1172 
Iht  RURAL  NEW-YORKER 
September  15,  1923 
YOU  NEED  COLUMBIAS 
End  all  that  fussing  with  faulty  ignition  by  get¬ 
ting  a  Columbia  Hot  Shot  Battery.  Full  delivery 
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durable  steel  case.  No  mechanical  complications 
to  get  out  of  order,  or  eat  up  money  on  repairs. 
The  largest  laboratory,  devoted  to  dry  cell 
development,  insures  a  uniformly  high  quality 
product  for  tractor  and  gas,  engine  ignition. 
Columbia 
Dry  Batteries 
**  —they  last  longer 
Columbia  Dry  Batteries  for 
every  kind  of  service  are  sold 
at  electrical,  hardware,  and 
auto  accessory  shops,  garages, 
general  stores.  Insist  upon 
Columbia. 
Farm  Profit  Leaks 
may  be  stopped  by  practical 
co-operation.  The  new  book: 
“Organized 
Co-operation” 
by  John  J.  Dillon  tells  how. 
Price,  One  Dollar.  For  sale  by 
RURAL  NEW-YORKER 
333  West  30th  St.,  New  York 
APPLES 
are  at  their  best  in  Vermont,, 
The  famous  flavor  and  keep¬ 
ing  qualities  of  the  Vermont 
fruit,  plus  the  nearness  of 
the  big  eastern  markets  af¬ 
ford  unusual  opportunities. 
Hundreds  of  farms  well  suited  to 
apple  culture  may  be  bad  at  very 
easy  prices  and  terms.  Industrious 
farmers  can  secure  their  future  in  this  at¬ 
tractive  branch  of  agriculture.  Folders, 
bulletins  and  information  on  farms  for  sale, 
free  by  writing 
VERMONT  PUBLICITY  BUREAU 
A.  H.  Grout,  See.  of  State, 
Montpelier,  Vt. 
SDCDNY 
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GASOLINE  and  MOTOR  OIL 
Uniform  Quality 
Best  Results 
STANDARD  OIL  CO.  OF  NEW  YORK  ' 
26  Broadway 
When  you  write  advertisers  mention  The  R.  N.-Y.  and  you'll  get  a 
quick  reply  and  a  square  deal.”  See  guarantee  editorial  page. 
Things  To  Think  About 
Youth  Must  be  Served 
Can  the  Hope  Farm  man  or  some  read¬ 
er  of  The  R.  X.-Y.  tell  me  why  there  is 
such  a  discrimination  against  men  past 
middle  age  in  nearly  all  industries  and 
professions?  I  have  been  rather  force¬ 
fully  reminded  of  this  fact  by  recent  ex¬ 
perience.  Having  educated  my  boys  away 
from  the  farm  and  thus  finding  myself 
without  help,  I  took  a  notion  to  rent  the 
farm  out  and  get  a  job  where  the  pay,  if 
not  large,  would  at  least  be  sure.  Pick¬ 
ing  out  a  help  wanted  advertisement  from 
“Subscribers’  Exchange,”  I  wrote,  giving 
my  qualifications  and  age  (60).  The 
reply  said:  “Work  too  bard  for  a  man  of 
your  years.”  I  had  tried  to  emphasize 
the  fact  of  good  health  and  physicial  fit¬ 
ness. 
In  my  youthful  days  I  put  in  some 
years  as  a  teacher  and  thought  perhaps 
there  might  be  a  chance  to  “come  back,” 
so  I  took  the  examination  with  my  young 
daughter  just  graduating  from  high 
school,  and  despite  a  long  absence  from 
text-books,  ’ologies,  etc.,  made  as  good  an 
average  as  she,  but  the  door  of  the 
winter  the  horses  and  sheep,  and  a  cow. 
This  would  bring  most  of  the  work 
in  the  Fall  instead  of  Spring ;  put  in 
wheat  and  plow  for  the  barley  and  oats. 
The  Spring  work  would  be  to  fit  and 
drill  the  oats  and  barley,  leaving  May 
and  June  for  raising  the  chickens  and 
lambs.  I  could  afford  to  pay  good  wages 
for  July,  August  and  September  help. 
I  would  like  to  hear  from  some  of  your 
readers  who  keep  sheep  and  chickens. 
C.  B. 
R.-N.-Y. — That  is  a  good  subject  for 
discussion  and  we  would  like  to  hear 
from  our  readers  about  it.  What  faults 
can  you  find  in  the  plan? 
The  “Water  Witch”  and  His  Work 
I  have  just  come  in  from  a  field  where 
a  bunch  of  "nuts”  with  a  fork  of  peach 
tree  limb  are  locating  water  veins  for 
well  digging.  They  were  there  against 
A  fair  sample  of  the  concrete  roads  now  so  common  through  the  fruit  growing  section 
of  Western  New  Yoj-k.  They  are  fine  for  the  cars,  but  hard  on  the  few  remaining 
horses.  But  then,  the  horse  seems  to  stay  at  home  these  days. 
little  red  selioolhouse  seems  closed  to 
me.  It  looks  as  though  I  shall  have  to 
“retire  on  the  farm.”  Talk  about  all 
these  modern  schemes  to  prolong  life ! 
What’s  the  use,  if  we  are  going  to  accept 
the  Osier  idea  and  count  all  the  years 
past  40  as  nil?  a.  j.  d. 
Maryland. 
