900 
THE 
127 
RURAL NEW-YORKER 
? 
4 
HOPE FARM NOTES. 
“Excuse Mi Back!”— There have been a 
number of calls for a picture of the Hope 
Farm man, and so I present his latest pho¬ 
tograph at Fig. 41. The Madame caught us 
at story-telling time. The cherry tree in 
the picture is not the one made famous by 
the Graft and Scion. The four little folks 
are very fond of stories. They prefer 
stories of animals, and Cousin Woodchuck, 
Brother Rabbit, Judge Lynx, Uncle Pos¬ 
sum, Squire Coon, Charlie Crow and their 
friends are very real to them. Judge Lynx 
and Simon Snake are two terrible villains. 
Once, after her Sunday school lesson, the 
Bud startled her father by asking: 
“Which do you think was the baddest— 
King Herod or Judge Lynx?” 
When the picture was taken the Hope 
Farm man was telling how Cousin Wood¬ 
chuck and Johnny Bee fooled Judge Lynx. 
It looked pretty dark for old Cousin Wood¬ 
chuck at one time, and the little Bud shed 
tears of real grief. Finally, when old 
“Judge” shut his mouth on a chestnut burr, 
thinking he had Cousin Woodchuck’s foot, 
the tears were dried, and the Bud shouted, 
"Ain’t you glad? Ain’t you glad?” Story¬ 
telling time is very popular with the five 
members of the Story-telling Club. You 
will observe that the Hope Farm man will 
never take a prize for his shape. However, 
it isn't a physical outline that “shapes our 
end.” A good thing, that, for fleshy men! 
Kerosene and Insects.—As most garden¬ 
ers know, kerosene is one of the best in¬ 
secticides for sucking insects. The ento¬ 
mologists have recommended the use of an 
emulsion—a thick substance made by churn¬ 
ing the kerosene up with soap or milk. The 
directions for making it are plain as day, 
but mighty few farmers ever make it. 
Within recent years it has been found that 
kerosene and water will mix under pressure. 
When pumped or blown together into a 
spray the oil and the water are well mixed. 
The water finally evaporates and leaves the 
the Paris-green gun. I feel sure it was 
useful in holding off the blight. As we 
hope to work Hope Farm into a fruit or¬ 
chard the question of spraying becomes a 
hard one. There is no use fooling with 
powders and hand pumps on large trees. 
The scientific men tell me without reserve 
that spraying is necessary—it must be done. 
Their bread and butter, however, does not 
suffer whether they spray or not. The ex¬ 
perts in fruit growing also say spray, 
though they qualify a little more than do 
the scientists. They have abundance of 
capital, and have little else to do during 
spraying time. The average farmers— 
average capital, crops and ability—are di¬ 
vided in opinion. They tell me that spray¬ 
ing is all right for the man who raises little 
beside fruit. The man who grows corn, 
potatoes or similar crops will find they need 
attention right in spraying time. Some¬ 
thing will suffer. It looks to me as though 
spraying is about like accident insurance. 
I have carried an accident policy for four 
years, but beyond breaking the nail off one 
toe have had no accidents! Some of our 
trees have been neglected. The leaf growth 
was feeble last year. They were like peo¬ 
ple with defective lungs. A soluble fat, 
like cod-liver oil or cream, will often stim¬ 
ulate the lungs by giving them more to do 
to burn up that fat. I judge that Bordeaux 
Mixture will stimulate the leaves—which 
are the lungs of the tree. 
Farm Notes.—T he three pigs which were 
put in the large barnyard are doing so well 
that I shall put them all there. No use 
talking, a pig does better on the ground 
than he does on a board. A good pig sifts 
the manure far cleaner than a boy sifts the 
ashes. The Berkshires are certainly gain¬ 
ing faster than the Whites.The 
roads near Hope Farm are tough proposi¬ 
tions just now. By night the mud is several 
inches deep. By morning every rut and 
hoof hole has frozen solid and the wagon 
jumps and bumps a warning to springs and 
THE-HOPE FARM STORY-TELLING CLUB IN SESSION. Fig. 41. 
oil where it will do the most good. Mr. 
Leggett, the Paris-green-gun man, has in¬ 
vented a little sprayer which seems to me a 
very useful device. It works with an air 
pump, and blows out a spray of Paris-green 
and water, with or without kerosene mixed 
into it. A little can at one side feeds in 
the kerosene, so that it makes a perfect 
mechanical mixture. With this little tool a 
man can spray Bordeaux Mixture or Paris- 
green on potatoes, or give the flea-beetles 
or plant-lice a taste of kerosene. It is far 
ahead of the little “atomizers” which 
handle pure kerosene. 
