1570 
The  RURAL  NEW-YORKER 
December  2S,  102:; 
The  Rural  New-Yorker 
THE  BUSINESS  FARMER'S  PAPER 
A  National  Weekly  Journal  for  Country  and  Suburban  Homes 
Established  isso 
I’liliiUlird  weekly  by  the  Knral  Publishing  Company.  333  Went  30lb  Street, .New  Vork 
Hkkbkkt  W.  CoLUNGv.  ooti.  President  and  Editor. 
John  J.  Dillon,  Treasurer  and  General  Manager. 
Wm  F.  Dillon,  Secretary.  Mus.  E.  T.  Royle,  Associate  Editor. 
L.  H.  Mubphy,  Circulation  Manager. 
SUBSCRIPTION  :  ONE  DOLLAR  A  YEAR 
To  foreign  countries  in  tho  Universal  Postal  Union,  82.04.  Remit  in  money 
order,  express  order,  personal  check  or  bank  draft. 
Entered  at  New  York  Post  Office  as  Second  Class  Matter. 
Advertising  rates,  $1.00  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  person.  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. 
In  1849  my  father  moved  on  a  farm,  not  knowing 
anything  about  farming.  He  thought  it  was  necessary 
to  have  an  agricultural  paper,  so  subscribed  for  what 
was  then  Moore’s  Rural  New-Yorker.  From  that 
year  until  the  present  time  it  lias  been  in  our  family. 
I  have  taken  it  in  my  own  name  since  I  was  14  years 
old  which  makes  me  a  subscriber  for  a  little  over  65 
years.  It  seems  I  cannot  get  along  without  it,  so  much 
useful  information.  w.  f.  aspinwall. 
Loudonville,  N.  Y. 
E  think  Mr.  Aspinwall  stands  at  the  head  as 
veteran  reader  and  subscriber.  Think  of  74 
years  of  continuous  reading.  That  makes  nearly 
3,900  issues.  What  wonders  of  history  are  included 
within  those  years.  And  Mr.  Aspinwall’s  hand 
writing  is  still  firm  and  without  a  wrinkle.  Shall 
we  wish  him  74  more  years  of  reading  The  R.  N.  Y.? 
Would  he  care  to  have  them? 
* 
HE  State  of  California  has  prohibited  aliens 
from  owning  or  leasing  land  in  that  State,  and 
the  U.  S.  Supreme  Court  has  sustained  the  law.  As 
one  result,  it  is  said  that  thousands  of  Japanese  will 
give  up  their  land  and  stop  production  of  fruit  and 
other  food.  This  will  prove  a  serious  handicap  to 
California  fruit  growers,  unless  white  farmers  can 
be  found  to  take  the  places  of  the  Japanese.  Efforts 
are  to  be  made  to  induce  settlers  from  the  East  to 
come  and  take  up  land.  In  parts  of  the  South  much 
the  same  problem  has  arisen  as  a  result  of  the  mi¬ 
gration  of  negroes  to  the  North.  Several  of  the 
border  States  are  planning  to  attract  white  men 
from  the  North.  At  the  same  time  our  Northern 
farmers  are  unable  to  obtain  farm  help  at  any  wage 
that  will  give  a  profit.  Where  are  all  these  needed 
white  workers  to  come  from?  The  truth  is  there  is 
an  under-production  of  farm  workmen.  We  are  not 
producing  farm  hands  as  we  did  40  years  ago. 
Nearly  every  young  man  now  demands  a  white  col¬ 
lar  job  when  he  gets  through  school,  and  there  are 
not  enough  of  these  jobs  to  go  around.  There  is  a 
constant  demand  for  new  government  jobs  to  take 
care  of  college  and  school  graduates  at  public  ex¬ 
pense,  but  where  is  the  institution  that  is  turning 
out  skilled  farm  hands?  Today  the  man  who  can 
work  with  his  hands  at  crop  production  is  the  most 
necessary  laborer  in  the  nation.  Yet  where  is  he  to 
be  found,  and  who  is  training  him?  Our  modern  sys 
tern  of  education  is  partly  responsible  for  this 
trouble.  We  are  turning  out  too  many  white-collar 
men. 
'I' 
EGINNING  next  week,  at  the  opening  of  the 
new  year,  we  expect  to  print  good  pictures  of 
the  leading  contributors  who  during  the  past  years 
have  entertained  and  instructed  our  people.  Dr. 
