1803 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
Hope Farm Notes 
The Hog Question.—A Pennsylvania 
farmer writes this. 
“I do not know how to take the Hope 
Farm man. One week he is going to clean 
out his hogs, and the next week he is in 
favor of keeping hogs. But I will say 
right here that I have some fat hogs, and 
all they have had is milk and apples; not 
any grain. Last year I had two kept the 
same way; did not feed them any grain, 
and we never had finer pork and hams. 
My hogs eat from three-fourths to one 
bushel of apples per day each. I pick up 
the poorest and those that are most de¬ 
cayed and feed. I do not think it is neces¬ 
sary to feed any grain if you have plenty 
of soft apples.” 
You will have to take the Hope Farm 
man just as he comes. Hogs have proved 
the most profitable stock we have ever 
kept. I am cleaning out my old stock for 
various reasons. Pork now brings a good 
price. Grain will be high this Winter, and 
J do not think it will pay to winter pigs 
over. As for the old sows—with one ex¬ 
ception I am not satisfied with them. 
Their litters are too small. I expect to 
stock up again in the Spring with new 
blood, and also try the experiment of buy¬ 
ing pigs for fattening. Eastern farmers 
buy western steers and sheep for fatten¬ 
ing. Will it pay to buy pigs in the same 
way? I shall try to find out. We have no 
milk for hog feeding, and so we are obliged 
to feed some grain. It pays us best to 
feed some grain with the apples. It will 
be asked if we do not raise corn. Yes, but 
the kind we I'aise is worth more for seed 
than for feeding. I plan to give up corn 
as soon as the orchards begin to bear. 
Then we shall sow forage crops for the 
hogs and keep nothing but breeding stock 
over Winter. 
Shooting Hens.— A New York State man 
asks this question: 
•Tn case of a neighbor’s poultry running 
on and destroying another’s crops after 
giving them notice to take care of them, 
has a man the right to shoot or otherwise 
destroy them?” 
I am anything but a lawyer, but It Is 
safe to say that you have no right to 
shoot the hens. I know just how you feel 
about it, for a neighbor who will not con¬ 
trol his hens is almost enough to make 
the Angel Gabriel use his trumpet as a 
policeman uses his club. You have no more 
legal right to shoot a hen than you have 
to shoot a horse that comes into your 
garden. It is a case of trespass, and you 
can bring suit against the owner of the 
hens and make him pay damages. The 
trouble is that few people like to do this, 
for a “hen case” makes fun in court, and 
who can tell how much damage a hen does? 
If the hens are laying it might be a good 
plan to catch them and shut them In a 
house until the owner comes forward to 
do what is right. A fish net on the end 
of a long pole will haul them in. There 
are some very small men in this great 
world, and among the smallest are those 
who will let their neighbors feed their 
stock! 
A Grass Field.- The following question 
comes from Massachusetts: 
“I have two pieces of land of five acres 
each. I wish to know what is best to do 
with it to get it into first-class grass. One 
piece near a stream is heavy alluvial soil, 
level and well drained. This piece has 
been in mowing many years, but has been 
run out by neglect, until three years ago 
it was turned over and seeded, but seed 
did not catch well, and now it has just 
been turned over. There is a lot of Witch 
grass in parts of it. Would I best sow 
rye and turn it under in June, and then 
harrow? Will rye turn under with sulky 
plow, not troubling about getting it down 
fine for seeding? If so, how much seed? I 
have not much manure, and thought this 
might help out. Is there anything else 
that would be better? I want it to raise 
Clark grass. I have his tools to work with 
and want to raise large crops for market.” 
I am satisfied that with us harrowing 
the soil in November kills very little Witch 
grass. The only way to kill that out is to 
work the soil thoroughly in hot sunshiny 
weather. This grass spreads underground, 
and in order to kill it the roots should be 
cut off and thrown to the surface where 
the sun can get at thqm. The Cutaway or 
spring-tooth will do this work well. If I 
had that piece of ground I would let it 
stand till next Spring—then plow as early 
as possible and sow oats—using a fair 
amount of fertilizer. Cut the oats for hay 
in June, before the heads are hard, and 
then be^n at once to carry out Mr. Clark’s 
plan for fitting the land for seeding. Work 
it all through the Summer and seed in 
September—using more fertilizer at seed¬ 
ing. I do not like rye plowed under before 
such grass seeding. The rye Is tough and 
hard, and if you use the Cutaway long 
enough to kill out the Witch grass the rye 
straw will bother you. The oat stubble 
will give you a better chance to kill out 
the Witch grass. 
Insects and Law. —Another good friend 
in New York has this trouble among others: 
“Is there any law to compel my neighbor 
to spray his apple trees? His orchard ad¬ 
joins mine, and his trees are full of all 
sorts of destructive insects, including Cod¬ 
ling moth. I spray all my trees, but It Is 
almost useless. The lane between my 
neighbor and myself is only 14 feet, and 
his apples fall in my lane, and rot there. 
