977 
Inspection  for  Raspberry  Plants 
Notice  the  inclosed  circular  received  today.  What  js 
there  to  this  “special  inspection  at  cost?”  that  will  in 
any  way  benefit  me  when  the  State  maintains  inspec¬ 
ts  *s  wvo  do  this  same  wrork.  and  for  which  I  help  pay 
through  taxes?  I  am  in  the  nursery  business,  retail 
locally  and  Wholesale  mostly  for  the  bulk  of  my  crops. 
I  contract  with  berry  fruit  growers  for  their  sets,  and 
sell  them  wholesale  quite  extensively.  This  year  if  I 
wholesale  any  I  find  from  the  State  nursery  inspector, 
I  must  make  my  contracts  now  with  the  grower,  so  his 
block  will  be  inspected  now  and  again  in  August,  so 
they  can  tell  if  the  plants  are  free  from  mosaic  disease. 
In  other  words  I  will  not  know  until  the  last  of  August 
if  my  contracts  are  any  good.  That  means  I  can’t  sell 
to  other  nurserymen  now.  Just  as  I  get  this  informa¬ 
tion  from  the  nursery  inspector,  I  receive  this  letter 
from  this  association  for  a  special  inspection  service 
at  cost.  NURSERYMAN. 
New  York. 
HE  circular  referred  to  was  sent  by  Richard 
Wellington,  the  secretary  of  the  New  York 
State  Fruit  Testing  Association,  and  a  little  explana¬ 
tion  will  be  in  order.  As  most  raspberry  growers 
know,  there  has  been  gi’eat  trouble  from  diseases, 
particularly  what  is  called  the  mosaic  disease.  The 
New  York  Experiment  Station  at  Geneva  employed 
Dr.  Rankin  to  work  on  this  matter.  He  finds  this 
mosaic  disease  widespread  in  several  parts  of  the 
State.  The  only  way  to  control  it  is  by  the  use  of 
disease-free  stock,  and  as  a  help  in  that  line  he  ad¬ 
vocated  the  plan  of  certifying  healthy  plants.  The 
raspberry  growers  have  no  association  of  their  own 
to  carry  on  such  service.  It  "was,  therefore,  sug¬ 
gested  that  the  Fruit  Testing  Association  take  up 
this  matter  in  addition  to  their  work  of  distrib¬ 
uting  new  varieties  of  fruits.  Then  the  Farms  and 
Markets  Department  started  a  special  inspection 
service  for  raspberries.  An  arrangement  has  been 
made  by  means  of  which  the  Department  of  Foods 
and  Markets  has  agreed  to  accept  the  Fruit  Test¬ 
ing  Association’s  work,  so  that  it  will  not  be  neces¬ 
sary  to  have  a  duplication  of  inspection.  The  de¬ 
partment  inspection  is  compulsory,  and  is  carried  on 
without  charge  to  the  nurserymen.  On  the  other 
hand,  the  association’s  service  is  entirely  voluntary, 
and  is  advocated  solely  to  assist  its  members  in 
cleaning  up  their  stock.  The-  inspection  service  of 
the  association  is  quite  strict,  for  it  will  not  issue  a 
certificate  to  any  member  who  has  over  10  per  cent 
of  mosaic  in  the  plantation  before  work  begins. 
The  department  will  allow  20  per  cent  of  mosaic  dis¬ 
ease.  The  association  will  also  consider  other 
troubles,  such  as  mixtures  in  varieties,  cane  blight, 
etc.  As  the  association’s  inspections  are  made  by 
their  paid  manager,  the  members  who  receive  such 
service  are  asked  to  pay  the  cost  of  inspection.  The 
members  whose  stock  has  been  inspected  will  be 
given  a  certificate,  similar  to  that  issued  by  the 
Potato  Growers’  Association.  It  is  thought  that 
farmers  who  appreciate  the  value  of  such  stock 
will  gladly  pay  more  for  such  plants.  That,  briefly 
stated,  is  the  substance  of  the  matter.  The  two  in¬ 
spections  do  not  conflict,  and  probably  the  inspection 
made  by  the  association  would  contain  some  features 
not.  found  in  the  other. 
