The  RURAL  NEW-YORKER 
1125 
v-  Who  Pays  For  It  All? 
Don’t  you  think  that  this  and  the  like  are  the  main 
reasons  for  the  very  low  price  to  the  fanner  and  the 
high  prices  for  the  loaf  of  bread  and  other  things  the 
consumer  has  to  pay  for? 
NEW  YORK  reader  asks  that  question  when 
sending  copy  of  a  circular  issued  by  a  “grain 
corporation.”  Here  is  a  quotation  from  the  circular: 
At  the  meeting  the  president,  E.  F.  Rosenbaum, 
stated : 
“The  company  commenced  doing  business  the  first  of 
March,  1923.  The  ensuing  four  months  were  exceed¬ 
ingly  dull  in  the  grain  trade.  The  company  had  large 
expenses  incidental  to  reorganization.  Nevertheless,  the 
net  earnings  of  the  company  from  March  1  to  June  30 
were  in  excess  of  $154,000,  so  that  after  allowing  for 
dividends  paid  and  accrued,  there  was  available  to  be 
added  to  the  surplus  account  during  this  period  over 
$51,000.” 
The  corporation  seems  also  to  have  paid  dividends 
at  the  rate  of  $1  per  share  of  stock.  Without  ques¬ 
tion  that  shows  where  much  of  the  wheat  money 
goes  to.  In  the  end  it  is  all  paid  by  the  farmers — 
taken  out  of  the  price  paid  for  their  wheat. 
July  Milk  Returns 
The  Dairymen’s  League  Co-operative  Association  re¬ 
ports  net  cash  payment  for  July  milk  of  $1,835  for 
3  per  cent  milk.  The  pool  expense  was  0]/2  cents 
and  the  certificate  of  deduction  15  cents,  making  a 
gross  $2.08  for  the  month. 
The  non-pool  flat  price  for  3  per  cent  milk  for 
July  was  $2.20.  The  class  average  has  not  been 
received. 
The  Sheffields  report  $2.20  flat  price  for  all  milk 
on  the  3  per  cent  basis. 
The  Eastern  States  Milk  Producers  report  an 
average  of  $2.09  for  3  per  cent  milk  for  July.  The 
lowest  return  for  this  group  from  local  units  was 
$2,  and  the  best  $2.30. 
The  monthly  comparison  with  the  1910  record  is 
given  in  the  following  table : 
J  uly 
July 
July 
Julv 
July 
Milk 
1916 
1917 
1921 
1922 
1923 
Bordens 
1.26 
League  . 
2.10 
1.60+10  1.42  +  20  1.835 
Co-op.,  Unit  High 
1.55 
2.02 
2.30 
Ind..  Unit  High. 
2.10 
2.20 
B.  &  C.  Value.. 
1.37 
2.07 
1.80 
1.81 
1.33 
Butter  cts.  per  lb 
.2893  .3906 
.4025 
.3625 
.3940 
Cheese  cts  per  lb 
.15625  .23 
.18375 
.21 
.2452 
City  Milk  Prices 
The  Eastern  States  Producers  report  the  following 
prices  to  dealers  F.  O.  B.,  New  York,  commencing 
August  19 : 
Pasteurized  milk  in  shipper’s  cans .  $3.20 
Raw  milk  in  shipper’s  cans .  3.10 
In  dealer’s  cans  10c  less. 
Cream,  40  per  cent,  per  can . 24.20 
Dealer’s  price  to  stores .  3.00 
Store  price  to  consumers,  loose  milk . 10 
Borden  and  Sheffield  price,  bottled . 14 
Grange  Activities 
The  members  of  Ausable  Valley  Grange,  at 
Keeseville,  New  York,  know  how  to  keep  up  interest 
in  the  meetings  and  at  the  same  time  provide  for 
the  future  of  the  organization.  They  put  the  young 
people  into  the  activities  of  the  Grange  and  bring 
the  children  to  the  meetings,  and  teach  them  to  do 
their  part  in  the  exercises.  They  are  somewhat 
removed  from  centers  of  population,  and  out  of  the 
line  of  extensive  travel,  but  more  populous  sections 
may  well  profit  by  the  interest  and  spirit  and  edi¬ 
fication  of  their  exercises. 
