bill  or  fail  to  understand  it.  That  is  why  we  pro¬ 
pose  to  make  good  on  our.  promise  to  analyze'  the 
matter  until  no  farmer  in  the  State  ran  honestly  say 
that  he  does  not  know  what  the  bill  will  do  to  his 
school. 
* 
We  see  at  various  times  quite  a  lot  in  the  papers 
about  the  “farm  bloc”  in  Congress.  Well,  the  other  day 
1  saw  a  working  illustration  <>f  the  "farm  bloc”  and  the 
“auto  hog.”  The  farmer  had  just  left  home  with  some 
milk  cans  in  a  one-horse  spring  wagon,  when  he  met  a 
coupe  with  three  men  (?).  On  the  farmers  side  was 
quite  a  steep  bank  down  to  the  ditch.  On  the  other 
side  it  was  level.  When  they  were  about  two  rods 
apart  the  car  stopped  to  let  the  farmer  turn  out  (in 
the  ditch).  The  farmer  stopped  to  let  the  car  turn 
out,  on  the  level.  For  a  few  minutes  nothing  happened, 
except  “watchful  waiting.”  Then  the  car. door  opened 
and  the  driver  snapped  out,  “I  can’t  get  out  of  this 
rut,”  and  slammed  the  door  shut.  Nothing  still  con¬ 
tinued  to  happen.  Presently  another  car  drew  up  be¬ 
hind  the  coupe,  and  after  repeated  bootings  by  the  rear 
car.  the  driver  of  the  coupe  turned  out  and  went  by 
without  any  trouble  at  all,  as  he  should  have  done  in 
the  first  place,  but  looking  as  though  he  would  like  to 
run  the  farmer  down.  If  he  had  tried  it.  though,  the 
eight-gallon  can  that  was  under  the  farmer’s  hand 
would  have  gone  flying  through  his  windshield.  The 
farmer  went  on  his  way  rejoicing.  J.  R.  w. 
New  York. 
VERY  little  comment  is  needed  on  our  part.  We 
cannot  add  to  that  clear  and  terse  statement, 
except  to  say  that  we  rejoice  to  learn  that  there  are 
farmers  who  “seemingly  dare  to  maintain”  their 
rights.  These  auto  hogs  have  been  fed  on  fear  and 
humility  too  long.  They  do  not  own  the  road,  no 
matter  if  they  think  they  do.  We  do  not  wish  them 
evil  or  violence,  hut  they  have  got  to  be  decent,  and 
give  others  a  fair  chance. 
A  NUMBER  of  New  York  beekeepers  have  asked 
about  the  new  law  regulating  beehives  in  this 
State.  The  law,  which  goes  into  effect  June  3.  1923. 
provides  for  the  following: 
No  person  shall  keep  in  his  apiary  any  colony  of  bees 
affected  with  a  contagious  malady  known  as  European 
or  American  foul  brood;  and  every  beekeeper,  when  he 
becomes  aware  of  the  existence  of  either  of  such  dis¬ 
eases  among  his  bees,  shall  immediately  notify  the  com¬ 
missioner  of  the  existence  of  such  disease.  Persons 
keeping  bees  shall  keep  them  in  hives  of  such  construc¬ 
tion  or  form  of  construction  that  the  frames  may  he 
easily  and  readily  removed  for  examination  of  the  brood 
for  the  purpose  of  determining  whether  disease  exists  in 
the  brood. 
* 
QUITE  a  number  of  out  readers  are  in  the  follow¬ 
ing  unhappy  situation.  They  bought  farms 
with  stock  and  equipment,  paying  about  twice  what 
the  property  is  wortli,  and  making  only  a  small  pay¬ 
ment.  It  is  strange  why  people  will  continue  to  do 
this,  but  they  do.  They  have  no  deed  to  the  prop¬ 
erty.  hut  sign  a  contract  agreeing  to  pay  a  certain 
sum  each  month  or  year,  under  penalty  of  losing  all 
if  they  default  either  principal  or  interest.  Thus 
such  a  person  has  really  no  legal  hold  on  the  prop¬ 
erty.  The  owner  can  dictate  to  him  in  the  use  of  the 
property,  either  in  altering  the  buildings  or  handling 
the  stock.  A  man  in  such  a  position  is  practically  a 
slave  to  the  owner,  and  in  too  many  cases  the  object 
in  selling  the  property  was  to  wait  for  some  mis¬ 
fortune  when  the  buyer  cannot  pay  interest  and  then 
foreclose.  We  have  reports  of  dozens  of  such  cases. 