Selling  Small  Lots  of  Wool 
WHERE  can  a  man  with  a  small  flock  of  sheep 
sell  his  wool  to  advantage?  That  question  is 
asked  by  many  readers  who  seem  to  have  started 
keeping  sheep  and  have  developed  a  small  flock. 
This  means  a  small  or  medium  quantity  of  wool, 
but  they  find  that  the  wool  dealers  do  not  like  to 
handle  these  small  shipments.  In  one  case  a  reader 
in  Connecticut  has  such  a  small  quantity,  and  he 
had  applied  to  many  dealers.  They  all  tell  him  that 
they  do  not  care  to  handle  it.  He  might  sell  his  wool 
to  the  pool ;  that  is,  the  organization  of  wool  grow¬ 
ers  who  put  their  wool  together,  and  either  sell  it 
in  a  lump  or  have  it  manufactured  into  blankets  or 
cloth  for  sale,  but  this  man  wants  to  sell  at  once, 
as  he  needs  the  ready  money.  What  can  he  do?  In 
some  cases  there  are  peddlers  who  go  about  picking 
up  small  lots  of  wood,  somewhat  after  the  plan  of 
the  junkman,  but  they  pay  little  or  nothing  for  the 
product.  When  we  apply  to  the  dealers,  they  say 
that  they  do  not  care  to  handle  small  lots.  They 
are  generally  poorly  graded  and  not  of  high  quality. 
It  requires  a  good  deal  of  labor  to  handle  such  little 
lots,  and  they  cannot  sell  them  to  good  advantage, 
so  that  the  shippers  are  generally  dissatisfied.  The 
combinations  of  wool  growers  offer  large  quantities 
of  wool,  and  the  dealers  and  manufacturers  are  able 
to  go  to  them  and  buy  any  quantity  they  desire.  The 
large  dealers,  therefore,  seem  willing  to  let  the 
farmers  do  the  collecting  and  first  handling.  That 
seems  to  be  the  tendency  of  co-operation — to  destroy 
the  individual  market  for  the  small  producer.  Of 
course,  when  a  man  is  raising  strawberries,  peaches 
or  some  product  very  perishable,  or  of  superior  qual- 
itv.  be  can  generally  handle  his  crop  as  an  individ- 
<Jhe  RURAL.  NEW-YORKER 
tial  to  fair  advantage,  but  not  products  like  wool  ox- 
wheat  or  similar  things  which  ax-e  not  perishable. 
The  growth  of  co-operative  selling  seems  to  have 
injured  the  sale  of  the  small  prodxxcei*.  That  is  evi¬ 
dently  the  case  with  wool,  and  it  has  become  a 
rather  serious  matter  with  many  small  farmers. 
They  hesitate  to  start  small  flocks  of  sheep  unless 
they  can  be  assured  of  definite  sale  for  their  wool. 
'The  logical  way  to  handle  sxxch  cases  is  to  have  these 
small  lots  pixt  into  the  hands  of  an  association  fox- 
sale,  but  there  are  many  xvho,  like  the  man  in  Con¬ 
necticut,  mentioned  above,  feel  that  they  mxxst  have 
the  cash  for  their  prodxxct,  and  not  be  expected  to 
wait  until  sales  can  be  made.  What  is  the  oppor¬ 
tunity  for  such  men?  Small,  if  we  consider  the  fol¬ 
lowing  opinion : 
The  ordinai-y  woolen  mills  operate  by  using  not  more 
than  one  grade  of  wool  at  a  time.  There  are  13  recog- 
nized  grades  of  wool,  and  a  mill  will  run  for  several 
months  on  one  particular  grade  of  wool.  There  are  any 
number  of  local  wool  buyers,  representatives  of  hide 
and  tallow  companies,  who  are  scouring  the  country  for 
old  rags,  wool,  or  anything  they  can  handle  at  a  profit. 
These  men  always  have  cash  to  pay  a  farmer  who  feels 
he  must  sell  in  order  to  get  cash  in  hand. 
