1900 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
355 
HOPE FARM NOTES. 
“Farming Don’t Pay!” —Certain wise 
men, both east and west, have tried to 
explain why farms are abandoned and 
why so many farmers of middle life or 
older are discontented and unhappy. 
We have heard all sorts of reasons. Let 
me add one which the Madame offered 
the other night, as we were looking over 
the farm. She says that most farmers 
build a high fence around their money 
and their homes. Let them tear these 
fences down and do more for humanity, 
and they would be happier and better. 
She meant that the world is filled with 
homeless and helpless ones who can 
make hardly a fair living as individuals 
—left alone. As a definite part of a big 
farm family they would not only turn 
their little wheel, but help turn the fam 
ily wheel. “Yes,” says Brown, “but my 
home is sacred. It is for my family. I 
can’t bring Tom, Dick or Harry into it!” 
The Madame’s answer to that would 
probably be that no one ever gave up a 
slice of home with the right motives with¬ 
out getting it back again with compound 
interest of happiness. I’m just telling 
you this as one of the Madame’s theories. 
Possibly some of you have read the story 
of St. Christopher. He wasn’t an Amer¬ 
ican farmer—but in his day there were 
much the same poor and helpless people 
to be provided for. “Oh, well,” you say, 
“of course farming won’t pay if you 
spend a lot of time and money providing 
places for folks who never can do a good 
job!” Now, do you lenow that because 
you have tried it? 
Sprouting Potatoes. —A short row of 
potatoes in the garden peeked above 
ground April 29. They were Early Mich- 
igans. We put them on a shelf in a 
sunny window in late March, and the 
sprouts started broad and strong long 
before they were planted. The German 
baker saw these sprouting potatoes on 
one of his rounds, and volunteered the 
information that they would rot if they 
sprouted any longer. The Madame told 
him what I think about potato sprouts, 
and he said, “I suppose then, he will 
say, ‘That Dutchman—he knows noth¬ 
ing.’ While I do not know much, what 
I do know 1 knows by experience I” Our 
folks called that a good hit at me, but 
there are the potatoes—above ground— 
strong and vigorous. Some of these men 
th.nk it’s “against nature” to start these 
thick, dark-coloreu sprouts above 
ground. My experience is that it pays 
to do it—especially for the early varie¬ 
ties. 
Potatoes Planted. —After much 
bumping and thumping over stones and 
clods our hilly potato field was finished, 
u was a tough job, and we are now gird¬ 
ing up our loins for the tougher job of 
keeping it clean. The Robbins potato 
planter “done noble,” as a neighbor 
says. Charlie and Hugh rode it like the 
British cavalry crossing the Orange Free 
Scate. Every now and then some rock 
would shake them up like the Boers in 
ambush. As they slid over the obstruc¬ 
tion the boys would look back and men¬ 
tally observe, “You wait, my friend; 
when this crop is out we’ll attend to 
your case with dynamite and a stone 
boat!” That’s about what the English 
say, for when they once get into Pre¬ 
toria, my opinion is that a good many 
of the Boer ideals will be pulled out by 
the roots. Growing potatoes on a stony 
hillside is new business to me, but others 
have done it successfully, and we can 
at least try it. 
Bunched Up. —The Greening trees 
that bore so much fruit last year are 
taking a rest this season. There is hard¬ 
ly a blossom on them. They can’t be 
blamed, for they did more than their 
share last p all. Our folks are interested 
in this thing of overworking a tree so 
that it must stop and take a vacation. 
We shall all enjoy the work of trying to 
bring these trees back into the habit of 
bearing every year. Hope Farm be¬ 
lieves in taking a good steady pace and 
keeping it up.The old pear 
trees are bracing up nicely. As I write 
they are white with bloom, and they 
promise well. I feel sure that good 
care and plenty of food will bring them 
back to usefulness.We bought 
some strawberry plants this Spring, but 
when they came we were too busy to set, 
and so “heeled” them in. After a good 
rain Brent went at them. He did a good 
job until the finishing touch, which was 
a pinch of the soil around the roots. 
You could see the finger marks printed 
in the soil around each plant. In our 
heavy soil this was the wrong thing to 
do. We make bricks by kneading a 
heavy clay and then baking it. A dry, 
heating wind would bake these finger 
marks right around the root of the 
plant, and very likely kill it. By raking 
a little loose dirt up over these hard 
finger marks this danger was ended, for 
the loose dirt acted like a mulch. It 
doesn’t always pay to pack or roll the 
dirt on heavy soil. We rolled part of 
the oats too soon after a rain, and now 
we can see just where the roller ran— 
and dug the seed out! .... In one 
way, however, strawberry plants are 
hard to kill. Uncle Ed plowed up a bed 
of old plants last Fall. They were 
turned up to the weather all Winter, and 
this Spring they were acmed again and 
again. Yet in spite of it all they are 
poking their noses above ground and 
putting out blossoms. Such a fight 
ought to make some men ashamed of 
themselves—first because they quit so 
easily, and second because they won’t 
provide berries for their family because 
“they are so hard to raise!” . . . . 
