THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
631 
Hope Farm Notes 
I have a flood of questions some of which 
I will try and answer. 
Disking or Plowing. Here is one from 
Ohio:—“What do you think of disking in¬ 
stead of plowing oat stubble for wheat 
to be sown this Fall? The soil is a clay 
loam. Would like to hear from the ‘Hope 
Farm Man,’ as we think he is O. K., if he 
does get ‘stuk’ on a wind-broken horse.” 
s. B. F. 
If the work can be done deep enough I 
prefer the disking. There may be some 
who do not understand what "disking” 
means. Take a soup plate or a tin plate 
with a stick through the center on which it 
can turn and wheel it forward at an angle 
through sand pressing down hard. As It 
turns around It throws or kicks the sand 
out; turning it over and tossing it up. The 
disk harrow works the ground in much the 
same way chopping and tossing the soil 
deeper and more thoroughly as the disks 
are larger and more heavily weighted 
down. When the disking can be thoroughly 
done I believe that the soil is left in 
better condition for nil crops. The ordinary 
disk harrow does not always work deep 
enough for potatoes but the disk plows, 
where they can be used, will, in my opinion, 
do more satisfactory work than the drag 
plows which turn the furrow slice com¬ 
pletely over. As for fitting oat stubble for 
wheat I should certainly use the disk on 
it, not once but again and again until it 
was thoroughly chopped up. I should ex¬ 
pect from this as good a yield as from 
plowing. 
Machines vs. Men.— Here is a man who 
speaks for many others, in his desire to 
make hired men out of machinery. 
“I cannot get good help, and am unable 
to plow with the regular two horse plow. 
What I want very much is a riding plow 
and a riding cultivator that I can use my¬ 
self on our hilly, stony land. Our stones 
are all sizes from gravel to tons. We can¬ 
not pick them off, life is too short or 
shall I say lazy? (I am 56). Do you think 
I could use a Clark Cutaway and a sulky’ 
We raise general crops. I can drive all 
right, but cannot hold a plow or walk 
after a harrow, and the men I can get do 
not do the work tlioroughly. Which tools 
would I select for two old not very strong 
horses.” i*. 
Wherever I go T hear this question. How 
can we make the cogs and cranks on a 
machine do the work of a hired man’s 
brain? Hope farm has more than its 
share of stony, hill land and when we 
started I decided to try and grow potatoes 
on these hills. I bought a sulky plow. 
We already had a riding cultivator and a 
potato digger. After a hard struggle we 
quit and decided that as these hills were 
evidently built for fruit and grass we 
were too feeble to graft crops like potatoes 
on them. We are therefore seeding down 
and planting apple and peach trees on all 
the back farm. Our sulky plow did good 
work but it nearly killed the horses. 
Frank and Dan were both strong but they 
did not have the power required for the 
plow, 'rhe heavy frame held the plow point 
firmly in the ground and it struck hidden 
stones with such force that the horses 
shoulders were badly bruised. I would not 
think of trying a sulky plow on a stony 
hillside. My sulky is for sale, though on 
level soil without hidden stones it is a 
grand implement. A disk plow, whish is a 
large heavy disk mounted on wheels which 
hold it in the soil, is much better for hill 
work. These plows require great power in 
front of them. I fear that your old horses 
will not be able to do them justice. We 
must remember that if we are to get rid 
of the hired man’s hand work we must 
use far greater horse power. As to riding 
cultivators, the objection to them on rocky 
ground is that too many pegs are broken. 
The teeth strike a stone while going at good 
speed with power enough to break the bolts 
which hold) them. To lessen this trouble 
the bolts are taken out and stout wooden 
pegs substituted. The driver oarries a 
pocket full of these pegs and as one is 
broken another is put in. We have broken 
dozens of them in a day and much time is 
lost in replacing them. You are thinking 
what good work you are doing when—snap! 
goes a peg and one tooth flies back and 
dangles like a broken arm or leg. Some 
cultivators have stout springs on the teeth 
which “give” enough to pass small stones. 
They will often break on large rocks and 
make a bad mess. 
I am sorry that our experience does not 
give much hope for such tools on stony 
hillsides. I think they are Intended rather 
for level, smooth fields. Naturally as a 
machine comes to do more of the work 
done by the hand there are so many fine 
parts that it cannot be expected to stand 
hard pounding. My plan Is to seed these 
hillsides, plant trees among the stones 
and then get aw'ay with plows and culti¬ 
vators, I have said before now that two 
men each with only one leg can sit on 
machinery and do all the work on 30 acres 
of potatoes except picking. That is true 
but it can only be done on smooth, open 
land which has been kept in good culture.. 
Farm Notes.— The cow peas still dawdle 
along light in color and heavy of foot for 
they refuse to “run.” This cold, wet season 
has held them back and it is now so late 
that the crop will barely pay for seed, 
'rhe soy beans are certainly far ahead of 
them this year. . . . The second crop of 
clover was cut August 24, and gave a lar¬ 
ger yield than the first. By putting on 
more iron slag we shall be able to cut a 
third crop if we care to. Alfalfa could 
hardly beat that. The second cutting of 
grass is very heavy on all the meadows; 
we never had more hay. ... I am sorry 
to say that rot has started in the potatoes 
and is spreading rapidly. The crop must 
be dug at once or we shall lose it. Too bad 
to have to stop and dig potatoes when 
other work ought to be done. Aside from 
the rot we never had a better outlook for a 
full potato crop. 
