743 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
Hope Farm Notes 
A Soaker.— As I write, we are having th • 
worst storm that has hit us in years. As 
if to make up for the w'et Summer, Sep¬ 
tember tried to be good. We had three 
weeks of warm, bright weather and act¬ 
ually knew what it means to have the 
horses kick up dust on the road. The wind 
kept the windmill turning, the leaves on 
the forest trees were putlin.g on their Fall 
clothes by degrees, and we had about de¬ 
cided that the weather had fully reformed. 
Have you ever lived with people who nearly 
broke themselves down in an effort to “be 
good" and then all of a sudden let go and 
made up for lost time? I have, and I ought 
to have kiipwn what to expect from Jersey 
weather. It was raining hard last night, 
but T cheerfully told the boys that it would 
clear before morning. So it did—a clear 
case of flood. Our roads are rivers, the 
low lands are flooded, and all the little 
streams are raging torrents. The Graft 
and I tried to get to the railroad this morn¬ 
ing. The little stream which two days ago 
was so low that the stones were exposed, 
has jumped out of its bed. dug a hole in 
the road and spread over 25 rods. Wo 
crawled through this flood behind old Kate, 
who was nearly swept off her feet at one 
])lace. The Graft was frightened. “If you 
could hear the water roaring and the trees 
snapping you would be frightened too, he 
said. There is much in that, for the truly 
brave are those who realize all the danger 
when they face it. Yes, and the fact that 
some who did not hear or see all. face it 
without fear, shows that a large per cent 
of all danger is imaginary! 
As for me. while poor old Kate was try¬ 
ing to brace her shuffling feet against the 
flood and the buggy was sliding, 1 thought 
of that scene in the “iionnie Brier Bush 
where old Dr. McDurc carries the famous 
surgeon across the river. Alas, we were 
not bound on any such noble journey! 
This rain has done great damage on the 
low’er farms. As the w\ater starts from our 
ridge it cannot cut as deep furrows as it 
can in the valley. We have our share of 
damage, but I am not going to think about 
that. We are all comfortable. The boys 
are sorting onions in the shed, and every 
xvnimal has a dry place to crawl into. I 
have a good fire burning In the open grate, 
and have at least several good hours to 
study out a problem which interests me. 
The Madame has her little school drawn 
up before the fire. She is mending and 
darning as she hears the lessons. As a 
special favor. Father is permitted to hear 
the spelling lesson! Let it rain! T..et it 
rain! All the Hope Farm folks are com¬ 
fortable, while they wouldn’t be if we began 
to grow'l about the weather 
But what are you stud.ying? 
T shall have to admit that 1 have ob¬ 
tained some books on fermentation and 
alcohol. 
That’s a nice thing for a so-called tem¬ 
perance man to be studying on .a rainy 
day 
I am going to understand the truth about 
that “drunken cow" matter. 
Why didn't you give that drunken cow’ 
a rest? 
I would if I could, but there seems to be 
something in my make-up that whips me 
along to settle a thing when I once get 
in doubt over it. I have often wished I 
could drop things that are unsatisfied and 
forget them, but it doesn't seem possible 
to do so. 
What do you make out of it? 
Why, it seems to be impossible for alco- 
.vi'.ar and iinother it has not paid us U) 
iiold potatucs. From all I can learn th<‘ 
I rop in the Eastern States is only tau', 
with considerable loss from rot. Much ot 
this eastern crop ’.\ill, I Ihink. be sold 
earlier than usual. In Maine. Minnesota 
and other States, where large uuantities 
of potatoes are made into starch the croji 
is better. There is also a fair cron in 
Europe. Years ago the price of potatoes 
was, to a great extent, decided by the 
nearby .supply. Now the world has a fin¬ 
ger in it. Let the price in New York go 
much over $2.25 per barrel and potatoes will 
be taken from the starch factories and 
brought here, because they will then bring 
more for food than for starch. In Ger¬ 
many and other European countries mil¬ 
lions of barrels of potatoes are used for 
making alcohol. When the price rises hero 
it will pay better to export these potatoes, 
and it will be done. Again, city people will 
not pay more than a certain price for 
jiotatoes. They will eat turnips, rice and 
other substitutes. 1 do not see any possi¬ 
bility therefore for potatoes to reach $2 
I)er bushel. If there is any rot in your 
crop, 1 would certainly get rid of them at 
once. If you have a good, dry place for 
storage and feel inclined to risk the loss 
and shrinkage in storage against a possi¬ 
ble higher price, it is a fair business propo¬ 
sition to do so. It pays us best to sell in 
the Fall. 
