1284 
October 28, 3!*22 
On tlip night of October 11 1 picked up 
the most appropriate book i CObUl think 
Of --“Life and Voyages of Christopher 
Columbus." This book is To years old. 
It does us all good to sit with these old 
friends at times. By accident I opened 
the book at the point where Columbus 
passes the last night before land is limil- 
ly discovered, lie was at open defiance 
with his crew, and for at least 10 days 
lie had obliged them to continue the voy¬ 
age by will power and force of charac¬ 
ter. lie had now come to the end. There 
most be evidence of land or bis men 
would seize him or throw him overboard 
and turn back. It would have been easy 
for them to invent some excuse for such 
action, for then, as now, the great ma¬ 
jority of people bad little use for any¬ 
one who started out in defiance of what 
the great, conservative machines of edu¬ 
cation and “‘society’* had endorsed. That 
last night must have meant a strain 
which came near snapping the slender 
thread which holds men to reason and 
courage. Then he saw a moving light, 
and with dawn came (lie unmistakable 
sight of land. Then, as Irving wrote: 
“The great mystery of the ocean was 
revealed: his theory, which had been ibe 
scoff of sages, was triumphantly estab¬ 
lished; he hud secured to himself a glory 
durable as the world Itself!" 
All of this has been demonstrated by 
history. I put down my book and thought 
about it. I suppose every man, in bis 
time, considers such thrilling moments as 
Columbus must have passed through and 
regrets that he cannot face some great 
crisis and go along into history accom¬ 
panied by "a glory durable as the world 
itself.” And then will usually follow a 
question like this: "Wliat thing have / 
ever started that can possibly grow into 
great results?” 
* * * * * 
It is doubtful if many of ns could stand 
up in the face of such a trial. We would 
do better to tackle something nearer our 
own size—and that is usually the job 
right on our own farm or right in our 
own home. Sometimes when I read and 
think about these great things. life begins 
to grow small, and I often go out into the 
night and walk about under the moon and 
stars. These old friends have seen it all 
—the rise and full of nations, the am¬ 
bitions and loves und bates of humanity, 
and here they are still, impartial and 
mysterious, gazing serenely upon us. with 
our little hopes and fears, just as they did 
upon Columbus, busy with the great prob¬ 
lem of the mystery of the ocean. The 
night was cool and there was danger of 
frost. M.V long row of cotton stood out 
in the moonlight. It seems to me within 
about two weeks of maturity, and here 
are the fingers of .Tack Frost within 
about four little marks on the thermom¬ 
eter of the life of this cotton. I have 
about 000 plants, and never before, so 
far as I can learn, has cotton come so 
close to maturity in Northern New Jer¬ 
sey! As you know, every great thing 
that has happened in the world’s history 
has been started originally by one man. 
Others obtain credit through adopting 
the idea, and the originator and his fam¬ 
ily must usually substitute glory for 
credit, and that is something that no 
banker or grocer will stand for. If this 
cotton actually produces a crop of lint, 
Hope Farm may have a place in our his¬ 
tory after all. What will it amount to? 
Among other things, it will encourage 
farmers south of Philadelphia to experi¬ 
ment with cotton. The scientific men 
will finally give us varieties of cotton 
which mature in 125 days! Then South 
Jersey. Delaware and Maryland will 
Come back into cotton growing. That 
will give them a new crop, and partly re¬ 
lieve us in the clogged market for fruit 
and garden truck. And it will encourage 
our own people to hunt and find new and 
more suitable crops. All these things are 
possible, and they came to mind as I 
stood ill the moonlight beside that cot¬ 
ton. It seemed to shrug its shoulders and 
shiver, as a Texan might have done, in 
the chilly air, and .vet it seemed to realize 
that it was a pioneer playing its part in a 
great experiment. Good-sized bolls had 
been formed at the lower twigs, and the 
leaves seemed to hover down to protect 
them. I must confess that T went to the 
water trough and put my hand in to see 
if ice were forming. There was no evi¬ 
dence of it. and the unimaginative mer¬ 
cury in the thermometer bulb refused to 
crawl below 38°, FolumbUs spent the 
night preceding his great “day” pacing 
the deck. 1 went to sleep and forgot the 
cotton and the frost. 
