The  RURAL  NEW-YORKER 
1269 
Dairying  in  “The  Southern  Tier” 
Tioga  County,  New  York,  represents 
very  fairly  the  agriculture  of  the  south¬ 
ern  tier  of  counties  of  the  Empire  State, 
having  no  outstanding  natural  advant¬ 
ages  or  conditions  which  lead  to  any 
system  of  single  cropping,  but,  rather,  a 
variety  of  soils,  types  of  farms  and  mar¬ 
keting  facilities  that  enable  one  to  en¬ 
gage  in  the  kind  of  farming  that  suits 
him  best.  In  the  northern,  and,  in  fact, 
throughout  the  greater  part  of  the  coun¬ 
ty,  typical  hill  farms  predominate. 
Streams  are  small  and  the  valleys  along 
them  comparatively  narrow.  The  beau¬ 
tiful  Susquehanna,  here  not  far  from  its 
source,  flows  through  the  southern  part, 
however,  and  the  meadows  on  either  side 
stretch  far  before  touching  the  hills. 
Along  this  stream,  the  alluvial  soil  lends 
itself  to  even  such  highly  specialized 
crops  as  tobacco,  but,  taken  as  a  whole, 
Tioga  County  may  be  classed  as  belong- 
work  of  the  husking.  Given  a  fair 
chance,  the  clovers  grow  rank  and  add 
their  protein  to  the  ration,  but  they  can’t 
add  enough  and  Western  grain  products 
that  must  be  purchased  to  maintain 
milk  flow,  here,  as  elsewhere,  absorb  al¬ 
together  too  much  of  the  dairyman’s  in¬ 
come. 
If  only  the  monthly  feed  bill  could  be 
got  rid  of.  the  milk  check  would  repre¬ 
sent  something  like  affluence,  for  the 
check  itself  runs  into  very  comfortable 
figures  where  a  herd  of  from  20  to  40 
cows  is  kept.  After  the  feed  dealer  has 
taken  what  belongs  to  him  out  of  the 
check,  however,  the  dairyman  usually 
smiles  grimly  and  reflects  that,  after  all, 
there  is  probably  nothing  else  that  he 
could  produce  that  would  net  him  any 
more  than  milk  does,  and  certainly 
there  is  no  substitute  for  the  cow  :n 
maintaining  the  fertility  of  the  farm. 
This  is  Master  Paul  A.  Wilson  of  Tioga  Co.,  N.  Y.,  and  his  Jersey  calf.  People 
are  discussing  the  future  of  New  York  dairying  but  let  us  not  forget  the  future  dairy¬ 
men.  Paul  Wilson  is  one  of  them  and  there  are  thousands  of  others  growing  up  on 
our  farms. 
ing  to  one  of  the  strictly  dairying  sec¬ 
tions  of  the  State.  Farming  is  the  chief 
industry  and  milk  is,  far  and  away,  the 
chief  product  of  the  farms.  There  are 
no  cities  in  the  county  and  but  two  vil¬ 
lages  approximate  5,000  in  population. 
Though  having  no  large  towns  of  its 
own,  this  section  is  but  200  miles  from 
New  York  City,  with  which  it  is  con¬ 
nected  by  three  of  the  great  railroad  sys¬ 
tems  of  the  State.  Several  manufactur¬ 
ing  centers  of  importance,  as,  for  in¬ 
stance,  the  famous  shoe  making  towns  of 
Johnson  City,  Endicott  and  Binghamton, 
are  within  20  miles  and  furnish  a  local 
market  of  considerable  value.  As  might 
be  expected  under  these  conditions,  New 
York  City  is  the  great  market  toward 
which  the  county  turns  with  its  chief 
products.  Not  to  neglect  mention  of 
other  ones  than  milk,  it  must  be  said  that 
many  carloads  of  potatoes,  tons  of  hay, 
cases  of  eggs,  hundredweights  of  buck¬ 
wheat  and  barrels  of  buckwheat  flour  an¬ 
nually  leave  its  shipping  stations. 
