1032 
UAe  RURAL  NEW-YORKER 
HOPE  FARM  NOTES 
The  Season — By  July  15  we  are 
usually  able  to  figure  on  the  season's  out¬ 
come  with  some  accuracy.  The  straw¬ 
berry  crop  was  nearly  a  failure.  Wo  had 
barely  15  per  cent,  of  a  normal  yield. 
The  wet  Spring  filled  the  beds  with  grass 
and  weeds  and  as  the  ruins  continued 
there  was  no  chance  for  clearing  them 
all  out  at  any  profit.  Then  during  bloom¬ 
ing  and  on  up  to  picking  the  w°t 
weather  continued  and  the  berries 
rotted  by  the.  crate.  It  was  hard  to 
see  those  great  berries — nearly  as  large 
as  A  st  inch  an  apples  fill  out  and  then 
just  as  they  started  to  color,  begin  to 
show  rot  on  the  under  side !  There  was 
nothing  you  could  do  but  let  them  go 
and  keep  as  good  natured  as  possible. 
The  currants  and  bush  fruits  wore  not 
quite  so  bad,  but  the  wet  season  has  cut 
them  all. 
IIay — There  never  was  a  better  grow¬ 
ing  season,  for  the  rains  have  pushed  the 
grass  on  like  magic.  We  topdressed  our 
grass  in  April  and  it  responded  in  great 
shape  with  the  heaviest  yield  we  ever 
had.  Then  we  have  cut  several  outside 
pieces  so  that  the  barns  are  filled  to  the 
roof.  As  it  happened  we  cut  most  of  our 
grass  in  the  early  part  of  July  when 
there  was  a  solid  week  of  sunshine.  This 
made  the  finest  of  hay.  Next  week  the 
rain  started  in  again  and  the  grass  was 
"cured”  between  showers,  which  makes 
it  a  stow  rather  than  a  plain  roast.  The 
result  is  that  we  shall  have  more  and 
better  hay  than  ever  before.  That’s  a 
comfort  because  I  had  to  buy  some  hay 
this  Slicing  to  carry  us  out  and  it  cost 
$28  or  more  per  ton  at  our  station.  If 
the  original  grower  of  that  hay  got  $12 
per  ton  after  baling  I  shall  be  sur¬ 
prised. 
Potatoes — We  planted  25  barrels  or 
more — mostly  early  varieties.  I  figured 
that  the  earlier  planting  would  be  short 
both  on  account  of  the  lack  of  potash 
and  the  high  price  of  seed.  So  we  put 
in  mostly  potatoes  of  Irish  Cobbler  sea¬ 
son,  selecting  patches  of  soil  here  and 
there  which  seemed  best  suited.  At  the 
middle  of  July  it  looks  like  the  best  crop 
we  ever  grew.  The  vines  are  green  and 
vigorous  and  many  tubers  are  already 
large  enough  to  sell.  Blight  is  reported 
as  very  bad  in  the  valleys  below  us.  but 
on  our  bills  thus  far  there  is  no  showing. 
This  hot,  damp  weather  is  what  it  pre¬ 
fers,  however,  and  we  shall  get  it  before 
long.  Just  now  it  is  a  good  race  between 
the  vines  and  the  blight,  one  trying  to 
make  marketable  tubers  and  the  other 
trying  to  head  them  off.  Thus  far  the 
odds  are  on  the  vines.  Most  of  our  crop 
this  year  was  planted  on  an  old  sod 
where  we  started  young  orchards.  I 
know  the  risk  of  finding  too  many  grubs 
and  wire  worms  in  such  old  sod,  hut  we 
took  it  and  apparently  won.  Aside  from 
this  grub  and  worm  trouble  these  old 
soils  make  good  potato  soil  in  a  wet  sea¬ 
son  like  the  present.  The  moisture  seems 
to  decay  the  old  stubble  and  roots  as  it 
does  the  grass  left  on  top  of  the  ground 
and  this  makes  the  potatoes  jump.  The. 