R.  N.-Y. — What  our  friend  says  is  all 
too  true,  and  “more’s  the  pity.”  The 
theory  that  youth  must  have  all  the  ad¬ 
vantage  is  wrong.  It  ignores  the  value  of 
experience,  which  is  really  the  most  use¬ 
ful  asset  in  the  world.  Many  a  man  of 
60  would  prove  invaluable  on  a  farm 
where  younger  men  without  experience 
would  prove  fiat  failures.  As  for  teach¬ 
ing,  we  would,  personally,  much  rather 
have  our  children  study  under  the  direc¬ 
tion  of  a  mature  teacher  than  under  some 
youth  with  all  of  life’s  experience  to 
learn.  Yet  the  world,  for  some  reason, 
will  not  have  it  so.  This  is  supposed  to 
be  an  age  when  brains  prove  superior  to 
muscle  at  farm  work,  yet  the  elderly  man 
of  good  vigor  has  little  chance  in  compe- 
tion  with  headstrong  youth.  It  is  much 
the  same  with  hired  help.  The  strongest 
attachment  to  the  farm  is  found  in  the 
family  tie.  Yet  what  chance  does  the 
man  with  a  family  have?  His  children 
ought  to  be  an  asset  if  we  bplieve  half  we 
say  about  the  future  of  the  nation. 
What’s  wrong  with  the  world’s  labor  phil¬ 
osophy? 
A  Suggested  Farm  Plan 
I  live  on  a  small  place,  60  acres, 
about  35  acres  tillable  land,  25  acres 
rough  sheep  pasture,  and  find  it  too  small 
for  general  farming.  I  am  thinking  of 
buying  a  larger  place,  100  or  125  acres, 
but  do  not  want  to  go  in  for  cows  as  I 
like  hens  and  sheep  better.  Briefly,  my 
plan  was  to  farm  60  acres  of  the  100  or 
125  acres,  using  balance  as  pasture  for 
sheep,  20  acres  of  wheat,  10  acres  of 
barley  and  10  acres  of  oats ;  three  year 
rotation.  Wheat  following  oats  and 
barley,  the  wheat  seeded  to  clover,  cut¬ 
ting  the  clover  but  once.  For  every 
bushel  of  wheat  and  barley  I  could  raise 
I  would  keep  one  lien,  of  course  buying 
what  other  feed  is  necessary.  I  would 
winter  as  many  ewes  as  I  could.  The 
oat  straw  and  hay  would  be  used  to 
my  unbelief;  apparently  in  their  hands 
peach  crotch  when  held  by  the  forks 
vibrated  toward  the  person  holding  it 
and  finally  dropped  to  horizontal  posi¬ 
tion.  The  fact  that  the  attraction  if 
any,  was  toward  the  body  of  person  tells 
me  static  electricity  had  something  to  do 
with  the  illusion.  \\  ater  in  abundance 
exists  hereabouts  if  one  is  to  believe 
the  twig.  I  don’t.  I’m  from  Missouri, 
f.  H-ied  the  trick  on  three  occasions  but 
‘nothin’  doin’  ”  in  my  hands. 
If  there  is  anything  in  this  stuff  I 
am  yet  to  learn  the  science  of  it.  The 
scientific  explanation — my  own  opinion — 
is  personal  magnetism  with  some  metallic 
substance  over  whieh  the  person  stands. 
I  hen  comes  this:  j\\  hy  does  the  twig  turn 
and  why  a  peach  twig  exclusively? 
Monticello,  N.  Y.  B.  a.  m. 
It  is  very  doubtful  if  we  can  enlighten 
you  on  this  much-discussed  subject. 
Every  time  the  matter  is  referred  to  in 
print  we'  receive  a  great  volume  of  words 
about  it.  We  now  have  on  hand  nearly 
100  letters  or  articles  bearing  on  the 
subject.  About  two-thirds  of  them  offer 
proof  to  show  that  the  writers  can  find 
water  with  the  forked  stick,  or  have 
seen  it  found.  Most  of  the  others  de¬ 
clare  that  the  whole  thing  is  a  humbug. 
A  few  try  to  explain  why  the  stick  wTill 
turn  when  the  man  who  handles  it  walks 
over  an  underground  stream,  but  they 
all  seem  to  be  speculations — no  one  seems 
to  make  it  clear.  The  Department  of 
Agriculture  at  Washington  has  issued  an 
interesting  pamphlet  on  this  matter  of 
“water  witching.”  Experts  trace  the 
practice  from  early  times  and  conclude 
that  there  is  no  scientific  explanation  as 
basis  for  it — though  they  freely  admit 
that  certain  people,  carrying  the  forked 
stick,  have  a  remarkable  and  mysterious 
way  of  locating  water.  Personally,  we 
know  of  cases  where  good  water  sup¬ 
plies  have  been  located  by  these  wate 
witches,  and  we  should  not  hesitate  to 
employ  one.  if  we  were  in  doubt  regard¬ 
ing  a  good  location  for  a  well.  We  can¬ 
not  explain  how  they  do  it,  or  any  scien¬ 
tific  principle  back  of  the  operation,  but 
we  consider  it  beyond  question  that  some 
of  these  people  can  locate  water  in  this 
way.  There  may  be  fakes  and  frauds 
among  them,  but  while  unable  to  explain 
it  we  believe  it  is  possible.  This  may 
seem  like  a  strange  reply,  but  we  answer 
your  question  as  best  we  know. 