* * * * * 
The sun was bright when I awoke; 
there was just a faint suspicion of frost 
in the shady places, but not enough to do 
any harm. The cotton and sweet po¬ 
tatoes and peanuts stood up green and 
smiling, with hardly a drooping leaf. 
Tin* children are home from school today, 
and after breakfast the boys go to pick¬ 
ing Baldwin tipples on the bill. I'sunlly 
this is a happy job, but this year, with 
the low prices and low quality, you have 
to go at the job with grim determination. 
'Ho* bite frost and the lack of sunshine 
through the Summer has dwarfed and de¬ 
formed a good share of the crop. And 
everyone seems determined to rush the 
drops and inferior apples into market. 
There they meet carloads of “hulk” fruit 
—just ordinary applet! dumped into a 
box car, without packages, and sold out 
lht RURAL NEW-YORKER 
to peddlers, Sttolj fruit barely pays cost 
of shipment, yet it ruins the trade in 
local apples, Thomas com08 back with 
the truck from Paterson, where he had 
his usual market battle. lie brought 
back $48.4(1 for the load. A similar load 
last year brought $111,71. while in 1020 
the Columbus Day load brought $107.19. 
That is about the way it has gone t hrough 
the season. I think if Columbus were 
hunting for money to pay the mortgage, 
instead of a new continent—in the face of 
this year’s market he would surely pace 
the deck through fear of walking the 
plank! 
The “COLLIS” MOTOR 
The apples, such as they are, come 
down the hill in a slow stream, and the 
boys are picking briskly. We have some 
old friends from the South visiting us to¬ 
day. They are cotton growers, and have 
been out looking at my crop. “Good,” 
they say. “very good. We didn’t think 
Jersey lmd it in her! You may get some 
lint!“ These are not the first, people to 
be surprised at what Jersey can do. She 
has the machinery to produce great re¬ 
sults. It seems to me very appropriate 
to give these friends a little Southern 
food. We have plenty of black-eyed cow 
peas. Boiled with a piece of side meat, 
one can easily imagine himself in “the 
laud of cotton." Then those sweet po¬ 
tatoes! I went out and dug a basket. 
Some of them at least are large aud fat, 
and at dinner everyone pronounced them 
“tine." As for peanuts, those Spanish 
plants are still growing and the roots are 
fairly alive with nuts. We shall have 
quite ? crop, and hereafter we shall al¬ 
ways plant a few. I notice as 1 dig the 
sweet potatoes that the Sudan grass has 
made a second growth of nearly 18 in. 
It seems to me that this African has 
made a notable contribution to American 
farming. As for Soy beans, l think they 
will prove far superior to oats on most 
of our Eastern farms. This j.s a good 
time to consider next year's work. It 
seems clearly evident that we have about 
come to an end of our profit of growing 
garden truck on this cold and bard soil. 
We must hunt out new crops. 1 want to 
get nil possible land seeded to rye and 
clover in preparation for next Spring. 
The sky is clear today, with just enough 
nip in the aid to make one feel like mov¬ 
ing. It’s a good day to be alive, with the 
bright sunshine lighting up the hillsides 
and the sky with that peculiar purple tint 
which comes to the lower Hudson Valley 
when the days are best. The yellow 
heifer nibbles the grass beside the barn 
in great contentment. The geese were 
resting beside the brook, when suddenly 
they all sprang up and with waving 
wings went trotting across the orchard. 
Perhaps there suddenly stirred within 
them some call of tin* wild, coining from 
some old ancestor who always knew when 
to fly South. We might expect that in 
the young geese, but that wise old gander 
ought to know where his bread is but¬ 
tered. and that there is no butter on the 
windy* road. 
This shows the ALL of the “COLLIS” ^ 
5-H.p. Motor well on wood saw, binder, 
milking machine or grinder. 
The “COLLIS” Motor comes to you ready to go and goes. No 
extras needed. Magneto and clutch pulley and roller chain sprocket 
standard equipment. 
Deciding on the “COLLIS" now will mean a saving to you later on. 
Acquaint yourself with the “COLLIS” without delay. 
This letter should convince you: 
BATEMAN AND COMPANIES, tnc. March 21, 1922 
Grenloch, New Jerttey. 
