1072 
The  Rural  New-Yorker 
TIIE  BUSINESS  FARMER'S  TAPER 
A  National  Weekly  Journal  for  Country  an<l  Suburban  Home* * 
Established  1850 
PublUhrd  weekly  l»y  the  Rural  Pttblighin?  Company,  833  Went  30th  Street,  New  fork 
Herbert  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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“A  SQUARE  DEAL” 
We  believe  that  every  advertisement  in  this  patter  is  backed  by  a  respon¬ 
sible  person.  We  use  every  possible  precaution  and  admit  the  advertising  of 
reliable  houses  only.  Rut  to  make  doubly  sure,  we  will  make  good  any  loss 
to  txiiii  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. 
Notice  of  the  complaint  must  be  sent  to  us  within  one  month  of  the  time  of 
tile  transaction,  and  to  identify  it,  you  should  mention  Tils:  Rural  Nkw- 
Yorker  when  writing  the  advertiser. 
THUS  far  it  has  been  so  dry  in  our  section  that 
cover  crops  have  been  out  of  the  question.  The 
seed  would  hardly  start  in  this  dry  soil,  and  if  it 
did  grow,  even  slowly,  it  would  rob  the  corn  or  other 
crops  where  it  was  seeded  of  needed  moisture.  We 
have  lost  most  of  our  usual  seeding  of  Alsike  clover 
from  the  drought.  This  is  unusual,  for  Alsike  will 
generally  grow  either  on  wet  soil  or  in  a  dry  ash 
heap.  The  late  rains  will  come  and  when  they  do 
we  advise  seeding  rye  alone  or  rye  and  vetch  in 
the  corn.  It  will  make  a  fair  growth  during  the 
Fall  and  protect  the  ground.  After  this  dry  season, 
when  the  rain  finally  comes  there  will  be  a  rapid 
formation  of  nitrates  in  the  soil  and  these  will  be 
quickly  washed  out  and  lost  if  there  is  no  living 
crop  left  on  the  land.  In  addition  to  that  this 
drought  has  burned  up  most  of  the  organic  matter 
in  the  soil — so  that  the  cover  crop  will  be  more  use¬ 
ful  than  ever.  Seed  rye  or  rye  and  vetch  when 
you  can. 
* 
Are  you  fair  to  the  members  of  this  Committee  of 
Twenty-one?  It  seems  to  me  that  these  men  and  women 
worked  very  hard  to  give  us  a  new  school  law.  They 
are  public-spirited  citizens  who  deserve  great  praise  for 
their  work.  H.  R.  J. 
WE  agree  with  what  you  say,  and  it  is  our  de¬ 
sire  to  be  entirely  fair.  If  we  make  any 
statement  about  this  committee  winch  is  not  fully 
justified  we  want  you  or  anyone  to  point  out  the  in¬ 
justice.  Granted  that  the  committee  or  its  members 
have  shown  great  public  spirit,  and  that  they  have 
sacrificed  time  and  money  in  their  efforts  to  carry 
out  their  work,  we  do  not  subscribe  to  the  belief 
that  this  should  make  them  or  their  work  immune 
to  fair  criticism.  There  is  too  much  of  this  idea 
that  a  report  of  educators  and  experts  should  be 
accepted  by  the  general  public  as  perfect  or  right, 
simply  because  its  authors  are  people  of  reputation. 
The  school  law  which  this  committee  recommends  is 
a  very  radical  change  from  our  present  system.  It 
is  the  most  important  legislation  in  its  direct  effect 
upon  their  lives  and  finances  that  our  New  York 
farmers  have  faced  in  many  a  year,  and  it  would  be 
little  short  of  a  crime  to  rush  or  jam  it  upon  them 
without  their  full  understanding.  For  we  feel  that 
the  opinions  of  the  men  and  women  who  are  to 
provide  the  rural  school  children  and  pay  a  good 
share  of  the  taxes  are  just  as  important  and  should 
be  as  decisive  as  these  of  educators  and  experts 
who  favor  this  bill  but  do  not  share  greatly  in  its 
possible  discomforts  or  expenses.  We  have  stated 
that  the  committee  gives  the  appearance  of  being 
“hand-picked” — that  is,- selected  entirely  from  those 
who  favored  the  old  township  law.  If  that  is  not 
correct  the  members  of  the  committee  can  easily 
prove  it.  To  us  the  bill  appears  to  be  a  consolida¬ 
tion  measure  which  removes  practically  all  local 
control  from  the  school.  We  think  it  will  prove  so 
expensive,  with  the  community  high  schools,  that  it 
is  a  grave  question  if  farmers  in  their  present  “de¬ 
flated”  condition  can  ever  pay  the  required  taxes. 
