316 
7She  RURAL  NEW-YORKER 
June  -4,  1916. 
HOPE  FARM  NOTES 
The  Weather. — It  is  hardly  a  sub- 
to  mention  in  polite  society.  The 
oldest  inhabitant  has  retired  as  a  story¬ 
teller.  and  cannot  remember  when  we 
bad  more  rain.  Day  afler  day  the  sky 
has  wept — -but  what  is  the  use  of  making 
it  worse  by  telling  about  the  delay  and 
damage?  Suppose  we  look  about  and 
see  what  good  the  rain  has  done.  Here 
on  June  10  we  can  see  some  evidences  of 
blessing  in  this  rain.  The  clover  and 
r ye.  in  our  orchards.  They  never  could 
have  reached  any  such  size  in  a  dry  sea¬ 
son.  I  found  one  bunch  of  Sweet  clover 
today  fully  50  inches  high.  This  cover 
crop  is  bunched  up  all  over  our  orchards, 
and  grows  ranker  each  day.  Why.  this 
rain  has  meant  enough  extra  growth  on 
that  clover  to  represent  a  free  gift  from 
Nature  of  live  tons  of  stable  manure  per 
acre.  Then  the  orchard  soil  is  soaked 
full  of  moisture,  and  with  any  sort  of 
handling  we  can  hold  it  in  the  ground 
so  as  to  mature  our  crops.  It  has  also 
been  a  great  season  for  potatoes  thus 
far.  We  got  them  in  properly,  and  the 
cool,  wet  weather  has  sent  them  along 
like  race  horses.  Hot  and  “muggy” 
weather  would  mean  danger  from  blight, 
but  these  cool  rains  just  suit  the  po¬ 
tatoes.  and  they  could  hardly  be  more 
promising.  The  weeds?  Well,  what  is 
the  use  in  worrying  about  what  we  can¬ 
not  help?  Why  not  remember  the  fine 
potato  plants  and  forget  the  weeds? 
Then  the  grass  and  oats  and  peas.  There 
could  not  he  a  better  season  for  them 
thus  far.  The  abundant  moisture  car¬ 
ried  the  fertilizer  down  and  pumped  it 
right  into  the  grass.  It  stands  up  thick 
and  green.  Of  course  this  outlook,  or 
much  of  it.  will  he  washed  away  if  rains 
continue  through  .Tune.  Tt  is-  possible  to 
have  too  much  of  a  good  tiling.  How¬ 
ever.  my  plan  is  to  look  on  the  blight 
side,  and  if  no  side  shines  T  will  help  put 
a  polish  on. 
Repeating  Baldwins, — T  have  re- 
i  erred  to  a  block  of  Baldwin  apple  trees 
which  came  hack  this  year  with  a  crop. 
As  a  rule  the  Baldwin  takes  a  year  off 
regularly.  It  will  give  a  heavj  crop  one 
year  and  then  g<>  fishing  the  next  year, 
The  tree  cannot  be  called  lazy,  hut  it 
is  rather  “set  in  its  ways."  and  having 
formed  the  habit  of  taking  a  year  off  it 
does  it.  and  that’s  all  to  it.  For  16 
years  these  Baldwin  trees  have  oteyed 
the  impulse.  There  have  been  eight  fat 
years  of  heavy  cropping  and  eight  lean 
years  of  nothing  but  leaves.  Bast  year 
was  the  fat  season,  and  these  trees  dec¬ 
orated  themselves  with  five  barrels  or 
more  each  of  fine  fruit.  I  gave  no 
thought  to  their  fruiting  this  year,  and  it 
seemed  astonishing  when  the  hoys  pointed 
out  an  array  of  fruit  buds.  They  finally 
burst  into  bloom,  and  we  sprayed  them. 
