1288 
The  RURAL  NEW-YORKER 
October  It!,  1923 
"Yes.  Particularly  when  you  consider  how 
he’s  handicapped  with  that  piano.  It’s  pretty 
awful,  isn’t  it?” 
Does  your  piano  sometimes 
cause  you  embarrassment? 
A  GATHERING  of  friends  in  the  evening.  One  of 
them,  a  splendid  pianist,  plays,  but  even  his  mastery 
cannot  hide  the  pitiful  defects  of  a  faulty  piano.  What 
a  situation  for  the  hostess.  The  others  were  politely  at¬ 
tentive.  When  he  finished  they  applauded.  But,  oh,  what 
they  must  have  thought.  Why  didn’t  she  have  a  good  piano ! 
What  a  difference  it  would  have  made  had  her  piano 
i  been  a  Weaver.  How  she  could  have  smiled  with  assurance 
and  really  enjoyed  his  playing  it.  And  more,  what  pleasure 
she  would  have  derived  from  her  guests’  obvious  enjoyment; 
what  pride  from  the  player’s  spontaneous  expression  of 
enthusiasm  for  its  beautiful  tone  and  perfect  action. 
The  Weaver  is  a  good  piano,  an  exceptional  piano.  It 
meets  the  most  exacting  requirements  of  the  studio  or  the 
home.  And  the  quality  of  tone  and  mechanical  excellence 
endure  through  years  of  continuous  use,  a  source  of  en¬ 
joyment  and  pride  in  the  possession  of  a  Weaver. 
Your  home  should  have  a  good  piano.  Write  for  the 
interesting  Weaver  catalog,  describing  how  the  Weaver 
Piano  is  built,  and  why  it  gives  years  of  genuine  satisfac¬ 
tion.  Convenient  terms  are  easily  arranged,  and  a  liberal 
allowance  will  be  made  on  your  former  piano. 
WEAVER  PIANO  COMPANY,  Inc. 
Factory  and  General  Offices:  York,  Pa. 
Weaver,  York  and  Livingston  Pianos  and  Player  Pianos 
WEAVER 
PIANOS 
Skinner  Apple  and  Peach  Sizer 
Does  Work  of  Five  Machines,  compact,  convenient 
and  less  expensive  to  install  and  operate. 
Combines  self-feeding  hopper,  roller  grading  belt, 
cull  belt,  sizer,  distributing  system.  Dependable, 
thorough,  widely  used  by  experienced  packers. 
Built  by  World’s  largest  manu¬ 
facturers  of  packing  house 
machinery.  Write  for  detailed 
information. 
SKINNER  MACHINERY  CO.  Eighth  St, 
DUNEDIN,  FLORIDA 
When  you  zvrite  advertisers  mention  The  R.  N.-Y.  and  you’ll  get  a 
quick  reply  and  a  “square  deal.”  See  guarantee  editorial  page. 
Across  the  Country  With  an  Apple  Car 
Part  III 
Evening,  December  25. — This  has  been 
the  queerest  Christmas  I  ever  spent.  It 
began  at  about  12:30  this  morning,  when 
we  arrived  at  Clyde,  a  little  division  yard 
in  the  suburbs  of  Chicago.  I  did  not 
hear  any  herald  angels  singing.  I  guess 
the  noise  of  the  trains  drowned  them  out. 
The  yardmaster  said  we  would  probably 
go  out  between  7  and  8  o’clock,  so  I 
stretched  out  on  a  bench  with  my  mack¬ 
inaw  for  a  pillow  and  went  to  sleep. 
When  I  woke  up  and  went  out  I  found  a 
bunch  of  greenhorns  doing  the  yard 
work,  switching,  etc.  They  left  my  car 
and  one  or  two  others  out  of  the  train 
in  which  they  should  have  been,  and  re¬ 
fused  to  take  the  trouble  to  put  them  in 
afterwards,  so  I  had  to  wait  for  the  after¬ 
noon  train.-  Merry  Christmas,  indeed  i 
When  we  did  start  I  had  a  fine  conduc¬ 
tor.  He  took  me  up  into  the  cupola  with 
him.  and  he  told  me  all  about  the  plants 
we  were  passing.  When  I  left  him  he 
wished  me  a  faster  journey  the  rest  of  the 
way,  and  hoped  I  would  find  my  father 
and  all  the  folks  well  when  I  got  home. 