Now  if  we  are  doing  the  committee  any  injustice 
in  these  statements  we  are  ready  to  be  corrected, 
for  this  is  too  big  and  important  a  matter  either 
for  unfair  statement — or  silence. 
* 
YOU  remember  that  on  page- 976  we  printed  a 
note  from  a  farmer  who  is  holding  his  farm 
on  contract — in  great  danger  of  losing  it  before  lie 
can  pay  half  the  purchase  price  and  secure  a  deed. 
This  man  is  in  a  desperate  financial  condition  and 
received  what  amounts  to  a  bribe.  A  bootlegger 
who  wants  to  make  “moonshine”  whiskey  offeied 
a  great  price  for  the  use  of  several  rooms  in  the 
farmhouse.  The  money  would  have  enabled  this 
man  to  save  his  farm  promptly,  but  he  refused  to 
help  b-o  k  the  laws.  We  thought  then  and  we  still 
7ht  RURAL  NEW-YORKER 
August  18,  1923 
think  that  this  man  deserves  more  than  thanks, 
lie  represents  the  type  of  men  we  need  in  the  coun¬ 
try.  Several  readers  ask  what  response  there  has 
been  to  this  statement  of  fact.  We  have  had  just 
two  letters  about  it.  One  is  from  an  institution 
which  cannot  loan  money  outside  of  the  State  but 
which  offered  to  back  this  man  for  a  farm  if  he  will 
move  to  another  State.  The  other  is  an  unsigned 
letter  which  says: 
“The  man  is  a  fool  for  not  accepting  the  money 
and  saying  nothing  about  it.  No  sensible  man 
would  lend  money  to  save  such  a  fool  as  that  from 
ruin.  He  deserves  it.” 
As  the  old  showman  used  to  say — “You  pays  your 
money  and  you  takes  your  choice” — only  in  this 
case  no  one  seems  ready  to  pay  money  for  honesty. 
* 
ON  page  1064  a  reader  puts  the  question  of 
limiting  milk  production  squarely  up  to  dairy¬ 
men.  Who  will  join  him  in  a  pledge  to  make-  beef 
of  10  per  cent  of  the  herd — selecting  the  “boarder” 
or  non-producing  cattle?  Such  a  plan,  if  followed 
by  all,  would  surely  reduce  the  milk  supply  and  cut 
down  the  cost  of  production — for  the  cows  thus  cut 
out  probably  do  not  pay  for  their  hay  and  grain. 
Unless  all  agreed  to  such  a  plan,  and  carried  it  out 
conscientiously,  the  situation  would  be  worse  than 
it  is  now.  Many  dairymen  would  do  their  part 
loyally,  while  the  rest  would  keep  all  their  cows, 
or  even  increase  the  herd  and  thus  take  advantage 
of  the  sacrifice  made  by  others.  That  is  one  great 
trouble  with  any  attempt  to  reduce  farm  production. 
It  is  different  with  manufacturers,  for  they  have  a 
compact,  close  organization,  so  that  a  trade  agree¬ 
ment  can  be  enforced.  Generally  speaking,  any  at¬ 
tempt  to  cut  down  general  production  will  injure 
business  in  the  end.  The  wiser  plan  is  to  work  for 
increased  markets.  The  American  public  ought  to 
consume  twice  the  milk  now  produced  in  this 
country. 
* 
WE  would  like  a  little  help  in  this  campaign 
against  soft  drinks.  It  is  high  time  some 
one  organized  such  a  campaign  and  put  it  through. 
The  following  clipping  from  the  Chelsea  (Mass.) 
Gazette  tells  of  an  incident  not  at  all  unusual : 
Inspectors  Murphy  and  Gaffey  of  the  health  depart¬ 
ment  seized  six  bottles  of  tonic  put  up  by  the  Oneida 
Bottling  Co.  at  a  stand  in  Dock  square,  Boston,  this 
week  and  found  in  one  of  them  a  big  fat  dead  fly  and 
sediment  in  the  bottom  of  the  bottles,  which  the  health 
commissioner  said  was  just  plain  dirt.  It  is  said  the 
bottles  bore  only  a  label  with  the  words  orangeade  or 
grape  upon  the  cap.  The  name  Ritter  appeared  blown 
in  the  glass  and  it  was  discovered  that  the  bottles  origi¬ 
nally  contained  ketchup  and  had  been  bought  from  a 
Chelsea  junkman. 
