856 
The  RURAL  NEW-YORKER 
The  Rural  New-Yorker 
THE  BUSINESS  FARMER'S  PAPER 
&  National  Weekly  Journal  lor  Country  and  Suburban  liomei 
Established  MoO 
PublUhrd  nrrkly  by  tbe  Bnral  Publinhin?  Company,  333  West  30th  Street.  Sew  Fork 
H  rkbert  W.  Colling  wood,  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. 
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order,  express  order,  personal  check  or  bank  draft. 
Entered  at  New  York  Post  Office  as  Second  Class  Matter. 
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“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  Toss 
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. 
Not  n* *e  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  v,  hen  writing  the  advertiser. 
“And  thou  shall  take  no  gift ;  for  the  gift  blindeth 
(he  wise,  and  perverteth  the  words  of  the  righteous.” 
WE  think  that  command  referred  particularly 
to  the  officers  and  leaders  of  the  ancient  He¬ 
brews.  From  the  very  beginning  of  official  or  public 
life  the  “gift"  or  the  bribe  has  been  one  of  the  most 
effective  means  of  keeping  men  quiet  or  inactive 
"'hen  the  welfare  of  their  fellow  men  demanded 
noise  and  action.  In  modern  life  the  civil  “pension” 
is  another  refined  method  of  keeping  educated  men 
and  education  itself  safe  and  sane.  Among  the  many 
l«‘tty  gifts  used  at  times  to  influence  public  opinion 
is  the  “free  pass.”  It  runs  all  the  way  from  free 
passage  on  a  railroad  to  admission  to  a  circus,  ana 
the  object  always  is  to  buy  some  form  of  influence. 
1\  T.  Barnum  was  a  master  of  human  nature. 
Whenever  his  circus  came  to  town  he  always  sent 
passes  to  the  clergymen  and  their  families,  asking 
them  to  visit  his  “great  moral  show.”  In  return  for 
this  he  got  much  advertising,  even  from  the  pulpit. 
To  most  others  who  applied  for  free  tickets  Barnum 
usually  handed  a  printed  card  hearing  these  quota¬ 
tions  : 
In  those  days  there  were  no  passes  given. 
Search  the  Scriptures. 
Thou  shalt  not  pass. — Numbers  xx  :1S. 
Suffer  not  a  man  to  pass. — Judges  iii:2S. 
The  wicked  shall  no  more  pass. — Nahum  i:15. 
None  shall  pass. — Isaiah  xxxiv  :1(). 
This  generation  shall  not  pass. — Mark  xiii  :30. 
Beware  that  thou  pass  not. — Kings  II,  vi  :0. 
There  shall  no  strangers  pass. — Amos  iii  :17. 
Neither  any  son  of  man  pass. — Jeremiah  ii  :43. 
No  man  may  pass  through  because  of  the  beasts. — 
Ezekiel  xiv  :15. 
Though  they  roar,  yet  they  cannot  pass. — Jere¬ 
miah  v  :22. 
So  he  paid  the  fare  thereof  and  went. — Jonah  i  :3. 
* 
TATE  COMPTROLLER  JAMES  W.  FLEMING 
has  put  in  an  order  to  buy  Land  Bank  bonds  of 
;lie  State  of  New  York  to  the  extent  of  .$500,000. 
The  bonds  bear  interest  at  4%  per  cent.  The  money 
will  be  distributed  through  the  savings  and  loan  as¬ 
sociations  of  the  State  of  New  York,  which  are 
members  of  the  Land  Bank,  to  their  members  on 
mortgage  securities  ou  homes  and  farms.  In  making 
this  purchase  of  bonds  the  Comptroller  pays  a  trib¬ 
ute  to  the  Land  Bank  and  the  saving  and  loan  sys¬ 
tem  as  a  means  of  service  to  home  owners,  and  ex¬ 
presses  the  hope  that  the  money  for  housing  and 
home  purposes  will  be  as  widely  distributed  as  pos¬ 
sible.  This  institution  furnishes  an  absolutely  safe 
means  of  converting  sinking  funds  of  the  State  into 
credits  to  help  people  of  moderate  means  to  own 
homes  and  farms.  The  Land  Bank  was  created  by 
a  law  passed  under  the  patronage  of  Governor 
Glynn  during  his  administration.  The  system  is  one 
of  the  best  examples  of  co-operative  organization 
anywhere  in  the  world. 
* 
Your  aluminum  sulphate  editorial  I  think  became 
misleading  because  both  you  and  Dr.  Coville  tried  so 
*.ard  to  stand  perfectly  straight  that  you  may  have 
leaned  slightly  backward.  The  integrity  of  The  R. 
