1594 
2T/><?  RURAL  NEW-YORKER 
HOPE  FARM  NOTES 
Moving  On. — A  few  weeks  ago  I  spoke 
of  a  visit  from  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Win.  A. 
Olds,  of  Michigan.  They  are  out  for  a 
year’s  vacation — driving  their  horse  from 
Michigan  to  Florida  and  back  home 
through  the  Middle  West.  Last  week 
they  wrote  me  from  Raleigh.  X.  C,  They 
are  having  a  fine  time,  and  are  now 
headed  for  Knoxville,  Term.  The  beauty 
of  such  a  trip  is  you  can  go  where  you 
like,  change  your  route  and  plans  to  suit, 
and  simply  do  just  as  yon  please.  This 
could  not  be  done  if  you  went  as  a  “tour¬ 
ist"  by  raiirond  or  in  a  car.  but  with  the 
old  reliable  horse  you  “hit  the  trail”  or 
Shake  hands  with  it  as  the  fancy  tits  in. 
Supplies. — The  thing  which  strikes  a 
hustling  farmer  like  Mr.  Olds  first  of  all 
is  the  way  those  Southern  land-owners 
depend  on  other  sections  for  support.  In 
order  to  furnish  fodder  for  the  horse  Mr. 
Olds  has  to  buy  baled  hay  from  Michi¬ 
gan.  It  may  he  some  of  the  very  hay  he 
raised  on  his  Michigan  farm  and  sold  j<> 
a  dealer.  When  he  buys  a  bale  of  hay  in 
North  Carolina  he  can  compare  the  price 
with  what,  he  received  at  home  for  a  car¬ 
load  and  sec  whether  he  gets  a  35-cent 
dollar  or  not.  The  soil  along  the  road 
where  he  is  travelling  is  naturally  of 
good  quality  and  could  if  handled  prop¬ 
erly.  produce  more  hay  to  the  acre  than 
the  Michigan  farm  !  On  his  way  Mr. 
Olds  meets  men  driving  to  town  with  a 
load  of  cotton  to  sell.  They  go  back 
with  a  few  bales  of  Northern  hay.  a  bask¬ 
etful  of  canned  goods,  a  side  of  bacon,  a 
package  of  oleo  and,  if  they  can  afford  it, 
potatoes  and  other  vegetables.  Mr.  Olds 
says  he  finds  little  but  turnips  and  cab¬ 
bage  growing  in  their  gardens  You  can 
imagine  how  that  hits  an  expert  truck 
grower  when  lie  sees  this  good  land  left 
lazy  and  ragged  ! 
A  IIav  Bale.— I  ought  not.  perhaps,  to 
find  much  fault  with  this  hay  business 
after  what  happened  to  us.  A  Georgia 
man  bought  a  bale  of  Michigan  liny 
some  years  ago.  and  thought,  he  Imd  a 
fine  bargain.  When  he  came  to  open  it 
lie  found  in  the  center  n  big  stone  weigh¬ 
ing  nearly  20  pounds  !  Some  enterprising 
Michigan  farmer  had  been  curing  Timothy 
without  reading  the  Epistle  to  Timothy: 
“For  the  lore  of  money  is  the  root  of  all 
evil”  At.  any  rate  he  put  in  the  big 
stone,  and  as  if  to  he  careful  of  it  he 
wrapped  a  copy  of  The  R.  N.-Y.  around 
it!  We  are  sorry  to  see  the  paper  used 
in  that  way.  but  after  it  gets  away  from 
us  we  arc  not  responsible.  At  any  rate 
this  Georgia  man  felt  that  the  man  who 
would  put  a  stony  heart  into  a  lmy  bale 
must  have  a  marble  heart  himself.  He 
started  to  kindle  the  fire  with  the  paper, 
but  first  glanced  it  over  and  happened  to 
find  an  article  which  told  him  just  what 
he  wanted  to  know.  The  result  was  that 
he  subscribed  and  has  developed  quite  a 
little  club  of  subscribers.  That  man 
keeps  the  big  stone  as  representing  one 
type  of  Yankee,  while  he  talks  up  The 
R.  N.-Y.  because  he  says  that  stands  for 
a  very  different  type!  lie  says  the  world 
is  so  mixed  up  that  a  fraud  in  a  hay  bale 
may  walk  right  hand  in  hand  with  fair 
dealing. 