Small Dos'es.— We all know how in re¬ 
cent years the tendency has been to use 
less plaster or water in spraying and pois¬ 
oning. This is because the inventors have 
given us improved tools. There were people 
who last year, covered whole acres of pota¬ 
toes with little “atomizers” which held less 
than a quart. This work was effective be¬ 
cause the spray was fine and perfect, and 
could be directed so that it wasn’t neces¬ 
sary to irrigate the plant in order to put 
poison on its face. With this new tool 1 
feel sure that three quarts of water will 
carry the poison needed to kill the bugs on 
an acre of potatoes. This hardly seems 
possible, yet I believe it can be demon¬ 
strated. I think the days of the knap¬ 
sack sprayer are limited. Of course, these 
hand sprayers will not do the work on large 
trees. I doubt whether it will ever be found 
wise to use kerosene and Paris-green to¬ 
gether. Bordeaux Mixture and kerosene 
might be used on potatoes when blight and 
flea-beetles abound. These pests some¬ 
times appear together. 
Shall We Sprat?— Thus far I have made 
but little use of the Bordeaux Mixture. 
Last year and the year before we used the 
dry mixture on potatoes—blowing it on with 
axle. Near the towns there are long 
stretches of macadam, but we hill folks 
send our taxes down to smooth the valley 
roads—and then we send our rains to wash 
them out.Winter seems about 
ready to quit by the middle of February. I 
have no confidence in the old fellow’s prom¬ 
ise though, and don’t intend to be caught 
as I was last year in the blizzard. This 
soft weather gives us a good chance to 
grub out bushes and vines that have mo¬ 
nopolized the fence rows. The corn and 
potatoes yell, “Down with monopoly!” and 
then they stand off to wait for some one 
to push them into the fence corners. The 
weeds and briars never say a word, but 
crawl right in and capture the place. Now 
is a good time to pick the stones in the 
mowing fields.I get warning 
letters from people who say that our drilled 
well will go back on us. It hasn’t done so 
yet. There has been a full supply of the 
purest water. The windmill, tank and 
pipes are all faithful. What a comfort it 
is to have this pure water, hot or cold, al¬ 
ways on tap! We don’t have to economize 
with water either—as the town folks do. 
If they use a little extra how it does puff 
up the bill.As most readers 
know, we have a blackboard at Hope Farm. 
At the top is printed Hope Farm Bulletin, 
and we can chalk on it what we have for 
sale. Just now we have little to sell, but 
we can use the board for chalking down 
what must be done on the farm from day to 
day. You will be surprised to see how 
much more will be done if the written 
record is posted up. The Madame also 
wants the board in her school room. 
Cutting Stalks.—A friend in Indiana saw 
what we wrote about cutting stalks and 
sends the following note: 
"Just make an extended saw-buck, line the 
top with two planks, one foot wide and four 
feet long, making a V-shaped trough of the 
top part. Put into this an armful of fod¬ 
der, get upon it with the knees and with 
the Lightning hay knife, made sharp, go to 
work on that fodder like sawing wood with 
buck-saw, and see if it does not beat the 
hand-ax. It will be work, though.” 
I have used the hay knife in former years, 
but do not own one now. In Colorado our 
hay was always stacked outside the barn, 
and the hay knife was very useful for cut¬ 
ting down the stacks. In this country there 
is little need of the hay knife. Most farm¬ 
ers probably never saw one. You are right 
in saying that cutting stalks means hard 
work. So does any job in which a man 
puts his back and arm in competition with 
a machine. A man can beat any machine 
with the skill of eye and hand, but wood 
and steel are too much for his back, or that 
part of his arm which lies above the wrist. 
Florida Potatoes.— Uncle Ed and Charlie 
have planted an acre or so of potatoes In 
Putnam County, Fla. They had a hard job 
getting them in. First they had to build 
a fence of barbed wire to keep out the hogs 
which roam at large in that country. Then 
they had a job to get a horse. Horses 
seem to be at a discount as to numbers, 
while their services are at a premium. At 
last the potatoes are under ground, and, if 
Jack Frost will stay where he belongs, 
they will do their duty. It is somewhat of 
a gamble to raise a crop in any State, but 
Florida seems to offer great odds against 
it. We’ll see how it comes out. The Hope 
Farmers “raise potatoes” in every month 
of the year except December! 
