American Agriculturist, August 25,1923 
125 
Comebacks on Our Editorials 
Long Hours , Old Times, Abandoned Farms and Cow Problems Are Discussed 
I HAVE just finished reading the -article 
in your paper by H. L. Cosline on, “Is a 
Shorter Farm Day Practical?” 
I think this is the most helpful article 
on farming that I have ever read. It ex¬ 
presses my sentiments exactly. 
Everyone knows that in a short crop year, 
prices are high and a large crop year visa 
versa. If farmers could be made to stick 
together and limit production, crops could 
always be sold above cost. . 
All farmers are complaining of the labor 
shortage and high wages, Why? Because, 
labor works shorter hours; therefore, it takes 
more men to do a given amount of work. 
Most farmers talk against Samuel Gom- 
pers, but if farmers had a leader to help 
them as he has helped labor, there would be 
no necessity for selling out to-day. 
During the depression following the war, 
factories began to curtail production; Why? 
Because if more articles were manufactured 
than could be readily absorbed by consumers 
they, on account of competition, might have 
had to be sold below cost of production. Not 
so farmers, oh no. If they had no cash to 
buy seed and fertilizer they would borrow, 
and plant as much as possible then sell, for 
the price made by the amount of crops pro¬ 
duced. 
There are criticisms in the papers every 
day that the reason farmers do not make 
money is because they are poor bookkeepers. 
I have yet to talk to any farmer of my ac¬ 
quaintance, but what can tell me within 
a very few dollars the cost of produc¬ 
ing a crop. He knows what he should get 
to sell it. He may ask that price but; to 
sell, he must take the price put upon it 
by the amount of that crop on the mar¬ 
ket at the time he wishes to sell his crop. 
Some farmers can produce 
crops cheaper than others, as 
some coal mines can produce coal 
cheaper than other mines, but; 
the retail price of coal is the 
same to all consumers. 
No laborer works for any¬ 
thing less than a living wage. 
No matter if he is a fast worker 
or slow. In his particular line 
of work the wage is the same. 
A farmer works himself and 
sometimes his family, to the 
limit of their strength, and then, 
takes the price for the product, 
which is made by the amount of 
crops produced. 
No grocer would buy a dol¬ 
lar’s worth of produce and sell 
it for less than a dollar and a 
quarter; except of course a few 
purchases to clean up on a Satur¬ 
day; but, the farmer produces 
produce to the cpst of a dollar, 
and sells it for the price he can 
get at the market, which price, 
is made by the amount of the 
produce to be sold that day. 
It is said, fhq man who caused 
two blades of grass to grow 
where one had/grown before was 
a wonderful, benefactor to the 
community, /i think he is to the 
consumer, but not to the pro¬ 
ducer. — K. lit. Wyckoff, New 
Jersey. j 
The A. A/ of Long Ago 
T HAT got /me—that reproduc¬ 
tion page of July, 1873, en¬ 
titled “Road 1 ' Mending,” in your 
last issue. (Glad you have intact 
all the columns of the Agricul¬ 
turist. Th&y contain material 
By A. A. READERS 
which should be now reproduced in mov¬ 
ing pictures. Where could a cartoonist find 
material more suitable than from your old 
files, such as the “Tim Bunker Papers” 
with the Squire, and Sally Seth Twingo, 
and Jake Frink. 
Mr. Van Wagenen, in making his bow to 
us reader folk some months ago, referred 
to walks and talks on the farm from your 
old files. Your present files now in the 
making will become old and, we hope, as 
grand as their predecessors.—W. D. Rowan, 
Pennsylvania. 
What Is Your Opinion? 
I WAS very much interested in an editorial 
in the issue of July 21, “The Deserted Vil¬ 
lage” with over 20,000 abandoned farms in 
one State and more being left every year. 
The question how to stem the tide is a vital 
one to us all. The increased cost of living 
affects the farmer as well as the other man 
—so do the taxes. How are we to adjust 
the farmer’s income to these other things 
and make farming pay? Milk $1.90 for 
June and $6 a day for haying help, don’t 
look well together. It is a study. 