WRy  Is  It? — A  man  like  Mr.  Olds, 
trained  to  work  hard,  and  driven  under 
the  lash  of  necessity  and  hard  cliuiat(', 
cannot  understand  why  the  Southern  men 
do  not  cultivate  their  land  better*  and 
push  things  harder.  He  says  people  tell 
him  in  a  perfectly  good-natured  way  that 
they  know  they  are  lazy  and  don't  like  to 
work.  One  man  said:  “I  am  sorter  like 
a  steer — I  don’t  like  to  work  when  it’s 
warm,  and  it’s  warm  here  most  of  the 
time.”  On  the  other  hand,  I  have  had 
Southern  men  come  up  here  during  our 
busy  season  and  see  how  our  farmers 
work.  They  get  up  at  daybreak  and 
drive  their  work  through  every  day  hour, 
holding  on  by  sheer  force  of  will.  Our 
Southern  friends  see  this  and  shake  their 
heads  sadly.  “You  work  too  hard!"  they 
say.  "What  is  the  use  of  all  this  driving 
and  worry?  You  handle  more  money  than 
we  do,  and  think  you  arc  the  more  pros¬ 
perous,  but  you  have  twice  the  work  and 
worry,  and  never  can  go  hunting  or  fish¬ 
ing.  It  is  just  one  long  round  of  work, 
work,  work  !” 
Two  Views  of  Life. — I  think  one  man 
is  just  about  as  sincere  as  the  other. 
The  Northern  man  sees  neglected  fields, 
shiftless  habits,  needless  buying  and  un¬ 
developed  resources.  Not  knowing  the 
history  of  the  people,  the  social  ambi¬ 
tions  or  the  effects  of  climate,  lie  puts  :t 
down  to  pure  laziness,  and  goes  on — 
thankful  that  he  is  not  like  these  other 
men.  Then  comes  the  Southerner  and 
sees  men  and  women  driving  and  toiling 
with  tense  muscles  and  alert  brains, 
counting  the  useless  day  off  or  the  “lazy 
spell-'  as  sins,  and  driving,  driving,  to 
make  the  farm  worth  more  and  lay  up  a 
few  dollars.  lie  shakes  bis  head  and  re¬ 
gards  all  this  thrift  and  hustle  as  Hot 
worth  the  price.  "True,”  he  says,  “these 
people  handle  more  money  than  we  do, 
and  they  can  buy  better  things,,  but  they 
work  too  hard.  They  have  lost,  neighbor¬ 
ly  feeling  and  kindly  sympathy,  and  they 
have  lost  the  greatest  joy  of  life — the 
ability  to  enjoy  to  the  limit  a  good,  old- 
fashioned  loaf!” 
The  Power  To  Loaf.-  Perhaps  you 
have  never  thought  it,  but  this  way  of 
looking  at  the  art  of  loafing  properly  has 
more  to  do  with  differences  between  sec¬ 
tions  than  most  of  the  so-called  political 
questions.  Here  will  he  one  mail  whose 
highest  ambition  is  to  accumulate  a  little 
property  or  hit  some  lifelong  job  so  that 
he  may  quit  and  loaf  for  the  rest  of  his 
days.  This  "loafing”  will  just  he  an  easy 
saunter  through  the  rest  of  his  life,  work¬ 
ing  as  little  as  possible  either  with  mind 
or  body — just  “loafing.”  Then  there  will 
he  the  man  who  works  for  the  love  of  it. 
No  quitting  or  loafing  for  him.  The  years 
are  all  too  short  in  which  to  accomplish 
halt  he  wants  to  do.  and  he  goes  on  after 
ho  has  a  competence,  working  and  think¬ 
ing  and  driving  to  the  end.  I  remember 
telling  a  younger  man  once  that  I  take 
no  "vacations,”  and  do  not  expect  to  stop 
working  as  long  as  I  can  possibly  keep  at 
it.  lie  look'  d  at  me- — I  am  something  of 
a  mind  reader  and  I  know  he  was  saying 
to  himself:  “Thank  the  Lord  I  didn't 
come  from  Gape  God  or  anywhere  else  in 
A  ankee  land  where  the  love  of  pure  loafing 
is  frozen  out  of  a  man’s  system  !’’ 
New  Years. — I  wanted  to  carry  out 
this  thought  and  show,  as  I  think  I  can. 
how  this  difference  as  to  the  value  of 
loafing  is  at  the  base  of  it  all — the  thing 
which  is  separating  the  North  and  East 
from  the  South  and  the  West.  The  West 
is  not  a  lazy  section  by  any  means  hut  the 
growing  ambition  out  there  seems  to  he 
the  power  to  quit  at  about  50  and  let 
some  one  else  do  the  hard  work.  In  the 
East  men  do  not  as  a  rule  mature  so  early 
in  life,  and  they  do  not  want  to  “retire.” 
They  prefer  to  keep  on  working  up  to  the 
end-  Of  course,  I  do  not  speak  of  all  men 
in  this,  but  of  the  ruling  classes.  The. 
great  sectional  differences  come  down  to 
these  different  views  regarding  “loafing” 
as  a  necessary  part  of  life.  We  will 
thrash  this  out  later.  Just  now  it’s  New 
Year’s.  The  next  year  promises  to  be  a 
wonderful  period  in  the  world’s  history. 
