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The  RURAL  NEW-YORKER 
November  24,  1923 
The  Rural  New-Yorker 
THE  BUSINESS  FARMER'S  PAPER 
A  National  Weekly  Journal  for  Country  and  Suburban  Home* 
Established  i 850 
Published  n«kly  by  the  Rural  Publishing  Company,  883  West  SOtb  Street,  New  York 
Herbert  W.  Collingwood,  President  and  Editor. 
John  J.  Dillon,  Treasurer  and  General  Manager. 
Wn  F.  Dillon,  Secretary.  Mrs.  E.  T.  Royle,  Associate  Editor. 
L.  H.  Murphy,  Circulation  Manager. 
SUBSCRIPTION  :  ONE  DOLLAR  A  YEAR 
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order,  express  order,  personal  check  or  bank  draft. 
Entered  at  New  York  Post  Office  as  Second  Class  Matter. 
Advertising  rates,  81.00  per  agate  line — 7  words.  References  required  for 
advertisers  unknown  to  us  ;  and  cash  must  accompany  transient  orders. 
“  A  SQUARE  DEAL” 
We  believe  that  every  advertisement  in  this  paper  is  backed  by  a  respon¬ 
sible  poison.  We  use  every  possible  precaution  and  admit  the  advertising  of 
reliable  houses  only.  But  to  make  doubly  sure,  we  will  make  good  any  loss 
to  paid  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 
the  transaction,  and  to  identify  it,  you  should  mention  The  Rural  New- 
Yorker  when  writing  the  advertiser. 
My  husband  owns  property  valued  at  about  $1,500, 
in  his  own  name,  and  money  in  the  bank.  We  have  no 
children.  In  case  of  his  death,  could  I,  his  wife,  hold 
the  property  and  money,  or  would  the  State  get  a  part 
of  it? 
QUESTIONS  like  the  above  come  to  us  by  the 
dozen — many  of  them  are  unsigned.  They  are 
chiefly  from  women  who  are  puzzled  or  worried  aud 
do  not  know  where  to  go  for  advice.  In  case  there  is 
no  will,  and  the  property  is  held  in  the  husband’s 
name  entirely,  on  his  death  the  wife  would  have  her 
dower  rights  only — usually  one-third  of  the  property. 
The  balance  would  not  go  to  the  State,  but  to  the 
husband's  next  of  kin.  The  husband  cannot  deprive 
his  wife  of  her  dower  rights,  but  he  can  will  the 
balance  of  his  property.  The  wife  can  will  all  the 
property  which  stands  in  her  own  name  as  she  sees 
fit.  The  best  and  safest  plan  in  a  case  of  this  sort  is 
to  hold  the  property  on  a  joint  deed — with  both 
names  on  it  as  owners.  Do  not  try  to  make  out  such 
a  deed  yourself.  Get  some  good  lawyer  to  do  it  for 
you.  Pay  a  fair  price  for  peace  of  mind. 
* 
Could  you  furnish  me  any  statistics  about  how  many 
hunting  accidents  occur  in  New  York  State  in  a  year, 
and  also  bow  much  damage  is  done  by  careless  hunters? 
M. 
HE  State  Conservation  Commission  keeps  a  rec¬ 
ord  of  such  accidents.  Last  year,  between  Oc¬ 
tober  15  and  November  15,  there  were  56  accidents 
— 16  of  them  being  fatal.  This  year,  from  October 
15  to  November  9,  there  were  64  accidents,  with  15 
fatalities.  Of  the  accidents  in  1922,  25  resulted  from 
accidental  discharge  of  guns,  mostly  from  careless¬ 
ness.  Twenty-two  hunters  were  shot  by  companious, 
mostly  in  cases  where  men  were  mistaken  for  deer. 
As  for  damage  done  to  property,  we  can  find  no  esti¬ 
mate,  and  no  one  seems  inclined  to  guess.  The  Con¬ 
servation  Commissioner  thinks  there  is  less  of  such 
damage  than  formerly.  In  our  own  case  the  greatest 
damage  has  come  from  setting  the  woods  on  fire, 
but  we  think  hunters  are,  as  a  rule,  more  careful 
than  formerly. 
* 
WHEN  you  undertake  to  compare  the  problems 
of  today  with  those  of  other  years,  you  must 
remember  that  the  world  is  much  more  complicated 
than  it  was  20  years  ago.  At  that  time  most  people 
were  fighting,  if  at  all,  over  surface  problems,  such 
as  the  tariff.  The  Great  War  stirred  things  up  so 
that  great  questions  which  slumbered  quietly  20 
years  ago  are  now  at  the  surface.  They  have  come 
upon  us  so  suddenly  and  with  such  power  that  the 
effect  is  bewildering.  Most  of  us  in  the  past  have 
been  willing  to  let  our  political  party  settle  the  big 
questions.  Now  we  find  ourselves  face  to  face  with 
questions  so  large  that  no  party  can  settle  them. 
