1903 
7!t 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
Hope Farm Notes 
The Onion Crop.—I have said that 1 
would not willingly stamp Hope Farm on 
any product unless it was first class. \\ e 
rai.se lots of stuff that we cannot feel 
proud of, but our onions this year are 
worth talking about. Three of them are 
shown on the first page, Fig. 263. You will 
see by the foot rule that two of them .side 
by side measure nine inches through, fi'he 
three onions there shown weigh three 
pounds iy 2 ounce. They are not the largest, 
for we have some that will weigh two 
pounds and more each. The ground on 
which this crop was grown was used for 
a garden last year. Fhilip got it in good 
condition, picking up stones and raking 
it fine. Last year he tried his hand at a 
small crop of onions, and they turned out 
so well that this year he wanted to try a 
larger lot. He studied Gi'einer’s book, The 
New Onion Culture,” with great care, and 
followed directions to the letter. This 
book, however, tells of jilanting the onion 
sets four inches apart in the row and then 
mentions onions six inches in diameter! I 
told Philip he could pick out his soil, take 
what manure he wanted, have the land 
plowed and harrowed as he liked, and 
handle the crop in his own way—but that 
he must gu.arantee a crop! During the 
WTnler the finest manure was hauled out 
of the barnyard and piled near the onion 
field. I bought Prizetaker seed early, and 
Philip built a new hotbed of sound plank 
close to the field. This was filled in the 
usual way, with manure stamped down 
hard with a covering of dirt on top. In 
one part of the hotbed Philip used wood 
dirt which was scraped up on the earth 
floor of the wood shed. On February 1!) 
the onion seed was sown in the hotbed soil 
in drills about three inches apart. It came 
up promptly and was kept well watered 
and aired. Where the wood earth was 
used a disease struck the plants and many 
died, but the others grew rapidly—so fast 
that the tops were clipped off twice with 
the shears in order to hold them back. The 
season was cold and wet through April, so 
that the ground could not be fitted as 
early as we hoped for. It was finally 
plowed as deep as pos.sible and crushed 
with the Acme harrow. Then Philip 
spread on the manure, which had been 
well rotted through the "Winter. He then 
broadcast at the rate of 400 pounds of 
basic slag to the acre. All this was chopped 
under with a Cutaway harrow, after which 
the Acme was run over the field .again and 
again until the surface was fine and 
smooth. By May 10 we were ready to 
transplant the onions (the season had al¬ 
ready put us back more than a week), 
when the fearful drought came upon us. 
The onion ground could not well bake, 
since it had been worked so often, but it 
was drier than any chip that ever basked 
in the sun. Then we made our mistake. 
We thought that the chief strength of 
the onion lies in the volatile oil which 
makes .vour eyes water. We ought to nave 
known that a plant which can water the 
eye ought to be able to water itself! We 
did not dare set those plants out in the 
dry dirt, for while we believed most of 
the statements in Greiner’s book we did 
not see that a young onion seedling will 
stand rougher usage than any other little 
plant. So the plants remained in the hot¬ 
bed. We kept the Acme at work and 
Philip put on muriate of potash. At last 
there came a slight drizzle, and in despera¬ 
tion Philip began setting on May 20. All 
hands went at it except the Madame, and 
for the next few days every inhabitant of 
Hope Farm knew that he had a back. We 
put our rows two feet apart and set the 
seedling four inches apart in the row. in 
order to get the rows exactly true we ran 
lines of string across the field. Though 
we had no rain for over a week and the 
seedlings were set right in the dust, not a 
dozen of them died, and we saw what a 
mistake we had made in not planting be¬ 
fore. Yet there was an advantage in Ihls. 
too, for the constant working through the 
dry weather killed millions of weeds, and 
saved a vast amount of hand work later. 
Philip wanted no hor.se work in the onions. 
He cultivated with a wheel hoe and 
scratched around the plants with a sharp, 
narrow hoe and ‘‘bird’s claw.” The littfe 
boys helped at this work, and Philip made 
them do it right, picking up every weed in 
baskets and carrying to the hogs and hens. 
In July nitrate of soda was scattered along 
the rows and cultivated in. And how those 
onions grew'! The corn stood still, the 
cow peas w'ere utterly discouraged, the 
beans fell down and the tomatoes grew’ 
pale, but those onions grew on and on 
through the dull, cold weather. And Philip 
pushed them along, for this was surely a 
case of the man behind the onion! I may 
perhaps tell how to plant the seed and 
prepare the ground, but I cannot tell how 
one must get down on his knees and scratch 
and harden the fingers if the prayers for 
an onion crop are to be answ'ered. 
.'tbout GO per cent of our crop will sell 
with those shown in the picture. This 
proportion would be larger yet if we had 
set out two weeks earlier. We have no 
lault to find, however. But is this i)lan 
of onion growing practical? We think 
enough of it to increase our space as rasi 
as we can gel soil properly fitted! At lirst 
though it seems like a great job to, set the 
seedlings. So it is, but we found that this 
was more than saved later in caring loi- 
the crop. The extra work spent in fitting 
the soil saved a vast amount of finger 
work later on, and if one can get the weed- 
ers he can use tfiem for setting. Our 
onions run a bushel to about 35 feet of row. 
■fliey are much easier to pull and handfi' 
than the smaller drilled onions. V/e have 
not sold many yet, and cannot say wiieiher 
they will bring more than the small onions. 
