1234 
The RURAL. NEW-YORKER 
October 14, 1922 
HOPE FARM NOTES 
The Vacation 
Part III. 
It doesn't take the girls long to clean 
up after breakfast. There was very little 
except the dishes to put away. Mother 
gets out her inevitable sewing. The sun 
has climbed up hot and brilliant, and it 
is time to make the daily trip down the 
lake after milk and ice and mail. One 
of the little gills proposes to row me 
down, so we start in the flat-bottomed 
boat. 1 sit in the stern with a paddle to 
serve as rudder. It is a long, hot row 
down the narrow lake. The sun sparkles 
on the water. There is hardly a cloud in 
the sky. Now and then a fish jumps to 
the surface with a great splash. Just 
beyond a bunch of lilies a great turtle 
lifts his head from the water and stares 
at us. lie seems as big as the top of a 
barrel. On a log near the shore a group 
of smaller turtles are taking a brief vaca¬ 
tion out in the sun. The girl rows in too 
dose and they jump back into the water. 
I should regret it if someone having au¬ 
thority should jump me hack to work and 
duty out of this cheerful loaf in toe sun. 
At home I presume Jack is Struggling 
with those weedy strawberries, wnile 
Thomas must be back from another hope¬ 
less struggle in the market. These things 
seem very far away and very trivial as 
we float down this sparkling lake past 
the Indian graveyard and into the little 
harbor where the farmer lives. A dairy 
herd and a garden or held of potatoes 
and a flock of hens is about all you find 
on these farms. They are usually large 
in area, but only a small portion will be 
cultivated. You must remember that most 
cultivated fields in this section must he 
dug out of the rock before they can be 
made profitable. Many of the fields are 
small and of irregular shape, scattered 
along the road at intervals, mostly in 
grass. Haying was late, and in the lat¬ 
ter part of August many fields were just 
being cut. It is surprising how grass and 
corn can grow on this soil. I take it 
most of the manure is used for top-dress¬ 
ing grass, and that when the sod grows 
poor it is plowed up and planted to coru. 
Under such conditions there is sure to be 
an abundance of plant food in the soil, 
and a new grass crop can be needed in 
fhe corn. That is ofteD done with great 
success in New England, Milk sells at 
10 cents a quart, with eggs and vege¬ 
table at good prices and with ready sale 
in Summer. Yet these farmers, like all 
others I have met this year, are filled 
with a sort of sullen, undefined feeling 
that they are not being well psed. The 
farmer who sold us milk had never tried 
oats and peas, millet or other fodder 
crops, being content with grass and corn. 
I had a few black-eyed cow peas in my 
pocket and gave them to him for a trial. 
Wie made our way back up the lake with 
our load. The sun was higher and hotter, 
but the girl insisted on finishing the 
vovage. and we safely anchored at our 
wharf after our foray after provisions. It 
did not take the girl long to slip into her 
bathing suit and dive off into the cool 
water. As for me. I will admit that I 
got onto a lounge and slipped away into 
a happy land where life is one long vaca¬ 
tion and McIntosh apples bring $10 per 
barrel. But little Rose brought me back 
from this pleasant country with ; _ 
‘Tome on, now, wake up; dinners 
ready!” 
It was ready and we were ready for it. I 
The fried pickerel were done to a turn, 
and the bacon fried with them was just 
right. These Connecticut potatoes were 
light and mealy, and the pickled beets 
were hard to beat. It went so well that I 
offered to treat the crowd to ice cream. 
Down tbe lake at some large camp they 
had an extra supply, so the hoys got into 
the canoe and paddled down. They came 
back with all the speed they had. hut the 
sun was hot and the ice cream was more 
like soup when it got to us. However, 
it was cold, and made a good ending for 
our dinner. The sun had been shining 
all through the forenoon, hut somehow 
the entire face of nature seemed to 
change. Clouds began to gather, and in¬ 
stead of smiling upon us. Nature seemed 
to be as eager to scold and frown as 
“Babbitt” was when he greeted his fam¬ 
ily after that night out. The children 
had heard of an abandoned mine deep in 
the woods, and they were eager to hunt 
it up. No, it wasn’t a gold mine; they 
dug out a very prosaic substance known 
as “silex.” a ' form of silicates used in 
glass making, but an abandoned mine in 
dark silent mysterious woods, on a day 
of dim. foiling light, struck me as giving 
just tbe romance needed for a vacation. 
