Page of the American 
68 
Edi torial 
I 
American 
Agriculturist 
Founded 1842 
Henry Morgenthau, Jr .Publisher 
E. R. Eastman ..Editor 
Fred W. Ohm .Associate Editor 
Gabrielle Elliot .... Household Editor 
Birge Kinne .Advertising Manager 
H. L. VONDERLEITH . . . Circulation Manager 
CONTRIBUTING EDITORS 
Herbert E. Cook .... Flow Handle Talks 
Jared Van Wagenen, Jr. . Van Wagenen Corner 
Herschel H. Jones . . . Market Department 
K. J. T. Ekblaw . Farm Engineering Department 
Paul Work .Vegetable Department 
George T. Hughes .... Investment Adviser 
Dr. S. K. Johnson .... Veterinary Adviser 
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Published Weekly by 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST, INC. 
Address all correspondence for editorial, advertising, or 
subscription departments to 
461 Fourth Ave., New York, N. Y. 
Entered as Second-Class Matter, December 15, 1922, at the 
Post OiBce at New York, N. Y., under the Act of March 3, 1879. 
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VOL. Ill January 27, 1923 NO. 4 
The Eastern Farmers’ Advantage 
O UR cover page gives a glimpse of the 
world’s greatest market for farm prod¬ 
ucts—New York City. 
Into its great maw there comes every day 
ships laden with the products of almost every 
country in the world and hundreds of car¬ 
loads of every kind of produce from the 
farms of nearly every State in the Union. 
Farmers of the East have the advantage of 
this great consumption center almost at their 
door. All they must do is ' to make their 
products high in quality and organize to 
sell them efficiently, and then they have a 
running start to beat every competitor to 
the best markets in the world. 
Too Many Apple Varieties 
TATEMENTS were made at the annual 
meeting of the New York State Horti¬ 
cultural Society at Rochester the other day, 
that over 240 different apple varieties were 
handled this season by the Western New 
York Fruit Growers Cooperative Packing 
Association, Inc. This ridicously large num¬ 
ber of varieties shows the grave need of 
standardization to a much fewer number. 
There are few producers, however, experi¬ 
enced in the business that can name a ma¬ 
jority of the different apple varieties and 
when it comes to consumers it is of course 
impossible for them to ever become ac¬ 
quainted with more than a possible half dozen 
different kinds of apples. One of the reasons 
why western apples have made a big hit in 
eastern markets is that consumers have come 
to recognize the two varieties which are 
most seen and advertised, the Delicious and 
the Spitzenberg. There is no outstand¬ 
ing eastern apple known by any large 
number of consumers, unless it may be the 
Baldwin. 
The many varieties also make it very dif¬ 
ficult for the packing associations to handle 
the large number of different pools, and the 
too many mixed cars, all of which causes 
delay in closing the pools and paying the 
producers. 
Cutting down the number of different 
kinds of apples is a matter of education 
which will take some time and decided and 
united action on the part of the apple market¬ 
ing associations. In the meantime perhaps 
there may be a grouping together and hand¬ 
ling of varieties of very similar nature which 
may help som .'what to simplify the problem. 
Chicken Thieves 
I N an old farm-house bedroom, some twenty 
years ago. Brother George, since better 
known as George Duff, and ourselves lay 
sleeping one night as only farm boys can 
sleep. It was one A. M.—that no man’s time 
when events of the day before have faded 
into the past and those to come are still with 
the future. 
Suddenly we were awakened by a hand 
over our mouth. Mother was whispering in 
our ear “Hark! Hark! Don’t make any 
noise! There are chicken thieves in our hen¬ 
house. Get up quietly while I get George 
up.” Fire, murder and sudden death, none 
of them can raise any more gripping terror 
and creepy chills in a country boy than a 
midnight whisper: “There are thieves in the 
henhouse!” The only other excitement 
that even approaches it is that call which 
always stops every farm operation and 
puts everyone into a run—“The cows are 
in the corn!” 
We got up and pulled on the overalls while 
Mother strove to wake George Duff. She 
had difficulty. It afterwards developed that 
he was fully awake from the first, but cold 
fear had gripped his heart and he strove to 
avoid his duty by feigning sleep. But Mother 
was insistent. And in her fear lest the 
thieves would get away with her prized pul¬ 
lets, she rolled him out on the floor. 
Now George was a great gun enthusiast, 
and stored away in a rack in his room were 
representative firearms covering nearly 
every period of American history. It had 
often been George’s boast that no one would 
dare to monkey around that homestead in the 
night, for if they did he with his arsenal 
would make short work of them. 
Finally we were ready to sally forth. 