About  the  most  profitable  fanning  of  these  days  is 
Ibis  plan  of  warming  up  the  ambition  of  a  back-to- 
the-I'ander  and  then  freezing  him  out. 
j4head!  As[ot  back  t°  the  Egyptians 
“Is  not  Ihis  Ihe  word  that  ice  did  tell  thee  in 
Egypt,  saying,  Let  us  alone  that  ice  mag  serve  the 
Egyptians ?  For  it  had  hern  better  for  as  to  serve 
the  Egyptians  than  that  we  should  die  in  1h<  wilder¬ 
ness." 
1IIS  quotation  from  Exodus  is  one  of  the  great 
illustrations  of  the  inherent  human  nature 
which  has  been  a  feature  of  the  human  race  since 
its  beginning.  The  Hebrews  had  long  been  slaves  in 
Egypt.  They  were  fed  and  clothed  and  kept  in  rea¬ 
sonable  health  by  their  masters,  because  the  slave 
must  be  provided  for  if  he  is  to  work.  While  their 
animal  needs  were  satisfied,  long  years  of  slavery 
had  destroyed  their  independence  and  the  willing¬ 
ness  to  suffer  rather  than  submit,  which  is  the  her¬ 
itage  of  free  men.  Then  came  Moses  with  his  divine 
command  to  lead  his  people  out  of  the  house  of 
bondage.  They  demanded  a  “sign,”  and  it  was  many 
times  repeated.  Yet  when  they  faced  peril  and  were 
forced  to  rely  upon  their  own  strength  and  faith  and 
courage  they  lost  heart  and  were  willing  to  return 
to  bondage  rather  than  fight  for  their  freedom. 
Aside  from  the  usual  and  true  significance  always 
given  to  this  text,  we  think  it  may  also  be  applied  to 
the  familiar  slogan.  ‘"We  must  do  it  > urselves .” 
Again  and  again  in  the  world's  history  there  have 
come  times  when  the  mass  of  the  people  have  entered 
a  form  of  slavery — either  physical,  political  or  social. 
That  is  to  say,  they  are  not  free  to  live  what  they 
consider  a  good  life  for  themselves  or  their  children. 
They  may  he,  and  often  are.  largely  responsible  for 
their  condition;  through  carelessness  or  indifference 
or  wrong  ideals  of  living,  they  permit  certain  men  or 
classes  to  control  the  vital  and  necessary  things  of 
life.  When  education,  transportation,  distribution 
and  finance  are  permitted  to  pass  into  the  hands  of 
privileged  classes,  the  common  people  become,  in  a 
way,  slaves  doing  the  bidding  of  the  Egyptians.  The 
habit  of  submission  grows  upon  most  people.  Here 
and  there  may  be  found  brave  souls  who  will  not  sub¬ 
mit.  They  realize  that  the  rulers,  whether  they  he 
absolute  mouarchs,  like  Pharaoh,  or  kings  of  politics, 
money  or  business,  will  not  willingly  “let  my  people 
go.”  They  know  only  too  well  that  the  plain  people 
will  never  shake  themselves  free  until  “ they  do  it 
themselves .”  IIow  often  we  see  men  start  some  new 
reform  with  a  wild  hurrah !  They  rush  out  of 
Egypt,  but  instead  of  jumping  right  into  the  prom¬ 
ised  land  they  find  when  they  stop  to  take  breath 
only  a  hard,  rocky  road  ahead  of  them.  Then  they 
begin  to  think  that,  after  all,  they  were  comfortable 
under  the  old  system.  They  did  not  have  to  light  or 
think  or  take  political  responsibilities  as  they  now 
do.  “What’s  t lie  use?  Let’s  go  back  to  Egypt;” 
And  back  they  go,  to  the  old  political  leaders.  That 
lias  been  too  often  the  history  of  the  past,  and  yet  we 
believe  the  world  is  gaining.  People  have  lost  valu¬ 
able  time  waiting  for  some  Moses  to  come  and  take 
the  responsibility  of  leading.  Every  man  must  learn 
to  he  his  own  Moses  to  the  extent  of  having  faith  in 
his  fellow  man  and  courage  to  suffer  if  need  be 
rather  than  sumbit  to  injustice.  When  these  He¬ 
brews  complained  and  lost  faith.  Moses  answered 
them : 
“Fear  ye  not!  Stand  still!  .  .  .  The  Lord 
shall  fight  for  you  and  yc  shall  hold  your  peace!" 