Now  the  apples  are  “set"  for  two  barrels 
nr  more  per  tree.  What  induced  these 
stubborn  fellows,  as  fixed  as  any  “stand¬ 
patter”  in  their  habits,  to  break  their 
rule?  Prof.  James  E.  Rice  looked  at 
them  the  other  day  and  suggested  that 
the  continued  rains  of  last  year  are 
largely  responsible  for  it.  He  thinks  that 
prolonged  and  full  supply  of  moisture  in 
the  soil  stimulated  fruit  bud  formation 
along  with  wood  growth.  These  trees 
stand  in  sod  with  a  mulch  around  them. 
1  should  think  a  wet  season  would  be 
more  likely  to  drive  them  to  wood 
growth,  but  1  do  not  know.  I  wonder 
if  irrigation  in  the  Western  States  has 
had  the  effect  of  breaking  up  this  habit 
in  the  natural  off-year  varieties?  At 
any  rate  it  is  good  to  think  about  in  a 
season  when  we  need  everything  we  can 
get  to  make  rain  seem  reasonable.  Some 
folks  spend  their  time  cursing  the  things 
which  annoy  tlieui.  Why  not  think  up  a 
fry,  good  qualities  of  these  companions 
which  Nature  ties  to  us?  If  we  must 
walk  with  them — let's  keep  step.  One 
thing  is  sure,  if  there  is  anything  to  this 
theory  next  year  those  trees  will  nearly 
break  their  backs  with  a  crop. 
Indoors. — As  a  rule  the  farm  inhab¬ 
itants  that  find  most  joy  in  the  rain  are 
the  ducks  and  the  clover  or  Alfalfa.  One 
has  a  wet  foot  the  other  a  very  wide 
month,  and  they  do  enjoy  washing  and 
drinking.  At.  the  other  extreme  we  may 
put  the  women  folks  inside  the  house. 
Such  a  season  as  we  are  now  having  is 
hard-  on  them.  They  are  often  crowded 
into  u  small  anil  inconvenient  bouse, 
with  leaks  in  the  roof  and  no  dry  fuel. 
1  know  of  cases  where  1  he  women  must 
hunt  for  a  few  dry  sticks  to  start  a 
fire,  and  keep  the  oven. filled  with  wet 
sticks.  Thus  half  the  heat  of  their  fuel 
is  used  up  in  drying  out  more  fuel  to 
he  used  in  drying  still  more  wood  !  Many 
of  these  women  do  not  have  rubbers  or 
rubber  boots  and  a  raincoat,  yet  they 
must  get  nut  and  attend  to  certain 
chores,  such  as  brooding  chicks,  picking 
vegetables  or  helping  at  milking.  Then 
the  children  have  no  place  to  run  out  tin¬ 
der  shelter,  and  they  till  the  house  with 
tumult,  and  mud.  1  think  it  is  the  priv¬ 
ilege  of  a  child  to  raise  these  two  crops 
in  abundance,  hut  they  are  not  house- 
plants,  and  we  all  know  that  a  plant  out 
of  place  becomes  a  weed.  There  is 
where  a  big  woodshed  comes  in  as  a  fine 
bouquet  right  on  the  face  of  t.lie  farm. 
Mother  is  entitled  to  that  sort  of  a  bou¬ 
quet  far  more  than  any  great  singer  or 
actress  who  was  ever  buried  in  flowers. 
Or.r  children  can  run  out  and  play  in 
the  shed  when  the  rain  comes  and  few 
can  realize  what  it:  means  for  them  to 
transfer  their  activities  from  house  to 
shed.  It  surely  does  shed  a  lot  of 
trouble. 
Sickness. — Wet  -weather  often  brings 
a  spell  of  sickness  to  various  members  of 
the  family.  Father  and  the  hired  man 
hare  a  had  case  of  saw  sickness.  They 
ought  to  he  out.  in  that  shed  sawing  or 
splitting  wood.  One  clear  indication  of 
saw  sickness  is  the  desire  to  spend  wet 
days  and  a  good  share  of  dry  ones  sav¬ 
ing  the  country  h.v  discussing  the  Euro¬ 
pean  war  and  electing  the  next  President. 
