1903 
THR RURAL NKW-YORKHR 
567 
Hope Farm Notes 
Poor Farming.—I had an engraving made 
of a recent letter—just as it was received- 
omitting the postoffice. Here it is: 
— 
(pJT 
- 'V/iA^-O^-C C:A* 
A/» ■ 
T never met Mr. Trotter, but I am quite 
Inclined to agree with him that a good 
farmer ought to understand animals. For 
my.self I will say that I care little for a 
lior.se and have never tried to study horses 
so as to know just what limb or lung ought 
to be. When we bought the “Bird” I knew 
that her legs and feet were right and that 
she was heavy enough. I couldn’t hear 
her breathe, but Charlie, who is a good 
hor.seman, said her wind was right. I guess 
that the best thing for me to do is to admit 
that I know more about hogs or straw¬ 
berries than I do about horses. 
But when it comes to being “stuk” on 
tlie Bird, I don’t know—we don’t want to 
sell her anywhere near as badly as we did: 
She is doing better. She breathes easier, 
doesn’t wheeze half as much and has 
turned out a fine mate for Frank. 1 
wouldn’t care to sell her to-day for what 
I paid for her. Dr. Hatch prescribed mix 
vomica and iodide of potash in powders. 
We gave them for eight days, but at first 
she seemed no better. She is now without 
doubt greatly improved and I must say 
that she has turned out a valuable animal 
for our work. I spoke too soon when I 
fondeinned her. As she is now working 
she is a good bargain for slow farm work, 
but, of course, is of little use on the road. 
What helped her? 
I think there were a number of things. 
We are some 400 feet above sea level and 
this is better for her. She has had con¬ 
siderable green feed and has not been 
trotted. Those powders were what she 
needed. Her blood was all out of order 
when she came. It was nearly impossible 
to heal a bruise or scratch on her skin. 
.Now they will heal as they do on the other 
horses. I think she was well dosed with 
arsenic or antimony when we bought her 
iiiid this made her trouble seem worse w,hen 
we put her at work and stopped feeding 
these drugs. Whatever it was we certainly 
feel “stuck on her.” She is doing so well 
that we feel like sticking right to her. She 
will never appear on the race track, but 
when she and old Frank nod their heads 
together and settle into their collars it 
would take a pair of elephants to stop 
them. 
'I'hese two horses make a better work 
team than h'rank and Dan did. Dan is do¬ 
ing good work on his new job and his 
owner thinks he made a fine bargain when 
he got the horse. You see Dan was the 
underling when he sized up with Frank, 
but now he is boss by the side of a smaller 
horse. That change puts spirit into horse 
or man. With this happier solution of the 
horse deal, I feel like saying to the old 
farmer who said that the “Bird’s” affliction 
was a “judgment of Providence” upon me 
that Providence has always been kinder to 
me than I deserved! 
Farm Notes.— The yellow turnips were 
drilled July 23. This is later than we like, 
but it couldn’t be helped this year. With 
each season we learn to sow the yellow 
turnips on richer soil. Since they must 
make their growth rapidly during cool 
weather plant food must be ready for them. 
. . . . All hands are at work hoeing out 
the corn and potatoes—all but Charlie, who 
keeps the “Bird” and Frank busy at plow 
and harrow. I am glad to say that our 
crops are cleaner than we have ever had 
them before this season. Still, they might 
be cleaner yet, for it is hard to kill weeds 
in the short intervals between showers. 
• . . . That com which was planted on 
July 3 is up and doing. If there were more 
human beings ready to work as hard as 
that corn is doing to carry out the lessons 
of the “glorious Fourth” we should have 
a great country. 
Do you expect seed corn from this late 
planting? 
T expect nothing. We planted that corn 
as early as we could do a good job. We 
lilted the ground the best we knew how. 
We have put on about 600 pounds per acre 
of a good fertilizer and we shall keep the 
held clean. The variety is all right and 
having done our part, why should we ques¬ 
tion the result? The boys shako theii' 
head.v, but I have more faith in that corn 
than in their doulit.s! .... By August 
1 wo shall be at the strawberries. For our 
business, August seems to be about the 
best month for setting plants. We can 
follow an early crop like peas or potatoes 
and set potted plants or runners with a 
big clump of dirt and get a small crop the 
next season, with a big one to follow a 
year later. I think it will often pay best 
to set plants in September or October 
rather than to wait until Spring. Get the 
Fall-set plant well started and mulched 
for Winter and It will not only outstrip 
the same sized plant set in Spring, but fhe 
risk of loss will be less. We have one 
bed which, in spite of us, has filled up with 
weeds and grass. I was tempted to plow 
it all up and plant cabbage, but finally de¬ 
cided to plow so as to leave strips about 
15 inches wade. These can be cleaned out 
and left for fruiting rows.We 
began to dig the Early Fortune potatoes 
on July 15. They were planted April 22. 
They were large enough to eat before July 
4 but are not fully mature yet. The yield 
thus far is excellent—the best we have 
ever had from an early variety. I must 
say, however, that we never gave our pota¬ 
toes better care than they have had this 
season. I have learned now so that I shall 
never forget it that if you want to raise 
potatoes you must give the crop the best 
soil you can find and. in our country at 
least, throw on the fertilizer. 
But is not that true of all crops? 
