1903 
THE RURAL-NEW-YORKER 
455 
HOPE FARM SEEN BY AN OUT¬ 
SIDER. 
An opportunity to drop in on the Hope 
Farm folks came on Decoration Day, as 
I had been busy in central New York for 
two weeks, and the chance to see how 
things looked on the farm after a mouth 
of drought had its attractions for me. 
Some readers may think that Hope Farm 
and its inhabitants are only pictures of 
the imagination; but anyone who will 
visit this quiet retreat on the eastern 
slope of a beautiful ridge overlooking 
the valley of the Hackensack, less than 
25 miles from the humming center of 
New York City, will need no further 
convincing of this mistake, Shep met 
me at the gate and the Madame took my 
satchel at the door, I found the Hope 
Farm man and the Graft dropping corn 
and covering it with their feet. It had 
been well tarred, to keep the crows from 
troubling it, so they both gave evidence 
of the product of the southern pine 
plains. The Bud and some of the other 
little folks were wading in a brook near 
the little field wnere the new kind of 
corn was being planted, that is hoped to 
prove one of the best early varieties for 
the north. Rain had only softened the 
ground the day before enough to admit 
of plowing. 1 did not meet “Judge 
Lynx” or “Cousin Woodchuck.” as 1 
walked across the fields and woods from 
the station, but 1 did see “Little Gray 
Bushytail” digging up sprouted corn in 
a neighbor’s field, where no tar had been 
used to give it a bad taste. 
When the’corn was all in, which was 
near supper time, the two boys who had 
helped to the end without a murmur, 
were each given five cents for working 
instead of going on a promised turtle 
hunt that lovely Saturday afternoon. 
How well I remember the like freedom 
from farm work when a boy, and the 
jolly times I had hunting, fishing or vis¬ 
iting other farmer boys, and the good it 
did me and my father, too. Let us be 
reasonably indulgent to our children and 
give them the freedom they really need, 
but no more. It is a great mistake not 
to keep all children busy. As I sit at 
my window on the outskirts of the city 
of Washington 1 can see many bright 
boys and girls playing or idling about 
with nothing useful to do. An essential 
part of their education is being neglect¬ 
ed, and they and their parents will have 
to pay the penalty so long as they live. 
I pity them. 
But it was Hope Farm 1 went to see, 
principally, and the orchards in particu¬ 
lar. The old apple, pear and cherry 
trees were doing fairly well; some in 
grass and others well tilled. The set¬ 
ting of fruit is moderate. But the young 
trees were more interesting. Scarcely 
any of them are being tilled. They are 
in grass or something worse. The Hope 
Farm man thinks most of them are all 
right. 1 am not sure on that point. One 
lot of nice apple trees set last Fall in a 
rye field are in bad fix, but he thinks 
they will come out all right yet. The 
rye was allowed to grow up tall and 
head out, by which time the di'ought and 
crop had caused the young apple leaves 
to curl and some of them to turn brown. 
The rye was cut, and some of it piled 
over the tree roots, but too late to pre¬ 
vent injury, which I fear will be very 
serious, and may prove fatal to some of 
the trees. They are badly checked in 
growth now, and cannot attain the vigor 
they should have to enable tliem safely 
to pass the trying heat of August and 
the cold of the Winter to come. Rye 
will serve as a Winter cover crop for an 
orchard, but it is a robber of moisture 
and fertility after Spring opens, and 
should be promptly plowed under. Any 
other small grain is the same, and 
should be treated in like manner, even 
when the season is normally moist. We 
fio not know what the season will be, 
and it is wise to prevent rather than 
have to try to remedy the evils to come. 
My face is set squarely against any 
small grain in orchards except as a Win¬ 
ter covering, and so it has been for 
many years. For experienced orchard- 
ists try to grow it to maturity among 
their trees seems too much like taking 
a moderate dose of arsenic to see how it 
will act on the human system. It can 
do little or no good, will surely be in¬ 
jurious and may prove fatal. 
The little apple, pear, peach and plum 
trees are set, some in meadow sod and 
more in old abandoned fields, where 
nothing but stunted weeds, wild grass 
and bushes are growing. Some were set 
last year and others the past Spring. 
Nearly every one is growing, and some 
of them very well. There are a few 
peaches on some of the older ones, and 
they look as if they might come to ma¬ 
turity. To an orchardist it is a queer 
and some might think a pitiful sight to 
see the little trees with their tops cut 
to within a foot or two of the ground 
and their roots, I was told, only mere 
stubs, standing among the bushes and 
weeds, with a hoed patch barely two feet 
in diameter. The Hope Farm man want¬ 
ed me to say then and there what I 
thought would become of these trees. 
That largely depends on what is done to 
them hereafter. They are alive and 
growing now, have good color and look 
as though they might be made to suc¬ 
ceed. They are really in better condi¬ 
tion of growth than 1 had expected to 
see them, judging by reports in the Hope 
Farm Notes. They are having light ap¬ 
plications of good commercial fertilizers 
hoed in over their roots and the stirred 
area gradually enlarged by each hoeing, 
some of them mulched and the bushes 
being cut out of the land by degrees. 
