Farmers Face to Face

New York, 1895

THE INSTITUTE HELD IN JAMAICA AN UNQUALIFIED SUCCESS.

John O'Donnell Delivers a Pungent Address of Welcome — Farmer Backus Tells How to Obtain the Best Crops — Long Island Men to Direct Experiments.

A Farmer's Institute under the auspices of the New York State and Queens County Agricultural Societies convened at the Town Hall in Jamaica on Wednesday. The attendance was the largest ever seen at an institute in this county. The meeting was continued yesterday; three sessions were held each day. At the opening of the meeting on Wednesday, John O'Donnell, Esq., of the Long Island Farmers' Club, made the address of welcome, which was responded to by Director John A. Smith, of the State Society.

Mr. O'Donnell said:

The president of the County Agricultural Society was requested to deliver the welcoming address in opening this the second farmers' institute held in this section of the county. Mr. President Mott having declined, it fell to me to step to the front and utter a few words of greeting on this occasion, believing it is every farmer's duty to assume his share of responsibility and contribute his quota to all movements that tend to elevate and encourage those who are treading in the same furrow. The difference between Mr. President Mott and myself is, that he has the ability to interest and entertain, and I have the willingness to act; but my best efforts are at your service, as they ever have been.

In behalf of the Farmers' Co-operative union of the town I welcome you. In behalf of the agricultural society of our county, I welcome you, and in behalf of the Long Island farmers club, I welcome you. Thrice welcome to our village and town, and I hope our members will be assiduous in their attentions to visiting brethren and friends and endeavor to make their stay among us enjoyable.

The reputation of the gentlemen whose names appear upon our program assures me that we will all profit by our attendance here. This array of talent presented for your delectation has been selected specially to meet the wants of this section of the state. The crops we grow are so entirely different, and the means we employ in preparing and marketing these crops are so distinct from those practiced in other parts of the state, that there are urgent reasons for scientific investigation to combat the ravages of disease and insect pests that prey upon our products. We of the coast are like a picket line thrown out from the great army of tillers of the soil to guard them from the ravages of these destroyers. This has been very forcibly demonstrated the past season by the three scientific investigators whose services found the San Jose scale, one of the deadly enemies to the fruit interest which was not known to be in the state previously, although long known as one of the scourges of the California fruit growers; so it will be seen that while we have been seeking to remedy local evils we have also greatly benefited the fruit growers of the state by putting them on their guard against this insect foe.

While we are trying to remedy local evils we have drawn from several states to supply a choice variety of good things for this intellectual feast, and upon the bill of fare laid before you to-day you will find President Stockbridge of Dakota, Prof. Terry of Ohio, our young friend Lowe of Michigan, our faithful Stewart of Massachusetts, and our Sirrene friend from Iowa. Our near by New Jersey is ably represented by Prof. Baker and Suffolk county contributes her quota in the veteran Hallock and his efficient Lieut., Lupton; and our own Dr. Beldin no doubt will tell us how to renovate Long Island soil, as he has renovated the fast crumbling constitutions of many of those who follow the plow. And as our friends, Messrs. Backus and Bergen, two eminently successful men, appear for the first time with fresh thoughts culled with care, I have no doubt that this will prove to be a pleasant and highly profitable meeting.

While I do not desire to trespass upon the time of this audience, or upon the territory of any of the speakers, there are a few thoughts that it may be well to advance at this time. One is the indifference of farmers as a class to the benefits of organization and organized efforts to right the wrongs that yearly confront us. Some will deride the Patrons of Husbandry, the most efficient organization of farmers, and while they scoff at the Grangers, so called, they are not aware that it is to that body they are indebted for our state experiment station and indirectly for much of the valuable work now done by Cornell University. We find men of other pursuits organized in every department, some carrying things so far that they will neither work nor let others replace them, and many of our citizens sympathize with these law breakers, whose lawless acts, if done by farmers would be denounced, and justly so.