Farm Notes.— We were not able to sow 
Crim.son clover in the corn at the last 
working, for the soil was so wet that 
there “wasn't any last working." Bather 
than have the land left bare we are seeding 
to rye among the shocks—covering seed 
with’ a cultivator. In this way we obtain 
a fair seeding, and clover may be added 
in the Spring. The rye will make hog pas¬ 
ture next Spring and Summer.The 
success of the hogs this year has only 
strengthened my plans for the future. As 
is well known m.v object is to develop a 
fruit farm—apple and peach on the hills 
and small fruits with onjons on the stronger 
land at the lower end of the farm. I am 
growing the crops and the stock which 
will best pay expenses while the trees are 
coming into bearing. The hog crop pays 
about as well as anything we have tried. 
1 intend to sow such crops as sorghum, 
oats and peas, clover and rye in the bear¬ 
ing orchards and lower fields, and keei> 
them filled with good pigs. B.v means of 
a little digging we can run a stream from 
the spring through all these fields. We 
use coiled spring wire fence and this is 
easily changed about so as to make porta¬ 
ble fences. In this way we can turn off 
5,000 pounds and more of pork each year at 
light expense of grain and labor. We also 
get the land in fine shape for trees. It 
pays us far better to let the hogs cultivate 
and hai’vost such fields, so that we are free 
VO work in the onions and fruit.As 
we are situated hogs pay u.-. better thatv 
other stock. I am sure that the soil is too 
damp and heavy for hens, and it is easy 
to steal a chicken. There is a good trade 
in milk during the Summer, but the cai'o 
of a small herd is confining, and cattle 
make bad work in a young orchard. 
Everything at Hope Farm must fall in 
with the plan to cover our hills with fruit 
trees. 1 have had no experience with 
sheep, but I know that hogs understand 
their trade of packing the wastes of the 
farm upon their bones. Billy Berkshire 
and his family will go into a clover field 
with running water, wood ashes and a 
small amount of corn each day, and pay 
mo;;e for the hay than any human—besides 
cutting and curiivg it for nothing. Not only 
that, but every cro’) that follows will say 
“Hurrah for Billy" instead of yelling 
“robber”! .... Our apples are excellent 
this year. Greenings anvl Baldwins are 
large and smooth. They have hung on well 
in spite of the wind. I find there are many 
who do not know that the Greening is an 
apple for eating out of the hand. They 
class it as a cooking apple, because they 
have been taught to think that the only 
good apples are red. I consider a well 
ripened Greening about the best of all 
apples. We .sell most of our fruit in bas¬ 
kets called “scant half barrels” and they 
are quite scant. We can send these bas¬ 
kets by exoi^ess at a fair figure. They last 
the average famil.v about two weeks and 
then, of course, the.v want more. If these 
same parties bought by the small “meas¬ 
ure" they would not eat half so many. 1 
feel sure that this plan of selling in boxes 
or baskets is one way for us to reach 
the consumer and dodge the middleman. 
1 wish w'e had a good supply of McIntosh 
Bed for the Fall trade. Our trees are not 
in bearing. H. W. c. 
Protect the Farm and Teach us to Love 
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CHICOPEE FALLS , MASS. ■ _^ 
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hol to form in the stomach of the cow. 
The temperature is too high. 
At least you won’t go walking over the 
hills to-day. 
Oh yes, I w'ant to see if the wind is 
blowing too many apples down. It will be 
a pleasure to .see how the thick sod on the 
hills is preventing the water from cutting 
gullies. Some of the root-pruned peacli 
trees sway in the wind more than they 
ought to. I want to see these things at 
their worst. Night will come early. We 
shall get around our open fire and roast 
chestnuts and apples. The candle will be 
lighted inside of old Jack O'ljantern, and 
he will be put in a sheltered place out¬ 
side where tvr can see him. We will leave 
the curtain up so that passers-by in the 
darkness ipay think of home before they 
reach it. In the valleys the streams are 
roaring, and bridges are crashing down, 
but here on the quiet hills we are sate. 
Let it rain! We would stop it if we could 
for the sake of others, but it will not mind 
our appeals. We can only keep our corner 
of the earth warm. 
The Potato Crop.—T wish I knew 
.enough to answer this ((ueslion: 
“If you had a good oroj) of potatoes, would 
you sell now at 5U cents per bushel or wait 
for higher prices? According to reports, it 
is hard just now to tell what prospects are 
for a rise. Some predict $2 per bushel for 
next April. I think that is a high figure. 
1 want to make out of the crop all 1 can." 
Chester Co., Pa. E. r. s. 
We have sold all our potatoes except the 
home supply. This is no guide for others, 
becau.se we are not large potato growths. 
Rot W'as very bad. and we could not have 
held any wav. If the crop hud been large 
1 should have sold at present prices. One 
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