F.  E.  ROBERTSON. 
Outlook  for  Silos  and  Silage 
THOROUGH  canvass  of  manufacturers  of  silos 
and  silage  machinery  indicates  a  business 
about  normal.  In  some  cases  business  is  slow,  while 
in  others  it  is  a  little  above  the  average,  so  that  on 
the  whole  it  will  run  about  equal  to  last  year.  Dur¬ 
ing  the  war  a  good  many  farmers  put  up  the  second 
silo,  but  for  the  past  two  yeai-s  some  of  these  have 
not  been  filled ;  some  of  them  are  now  for  sale.  The 
reason  for  this  is  that  labor  is  scai*ce,  and  thus  it  is 
hard  to  raise  the  corn  needed  to  fill  these  silos. 
Then  again  an  adjustment  of  production  to  fit  into 
demand  is  being  slowly  worked  out.  There  is  not 
mxxch  organization  about  it  yet,  but  many  farmers 
as  individuals,  have  decided  to  keep  fewer  cows 
and  give  a  little  better  feed  and  care.  This  is  oper¬ 
ating  to  reduce  the  herds  and  the  coi-n  ci-op.  Thus 
far  the  corn  ci-op  has  been  backward,  but  it  is  now 
growing  well,  and  promises  to  make  a  fair  showing. 
As  it  improves  in  appearance,  intex-est  in  silos  will 
grow,  and  business  will  improve.  Of  course  dairy¬ 
men  now  realize  that  silage  is  even  xnox-e  necessary 
than  hay.  There  is  some  increase  in  the  use  of  mil¬ 
let  for  the  silo.  This  makes  good  silage  when  cut 
fine  and  packed,  and  it  can  be  seeded  broadcast  and 
cut  in  bundles,  thus  saving  much  laboi-.  Our  re¬ 
ports  show  that  the  pi-actice  of  cutting  Soy  beans  or 
clover  in  with  the  coni  is  not  growing.  Farmers 
seem  to  think  that  the  legumes,  like  clover,  Alfalfa 
or  beans,  are  best  cut  and  cured  for  hay  and  fed  dry, 
along  with  corn  silage. 
New  Warning  at  Railroad  Crossings 
THE  slaughter  of  life  at  raili-oad  ci-ossings  has 
come  to  be  something  like  wholesale  murder. 
Much  of  this  is  due  directly  to  carelessness  on  the 
part  of  car'  drivers.  They  are  so  anxious  to  “get 
thex-e”  that  they  will  dodge  in  front  of  a  train  rather 
than  be  safe  and  lose  a  moment’s  speed.  The  New 
York  Highway  Commissionei*,  F.  S.  Gi-eene,  will  do 
what  lie  can  to  safeguard  these  cx-ossings  with  the 
following  new  marks : 
Approaching  the  tracks  from  either  direction  of  the 
highway,  the  automobilist  will  first  be  confronted  by 
two  white  parallel  stripes  painted  1  ft.  wide  and  placed 
5  ft.  apart.  These  stripes  will  stretch  clear  across  the 
pavement  and  will  be  placed  230  ft.  from  the  nearest 
track.  The  second  guard  against  carelessness  will  be  a 
third  warning  stripe,  also  12  ft.  wide,  painted  125  ft. 
from  the  nearest  track. 
If,  after  reaching  this  third  stripe,  the  driver  fails 
to  “stop,  look  and  listen,”  he  will  be  given  one  more 
chance  to  save  himself.  To  this  end,  a  final  warning  is 
to  be  painted  across  the  pavement  that  ought  to  stop 
any  except  a  blind  driver.  This  last  signal  will  be  2  ft. 
wide  and  will  be  painted  with  white  and  black  diagonal 
bars,  similar  to  the  markings  on  railroad  guard  gates, 
and  it  will  be  located  25  ft.  from  the  nearest  track, 
which,  if  the  driver  is  not  running  beyond  the  legal  rate 
of  speed,  will  give  him  opportunity  to  stop  before  reach¬ 
ing  the  track. 
It  is  hoped  by  the  Commission  that  this  new  warning 
device  will  serve  to  reduce  the  number  of  grade  cross¬ 
ing  accidents.  It  is  believed  that  it  will  save  lives  that 
would  otherwise  be  sacrificed  during  the  long  period 
that  must  elapse  before  all  grade  crossings  can  be  elim¬ 
inated  in  this  State. 