Imagine the farmers of any particular section refusing to sell their produce and with brick-bat and stone endeavoring to prevent farmers from other sections supplying the markets! What a howl would go up, and farmers would be denounced as the most fiendish class on the top of God's foot stool. But farmers have more serious grievances than any of the classes that are keeping business in a continual state of ferment. The farmers work more hours and for less pay than any other class, but they don't go on a strike; they continue to turn out their products, many times at a loss, but they do not strike, nor do they shut down, like the manufacturer who closes his establishment the day he finds he is running behind, turns his employees adrift, and waits for better times. The farmer keeps plodding away, come what may, putting his goods upon the market, taking what he can get, and frequently seeing his products sold at a great advance to consumers. In many instances dealers' profits are in excess of what the farmer receives, as has been frequently seen in our home market.

Before I close I feel that it is important that I call your attention to a movement inaugurated two years ago for the establishment of an experiment station on this island. The state has two of these institutions, one at Cornell University at Ithaca, and the other at Geneva, only fifty miles apart, and both of these several hundred miles from the commercial and business center of the state, which pays nearly four-fifths of the taxes. These two institutions are situated in the fruit, grain and dairy districts of the state, and a very large proportion of their experiments are in those lines, to the detriment of the market gardener, the florist, and the truck grower. We of Long Island are engaged in a different line, and we want the same care and attention bestowed on our business that is bestowed on the business of the dairyman, the fruit grower, the stock raiser, or the general farmer. We want our share, nothing more.

The Long Island Farmers' Club, and the club of this town, have had their men at work, and after considerable effort have succeeded in obtaining an appropriation of $8,000 to be expended in this section, but it was not until the 25th of July that we could got any official action taken. Since that time work has been retarded through delay in transmitting instructions from the station at Geneva to the three men employed in the field here. This very great evil is now quite apparent, and to meet it the present legislature will be asked for another appropriation with a council of Long Island men to whom shall be given the immediate supervision of the work.

With this end in view, the farmers saw fit to continue Mr. P. H. Scudder and myself a committee to press the matter at Albany, and upon inquiring as to the amount of money that had been expended, and when inquiry was made at Geneva, the word came back that it was not well for us to know. But we do know, thanks to Senator Childs, who had a resolution passed by the Senate directing that the information be forthcoming. We feel that it is our right to know how much of this money has been expended, and how used, and in future that some of the representative farmers of this Island shall have a voice in the management. We do not want control of the money, but we of this Island should have a hand on the helm to direct how this money shall be spent. We are desirous that such men as the president of the State Agricultural society, and the director of the Geneva Station, shall be members of our council, so that they shall know just what is going on, and that our station shall be under the control of the commissioner of agriculture, to the end that work that is being done here shall not be duplicated at the other stations. We feel that all can work in harmony and to the benefit of the whole people, for there is nothing so conducive to general prosperity as the success of the agricultural masses.

"Renovation of Long Island Soil" was treated by Dr. C. A. Beldin, of Jamaica, and "How I Raise Potatoes" was the subject of a paper by T. B. Berry, of Hudson.

At the afternoon session a paper "Elements of Success in Market Gardening," was read by John E. Backus, of Newtown. Mr. Backus said:

One of the most essential elements appertaining to market gardening is to secure a good farm of forty acres or thereabouts, of naturally productive soil, level as possible and well drained; then have about ten acres or so seeded down to grass, and when it has been seeded down for about three years, plow it up and seed down another ten acres, and so continue until you have seeded down the whole of it, and I am convinced that you will grow as much produce, and of a much better quality on the thirty acres as you would on the whole of the forty acres cultivated season after season, for the reason that the soil becomes worked out from responding to the call for enormous crops year after year, which an enterprising truck grower always expects.

The second essential element is the enriching of the soil. I find the best way is to cover it liberally, broadcast, with stable manure, about ten good horse loads to the acre, then apply your commercial fertilizer of a high grade, from eight to ten hundred weight to the acre, according to the kind of crops you intend to plant.