Not  a  very  high-toned  “tonic.”  We  have  had 
“Spanish  fly”  applied  on  the  outside  of  the  body  as 
a  blister  but  as  for  dead  American  flies  for  the  in¬ 
side — thank  yon — not  any  for  us.  Soft  drinks  !  One 
must  be  pretty  soft  to  drink  such  stuff.  Of  course, 
they  are  not  all  like  that.  Most  of  them  might  be 
called  reasonably  clean,  but  they  are  little  more 
than  sweetened  water  colored  with  chemicals  and 
filled  with  gas.  As  compared  with  good  milk  their 
food  value  or  supply  of  vitamines  is  next  to  nothing. 
The  ocean  of  this  stuff  which  goes  down  the  Ameri¬ 
can  throat  each  year,  represents  a  drink  bill  which 
bids  fair  to  run  a  good  second  to  the  gasoline  bill. 
We  are  going  to  try  to  divert  a  good  share  of  this 
uselessly  spent  money  to  the  purchase  of  good  milk ! 
Will  you  help? 
* 
A  READER  in  Maryland  thinks  of  buying  a 
farm  in  Northern  Vermont.  Another  man  in 
Maine  talks  of  moving  to  North  Carolina.  Both . 
ask  the  same  question :  “Are  most  of  the  farmers 
in  that  section — those  who  really  exert  themselves — 
making  a  living?”  It  is  safe  to  say  that  they  are! 
There  is  no  spot  of  land  on  this  continent  from  the 
ice-bound  shores  of  the  North  where  the  Esquimaux 
munches  blubber  in  his  ice  hut  to  the  point  of  Cape 
Horn  where  half  naked  savages  have  only  a  bed  of 
sea  moss  for  a  home,  that  men  do  not  “make  a  liv¬ 
ing!”  But  the  point  is  that  one  man’s  “living” 
might  be  a  lingering  death  to  another  man.  Take 
a  back-to-the-lander  right  out  of  a  small  city  flat 
and  put  him  on  a  lonely  farm  with  poor  buildings 
and  no  conveniences.  The  neighbors  all  around  him 
can  make  a  “living”  but  habit  has  unfitted  him  for 
such  a  life  and  he  cannot  fairly  estimate  his  pos¬ 
sible  success  by  what  others  do.  It  is  very  much 
the  same  where  people  move  north  or  south  for  any 
considerable  distance.  Let  them  move  east  or  west, 
following  much  the  same  latitude,  and  they  can 
usually  handle  themselves  well,  but  when  they  go 
north  or  south  the  conditions  and  the  “living”  are 
so  different  that  it  is  hard  to  make  a  fair  adjust¬ 
ment.  and  this  is  one  of  the  hardest  things  we  have 
to  explain  to  the  back-to-the-lander  and  practical 
farmers. 
* 
THE  Bergen  Co.  egg-laying  contest  at  Westwood, 
N.  ,T.  was  started  originally  as  a  three-year 
contest.  Pullets  were  kept  the  first  year.  The  sec¬ 
ond  year  these  pullets  as  mature  hens  were  used 
as  breeders  and  the  third  year  pullets  from  these 
hens  were  used.  This  gave  two  sets  of  pullet  rec¬ 
ords  and  one  experiment  in  breeding.  A  change  will 
now  be  made  in  this  plan  and  hereafter  the  contest 
will  represent  an  annual  contest  between  pullets. 
The  breeding  work  will  be  given  up.  We  think  this 
is  good  policy.  It  gives  a  fairer  test  or  comparison 
for  the  pullet  is  the  true  business  bird.  The  next 
contest  will  stait  November  1  of  this  year — with  20 
pullets  in  each  pen.  We  have  found  this  contest 
work  very  useful  indeed.  We  advise  any  poultryman 
who  thinks  he  has  a  good  strain  of  birds  to  enter 
such  a  contest.  If  his  birds  are  really  superior  a 
high  score  in  such  a  contest  will  be  of  great  value 
to  him.  The  New  Jersey  Experiment  Station  at  New 
Brunswick  will  give  full  particulars. 
* 
THERE  are  three  great  national  bills  which  may 
be  classed  at  least  partly  as  luxuries.  They 
represent  the  money  spent  for  rum,  tobacco  and 
gasoline.  The  rum  bill  is  probably,  not  so  large  as 
it  was  five  years  ago,  though  it  is  still  larger  than 
it  should  be.  The  tobacco  bill  is  growing.  This  is 
entirely  a  luxury  bill,  there  being  no  economic  re¬ 
turns  from  it  except  the  tobacco  farmer’s  35-cent 
dollar  or  the  amount  received  for  the  crude  to¬ 
bacco.  As  for  the  gasoline  bill  its  growth  and  de¬ 
velopment  has  been  one  of  the  world’s  great  won¬ 
ders.  The  average  man  who  drives  up  to  a  filling 
station  and  orders  a  few  gallons  has  little  idea  of 
the  national  bill  he  is  helping  to  build  up.  The 
following  statement  from  the  Department  of  the 
Interior  is  the  most  complete  that  we  have  seen. 