He says I have no right to pick them up 
as they belong to him.” 
There seems to be a vast amount of 
trouble between “neighbors” In this world 
of ours. "Civilization” seems to grow 
fastest where there are no line fences. 
When one man’s “right” becomes another 
man's wrong there may well be a new deal 
all around! In New York a man is com¬ 
pelled to destroy black knot and “yellows” 
in peach or plum, and if he will not do it 
the State can make him. A man is not 
compelled to spray to destroy the Codling 
moth, though such is the case in Califor¬ 
nia. If I had a neighbor in New York 
State whose trees were a menace to my 
orchard and he refused to do what was 
fair I would write to the Commissioner of 
Agriculture at Albany and ask him to send 
an inspector to look those trees over. If 
they are really a menace to the community 
the State can cut them down. 
But suppose some one complained about 
your trees and an “inspector” came with 
an ax to chop them—wouldn’t it be a case 
of “woodman, spare that tree?” Well, it 
takes more to make me fight than it did 
20 years ago. If a man who really knows 
his business came and told me fairly that 
something on my premises was really in¬ 
juring property in the neighborhood, I 
should feel a little ashamed of myself for 
letting it stay. I have known men to stick 
to such so-called “rights” with brutal 
earnestness and then howl at corporations 
and rich men who act on the same prin¬ 
ciple. I will fight for real “rights” as long 
and hard as the next one, but let’s be sure 
what our rights are first.. As for the ap¬ 
ples, if a tree stand near a farm line so 
that part of the tree grows over my side 
I have a right to the fruit which grows on 
my side of the line. I cannot go on my 
neighbor's land to pick the fruit, but the 
apples which fall on my farm belong to 
me. If I owned that lane I would turn a 
hog in now and then to eat the apples— 
and later send my neighbor a peace offer¬ 
ing in the shape of a nice piece of pork. 
Selling Pork.— Every year when I write 
about the prices we obtain for pork people 
write as follows. This letter is from Cat¬ 
taraugus Co., N. Y.: 
“You say that you get 10 cents per pound 
for dre.ssed pigs 110 pounds or under, which 
is much more than we can get here. We 
make the best of pigs, feed sweet separator 
skim-milk and cornmeal in proportion of 
one of meal to three of milk, have them 
fat—think they could be shipped from here 
and arrive in good condition.” 
Our pork is sold to local butchers who 
drive wagons through the little towns 
along the railroads. Few of our farmers 
have any pork to sell. The western car¬ 
casses are large and fat, and people prefer 
small lean joints when they can be had. 
These butchers come right to the farm 
and see the pigs before they are killed. 
They know just what they are buying. I 
have asked them about buying carcasses 
from farmers at a distance, but they all 
say that they prefer to buy of the meat 
companies. The express on a carcass of 
100 pounds would be considerable. In warm 
weather it might spoil or become bruised, 
and the shipper would find fault if the 
butcher did not think It worth full price. 
The fact is that these local butchers are 
in the habit of dealing with people face to 
face. The farmer at a distance will say 
that his pork is just as good as any—and 
it probably is. The local butcher is in the 
habit of dealing with people whom he can 
see, or with a great company which con¬ 
trols the market. A man might make a 
good bargain In a few lots, but the distant 
farmer’s supply will finally end, and the 
great meat company does not have the 
highest resjiect for individual shippers. If 
a man can guarantee a full supply of pork 
all the year ’round he could probably ob¬ 
tain a profitable customer, but where a 
man is buying from a big corporation he 
naturally hesitates to take little shipments 
here and there. It seems to me that farm¬ 
ers who are distant from market must do 
one of three things: Raise enough oi some¬ 
thing to do a wholesale business, club to¬ 
gether with neighbors to produce enough 
to attract buyers, or take such prices as 
the middlemen will offer. Men who live 
close to a good local market ought to get 
more for their produce. The chances are 
that you do not know how good your local 
market is, or what you can sell there if 
you try. 
Farm Notes.— The corn is husking out 
better than I expected. Still the yield Is 
not good enough to brag about. Our yel¬ 
low flint variety planted as late as June 
16 makes good firm seed.In one 
field at the back of the farm we have 
planted Baldwin apple trees 50 feet apart 
with fillers in between—25 feet each way. 
For fillers we used Wealthy and McIntosh. 