It seems that the ordinary trade calls for 
an onion that can be served whole, not 
over two inches through. There is a 
smaller demand for big onions for slicing 
or for baking entire with cheese. We are 
utter that trade. I find two types of Prize- 
takers—one flat and the other more like a 
globe, but with not so large a diameter, 
i like this last type better, and we shall 
save some of the best for seed. Of course 
I am aware that this method of growing 
onions has been practiced for years, yet t 
find many who never heard of it. 
Farm Notes.— There was a little bite of 
frost on September 23—just enough to put a 
little glitter of white on the roofs. The 
corn on the lower land showed old Jack’s 
linger marks at the ends of the leaves, 
but the hill corn was barely touched. The 
ears were not injured. We expect to begin 
cutting by October 1, though some of the 
corn ought to stand longer.The 
strawberries are pretty well cleaned out, 
and we have been setting through Sep¬ 
tember. 1 think that planting even as late 
as October is, in most cases, better than 
waiting until Spring to set the same plants. 
Of course no sensible man will expect a 
crop next year from this October setting. 
The object of Fall setting is to have the 
work done and the jilants well rooted be¬ 
fore Winter comes on. When the plants 
are well mulched before hard freezing sets 
in, the proporiion of loss will be less than 
with Spring-set plants and the October 
plants have a better chance to get through 
a dry Spring.We have begun to 
butcher and sell the smaller hogs. The 
first bring 10 cents a pound dressed. This 
is for pigs that have been running in clover 
and in the orchards with a small amount 
of corn. They dress not far from lUO 
pounds. This figure is paid by local butch¬ 
ers, who want small carcasses, and west¬ 
ern hog growers will see that there is 
money in it provided we can bring their 
cheap methods of feeding close up to pur 
markets! .... We cut the cow peas 
and used the vines for hog and cow feed, 
i had them cut because the Timothy which 
we seeded with them needed more room 
and sun. The cow peas were smothering 
the grass. There is a good stand here as 
well as in the buckwheat on the hill—in 
fact, with all its faults this has been a 
great season for seeding of . ail kinds. 
. . . . Since the jrlant lice quit their 
work in July the young trees have made 
rapid growth, and are still at it. We are 
to plant more apple trees this Fall, and 
judging from this year’s results, 1 do not 
see how I can do much better than follow 
the same plan of cutting the roots off well 
and planting in small holes with the dirt 
pounded down hard.Farming in 
our county seems likely to be changed 
greatly by a new enterprise. A big water 
company has bought land in a long valley 
about a mile east of us, and will .scoop it 
out and build a great reservoir. The work 
will require three years, and millions will 
be spent on it. This will change our whole 
section, double the value of most property 
and provide work for all who want it. 
Charlie is thinking of working Frank and 
the Bird this Winter on that job. 
Home Notes.— A little brown canary bird 
swings in a cheap cage in the dining room 
at Hope Farm. He chippers away and 
dances about—a merry little fellow. On 
bright days he hangs on a nail over the 
porch. The cat eyes him now and then, 
but there are stout little hands to drive 
her away. Now and then he is left out 
over night. One day the Graft hit his cage 
and knocked it down. Kveryone came run¬ 
ning in to see about the bird. He looked 
sick enough, and drooped his head, but all 
hands nursed and doctored him, and there 
was a great shout of joy when he finally 
hopped up on his iierch and sang a note 
or two. But why all this fuss over a 50- 
cent bird, you will ask. Well—that ques¬ 
tion is easily answered—it Is Grandmother’s 
birti! Jack bought him for Grandmother 
two years ago, and every time he sings 
or dances about we think how Grandmother 
used to watch him and care for him. 
I'hfty cents! You might buy another like 
him for that money, but the memories 
which he carries about with him couldn’t 
be bought for $50,000.‘‘Oh, Father. 
can't we have a campfire to-night?” The 
Bud asked the question at the end of a 
dull gloomy day. I felt little like fun or 
frolic, but the little folks were so eager 
and had done their little duties so well 
that I agreed. By the time we were 
through supper it was dark as pitch out¬ 
side. Mother gave us a piece of bacon and 
a loaf of bread. I carried the ax and the 
children divided the lantern and other bag¬ 
gage between them. The Graft went ahead 
with the air gun as scout. My. but it was 
dark—and the little folks stuck close to 
me as we made our way up the lane! I 
found a sheltered place on the hill side 
near some large trees and started a fire. 
The boys hunted about and found fuel and 
soon we had a blaze leaping up close to 
the trees. 
.Ml at once Shep started up witn a growl. 
'I'here was somebody or something out in 
the darkness. The little girls got up clo.se 
to Father, but the Graft got his air gun 
and started out to investigate. It proved 
to be the Madam.e. Miss Mabel and Hugh, 
who were trying to find their way in tin 
dark. You may be sure we welcomed 
them and gave them a good seat by the 
fire. We had our bacon sliced and toasted 
it with bread—holding the bread out on 
the end of a stick to the fire. Hugh went 
to the cornfield and got a few roasting ear.s 
which he baked in the coals. The wind 
had been slowly rising. It blew the sky 
clear and the stars came out. It was my 
job to keep the fire roaring, and I did it. 
The fire took me back 25 years to the time 
when I slept by such a fire in the Rocky 
Ivlountains. Well, it’s safer for a man^ of 
my age and size to do such things in New 
Jersey! A silence fell upon the company. 
Even the little faces were serious as they 
read what the fire was telling them. These 
old r:iils had a good story of duty to relate! 
It was a great evening. We were all better 
for it. What a lot of care and trouble a 
fellow can burn up in a fire! Try it and 
see! H. w. c. 
sis 
The 
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