N.-Y.  is  so  highly  regarded  that  a  small  error  in  its 
columns  is  more  damaging  than  a  larger  one  might  be 
elsewhere.  w. 
WE  have  before  now  been  accused  of  trying  to 
stand  so  straight  that  we  lean  backwards! 
Well,  if  you  fall  that  way  you  will  at  least  have  your 
face  to  the  foe  and  not  show  wounds  in  the  back. 
But  all  this  is  about  the  use  of  aluminum  sulphate 
for  souring  land  so  that  blueberries  will  thrive.  As 
is  well  known,  tlie  blueberry  will  not  do  well  in  or¬ 
dinary  sweet  garden  soil.  Dr.  Coville  of  the  Agri¬ 
cultural  Department  tried  this  aluminm  sulphate  on 
Rhododendrons  and  got  good  results.  He  did  not  feel 
justified  in  saying  that  the  same  treatment  would  fit 
the  soil  for  blueberries,  though  in  theory  it  ought  to. 
We  do  not  like  to  send  our  readers  chasing  after 
rainbows  unless  they  are  prepared  to  be  fully  satis¬ 
fied  with  the  exercise,  but.  several  persons  whose 
opinion  we  greatly  respect  feel  sure  that  by  the 
proper  use  of  this  chemical  it  will  be  possible  to 
greatly  extend  the  use  of  blueberries  as  a  garden 
fruit.  That  would  be  a  most  desirable  outcome.  We 
favor  anything  that  will  bring  it  about,  and  we 
cheerfully  modify  the  former  statement  and  advise 
a  full  experiment  with  this  aluminum  sulphate.  We 
think  most  human  beings  need  sweetening,  but,  with 
blueberries — that’s  another  matter. 
* 
THE  name  of  the  criminal  ’is  Macrodactylus  Sub- 
spinosus.  He  is  otherwise  known  as  rose 
chafer,  rose  bug  or  rose  beetle.  That  which  we  call 
a  rose  maintains  its  character  under  all  conditions. 
During  the  season  this  Mac.  Sub.,  etc.,  kills  thou¬ 
sands  of  little  chickens.  The  birds  are  as  fond  of 
this  insect  as  children  are  of  candy,  but  it  contains 
a  poison  as  deadly  to  the  little  chicks  as  arsenic 
would  be  to  the  child.  It  is  most  dangerous  to 
chicks  under  10  weeks  of  age.  and  there  is  no  remedy 
except  keeping  the  little  birds  away  from  roses, 
daisies  and  all  flowering  shrubs  while  these  rose  in¬ 
sects  are  out.  In  this  latitude  that  means  the  latter 
part  of  June  and  the  first  two  weeks  of  July.  Dur¬ 
ing  that  period  thousands  of  little  chicks  sicken  and 
die.  They  are  poisoned  by  eating  rose  bugs.  Pro¬ 
hibition  seems  to  be  the  only  remedy. 
* 
CITE  a  number  of  readers  are  asking  where 
they  can  buy  coal  direct.  Usually  several  farm¬ 
ers  say  they  can  club  together  and  buy  in  carload 
lots.  There  are  a  number  of  coal  companies  who 
will  sell  direct  to  any  buyer  who  will  take  not  less 
than  one  carload.  With  freight  added  there  will 
not  be  as  large  a  margin  of  gain  as  you  might  think, 
but  you  will  have  your  coal  supply  on  hand  right 
when  you  want  it.  Of  course  the  most  profitable 
direct  dealing  is  where  you  are  near  enough  to  the 
mine  to  go  right  there  and  haul  the  coal  home. 
sk 
That  there  is  a  tendency,  even  a  deep-seated  custom, 
now  existing,  to  educate  all  children  indiscriminately 
clear  through  high  school  courses,  regardless  of  whether 
or  not  they  are  really  getting  benefit  from  this  high 
school  course,  is  to  be  regretted.  There  are  all  grades 
of  mental  capacity  and  of  laziness  or  of  ambition  and 
energy.  The  high  schools  are  educating  many  fools  (or 
trying  to)  and  many  lazy,  dilly-dallying  boys  and  girls 
that  should  be  driven  to  get  up  on  time,  cut  out  a  lot 
of  bad  habits,  and  “work,  really  work,”  at  some  set  job 
other  than  pouring  over  or  idling  over  a  book.  But 
would  you  deprive  a  host  of  some  of  the  brightest  and 
healthiest  boys  and  girls  in  the  United  States  of  reason¬ 
able  facilities  for  getting  a  high  school  education  be¬ 
cause  of  these  other  chumps?  I  do  not  think  that  is 
fair.  r. 