Among  other  things  these  patrons  are  studying 
the  school  bill  to  find  how  it  would  affect  the  wel¬ 
fare  of  themselves  and  their  children.  Among  them 
one  gets  the  impression  that  they  are  abundantly 
qualified  to  conduct  their,  own  schools  and  direct 
the  education  of  their  own  children.  They  gain 
strength  and  confidence  in  doing  so.  They  do  it 
now  as  a  voluntary  and  joyful  duty  and  if  the 
privilege  is  taken  firom  them,  it  will  be  only  after 
they  have  done  everything  in  their  power  to  pre¬ 
serve  their  rights.  As  an  educational  factor  this 
body  is  living  up  to  the  past  traditions  of  the 
Grange. 
Cotton  Picker  Needed 
THE  South  needs  a  practical  cotton-picker.  Cot¬ 
ton  is  the  only  one  of  our  great  staple  crops 
which  must  depend  on  finger  and  thumb  work  en¬ 
tirely  for  one  part  of  its  handling.  An  efficient  cot¬ 
ton-picker  would  in  time  change  the  entire  aspect 
of  Southern  agriculture — as  completely  as  the  har¬ 
vester  and  modern  thrasher  have  changed  Western 
wheat  growing.  Our  own  opinion  is  that  the  coming 
cotton-picker  will  be  operated  somewhat  like  a  corn 
harvester — cutting  the  stalks  in  the  field  and  tying 
most  of  them  in  bundles  which  are  to  be  passed 
later  through  a  machine  somewhat  like  a  bean 
thrasher.  This  machine  will  we  think,  be  arranged 
to  separate  the  lint  from  the  stalks  and  take  out  the 
seeds.  Some  hand  work  will  be  needed  to  clean  up 
the  field,  but  the  greater  part  of  the  picking  will  be 
done  by  machinery.  It  is  easy  to  criticize  such  a 
plan  as  visionary  and  impractical,  but  exactly  the 
same  things  were  said  of  Eli  Whitney’s  cotton  gin 
when  he  first  began  to  consider  it.  Yet  the  gin, 
once  perfected,  raised  cotton  culture  from  a  com¬ 
paratively  small  industry  at  the  mercy  of  human 
hand  labor  to  a  great  national  business,  with  an  ex¬ 
port  trade  which  controlled  the  markets  of  the 
world.  A  cotton-picker  which  will  work  with  any¬ 
thing  like  the  accuracy  of  a  corn  harvester  would 
work  out  the  greatest  change  in  Southern  agricul¬ 
ture  that  has  been  known  since  slavery  was  abol¬ 
ished. 
Vacationing  With  An  Auto 
NOW  comes  the  season  of  what  we  may  call  the 
“gasoline  vacation.”  Hundreds  or  thousands 
of  farmers  will  clean  up  the  harvest  or  haying  and 
then  pack  most  of  the  family  into  the  car  for  a  vaca¬ 
tion.  They  take  along  a  tent,  small  cots,  cooking 
outfit  and  a  change  of  clothing.  On  the  best  of  these 
trips  there  is  no  particular  destination,  and  no  one 
cares  particularly  whether  they  get  there  or  not. 
The  chief  object  is  to  get  away  somewhere  and  for¬ 
get  the  cares  and  troubles  of  life  for  a  little  while. 
We  talk  with  many  of  these  farm  families  as  they 
pass  along.  Sometimes  the  elderly  people  take  the 
children  and  go,  leaving  the  working  generation  at 
home,  but  oftener  the  entire  family  comes  along.  It 
is,  of  course,  hard  for  a  dairyman  to  do  this.  The 
cows  must  be  milked  every  day.  Yet  we  have  met 
farmers  who  have  arranged  to  have  their  cows 
cared  for  for  a  few  days  while  they  take  an  outing. 