The  victim  of  this  sickness  proposes  to 
“prepare”  with  his  tuoutb — first  in  talk¬ 
ing  about -it  aird  then  in  eating  three  strong 
meals  whether  he  works  hard  or  not. 
Will  some  one  tell  me  why  the  average 
farmer  and  hired  man  have  such  a  hatred 
for  a  buck  saw?  When  I  was  n  hoy  the 
saw  and  the  scythe  were  considered  hon¬ 
orable  tools.  The  farm  hand  took  as 
much  pride  in  using  them  expertly  as  a 
soldier  would  in  using  his  weapons. 
With  the  coming  of  the  mowing  machine 
and  the  small  gasoline  engine  the  scythe 
and  the  hand  saw  have  come  to  be  re¬ 
garded  as  convict’s  tools  rather  than  hon¬ 
orable  weapons.  I  have  heard  men  get 
up  in  the  Grange  and  other  meetings  and 
wax  eloquent  over  what  they  would  do 
to  defend  the  rights  of  women.  But 
would  they  spend  a  wet  day  out  in  the 
shed  running  a  buck  saw  in  order  that 
the  wife  and  daughter  might  have  dry 
fuel?  What  is  the  answer?  Ton  know 
such  men !  No  use  talking,  a  good  day’s 
work  with  a  buck  saw  would  do  more 
than  the  ballot  to  enrich  the  lives  of 
thousands-  of  farm  women  in  this  coun¬ 
try.  Do  I  know  what  1  am  talking 
about?  I  have  just  spent  several  hours 
running  a  saw— and  ought  to  know. 
Foon. — There  is  another  subject  for 
an  essay  on  wet  weather.  It  was  Jon¬ 
athan  Swift  who  said: 
"The  hi  at  doctors  in  the  world  ore  Dr. 
Diet,  Dr.  Quiet,  and  Dr.  Merryman 
That  is  particularly  true  of  a  rainy 
season.  We  are  all  inclined  to  overeat 
in  wet  weather.  You  would  thiuk  that 
with  less  to  do  the  family  would  eat  less 
— but  just  ask  the  housekeeper  what  she 
has  to  say.  Most  of  us  seem  to  think 
that  since  we  cannot  do  so  much  on  the 
land  we  must  plan  to  do  more  at  the 
table.  Far  better  call  in  Dr.  Diet  at  such 
times,  and  put  him  in  charge.  You  will 
be  far  better  off,  in  this  weather,  to  eat 
less  meat  and  more  fruit  and  vegetables. 
As  for  T)r.  Quiet,  the  American  people 
need  him  now  as  they  never  did  before. 
We  have  been  in  such  a  whirl  for  the 
past  few  years  that  few  people  have  had 
any  time  for  serious  thinking.  Wo  have 
had  enough  of  words — now  there  must 
be  quiet,  individual  thinking,  and  a  sea¬ 
son  like  this  one  ought  to  lead  to  it.  Dr. 
Merryman  is  the  best  of  all.  The  ability 
to  throw  off  trouble  and  disappointment 
with  a  joke  or  a  happy  memory  is  a 
blessed  privilege.  Some  people  have  no 
sense  of  humor,  and  cannot  see  a  joke 
until  you  knock  them  down  and  graft 
it  into  them.  Some  of  these  senons- 
mi ruled  folks  think  they  are  great  citi¬ 
zens.  but  in  truth  they  are  just  about  as 
incapable  mentally  as  a  one-legged  man 
is  physically.  Some  people  go  to  an  ex¬ 
treme  and  “fool”  until  they  lose  all  rep¬ 
utation  for  sober  action,  but  the  man 
who  cannot  see  a  joke  at  all  is  nearly  as 
had.  Dr.  Merryman  often  comes  in  the 
form  of  happy  children.  A  hunch  of 
these  merry  little  people  in  the  house 
will  make  the  wet,  day  shine  like  a  star, 
la-t’s  forget  the  wet  weather: 
“The  world  goes  up  and  the  world  goes 
down. 