I am a pooler and believe that if the farm¬ 
ers win they will have to pull together, but 
what inducement is there for the farmer to 
pull at all when he has for example an in¬ 
vestment of from $10,000 to $20,000 in farm 
stock and tools and is at the. mercy of the 
milk trust or commission man to set the 
price on his produce? What can he do with 
pool milk at $ 1 . 81 1 / 2 ? 
To make my story short, I would like to 
ask a question. In an emergency our Gov¬ 
ernment made a price on wheat. It was a 
vital matter in time of war. Do not the 
thousands of abandoned farms in our State 
make a question vital enough for our earnest 
consideration, even in times of peace? 
If our Government could so act on wheat, 
why could not our Government or our State 
pass a law making the minimum price re¬ 
ceived by the farmer for his milk during the 
year not less than $3 per hundred for 3 per 
cent milk ? This would be only two-thirds as 
much as they received during the war, 1917- 
19. And I know the farmers prospered then 
and I know the country merchant prospered 
too, for the same conditions affected both. 
To-day the country merchant is suffering 
for lack of business. And I know if our 
State or Government would do something 
really substantial like this in the interests of 
the farmers, committees would not have to 
stand long and scratch their heads for an 
idea to solve the abandoned farm problem. 
Of course, the question would arise, there 
would be so much milk produced and the 
market flooded and then what? I do not 
think that possible for a long time. For the 
tendency of our young farmer is from the 
farm to the city or larger town and it would 
take some time for the pendulum to swing 
the other way. I would like your opinion.— 
R. Fitch, Delaware County, N. Y. 
How We Used to Keep Cows 
I N your issue of July 7th I read with much 
interest Mr. Van Wagenen’s article on the 
dairymen’s present troubles. He set forth 
very fairly both sides of the subject to bring 
forth the experience of other dairymen. I 
noticed the editors’ invitation also and I 
truly give 'you my experience. 
Sixty-five years ago I began 
general farming. For many 
years I kept from fifteen to 
twenty-five cows for buttermak¬ 
ing; I never lost a cow by dis¬ 
ease. Never had a case of TB 
or abortion or one that did not 
breed. In those days we knew 
nothing of these diseases. Our 
cows were stabled in ordinary 
sided barns with the haymow 
overhead and a large mow hole 
to pitch the hay down through, 
which served as an excellent ven¬ 
tilator to carry the impure air 
through the shingle roofs. Our 
barnyards usually had two large 
open sheds facing the south and 
kept well bedded with straw. 
Our cows were turned after their 
morning meal in the yard for 
water and exercise and to breathe 
God’s pure air and to bathe in 
his warm sunshine. They were 
left out if the weather was fair 
until the noon hour when they 
had their midday meal and again 
returned to the yard. We in this 
way grew our breeding stock to 
maturity with good strong 
healthy bodies capable of great 
service in the dairy and better 
able to resist the various dis¬ 
eases of their kine. We in those 
days gave each cow a two-months 
rest by carefully drying her off 
from milking after which she 
had full rations to get strong 
and take on flesh for the best 
milking period and to bring 
forth a good strong progeny for 
the next generation. And now in 
concluding I believe some of our 
{Continued on Page 129) 
PROHIBITION BALLOT 
OF THE 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST 
Are You for the Strict Enforcement of the 
18th Amendment us It Now Stands ? 
Are You for a Modification of the 18th 
Amendment to Permit Light Wines 
and Beer ? 
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YES 
NO 
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kept strictly confidential. 
Name, 
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Do the American people want prohibition? The Wets emphatically say 
“No” and the Drys are even more emphatically for it. Both sides claim 
a majority. Which is right? What do farm people think about it? The 
opinions of farmers on any problem, if they will express them, go far in 
determining the outcome of a controversy. 
American Agriculturist is taking a vote of farm families on the ques¬ 
tion of prohibition. It is a vital issue and whether you are for it or 
against it, be sure to vote in the spaces above. Mail this ballot to the 
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