From  what  we  have  seen  of  it,  we  believe  this  is  one 
of  the  best  things  that  has  happened  to  farmers.  It 
gives  them  a  bigger  and  broader  idea  of  life.  There  is 
something  new  to  think  about.  It  requires  new 
planning  for  work  and  crops  in  order  to  get  away, 
and  many  a  man  has  been  led,  through  this  plan¬ 
ning  for  a  vacation,  to  overhaul  his  entire  job  and 
improve  it.  The  car  has  made  such  a  vacation  possi¬ 
ble.  It  is  mixing  people  up,  breaking  down  preju¬ 
dice,  giving  farmers  a  new  form  of  pride  in  their 
business,  and  we  believe  that  it  will  result  in  greater 
contentment  with  farm  life.  We  all  need  the  spirit  of 
adventure,  and  it  is  a  good  thing  for  us  to  gratify  it 
in  a  reasonable  way.  Anyway,  there  is  no  possible 
way  of  stopping  this  gasoline  vacation,  even  if  we 
wanted  to.  It  .has  become  a  part  of  life. 
The  Price  of  Apple  Picking 
Where  apples  are  picked  by  the  barrel,  the  price  runs 
from  12  to  20  cents  per  barrel,  and  quite  a  good  many 
are  picked  that  way,  man  picking  from  30  to  50  barrels 
per  day.  Most  growers,  however,  prefer  to  hire,  where 
possible,  by  the  day,  the  price  being  from  $4  to  $5  per 
day,  and  the  number  of  barrels  falling  off  wonderfully. 
I  myself  never  hire  any  picked  by  the  barrel.  I  believe 
I  generally  have  as  good  help  as  any,  and  while  our 
showing  is  perfectly  satisfactory  to  me,  seems  ridiculous 
to  many.  If  we  average,  off  low-lieaded  trees,  well 
loaded,  10  barrels  per  day  per  man,  we  are  satisfied. 
Of  course,  to  the  40  and  50-barrel  men  this  looks  very 
bad  ;  it  is,  however,  from  choice,  as  we  can,  I  believe, 
pull  off  as  many  apples,  leaves,  twigs,  etc.,  and  break 
up  as  many  trees  as  anyone  if  we  so  desire.  I  feel 
sure,  however,  many  of  the  bad  reports  on  fruit  arrival 
at  destination  result  from  haste.  As,  for  example,  a 
buyer  told  me  but  a  few  days  ago,  he  bought  a  lot  of 
fruit  which  looked  fine  on  the  trees,  but  when  delivered 
the  next  day  it  looked  as  though  it  had  been  run  through 
a  thrashing  machine. 
I  feel  sure  careful  picking  is  also  largely  responsible 
for  the  fact  that  trees  (not  one,  but  every  tree  of  some 
varieties)  which  last  year  averaged  better  than  four 
barrels  of  “A”  grade  per  tree,  will  this  year  run  five, 
this  being  the  third  consecutive  crop.  This,  and  much 
better  prices,  together  with  better  satisfied  customers, 
is  why  we  are  not  in  favor  of  picking  which  includes  a 
part  of  the  tree  with  every  apple. 
There  does  not  promise  to  be  any  change  in  prices  per 
barrel  or  by  the  day  this  year.  wm.  iiotaling. 
Columbia  Co.,  N.  Y. 
The  One-man-power  Farm 
Reading  in  your  good  paper,  as  well  as  in  others,  of 
the  hard  time  the  farmers  are  having  this  year  to  run 
their  business  because  of  scarcity  of  help,  leads  me  to 
wonder  who  will  feed  them  all  when  they  throw  up 
their  jobs  and  go  to  the  city.  The  procession  in  that 
direction  is  getting  new  recruits  every  day. 