Rubbing It Out.—T he Madame has a little 
blackboard on which the children work out 
their problems in "numbers.” They put 
the answers down in chalk and, of course, 
sometimes they are wrong. Then they want 
to rub out the mistake, but the Madame 
won’t let them do it. They cross it out, but 
it must stand there awhile, so that they 
may learn to be more careful. From bald 
head to bald head, most of our mistakes 
are made through lack of thought. What 
do we do with our mistakes? 
"Call the judge a fool,” says the lawyer. 
“Bury ’em,” says doctor. 
“Plow ’em under,” says farmer. 
“Scold the printer,” says editor. 
“Won’t do it again!” says the Graft, and 
he is the most sensible of all—because he 
Is the youngest and knows least about the 
ups and downs of life. It is easier to rub 
it out than to have some one rub it in. 
Pruning Pear Trees.— Some of our pear 
trees are long past voting age. They have 
been pruned in former years by sawing off 
large branches and training up several 
stout sprouts around the cut. These sprouts 
have been neglected and left to run at will. 
The result is a perfect mass and jumble of 
limbs, giving a close head with little 
chance for air and sun to get in. Of course, 
the fruit was poor and small. I mounted 
one of these trees to prune it and found the 
branches so close that I got pretty well 
scratched. I didn’t intend to take revenge 
on the tree, but before I got done I let 
the air into those trees, I can tell you. No 
doubt the way I made that saw work would 
have hurt Brother Van Deman’s feelings, 
but I thought while I was about it I would 
“let the blessed sunshine in,” and I did so. 
What’s the use in talking about the Bor¬ 
deaux Mixture if you don't make openings 
for it to spray in? h. w. c. 
If you are a farmer or want to be one, 
send for the “Western Trail.” Published 
quarterly. Full of pointers as to settling 
in Kansas, Oklahoma and Indian Terri¬ 
tory. Handsomely embellished and con¬ 
cisely written. Mailed free. 
Address by postal card or letter. 
John Sebastian, G.P.A., Chicago.— Adm. 
Soon Saves Its 
A 12-Year 
Old Boy 
A Labor Saver. 
can do more and better work, either 
in the held or garden, with th 
HAND CULTIVATOR 
than three men can do with common hoes. 
Plows, hoes, cultivates—astrideor between rows. Ifnoatrent 
in your town srnd (1.35 foi sample delivered and terms to nirents. 
Ulrich Mfg. Co., 20 RI vet St.,Rock Falls,III. 
C HOICE Vegetables 
will always find a ready 
market—but only that farmer 
can raise them who has studied 
the great secret how to ob¬ 
tain both quality and quantity 
by the judicious use of well- 
balanced fertilizers. No fertil¬ 
izer for Vegetables can produce 
a large yield unless it contains 
at least 8 % Potash. Send for 
our books, which furnish full 
information. We send them 
free of charge. 
GERMAN KALI WORKS, 
93 Nassau St., New York. 
Crop Failures 
are practically impossible where 
Nitrate of Soda 
is used as a fertilizer. Its use has made 
an exact science of crop growing. You 
can always rely upon a good crop when 
it is used singly or in proper combina¬ 
tion with other elements of plant food. 
Send to John A. Myers, 12 O John 
St., New York, for free copy of book, 
‘ ‘Food for Plants. ” JVitra te for sale by 
fertilizer dealers everywhere. 
Write at once for List of Dealers. 
Cyanide 
Guaranteed 98 to 99 per cent., for generating 
Hydrocyanic Acid Qas 
the most effective fumigating material, to 
destroy scale insects on fruit trees and 
plants. The only positive eradicator of 
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Flncut in the Spray, 
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the onlv pump having automatic agita¬ 
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KEROSENE SPRAYERS 
, is simple indeed. Kerosene Emulsion 
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I Sprayers, Bordeaux and Vermorel 
J Nozzles, the 44 World** Bent.'* 
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Western Agents, H©nlon & Hubbell,j 
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U 
WOOD FRAME SPRING TOOTH 
HARROW 
the original and still the bent 
harrow of Its kind. All wood of 
best seasoned white oak. 
Teeth of best oil tempered steel 
Provided with irmtrdM. Channel steel, 
never-gllp clip* for holding teeth. 
Stronic, duruble and elllelent. Send for circulars and prices. 
The supply is limited. Large general catalogue mulled free. 
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AN AUTOMATIC 
A time, labor and money 
saver. Kills all weeds on any kind 
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tempered steel. Cash price $7,540, Freight east of Mo. Kiverand 
north of Ohio River only 25c to 75c. Write for big catalogue. 
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