You no doubt will say this is pretty extravagant treatment for such times as these, but the times cannot remain this way forever. Times will and do change, and men must change with them, that is, if they want to be up to date men. This applies to farmers and truck growers as well as to merchants and professional men. The use of commercial fertilizer is an absolute necessity. If you take in all the large stables of New York and Brooklyn — the market we have to look to for supplies of stable manure — you will find that all the urine runs to the sewer, and a liberal supply of carbolic acid and chlorite of lime is used for a disinfectant. This has the tendency to free the ammonia.

Take the two essential elements away from the stable manure and you find it very much reduced in plant food, and thus you must use the commercial fertilizer in order to compete with the trade on industry. Because I speak plainly on the fertilizer question, do not think that I am interested in the manufacture of fertilizers, because I am not.

I care not how much manure you use, you must use some fertilizer, too. Try and make it a rule to handle all the manure in the fall, winter and early spring. Some one will ask, "How am I to handle it in the winter?" Simply by carting it out in the field and spreading it on top of the ground for the rains and the snow to carry the essence into the ground. If you have secured the level farm I spoke of, you need not be afraid that the manure will wash away. If your land is a little rolling, then it is best to manure that in the fall and plow it in very shallow, or harrow it in with one of the approved cutting harrows, and leave the most level land until winter.

Thus you will readily see that you are getting your hardest and heaviest work out of the way at a time when there is not much pressing work to do, and all you have to do in the spring is to plow your ground, mark it out, sow your fertilizer in the rows or drills, and plant your seeds, and if no rainy or bad weather interferes with you, you can get along at quite a merry clip. One word as to purchasing manure: Always buy on a falling market if there is one, and when there is not much demand, and that time is right in the summer time.

The third element is in buying seeds. This is a very important item. A truck grower can do no better than to make it his business to consult his neighbors as to the most reliable and honest seed merchant of long standing. You cannot give this matter of seeds too much attention. It is a good plan, as now varieties of seeds are introduced, to try a little each year, and in this way become an up to date truck grower, which is very essential, as our New York and Brooklyn markets want something new all the time, and want it better oftentimes than it is possible to grow it in some seasons. The next point is to prepare the soil for the different crops. For small seeds great care should be taken to have the soil pulverized very fine, and it is also applicable to larger seeds, for it is absolutely necessary to have your ground in good order. Be very particular to sow seeds in time. If there is any doubt about maturing time, always take the benefit of the doubt. Cultivate, plow and hoe your crops often. With the improved methods we now have it reduces labor to a minimum, and there is a great deal in increased cultivation to insure a good crop, especially in dry weather.

Finally, try and raise fine produce, put it up for market in its best possible shape, and get the very best price year can.

There was a good attendance at yesterday's sessions of the institute, many farmers being present from Kings and Suffolk counties.

F. A. Sirrene gave an interesting talk on "What Experiment Stations have done, and cannot do." G. W. Hallock, of Orient, read a paper on "Early Potatoes." G. A. Roullier, of Flushing, gave an interesting address on "County Roads."

The afternoon session opened with the question box, followed with a paper on "Early Tomatoes," by T. F. D. Baker, of Bridgeton, N. J. The meeting closed with the reading of a paper by Milton Bergen, of Jamaica, on "Forcing Vegetables under Glass."

J. M. Lupton, of Mattituck, presented an interesting paper on "Improvement of Varieties."

H. E. Stockbridge, President of the North Dakota Agricultural College, gave an address on "Preservation and Restoration of Fertility."

The evening session was opened with the question box. F. C. Stewart, of Jamaica, lectured on "Plant Diseases," and V. H. Lowe on "The Potato Beetle." Both lectures were illustrated.

—The Long Island Farmer, Jamaica, NY, March 1, 1895, p. 8.