1900 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
323 
HOPE FARM NOTES. 
Fodder Notes.—I should have sown some 
rye last Fall. The fodder problem Is going 
to bother us a little, unless we study it 
carefully. Rye hay Is poor stuff, accord¬ 
ing to our experience, but It makes fair 
pasture for horses while It is small. It 
has been a pleasant sight to look from our 
hill and see the patches of bright green rye 
dotting the valley. Rye straw was once a 
very profitable crop in our country, but 
baled shavings are now largely used, and 
rye straw is brought from as far west as 
Wisconsin. . . . The oats have made a 
good start. If I tell you the truth I shall 
have to say that I have worried just a lit¬ 
tle about that formaldehyde I used on 
them. It takes some faith to follow out 
a lot of this scientific advice. It’s like a 
man starting out with a weeder for the 
first time. What these smart folks have 
written about it may be all true, but when 
you come face to face with it, you realize 
that if these men are false prophets it’s 
all up with your crop. “Faith giveth the 
victory!” You’re right it does—the true 
sort of faith. 
Hat Hoarding. —Our stock has eaten deep 
into the hay mow. A horse looks small by 
the side of a ton of hay, but he surrounds 
it in time. I have said that I worried a 
little over the fodder question, because we 
plowed up so much of the sod last Fall. 
I think old Frank and Dan looked serious 
as they turned that sod over—though that 
may have been because the rocks pounded 
their shoulders through the plow point. I 
can imagine a caucus of Mrs. Jersey and 
her daughter with Frank, Dan, Major, 
Nellie and Peter. No doubt they “viewed 
with alarm” the wholesale destruction of 
the hay crop. It’s all right, old friends— 
we’ll take good care of you with oats, 
millet, corn and sorghum. That old sod 
was fit for manure, and not much else. 
You can see only one meal ahead. We 
think we can see several years into the 
future. You keep pulling and we will steer 
the ship. We let the horses pasture all 
they can. Some farmers are willing 
enough to let the cows pasture, but they 
want the horses to pass their idle hours 
at a rope’s end. Pasture is church for 
Dan and Frank. They spend Sundays 
there. 
Bracing Things Up.—L ast year the hay 
crop was light for lack of rain. The 
drought injured the grass roots on many 
fields, and the dry Spring thus far in some 
sections makes farmers shake their heads. 
I have put nitrate of soda on all our mow¬ 
ing fields. In a season like this I am sat¬ 
isfied that the nitrate will greatly increase 
the yield. Oh, how the grass does start up 
to it! It is like a whip to a lazy horse. It 
is like a stick made of compressed oats. 
You hit the horse with it and then give 
it to him to eat. I shall use it on the 
oats. A good supply of nitrate is like an 
ever-ready coffee pot for plants. You take 
any crop—dawdling along, yellow and sick- 
looking, and give it a mouthful of nitrate, 
and see how it will jump up, throw back 
its shoulders and get ready for business. 
I feel sure that it will help crops along in 
time of drought. It gives them a drink 
without rain. It’s a sure cure for the 
“yellows” in grass or grain. 
A Reception Committee.— Grandmother, 
Charlie and the little Scion got back from 
Florida April 22. The boat was behind time, 
so they reached Hope Farm about one 
o’clock Sunday. Our folks believe in mak¬ 
ing much of family reunions, and notwith¬ 
standing the day we organized a reception. 
Hugh went to church with Dan in the old 
buggy and came later to the train. I har¬ 
nessed little Peter, the Shetland pony, into 
a small express wagon which stands about 
18 inches from the ground. There are two 
little seats to it. The Madame sat on the 
front seat and the Bud behind. This was 
only the second time Peter had been har¬ 
nessed, but the toy outfit started off in 
great style. Then I put Frank in the mar¬ 
ket wagon and Aunt Jennie, the Graft and 
the oldest Scion headed for the train. Then 
I hitched Nellie to the two-seated wagon 
and went trailing after. Old Major felt bad 
to think he couldn’t have a hand in it. 
Peter did his best, but he wasn’t fast 
enough to make the train. The rest of us 
lined up in great array. On the way home 
we struck the Mada'me and her outfit. The 
Hope Farm brigade stretched out along the 
road like a British convoy in South Africa. 
Peter and his load attracted much atten¬ 
tion from various church returners. The 
Madame is built on lines which fit her for 
a much larger wagon than that toy “ex¬ 
press!” “That’s a pretty way to spend Sun¬ 
day!” some of our good friends will say. 