During  the  calendar  year  1922  the  total  consump¬ 
tion  of  gasoline  in  the  United  States  was  5,366,423,822 
gallons.  The  average  tank  wagon  price  of  gasoline  for 
the  year,  according  to  the  best  available  calculations, 
was  21.7  cents.  This  would  give  a  total  cost  of  $1,- 
164.513.969.  Assuming  that  90  per  cent  of  the  total 
gasoline  was  purchased  by  motor  vehicle  owners  through 
service  stations,  the  figure  of  approximately  $150,000,- 
000  would  have  to  be  added  to  the  above  figure  to  in¬ 
dicate  the  total  purchase  price.  This  last  estimate  is 
based  on  the  fact  that  the  service  stations’  price  of 
gasoline  is  from  two  to  five  cents  per  gallon  above  the 
tank  wagon  price,  with  a  probable  average  of  around 
three  cents  above.  It  would  seem  from  the  above  cal¬ 
culation  that  the  American  people  spent  around  $1,- 
300,000,000  for  gasoline  during  1922,  of  which  from  85 
to  90  per  cent  was  probably  spent  by  users  of  motor 
vehicles.  This  is,  of  course,  an  entirely  unofficial  es¬ 
timate  but  it  is  believed  to  be  approximately  accurate. 
In  the  year  1923  the  gasoline  bill  will  run  to  a 
billion  and  a  half.  That  is  many  times  the  cost  of 
conducting  the  Revolutionary  War,  and  nearly  the 
entire  cost  of  the  Civil  War.  It  is  probable  that 
half  of  this  vast  sum  is  spent  at  “seeing  things” — 
that  is,  driving  about  for  pleasure  or  for  the  mere 
joy  of  “going  somewhere.”  Surely  the  nation  could 
not  spend  the  gasoline  bill  and  the  old  rum  bill  to¬ 
gether.  It  is  a  question  whether  we  have  not  passed 
the  limit  of  endurance  in  this  private  gasoline  tax. 
The  government  does  not  levy  this  great  personal 
tax.  We  blow  it  off  ourselves.  The  question  is,  can 
you  and  the  rest  of  us  do  it  ourselves  by  resolving 
to  use  less  gasoline? 
Brevities 
In  any  school  system,  however  expensive  or  com¬ 
plicated,  the  teacher  is  the  real  foundation. 
One  of  the  first  principles  of  game  laws  is  to  be  game 
enough  to  get  up  when  you  are  knocked  down. 
We  think  Eastern  poultrymen  may  well  try  some  of 
the  seed  sorghum  mentioned  by  the  Hope  Farm  man. 
Carbonate  of  copper  dust  is  being  used  success¬ 
fully  for  wheat  smut.  The  dust  is  mixed  right  in  with 
the  seed  wheat. 
Now  they  tell  uS  that  in  1840  the  average  fleece 
weight  of  all  sheep  in  the  United  States  was  1.8  lbs. 
Now  it  is  between  seven  and  eight  lbs. 
Tiie  Black  Jersey  Giant  fowl  is  a  master  at  one  iob 
at  least.  That  is  on  a  grain  farm  gleaning  the  shelled 
grain.  At  this  job  the  J.  B.  G.  will  pay  about  as  much 
as  the  miller  for  the  wheat. 
Will  some  woman  who  knows  tell  a  mere  man  why 
she  spends  time  peeling  potatoes  before  cooking  them? 
She  takes  out  the  best  part  of  the  potato  and  spends 
useless  time  on  the  job.  Why  not  boil  them  in  their 
jackets? 
As  part  of  his  education  a  young  man  should  know 
how  to  ask  questions.  You  cannot  get  it  all  from 
books.  Study  for  what  you  want  to  know  and  then 
ask  for  it.  A  man  may  brand  himself  foolish  by  his 
questions  no  less  than  by  his  answers. 
W S-  met  a  newspaper  man  the  other  day  who  said 
he  would  rather  die  than  admit  that  he  did  not  know. 
We  think  the  public  has  more  confidence  in  the  man 
who  says  “I  do  not  know” — when  that  is  the  truth. 
And  no  man  can  permanently  bluff  with  his  ignorance 
any  more  than  the  ostrich  can  make  himself  invisible 
by  hiding  his  head  in  the  sand. 