And  the  sunshine  follows  the  rain, 
And  yesterday's  sneer  and  yesterday’s 
frown 
Fan  never  come  over  again.” 
I  find  it.  well  to  keep  the  open  fire  go¬ 
ing  these  wet.  cheerless  nights.  If  it  is 
too  warm  you  can  open  the  windows,  but 
it  is  fine  to  have  something  dry  to  look 
at  in  all  this  wet.  H.  w.  C. 
Pure  Sweet  Clover  Seed 
Your  article  on  “Adulterated  Sweet 
Clover  Seed,”  page  707.  is  very  interest¬ 
ing.  It  is  a  very  easy  matter  to  adulter¬ 
ate  with  Alfalfa  seed.  As  the  seeds  look 
very  much  alike,  much  of  this  is  caused 
by  the  two  plants  growing  in  the  same 
field.  The  large  producers  who  harvest 
perhaps  -00  or  500  acres  of  Kwe  -t  clover 
seed  cannot  very  well  keep  <»nt  Alfalfa, 
Yellow  Sweet  clover,  wild  carrots  and 
parsnips,  and  all  other  weeds  that  ma¬ 
ture  at  the  same  time.  I  have  to  em¬ 
ploy  quite  a  large  number  of  men  to 
keep  them  out  of  m.v  50-acre  field  of 
sei  d.  but  T  keep  “everlastingly  at  it,” 
and  of  course  succeed  in  my  efforts,  but 
there  is  a  lot  of  work  about  it-  How¬ 
ever,  it  is  the  only  way  to  get  pure  seed. 
Every  “offender”  must,  he  pulled  out  or 
dug  out  and  carried  off  the  field,  and 
all  by  hand  labor. 
I  also  keep  the  roadsides  clear  of  all 
objectionable  plants  as  well  as  the  wild 
Sweet  clover,  which  I  consider  “no  good.” 
My  experience  shows  that  only  the  un¬ 
hulled  seed  ( so  as  to  carry  the  inocula¬ 
tion  |  should  he  used,  and  sown  only  be¬ 
tween  Dee.  1  and  March  1  on  the  snow, 
without  a  nurse  crop;  at  the  rati  of  25 
pounds  per  acre.  On  account  of  the 
enormous  expense  connected  with  grow¬ 
ing  pure  seed  free  from  Alfalfa  and  all 
noxious  weeds  m*  grower  can  afford  to 
sell  the  unhulled  for  less  than  20  cents 
per  pound  or  $5  per  acre,  but  when  you 
consider  that  it  is  worth  as  much  to  the 
land  as  20  loads  of  stable  manure  the 
cost  of  the  first  seeding  looks  small. 
New  York.  A.  B.  bloomixgdale. 
How  We  Raise  Buckwheat 
The  time  to  sow  buckwheat  is  non”  at 
hand.  Along  the  river  in  Bradford  Co., 
I*a.,  wlmre  the  fog  keeps  off  the  early  Fall 
frosts,  we  sow  from  the  1th  to  the  10th 
of  July.  Back  from  the  river  on  the  hills 
they  sow  a  little  earlier.  The  old  rule 
was  to  sow  when  the  chestnut  trees  were 
in  full  bloom.  The  later  it:  can  be  sown 
and  get  ripe  before  frost  comes,  the 
greater  will  be  the  yield.  It  naturally  be¬ 
longs  to  cool,  elevated  regions.  All  varie¬ 
ties  flourish  best  on  rather  light  soils.  On 
rich,  or  manured  soils,  it  is  apt  t<>  lodge 
badly,  he  difficult  to  harvest,  and  give  a 
poor  yield. 
