1900 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER: 
287 
HOPE FARM NOTES. 
Fruit Notes. —I shall have to give a 
sort of picked-up dinner this week—like 
Aunt Jennie gives us on washing day. 
We have sent out samples of the Robi¬ 
son blackberry. James* Nimon, the 
Parker Earle strawberry man, says: 
I shall expect you to write that the 
Madame claims all the fruit from those 
plants to put up in preference to any 
others on the place. Give them plenty of 
room and an opportunity to do their best. 
I’ll guarantee that the Madame will 
tell the truth about them anyway. We’ll 
give them a chance.We must 
have a fair lot of Columbian raspber¬ 
ries in the fruit garden. This variety is 
excellent for home use. We have never 
been able to work up a large trade in 
Columbian, for the color is against it, 
but if you want to enjoy life some cold 
Winter’s day, put down your share of a 
can of Columbians which your wife put 
up at the proper time.I am 
picking up promising-looking wild rasp¬ 
berry plants along the fence rows and 
transplanting them in the garden. 
"That’s nonsense!” some of our wise 
folks will say. Possibly, but I mean to 
give some of these poor outcasts a 
chance. 
Soil Notes. —Early April was very 
dry with us. The constant freeze and 
thaw opened the upper soil and let the 
dry air in. Thus the surface was well 
dried out and dusty. This was worse on 
the Fall-plowed soil, but it killed out 
the grass roots. Our tough old sod has 
not broken up as we hoped it would, 
but these dry winds will do more than 
the Winter’s frost. I think we must 
plant the potatoes in hills this year. 
The sod is so heavy and tough that 
some of it will grow in spite of all. In 
order to kill it out thoroughly, we must 
work it both ways. It is quite remark¬ 
able how much quicker a streak with 
sand or gravel in it dries out in the 
Spring. We have such streaks through 
the farm, where potatoes or sweet corn 
could be planted at least two weeks 
earlier than where there is more clay. 
The clays are, of course, better for grass 
or grain, and for some fruits, like ap¬ 
ples and pears, but for most crops that 
pay in our section the lighter soils pay 
best one year with another. There is 
more profit in putting strong fertilizer 
or manure into a quick, active soil than 
in farming naturally strong soil without 
manure or fertilizer. I shall try this 
year to have the soil harrowed as soon 
as possible after plowing. The com¬ 
mon plan is to go ahead and plow all 
you can, and then make one big job of 
harrowing. I am quite sure that if the 
plowman will work half a day, and then 
hitch on to the Acme or other harrow, 
and go over what he has plowed, he 
will do a much better job. 
Fodder Crops. —I fear we made our 
first mistake of the season in waiting 
too long before sowing the oats. This 
crop must have an early start. We tried 
to make up for it by getting 'the other 
conditions right. Oat smut has always 
injured the crop in former years. This 
year we spread the oats on the barn 
floor, and wet them down with the 
formalin solution. We used half a pint 
of formalin in about 60 quarts of water, 
and poured it on through a watering 
pot. Then the oats were put in a pile 
and covered about two hours and spread 
out to dry. I never tried it before, but 
I have faith in it. We ran the Acme 
over the Fall-plowed sod, and put about 
three bushels of seed to the acre, then 
harrowed and rolled. Had it not been 
sod we would have used the Cutaway, 
but I expect the roots of the oats to get 
down into that sod and find just the 
food they want in May and June. Late 
in April we hope to put on nitrate of 
soda to quicken the oats a little. We 
are not after grain, but fodder. We 
shall also sow rape and sorghum for 
green stock feed. 
Cherry Picking. —My remarks about 
cherry culture have started up various 
people. It will be remembered that the 
Madame rather shook her head at my 
cherry scheme because the picking is 
sure to be a tremendous job. A friend 
in New Jersey comes forward with the 
following statement: 
The Madame is right about cherry pick¬ 
ing for market; it always comes right in 
the midst of Spring work, and the con¬ 
sequence is the Madame and family will 
have to turn in and do the picking. And 
if her husband happens to have got up 
cross that morning and everything goes 
wrong, she won’t always feel like climb¬ 
ing cherry trees. A family around here 
cleared $9 off one tree and I think $11 off 
another, but mother and children picked 
them, then drove with them to market, 
about eight miles. Of course, they did 
not count time in going to market as they 
would do shopping at the same time. 