They  require  the  full  strength  of  the  people,  and  the 
only  way  to  make  that  power  felt  is  to  begin  with 
our  own  personal  job  and  do  it  ourselves. 
5k 
IF  all  men  were  as  wise  as  Wm.  Van  Horn,  whose 
story  is  told  on  page  1461,  the  wandering  fakers 
who  fatten  on  human  credulity  would  soon  starve  or 
work  out  as  hired  meu.  We  assume  that  those  “eye 
doctors”  were  about  as  slick  as  any  of  the  crowd  that 
goes  along  the  road,  and  their  methods,  as  described 
by  Mr.  Van  Horn,  represent  a  “high  type  of  the  art.” 
What  this  famous  operator  probably  did  was  to  put 
a  small  piece  of  tissue  paper  in  the  eye  and  then 
scrape  it  out — as  a  piece  of  “diseased  tissue.”  It 
was  diseased!  His  famous  “radium”  solution  was 
no  doubt  a  solution  of  borax.  Where  Mr.  Van  Horn 
showed  wisdom  was  in  stopping  payment  on  that 
check.  Had  he  paid  cash  or  Liberty  bonds,  these 
fellows  would  have  made  off  with  their  plunder,  aud 
it  would  have  been  almost  impossible  to  run  them 
down.  We  can  all  learn  from  Mr.  Van  Horn’s  ex¬ 
perience.  Another  thing :  If  you  are  obliged  to  wear 
glasses  in  order  to  read  type  clearly,  never  sign  your 
name  “on  the  dotted  line,”  or  anywhere  else,  when 
the  glasses  are  not  on  your  nose.  It  is  a  hollow  old 
trick  to  get  a  man  to  sign  a  document  when  he  hap¬ 
pens  to  be  without  his  glasses.  Never  fail  for  it! 
5k 
ONE  outcome  of  prohibition  is  the  immense  in¬ 
crease  of  attendance  at  all  public  sports,  like 
football,  baseball,  boxing  and  other  athletic  enter¬ 
tainments.  It  is  no  uncommon  thing  for  60,000  or 
more  to  pay  admission  to  such  shows.  The  attend¬ 
ance  is  limited  to  the  capacity  of  hall  or  park.  It 
seems  to  be  admitted  that  under  prohibition,  in  spite 
of  all  the  bootlegging,  most  working  people  have 
more  money  to  spend  or  save.  It  seems,  too,  that 
these  fierce  contests  of  strength  and  skill  have  a 
certain  psychological  effect  in  giving  vent  to  animal 
spirits  and  excess  of  energy.  To  be  plain  about  it, 
some  men  are  apparently  as  satisfied  with  the  intoxi¬ 
cation  of  excitement  as  they  would  be  with  liquor! 
The  other  day  more  than  50,000  wild-eyed  enthu¬ 
siasts  saw  the  football  teams  of  Harvard  and 
Princeton  fight  their  annual  battle.  Among  other 
things  it  developed  a  new  idea  which  may  have 
some  little  effect  upon  farming.  The  Harvard  men 
appeared  with  red  feathers  in  their  hats.  These 
apeared  to  be  wing  feathers  of  Leghorn  hens,  dipped 
in  a  crimson  dye!  If  this  idea  can  be  fully  devel¬ 
oped  it  means  a  new  side  line  to  the  poultry  business. 
If  every  patron  of  these  “sports”  will  “put  a  feather 
in  his  cap”  and  let  American  hens  provide  the  feath¬ 
ers,  we  shall  need  more  birds  to  satisfy  the  demand. 
And  why  not?  Let  the  good  work  go  on!  The  mil¬ 
liners  are  yet  to  be  heard  from.  The  American 
poultry  yard  can  supply  all  the  feather  ornaments 
they  need. 