After  the  oats  are  sown,  the  corn  and 
potatoes  planted,  we  plow  the  buckwheat 
ground.  It  plows  easier  before  it  gets 
dried  and  baked,  and  does  not  plow  up 
lumpy  and  cloddy.  It  is  believed  that, 
land  plowd  a  considerable  time  before 
sowing,  receives  in  some  mysterious  man¬ 
ner  a  benefit  from  flu*  sun  and  air.  which 
makes  the.  crop  better;  hut  the  main  object 
in  early  plowing  is  the  fact  that  plowed 
ground  absorbs  more  of  flu*  rains  which 
fall  previous  to  sowing  time  and  retains 
the  moisture  until  wanted 
In  this  locality  about  one  bushel  of  seed 
js  sown  per  acre.  It  doe  not  tiller  like 
wheat  and  rye;  it  semis  up  only  a  single 
stalk  from  a  kernel  sown,  but  if  not 
crowded,  it  branches  like  an  apple  tree, 
end)  branch  hearing  a  cluster  of  kernels. 
It  is  generally  sown  oil  Ihe  poorest  land 
on  the  farm,  because  land  that  will  pro¬ 
duce  a  tolerably  good  crop  of  buckwheat 
is  rather  too  poor  to  yield  a  profitable 
crop  of  any  other  grain.  It  will  grow  on 
poorer  land,  less  carefully  prepared,  than 
will  any  other  grain;  but  will  do  better 
on  land  of  moderate  fertility,  and  respond 
quickly  to  generous  treatment.  1  alike 
corn,  buckwheat  does  not  delight  in  hot 
weather,  especially  when  the  kernels  are 
in  the  milk  stage.  A  week  of  hot  sun¬ 
shiny  weather  then  will  blast  many  ker¬ 
nels.  and  greatly  reduce  the  yield. 
There  is  one  serious  objection  to  rais¬ 
ing  buckwheat.  It  does  not  fit  well  into 
any  regular  rotation  of  crops  which  are 
usually  raised  in  the  buckwheat  regions. 
Except  tit  this  reason,  there  is  no  doubt 
much  larger  quantities  would  he  pro¬ 
duced.  Some  farmers  raise  buckwheat 
not  only  because  it  is  a  profitable  grain 
crop,  hut  because  it  supplies  an  abundant 
forage  lor  their  honey-bees  at  the  time 
when  other  flowers  are  faded  and  gone. 
Our  name  buckwheat  is  derived  from 
the  German  word  buekweisen  or  “beech 
wheat.’  on  account  of  the  kernels  being 
three-cornered  like  beech  nuts,  and  “beech 
wheat.  ’  would  have  been  the  more  proper 
word  in  English,  than  the  one  in  use. 
The  most  popular  variety  with  us.  is  the 
Silver  Hull,  or  Gray.  When  the  Japan 
variety  was  introduced  into  our  neigh¬ 
borhood.  we  hoped  it  would  prove  a  valu¬ 
able  acquisition,  but  it  has  not  met  the 
favor  expected,  and  most  of  our  farmers 
have  abandoned  it  and  returned  to  the 
old  varieties.  The  kernels  are  larger,  but 
it  yields  no  more  bushels  per  acre,  weighs 
no  more  per  measured  bushel,  makes  no 
more  flour,  and  the  flour  is  not  so  white 
as  the  flour  from  the  Gray.  Moreover,  it 
sprouts  quicker  after  it  is  ripe.  I  have 
seen  it  sprouted  before  it  was  cut. 
Pennsylvania.  j.  w.  man  am. 
Flavor  of  Bordeaux  Mixture 
Mr.  Johnson  of  Missouri  writes  of  m  t 
Spraying  after  a  two  months'  period  be¬ 
fore  the  ripening  of  the  grapes.  I  have 
never  used  any  spray,  and  I  have  fruit¬ 
ed  some  of  the  most  difficult  varieties. 