George Duff was armed with the gun which 
he always kept loaded with buck shot and 
rock salt for just such an emergency. To 
ourselves he handed a little air gun which 
he claimed with the usual frankness of an 
older brother, was as much of a gun as was 
safe for us to handle. 
Far be it from us to cast aspersions upon 
the bravery of a “gun man” but we have al¬ 
ways had our suspicions about that night’s 
operations. We will grant that George Duff 
was willing to scare the chicken thieves 
away, but we still think he wanted to' do 
that scaring from a safe distance. Nor is 
our belief founded entirely upon opinion. In 
passing out of the back door George Duff 
suggested that we keep well ahead of him 
carrying the lantern that he might see the 
better to apply the rock salt to the proper 
part of the thieves’ anatomy. Also we noted 
that he very carefully drew the screen door 
out, and let it go shut with a loud bang, and 
too, it seemed to be necessary for him to clear 
his throat many times in a loud and efficient 
manner. 
Anyway, whatever his motives were, his 
noise scared the thieves and they came dash¬ 
ing out of the henhouse and over the garden 
fence with us in swift pursuit popping away 
with our little air gun while George well 
(and safely) in the rear urged us on with 
loud and encouraging shouts. Across the 
garden, through the orchard and well up the 
lonesome hill road we ran still popping away 
with the air gun which the thieves in their 
/ 
American Agriculturist, January 27,1923 
Agriculturist 
fright no doubt thought was the whole Duff 
arsenal in action. Finally when we could no 
longer hear their retreating footsteps we 
gave up the chase knowing that their scare 
would keep them from molesting our hens 
again. When we finally got back to the 
house We found George Duff sitting on the 
horse block waiting for us. “I tell you 
Eddie” says he “if it hadn’t been for this 
darned ‘asthmee’ interfering with my 
breathing, I would have had those robbers 
well started toward the county jail by this 
time!” 
Mr. Bullock Resigns 
R eaders of American Agriculturist will 
be sorry to know that Mr. W. H. Bul¬ 
lock, so long connected with our Editorial 
Staff has resigned to accept Secretaryship of 
the New Jersey Federation of County 
Boards of Agriculture. In addition to the 
regular duties of Secretary of the Federa¬ 
tion of County Boards of Agriculture, which 
corresponds to the New York State Federa¬ 
tion of Farm Bureaus, Mr. Bullock will have 
charge of building up a centralized plan of 
agricultural publicity and promotion not only 
for the Federation, but also for the various 
other commercial and noncommercial farm¬ 
ers’ organizations in the. State. 
Mr. Bullock has been with American Agri¬ 
culturist for over eight years. In that time 
he has come to be known over a wide area as 
a capable and fearless champion of rural 
people and their problems. Mr. Bullock’s 
long training in writing and in editorial 
work well fits hm to make a success in the 
responsible position which he has assumed 
and we join with his thousands of friends 
in wishing him the greatest possible success 
and happiness. 
A Good Book Well Dedicated 
O NE of the chief reasons why New York 
has no superiors and few equals in farm 
bureau work is the splendid leadership that 
has been given almost from the beginning 
by M. C. Burritt and H. E. Babcock. These 
men because of their ability to choose farm 
bureau agents who could make good and be¬ 
cause of their genius for organization have 
given much to New York State agriculture. 
In a recent book called “The County Agent 
and the Farm Bureau,” published by Har- 
court. Brace and Company, New York City, 
Mr. Burritt has summed up the accomplish¬ 
ments of the farm bureau and offered sug¬ 
gestions for continuing to make the work of 
the county agents more vital and worth while. 
Various phases of the county agent’s service 
to his locality are analyzed, the programs 
of different counties are commented upon 
and the results correctly summarized. The 
relation of the county agent to the farmer, 
to the community, to the commercial enter¬ 
prises and to government departments are 
clearly defined. The book is an important 
contribution to agricultural literature. 
In the dedication of the book there is an 
interesting and kindly little story. As most 
of our readers know, Mr. Babcock was seri¬ 
ously injured by an automobile while he was 
riding a horse and confined to his home for 
many weeks during the past Fall. One day 
when he was feeling particularly discouraged 
and blue, Mr. Burritt came in for a visit. 
As he left he presented to Mr. Babcock a 
copy of his book which was then just off the 
press. After Mr. Burritt was gone, Mr. 
Babcock in looking the book over was very 
much surprised to find the following dedica¬ 
tion : 
“To H. E. Babcock 
Whose energy and good judgment 
have been a constant source of inspi¬ 
ration and of confidence during our 
eight years of public service together. 
This Book Is Dedicated.” 