5k 
URING  the  past  few  months  a  number  of  dis¬ 
tinguished  ladies  and  gentlemen  have  crossed 
the  Atlantic  to  visit  America,  and  then  go  home  to 
make  fun  of  Americans.  Most  of  these  people  are 
after  the  good  American  dollai*,  and  they  usually 
fill  their  pockets  before  they  leave.  The  majority  of 
them  are  regarded  as  curiosities.  They  have  no  par¬ 
ticular  or  lasting  message;  our  people  pay  to  see  or 
hear  them,  about  as  they  would  to  witness  some 
freak  or  monstrosity.  Some  of  these  folks  seem  to 
take  themselves  seriously,  and  they  proceed  to  lec¬ 
ture  us  on  our  manners  and  national  habits.  We 
often  wonder  if  they  really  think  anyone  cares  for 
their  biting  criticisms,  given  in  poor  taste,  to  say 
the  least,  when  we  consider  that  most  of  these 
critics  come  here  plainly  and  openly  after  our  dol¬ 
lars.  There  may  be  a  small  class  of  people  who  take 
these  things  seriously,  but  the  great  majority  of 
Americans  smile  good-naturedly  and  go  on  about 
their  daily  business.  The  world  seems  very  ready  to 
admit  that  Europe  is  in  desperate  need  of  the  power 
and  money  and  national  character  of  America,  and 
if  that  is  so  those  who  call  for  our  help  will  have  to 
take  our  manners  just  as  they  are. 
>k 
E  have  had  many  questions  from  people  who 
ask  if  it  is  necessary  for  a  farm  lease  to  be 
filed  with  the  town  clerk,  or  the  country  clerk.  Gen¬ 
erally  speaking,  as  between  the  two  parties  involved 
it  is  not  necessary  for  the  lease  to  be  publicly  re¬ 
corded,  although  as  a  matter  of  precaution  it  may 
be  better  to  do  so.  In  some  eases  the  farm  lease 
gives  the  landlord  a  lien  on  the  crops  raised  until 
all  indebtedness  is  paid  for.  In  other  cases,  the 
lease  gives  the  landlord  a  certain  share  of  the  hay,  or 
specifies  certain  live  stock  given  as  security.  '  In 
that  case  it  would  be  necessary  to  have  the  lease 
filed  in  the  town  clerk’s  office  of  the  town  where  the 
property  is  situated.  By  doing  this  the  lease  is  given 
the  effect  of  a  chattel  mortgage,  which,  of  course, 
would  have  first  call  on  personal  property.  In  one 
case,  at  least,  a  lease  of  this  kind  was  given,  and 
not  recorded.  Then,  later,  the  tenant  gave  a  chattel 
mortgage  on  some  of  the  property  which  was  really 
covered  by  the  lease.  As  the  chattel  mortgage  was 
recorded  first,  it  had  the  advantage  ahead  of  the 
lease  in  covering  the  property. 
5k 
NE  of  the  hardest  things  we  have  to  do  is  to 
try  to  figure  the  rental  value  of  farms.  Peo¬ 
ple  have  a  farm  or  a  piece  of  land  to  rent  on  a 
cash  share  basis,  and  they  apply  to  us  to  settle  any 
difference  in  rent  values.  Of  course  we  are  not 
qualified  to  decide  such  a  point  where  we  have 
never  seen  the  land  and  know  nothing  of  its  pro¬ 
ductive  power  or  location.  There  may  be  two  farms 
side  by  side.  One  has  been  kept  clean  and  in  good 
tilth — the  other  may  be  full  of  weeds  or  starved 
of  organic  matter  or  available  fertility.  Or  one 
may  be  good  loam  soil  while  the  other  lies  on  a 
streak  of  sand.  Of  course  in  such  cases  one  farm 
is  worth  more  than  the  other.  Again  one  farm  may 
be  right  on  a  State  road  with  firm  hard  highway,! 
i 
while  the  other  is  a  mile  back  on  a  soft  road.  There 
could  not  fairly  be  the  same  rental  value  for  both 
farms.  The  tenant  invests  his  capital  and  labor  in 
the  place  and  in  order  to  live  must  get  the  land  for 
a  rental  value  which  will  give  him  a  fair  income. 
The  owner  is  entitled  to  fair  interest  on  his  in¬ 
vestment.  We  think  the  fairest  plan  is  to  make  a 
reasonable  estimate  of  the  true  value  of  the  prop¬ 
erty  and  put  the  rent  at  8  or  10  per  cent  of  it.  That 
ought  to  enable  the  owner  to  pay  taxes  and  get  a 
fair  income.  In  most  cases  we  find  that  land- 
owners  demand  more  than  this. 