O.  we  would  not,  and  we  never  wanted  to  do  so. 
We  think  we  have  personally  sent  as  many 
children  to  high  school  as  any  person  who  will  read 
this.  Our  idea  is  that  the  high  school  should  not 
be  made  the  great  commanding  point  in  our  system 
of  education.  We  think  it  absorbs  too  large  a  share 
of  the  cost  of  educating  youth.  We  would  have  a 
larger  share  of  the  money  put  into  the  grades  and 
grammar  schools,  where  the  great  army  of  children 
must  get  about  all  the  school  training  they  can  hope 
for.  The  best  teachers  and  the  best  equipment 
should  go  to  these  preparatory  schools.  As  we  see 
it,  the  chief  aim  of  the  modern  high  school  is  to  fit 
boys  and  girls  for  college — not  for  practical  life. 
We  are  not  sure  that  it  is  the  duty  of  the  State  to 
provide  this  expensive  education  for  young  men  and 
women  who  evidently  would  be  far  better  off  at 
some  practical  work.  Such  training  should  not  be 
handed  out  like  a  plaything  or  social  habit,  but 
rather  as  a  reward  for  superior  energy  and  ability 
and  ambition.  We  should  like  to  reform  our  system 
of  education  by  investing  more  of  cash  and  character 
in  the  grades,  and  culling  the  drones  out  of  high 
school  work.  We  do  not  know  just  how  this  can 
fairly  be  done  at  once,  but  we  would  start  by  getting 
rid  of  the  present  idea  that  the  high  school  is  all 
there  is  worth  thinking  about  in  rural  education. 
* 
If  anything  is  ever  done  about  the  schools,  it  will 
be  when  the  majority  of  the  rural  people  know  very 
little  or  nothing  about  it.  This  matter  has  been  dis¬ 
cussed  and  advertised  among  the  rural  people  more 
than  any  other  matter  that  I  know  about  in  the  last 
10  years  but  the  majority  “let  George  do  it”  when  it 
comes  to  doing  anything  for  the  community,  or  for  the 
general  welfare,  and  then  kick  afterwards  about  what 
has  been  done. 
HAT  is  written  us  by  a  member  of  the  Commit¬ 
tee  of  Twenty-one  and  seems  to  represent  the 
view  held  by  a  majority  of  the  present  “leaders  of 
agricultural  thought”  in  New  York  State.  Perhaps 
we  do  them  an  injustice,  but  as  we  understand  them 
their  plan  was  to  force  the  school  hill  through  the 
Legislature  before  the  rural  people  fully  knew  what 
was  going  on,  and  then  hold  them  to  it.  We  know 
that  a  few  members  of  the  committee  do1  not  argue 
June  16,  1923 
in  that  way,  but  the  majority  of  them  do.  For  our 
part  ive  have  greater  faith  in  the  intelligence  and 
common  sense  of  our  country  people.  While  many 
of  them  are  not  yet  prepared  to  go  as  far  as  the 
Committee  of  Twenty-one  thinks  they  should  go, 
they  have  some  clear  ideas  about  what  they  want 
and  what  they  need.  During  the  past  few  years  a 
cloud  of  witnesses  has  arisen  who  propose  to  do 
most  of  the  thinking  and  planning  for  country  peo¬ 
ple.  They  are  for  the  most  part  excellent,  men  and 
women.  Some  of  them  understand  what  country 
life  means — others  have  not  the  remotest  idea  of 
what  it  means  to  live  back  in  the  country  with 
limited  income  and  liberal  ideas  of  what  life  craves. 
With  the  finest  intentions  in  the  world  some  of 
these  leaders  make  the  mistake  of  assuming  that 
the  country  people  are  incapable  of  handling  their 
own  problems  successfully.  They  show  a  spirit  of 
impatience  which  is  being  deeply  resented,  and  this 
resentment  will  finally  grow  into  a  lack  of  confidence. 
We  opposed  the  passage  of  the  school  bill  because 
we  knew  that  thousands  of  country  people  did  not 
understand  it.  and  felt  that  it  was  being  rushed 
through  in  spite  of  them.  The  very  frank  state¬ 
ment  which  we  quote  above  seems  good  evidence 
-  that  these  fears  were  justified.  Now  we  believe 
that  some  changes  in  the  school  law  are  needed  but 
we  are  opposed  to  any  plan  of  putting  them  over 
without  the  knowledge  of  rural  people.  It  has  al¬ 
ways  been  our  theory  that  farmers  are  quite  capable 
of  understanding  how  new  legislation  will  affect 
their  own  interests  and  we  think  this  proposed 
school  law  should  have  the  fullest  analysis.  It 
should  be  discussed  at  every  farm  meeting  held  dur¬ 
ing  the  Summer  and  Fall.  We  hear  of  several  meet¬ 
ings  where  it  will  be  the  subject  of  a  joint  debate. 
