1903 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
3o5 
Hope Farm Notes 
Farm Notes.— On April 4 a cold wave 
jumped upon our country and pulled us 
back into February. There was a heavj' 
snowstorm for an hour or more and the 
mercury dropped nearly 40 degrees in 20 
hours. Many of the peach trees were just 
beginning to show the pink of their blooms. 
Ice formed several inches thick, and on the 
shady side of the barn the ground remained 
frozen for several days. Just how much 
damage has been done by this freeze re¬ 
mains to be seen. I fear that most of tke 
peaches are gone. Our trees were well 
loaded, and but for this cold blast I should 
have had fruit on some of the little String- 
fellow trees. However, we have the trees 
yet, and that is more than the experts said 
we would have.Among other 
things killed by this freeze are some straw¬ 
berry blooms on our earliest crop. Last 
year I found a bed of very early wild 
strawberries at the back of the farm. They 
were larger than most wild berries. We 
transplanted a good many of them and 
gave them good care. The plants grow 
much larger under cultivation and from the 
fact that they were in bloom on April 4 
we conclude that they will be extra early. 
In our section, however, we do not care for 
very early varieties except for home use. 
Our early fruit brings us into competition 
with all the country south of us. We want 
a later variety than anything now on the 
market. On our hills the very latest fruits 
pay best. I have another late wild straw¬ 
berry w,hich I hope will help us out, but 
my experience seems to show that when 
these wild things are brought into cultiva¬ 
tion they become earlier in ripening. . . . 
We have not yet found a customer for 
Julia—our famous kicking cow. She is do¬ 
ing her duty, though. She has raised two 
calves which sold for J15.89 with hardly 
the lift of a heel. The fact that these 
calves bumped and thumped her without 
milking a protest out of her led us to think 
that our friend was right w.hen he said that 
dishorning would end her kicking. He was 
wrong. Dishorning stopped her fighting. 
She is no longer boss, but will go off by 
herself and meditate. She permitted her 
daughter and adopted son to maul and 
punch her, but the gentlest hand of man 
will still send her to dancing! I try to get 
some of our women folks to play milkmaid 
but they decline with thanks. While I 
must confess that at times I feel that 
murdering Julia would relieve my feelings, 
1 really respect the rascal for the very per¬ 
sistence of her kicking! .... We have 
one orchard of about 60 Greening trees. 
These trei?e are headed very high, as was 
the custom 40 years ago. We are able to 
work under them easily, and two years ago 
we broke up the old sod and fitted the 
ground about as near the way Mr. Clark 
works as one can come in an orchard, ex¬ 
cept that we left too many stones. The 
grass came up very thick, but has never 
made a long enough stem. I became sat¬ 
isfied that w'e never fed that grass enough, 
and last Pall 1 determined to stuff it for 
once. We put on 10 good loads of fine 
stable manure and 400 pounds of iron slag. 
The last of March we put on 400 pounds 
of corn fertilizer and 200 pounds of nitrate 
of soda. The orchard is on a gentle slope, 
and a heavy rain started before the nitrate 
was spread. As I saw the rain pouring 
down I felt anxious for the nitrate, but 
the grass was thick and heavy and there 
was little wash. You should see that field 
now! Everyone knows how in late March 
the rye fields show up clear and green 
against the browner grass. This orchard 
adjoins a rye field, and has a brighter color 
even than the grain. The change was 
noticed in less than 50 hours, even in this 
cold weather. Nitrogen is the stuff to push 
along the early grass! 1 am more certain 
than ever that most failures with the 
“Clark” grass are due to a failure to 
feed. No man causes two blades of grass 
to grow where one grew before on less 
plant food than the one ought to have! 
.... Some years ago George Stanton 
offered to set me up in the ginseng busi¬ 
ness at a low figure. I saw his patch and 
had to tell him frankly that I feared that 
our people were not careful enough to take 
care of the crop as he was doing. Since 
then I have found a few wild plants in 
my chestnut woods, and I am thinking of 
planting roots in a cleared place among the 
trees. I shall not do this in the hope of 
making a fortune, for happily I never ex¬ 
pect to do that with ginseng or anything 
else that roots upon the root of all evil. It 
will make an interesting experiment. I am 
told that while the roots will grow slowly 
under such conditions, thieves will surely 
harvest the crop! 