But  the  cow  is  queen  on  Tioga  County 
farms,  and  the  milk  check  pays  the  most 
of  the  farmer’s  bills.  If  a  few  acres  of 
other  cash  crops  can  be  raised  while 
caring  for  the  dairy,  well  and  good,  but, 
after  all,  they  are  incidentals.  The  dairy 
herd  makes  use  of  the  rough  pasture 
land,  which,  otherwise,  would  go  un¬ 
cropped,  and  furnishes  a  home  market 
for  corn  and  hay,  both  of  which  may  be 
depended  upon  to  furnish  annual  crops, 
and,  in  the  case  of  corn  at  least,  with  a 
certainty  that  is  denied  great  dairy  sec¬ 
tions  further  north.  Timothy  and  the 
clovers  make  up  the  mixed  hay  of  the 
meadows.  Alfalfa  has  been  pretty  thor¬ 
oughly  tried,  but  it  is  out  of  its  natural 
home  here  and  is  rather  the  pampered 
pet  of  the  occasional  farmer  than  any 
dairyman’s  standby.  Corn  is  king  on  the 
dairy  farm ;  it  is  corn  that  makes  the 
silo  practicable  and  it  is  the  silo  that 
makes  dairying  profitable,  or  even  pos¬ 
sible.  Valuable  as  the  grain  is,  but  little 
corn  finds  its  way  into  the  crib  ;  the  ear 
goes  with  the(  stalk  and  the  curved 
knives  of  the  ensilage  cutter  make  short 
Cows  must  be  kept  in  order  that  cows 
may  be  kept,  and  it  is  from  the  circle 
from  manger  back  to  manger  that  the 
dairyman  hopes  to  snatch  enough  for 
his  own  support. 
Black  and  white  cows  predominate,  in 
fact  it  is  only  occasionally  that  a  herd 
of  any  other  color  is  seen.  While  by  no 
means  all  dairymen  use  purebred  sires, 
the  Holstein  blood  is  stamped  indelibly 
upon  the  dairy  landscape  and  the  section 
is  known  to  those  cattle  buyers  from  the 
vicinity  of  New  York  who  draw  a  con¬ 
stant  stream  of  surplus  cattle  from  the 
county’s  hills  as  a  source  of  black  and 
whites  for  their  near-city  markets.  The 
accredited  herd  plan  has  been  instituted 
in  the  county  and  is  making  good  head¬ 
way,  though  some  of  those  entering  it 
have  seen  their  herds  wiped  out  by  the 
tests  and  have  either  gone  out  of  the 
business  or  grimly  at  work  building  up 
another  and  disease  free  dairy. 
Dairymen  of  Tioga  County  are  well- 
organized.  The  county  was  active  in  in¬ 
stituting  the  Dairymen’s  League  early  iu 
the  history  of  that  organization  and  has 
maintained  its  position  as  one  of  the 
strong  centers  of  co-operative  effort.  Un¬ 
fortunately,  the  pooling  plan  brought 
about  dissension,  here  as  elsewhere,  and 
non-pooling  shipping  stations  have  been 
established.  Their  patrons  are  in  the 
minority,  however,  and.  while  at  first 
seeming  to  have  some  little  advantage  in 
the  matter  of  prices,  now  appear  to  have 
little  to  say  about  their  net  income  after 
their  increased  expenses  have  been  met. 
The  Borden’s  plants  receive  a  large  part 
of  the  milk  of  the  section,  and  these,  of 
course,  deal  with  the  League.  Four  sta¬ 
tions  conducted  by  the  Borden’s  that 
have  heretofore  shipped  Grade  B  milk 
have  announced  their  intention  to  turn 
to  Grade  A  and  to  pay  their  patrons  40 
cents  per  hundredweight  more  for  milk 
of  that-  grade.  Additional  requirements 
in  the  production  of  that  grade  are  not 
onerous,  the  cooling  of  milk  to  50  de¬ 
grees,  instead  of  00,  and  delivery  before 
eight  in  the  morning,  instead  of  nine,  be- 
( Continued  on  Page  1271) 
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Both  uses  are  equally  logical.  Cow  Diseases  — 
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Organized  Co-operation 
A  NEW  BOOK 
By  JOHN  J.  DILLON 
This  book  is  written  in  three 
parts. 
PART  ONE. — The  Develop¬ 
ment  of  the  Agricultural  Indus¬ 
try.  In  five  chapters. 
PART  TWO.  —  Fundamental 
Principles  and  Adaptable  Forms 
of  Co-operative  Organization.  In 
ten  chapters. 
PART  THREE.  —  Application 
of  Co-operation  to  Efficient  and 
Economic  Distribution  of  Farm 
Products.  In  seven  chapters. 
This  is  a  new  treatment  of  the 
co-operative  subject.  Heretofore 
writers  of  books  have  contented 
themselves  with  accounts  of  co¬ 
operative  work  where  established. 
It  has  been  mostly  propaganda 
and  exhortation.  This  was  all 
good  in  its  time.  But  we  have 
grown  beyond  it.  Farmers  are 
now  committed  to  co-operation. 
Once  shy  of  it,  they  are  at  last  a 
unit  for  it.  What  they  want  now 
is  principles  and  definite  policies 
that  have  pn  ved  successful.  This 
book  is  the  first  real  attempt  to 
supply  this  want.  Other,  and  it 
is  to  be  hoped  better,  books  will 
follow  on  this  line;  but  for  the 
present  there  is  no  other  book 
seriously  treating  the  subject  of 
organized  co-operation. 
Bound  in  Cloth  Price  $1.00 
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