Great  changes  are  coming  in  all  lines  of 
work.  I  do  not  care  much  for  the  com¬ 
mon  idea  of  beginning  once  a  year  to 
think  of  things  as  "new.'’  Why  not  con¬ 
sider  each  day  the  “new”  period  of  time? 
The  year  is  made  Op  of  days,  and  if  we 
expect  to  make  the  new  year  anything  of 
what  it  should  he  we.  must  take  it  day  by 
day  and  put  it  over.  The  same  way  with 
these  great  events  and  world  changes. 
They  will  all  be  worked  out  in  little  sim¬ 
ple  things  enacted  in  your  home  j.ntl 
mine.  All  things  in  nature  grow  by 
atoms  so  small  you  can  hardly  see  them 
with  a  microscope.  It  is  the  same  with 
history.  Growth  is  not  made  by  great 
earthquakes  or  political  upheaval,  hut  by 
millions  of  little  events — all  put  together. 
We  are  all  going  on  together  for  another 
year.  It  will  be  a  lively  one,  with  large 
demands  upon  all  of  us.  Come  on ! 
llappy  New  Year  !  u.  w.  c. 
Work  in  the  Onion  Patch 
The  picture  at  Fig.  025  may  seem  a 
1-ttle  out  of  date  to  some  readers,  for 
who  would  think  of  weeding  onions  in 
January?  Some  of  our  Florida  friends 
might  find  the  picture  appropriate,  but 
this  one  was  taken  in  New  Jersey.  We 
print  it  not  so  much  because  the  work 
itself  is  timely,  but  because  it  is  more 
than  a  picture — u  text — which  might 
well  be  considered  here  at  the  close  of 
the  year.  Some  years  ago  two  little 
girls  wanted  to  help  their  father,  and 
so  they  got  down  on  their  knees  and 
toiled  through  the  hot  sun  to  clean  up  a 
small  onion  patch.  It  was  grassy  and 
weedy,  and  they  had  to  use  their  lingers 
until  they  thought  that  about  one-quar¬ 
ter  of  au  inch  had  been  worn  off  the 
end  of  the  thumb  and  forefinger.  They 
stayed  by  it,  however,  and  finally  there 
came  a  Sunday  afternoon  when  father 
entild  point  with  pride  to  his  onion 
patch,  so  he  took  one  of  the  neighbors 
out  to  show  him  how  an  onion  patch 
ought  to  look.  The  neighbor  looked  it 
over  and  was  greatly  pleased.  ‘Now 
December  30,  1916. 
then.”  he  said,  “that’s  fine.  I  have  half 
an  acre  of  onions  that  are  in  very  bad 
shape,  and  I  will  hire  those  little  girls 
to  come  and  clean  it  up,  since  they 
have  done  such  a  fine  job.”  And  father 
fell  in  with  the  scheme;  and  the  result 
was  those  poor  little  girls  toiled  prac¬ 
tically  all  Summer  pulling  weeds  in  that 
half  acre  patch.  The  sun  burnt  down 
upon  them,  the  rains  turned  the  soil  into 
mud,  but  still  they  were  obliged  to  toil 
on,  for  the  weeds  never  slept,  and  they 
hud  to  be  pulled  out  by  the  fingers,  and 
father  put  the  payment  for  all  this  la¬ 
bor  into  his  pocket,  told  his  (laughters 
they  were  good  little  girls,  and  let  it 
go  at  that.  Whenever  those  girls,  now 
grown  up  to  be  women,  see  an  onion 
patch,  they  remember  their  old  exper¬ 
ience,  and  I  should  hesitate  to  be  the 
one  to  try  to  convince  them  that  there  is 
any  truth  in  the  old  text  "Virtue  is  its 
own  reward.”  They  will  testify  that  if 
they  had  only  neglected  their  father’s 
patch,  and  let  it  go  to  weeds  and  grass, 
they  would  have  received  a  mild  scold¬ 
ing,  but  that  would  have  been  the  end. 
They  worked,  however,  and  gained  a 
reputation  which  represented  virtue,  and 
that  immediately  led  them  into  trouble, 
as  they  were  expected  to  exorcise  their 
good  qualities  on  a  much  larger  scale, 
without  any  reward  whatever.  Some  of 
our  parents  may  well  take  this  text  to 
heart  here  at  the  close  of  the  year,  for 
when  their  children  really  practice  self- 
denial  and  do  a  job  that  is  worthy,  they 
ought  to  he  paid  and  rewarded  for  it, 
and  not  have  it  used  as  a  penance  in  the 
shape  of  extra  work. 
Discolored  Kerosene 
We  have  a  500-gallon  tank  of  kerosene. 