And  this  we  take  to  he  another  way  of  saying  “1F<? 
must  do  it  ourselves /”  with  divine  help. 
* 
HE  Canadians  are  again  proposing  reciprocity. 
This  means  free  trade  or  a  great  reduction  in 
duties  on  certain  classes  of  goods.  In  general  such 
reciprocity  would  mean  a  trade — giving  Canada  low 
duties  on  agricultural  products  coming  into  this 
country,"  while  in  return  the  Canadians  would  lower 
their  duties  or  remove  them  on  certain  manufac¬ 
tured  articles.  Thus  the  advantage,  if  any.  would  be 
to  Candian  farmers  and  American  manufacturers. 
The  present  high  tariff  is  nearly  prohibitive  on  po¬ 
tatoes.  wheat,  milk,  eggs,  poultry  and  similar  pro¬ 
ducts,  and  was  designed  to  benefit  farmers  on  this 
side  of  the  line.  Whether  it  really  does  benefit  them 
or  not.  the  arrangement  was  part  of  a  trade  between 
the  representatives  of  agriculture  and  manufacturing 
June  2.  lf>2o 
— each  demanding  a  share  of  "protection,”  and 
neither  side  willing  that  the  other  should  have  all 
the  benefit.  As  a  result  of  this  bargain  it  is  not 
likely  that  Canadian  reciprocity  will  he  developed,  at 
least  for  several  years.  Our  Northern  farmers  and 
dairymen  believe  that  the  present  tariff  actually  helps 
their  market  for  milk,  potatoes,  poultry  and  similar 
products.  They  figure  that  a  removal  of  the  tariff 
would  increase  imports  of  food  without  any  compen¬ 
sation  in  lower  prices  for  any  manufactured  goods 
which  Canada  can  offer.  Western  farmers  want  free 
trade  in  feeding  cattle  from  Canada,  and  there  is 
justice  in  their  demand,  and  Eastern  farmers  would 
join  them  in  this  if  they  were  sure  that  it  does  not 
mean  letting  the  bars  down  entirely. 
7k 
OW  comes  again  the  question  of  using  millet  or 
Sudan  grass  in  the  silo.  A  good  many  farmers 
have  used  these  crops  to  good  advantage.  Japanese 
millet  or  Sudan  grass  can  he  broadcast,  and  on  rich 
land  will  make  a  heavy  growth.  No  cultivation  is 
required,  and  the  crop  is  hunched  with  a  binder  and 
carried  in  bundles  right  to  the  cutter.  Thus  le<- 
work  is  required  than  with  corn.  When  cut  fine  and 
well  packed  there  is  no  question  about  the  quality  of 
silage  made  from  millet.  Corn  will  remain  the  great 
standard  silage  crop.  On  the  whole,  there  is  prob¬ 
ably  nothing  quite  equal  to  it  for  that  purpose.  The 
advantage  of  the  millet  crop  is  that  it  requires  less 
labor.  YN  hen  once  well  seeded"  no  cultivating  and 
hut  little  handling  is  required.  It  is  a  labor  saver, 
though  you  cannot  cxjiect  as  large  a  crop  as  you  will 
get  from  corn. 
