998 
•Pit  RURAL.  NEW-YORKER 
July  28,  1923 
The  Rural  New-Yorker 
THE  BUSINESS  FARMER'S  PAPER 
A  National  Weekly  Journal  for  Country  and  Suburban  Hornet 
Established  teso 
Pub’Ubrd  nt«kl;  by  the  Karal  Publishing:  Company,  333  West  80th  Street,  New  Sort 
H  khbert  W.  Collingwood,  President  and  Editor. 
John  J.  Dillon,  Treasurer  and  General  Manager. 
W’».  F.  Dillon,  Secretary.  Mrs.  E.  T.  Hoyle,  Associate  Editor. 
L.  H.  Morphy,  Circulation  Manager. 
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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 
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Horkek  v.  hen  writing  the  advertiser. 
* — - —  ■_  -  ==ga 
The  It.  N.-Y.  has  become  practically  a  public  forum 
in  which  all  sides  of  questions  affecting  the  farm  are 
presented  with  enough  of  sound  philosophy  and  good 
judgment  to  throw  the  balance  in  favor  of  wise  poli¬ 
cies  and  sound  principles.  We  enjoy  reading  the  pa¬ 
per  from  cover  to  cover  and  inclose  renewal. 
New  York.  J.  T.  O.  L. 
THE  fanner  can  be  trusted  to  form  sound  and 
safe  conclusions  if  lie  has  accurate  and  full 
information.  To  form  sound  judgments  we  must  all 
have  full  and  correct  information.  If  we  rely  on 
error  or  half  truth  the  judgment  is  bad.  Much  of 
the  information  that  reaches  farmers  is  mere  pro¬ 
paganda  for  some  personal  group  or  interest  that 
wishes  to  exploit  farmers  in  one  way  or  another.  We 
confess  that  we  like  to  let  the  wind  out  of  some  of 
these  gasbags,  but  the  real  purpose  is  to  give  correct 
information  and  develop  sound  independent  farm 
judgment. 
* 
THE  Hartford  (Conn.)  Courant  tells  of  the  pun¬ 
ishment  inflicted  upon  horse  thieves  in  old  days. 
In  1789  one  James  Allen  stole  a  horse  worth  36 
pounds.  Allen  confessed  and  pleaded  guilty.  He 
was  obliged  to  return  the  horse  and  pay  a  fine  of  50 
pounds,  and  in  addition,  he  was  sentenced  to  be 
“Publicly  whipped  the  number  of  15  stripes  on  his 
naked  body,  and  be  confined  to  a  workhouse  and  there 
kept  to  bard  labor  for  the  term  of  three  mouths  and  be 
further  whipped,  as  aforesaid,  the  number  of  10  stripes 
on  the  first  Monday  of  each  of  the  said  three  months, 
and  also  be  set  astride  of  a  wooden  horse  for  a  space  of 
time  not  exceeding  one  hour  immediately  before  each 
monthly  whipping  as  aforesaid. 
The  sheriff  was  encouraged  to  do  his  duty  by  re¬ 
ceiving  17  cents  for  each  blow  he  struck  at  these  cul¬ 
prits!  One  would  think  that  would  make  horse 
stealing  quite  unpopular.  We  would  not  object  to 
seeing  some  of  the  same  punishment  meted  out  to 
auto  hogs  and  thieves — both  male  and  female.  We 
think  that  the  wooden  horse  and  the  whip  would  have 
a  very  salutary  effect  upon  them.  When  tempted  to 
steal  or  play  the  hog  they  would  violate  the  speed 
laws  in  their  haste  to  avoid  temptation. 
ON  the  next  page  is  an  attempt  to  analyze  the 
meaning  of  the  recent  defeat  of  the  farmers’ 
party  in  Ontario,  Canada.  This  represents  a  con¬ 
densed  report  from  many  farmers.  One  of  our  peo¬ 
ple  takes  this  philosophical  view  : 
The  government  functioned  all  right  and,  in  being 
set  aside,  has  been  relieved  of  a  very  disagreeable,  if  nor 
impossible  task.  The  farmers’  party  will  now  be  able 
to  go  on  with  its  own  work,  and  what  has  happened 
may  he  of  use  in  guiding  during  the  future.  The  fact 
that  any  group  may  take  hold  of  the  government  for  a 
time  will  be  a  salutary  lesson  to  careless  or  corrupt  leg¬ 
islators  after  this.  A.  c. 
There  is  nothing  like  taking  a  hopeful  view  of 
things.  What  is  a  farmers’  political  party  organized 
for?  Is  it  to  control  the  government,  or  merely  to 
scare  the  politicians  into  good  behavior? 