hoys  dumped  a  lot  of  lawn  clippings  in 
a  corner  of  the  field  where  they  lay  iu 
the  rain  for  several  months.  At  the  end 
of  that  time  they  were  so  thoroughly 
decayed  that  you  could  not  tell  them 
from  cow  manure.  Last  year  we  plowed 
an  ohl  Alfalfa  patch  and  planted  po¬ 
tatoes.  There  was  a  great  crop  and  this 
year  we  have  repeated  by  planting  po¬ 
tatoes  once  more.  You  can  still  tell  where 
the  Alfalfa  was  plowed  under  by  the 
color  of  the  potato  plants. 
Oats  and  PEAS-  -An  apple  orchard  of 
old  high-headed  trees  had  been  iu  sod  for 
nearly  35  years.  It  gave  fair  yields  of 
grass,  but  was  about  played  out.  as  a 
meadow.  We  plowed  it  this  Spring,  gave 
a  good  dressing  of  lime  and  seeded  to 
oats  and  peas  and  sweet  clover.  No 
fertilizer  was  used,  as  we  used  stable 
manure  last,  year  after  cutting  the  grass. 
The  oats  and  peas  are  fine.  They  were 
cut  about  July  20  and  will  make  good 
hay.  To  my  surprise  the  sweet  clover 
has  come  up  like  a  weed — being  nearly 
a  foot  high  iu  places  before  the  oats  and 
peas  were  cut.  If  it  comes  on  as  1  expect 
it  will  make  a  great  crop  for  that 
orchard,  and  seeding  with  oats  and  peas 
ought  to  make  a  fine  combination  for 
situations  like  ours. 
Corn — As  usual,  we  plant,  our  flint 
coin  between  the  tree  rows  in  the  young 
orchard.  First  we  plow  under  the  cover 
crop  of  rye  and  clover,  then  use  about 
GOO  pounds  of  lime  to  the  acre.  When 
the  corn  is  well  up  we  put  a  handful  of 
corn  fertilizer  around  each  hill,  give  as 
good  culture  as  we.  can  and  late  in 
August  seed  another  cover  crop  right 
in  the  com — and  then  let  it  alone.  It 
was  rather  hard  to  carry  out  this  pro¬ 
gramme  fully  this  year  on  account  of 
the  continued  rains.  We  finally  got  in 
some  15  acres.  It  was  late  planted  and 
is  now  grassy  and  weedy,  but  we  can 
get  some  corn  if  we  can  only  have  some 
sunshine  in  late  July  and  August.  The 
most  thorough  work  with  cultivators  and 
hoes  in  the  hot  sunshine  will  be  required 
to  clean  part  of  this  corn  up.  Some 
fields  near  here  became  so  weedy  that  it 
was  evident  it  wouh^  not.  pay  to  culti¬ 
vate  them,  so  they  were  plowed  to  he 
seeded  to  millet  or  a  fresh  start  with 
bidder  corn.  Day  labor  now  costs  $2 
for  a  nine-hour  day  in  our  neighborhood! 
Peaches — We  shall  have  some  peaches 
— perhaps  half  a  crop.  They  are  mostly 
white  peaches  like  Carman  or  Belle. 
There  are  not  many  Elbert  ns  or  other 
yellow  kinds.  I  hoped  to  get  a  good  Line, 
on  the  behavior  of  .1.  TT.  Hale  lids  year, 
but  our  young  trees  have  set  very  few 
fruits — much  like  Elbe rta  in  this  respect. 
Our  pencil  trees  are  scattered  about  in 
small  blocks  on  what,  seems  the  best  soil 
— within  sight  of  the  house.  Crowing 
peaches  on  the  hill — out  of  sight — -floes 
not  appeal  to  me  ns  it  does  to  the  city 
visitors,  who  like  to  sample  such  fruit. 