A  party  from  near  us  toured  through  Northern  New 
England  and  Canada  and  back  via  Maine  during  the 
Summer,  and  saw  a  great  number  of  farms  not  occu¬ 
pied.  The  meadows  were  filled  with  heavy  grass,  and 
good  buildings,  generally,  were  in  sight.  The  reason  for 
such  a  state  of  affairs  was  asked,  and  they  were  told 
that  the  World  War  took  most  of  the  you'ng  men.  Some 
did  not  come  back,  and  those  that  did  were  attracted 
elsewhere  by  high  wages.  Wages  are  too  high  for  the 
best  good  of  the  country.  Some  say  restricted  immi¬ 
gration  is  the  cause  of  it,  but  I  believe  there  are  men 
and  women  enough  in  the  United  States  to  do  all  the 
work  of  the  land  if  everyone  would  do  a  fair  day’s  work 
six  days  in  the  week,  and  let  everybody  else  do  the  same, 
and  be  happy  and  prosperous  on  one-half  the  pay  many 
are  now  getting. 
Hy  own  case  is  like  many  others.  My  wife  and  I, 
past  60  years  old,  have  two  sons  and  a  daughter  gone 
out  to  make  their  way  in  the  world,  off  the  farm.  This 
leaves  us  with  20  head  of  stock  besides  pigs,  horses  and 
chickens  to  care  for.  When  haying  time  came  I  had  to 
have  some  help,  so  secured  a  man  and  team,  who  helped 
me  seven  days,  for  which  I  had  to  pay  him  $90.  He 
said  that  was  the  prevailing  rate  of  wages.  Wife  and  I, 
working  twice  as  many  hours  per  day,  with  nine  Jersey 
cows  and  80  hens  to  help  us,  would  be  glad  to  see  $90 
net  income  in  14  days,  or  21,  or  more. 
Supplying  our  dairy  and  poultry  products  to  the  con¬ 
sumer  each  day,  about  25  families,  gives  us  the  maxi¬ 
mum  income,  and  also  leaves  us  very  little  time  for 
recreation  or  other  work.  Unless  farm  prices  come  up 
or  labor  wages  come  down,  more  are  going  to  sell  off 
their  stock  and  go  to  wages.  It  is  far  out  of  the  right 
proportion  when  one  has  to  keep  75  hens  to  get  three 
dozen  eggs  per  day  to  hire  a  man  with  a  hammer  and 
saw  one  hour,  and  keep  12  cows  to  get  butter*  enough 
to  pay  him  the  rest  of  the  forenoon. 
Farm  life  is  the  best  life  in  the  world,  and  the  cry  a 
few  years  ago.  “Back  to  the  land,”  sent  many  out  from 
the  cities  to  the  health-giving  air  of  the  rural  sections. 
“Back  to  the  land”  is  again  the  slogan,  but  it  is  my 
back  to  the  land,  where  I  have  been  trying  to  make 
both  ends  meet  during  the  past  few  years,  and  this  is 
just  the  situation  which  causes  me  to  wonder  how  much 
longer  changes  can  go  on  before  cities  will  feel  the  need 
of  food.  Eggs  can  be  brought  from  China,  butter  from 
Holland,  beef  from  faraway  countries,  but  are  they 
any  more  fresh  and  wholesome  than  can  be  produced 
in  New  England? 
The  cities  that  have  adopted  daylight  saving  time,  so- 
called,  are  placing  an  added  burden  on  the  farmer,  only 
to  give  themselves  another  hour  for  pleasure  in  the 
afternoon,  a  selfish  thing  for  them  to  do. 
Connecticut.  Arthur  w.  Northrop. 