* 
The  other  day  a  man  and  wife,  who  hire  a  Summer 
bungalow  from  a  neighbor,  were  on  my  place,  the  man 
picking  cherries  without  permission.  The  woman  en¬ 
countered  my  cow  on  her  way  to  the  barn,  became  badly 
frightened,  fell  and  broke  her  arm.  Now  she  wants  to 
sue  me  for  damages.  Will  you  let  me  know  if  these 
people  have  any  ease  under  the  circumstances,  w.  p. 
New’  Jersey. 
NO.  You  are  not  legally  responsible  unless  the  wo¬ 
man  could  prove  that  she  has  been  on  the  prem¬ 
ises  at  other  times  with  your  permission.  She  might 
call  this  an  “implied  license,”  but  it  is  not  likely 
that  she  could  recover  damages.  The  woman  was  a 
trespasser.  She  had  no  business  on  the  place,  and 
it  is  not  likely  that  the  cow  would  have  done  her  any 
harm.  The  woman  has  the  “nerve”  of  an  auto  hog 
to  come  on  a  neighbor’s  premises  without  permission, 
steal  fruit,  run  so  fast  from  a  harmless  cow  that 
she  hurt  herself  and  then  threatens  suit!  In  an¬ 
other  ease  a  man  entered  a  neighbor’s  place  without 
permission  and  helped  himself  to  fruit.  The  family 
dog  chased  this  man  and  tore  off  a  very  necessary 
garment  without  breaking  the  skin.  The  trespasser 
sued  for  damages,  but  could  not  prove  that  the  dog 
was  naturally  vicious,  and  the  judge  threw  the  case 
out  of  court.  The  dog  deserved  an  extra  bone! 
* 
WE  believe  there  are  a  good  many  eases  where 
it  will  pay  to  use  an  iuoculant  or  “starter”  in 
the  silo.  This  would  be  ou  much  the  same  principle 
as  using  a  “starter”  in  the  churn  for  good  butter 
making.  In  some  cases  a  little  buttermilk  from  a 
recent  churning  is  used,  or  some  chemical  starter 
prepared  in  a  laboratory  will  do  it.  The  theory,  of 
course,  is  that  good  butter-making  depends  on  the 
use  of  certain  useful  bacteria.  By  stimulating  their 
work  before  other  fermeuts  have  a  chance  to  start, 
we  can  control  the  operations  of  making  good  butter. 
Very  much  the  same  thing  is  true  of  what  goes  on  in 
the  silo.  The  inoculation  adds  the  bacteria  which 
make  good  silage.  Some  farmers  call  this  putting 
“bees”  into  the  silo.  You  can  use  skim-milk,  butter¬ 
milk,  or  the  commercial  bacteria,  as  you  like.  It 
can  do  no  harm-,  and  we  think  it  will  help. 
* 
THIS  labor  question  is  hitting  all  of  us — in  new 
places  at  that.  We  know  of  a  farmer  who  has 
three  boys  in  school  and  college.  In  former  years 
they  have  come  back  to  the  farm  for  Summer  vaca¬ 
tion,  and  put  in  good  time  at  farm  work.  This 
farmer  plans  his  crops  and  work  with  an  eye  to  this 
boy  labor.  This  year  one  boy  has  a  job  at  survey 
work  on  the  highways.  Another  is  offered  $5  a  day 
t“  run  a  truck,  while  the  other  has  a  job  at  driving 
a  delivery  ear.  The  jobs  offer  these  boys  far  more 
than  any  farmer  can  afford  to  pay  them.  It  means 
an  eight-hour  day  with  sure  cash  payment !  Now, 
what  is  such  a  farmer  to  do?  Shall  he  take  the  posi¬ 
tion  that  these  boys  must  work  for  him  at  less  money 
than  they  can  earn  elsewhere?  They  are  all  trying 
to  work  their  way  through  college,  ami  need  every 
penny  they  can  get.  Under  the  circumstances,  what 
is  the  fair  way  to  handle  such  boys? 
* 
THIS  matter  of  the  milk  goat  is  getting  away 
from  us.  Few  people  seem  to  realize  how  this 
little  animal  is  coming  into  use  as  a  milk-making 
machine.  Not  long  ago  at  night  fall  a  well-packed 
car  came  along  a  country  road — its  driver  looking 
for  a  place  to  camp.  His  eye  caught  a  spot  near  a 
brook,  under  a  large  tree,  where  grass  and  brush 
were  plentiful.  The  car  stopped  and  preparations 
for  the  night  began.  Father,  mother  and  four  chil¬ 
dren  got  out.  In  a  little  hammock  swung  at  the  rear 
of  the  ear  rested  a  tiny  baby.  A  little  tent  was 
erected,  the  stove  put  up  and  mother  started  pre¬ 
paring  supper.  There  came  a  wail  from  the  ham¬ 
mock.  Baby  was  awake  and  calling  for  his  supper. 