Child Notes. —The Hope Farm man 
Went to the circus! The Madame “begged 
to be excused,” but Aunt Hustle and the 
children had no excuses to offer. I bought 
two quarts of peanuts before going in and 
had to shake the bag to find one when we 
came out. It was a great show, and I 
will not deny (hat I enjoyed it. The Scion, 
wlio has begun early in life to hunt for a 
soft job, decides that he doesn’t want to 
be a circus man since it is “too hard 
work.” He will learn some day that “Get 
There” is surrounded by the hardest sort 
of toil. No *ne will pick him up and toss 
him over. I was trying to tell the children 
something of what Prof. Bailey has done 
for fruit growing, but the Scion wanted to 
know if he owned the circus! I am afraid 
that the circus is in one way a demoralizer 
—yet, do you know, I am mighty gla*! 1 
went to one over 30 yeai's ago and thus had 
a good maik to get back to when I went 
the other day.I went the other 
night to hear a lecture on “Henry George— 
the Reformer.” I have always admired 
Henry George. The little fellows wanted 
to go, and I told them I would give 10 cents 
for the best report of the lecture. The 
Scion listened till he fell asleep, but the 
Graft was. as attentive a listener as any 
man could desire. After much thought 
our small reporters decided upon the fol¬ 
lowing points: 
“Henry George ran for Mayor!” 
“He died of appleplexy!” 
“He wrote a book called “Progress and 
Poverty!” 
“He was a good man!” 
You may say that these little chaps are 
making slow progress away from a poverty 
of expression, but I believe that even such 
poor little reports help them to understand. 
It is a wise thing to talk such matters over 
with children—let them do most of the talk¬ 
ing. Suppose the speaker let himself •ut 
to make such little ones understand! 
Would it not be a help to the older ones? 
H. w. c. 
No Barrels.- We have been somewhat 
amused at the discussion of the box pack¬ 
age. We have not seen a barrel for 10 
years excepting lime and oil barrels, and 
we thought we never should learn to buy 
everything by the pound. w. n. 
King Co., Wash. 
Grain Smut.— Prof. 11. L. Bolley, of the 
North Dakota Station, says that the follow¬ 
ing points about smut are plain: “1. The 
small particles of dark dust or powder 
which come from the smut balls, when 
dusted upon the grains, pi'oduce the disease 
in the crop the following season. 2. The 
young plants are attacked just as they are 
coming through the soil. 3. Smut does not 
remain in the soil,in form to do any damage 
to following crops. 4. It has been said by 
some that seed wheat that is tw'o or more 
years old will not produce smut, even 
though smutty. This, by experiment, 1 
liave proved to be erroneous. Smutty 
wheat kept two or three years, produced as 
much smut as year-old wheat of the same 
strain. The remedy is to soak or sprinkle 
the seed grain with a solution of one pound 
of formalin to 45 gallons of water. The 
same solution can be used for Potato scab. 
A first-class Sprayer, and one that is giving 
splendid results, is manufactured by The Hillis 
Dust Sprayer Co., McFall, Mo. If you want a 
Sprayer that is cheap, durable and effective, 
write them for descriptive cii’culars.-Ad®. 
mmm 
Sheep Dips, Tanks, Worm Cures, Kar Marks, 
Punches, Tattoo Markers, Shearing Machines, 
Shears, Sheep Marking Paint, Lamb Feeders, 
Lice Paint, Poultry Supplies, Veterinary 
Remedies, etc. Write for Catalogue J, 
F S. BURCH & CO.,144 iliinois St.,CKICAGO. 
THE HESSLER IS THE BEST. 
Price, 
$1 EACH, 
Discount Club 
Lots. 
Simple, Durable, 
Economical. 
Round, 
Strong, 
Heavy. 
Lowest in price, 
highest in quali¬ 
ty. A sample best 
Rural Mail Box. evidence. Reap¬ 
proved Jan. 26th, 
1SX)3. Circulars sent free. Orders promptly shipped. 
II. K. HKSSLER CO., Syracuse, N. i. 
A DOG POWER 
Saves liuiiian musiie. This 
ENTERPRISE POWER 
IS tineciualied forchuniinj'.sep* 
aratinjf cream,running'’ washiiiy^ 
machines, etc. One do>f, sheep j 
Two Million Tons of 
BASIC SlAG FERTIUZER 
Sold in 1902. | 
Bend all Orders to i 
400 Chestnut St., Philadelphia, Pa. j 
When you write ndvertisers mention The 
R. N.-Y'. and you will get a quick reply and 
“a square deal.” See guarantee, 14th page. 
To Owners of Gasoline Engines, 
Automobiles, Launches, Etc. 
Auto=Sparker 
does away entirely with all starting ana 
running batteries, their annoyance 
and expense. No belt—no switch—no 
batteries. Can be attached to any en 
gine now using batteries. Fully guar 
anteed; write for descriptive catalog 
Motsinger Device Mfg. Co. 
08 Main Street, Pendleton, Ina 
Rumely Engines 
both as to traction and generating* and supplying power, are 
typical of all that is best for threshernien. They ar© rear 
geared, gears are ofsteel, cross heatls and slides areprotccted 
from dust, they are free from all trappy devices. Single or 
double cylinders, burn wood or coal, or direct fluefor burn¬ 
ing straw. Fit companions in the threshing field for the fa¬ 
mous New Rumely Separators* Free catalogue de- 
scrbesall. Write for it. 