Another  Family  Work  Farm 
The  two-column  story  on  page  1047  by  Mrs.  Willcox 
has  been  read  by  every  member  of  the  family  that  could 
read ;  better  than  fiction,  but  conditions  as  outlined  are 
only  too  true.  We  had  about  the  same  experience  in 
working  our  200-acre  place.  My  wife  is  also  horse-shy, 
so  I  do  the  work  alone  and  get  it  done  somehow,  with¬ 
out  ice  cream  and  no  rusty  disposition.  In  fact,  for  no 
money  in  the  world  would  I  live  again  in  a  city.  The 
work  on  the  farm  is  hard  and  the  hours  long,  and  many 
are  the  privations,  yet  we  live,  we  eat  pure,  unadulter¬ 
ated,  self-raised  victuals,  and  we  are  and  remain  heal¬ 
thy.  I  enjoy  my  work,  even  if  I  do  not  have  so  many 
good  machines  as  Mrs.  Willcox  enjoys.  I  have  no  milk¬ 
ing  machine,  no  side  rake,  no  cabbage  planter,  two  very 
nasty  horses,  and  no  son  old  enough  to  act  as  teamster ; 
yet  with  some  good  will  we  get  around  all  that  and  find 
a  way  to  make  the  best  of  everything. 
My  wife  has  made  a  fine  study  of  kitchen  economy 
and  feeds  us  with  one  pound  of  sugar  per  week,  one 
pound  of  coffee  per  month,  and  we  find  the  less  we  eat 
manufactured  groceries  and  the  more  we  consume  of  our 
own  produce,  the  better  off  we  are  in  health  and  pocket- 
book.  I  am  ashamed  to  eonfess  that  we  two  and  three 
small  children  consume  12  quarts  of  milk  daily,  and  one 
dozen  eggs,  but  we  eat  no  bread,  no  cereals,  no  meat, 
etc.,  and  are  healthy  every  day  of  the  year.  The  chil¬ 
dren  do  not  know  what  it  is  to  be  sick.  r.  a.  M. 
New  Jersey. 
Preparing  for  the  Big  Apple  Show 
Through  the  aid  of  an  appropriation  made  by  the  last 
Legislature,  apple  growers  in  New  York  State  are  to 
have  free  space  in  which  to  exhibit  their  fruit  in  New 
York  City  next  Fall.  The  New  York  State  committee 
of  fruit  growers  which  is  working  out  plans  for  partici¬ 
pation  in  the  big  Apple  Exposition  and  Fruit  Show  to 
be  held  in  November,  announced  this  week  that  they 
had  obtained  an  option  of  4,000  ft.  of  exhibit  space  at 
Grand  Central  Palace.  This  space  is  to  be  allotted  with¬ 
out  cost  to  growers’  co-operative  associations  and  indi¬ 
vidual  growers  who  are  able  to  meet  the  requirements 
as  to  quality  and  volume  of  fruit.  Applications  should 
be  made  at  once  to  Thomas  E.  Cross,  Lagrangeville,  N. 
Y.,  State  chairman. 
The  committee  expects  to  secure  additional  space  as 
soon  as  sufficient  funds  have  been  raised  for  the  pur¬ 
pose.  Other  tree  fruits  besides  apples  will  be  admitted 
to  the  New  York  State  exhibit,  also  honey  and  maple 
produets.  Each  of  the  Eastern  States  is  entering  into 
friendly  rivalry  to  see  which  can  produce  the  finest 
display,  but  all  fruit  must  be  in  commercial  packages 
and  be  representative  of  a  substantial  supply  for  mar¬ 
ket.  Exhibitors  at  this  show  will  have  opportunity  to 
meet  buyers  and  take  orders  for  their  crop. 
One  of  the  first  rules  laid  down  by  the  committee  if? 
that  the  face  of  every  barrel  or  other  package  must  be 
exactly  representative  of  the  entire  contents. 
Among  those  which  have  already  made  application 
for  space  in  the  New  York  State  section  of  the  exposi¬ 
tion  are  the  Western  New  York  Fruit  Growers’  Co¬ 
operative  Packing  Assoeiation,  the  Hudson  Valley  Fruit 
Growers’  Co-operative  Association,  the  Hudson  River 
Fruit  Exchange,  the  Chautauqua  and  Erie  Grape  Grow¬ 
ers,  and  a  number  of  large  individual  growers. 