Two  View  of  Henry  Ford 
I  Would  Vote  for  Him 
On  page  903  appears  “Henry  Ford  and  the  Presi¬ 
dency,”  in  which  you  ask  “Why  Ford?  What  has  he 
ever  done  to  justify  his  election  as  President?” 
If  Henry  Ford  runs  for  the  Presidency  I  will  vote 
for  him,  and  I  will  tell  you  why. 
He  is  the  foremost  business  man  in  the  country,  and 
if  ever  our  country  needed  a  business  man  at  the  helm 
it  is  now.  Those  who  know  say  that  the  waste  of 
money  and  effort  in  the  departments  of  the  govemnment 
is  appalling.  Wastefulness  of  time,  material,  money  or 
effort  are  abhorrent  to  Henry  Ford.  I  believe  he  would 
bend  his  energy  to  rectify  this. 
Henry  Ford  does  business  on  the  square,  in  the  open, 
on  the  level,  and  he  gives  a  square  deal.  I  believe  he 
would  use  his  energy  to  do  away  with  star  chamber 
diplomacy,  and  encourage  square  dealing  among  nations. 
Henry  Ford  is  a  great  organizer. 
They  say  he  is  a  good  friend. 
He  is  a  great  execuitve. 
He  knows  how  to  pick  men  for  important  offices. 
He  knows  how  to  get  results. 
He  is  a  lover  of  peace,  so  I  would  not  fear  foreign 
entanglements. 
He  has  always  run  his  vast  organization  without 
waste,  friction  or  labor  troubles.  I  believe  he  would 
endeavor  so  to  run  our  country. 
Although  he  is  one  of  our  richest  men,  no  man  can 
say  he  made  one  dollar  by  trickery,  dishonesty  or  by 
freezing  out  his  competitors.  His  money  is  honest 
money,  so  he  is  free  to  spend  it  as  he  sees  fit — in  build¬ 
ing  more  factories  to  employ  more  men- at  good  wages; 
to  run  mines,  railroads,  etc.  He  does  not  need  to  salve 
his  conscience  by  founding  a  college  or  building  a 
library.  His  conscience  is  clear.  He  is  a  free  man. 
You  say  “He  is  nearly  70  years  old.”  What  matters 
his  age?  He  is  full  of  pep  and  energy,  and  loves  to 
do  things,  so  he  is  still  young. 
He  has  given  a  low-priced,  useful,  practical  car, 
truck  and  tractor  to  the  working  people  of  this  country, 
and,  better  still,  with  each  he  has  given  service.  By  so 
doing  he  has  broadened  the  lives,  increased  the  fortunes 
and  the  earning  capacity  of  countless  thousands,  of 
whom  I  am  only  one. 
So  I  would  be  glad  to  vote  for  Henry  Fox-d — a  real 
man — not  perfect,  not  a  high-brow,  but  a  man  of  brains, 
of  acumen,  and  the  best  executive  in  this  country. 
New  York.  nellie  n.  de  puy 
I  Would  Not  Vote  for  Him 
I  was  much  interested  in  your  remarks  regarding  the 
candidacy  of  Henry  Ford  for  President.  There  are  two 
things  that  Henry  Ford  did  during  the  war  that,  to  my 
mind,  unfit  him  for  the  Presidential  office.  His  “Peace 
Ship,”  to  “get  the  boys  out  of  the  trenches  by  Christ¬ 
mas,”  shows  the  visionary,  impracticable  nature  of  the 
man,  and  his  going  over  the  heads  of  the  draft  board  to 
the  President  to  keep  his  son  out  of  the  army  on  the 
flimsy  excuse  that  he  could  not  run  his  business  without 
him — a  22-year-old  boy.  If  that  was  true,  better  run 
Edsel  for  President  than  his  father.  j.  p.  upson. 