On  the  running  board  of  the  car,  at  one  side,  was 
built  a  little  pen  and  this  contained  a  white  goat. 
Father  took  a  small  pail  and  drew  nearly  a  quart 
of  milk  from  this  little  strap-hanger.  Then  “nanny” 
was  picketed  at  the  side  of  the  road,  where  she 
proceeded  to  lunch  on  grass  and  brush.  Mother  fed 
the  baby  on  warm  goafs  milk  and  laid  aside  enough 
foi  the  night’s  feeding.  There  was  enough  left  to 
color  the  coffee  and  give  the  younger  children  a 
drink  while  the  little  condensed  cow  beside  the  road 
was  manufacturing  a  new  supply.  We  are  told  that: 
this  is  not  an  uncommon  thing  when  there  is  a  baby 
to  enjoy  the  automobile  tour.  The  milk  goat  takes 
up  but  little  room,  she  is  a  clean  companion,  and  in 
a  grassy  district  pretty  much  a  self-feeder,  if  given 
a  little  grain-.  Much  ridicule  has  been  in  the  past, 
heaped  upon  the  goat,  but  she  is  living  it  down  aud 
making  good.  Continued  selection  and  breeding  will 
increase  her  milk  yield.  It  may  seem  a  ridiculous 
statement  to  some  of  our  people,  but  as  population 
increases  and  the  East  becomes  more  thickly  settled, 
the  goat  will  play  a  large  part  in  dairy  production. 
She  is  what  you  may  call  a  “comer,”  and  it  will  not 
do  for  us  to  make  any  mistake  about  it. 
* 
THE  California  Experiment  Station  has  been  in¬ 
vestigating  the  fruit  juice  beverage  business. 
It  says  that  the  value  of  all  “soft  drinks,”  outside 
of  mineral  water,  conserved  in  this  country  during 
1921  was  $618,394,565.90.  The  value  of  bottled  bev¬ 
erages  outside  of  grape  juice,  ginger  ale  and  min¬ 
eral  water  was  $242,962,794.70.  This  means  about 
5.000.000,000  bottles,  an  increase  of  66  per  cent  in 
five  years.  Fart  of  this  increase  is,  no  doubt,  due 
to  prohibition,  but  we  are  on  the  way  to  a  “soft 
drink”  bill  which  will  trail  along  with  the  tobacco 
and  gas  bills.  Now  only  a  very  small  proportion 
of  the  beverages  is  made  from  fruit.  Most  of  it  is 
colored  water  flavored  with  sugar  and  citric  or 
tartaric  acid,  or  a  chemical  “syrup”  made  from  coal 
tar  products.  We  have  seen  at  chemical  shows,  a  mass 
of  ill  smelling  tar,  and  by  its  side  a  long  row  of 
bottles  containing  “flavors”  made  -from  it.  These 
smell  exactly  like  raspberry,  strawberry,  apple  and 
other  fruits.  Now  these  chemical  substitutes  for 
true  fruit  acids  and  flavors  are  doing  more  trade 
damage  to  the  fruit  growers  than  oleo  ever  did  to 
the  dairyman.  In  one  case  the  oleo  men  have  tried 
to  break  into  an  established  business  in  pure  but¬ 
ter.  In  the  other  the  chemical  manufacturers  seem 
to  have  grabbed  the  business  before  the  fruit  men 
woke  up  to  its  possibilities.  In  the  ease  of  oleo  it 
is  a  lazy  half  savage  under  a  cocoanut  tree  on  a 
Pacific  island  competing  with  an  American  dairy 
farmer.  In  the  other  it  is  a  sweaty  workman  in  a 
bad-smelliug  factory  in  unfair  competition  with  a 
fruit  grower.  The  competition  is  unfair,  because  the 
factory  steals  the  names  of  good,  honest  fruits  which 
belong  by  right  to  the  soil,  and  cannot  be  produced 
except  through  the  chemistry  of  nature.  It  is  no 
exaggeration  to  say  that  these  chemical  flavors 
have  the  American  people  by  the  throat.  They  are 
filling  the  public  with  sweetened  and  colored  water 
and  thus  shutting  off  a  needed  market  for  surplus 
fruit.  Years  ago  in  the  battle  over  oleo  The  R.  N.-Y. 
invented  a  slogan :  “Lick  a  stamp  for  bossy  and  the 
baby.”  Some  of  our  Congressmen  were  plastered 
several  inches  thick  with  postage  stamps.  We  shall 
now  start  a  similar  campaign  against  these  coal  tar 
substitutes. 