For if a man is really to enjoy his vaca¬ 
tion he must vacate the things that worry 
and beset him. and go back as close to 
childhood as he can. I know a number 
of gentlemen with whom dignity has be¬ 
come a disease because they have never 
been able to get it out of their systems 
for a time, and inoculate themselves with 
the serum of youth, The boys had ob¬ 
tained a rough map of the place from an 
old citizen. You followed a dim road 
along until you came to two abandoned 
buildings, and then broke off into a blind 
path which led to the mine. Most of our 
children have read “Treasure Island, 
and we compared this map with the one 
showing where, the pirates had hidden 
their treasure. These abandoned build¬ 
ings evidently represented the stockade, 
and without doubt John Silver and the 
Black Dog were guarding that treasure 
at the mine! We must he ready for 
them! We armed ourselves with clubs 
and stones and marched along that dim 
road, prepared for any surprise. No one 
wanted to play the part of rearguard. 
You can hardly imagine how real this 
was to the children—creeping through 
these silent woods, ready for any attack 
from John Silver or his mates. We luid 
read the story and also seen it on the 
screen, and it was very real. We found 
the abandoned houses; they were little 
shanties where the miners may have 
lodged. I proposed leaving two children 
here on guard, but no One volunteered. 
They all wanted to stay with the main 
body. So we crept up the hill, from tree 
to tree and rock to rock, until we found 
the mine. We had pictured it as some 
long, mysterious tunnel running far hack 
into the ground, hut it proved to be just a 
great hole blown out of the top of the 
hill, like a big gravel pit. The charred 
remains of a big fire were in one corner, 
and we concluded that John Silver and 
the Black Dog had heard us coming and 
run far into the forest, carrying their 
treasure with them. We concluded uot to 
follow them, for at this moment came an 
attack from a new enemy. Busy with our 
hunt, we had not noticed how the clouds 
had gathered, but in the open space of 
the mine we began to feel the sudden rain. 
First a few hard pelting drops, aud then 
they came faster and faster, and we fell 
back to tbe stockade. There was one 
open window, and half of us bad crawled 
in for shelter, when one of ihe girls, a 
little large for tbe space, cut her arm on 
a little piece of glass which we had not 
noticed- It was quite a rip. and there 
was an abundance of healthy red blood 
on the arm. We thought it best to fall 
back to headquarters for medical aid. so 
we trooped back to camp, through the wet 
woods. And (here, as leader of the un¬ 
successful expedition, I received what 
was coming to me, in the way of repri¬ 
mand : 
"A nice adventure to lead these chil¬ 
dren into.” 
But then, some of these unimaginative 
people can read “Treasure Island” with¬ 
out a thrill. Our baud of hunters will 
never regret the adventure. 
***** 
Our folks are good at first aid in case 
of wounds, but that glass cut was wide 
if not deep, and it looked like a job for a 
doctor in order to avoid a scar. A few 
supplies were needed, anyway, so Mother 
and about half the family started in the 
car for Mystic, and I stayed io keep 
house with the rest. I find that my 
women folk do not regard my abilities as 
a buyer as they should. 1 bought: a ham 
which lasted so well that we brought the 
knuckle home for the dog in New Jer¬ 
sey, and the girls are sure they can make 
a dollar carry further than I can. I am 
better at providing the price. So off they 
went through the rain. The doctor put 
several stitches in the arm and there is 
not likely to be even a scar to remind us 
of the battle of the silex mine. As for 
me, I found some dry wood and started a 
good lire in the stone fireplace. Then 
Ihe children and I sat around it while l 
told stories, until they heard tile cough 
of the car, and our folks were back. It 
was dark and wet, and wc all agreed that 
the fire “tasted good.” For supper we 
had some more* of those fried potatoes, 
hot biscuits and syrup, and some peaches 
which our folks had picked up in town. 
Then we lit the lamp and sat around the 
table reading, while die rain pattered on 
the roof. There came a faint, ripple on 
the water and a sort of muffled sigh as the 
wind blew through the wet leaves. Tit¬ 
tle Rose is tired and she will go to bed 
early. Just before she. goes she looks 
out into the blackness and starts a pro¬ 
gram for tomorrow. “We must walk 
arouud the lake!” 
***** 
That’s a good proposition, and shortly 
after dinner we began our tramp. One 
must use poetic license when he calls 
this body of water a “lake.” In reality 
it is a narrow pond, and Ihe track 
around it, if stretched out in a straight 
line, might cover four miles. We walked 
on slowly, stoppiiig now and then to 
hunt for huckleberries or observe some 
peculiar rock formation. In this way 
we got off the track at one point, and in¬ 
stead of following the lake shore found 
ourselves far back at the top of a hill. 
