Vol. LIV. No. 2371. 
NEW YORK, JULY 6, 1895. 
$1.00 PER YEAR. 
TAKE A DAY OFF AND PLAY. 
A Week Away from the Farm ! 
Away to the mountains, away ! away ! 
Leave work and worry, for rest and play. 
Take guns and fishing-rods, tents and books, 
And dwell for a season in sylvan nooks. 
The mountain streams and the mountain air, 
The trees and the rocks and the flora rare; 
All, all bid a welcome, and yield their gifts, 
While the scenery’s grandeur the soul uplifts. 
And away to the mountains they go. One pleasant 
feature of far Western farm life is these frequent trips 
to the mountains, where whole families, or oftener 
several families together, spend a week or two pic¬ 
nicking, in the valleys, along the rivers, or on the 
sides of the grand old Rockies. Early in the season 
plans are ar¬ 
ranged for the 
outing. If no 
trusty person 
can be found 
with whom to 
leave the care 
of the home, 
the family may 
divide, and the 
father, mother 
and younger 
children go 
with one party, 
and the grown- wm 
up son and 
daughter keep 
the house mean¬ 
time. Later, 
the young peo¬ 
ple take the 
trip with an¬ 
other party. 
As s o o n as 
the weather be- 
comes warm 
enough to make 
camping out 
delightful, the 
mountain par¬ 
ti e s begin to 
form. The 
gypsy life for a 
time is very 
fascinating, 
especially to 
those who can 
bear little dis¬ 
comforts good- 
humoredly. In 
the summer 
season, heavy, 
covered, spring 
wagons, with a “ mountain brake,” are in demand. 
Farm wagons are converted into “prairie schooners.” 
Provisions in plenty—cooked and uncooked—are 
stowed away in the “grub-wagon.” Heavy bedding 
and heavy clothing are taken, for the nights are al¬ 
ways cool at our altitude, and are cold in the moun¬ 
tains. Tents, a camp stove or a “ cowboy’s cooking 
outfit,” a few camp chairs, feed for the horses, and an 
ax complete the list of supplies. 
Last summer we made our first trip to the moun¬ 
tains. The boys of the party decided where to go. 
They chose a gulch noted for its trout fishing. Once 
in the gulch, there was no way out of it with the 
teams but by the path in which we came. There we 
were, in a little valley, through which foamed the 
Poudre River over its strong bed. At one side of us 
frowned a rock-faced, perpendicular mountain ; on 
the other sides mountains that the young people could 
climb. The women and girls were disappointed in 
the place at first, but in a stay of seven days we 
learned to think better of it. 
Trout were plentiful. The fishers angled with un¬ 
abated zeal, until they finally acquired considerable 
skill in landing the speckled beauties. One day we 
took a tramp up the dry bed of a creek, over hill and 
vale, till we came to another little valley in which 
nestled a log cabin. This was the paradise of some 
one who loved hunting and fishing, and spent vaca¬ 
tions here with kindred spirits. Nailed to the fence 
post was an immense pair of elk horns and the skull 
of a mountain lion. 
Along the steep banks of the dry creek grew cur¬ 
rants and cherries. While some of the youngsters 
were gathering them, large stones began to roll down 
near them. What could be the matter up there on the 
TAKE A DAY OFF AND PLAY!” A COLORADO “CAMPING OUT” SCENE. Fig. 142. 
mountain side ? More stones. They looked and saw 
a black bear getting his share of fruit. Frightened 
and breathless, they hurried into camp only to be 
laughed at, and told that the bear was as harmless as 
one of the calves at home. 
Another excursion, this time down the river, gave 
the courageous ones a view of “ the Narrows,” which 
is said by those supposed to know to be one of the 
most beautiful bits of scenery in all the mountains. 
Everybody seemed to enjoy the stay in the moun¬ 
tains—the horses were the only discontented ones. 
I didn’t blame them ; we had taken with us grain, 
but no hay ; we supposed that there would be grass 
enough. There was more sage brush than grass. 
There are s«me unpleasant things about camp life ; 
but the change from confining work, was fully appre¬ 
ciated. Each must have taken heme beautiful pic¬ 
tures to hang «n “memory’s wall ” and fresh thoughts 
worth many times the labor they cost. s. e. h. 
SOME FACTS ABOUT FRUITS. 
AN INTERVIEW WITH GEORGE T . POWELL’ 
[editorial correspondence.] 
The Care of the Orchard. 
“Here is a good thing,” said Mr. Powell, pointing 
to a young apple orchard. “See how smooth and 
strong these trees are. They are all grafted on stock 
of Northern Spy. That makes the strongest stock we 
can get. In some of the big Western nurseries, they 
say that a mule can’t pull out the Spys in the nursery 
row. I would always use this variety for stock. It 
gives a smooth, large body, and a fine root growth.” 
“ What fruits do you grow mostly ? ” 
“Apples, pears, grapes, cherries, currants and 
gooseberries. We have some strawberries, but have 
not thus far 
made a great 
feature of 
them.” 
“ Do you find 
cherries profit¬ 
able?” 
“Oh, yes. 
The Windsor 
cherry is a very 
profitable fruit 
with us. It has 
brought us .$300 
per acre. It is 
La r g e , solid, 
deep red, and 
does not rot. 
With proper 
care and feed¬ 
ing, it can com¬ 
pete in the mar¬ 
ket with the 
California cher- 
ries. While 
smaller than 
the C a 1 i f o r- 
nians, its qual¬ 
ity is much su¬ 
perior, and that 
sells it.” 
“ Are goose¬ 
berries profit¬ 
able?” 
“ Yes; but the 
trouble is to 
pr event mil¬ 
dew. This year 
we have been 
obliged to spray 
with the Bor¬ 
deaux again 
and again, and 
even with that, 
A really mildew-proof 
the mildew still threatens us. 
gooseberry would be a great help.” 
“ Aren’t these grapes pretty well loaded ?” 
“Yes; these Concords will average 75 bunches to 
the vine. In ordinary times, 50 are enough, but this 
year I anticipate a light grape crop throughout the 
country in consequence of the freeze, and I mean 
to push those vines. They will carry that crop be¬ 
cause they have been fed for it. As soon as I heard 
of the damage done by frost, I ordered a lot more 
fertilizer, and put it on heavily. That is the advan¬ 
tage in always having your soil and crops in the best 
possible condition. You can always force them if 
need be.” 
“ What fertilizers do you use ?” 
“A brand put up by the meat packers of Chicago. 
It seems to be a mixture of blood, bone and muriate 
©f potash. The brand I buy analyzes five per cent 
nitrogen ; 17 per cent phosphoric acid, and 12 per cent 