7k 
I 3’  is  said  that  the  disorders  reported  from  China 
are  really  part  of  the  outcome  of  the  World  War. 
The  Chinese  had  for  many  years  a  great  respect,  if 
not  a  form  of  reverence,  for  the  white  race.  They 
are  getting  over  that,  partly  through  the  experience 
of  some  of  them  who  worked  behind  the  lines  in 
France  during  the  war.  It  is  not  generally  known 
that  Chinese  farm  laborers  enabled  the  French  to 
keep  their  army  ranks  filled  and  at  the  same  time 
keep  up  tiie  supply  of  food.  These  men  came  home 
with  new  opinions  of  the  white  race,  just  as  the 
black  men  who  fought  in  Europe  are  affecting  the 
race  problem  in  America  and  Africa.  The  Chinese 
seem  to  lie  right  at  the  point  of  a  social  revolution. 
They  may  follow  the  so-called  Christian  nations,  or 
imitate  the  worst  of  the  Russian  program.  What¬ 
ever  China  does,  with  her  population  of  400,000,000 
people,  will  have  a  profound  influence  upon  the  rest 
of  the  world. 
7k 
WE  know  a  womau  who  went  to  live  in  a  coun¬ 
try  neighborhood,  where,  strange  to  say,  peo¬ 
ple  do  not  drink  milk.  You  find  such  neighborhoods 
once  in  a  while.  People  seem  to  think  it  is  an  eco¬ 
nomic  crime  to  use  even  a  quart  of  milk  in  the 
home.  So  they  sell  milk  and  buy  coffee  for  all  hands 
to  drink.  We  hope  there  are  not  many  such  homes, 
hut  now  and  then  you  find  one.  This  woman  taught 
in  the  Sunday  school,  and  in  connection  with  the 
Bible  stories  taught  the  importance  of  milk  drinking 
—with  fine  effect.  We  think  that  was  fine  work— 
splendidly  appropriate  church  work  for  a  country 
neighborhood.  For  here  is  another  application  of 
our  slogan,  “lUe  must  do  it  ourselves ”  (drink  milk  i 
if  we  expect  others  to  make  a  market  for  us. 
Brevities 
Mixed  drinks  usually  mix  happiness  with  trouble. 
AVho  would  have  thought  30  years  ago  of  using  to¬ 
bacco  juice  as  a  spray  for  plants? 
Buckwheat  as  a  crop  for  hay  or  fodder!  We  find  a 
number  of  farmers  using  it  for  such  purpose. 
An  over-equipment  is  expensive,  but  it  comes  in 
handy  in  time  of  rush. 
We  all  feel  less  inclined  to  siu  when  pieplant  throws 
its  acid  in.  Strange  as  it  may  seem,  but  that  hour  is 
made  more  sweet  because  it’s  sour ! 
Acid  phosphate  does  two  things  to  stable  manure.  It 
adds  needed  phosphorus  and  acts  to  .prevent  the  loss  of 
ammonia  in  the  manure  pile  or  in  the  load.  You  can 
use  it  in  the  stalls  or  as  it  is  hauled  out. 
The  world  is  being  scoured  for  new  supplies  of  rub¬ 
ber.  Experiments  are  being  made  in  California  with 
various  kinds  of  robber  plants,  some  of  them  being 
called  frost-proof. 
A  CASE  is  reported  in  New  York  State  where  a  wom¬ 
au  left  property  to  her  husband  with  the  proviso  that  if 
In*  married  again  he  forfeited  the  property !  That  is 
what  you  might  call  serving  sauce  intended  for  the  goose 
— to  the  gander. 
The  biggest  problem  at  this  date  is,  will  the  fruit 
buds  pollinate?  Right  now  the  virtues  we  may  see  of 
our  good  friend  the  honey  bee.  But  if  the  days  an 
cold  and  wet.  who  can  compel  the  fruit  to  set?  And 
when  frost  settles  on  the  bloom,  it’s  introduction  to  tin 
tomb. 