* 
THE  election  in  Minnesota  has  badly  jarred  the 
old  party  politicians.  The  farm-labor  party  has 
elected  its  candidate  for  the  United  States  Senate 
by  nearly  75,000  majority.  This  in  a  State  which 
three  years  ago  gave  over  300,000  majority  for  Hard¬ 
ing.  The  new  Senator,  Magnus  Johnson,  was  horn 
in  Sweden,  and  came  to  this  country  when  20  years 
of  age.  He  seems  to  be  a  plain  man,  a  practical 
farmer,  with  considerable  of  what  we  may  call  horse 
sense.  When  ridiculed  because  he  does  not  fully 
understand  English,  Mr.  Johnson  makes  a  good- 
natured  reply  that  he  can  at  least  make  others  un¬ 
der  stand  what  he  is  taking  about.  He  says  he 
married  an  Irish  girl  who  did  not  understand  a  word 
of  Swedish,  yet  she  fully  understood  him  when  he 
proposed  to  her.  Some  of  the  orators  and  educators 
might  well  think  out  what  that  means.  Mr.  Johnson 
seems  to  he  a  Republican  with  very  liberal  views, 
and  will  evidently  work  with  the  liberal  wing  of  his 
party.  The  Democratic  party  seems  to  have  disap¬ 
peared  in  this  election.  The  Farmer-Labor  party 
seems  to  be  a  rather  loose  organization  of  labor  men, 
Non-Partisan  League  and  the  radical  element  among 
farmers — those  who  are  discontented  and  bitterly 
•critical  of  the  failure  of  the  present  Administration 
to  “do  something.”  The  slump  in  the  price  of  wheat 
and  the  failure  of  the  present  tariff  to  help,  were  the 
chief  reasons  for  this  “landslide.”  Minnesota  is  a 
State  devoted  to  wheat  growing  and  flour  manufac¬ 
turing.  Wheat  represents  the  economic  life  of  the 
State.  Farmers  were  told  that  a  high  tariff  on 
wheat  would  insure  them  a  living  price.  Now  they 
see  the  price  falling  in  spite  of  the  tariff,  while  ar¬ 
ticles  which  they  must  buy  are  at  top-notch  prices. 
They  just  took  the  first  chance  they  had  to  show 
their  feelings.  This  result  complicates  matters,  and 
will  have  great  effect  upon  a  possible  third  party 
next  year. 
Brevities 
Some  years  ago  we  heard  of  a  poultryman  who 
trapped  woodchucks  in  Summer  and  canned  the  meat 
for  poultry  feed  in  Winter.  Now  we  hear  of  the  plan 
once  more. 
It  is  reported  that  the  United  States  Department  of 
Agriculture  wants  1,200  bed  bugs  and  will  pay  one  cent 
each  for  them.  Needless  to  say  these  are  for  “experi¬ 
ment  purposes.” 
A  good  many  readers  are  asking  -where  they  can  buy 
coal  direct.  Where  you  can  use  carload  lots  it  is  pos¬ 
sible  for  a  farmer  or  a  group  of  farmers  to  make  a 
little  money  through  direct  buying. 
“It  took  70  years  to  teach  me  how  to  cook  fresh  peas. 
The  trick  is.  boil  them  in  the  pod,  without  shelling.  If 
you  never  did  this  you  have  never  tasted  peas  at  all. 
They  are  cooked  in  their  own  steam,  and  the  pod  re¬ 
tains  ail  the  flavor.  Shell  out.  after  cooking.  Try  it 
yourself,”  says  J.  G. 
Some  of  our  readers  seem  to  have  bought  farms  with 
“more  or  less”  in  the  deed  when  referring  to  the  num¬ 
ber  of  acres.  In  one  case  a  farm  said  to  contain  “250 
acres  more  or  less”  was  found,  after  a  survey,  to  have 
212  acres !  Doubtful  if  any  court  would  construe  “more 
or  less”  to  cover  more  than  one  or  two  acres. 
A  New  York  dog  is  under  no  legal  protection  if  he 
has  not  been  licensed,  or  if  he  does  not  wear  a  cellar 
with  a  tag  of  this  year’s  issue.  The  owner  or  “lar- 
borer”  of  an  unlicensed  dog  is  liable  to  a  penalty  of 
$10.  When  you  have  trouble  with  a  neighbor’s  dog  you 
can  “do  it  yourself”  if  he  is  not  licensed  or  properly 
tagged. 