A few more were needed to fill out, and 
we used about 25 Blsmarcks from our own 
nursery. 'The Bismarck seems more like 
a toy than a really business variety, but 
it Is well enough as a filler. We have about 
250 Northern Spy seedlings which have not 
yet been budded. I expect to plant them as 
we do other trees and top-work them when 
they are large enough—leaving one good 
limb to grow and see what they will come 
to naturally. This is an experiment worth 
trying, though there is little in it. Some 
people in this world seem to have been 
trained that way. Some of their habits 
were top-worked to useful fruit either with 
a switch, good example or wise direction, 
and now produce good fruit. Other habits 
were left to grow naturally either through 
indulgence on the part of some parent or 
through inability to see what they would 
come to. I can truthfully say that I have 
one or two of such “natural branches” in 
me—and I know of others.The 
yellow turnips are small this year, but 
very fine in flavor. The price is lower 
than one would expect from the theory 
that when potatoes are high people will eat 
turnips. I do not believe that is so. They 
are more likely to eat rice. Our cabbage 
is poorer than usual. It has not headed 
well, but makes good feed for cows and 
hogs.The children were singing 
their hymns last Sunday night when Ida 
came in to listen. Ida came from Finland. 
I asked the. Madame to start “Home, Sweet 
Home” to see if Ida knew the tune. Sure 
enough, she had heard it in her native 
country. You wdll have a job to find a 
civilized spot on the globe where that old 
tune has not gone. Too bad that there are 
still some homes where it is sung in whis¬ 
pers. H. w. c. 
“I’ll shoot that old scare-crow—we 
won’t need it next season, for now 
I have a 
STEVENS 
“Stevens" Rifles, Shotguns, Pistols, 
cost from $ 2.^0 to ^150.00 
Most good dealers will sell you a “Stevens” 
—some will try to talk you into taking a poor 
kind because they can make more money on 
them. Look out ! We will sell to you direct 
(and pay the express charges) if your dealer 
won’t supply the “Stevens.”, 
Are You Good at Puzzles ? 
We will mail for 4 cents in stamps our Clever Rifle 
Puzzle — which is something entirely new. Solve it yourself 
and then try it on your neighbors—great fun winter evenings. 
the elaborate “Stevens” catalogue of 
128 pages. It describes our firearms 
and also contains articles on target shooting, hunting, canoeing, 
etc. Send for it to-day if you are thinking to buy a gun. 
J. STEVENS ARMS AND TOOL COMPANY 775 Main Street, Chicopee Falls, Mass. 
MAILED FREE 
nAIII VQ WiOOOOOOOOO 
r UUL I If fe&si 
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(asking—it's worth having, 
(Excelsior Wire Sc Poultry Supply Co,,< 
I Dept. H.G. 26 & 28 Vesey Street. New York City, j 
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Makes hens lay. 
Makes chickens grow. 
’"•Bowker 
43 Chatham St> 
Boston 
LIFE PRODUCERS 
SUCCESSFUL INCUBATORS. 
LIFE PRESERVERS 
SUCCESSFUL BROODERS. 
Eastern orders promptly filled from 
Buffalo. Catalog free, Poultry Book 10c. 
Des Moines Incubator Co.• Dept. 90. Des Moines, la* 
You Will Find 
for every character of night work when you 
are moving about no light bo satisfactory as 
Dietz Blast Lanterns. 
They don’t blow out. Tliey give you a strong, 
clear, steady, white light. They are absolute¬ 
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Don’t confound them with the common lan¬ 
terns you can buy. No other approaches the 
Dietz. Most dealers sell them. Write for our 
lantern book and make your choice from it 
before you go to buy. 
R.E. DIETZ COMPANY, 87 Laight St., New York 
Established 
18W. 
Farm Wagon only $31.95. 
In order to introduce their Low Metal Wheels with 
Wide Tires, the Empire Manufacturing Company, 
Quincy, Ill., have placed upon the market a Farmer’s 
Uandy Wagon, that is only 25 inches high, fitted 
with 24 and 30-inch wheels with 4-inch tire, and sold 
for only $21.95. 
This wagon Is made of the best material through¬ 
out, and really costs' but a trifle more than a set of new 
wheels and fully guaranteed for one year. Catalogue 
giving a full description will be mailed upon applica¬ 
tion by the Empire Manufacturing Co., Quincy, Ill., 
who also will furnish netal wheels at low pricesmade 
any size and width of tire to fit any axle. 
GRINDS 
Ear Corn, Shelled Corn, 
Oats, Rye. Barley, 
Kaffir Corn, Etc., 
fine or coarse, for feed or family 
use. Has shake feed 
which insures regular 
and even work. 
DIIUDC ai'O made of 
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so hard that neither file 
or tool will touch them. 
They will open and allow 
nails or other hard sub- 
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furnish this mill with 
or without crushers and 
elevators as ordered. 
, CAPACITY 
.hour, according to 
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7r0 Made In 3 sizes for power up to 12 horse, imd 
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IT w|]|n an miT and send it to us and we will 
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ICE 
Made 
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CUTTING 
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ICE CUTTING requires fast work 
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WALLACE MACHINERY CO. 
Champaign, III. 
I 