At  any  rate  I  doubt  the  profit  for  os  in 
the  long  run  at  peach  culture.  Probably 
we  are  not.  human  ‘‘peaches”  except  at 
the  art  of  eating  them.  It  seems  to  re¬ 
quire  a  peculiar  combination  of  human 
energy  and  personality  to  succeed  at 
peach  growing.  While  our  trees  have 
proved  profitable  and  we  grow  good  fruit, 
I  think  the  apple  business  suits  us  bet¬ 
ter.  1  think  peaches  will  pay  better  dur¬ 
ing  the  next  few  years  because  most  of 
those  who  are  not  natural  peach  growers 
will  get  out  of  the  business.  I  think  they 
will  be  better  out  than  in. 
Arri.ES — It  looks  at  this  time  like  the 
best  crop  we  have  had,  though  this  is 
what  we  usually  consider  an  “off”  year. 
Some  of  our  best  trees  are  coming  back 
with  a  fair  crop  after  a  heavy  one  last 
season  and  many  of  the  younger  trees 
are  with  us — carrying  a  load.  The  trees 
have  all  made  a  fine  growth  and  are 
wonderful  iu  color.  1  am  trying  a  new 
deal  in  one  block  of  ubuiit.  800  trees. 
For  the  past  few  years  this  orchard  has 
been  plowed  annually,  limed  and  planted 
to  flint  corn,  with  rye  and  clover  seeded 
at  the  last  cultivation.  This  year  there 
■was  a  rather  thin  seeding  of  rye  but  a 
good  stand  of  Alsike  clover.  This  has 
come  on  strong  and  thick  about  the  best 
Alsike  I  ever  saw.  The  wet  season  has 
kept  the  ground  moist  and  we  were  so 
delayed  with  our  farm  work  that  this 
orchard  was  not  plowed.  By  early  July 
the  trees  had  made  about  all  the  growth 
that  was  good  f<u*  them  with  the  soil 
wet  enough  to  mature  the  fruit.  It.  would 
have  cost  $125  at  least  to  plow  and  fit 
that  orchard.  A  great  mass  of  redtop 
had  worked  into  the  clover  and  rye;  we 
might  easily  take  out  five  tons  of  good 
hay  and ‘leave  something  there  for  mulch¬ 
ing.  1  finally  decided  to  try  a  new 
scheme.  We  seeded  eight  to  10  pounds 
per  acre  of  scarified  sweet  clover  seed 
right  in  the  nunl  all  over  that  orchard. 
Then  the.  rye,  clover,  grass  and  weeds 
will  he  cut.  and  left  right  on  the  ground. 
It  seems  like  a  sinful  waste  not  to  take 
that  out  as  hay.  but  those  trees  will  soon 
he  giving  100  barrels  and  more  per  acre 
and  I  think  it  wiser  to  feed  the  hay  right 
to  these  trees.  The  sweet  clover  is  start¬ 
ing  under  that  cover  of  rotting  clover  and 
grass  and  I  hope  to  have  a  fair  seeding 
by  the  end  of  Fall.  Next  year  I  can  cut 
it  twice  and  pile  around  the  trees  and 
thus  avoid  the  expense  of  plowing  two 
years  in  three.  This  is  a  new  one  with 
me  and  it  may  not  work  out  as  I  expect. 
Had  it  been  a  year  of  drought  l  might 
not  have  been  willing  to  try  it.  This 
year  the  soil  has  moisture  enough  for 
all — trees,  fruit,  clover  and  weeds.  By 
cut  ling  off  the  latter  and  leaving  the  cut¬ 
tings  on  the  ground  we  hope  to  get  our 
fruit  and  save  plowing. 