>k 
AS  the  recent  fruit  show  enough  of  a  success 
to  warrant  a  strong  effort  to  make  it  an  an¬ 
nual  event?  That  is  the  question  now  puzzling  the 
promoters.  We  think  it  was,  decidedly.  There 
never  was  a  finer  display  of  beautiful  and  high- 
flavored  apples.  The  attendance  was  not  as  large  as 
it  should  have  been,  but  that  was  said  of  the  first 
performance  of  every  great  exhibition  now  held  in 
this  city.  The  chemical  show,  the  electrical  exhibi¬ 
tion  and  many  others  were  small,  poorly  attended 
affairs  at  the  beginning;  now  they  are  mammoth 
affairs — part  of  the  regular  life  of  the  great  city. 
That  will  be  tme  of  the  fruit  show  if  it  can  be 
kept  up  from  year  to  year.  It  will  grow,  and  in 
time  become  a  recognized  feature  of  the  advertising 
and  business  of  the  Eastern  States.  By  all  means 
keep  it  going.  Introduce  new  features,  and  it  might 
be  well  to  make  it  a  free  exhibition  with  at  least 
■  one  million  apples  given  away.  As  a  colorful,  ar¬ 
tistic  display  the  show  was  all  that  could  be  desired. 
The  great  splash  of  red  where  the  Massachusetts 
McIntosh  apples  were  lined  up,  and  the  living  or¬ 
chard,  enclosed  by  the  old-fashioned  stone  wall,  will 
long  be  remembered  by  the  city  people  who  came  to 
see  and  eat.  Make  it  an  annual  event  by  all  means. 
5k 
HEBE  is  a  man  in  an  up-State  rural  county  in 
New  York  State  who  goes  out  of  his  way  to 
announce  himself  a  “hard-boiled  Democrat.”  If  your 
imagination  is  good  you  can  perhaps  understand  how 
popular  this  man  is,  politically,  in  the  usual  rural 
community.  This  man  has  led  his  party’s  “forlorn 
hope”  several  times,  but  he  never  got  in  sight  of 
the  breastworks.  And  then  came  this  proposed 
school  bill.  Our  Democratic  friend  went  to  his  party 
caucus  and  asked  to  be  nominated  as  school  director. 
Of  all  political  hopes  this  seemed  the  most  forlorn 
in  a  district  where  the  remarks  attributed  to  Horace 
Greeley  are  still  cherished.  Yet  our  friend  went  out 
with  a  straight  issue  of  clear  opposition  to  the  pro¬ 
posed  school  bill  and  was  actually  elected!  That  is 
the  strongest  evidence  that  we  have  seen  yet  of  the 
unpopularity  of  this  school  bill  in  the  rural  districts. 
The  political  leaders  will  fully  understand  what 
that  means,  and  what  it  may  lead  to.  The  farmers 
may  see  in  it  something  of  the  power  they  may  gain 
and  concentrate  if  they  will  hold  those  school  meet¬ 
ings  in  every  school  district  on  December  4.  That 
date  may  be  made  to  shine  in  history  as  the  day 
when  they  learned  to  do  it  themselves. 
Brevities 
Will  lights  in  the  poultry-house  stimulate  a  Brahma 
as  they  do  a  Leghorn? 
The  ownership  of  land  depends  on  the  deed  and  the 
public  records — not  on  what  some  engineer  says  is  the 
line. 
Has  anyone  worked  out  a  successful  plan  for  catch¬ 
ing  hen  hawks?  If  so,  they  will  help  some  of  us  by  de¬ 
scribing  it. 
A  new  “shell  game,”  discovered  in  Pennsylvania,  is 
mixing  old  and  stale  nuts  with  the  new  crop  and  selling 
them  as  “fancy.” 
With  the  decrease  in  consumption  of  potatoes  there 
is  a  great  increase  in  demand  for  lettuce.  Once  re¬ 
graded  as  a  mere  luxury  for  the  rich,  lettuce  is  now 
understood  to  be  one  of  the  chief  sources  of  vitamines. 
There  is  evidently  need  of  repeating  it  over  and  over : 
In  New  York  State  a  wife  has  the  legal  right  to  will  her 
own  property  just  as  she  sees  fit,  provided  she  is  of 
sound  mind  and  competent  to  make  a  will.  She  is  not 
obliged  to  leave  property  to  her  husband  if  she  does  not 
care  to  do  so. 
There  are  some  poultrymen  who  still  feed  steamed 
clover  or  Alfalfa.  This  is  the  way  one  man  does  it : 
“All  clover  and  Alfalfa  hay  must  be  chopped  very  fine 
for  poultry,  and  the  best  method  of  steaming  we  find  is 
to  put  hay  into  a  grass  sack,  then  dip  into  a  barrel  with 
boiling  water,  let  stay  in  for  30  minutes,  then  take  out 
and  use  at  once.” 