Dean,  Dr.  Alexander,  Prof.  Minkler,  Geo.  A.  Cos¬ 
grove,  Robert  Smith,  Mrs.  Unger.  Mrs.  Greenwood, 
and  dozens  of  others  have  come  to  seem  like  dis 
tinguished  members  of  the  family.  Now  we  are  to 
have  a  chance  to  see  what  they  look  like.  There  are 
some  people  who  carry  about  through  life  what  we 
may  call  a  disappointing  countenance.  With  their 
picture  “the  pleasures  of  imagination  are  greater 
than  those  of  participation,”  but  with  most  of  our 
correspondents  a  view  of  their  picture  will  add  to 
their  reputation. 
* 
REPORTS  from  the  West  indicate  that  the  area 
of  Winter  wheat  has  been  reduced  quite  a  lit¬ 
tle.  Probably  most  of  the  large  wheat  growers  have 
seeded  about  the  usual  acreage,  but  the  smaller 
farmers,  who  grew  wheat  only  as  a  side  crop,  seem 
to  be  giving  it  up.  In  the  Northwest  dairying  and 
stock  raising  are  rapidly  coming  in,  and  this  means 
changing  the  wheat  land  over  into  Alfalfa,  corn  or 
pasture.  It  is  a  sensible  thing  to  work  out  of  wheat 
•"•owing  when  it  becomes  evident  that  the  cost  of 
growing  the  crop  Is  greater  than  the  price  obtained 
for  it.  There  are  still  locations  where  wheat  grow¬ 
ing  will  pay,  or  where,  for  one  reason  or  another,  no 
other  crop  will  pay  as  well.  It  is  a  good  thing  for 
us  to  leave  the  bulk  of  our  wheat  production  to  such 
localities,  for  the  present  at  least.  It  will  be  only  a 
question  of  a  few  years  before  the  world's  popula¬ 
tion  will  so  increase  that  wheat  production  must  be 
increased  in  order  fully  to  supply  the  demand.  There 
are  many  farmers  who  do  not  need  to  grow  wheat  in 
order  to  make  a  fair  living.  They  might  well  leave 
the  production  of  this  grain  to  those  who  are  so  situ¬ 
ated  that  they  must  produce  it.  In  most  cases  Soy 
beans  or  barley  will  pay  our  Eastern  farmers  better. 
* 
HE  U.  S.  Supreme  Court  has  settled  a  milk  case 
which  came  from  the  Sta* *te  of  Washington.  The 
Seattle  Milk  Shippers’  Association,  a  co-operative  or¬ 
ganization  properly  formed,  agreed  that  it  would  not 
sell  milk  to  any  stores  which  retailed  for  less  than 
11  cents  a  quart.  As  a  result  the  officers  of  the  milk 
association  were  prosecuted,  on  the  theory  that  they 
had  formed  a  conspiracy.  The  State  court  decided 
in  favor  of  the  milk  organization,  and  now  the  U.  S. 
Supreme  Court  has  confirmed  this  decision.  The 
court  held  that  a  refusal  to  sell  milk  except  at  a 
stated  price  does  not  mean  a  monopoly,  and  does  not 
prevent  free  and  open  competition.  As  the  associa¬ 
tion  did  not  and  could  not  control  all  the  milk  com¬ 
ing  to  the  city,  it  had  a  right  to  establish  a  fair  price 
and  protect  that  price. 
* 
E  have  no  desire  to  go  through  any  such  ex¬ 
perience  as  befell  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Rosebough, 
as  detailed  on  the  first  page.  In  our  country  such 
awful  things  are  rare,  and  usually  result  from  the 
abnormal  working  of  an  unsound  mind.  This  mirac¬ 
ulous  escape  from  death  was  evidently  due  to  the 
fact  that  Mrs.  Rosebough  held  the  paper  at  just  the 
right  angle  in  front  of  her  face.  It  is  a  great  pleas¬ 
ure  for  us  to  feel  that  The  Ii.  N.-Y.  helped  to  save  a 
friend  from  death  or  great  disfiguration.  Some  of 
our  enemies,  if  we  have  any,  might  say  that  the 
paper  must  have  a  tough  hide  to  hold  back  a  charge 
of  shot.  Well,  such  a  hide  has  advantages  at  times. 
* 
E  keep  right  on  with  our  remarks  about  the 
value  of  Soy  beans  for  the  Eastern  farmer. 
The  Middle  West  is  far  in  advance  of  us  in  the  de¬ 
velopment  of  this  crop.  Some  of  our  people  say  they 
are  holding  back,  waiting  for  the  experiment  sta¬ 
tions  to  decide  the  matter.  But  why  do  that?  Nat¬ 
urally,  these  stations  must  take  time  and  be  very 
sure  before  making  any  definite  report.  The  stations 
in  the  Middle  West  have  already  decided  that  Soy 
beans  will  make  a  great  companion  for  Alfalfa,  or  a 
substitute  for  that  crop  on  acid  soils.  This  is  some¬ 
thing  that  a  farmer  may  well  work  out  himself.  It 
will  not  cost  much  to  try  an  acre  of  Soy  beans,  and 
it  may  mean  one  of  the  most  profitable  crops  you 
have  ever  started. 