Still, we followed the road, and finally 
came out in a clearing at the center of 
which stood a big farmhouse. It was 
just one of those old-fashioned weather¬ 
beaten places such as you imagine are 
found on abandoned farms. This one was 
not abandoned. A woman and a baby 
looked at us from the back window, and 
out in the garden a man and two boys 
were working. We found that they were 
back-lo-the-landers. The man still keeps 
his job in New London and goes back and 
forth daily in a light car. Soon he will 
have enough to make a payment on this 
hill farm, and before long lie will have it 
paid for and stocked, lit' took us down 
in the pasture mid showed us (lie old fam¬ 
ily graveyard, where, it would seem, all 
the former owners were buried. The 
brush and young trees were crowding in 
upon these graves, just as outsiders are 
coming in to occupy the farms on which 
these old-timers raised such a wonderful 
crop of family pride. It gave one strange 
thoughts to stand on that high, wind¬ 
swept. hill and consider how that sturdy 
old race had faded away aud left the 
home which meant so much to them to 
outlanders. No man, however strong, 
no family, however well rooted, can stand 
up against Time. Knowing that, what 
should we do; live as if we expected all 
our work to he forgotten, or as if we ex¬ 
pected it to endure forever? As we made 
our way down the hill to the lake we 
looked across to Lantern Hill. It rises, 
a great mass of limestone, glittering m 
the afternoon sun. At the foot of the 
hill we found an old cellar where years 
ago there must, have been a house. It 
was a lonely place, and I can imagine 
how years ago women have stood at the 
door looking up at the gleaming face of 
that rock and finding comfort and com¬ 
panionship as they gazed. There must 
have been poets and artists born in that 
lonely place, and the world has never 
known them because they found no 
chance to give expression to what was in 
their soul. So you see the whole vaca¬ 
tion was a very simple thing. We were 
just lazy and natural. We did what we 
pleased—aud we came back refreshed 
nnd ready for another year. n. w. c. 
T his is the second of a series ofadvertise¬ 
ments on the making of better orchards. 
The first "The Advantages of Fall 
Spraytng”—appeared last month. A re¬ 
print'will be sent to you upon request. The 
third, discussing PearPsylla control, 'will 
appear next month. Be sure to read it. 
Fall Spraying Best 
San Jose, or pernicious, scale is coming back in 
many sections. And, as referred to in our pre¬ 
vious advertisement, scale that are allowed to 
live over winter on the tree literally sap its life 
away, so that the tree, after making a feeble start 
in the spring, often wilts and dies. As only the 
last brood of young scale live through the winter 
to bear young the next season, scale-infested trees 
should be cleaned up with Scalecide in the fall. 
Scalecide kills 100% of the scale that it hits and, 
because of its spreading nature, many that it does 
not hit. We do not know of a single kind of scale 
that Scalecide will not kill. And, while it is 
claimed that a resistant scale has developed 
which is immune to ordinary sprays, no scale can 
become immune to Scalecide, because Scalecide 
shuts off its air—smothers it. We believe that 
every experiment station that has made compara- 
for San Jose Scale 
tive tests places Scalecide at the head of the list of 
scale killers, or else credits it with 100% control. 
The action of Scalecide is almost immediate. A 
rain may follow an hour after the spray is dry 
without reducing the effectiveness of Scalecide. 
And remember that when you have sprayed your 
trees with Scalecide, you have done all that can 
be done at that particular time by any dormant 
spray or combination of sprays. Fall spraying 
with Scalecide controls pear psylla and peach 
leaf curl. Spring application controls aphis, pear 
thrips, leaf minor, case bearer and leaf roller. 
Either fall or spring spraying with Scalecide 
controls scale, bud moth, European red mite, 
fungus or blight cankers from which is spread 
fire blight, collar rot and root rot. And in addi¬ 
tion to controlling these insects and diseases, year 
after year use of Scalecide invigorates the trees. 
W E GUARANTEE that, if you will divide an orchard,your worst or belt, in 
two parts equal in general condition, and for three years spray one part with 
SCALECIDE according to our directions and the other part with lime-sulphur, giving 
the same summer treatment to both parts, the part sprayed 'with SCALECIDE will 
behetterthan thepart sprayed with lime-sulphur—in the judgment of three disinterest¬ 
ed fruit growers—or we will refund the money you have paid for the SCALECIDE. 
If your dealer doesn’t carry SCALECIDE. show him this advertisement — or order direct from us. 
In any event, write today for the new booklet, “Why SCALECIDE”. We will send you also “Spray¬ 
ing the Home Garden”, which is considered one of the most helpful treatises extant on the controj 
of insects and diseases that attack trees, shrubs, vines, flowers and vegetables. Address Dep’t lo* 
B. G. PRATT CO. 50 Church Street NEW YORK CITY 
_ ■ _ 
THE COMPLETE WManT SPRAY^V 