The first mess of rhubarb usually marks 
a pleasant event in the farm family. It 
is the first substantial evidence that 
Spring has finally started. Father 
i's apt to linger in the kitchen and tell 
Mother she is looking well and ought to 
have a new dress! Mother begins to 
wonder how Father will look when he 
gets old, and tells him that he needs a 
new coat. The children are good na- 
tured. The hired man undertakes to 
sing as he milks, and Aunt Sarah forgets 
to take her medicine—and is none the 
worse for it. Yes, yes—rhubarb time is 
an event in the year! .... The 
weather is still cold and disagreeable. 
There are many sunny days, but the air 
is cold and a hard wind dries out the 
upper soil. Nothing will grow but grass 
and grain, but it’s good weather for fit¬ 
ting the soil and t'he team does extra 
duty. . . . The census man is com¬ 
ing, and we must brush up our facts and 
get ready for him. 
Women’s Work. —I asked Aunt Jennie 
to keep a record of certain items of kit¬ 
chen work during the month of April. I 
have not seen such figures anywhere in 
print. It is well enough to know what 
they represent. Up to April 19 our fam¬ 
ily consisted of five adults and three 
children. On that date two more adults 
and one child were added: 
HOPE FARM KITCHEN STATISTICS. 
For the month of April, 1900. 
Number of eggs cooked. 269 
“ “ potatoes eaten . 60S 
“ “ biscuits baked . 200 
“ puddings baked . 15 
“ “ cakes baked . 6 
Knives and forks washed . 1,218 
Spoons washed . 1,250 
Dishes washed . 3,182 
You will see that we are pretty good 
hen people, since we used an average 
of nearly nine eggs a day. We didn’t eat 
a single pie and only six cakes. A pud¬ 
ding of bread or tapioca is more in our 
line. The potatoes were small, which 
accounts for the great number. We 
have hot biscuits every Sunday morn¬ 
ing. Just think of our women folks 
washing and wiping 5,650 table articles 
in one month! Do you realize what part 
of an acre of washing and wiping that 
means? I hope to tell you just what it 
means later on. I’ll take these figures 
up at another time and show what they 
represent. It’s high time the statistics 
of the kitchen were rounded up. House 
work is hard and monotonous at best. 
The women folks deserve the best of 
tools and materials. I’ll tell you, gen¬ 
tlemen, right now, that I shall try to 
build up some figures that will put bet¬ 
ter stove and fixtures in your wife’s 
kitchen. h. w. c. 
California Fruit Grower remarks that 
many a man has lost a good position by 
letting go for a second or two to spit on 
his hands. 
California Fruit Grower says that if 
half the time and money spent in fighting 
competitors were used in making custom¬ 
ers, many business men would be better 
off. 
Silo Building.— We recently came upon 
a good illustration of the value of an agri¬ 
cultural paper. A man in Virginia was 
thinking of building a silo of stone and 
cement. Pie wisely consulted his farm 
paper about it. The answer was: Do not 
do anything of the sort. The cost of a 
concrete silo would be very much greater 
than that of a wooden one and it would 
not keep the silage nearly so well. ,ow 
much did it cost the inquirer to learn that? 
How much would it have cost him if he 
had gone on and built his stone silo? 
A. N. P. 
The New York Commercial states that 
the wheat area of Australia has increased 
from 403,181 acres in 1861, to 5,867,054 in 1899. 
In New South Wales the progress in wheat 
cultivation has been most rapid, the in¬ 
crease since 1891 being 1,100,000 acres. 
Every possible encouragement is being 
held out to wheat cultivators, and liberal 
terms are made on land to bona fide set¬ 
tlers. The average yield per acre for the 
past 30 years has been 12% bushels, but 15 
bushels is not uncommon, and one year 
the average was 17 1-3. By the proper de¬ 
velopment of plans for irrigation, the 
acreage can be extended and the yield 
increased. 
Newfoundland is not yet regarded as 
an agricultural country, though the gov¬ 
ernment geological surveyors say that 
there are over 5,000,000 acres of agricultural 
land here. It was once considered a “land 
of fogs, dogs and fish.” This idea has been 
dispelled; but it yet has its detractors, who 
say the soil is unfit for cultivation. Facts 
disprove this idea also. The yield of po¬ 
tatoes per acre is quite as large as in 
Canada. Our agricultural affairs have 
never been handled properly. The fishing 
habits of the people have been a hindrance 
to agricultural progress. We import near¬ 
ly $1,000,000 worth of agricultural produce 
which could easily be produced in the 
country. Great hopes are entertained 
that the present Liberal government will 
deal comprehensibly with agricultural mat¬ 
ters. J. 1. L. 