* 
AST  year  we  asked  our  readers  to  name  the  12 
living  Americans  who  have  "most  profoundly 
influenced  the  thoughts  and  lives  of  American  farm¬ 
ers  or  American  agriculture.”  Of  course  there  is 
nothing  of  very  great  interest  in  such  a  list.  It  will 
naturally  be  decided  largely  by  personal  opinion. 
Still,  we  were  curious  to  know  just  what  our  people 
thought  about  it.  We  had  a  good  many  reports ;  in 
all,  64  different  persons  were  named.  Naturally 
some  of  them  were  local  celebrities,  not  well  known 
to  the  country  at  large.  From  this  list  we  selected 
the  12  names  which  were  most  frequently  men¬ 
tioned  by  our  people.  Of  these,  seven  and  possibly 
eight,  may  be  called  college  men,  which  fact  would 
indicate  that  the  agricultural  colleges  have  led  in 
agricultural  development.  Now  we  are  told  that 
some  of  our  people  would  like  to  change  their  votes. 
So  we  shall  print  the  list  of  names  once  more  and 
ask  for  further  suggestions.  It  is  not  of  great  prac¬ 
tical  value,  but  a  good  thing  to  think  about. 
* 
HE  rural  school  bill  will  no  doubt  occupy  the 
front  of  the  stage  at  the  coming  legislative  ses¬ 
sion,  but  we  must  not  let  it  entirely  obscure  other 
questions  which  affect  farmers.  We  must  have  new 
legislation  covering  the  game  laws  and  trespass.  We 
have  already  given  a  synopsis  of  bills  which  will  be 
introduced,  and  there  will  be  a  good-sized  fight  over 
them.  It  is  rumored  that  an  effort  will  be  made  to 
dispense  with  the  State  troopers  or  cut  down  their 
activities,  and  very  likely  another  effort  will  be 
made  to  reorganize  the  Agricultural  Department. 
As  a  rule,  just  before  a  Presidential  election,  both 
parties  do  little  more  than  fight  for  a  good  position 
in  next  year's  battle,  and  nothing  startling  may  be 
expected  at  Albany,  for  neither  side  will  care  to 
antagonize  the  farmers.  This  very  thing  ought  to 
make  it  possible  to  put  reasonable  farm  legislation 
through.  We  shall  try  to  keep  our  readers  in¬ 
formed  so  that  they  can,  if  need  be,  use  their  influ¬ 
ence  properly.  It  may  well  be  that  this  discussion  of 
the  school  bill  will  bring  about  a  volunteer  organi¬ 
zation  of  rui’al  votei’s  that  will  pi'ove  very  effective. 
* 
I  read  the  letter  from  Gov.  Smith  about  the  new 
school  bill,  printed  on  page  154S.  If  this  letter  is  genu¬ 
ine,  it  seems  to  me  that  Gov.  Smith  "lets  the  cat  out  of 
the  bag,”  probably  without  intending  to  do  so.  The 
backers  of  the  original  bill  evidently  convinced  the  Gov¬ 
ernor  that  it  was  a  consolidation  measure.  They  tried 
to  rush  it  through  the  Legislature  as  such,  without  the 
full  understanding  of  farmers.  Failing  in  that,  they 
seem  to  have  amended  or  trimmed  the  wording  of  the 
bill,  and  are  now  trying  to  convince  farmers  that  it  does 
not  mean  consolidation.  It  seems  to  me  that  Gov. 
Smith’s  letter  puts  wheels  under  their  entire  case,  and 
moves  it  off  the  track.  l.  c. 
THE  letter  from  Gov.  Smith  is  absolutely  genu¬ 
ine.  That  is  the  way  it  looks  to  us.  We  have 
the  Governor’s  word  for  it  that  our  “educational  au¬ 
thorities”  believe  the  rural  schools  should  be  consoli¬ 
dated.  Then  he  saj*s  the  bill  that  passed  the  Senate 
would  “bring  it  about.”  Thus  it  is  clear  that  the 
backers  of  this  bill  attempted  to  rush  a  consolidation 
measure  through  the  Legislature  before  the  country 
people  knew  what  it  would  mean.  And.  having  done 
that,  these  backers  wonder  why  the  people  are  sus¬ 
picious  when,  these  same  backers  insist  that  there  is 
no  consolidation  in  their  amended  bill.  They  are 
evidently  just  as  much  in  favor  of  consolidation  now 
as  when  they  convinced  Gov.  Smith  about  the  orig¬ 
inal  bill !  As  we  have  said  a  dozen  times,  these 
people  want  consolidation.  If  they  had  come  out 
frankly  and  said  so — telling  the  people  what  they 
evidently  told  Gov.  Smith — they  would  stand  in  a 
far  better  position  today. 