December  26,  evening  again. — I  got  to 
Hammond  at  10:30  last  night,  and 
thought  I  was  going  right  on.  for  an¬ 
other  conductor  who  had  been  out  West 
took  an  interest  in  me.  The  train  was 
ready  to  pull  out  in  a  few  minutes.  I 
got  them  to  put  my  car  on.  and  I  went 
right  to  the  caboose,  thinking  how  for¬ 
tunate  I  was.  I  lay  down  and  was  near¬ 
ly  asleep  when  I  heard  someone  say, 
“Are  you  the  man  with  car  253176?” 
When  I  answered,  he  said,  “She  is  in  bad 
order  and  has  to  be  repaired.”  This 
meant  10  hours  or  more  in  Hammond, 
instead  of  an  immediate  start.  I  ought 
to  be  used  to  it  by  this  time,  hut  this 
really  seemed  to  he  too  much  !  At  about 
midnight  I  started  out  to  find  a  lodging 
Almost  everyone  I  met  seemed  to  he 
afraid  of  me,  and  1  was  afraid  of  the 
ones  who  were  too  tough  to  be  afraid  of 
me.  I  hit  the  dark  residence  section, 
where  there  were  no  restaurants  or  room¬ 
ing  houses,  so  I  walked  the  other  way, 
recrossed  the  tracks  and  after  a  half  mile 
or  so  came  to  the  business  part  of  the 
town.  I  was  so  dirty  and  rough-looking 
that  I  feared  a  good  hotel  would  turn  me 
down.  As  I  did  not  want  to  go  to  a 
poor  one.  I  kept  on  w-alking.  I  spent  the 
last  hour  or  so  of  darkness  sitting  on  a 
couple  of  two  by  fours  between  a  garage 
and  a  board  fence,  not  far  from  the 
freight  yard.  When  daylight  came  I 
found  a  place  to  get  breakfast  and  buy 
some  food,  which  I  stowed  in  my  car. 
The  yardmaster  said  we  would  get  off  in 
the  afternoon,  so  I  went  to  sleep.  We 
are  now  on  the  end  and  making  much 
better  time.  On  the  Great  Northern  the 
train  was  composed  almost  entirely  of 
loads  of  fruit,  hut  now  it  is  largely  loads 
of  chickens.  There  is  a  coach  for  the 
chicken  men.  and  I  think  for  the  sake  of 
variety  I  will  try  riding  in  that  for  a 
while. 
December  27. — One  night  in  the  chick¬ 
en  coach  is  enough.  Each  chicken  man 
brought  into  the  coach  his  roll  of  bed¬ 
ding  and  a  supply  of  candles,  by  light  of 
which  they  played  poker  and  shot  craps 
almost  all  night.  They  are  not  at  all 
popular  with  the  train  crews.  This  after¬ 
noon.  on  entering  a  caboose  on  a  new 
division,  the  crew,  thinking  me  a  chicken 
man,  nearly  froze  me  out,  but  when  they 
learned  their  mistake  they  were  as  nice 
as  possible. 
December  2S. — On  the  train  pulling 
out  of  Jersey  City.  I  am  almost  home  at 
last.  We  have  lost  very  little  time  these 
last  two  days;  indeed,  the  stops  have 
sometimes  been  so  short  that  I  had  no 
time  for  food ;  hut  I  did  not  mind  that 
when  we  were  cutting  off  the  miles. 
When  we  arrived  at  the  Jersey  meadows 
early  this  morning  the  caboose  was  left 
off,  and  the  conductor  told  me  the  chicken 
coach  would  go  right  on  with  the  apples, 
so  I  piled  in  there  for  the  final  ride.  We 
had  barely  started  when  one  of  the  chick¬ 
en  men  told  me  that  the  train  was  en¬ 
tirely  chickens  now,  not  an  apple  on  if. 
Not  the  first  time  I  had  been  directed 
wrongly  by  people  whose  business  it  was 
to  know  what  they  were  talking  about. 