Some  surface  water  leaked  into  same, 
through  a  pipe  connection.  The  top  of 
kerosene  seems  to  burn  all  right  in  lamps, 
but  is  somewhat  discolored.  As  wo  have 
sold  our  steamer  we  have  no  use  for  so 
much  kerosene,  and  I  wish  to  know 
whether  the  kerosene  above  the  water 
line  is  right,  and  if  anything  can  he  done 
to  remove  the  coloration  and  make  the 
kerosene  marketable?  n.  m. 
Stamford,  Conn. 
The  kerosene  above  the  water  will  burn 
as  well  as  ever,  and  it  seems  unlikely  that 
the  color  will  hurt,  but  you  will  likely 
have  to  offer  a  price  inducement  to  get  it 
sold.  It  is  almost  impossible  to  remove 
the  color  on  a  small  scale:  the  refiners, 
who  handle  thousands  of  gallons  daily, 
have  that  as  a  constant  problem,  but  you 
could  not  use  their  met  hods,  nor  could  we 
advise  you  to  try  anything,  the  risk  of 
chance  ignition  is  too  great.  If  kerosene 
is  much  used  in  the  neighborhood  a  few 
free  samples  may  show  your  neighbors 
that  the  stuff  is  worth  about  as  much  as 
the  colorless  oil.  f  d  c 
Posting  Farm  Lands 
I  read  with  interest  the  article  on  "The 
Farmer  and  the  Hunter,”  by  E.  W.  M., 
patce  lo02.  As  I  nil)  a  farmer  I  am  par¬ 
ticularly  interested  in  that  portion  which 
deals  with  "posting  land,”  in  which  the 
author  states  that  the  signs  must  be 
"posted  and  maintained  not  loss  than  -1(5 
rods  apart,"  supposedly  around  the  farm. 
This  would  indeed  he  a  hardship,  and  in 
some  instances  an  impossibility  to  main¬ 
tain  these  signs  along  ravines,  etc., 
against 'Unscrupulous  hunters.  Is  not  E. 
AV.  M.  in  error  in  regard  to  above  state¬ 
ment.  the  law  quoted  referring  to  large 
parks  or  public  grounds?  I  have  not  the 
law  at  hand,  but  am  under  the  impres¬ 
sion  that  one  notice  or  sign  to  every  50 
acres  is  sufficient  in  common  farming 
property,  M.  B. 
Silver  Creek,  N.  Y, 
If  a  person  trespasses  on  farm  lands  or 
on  any  property  and  does  any  actual 
damage  he  is  liable  to  arrest  aiid  a  suit 
for  trespass  and  damage  under  the  com¬ 
mon  civil  law.  II  a  person  trespasses  on 
land  wIicIIht  |>osti*d  or  not  tlip  courts 
usually  hold  that  the  act  of  trespassing  is 
not  in  itselt  very  serious,  and  usually  im¬ 
pose  only  a  nominal  line  of  about  six 
cents.  A  prosecution  for  trespass  where 
the  act  is  committed  in  the  pursirt  of 
fish  or  game  would  have  to  be  taken  un¬ 
der  the  Conservation  law.  The  Conser¬ 
vation  Commission  has  ruled  that  the 
"regulations  for  posting  hind  shall  be  the 
same  for  either  private  parks  or  farm 
lands,  viz.,  signs  not  less  than  one  foot 
square  posted  not  over  -40  rods  apart. 
This  may  seem  to  work  a  hardship  on  the 
farmer.  Imt.  until  the  law  or  the  inter¬ 
pretation  of  it  is  ‘  hanged  we  shall  have 
to  i lost  our  laud  as  directed  to  avail  our¬ 
selves  of  this  law  Where  a  hunter  is 
violating  any  section  of  the  Conserva¬ 
tion  law  or  is  doing  any  actual  damage 
to  property  in  his  trespassing,  the  ques¬ 
tion  of  whether  the  land  is  posted  or  not 
is  of  very  little  importance, 
E.  \V.  illTCUELL. 
Our  Best  New  Year’s  Present! 
T  F  we  have  any  choice  it  will  be  the  largest  subscrip- 
tion  mail  on  the  morning  of  January  2  in  all  the  his¬ 
tory  of  The  R.  N.-Y.  It  may  be  a  mere  notion  on  our 
part,  but  we  feel  that  a  good  start  ensures  a  fine  finish, 
and  we  like  to  have  each  year  top  the  heap  in  subscrip¬ 
tion  mail!  Will  you  help  us  keep  up  the  record  by 
sending  the  renewal  and  a  new  one,  so  it  will  reach  us 
January  2?  Help  us  start  the  year  with  a  tidal  wave. 
The  Rural  New-Yorker,  333  W.  30th  St.,  New  York. 
The  On'on  Patch— A  Tester  of  Character.  Fig.  625 
