1903 
Hope Farm Notes 
Dkunken Cows.—1 have stated several 
times that the cows broke into the orchard 
and gorged themselves on apples. They 
acted in such a way that 1 had little hesi¬ 
tation in calling them drunk. But here 
comes a wise man from Pennsylvania who 
seems to put an end to that: 
‘T like to read the Hope Farm Notes, 
not alone for its familiar touches of home 
life on the farm, but the cheerful optimism 
of the writer Is healthful and encouraging 
to anyone who has gone through similar 
experiences, i have some sympathy even 
with his hobbies, but when he allows his 
rigid views on temperance to carry him 
into misstatements of fact, he shakes my 
faith in the validity of his judgment on 
other matters, in making the assertion 
that his cow could get drunk on green 
apples or suffer from alcoholism where 
alcohol could not possibly exist, he falls 
into the common extravagance of many 
teachers and preachers on the temperance 
question, and only injures a worthy cause 
by making false statements. Truth is the 
foundation of all ethical teaching, and to 
depart from it for the sake of of making 
a spectacular display or to enforce a moral 
precept is always harmful and weakens 
the argument among intelligent persons. 
J. H. B. 
Now, when a man comes at me that way 
tny lirst thought is that perhaps he may 
be right and i begin to review my au¬ 
thority for making the statement. it 
doesn’t make much dillerence to the cow 
or her owner whether she is drunk or has 
a bad case of colic, but it certainly does 
make a difference if a public statement 
does not rest on facts. When my old cow 
went down lirst with this trouble i did not 
know what ailed her, and for want of a 
better name i called it "sunstroke.” This 
excited the scorn of several old farmers, 
who declared that the cow was drunk. She 
certainly did show the symptoms 1 have 
observed in humans when "under the In- 
lluence.” Before saying much about it 1 
put the question to several good doctors 
and a chemist who ranks with the best. 
They all declared that the cow was cer¬ 
tainly drunk, and the chemist described 
the process, showing how alcohol and car¬ 
bon dioxide were formed, the latter being 
removed from the body and the former 
retained—much to the scandal of the poor 
cow. i felt, therefore, that i was perfectly 
justilied in making the statement, and 1 
wrote J. H. B. so. When i gave my rea¬ 
sons our friend responded with a state¬ 
ment of the chemical changes which take 
place when alcohol is formed which is too 
long to print here, i will admit that it 
was too much tor me, but you can imagine 
how sure 1 was when I went to my friends, 
the eminent chemists, and asked them to 
back me up. Have you ever had a good 
taste of roasted crow? If so, you may get 
a faint idea of my position when the emi¬ 
nent chemists either dodged or deserted 
my position, i consulted over a dozen ot 
them, including chemists of brewing com¬ 
panies and distilleries. Here is what one 
man of national reputation says. 
"1 just don’t know whether cattle can 
intoxicate themselves with apples, neithei 
does anybody else know; therefore, the 
talk regarding the matter will never cease 
till the Judgment Hay! it is almost half 
a century since, as a small boy, 1 tiled 
the same experiment on myself, and 1 can 
very distinctly remember, at this distance 
of lime, all the symptoms, but among 
Uiem all there was no symptoin half so 
agreeable as intoxication would be. My 
guess is that the symptoms In cows which 
have eaten freely of apples are due to in¬ 
digestion and general derangement caused 
by the salts contained in the apples, rather 
than by any generation of alcohol.” 
1 have had no experience with the 
"agreeable feeling” which is said to go 
with intoxication. My cows certainly show 
110 evidences of fun. Still, the apples may 
suit them down rather than "corn” them! 
Dr. Jordan, of the New York Station, 
gives this as his opinion; "There is no 
alcohol in apples in their natural condi¬ 
tion, or if any, so inappreciable in quan¬ 
tity as to escape the search of a chemist. 
It is well known of course that in the 
paunch the materials lodged there undergo 
a variety of fermentations. It is among 
the possibilities that alcohol might be one 
of these products, but 1 regard It as quite 
unthinkable that alcohol could be so pro¬ 
duced, and with such rapidity as to produce 
any special effect upon the nervous sys¬ 
tem of the animal. If alcohol was pro¬ 
duced so rapidly as to cause an animal to 
go down soon after eating the apples, it 
certainly could not continue to be produced 
in sullicient quantity to keep the animal 
in a stupid condition for several days. 
What your animals really suffer from Is 
hoven, or milder forms of indigestion. You 
should recall the fact that apples by be¬ 
ing eaten gradually at first may be fed in 
very large quantities without any such seri¬ 
ous results as you indicate. There is no 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
663 
reason to suppose that the fermentation.' 
would not bo ((uite the same under lln^ 
several conditions of feeding.” 
The following opinion is from a high 
authority on the chemistry of brewing: 
"1 very much regret to be unable, as a 
chemist, to throw any light on this inter¬ 
esting phenomenon, and 1 suggest that you 
submit the matter to a physiologist. Per¬ 
sonally, 1 am of the opinion that the cows 
suffer from a similar form of indigestion 
to that which particularly affects boa con¬ 
strictors, after an unusually heavy meal. 
1 have no faith whatever in the theory 
of intestinal alcoholic fermentation, nor do 
1 for an instant believe that the cows when 
in the condition described, are suffering 
from alcoholic intoxication.” 
FltANCIS WYA'rr. 