That  is  good  work  and  should  be  followed  up.  We 
must  tell  our  readers  plainly  that  the  bill  will  come 
up  before  the  next  Legislature.  The  Governor 
seems  to  favor  it,  and  the  State  Senate  has  already 
passed  it.  New  members  of  the  Assembly  wall  be 
elected  this  Fall  and  they  will  decide  the  fate  of 
this  bill. 
5k 
A  WRITER  in  the  New  York  Herald  has  figured 
out  the  wages  of  city  labor  when  translated 
into  the  production  of  food : 
“It  takes  63 %  dozen,  or  762,  eggs  to  pay  a  plasterer 
for  one  day  of  eight  hours  work. 
“It  takes  17%  bushels. of  corn,  or  a  year’s  receipts 
from  half  an  acre,  to  pay  a  bricklayer  one  day. 
“It  takes  23  chickens  weighing  three  pounds  each 
to  pay  a  painter  for  one  day’s  work  in  New  York. 
"It  takes  42  pounds  of  butter,  or  output  from  14 
cows,  fed  and  milked  for  24  hours  to  pav  a  plumber 
$14  a  day. 
“It  takes  a  hog  weighing  175  pounds,  representing 
eight  months  feeding  and  care,  to  pay  a  carpenter  for 
one  day’s  work.” 
If  anything  this  man  has  understated  the  case. 
We  could  give  truthful  figures  from  our  own  farm 
which  would  make  this  statement  look  like  the 
traditional  “30  cents.”  Of  all  the  things  which  man 
may  be  said  to  create,  food  is  the  most  vital  neces¬ 
sity.  It  is  the  true  coin  of  the  earth.  All  that  men 
in  the  city  handle  or  fashion  from  diamonds  to 
dustpans — all  must  depend  on  food.  The  differ¬ 
ence  between  the  wages  of  the  man  who  produces 
food  and  of  the  man  who  builds  a  house  or  plasters 
a  wall  is  so  wicked  that  it  ranks  as  one  of  the 
world’s  great  inequalities.  It  is  the  fundamental 
trouble  in  the  nation  today.  The  old  theory  was 
that  the  higher  the  wages  of  city  workmen  the 
greater  the  farmer’s  income.  That  theory  has  been 
exploded.  Yet  the  farmer  is  still  urged  to  produce 
two  blades  of  grass  where  one  grew  before,  while 
the  city  workman  knows  enough  to  practice  the 
exact  reverse  of  that  theory. 
Brevities 
A  five-cent  man  is  nickel-plated. 
Canned  whale  steaks  are  being  sold  on  the  Pacific 
coast,  and  they  are  called  “delicious  food.” 
English  housewives  were  in  a  panic  recently  over 
the  report  that  lizards’  eggs  were  being  sent  from  Egypt 
mixed  with  hens’  eggs.  The  London  Zoological  Society 
came  to  the  rescue  by  proving  that  the  eggs  of  the  lizard 
are  too  small  or  too  soft-shelled  to  pass  as  hen  fruit ! 
The  other  day  strawberries  dropped  to  eight  cents 
a  quart  retail  in  New  York.  The  Southern  grower 
barely  got  enough  out  of  this  to  pay  his  pickers. 
Here  is  a  case  where  the  growers  ruined  a  good  thing 
by  producing  too  much. 
There  was  a  bigger  demand  for  spinach  this  year — 
bigger  than  ever  before.  Spinach  and  boiled  egg  is  a 
favorite  dish  at  New  York  restaurants.  The  increased 
use  of  spinach  is  due  to  the  discussion  of  the  need  of 
vitamines,  and  it  is  helping  the  egg  business. 
The  Canadian  government  has  raised  the  tariff  on  im¬ 
ports  of  potatoes  from  the  United  States.  It  is  now  35 
cents  per  300  lbs.,  or  63  cents  a  barrel.  These  Canadian 
imports  are  mostly  limited  to  the  early  crop  of  South¬ 
ern  potatoes,  which  really  rank  as  a  luxury  for  Can¬ 
adians.  Our  own  tariff  is  50  cents  per  300  lbs. — in¬ 
tended  to  he  prohibitive  against  potatoes  from  New 
Brunswick  and  Prince  Edward  Island. 