A  Drop  in  Wheat  Prices 
Just  as  the  Agricultural  Department  made  its  annual 
report  or  forecast  of  farm  crops  the  price  of  wheat  be¬ 
gan  to  drop.  On  the  Chicago  market  we  have  what 
amounts  to  dollar  wheat,  which  is  a  ruinous  price  to 
our  present  wheat  growers.  The  reason  given  for  this 
drop  is  the  fact  that  wheat  of  this  year’s  crop  has  al¬ 
ready  begun  to  reach  market,  while  considerable  of  last 
year’s  crop  has  not  yet  been  cleaned  up.  So  far  as  can 
be  actually  determined  at  this  time,  there  is  a  slightly 
reduced  acreage  of  wheat  in  the  United  States  and  in 
Canada.  The  condition  is  fairly  good,  and  the  chances 
at  this  time  are  that  this  year’s  crop  will  about  equal 
that  of  last  year,  and  that  it  will  meet  a  considerable 
surplus  left  over  from  last  year’s  crop.  So  far  as  the 
rest  of  the  world  is  concerned,  crops  in  Canada  will  run 
much  the  same  as  last  year;  in  Europe  there  will  be  a 
somewhat  increased  yield.  The  same  is  true  of  India 
and  Northern  Africa.  These  sections  will  all  have  some 
wheat  for  export  this  year,  while  last  year  they  were 
obliged  to  import  more  or  less  grain.  European  farmers 
really  seem  to  have  increased  their  acreage  in  wheat, 
while  the  crop  is  fair  as  compared  with  former  years’. 
This  was  to  be  expected  from  the  preparations  which 
European  counti-ies  have  made  to  increase  their  food 
supplies,  but  it  means  loss  of  a  demand  for  our  export 
American  wheat,  and  at  this  moment,  the  outlook  for 
higher  prices  for  that  grain  is  not  good.  It  may  be 
possible  to  develop  some  export  trade  not  now  exactly 
in  sight,  but  the  chances  are  that  wheat  prices  will  not 
largely  increase.  This  is  an  unfortunate  situation,  'for 
thousands  of  grain  farmers  through  the  West  have  been 
depending  on  their  wheat  crop  to  give  them  needed  cap¬ 
ital  and  money  for  paying  bills.  There  is  also  likely 
to  be  a  heavy  corn  ci-op,  and  when  that  occurs  it  usually 
has  some  effect  on  the  price  of  wheat.  Most  other  crops 
of  Northern  farmers,  however,  promise  better  than  last 
year,  and,  of  course,  the  low  prices  for  wheat  will  not 
affect  our  Eastern  farmers  injuriously,  since  the 
East  buys  wheat  and  does  not  produce  enough  for  its 
own  use. 
New  York  Apple  Exposition 
PLANS  are  well  under  way  for  holding  that  big 
apple  exposition  in  New  York  City  next  Fall. 
The  States  of  New  York.  Massachusetts,  Vermont, 
New  Hampshire,  Maryland,  North  Carolina,  and  Penn¬ 
sylvania  have  already  agreed  to  come  into  the  exposi¬ 
tion,  and  many  fruit  organizations  and  individual 
growers  will  also  help.  New  York  appropriated  $10.- 
000  to  assist  in  the  educational  features  of  the  exposi¬ 
tion.  Practically  every  agricultural  department  and 
every  agricultural  college  and  fruit  growers’  organiza¬ 
tions  in  the  Eastern  States  has  enlisted  for  the  cause. 
It  is  not  intended  to  make  this  an  exhibition  of  fancy 
fruit,  but  it  is  going  to  be  a  practical  exhibit  which 
will  appeal  directly  to  city  buyers.  There  will  be  many 
original  and  curious  features,  such  as  have  never  been 
known  before  at  similar  exhibits.  There  is  a  good  or¬ 
ganization  with  Thomas  E.  Cross  of  Lagrangeville,  N. 
Y.,  chairman,  and  H.  C.  C.  Miles  of  Milford,  Conn., 
secretary.  Every  fruit  growrer  in  the  East  should  be 
interested  in  this  exposition.  It  will  mean  much  to 
the  fruit  business  in  general.  This  great  city  of  New 
York  should  consume  five  times  as  many  apples  as  are 
now  sold  here,  and  the  great  bulk  of  this  fruit  should 
be  produced  within  the  natural  territory  which  eaters 
to  this  big  city.  The  only  way  that  apple  consump¬ 
tion  can  be  increased  is  to  bring  the  facts  about  our 
own  fruit  right  home  to  city  consumers.  This  exposi¬ 
tion  will  do  it  as  has  never  been  done  before,  and  every 
man  who  grows  fruit  in  this  territory  ought  to  take  a 
hand  in  helping  out. 