So there you are. No one knows much 
about it, but the best theory and belief 
puts a white ribbon on the good old cow. 
ft appears, however, that she feels like 
snakes if she doesn't son them! 1 have 
taken Prof. Wyatt’s advice and asked the 
opinion of a physiologist, and we shall see 
what he has to say later, i have my own 
opinion still, but 1 don't feel that these 
learned gentlemen leave enough of it above 
ground to show. When they actually ex¬ 
periment and study the matter they may 
give me a chance yet. I am very glad to 
welcome the old cow into the temperance 
ranks, even if i must take a back seat 
myself as a temperance orator. Call it by 
any name you like, the best way of pre¬ 
venting this trouble in cows is to practice 
prohibition in the form of a good stout 
fence, i am much obliged to our friend J. 
11. B. for pointing this matter out. A man 
ought to be willing to kick an opinion out 
of the window when it is demonstrated 
that the opinion Is built upon a false foun¬ 
dation. i came by my opinion honestly, 
and felt that It was justilied, but the Hope 
Farm man doesn't pretend to know enough 
about chemistry to stand up against those 
who have made a life study of it. Though 
not fully convinced, the Hope Farm man 
apologizes to Julia lor saying she was 
drunk, and will hold his peace until the 
"physiologists” are heard from. They may 
rub it in harder than the chemists do— 
but we shall see. 
it is true, as our friend says, tliat I have 
"rigid views on temperance” and there is 
no chemist or "physiologist” on eartli who 
can convince me that total abstinence is 
not the safest and best practice lor a good 
citizen. 1 got this idea driven into me 
many years ago in a way that 1 do not 
like to think about, but of course i realize 
that others may not have the reason lo 
feel about it as i do and i have no wish 
lo offend those who llnnk otherwise. 
Goou-Natuked.— Our friend speaks of 
“cheerful optimism.” There are those who 
force themselves to be cheerful, if left to 
their own somber thoughts, life would be 
one long tragedy or period of dull depres¬ 
sion. By forcing themselves to be cheer¬ 
ful and to enter into the life and hopeful 
spirits of the young they do the noblest 
service botli to themselves and their coun¬ 
try. When i was a young man, working 
my way through college, 1 found my&elf 
stranded one Winter’s vacation. 1 struck 
a job at ditching in a swamp during the 
day, while three nights a week i went 
about to schoolhouses and churches giving 
recitations—and passing around the hat. 1 
am not at all ashamed of this, for 1 dug 
a good ditch and "spoke” clean and whole¬ 
some "pieces.” One night 1 went to a 
Baptist church where there was a good 
crowd—for i was to divide the proceeds 
with the Sunday school, it was dull, cheer¬ 
less weather and every few minutes the 
minister would whisper to me, "(Jive them 
somethiny Jwmyl Make them luuyhl'' Gloom 
and trouble had settled upon that neigh¬ 
borhood, and they needed a laugh. 1 tried 
hard, but it was a job. 1 made faces and 
roared and played the clown generally, but 
still the minister urged, "Give them some- 
thiny fuimyl” On a front seat sat the most 
solemn-looking man i ever saw. 1 couldn’t 
get my eyes away from him, and 1 did 
everything I could think of to make that 
man grin. He wouldn’t even crack a smile 
—his face grew more solemn than ever, 
and for about the only time in my life 1 
doubted and quit. On my way out of the 
church I saw this sad-faced man talking 
with a neighbor, who asked him: 
"Well, John, how did you like it?” 
“Well, 1 must say that I never come so 
niyh to lauyhiny in the house of God as 1 done 
to-niyhtl’’ 
My spirits went up 500 per cent right 
then and there. Instead of making a fail¬ 
ure I had made that man struggle to keep 
from “laughing in the house of God.” My 
regret is that I quit as 1 did, for I now 
see that I had him going and one roar 
from him under such eircumstances would 
have done that neighborhood more good 
than a barrel of patent medicine! There 
are lots of men like that old fellow, who 
think it is wicked to be happy and cheer¬ 
ful. I think that as a man gets deeper into 
age or trouble he should strive all the 
harder not only to look on the bright side 
of life l)ut to put an extra poilsh on the 
lirightness. That’s another idea that I will 
stick to, even though all the chemists in 
ttie country come and tell me that there 
isn't any possible way of making cheer 
and happiness wlien life seems packed full 
of troubles and years! 
Farm Notes.— The Potato rot is spread¬ 
ing rapidly in our neighborhood. We could 
not dig, for the rains continued and the 
ground was sticky. I would put the loss 
at 50 per cent at least. Even when dug 
and put in piles the rot spreads slowly. 
We shall sell at once. In keeping our 
home supply we store in thin layers on 
slats raised above the floor, so as to let 
the air circulate underneath. Air-slaked 
lime dusted through and over the potatoes 
will help check the rot, but hurts the 
potatoes for sale.As a rule the 
bush Dimas escape mildew, but this year 
the lowest beans on the bushes are going 
fast, in spite of the rot prices do not rise 
as one would think they should. 
1 expect to try seeding grass in a corn- 
fleld this year. We have never tried this 
with Timothy or Red-top, and I do not 
expect a full stand, though old farmers tell 
me great stories of their success with this 
plan of seeding. We do it because the 
field is tough and stony, and we do not 
care to plow it again. We are to plant 
apple trees in it after the corn is cut, and 
want a mulch.We are using 
some of our second-growth clover for pas¬ 
turing hogs. A temporary wire fence was 
stretched across the field and the hogs 
turned in. A little brook furnishes water. 
A hog in a good clover field will give any 
farmer a full course of lectures oh econom¬ 
ical farming. Some farmers do not even 
know that a hog is by nature a grazing 
animal. You ought to see our hogs pack¬ 
ing clover leaves on their hams and sides! 
While I believe that green clover and 
water make a full ration we feed some 
shelled corn, for the Hope Farm motto is 
not mere existence, but growth, and all 
there is of it. h. w. c. 
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tiFBi 
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The importance of Potash in 
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