All these things may conduce to such 
growth as will make good, strong and 
profitable trees. I believe that this old 
land will bring trees that will bear 
earlier than those on fresh, strong land, 
and that with good feeding the fruit will 
be abundant and of good quality. 1 have 
less hopes of the success of peach and 
plum culture under such ciixumstauces 
as these trees are in than of apple and 
pear culture. Owing to the steep and 
rocky character of the land, for the most 
part clean tillage will be impracticable. 
The soil is either clay or sandy loam 
and moderately good naturally, but worn 
down in available fertility. It needs 
some help and sensible treatment gener¬ 
ally. The tree roots can permeate it 
easily, judging by the trees left along 
the fence rows and those that have 
sprung up in the fields since they were 
abandoned. Success to the orchards on 
Hope Farm, whatever may be their des¬ 
tiny, and to the children who are grow¬ 
ing up with them. ii. k. van x>kman. 
HOPE FARM NOTES. 
Wkather Notes.— The wind licked the 
little showers out of the soil quicker than 
the cat takes the froth out of the miik 
pail. The clouds continued to gather—but 
there was no water in them. For day after 
day the weather reports from the West 
showed that much of the country in the 
Mississippi Vailey was under water, while 
we were burning up. It interests our east¬ 
ern farmer to read about western lioods 
when his own weli has run dry! At last 
the papers reported a storm working 
up the coast which “might break the 
drought!” 1 told the boys about it, but 
they had no faith in the rain while the sky 
was clear and bright. Bergen County, N. 
J., doesn’t lill the entire universe, though 
i may wrinkle the sensibilities of some 
good friends when I say so. An occasional 
storm crawls in upon us from the outside 
—and we spend some of the energy and 
thought that belong at home on faraway 
things. I watched the progress of that 
coast storm with interest. It got here on 
time Sunday morning, with a fair soaking. 
We might have had more with advantage 
to our crops, but we are iargely thankful 
for small favors this year. I reflect tnat in 
former years I have called for rain and 
within 30 days after begged for the rain 
to quit.The strawberries were 
poor. Just when they most needed water 
the dry weather pinched them. Some of 
our famous Marshalls started out to do 
their duty on the most iiberal scaie, and 
then dwindled down to a tough little nub. 
You have seen boys start out with great 
promise, and end at some hard job which 
they make ignoble by the evidences 
of their failure. That was the way our 
strawberries acted this year. We cleaned 
up part of a weedy patch during the 
drought, and it actually produced poorer 
fruit than where the weeds and grass were 
left untouched! .... We kept on fit¬ 
ting the soil as best we could, and suc¬ 
ceeded in getting a little more corn planted, 
and nearly half an acre of bush Lima 
beans. The dry weather has so changed 
our plans that wo have planted bush Limas 
where other crops were originally Intended. 
Working this hard soil is fearful on the 
horses, but they have to stand it. I hope 
that Kate will be able to relieve the 
“Bird” a little. Who is Kate? An old 
mare that we have taken as a pensioner- 
hut I will tell about her later. 
The clover is very short but needs cutting 
if we are to go by the condition of the 
head. Just before our little rain Charlie 
wanted to cut all the grass, though it is 
less than a foot high. He thought it would 
sprout better if cut close. The rain has 
revived it somewhat.Some of 
the little trees look sick but I will not 
give them up yet. Most of them are grow¬ 
ing vigorously and, considering the start 
they had, making a good showing. I can 
well understand how it must shock a skilled 
fruit grower to see the way these trees are 
starting. They say that the trees will 
probably die or come to nothing. When I 
ask what is to kill them with the start 
they have made, provided this drought 
does not last forever, they do not seem to 
have any very clear answer. I want to 
have it clearly understood that when I 
planted these trees i fully expected to see 
them die. The best fruit growers I know 
were so emphatic in pronouncing the whole 
thing a mistake that 1 expected total 
failure. 1 have now planted nearly 2,000 
trees and have dug up many of them to 
see how they are rooting. Now we will 
let the trees talk! .... When Van 
Leman came to see me he took us by sur¬ 
prise. I was planting corn. As I got to 
the end of the field and turned I saw down 
by the brook a portly man In his shirt 
sleeves skipping rope with the children. 
To be exact, I must say that a dignified 
citizen like Van Leman does not actually 
jump over the rope, but he swings it for 
the children. He also told our little folks 
a story or two which in their judgment 
rank high as literary productions. 
The Sunday of the rain we had several 
friends at the farm. There came a break 
in the drizzle, and so we hitched up a 
couple of the horses and went back on the 
hills for a ramble in the woods. We walked 
right into a lively shower. We found 
shelter under a thick clump of trees by an 
old stone wall and started a roaring Are 
in front of this retreat, and there our folks 
sat on the wall for over an hour.. Of 
course a few drops soaked through the 
leaves, but we were so glad to see the 
peach trees get their soaking that we 
could easily stand that. As a rule Jersey- 
men do not sit with comfort by open fires 
in June, but the rare thing about a June 
day this year is one that isn’t like Octo¬ 
ber! H. w. c. 