Cherries have to be picked as soon as ripe 
for fear of rain or damp weather, but I 
think they pay after they are started. 
Of course there is much truth in that. 
But the idea of supposing that any of 
these farm husbands ever get up to 
start the day cross and ugly! Who ever 
heard of such a thing in this great and 
glorious country? Some of our farm 
housewives should at once arise and de¬ 
nounce such a statement as a base libel 
on the American farmer. What’s that, 
you say? Why doesn’t the Madame 
start the business of denouncing? There 
are probably two reasons. She is very 
busy this Spring, and she has a long and 
sound memory. 
PuNCHED-ur Meadows.— A friend in 
Pennsylvania doesn’t like the plan of 
letting stock run on the meadows: 
I think it a great mistake to let stock 
run upon the mowing held at any time of 
the year. The sod needs the protection 
of the short Fall growth during the Winter 
season; and it looks much like burning a 
candle at each end to pasture' this off. 
That is sound preaching, though I 
must confess that I haven’t practiced it 
this year. The old sod on the farm was 
pretty well used up, and I had a good 
share of it plowed last Fall. A few of 
the be'st fields were left, and will be 
cut this year. As soon as cut they will 
be plowed up and seeded to millet or 
buckwheat. The stock have run on 
these fields, and I can’t give any good 
reason for letting them do it. It was 
bad farming—that’s all. The roller will 
help it a little, but some of the holes 
punched into that sod will stay there 
until it is plowed. 
Odd Notes. —It’s a blessing to have 
the manure all hauled out ahead of 
time. I see many farmers putting the 
manure in little piles over the fields. I 
don’t understand why they do not 
spread it right from the wagon. . . . 
We have bought 100 pounds of flowers 
of sulphur to use on the seed potatoes. 
Soaking the seed is a hard and nasty 
job—I don’t care how easy it looks on 
paper.One striking evidence 
of Spring is the way the horses are 
shedding their Winter coats. Old Major, 
in particular, is taking off his ulster in 
lively shape. Ride a mile behind him 
in the wind, and you will be well plas¬ 
tered. When Hugh rubs the horses off 
he leaves almost hair enough for bed¬ 
ding! .... I called on a neighbor 
on April 6, and found him in a cellar 
sorting over Ben Davis apples! They 
were fine in appearance, and were bring¬ 
ing $4 per barrel. There were some 
good specimens of Lawver in the same 
cellar, and a few Baldwins also, but old 
Ben was sound and firm. Now, if I am 
to be honest, I must say that Ben’s be¬ 
havior in late Spring merits respect, at 
least.It is a pleasure to eat 
Rural Blush potatoes at this late season. 
They cook white and mealy, while most 
other varieties are soft and spongy. We 
hope to plant about 10 barrels of Rural 
Blush this year. They are not hand¬ 
some, but how they do behave them¬ 
selves in the oven or pot! We realize 
that there is a lack of beauty about the 
Hope Farm folks. Instead of grieving 
about this, we will try to make it up in 
behavior. Therefore, old Rural Blush, 
in spite of your bulging eyes and strag¬ 
gling habits, we love you still. 
The Madame has been painting her 
kitchen floor and some other woodwork. 
I’ll guarantee that readers will back me 
up in the statement that when the 
housewife takes to painting the time has 
come for serious reflection rather than 
audible comment. I put on a little of 
the paint, but the Madame said she had 
to “go all over it again.” I will merely 
remark in passing that when you find a 
lady who doesn’t enjoy rubbing words 
into the thin streaks of duty on her hus¬ 
band’s performances, you will strike a 
rare and peculiar character, ir. w. @. 
WONDERFUL 
CURES 
BY SWAMP-ROOT 
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65th Police Precinct, Greater New York, 
Dr. Kilmer & Co., Binghamton, N. Y. November 11th, 1899. 
Gentlemen —In justice to you, I feel it my duty to send you an acknowledgment 
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HUGH E. BOYLE 
Officers of the 65th Police Precinct, Greater New York. JOHN J. BODKIN 
Among the many famous cures of 
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