Well now, we will only ask folks to look 
at the motives rather than the deeds. You 
understand that we don’t pretend to be 
patterns for profit, propriety or precept. 
The old cow thought she must do some¬ 
thing, so she ate a big dose of wild onions 
and flavored her milk. She would probably 
ask us to judge the motive. She ate that 
onion for her health. There are two sides 
to this motive business. 
Add Sorts.—T he crabapple trees shoot in 
ahead with green leaves. They were 
nearly 10 days ahead of the Baldwins. By 
April 16 the crabapple trees in the pear 
orchard were by contrast like the rye 
fields on the hillsides. . . . Our sweet 
corn and melons planted in pots on April 
6 were above ground April 10, and are ready 
to be set in the open ground. They will 
have to be covered at times. ... I am 
planting a barrel of Junior Pride potatoes 
which are said to be popular for southern 
planting. They are sometimes called the 
White Bliss Triumph. . . . Uncle Ed re¬ 
mained in Florida to dig his potato crop. 
It will be a fair one and will be dug the 
last week in April. We shall try several 
barrels for seed purposes. ... I be¬ 
lieve in the Early Black cow pea, but 1 
won’t say it is better than any other, for 
1 don’t know. Charlie has brought up sev¬ 
eral varieties from Florida, and 1 shall 
give them a fair trial. They will have a 
chance to beat Early Black if they are 
lively enough to do so. ... A part of 
the oatlieid was rolled after seeding. The 
rain came and made it impossible to finish. 
1 notice that the oats on the rolled part 
got above ground first. 
"Wild Strength.”— Some friends feel 
like poking a liilie good-natured fun at me 
for hunting up Lough-looking seedling ap¬ 
ples and cherries for grafting. Why not 
go and buy good trees instead of fooling 
with these miserable things, they say. 1 
am afraid that there is much sentiment in 
my reason, and that is a strange thing in 
a hardy old citizen like yours truly. These 
little trees appeal to one. They are like 
boys or men who have grown up strug¬ 
gling against natural forces. The battle 
of life has been so fierce and hard that 
they have had no chance to practice the 
gentler things of life which would smooth 
Gown the great bunchy knuckles and mus¬ 
cles, lift the sLern lines from their faces 
or briuie the wild light in their hearts. Let 
one of these “self-made” men marry a 
woman who is so true and strong that 
she is not afraid of him, and tactfui 
enough to avoid a too liberal use of the 
saw, and you will often find the finest fruit 
growing above the graft. Yes! yes! And 
it’s just so with one of these wild trees. 
You may utilize the wild strength which 
came from a struggle against natural 
forces. You will not make a shapely tree 
or a shapely man, yet the world may be 
better because they were not cut down! 
"No sense in that,” your expert will say. 
Oh, well, can’t you give a hard old fellow 
a chance to ride his sentiment now and 
then? h. w. c. 
Wisconsin Agriculturist says that there 
is no surer way to spoil a good farmer than 
to make a politician of him. 
Farmer’s Guide says that 5,000 of the 
17,000 farmers in Kansas are women. The 
young women, particularly, are taking 
great interest in these matters, and are 
regular attendants at the dairy and other 
agricultural meetings. 
According to the Commercial Year Book, 
25 States of the Union have abolished that 
old relic, the period of grace, on notes, 
drafts and all similar paper. The States 
are: California, Connecticut, Delaware, 
District of Columbia, Florida, Idaho, Illi¬ 
nois, Maryland, Montana, New Jersey, 
New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, 
Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, 
Tennessee, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, 
Washington, West Virginia and Wisconsin. 
The rising generation in these States will 
thus be relieved of those disturbing days 
of grace in wrestling with their financial 
arithmetic. 
The Cyclopedia of American Horticul¬ 
ture, by L. H. Bailey and an extensive 
corps of collaborators. Vol. 1, A-D; 
pages, 509; Macmillan Co., New York; 
price, $5. We are in receipt of the first 
volume of this splendid contribution to 
horticultural literature. The scope of the 
work is to give a comprehensive index of 
American horticulture, from commercial, 
amateur and botanical standpoints, and a 
long and careful examination of the vol¬ 
ume now before us shows the work to have 
been well accomplished. The illustrations 
are new and pleasing and devoid of the 
usual technical botanical character, while 
the mechanical execution of the volume is 
most pleasing. It is expected to complete 
the cyclopaedia in four volumes, and the 
possession of this treasury of modern and 
reliable horticultural knowledge will be 
something worth striving for. As an in¬ 
teresting reference book it should be in 
every library and school in the land. 
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