HORSE POWERS, 
THRASHERS Wood 
and CLEANERS Saws 
One & two-horse Thrashing Outfits. Tjevel pilTTCDO 
Tread,Pat.Governor,Feed and Ensilage uUI I Lno 
ELLISKEYSTONEAGR’LWORKS,Pottstown,Pa 
F. L. MAINE, General Agent, WiUet, N. Y< 
Straight Straw, Rye andWheatlhrasher 
Combined with Spike-Tooth Oat 
and Wheat Thrasher. 
Onr Machine will 
thrash Uye or Wheat 
without bruising or 
breaking the straw, and 
tie It again in perfect 
bundles.Can be changed 
In fifteen minutes to a 
spike-tooth Oat, W heat. 
Buckwheat, Barley and Corn Thrasher with stacker 
a.ttacbed. Will thrash more grain with less power 
•-ban any Thrasher built Send for catalogue B to 
ifee GK ANT- FEKKIS COMPANY.Troy, N. Y. 
AQENTS WANTED 
“MEND-A-RIP.” 
|( Docs all kfndH of llsht and heavy 
stitchlnfi^. Docs all kinds of 
Ilirhtand heavy rivctliiir. 
A PERFECT HAND SEWING 
MACHIN 
^NO RIVETER 
-1 COMBIMEO 
WILL SATE THE PRICK 
I OF ITSELF .KANY TIMES A YEAR, 
f To show It meansaflale. AGENTS MAKK 
• PROM 110 to 115 A DAT. Ono ageot tnado 
PI 92U tb« first day and wrltos us to hurrj mora 
^ S machines to him. Writo for terms to agents. 
DOT£ FOU3IDKY Fredorlcktown, Ohio. 
and Above DitcK? 
Its only hope is effective and economical 
pumping. You can raise water where you 
want tt with tlie 
RIFE *^CNG1NES. 
Will fill a storage tank any 
height above the source of 
supply, when water may be 
drawn through buildings, 
dairy houses, stable, yards, 
etc., by gravity process. It runs itself. Will force up pure 
water ofa spring with mliddy water without mixing. Write 
us your needs and we’ll send plans and estimates of cost. 
POWER SPECIALTY CO.. 128 Liberty Sf.. Hew York, 
SEND FOB CATAIOGUE AND 
PK1CE8 OF THE 
DIRIGOSILO 
Manufactured by 
D.B. STEVENS & CO., 
AUBURN, ME. 
AGENTS WANTED. 
ROUND SILO 
The “Philadelphia.” 
The only Perfect Continuous 
Open Front Silo made. See our 
Patent Roof. Ask for catalog. 
E. F. SCHLICHTER, 
381 Vine Street, 
PHILADELPHIA, PA, 
Also made in the West by the 
DUPLEX MPG. CO., South 
Superior, Wis. 
WEBER Jr. 
winrlrrtella 
Gasoline 
Pumping 
excel windmills or any other 
power in amount of duty, constancy and 
cost of running. Always ready. 
Atrifle for gasoline gives you the 
water SO men could pump. 2 ^ 
fall hon« power for ooj pur* 
MS*. All tits* up to aOO h. p. 
Write for frss OAtelo^s. 
Weber Gas and Gasoline 
^ SsrlneCo., 
Box 206 Kxiisss City, tfo. 
DELOACH 
FARMERS' $125 SAW MILL 
lata 8000 F«et Lanber • day with only 4 h. p. 
leliOach Variable Feed Saw Mills, ttolOOh. p., 
■ny price. DeLoaoh Mill Mrushinery, Planers, 
Ihingle.Lath and Com Mills, Wafer Wheels, etc. 
leLaach Mill Mfg. Oo.. BoxVOt) AUant^ Oo. 
Haadsonte Oatelocac Free If yea cat this ont aod 
It. Dun. ot p4p.r. 
’vT 
,» - 
POCAHONTAS 
Red Rope Roofing 
Airtight, and waterproof; Strong, Durable, Cheap. 
Easy to put on and lasts for years. It is the most per¬ 
fect paper ever made for rooting and siding poultry 
houses, stables, hog houses, cow barns and other out 
buildings. Put up In rolls containing 6U0 and 250 
square feet. Use cheap lumber for rooting and siding 
and over this put Pocahontas Bed Hope Booting and 
you have a wind-proof, wet-proof roof and sides. No 
other as good. Send for free booklet and note low price. 
Kay Paper Co.. Box 101, Blackwood. N. J. 
DOIN^T BUY GASOLINE ENGINES ‘ ‘TH E^^^M ASTER^“wORKM AN,” 
a two-eyllnder gasoline eng^ine, superior to all one-cylinder engines. Costs less to buy and less to run. Quicker and easier started; has a wider sphere 
of usefulness. Has no vibration; can be mounted on any light wagon as a portable. Weighs less than H of one-cylinder engines. Give size of engine 
required. Please mention this paper. Bend for catalogue. THB TSMPLK PUMP CO., Established 1863. Meagher and 16th Street, CHICAGO. 