We have been testing out one of your 5-H.P. Piersen engines for the past year on 
our experimental farm and after close observation, under severe tests find it to be 
highly satisfactory. While the engine itself is light in weight, the bearings through¬ 
out arc very sturdy and should, with proper care, stand up and give long service. 
While the engine is water-cooled, the unique cooling system reduces the 
quantity of water necessary to u minimum. 
Taking it altogether, after the year of hard service under close observation, Its 
work tins been highly satisfactory and the writer bclicvetAthat you have on engine 
that will make its mark with the trade. Yours very truly, 
(Signed), LKLAND WILLIS, Chief of Experiments. 
THE COLLIS COMPANY, Manufacturers, CLINTON, IOWA 
Without obligation to my self you may send me your catalog. 
1 am interested in a motor to be used with 
Name 
M.v job today is hoeing .strawberries, 
Nice occupation for October, someone 
will say. but I am determined that these 
plants shall have a chance. We put out 
about 1,000 Marshalls in July. They 
were put IS in. apart each way. among 
young peach trees. This is the fifth time 
they have been hoed, and they show it, as 
a young cow would show the effect of 
constant brushing and carding. I am 
using a ‘‘Dutch" or scuffle hoe. This, as 
most of you know, is not used to dig; it 
is pushed or thrust over the ground, 
handling the beard of weeds on the face 
of the earth like a safety razor. We can 
work about twice as fast as with n regu¬ 
lar chopping hoe, if the blade is kept 
sharp. 1 have set myself to the task of 
making this patch produce 2,500 quarts 
of berries, That does not mean in one 
year, but until these young peach trees 
get too large to permit work among them. 
Chiekweed is the worst pest, with a few 
Summer weeds left over, but I shall give 
this patch a clean shave. 1 was cleaning 
up the last row when the little girls rim 
out to call me to dinner. We had roast 
leg of mutton, beets, onions, sweet and 
white potatoes, not cheese, bread and but¬ 
ter and canned cherries. About three 
o’clock there came a delegation of chil¬ 
dren asking me to come and see the foot¬ 
ball game! Probably Columbus was too 
dignified to attend such a performance, 
but I can remember how. years ago, I 
would have played my head off in a game 
it any of my folks stood on (he side lines. 
So we made up a party and started. The 
hoys from our school must have aver¬ 
aged 15 lbs. lighter than the other side, 
but. they stood up to the game until the 
end. Cherry-top was cheer leader, lnd 
beef is more effective than noise in a 
football game. After much rolling and 
running, our side lost, and wo all came 
home to supper and made vt fine attack 
upon the Parker House rolls and apple 
sauce. There was a bite in the air, and 
the open fire was pleasant as we sat 
about and talked of old times witli our 
Southern friends. The apple crop may 
fail, and prices go to zero, but old time’s 
and old friends arc secure, I went out 
and walked about a little at bed time, and 
il^ surely did seem like a killing frost. 
Yet when morning came there was the 
cotton still fresh and smiling. The boys 
have rigged a cover over about 50 plants, 
so they can put a mat over them if need 
be, but up to October 1(5 there has been 
no need for it. and I want Hie crop to 
get through without protection if at all. 
II. W. 0. 
J&rS j // JVould You 
jMf// Dare Test Your 
Suit Like rhis ? 
AT j / T^ON’T try it—for water 
f* // / / will wreck most suits— 
' Y // they’re not built to stand 
// // such usage. 
// But Clothcraft Clothes ARE—the fa- 
M i tnous water-bucket test proves it—proves 
Mi that the many little things that make 
M / up Clothcraft Clothes are built into a 
m / whole tliat will give real service. 
f ! Read about it for yourself in our little 
M Clothcraft Serge Folder. It has real swatches 
of the cloth in it, too—swatches you can fin¬ 
ger critically. We’ll be glad to send you a 
swatch folder 'without charge —write for one 
today, using the blank below or simply a 
postcard. 
THE JOSEPH & FEISS CO. 
Cleveland, O. 
THE JOSEPH &. FEISS CO. 
2163 W. 53rd St., Cleveland, O. 
Please send me, without obligation, folder containing actual swatches 
of Clothcraft Serge. 
Address 