Fortunately  for  me,  the  train  slowed 
down  and  I  jumped  off  and  beat  it  back 
nearly  a  mile  to  the  yard  office,  located 
my  car,  and  learned  that  it  will  be  held 
there  today  for  government  inspection, 
and  may  not  go  into  New  York  until  to¬ 
morrow.  As  the  weather  is  so  mild  it  is 
not  necessary  for  me  to  stay  any  longer 
with  car  No.  253176.  I  got  them  to  seal 
her.  said  goodby  and  left.  There  were  no 
tears  shed  at  the  parting.  I  ought  to.  he 
home  now  in  less  than  two  hours,  in  time 
for  New  Year’s  Day,  anyhow. 
iln  thinking  back  over  these  three 
weeks  it  seems  to  me  that  conditions  on 
the  railroads  have  been  worse  than  a 
strike,  for  many  of  the  employes  wanted 
things  to  go  wrong  so  that  they  could 
blame  it  on  the  non-union  labor  in  the 
shops.  Hardly  any  of  them  cared  at  all 
for  their  employers’  interests  or  for  the 
welfare  of  the  public.  I  have  a  suspicion 
that  the  railroad  companies.  too.  think 
too  much  of  the  dollar  and  too  little  of 
the  men  and  the  public.  I  would  cer¬ 
tainly  have  been  saved  many  of  the  tire¬ 
some  delays  if  e  iplo.ves  of  the  railroad 
had  had  more  interest  in  getting  freight 
through.  Well,  it  is  over,  anyhow,  the 
apples  are  safely  there,  and  so  are  the  be¬ 
lated  Christmas' turkeys,  and  I  am  almost 
home.  Never  again  do  I  expect  to  come 
by  freight. 
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Name . 
Address . 
Occupation . 
Employed  by . . 
Reference . r.  n.  y.  Oct.  is.  ’28 
% 
Sale  of  State 
Ditching  Machines 
Notice  is  hereby  given  that  I,  Berne  A. 
Pyrke,  Commissioner  of  Farms  and  Markets, 
by  virtue  of  the  power  and  authority  con¬ 
ferred  on  me  as  such  by  provision  contained 
in  Chapter  No.  729,  Laws  of  1923,  will  sell 
to  the  highest  bidder .  the  following  farm 
machinery,  now  the  property  of  the  State 
of  New  York;  to  wit; 
One  Ruckeye  Tractor  Power  Ditching  Ma¬ 
chine  No.  1820  now  located  at  Williamson, 
Wayne  County,  N.  Y.,  which  machine  can 
be  seen  in  operation  at  that  place  October 
15  and  16,  1923;  one  Buckeye  Tractor 
Power  Ditching  Machine  No.  1825  now  lo¬ 
cated  at  Savannah,  Wayne  County,  N.  Y., 
which  machine  can  be  seen  in  operation  at 
that  place  October  24  and  25,  1923;  one 
Buckeye  Tractor  Power  Ditching  Machine 
No.  1827  now  located  at  Dundee,  Yates 
County,  N.  Y. ,  which  can  he  seen  in  opera¬ 
tion  at  that  place  on  October  30  and  31, 
1923;  and  one  Buckeye  Tractor  Power 
Ditching  Machine  No.  1834  now  located  at 
Castile,  Wyoming  County,  N.  Y.,  tvhieli  can 
be  seen  in  operation  at  that  place  Novem¬ 
ber  5  and  6,  1923. 
These  machines  have  been,  thoroughly 
overhauled.  They  are  and  each  of  them  is 
equipped  witli  No.  3  Motor,  automatic, 
heavy  duty,  gasoline,  four-cylinder  engine; 
dirt  chute  and  dirt  conveyor  for  extra  deep 
cuts;  armored  cleaner  shoe  to  prevent  dirt 
rattling  into  trench  while  machine  is  in 
operation.  These  machines  are  built  to  cut 
trench  15  inches  to  20  inches  in  width,  and 
up  to  5%  feet  in  depth,  to  a  perfect  grade, 
in  one  operation,  at  the  rate  of  1%  to  10 
feet  per  minute. 
Sealed  bids  for  one  or  more  of1  the  above 
named  machines  will  be  received  by  the  Com¬ 
missioner  of  Farms  and  Markets  at  the  of¬ 
fice  of  the  State  Department  of  Farms  and 
Markets,  City  of  Albany,  County  of  Al¬ 
bany,  State  of  New  York,  on  each  separate 
machine,  up  to  and  within  five  days  from 
the  last  demonstration  date  as  set  forth 
for  each  machine. 
For  further  information  regarding  ma¬ 
chines  or  the  demonstration  or  sale  thereof, 
address  the  Commissioner  of  Farms  and 
Markets,  Department  of  Farms  and  Mark¬ 
ets,  Albany,  N.  Y. 
BERNE  A.  PYRKE, 
Commissioner  of  Farms  and  Markets. 
Dated  at  Albany,  N.  Y.  this  1st  day  of 
October,  1923. 
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 