Dor,  Day  Notes — These  are  the  days 
which  try  the  farm  family — worse,  1 
think,  than  Winter.  Everything  you 
touch  seems  wet  and  sticky;  work  is  at 
its  hardest  and  every  farm  enemy — from 
weeds  to  potato  blight  is  working  over¬ 
time.  Of  course  those  who  can  vacate  and 
take  in  the  seashore  or  the  mountains 
escape  some  of  it,  but  it  is  a  mean  time 
at  best.  Mother  says  she  feels  doubly 
grateful  for  the.  spring  when  these  hot, 
sticky  days  come.  We  can  all  remember 
when  the  windmill  supplied  power  for 
pumping.  On  these  lifeless  days  there  was 
no  punch  to  the  air  and  the  mill  stood 
still.  You  know  what  happened  to  the 
water  supply  in  such  cases.  Now  the 
spring  on  the  hillside  is  always  on  tap. 
Turn  a  valve  and  that  cool,  soft,  water 
at  once  runs  down  hill  and  jumps  willing¬ 
ly  into  the  tank.  Some  difference  between 
that  and  the  way  the  water  iu  our  well 
growled  and  fumed  when  it  had  to  he 
pumped  up.  No  one  can  know  what  a 
luxury  it  is  to  have  this  cool  spring 
water  constantly  waiting  to  serve  us. 
I  suppose  I  ought  not  to  tell  how  many 
gallons  of  water  our  folks  use  each  day. 
Another  great  luxury  these  damp  days 
is  dry  wood  for  the  kitchen  stove.  A 
fine  quick  fire  puts  the  meal  over  and 
then  the  stove  may  take  a  vacation.  Our 
girls  have  an  electric  flatiron,  which  is 
on  the  job  in  great  shape.  A  mosquito 
inspector  looked  us  over  the  other  day 
and  found  two  breeding  places.  One  was 
July  29,  1916. 
an  old  barrel  out  behind  the  barn,  the 
other  a  little  pond  which  l he  children 
had  made  for  sailing  boats.  Many  a 
farm  family  is  sept  in  misery  because 
some  tin  can  or  old  bucket  out  of  sight 
iK  left  half  filled  with  stagnant  water  in 
which  mosquitoes  can  breed.  We  are 
learning  how  to  fight  this  pest  in  New 
Jersey.  H.  w.  c. 
Field  Telephone  in  Forestry 
Forestry  patrolmen  in  the  National 
Forestry  Survey  will  carry  a  portable 
telephone  weighing  only  21,/.  pounds.  It 
is  said  that  a  field  man  equipped  with 
this  telephone,  a  few  yards  of  light  emer¬ 
gency  wire,  and  a  short  piece  of  heavy 
wire  to  make  the  ground  connection  can 
cut  in  anywhere  along  the  more  than  20,- 
000  miles  of  Forest  Service  telephone 
lines  and  get  in  touch  with  the  head¬ 
quarters  of  a  supervisor  or  district 
ranger.  To  talk,  one  end  of  the  emer¬ 
gency  wire  is  thrown  over  the  telephone 
line,  the  two  ends  are  connected  to  the 
portable  instrument,  and  the  instrument 
is  connected  to  the  ground  wire,  the  end 
of  which  must  be  thrust  into  the  damp 
earth  or  in  water.  Contact  with  the  line 
wire  is  made  possible  by  removal  of  the 
insulation  from  a  few  inches  of  the  emer¬ 
gency  wire. 
Finding  a  Blind  Ditch 
I  have  a  blind  ditch  running  through 
an  orchard,  and  wish  to  run  cellar  drain 
into  i.t ;  but  iu  order  to  have  enough  fall 
to  the  drain  it  comes  six  inches  below  the 
bottom  of  ditch.  It  is  at  the  bead  of  the 
ditch,  is  there  any  way  I  can  arrange 
this,  or  shall  1  have  to  dig  a  new  and 
deeper  ditch  ?  I  thought  I  might  dig  a 
hole  and  fill  with  stone  at  end  of  drain. 