“That’s it,” says old Doleful, “there is 
always something to upset us.” 
Y'ou’re right, there is, and for everything 
that upsets there is another that uplifts 
'rhe same weather that rots the potatoes 
has given us the greatest hay crop we 
ever had and also a good chance to save 
our corn. 
What about that corn anyway? 
We have done our best and now it de¬ 
pends on the action of the Hon. Jack 
Frost. The fields planted on Decoration 
Day and June 17, look as well as any I 
can find in our country. I feel quite sure 
this corn will make good seed. The field 
planted July 3 is uneven—the best of it 
standing about three feet high, 50 days 
after planting. With a fairly warm Sep¬ 
tember it will still make seed. Our killing 
frosts rarely come before October 10, and 
I can hardly believe that after all the hard 
knocks nature has given us this season 
Jack Frost will make an early visit. I am 
hopeful for the corn and that is all, for I 
know that we really had no right to expect 
grain from that July planting. If any 
variety can do it •ur yellow flint is the 
fellow to try. This struggle for a corn 
crop is interesting at least. . . . We are 
cleaning out the strawberries and it is a 
fierce job. It does not seem possible that 
such a mat of crab grass and weeds can 
crowd into the berry field in so short a 
time. It is finger work too but it must be 
done if we are to have first-class fruit 
next year. The weeds are pulled, shaken 
free from dirt and thrown into large piles. 
At night they are carted out and thrown 
into the orchard where Billy Berk and his 
friends make them into pork. With apples 
and weeds from a strawberry patch, these 
hogs ought to produce fine-fiavored hams. 
I spoke some weeks ago of plowing out an 
old strawberry patch by turning furrows 
together and thus leaving strips through 
the field. The weeds have been pulled 
from tho.se strips by hand leaving fair 
row's of plants. Now we scatter fertilizer 
in the furrows on either side of thesu rows 
and slowly level in by working on the ridge 
between with the cultivator. It will never 
make an ideal bed but it was this or plow 
up the whole thing. I always like to give 
things a chance. h. w. c. 
Western New York is overloaded with 
Summer apples, and many of us feel like 
criticising the men who planted such an 
abundance of early fruit, forgetting that 
there has been a complete change of con¬ 
ditions since those old orchards were plant¬ 
ed. In my own orchard there is one long 
row and part of another of early fruit with 
occasional scattering trees. There is an¬ 
other row of Porter, delicious apples, but 
too many of them in the usual market 
When these old trees were young, fine 
Summer apples were in demand in the 
great markets. 'I'hey were harvested early 
and shipped on the canal to New York and 
brought a fair return, 'i’his year onl> 
25 cents per bushel can be obtained in the 
home wholesale market, and not more 
than 50 cents from the retail trade. The 
plum crop here is simply wonderful. There 
are few plum trees which are not loaded 
to the breaking point. Could we farmers 
keep posted accurately as to where these 
fruits were scarce it would help us to un¬ 
load our surplus. s. a. l. 
Wayne Co.. N. Y. 
Oul- 
Letter 
.. BoQk 
^Copies: 
IkHm Letters' 
While You 
. . Write 
Use your own paper. 
Any pen, any ink, no press. 
Government Officials, Colonists, Farmers, 
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Every man who writes letters should write for prices 
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PEN-CARBON MANIFOLD CO., Dept. 50 
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< — 
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Under Prof. Win. P. 
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THE lAWREHCB-WILLIlMS COMPin, OlsTeltnd, Ohio. 
One Experience 
with a lame horse 
Is enough. You lost 
money on that one. 
You will never need 
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will use 
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the old reliable remedy for Spavins, Ringbones, 
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BLIZZARD 
Feed and Ensilage 
Gutter 
Does everything, cuts 
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all done by one machine. 
Sold on full guarantee. 
Write for catalogue. 
Joseph Dick 
Agricultural Works, 
Box 69, Canton, Ohio. 
CUT THIS OUT 
And when In need of a wire fence that will last three 
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Ten Dollars a Day 
or more may be lost by the idleness of a horse from 
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Bickmore’s Gall Cure 
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BICKMORE GALL CURE CO., Box 519, Old Town,Me. 
_ _Horse-' 
GOMBAILT’S 
CAUSTIC BALSAM 
Warranted 
to give satisfaction. 
The 
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is a complete fertilizer 
containing 6%’ actual 
Potash 
A deficiency of Potash 
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Our books on Wheat and ^iir~~ 
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GERMAN KALI WORKS, 
03 Nassau Street, New York. 
HAND FODDER 
CUTTER 
-9 
IT’S A GOOD ONE and 
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Should you want a larger power ensilage and fodder 
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yAppleton Manufacturing Co ■ Batavia, 111., U.S.A.^ 
Sizen 
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