Harbor Grace, N. F. 
I consider Jayne's Expectorant the best Cough 
Medicine I know of. In cases of Croup, IT HAS 
SAVED BOTH MV OWN AND CHILDREN’S LIVES. 
—N. N. CAZEN, Sparrow Bush, N. Y., October 29,1895. 
Easy to take and effectual, Jayne’s Painless Sana¬ 
tive Pills.— Adv. 
Labor Saving Conveniences. 
Success on the farm today is largely proportioned 
to the saving of time and labor—which means econ¬ 
omy of production—and not higher prices for farm 
products. Probably no single machine or appliance 
saves in the aggregate so much time and hard labor 
as the modern low down handy wagon. Take for 
ago corn, grain in the straw, corn fodder, hay, &c., 
all hard to load, the use and ad .antages of a low 
down wagon are almost inestimable. The Electric 
Low Down Handy Wagon excels for these purposes. Has 
the famous Electric steel wheels.!* light, strongand dur¬ 
able. Write Electric Wheel Co., Box 88 quiocy, HI., for catalog. 
SAVE THE MONEY 
you are apending on repairs and buy new wheels. 
It !m cheaper and in every way better. We sell 
1 4 Buggy Wheels, 7-8 in. Steel Tire for $7.50 
' 4 Carriage Wheels, 1 in. Steel Tire for $8.00 
Other wheels for other purposes equally low priced 
_ i i Measuring directions free. Write for pricel istNo.88, 
HfILMINGTON WHEEL CO., Wilmington, l>el. 
Rife Hydraulic Engine 
Vou can get a constant stream of water 
delivered to your buildings from a 
stream or spring by means of this 
engine. 
RUNS ITSELF. 
NEVER STOPS. 
Send your conditions 
for catalogue and guar¬ 
anteed estimates. 
POWER SPECIALTY CO., 126 Liberty Street, NEW YORK. 
How to Drain Land Profitably. 
On every farm there is probably some land 
that could be made more productive by under¬ 
drainage. Properly drained land can always 
be worked earlier, and more profitably. The 
best and most 
economical way 
to drain is ex¬ 
plained in the 
book, “ Benefits of Drainage and How to Drain,” 
which is sent free by 
JOHN H. JACKSON, Third Ave., Albany, N. Y 
N O crop can 
grow with= 
out Potash. 
Every blade of 
Grass, every grain 
of Corn, all Fruits 
and Vegetables 
must have it. If 
enough is supplied 
you can count on a full crop— 
if too little, the growth will be 
“scrubby.” 
Send for our books telling all about composition of 
fertilizers best adapted for all crops. They cost you 
nothing. 
GERMAN KALI WORKS, 93 Nassau St., New York. 
Your Orchard 
Is it apples, peaches, pears, plums or 
small fruits and berries? Why is it not 
more profitable? I low can you make it 
more profitable? 
Nitrate of Soda 
and agricultural chemicals do the work. 
Make healthier, hardier, disease resist¬ 
ing trees, plants and vines. Fully ex¬ 
plained in free pamphlet, secured by 
addressing Jolm A. Myers, 12 OJohn 
St., New York. Nitrate for sale by fer¬ 
tilizer dealers everywhere. 
Write at once for List of Dealers. 
Binder Twine 
Farmers wanted as agents 
AUGUST POST, 
Moulton, - - Iowa' 
SHEEP-SHEARING ItEVOLUTIONIZED. 
Chicago Sheep-Shearing Machine. 
Stewart's Patent, 
Price, $15.00. 
The only Sheep Shearing 
Machine ever invented. 
The day of the old-fash¬ 
ioned hand shears is past 
Over one million sheep 
shorn last season with this 
machine. Thousands of 
testimonials. Saves from 
one-half to one pound wool 
from each sheep. Pays for 
itself the first season. Be 
humane and don’t butcher 
your sheep. Send for large 
Illustrated circular. 
CHICAGO FLEXIBLE 
SHAFT CO., 
158-60 Huron St., Chicago. 
it 
SWIMBATH” 
NON-POISONOUS 
Sheep Dipping Powder 
(PATENTED) 
dogs__ - 
Easily prepared, easily used. Most eco¬ 
nomical. Perfect satisfaction guaranteed 
If used as directed. On receipt of SI 
sufficient powder for 20 gallons of ‘‘dip’* 
will bo delivered free. 
Write for full particulars. 
THETOBACCO WAREHOUSING AND TRADING CO. 
LOUISVILLE, KY. 
25-gallon pkt., 50c.; 100-gallon pkt., $2. 
If druggist cannot supply send $1.75 for 100-gallon 
pkt. to J. D. MKRCKK, 68 Murray St.. New York. 
Premiums to Patrons. Get Pamphlet. 