Would  that  work,  and  how  big  would  it 
have  to  be  7  C.  \v.  c. 
llammoudsport,  N.  Y. 
Possibly  to  relocate  part  of  present 
drain  and  proposed  cellar  drain,  one  or 
both,  or  join  the  cellar  drain  to  the  pres¬ 
ent  drain,  farther  down,  might  give  the 
desired  solution  and  fall.  If  not  take  up 
a  few  feet,  or  rods,  as  the  case  may  de¬ 
mand,  regrade  and  relay  it  on  a  grade, 
that  will  be  right  and  deep  enough  to 
serve  the  cellar  properly.  However 
never  resort  to  any  short-cut  method  that 
may  promise  economy.  A  few  hours  ex¬ 
tra  work,  or  a  little  additional  cost  may 
in  the  end  convert  a  failure  into  a  per¬ 
manent  job  and  success. 
T.  E.  MARTIN. 
Beat  The  Hessian  Fly! 
Seed  your  wheat  late  so  that  the  Hessian  Fly  cannot  lay  its  eggs  upon  the  young 
plants  and  injure  them  next  spring.  The  United  States  Department  of  Agriculture 
(Farmers’  Bulletin  No.  640)  says: 
“The  application  broadcast  of  some  quick,  acting  fertilizer  containing  a  large  percentage  of  phosphate 
(phosphorus)  made  as  soon  as  general  infestation  is  apparent  will  cause  the  plants  to  tiller  more  freely 
and  give  them  sufficient  vigor  to  withstand  the  winter  and  thus  increase  the  number  of  healthy  stems 
the  following  spring _ While  it  may  seem  ‘far  fetched’  to  bring  forward  as  a  preventive  measure  the 
enrichment  of  the  soil,  a  fertile  soil  will  produce  plants  that  Will  withstand  with  little  injury  attacks 
that  will  prove  disastrous  to  plants  growing  on  an  impoverished  or  thin  soil . It  is  also  on  the  thin 
or  impoverished  soils  that  the  difficulty  of  sowing  late  enough  to  evade  the  fall  attack  and  at  the  same 
time  secure  a  growth  sufficient  to  withstand  the  winter  is  encountered,  and  whatever  can  be  done  to 
obviate  this  difficulty  will  constitute  a  preventive  measure.” 
Make  Your  Wheat  Pay 
E.  Frank  Coe  Fertilizers  contain  quickly  available  Ammonia  and  Available  Phosphoric  Acid.  They 
will  produce  a  strong  growth  this  fall  and  carry  the  crop  into  the  winter  in  first  class  condition.  Select  a  brand 
containing  not  less  than  2%  of  quickly  effective  Ammonia  and  at  least  1  0%  of  Available  Phosphoric  Acid. 
Acid  Phosphate  alone  will  not  push  the  growth  like  an  ammoniated  fertilizer. 
To  aid  our  farmer  friends  in  securing  the  greatest  profit  from  their  wheat  crops  we  have  published  a  practical 
booklet  entitled  “Winter  Wheat.’’  1  his  contains  a  chart  showing  the  best  date  for  seeding  in  your  section  and  also 
a  great  deal  of  practical  information  in  regard  to  the  Wheat  crop.  If  you  will  tell  us  the  number  of  acres  you 
intend  to  sow  this  season  we  will  send  you  a  copy  free  of  charge. 
The  Coe-Mortimer  Company 
Subsidiary  of  the  American  Agricultural  Chemical  Co. 
51  Chambers  Street  -  New  York  City 
WAR  PRICES  FOR  WHEAT  OFFER  UNUSUAL  OPPORTUNITIES  FOR  AMERICAN  FARMERS 
INSURE  THE  SUCCESS  OF  YOUR  CROP  BY  USING 
E.  Frank  Coe’s  Special  Grain  Fertilizers 
1857 
THE  BUSINESS  FARMERS’  STANDARD  FOR  NEARLY  SIXTY  YEARS 
1916 