* 
In  his  message  to  Congress  President  Coolidge  said : 
“Simple  and  direct  methods,  put  into  operation  by  the 
farmer  himself,  are  the  only  real  sources  for  the  res- 
toration  of  agriculture.”  If  Tiie  R.  N.-Y.  ever  showed 
a  spirit  of  pride  it  should  be  at  that  statement,  for  it  is 
exactly  what  you  have  been  broadcasting  for  a  long 
time — "We  must  do  it  ourselves.”  t.  m. 
WE  well  know  that  pride  leads  to  the  jumping- 
off  place.  We  have  for  some  years  claimed 
that  whatever  solid  improvements  are  to  come  to 
agriculture  must  be  worked  out  by  the  farmers 
themselves.  If  the  government  will  enforce  the  laws 
we  now  have,  strictly  and  sternly,  and  compel  the 
middlemen  to  play  fail-,  the  farmers  will  work  out 
of  their  troubles  lai’gely  through  their  own  effoi’ts. 
We  never  did  believe  in  sitting  down  to  wait  for 
the  government  to  do  something  for  us.  Nor  do  we 
believe  in  sitting  still  and  permitting  our  “leaders” 
to  do  the  talking  and  planning  for  us.  Too  many 
of  our  co-operative  ox-ganizations  are  cutting  out 
the  “co”  and  passing  into  the  hands  of  a  small 
group  of  shrewd  men  who  intrench  themselves  in 
law,  habit  or  rule,  and  “run  the  whole  show.”  Of 
course  such  an  enterprise  ceases  to  be  co-operative 
when  that  happens.  One  of  the  biggest  questions 
befoi'e  our  Easteim  farmers  is  that  of  readjustment. 
Many  of  us  have  continued  to  produce  crops  which 
can  be  grown  cheaper  if  not  better  by  others.  There 
is  no  use  fighting  against  fate;  we  must  develop 
new  crops  and  methods  to  meet  the  situation.  Then 
most  of  us  face  a  l-evolution  in  our  labor  system. 
If  we  cannot  get  suitable  labor  for  the  old  methods 
and  crops  we  must  change  in  some  way  so  as  to 
get  the  largest  possible  income  from  family  labor. 
This  is  what  we  call  readjustment.  It  is  the  most 
important  thing  for  the  Eastern  farmer  to  consider, 
and  we  must  work  it  out  ourselves.  No  legislation 
can  ever  do  it  for  us. 
Brevities 
Whatever  you  do  with  your  hands,  keep  your  head. 
North  Dakota  horses  came  into  market  last  season, 
when  38  carloads  were  sold  for  use  on  Eastern  farms. 
The  chestnut  blight  which  destroyed  all  chestnut 
trees  on  the  upper  Atlantic  Slope  is  woi-king  into  the 
South. 
Why  not  make  every  day  in  the  year  New  Year’s 
day?  Then  you  will  be  sure  to  live  up  to  a  few  good 
resolutions. 
The  ladies  are  informed  that  after  a  man  with  a 
“temperament”  marries,  all  he  has  for  home  consump¬ 
tion  is  temper. 
About  75  per  cent  of  your  body  is  water.  If  you 
weigh  200  lbs.,  you  carry  around  with  you  about  IS  gal¬ 
lons  of  water.  Drink  it  freely — you  need  it. 
The  Master  of  the  New  Hampshii’e  Grange  seems  to 
take  the  singular  position  that  ti’ucking  on  the  public 
highway  should  be  l-egulated  so  as  not  to  interfere  with 
the  railroads. 
Will  tobacco  kill  ducks?  A  reader  in  a  tobacco 
growing  section  turned  a  flock  of  ducks  into  a  tobacco 
field  and  found  a  number  of  them  dead.  Are  ducks 
cigarette  fiends?  Who  has  noted  this? 
We  are  told  that  in  the  city  of  Mobile,  Ala.,  with  80.- 
000  inhabitants,  only  -one  small  shipload  of  anthracite 
coal  is  needed  to  fill  the  markets.  People  use  wood  and 
soft  coal.  They  do  not  want  anthracite. 