Duchess.  Walter,  Amber  Queen,  Senas- 
qua.  Secretary  and  similar  ones.  I  was 
completely  cured  of  any  desire  to  spray 
after  a  visit  to  a  neighbor  who  wanted 
me  to  identify  his  vines,  as  he  intended 
exhibiting  at  a  county  fair  He  had  the 
grapes  coated  with  Bordeaux  until  the 
bloom  and  “looks”  of  the  hunches  wi  re 
destroyed :  besides  upon  tasting  the 
grapes  I  had  more  of  a  sulphuric  acid 
flavor  than  that  of  the  grape.  If  the 
grower  will  give  air  to  li is  vines,  keep 
out  of  the  shade,  he  will  have  little  if 
any  trouble  from  mildew  and  the  brown 
and  black  rots.  To  abandon  growing  the 
Duchess  would  rob  me  of  a  great  pleas¬ 
ure;  a  vine  rampant  in  growth,  full  of 
beautiful  leaves  as  graceful  as  any  vines 
planted  for  ornamental  uses.  The  bunch¬ 
es  are  a  light  yellow  when  ripe,  large 
and  a  most  attractive  bunch  in  shape, 
and  it  is  amongst  the  “best”  for  des¬ 
sert.  I  find  that  some  growers  discard 
a  variety  without  trials  in  different  s!t- 
untions. 
One  of  the  greatest  causes  of  failure 
is  the  lack  of  severe  pruning  of  useless 
wood.  The  great  Forhy  has  on  a  big 
10  or  20  year  old  vine  sometimes  but 
one  shoot  12  to  IS  inches  long.  A  man 
who  lets  all  the  wood  grow  has  a  mass 
of  leaves  and  hunches  so  shaded  as  to  en¬ 
courage  mildew  and  rots  and  failure. 
Fare  should  be  observed  in  Summer 
pruning  to  keep  the  leaf  and  shoot  that 
is  opposite  the  bunch,  aud  it  is  best  not 
to  nip  off  the  shoot  closer  than  one  or 
two  joints  above  the  bunch. 
I  certainly  wouldn’t  care  to  grow 
grapes  if  I  had  to  have  them  flavored 
with  Bordeaux  mixture,  and  yet  the 
authorities  in  the  interests  of  spray  man¬ 
ufacturers  are  trying  to  get  spray-laws 
passed,  it  form  of  persecution,  for  no 
law  can  eradicate  and  each  individual 
tree  or  vine  can  he  protected  by  spray 
if  the  grower  wishes.  No  law  can  era¬ 
dicate  because  of  the  couutless  thou¬ 
sands  of  wild  vines  anil  trees  that  can¬ 
not  be  found  to  be  sprayed  and  for  an 
official  to  require  a  cultivated  garden 
sprayed  and  leave  the  wilderness  uu- 
sprnyed  is  not  sensible.  In  this  chestnut 
blight  trouble  were  a  law  made  for  com¬ 
plete  eradication  of  all  trees  and  sill 
roots  to  prevent  growth  of  suckers,  why 
the  task  is  a  physical  impossibility,  for 
all  other  work  would  have  to  be  aband¬ 
oned  for  perhaps  a  season.  Why,  if  it 
becomes  obligatory  to  spray  a  man  should 
not  even  lie  allowed  to  trespass  and  throw 
an  apple  core  away  for  the  seeds  to  grow, 
l.et  Mr.  Johnson  take  a  careful  view  cf 
his  orchard  aud  vineyard,  study  the  sit¬ 
uation  and  1  doubt  not  but  that  in  an¬ 
other  year  he  will  have  uo  trouble  with 
his  Duchess.  If  he  have  a  moist  situa¬ 
tion  try  growing  Duchess  against  a 
house  or  barn  and  he’ll  have  no  trouble 
with  mildew  roots. 
Maryland.  elbekt  wakeman. 