_ RUMELY CO,, La Porte, Indiana* _ 
1 drilling 
W MACHINES 
Over 70 sizes and styles, for drilling either deep or 
shallow wells in any kind of soil or rock. Mounted 
on wheels or on sills. With engines or horse powers 
Strong, simple and durable. Any mechanic can 
operate them easily. Send for catalog. 
WILLIAMS BROS., Ithaca, N. V. 
The Mietz & Weiss 
Eerosose Engines. Slzss, 1 to 60 B P. 
Cheapest and Safest Power Known 
for pumping and eleetrio lighting, 
grinding corn, separating eream, 
sawing wood and all power 
purposes. Highest Award for 
Direct Coupled Engine and Gener¬ 
ator, Paris Kzpositlon. 1900; awarded 
Gold Medal Pan>Am. Xzposition, 
Buiralo.1901: Gold Medal, Charles¬ 
ton, S. 0., Exposition; Send 
for catalogue. 
A. MIETZ, 128 Mtnr 5 t„ Maw Toaa 
READY 
ROOFING 
Buy of us Direct and 
Save Mj>ney. 
Best goods. Our prices 
surprise. Write us. 
.s. e. McDonough & Co. 
Dept. C., Pittsburgh, Pa. 
THE MERIT of YEARS 
i 
SNNfXWS 
STA14DAKD 
It a* hard os si ate. 
THE A. F. SWAN CO., 
attaches to this rooting. It Is 
known and used in every sec¬ 
tion of the whole country. 
FIRE, WIND and 
WATER PROOF, 
durable and low in price. Be¬ 
ing soft and pliable, it is easy 
to (It and lay. Exposure tnakes 
Send for Sample and Oiroiilar. 
114 Nassau St., NEW YORK. 
SO PAISTING REQUIRED'S.tESr SSS 
Roofing. Can 
be easllyalald 
aa the work 
oalyoonslstaof 
oalllxur and oe- 
^ „ mentlng the 
jolnta. Samples, prices & hookletglTliiff Instraotlone 
ASPHALT READY ROOFING Ujln« sent 
186 Water St., New York. pot^ald. 
CHARTER 
Gasoline Engine 
I T r* Any Place 
I Srll “y 
For Any Pof pose 
Statloiiarlcs, Portables, Pngines 
and Pnmps, Holsters, 
Sawing Outfits. 
Send for Illustrated Catalogue and 
Testimonials. State yonr Power Needs. 
Charter Gas Engine Co., Box 26, Sterling, III. 
IDE 
MACHINERY 
Best and cheapest, 
Send lor catalogue 
BOOMER & BOSCHERT 
PRESS CO., 
118 West Water St., 
SYRACUSE, S. V. 
DELOACH 
mTusTr^esl 
The Price ii Right Too. 
Known the World Over. 
„ FARMERS’ $125 SAW MILL 
Cota 8000 Feet Lumber u day with only 4 h. n. 
DeLoach Variable Feed Saw Mills, 4 to 100 h. p . 
any price. DeLoa^ Mill Machinery, Planers. 
Shingle, Lath and Com Mille, Water Wheels, etc. 
OeLoach Mill Mfk. 0«., Bax000 Atlanta, 6a. 
Handsome Oatalagne Free If yon cat this oat sod 
give nsms of pspsr^ 
< -I 
POCAHONTAS 
Red Rope Roofing 
Airtight, and waterproof; Strong, Durable, Cheap. 
Kasy to put on and lasts for years. It is the most per¬ 
fect paper ever made for roofing and siding poultry 
houses, stables, hog houses, cow barns and other out 
buildings. Put up in rolls containing 6U0 and 260 
square feet. Use cheap lumber for rooting and siding 
and over this put Pocahontas Red Hope Hoofing and 
you have a wind-proof, wet-proof roof and sides. No 
other as good. Send for free booklet and note low price. 
K&y Paper Co., Box 101, Blackwood, N. J. 
caution; 
When you are purchasing a 
ROOP'IIMC 
for your houses and outbuildings, he sure that the 
name “ RUBEROID” is stamped on every three 
feet of the material, as in the cut, throughout the 
full length of the roll. You will then know that 
you are getting the genuine Ruberoid Roofing, 
which has been the standard for Eleven Years, 
and not one of its poor imitations. Euberoid 
is water-proof and fire-resisting. Never melts, rots 
or tears. Lasts for years. You can apply it 
yourself. Send for samples and Booklet K. 
Address Dept. K, 
THE STANDARD PAINT CO., 
100 William Street, New York, 