Of everything except the cow pea. That 
is a hustler and is intended to add fertility 
to the soil—not to subtract it. The cow 
pea is a master at addition, while potatoe.s 
beat most crops at subtraction. 
The Hogs. —If you would see perfect 
specimens of animal happiness you should 
see the Hope Farm hogs at this season. 
There is an orchard of about 2*4 acres near 
the house. The old trees are headed high 
in the air, and are chiefly early varieties. 
This year they are well loaded and the 
high winds have blown many off. We put 
a wire fence .around this orchard and turned 
in 14 hogs. You may have seen a boy given 
unlimited chances at apple pie with all 
the fear of stomach ache removed! That 
will give you an idea of the pleasant way 
in which our pork is being manufactured. 
We feed some dry middlings and whole corn 
and provide plenty of water—the hogs at¬ 
tend to the rest. The first thing the Berks 
did was to wander all over the orchard 
sampling the .apples and settling down to the 
sweet ones. They have cleaned up the fruit 
under some trees while that under others 
has hardly been touched. The Yorks are 
less nervous and do not seem to hunt 
about for the best fruit. We shall have 
a good chance to compare the breeds a1 
this foraging. Thus far I think the Berks 
have the best of it. I do not pretend to 
say that the Berks play baseball with the 
apples and catch them on the fly as they 
fall, but they do get around lively and 
beat any hog I have seen for foraging. As 
there is a good sod of Orchard grass in this 
orchard we found it necessary to ring 
these hogs. They don’t like this form of 
root-pruning any moi'e than some of our 
scientific men like the idea of cutting the 
roots of a tree! There were so many ap¬ 
ples in the orchard th.at the hogs could not 
handle them all, so we put four cows in 
for a few days to help out. fi’his old or¬ 
chard would nearly pay for itself in pork 
alone if we never sold any fruit from it. 
Keeping Boarders.— Here we have the 
opinion of a man in New York State that 
is good enough to go on record. 
“The Hope Farm man, we think, has got 
a little off in his going into the boarding 
business. Paul has been set up as saying 
some good things, but the best thing I 
think he ever said is “this one thing I do.” 
How few in this world comprehend that 
one thought! If a man farms he wants to 
farm and let nothing divert his mind or 
attention from it, and then he is as sure of 
success as daylight is to come after the 
night. That man will always pay 100 cents 
on the dollar. Keeping boarders on the 
farm uses up the mother and daughters, as 
it comes in harvest time, the busiest time 
of year, when berries and fruit need to be 
handled, and it also is the hottest part of 
the year. Many have tried boarders about 
here but they and their farms and families 
all suffered. A farmer never should get a 
side show in his head.” w. h. i. 
That man knows what he is talking 
about, yet keeping farm boarders is a fair 
part of farming for some people. If they 
do it they should certainly follow Paul’s 
advice to the dot on the i. There are two 
sides to this boarder business. Most people 
who go to a farm to board expect to get 
their money’s worth and a little more. 
'I'hose who have hard pickings at home 
are most likely to find fault and make 
trouble. Woe betide the farmer’s wife who. 
in her eagerness to please, begins by let¬ 
ting boarders dawdle along in coming to 
breakfast. They will take advantage of 
that and keep licr cooking breakfast until 
dinner is ready! There are many fine peo¬ 
ple who will bring an excellent influence 
into a farmer’s home. 'I’here are others 
who will do the young folks more harm 
in two weeks than you can offset in the 
remaining 50 of the year. I have said that 
a farmer to run a boarding house must be 
a combination of Moses, Job and John I.. 
Sullivan. Plis wife must be strong and 
healthy and gifted with the patience of 
an ant, the thrift of a honey-bee, the tact 
of a politician and the good nature of a 
wingless angel. Even then the farm work 
will suffer, for our friend is right in saying 
that no man can keep Summer boarders 
and still be a first-class farmer. The 
boarders will surely demoralize the help 
and the farm plans. On the other hand, 
there is money in the business when man¬ 
aged well. These boarders pay good prices 
for fruit, eggs, milk and butter. It will 
pay some farmers well to get their farms 
into grass, plant a big garden and make 
Summer boarders and hay their main crops. 
It is an excellent way in which to bury 
your wife and get your daughters to leave 
the farm. I am not in the business. We 
have three girls, it is true, to feed and sun¬ 
burn, but we are boss of the situation yet. 
while in the boarding house the proprietor 
retires to the barn and the boarder runs 
the estate. We don’t do business that way 
at Hope Farm! H. w. c. 
Freeman 
Feed 
Cutters 
are in a class by 
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requirements.^ 
Smallest hands 
lever to largest 
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Widely popular through maiw years 
service. Also Wind Mills, Corn tellers. 
Wood Saws, etc. Catalogue 108 sent free. 
S. Freeman & Sons Mfg. Co., 
RacInOi Wisconsin. 
SMALLEY 
SAFETY BLOWEI 
Only One Belt Bequlred. 
0 
Sizes 
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Sizes 
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Potash 
For Wheat, Rye, Barley, and 
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CLARK’S Rev, BUSH PLOW 
A first class plow to subdue hogs and bushes or 
newly cleared forest or stump land. In seeding to 
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lias 8 24-inch steel disks. 
Turns earth to or from stumps. Is sure death to 
bushes, bunch grass, witch grass, hardback, thistles, 
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It’s Almost 
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