1900 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
659 
HOPE FARM NOTES. 
Humus Crops. —A reader in New Jer¬ 
sey asks this question: 
Why, may I ask, were you in such a 
hurry to plow the ragweed on oat stubble 
under, at Hope Farm? You are such an 
ardent advocate of humus; ragweed makes 
an excellent green crop to plow under, and 
it is there for you; nothing to do but wait 
until it is of good growth. 
I despise ragweed, yet I will admit 
that it has its good points. I don’t be¬ 
lieve that there is any plant with a 
greater power to utilize the potash in 
the soil. Ragweed is a potash miner, but 
I do not like to have it go to seed. I 
turned the young ragweeds under for 
good reasons. We wanted to try the 
Clark method of grass culture on part 
of the field, and we plowed the ragweeds 
under early, so as to work the soil as 
much as possible. On the rest of the 
field we wished to sow rye. We put it 
in very early, so as to get as much Fall 
pasture out of it as possible. Ragweed 
may he called a catch crop—that is we 
catch it badly whenever we let the 
ground stand still. There is no humus 
crop that makes more potash available 
for a dollar, but aiways get it under be¬ 
fore seeds form. After hearing our rea¬ 
sons our friend has this to say: 
Certainly your reasons for plowing it 
under are sound. After all, farming is 
more of an individual problem than it is 
generally conceded to be. Now, we seed 
oat stubble with Winter grain, the good 
old-fashioned way, and I have concluded 
that it is better to let that ragweed grow a 
bit for humus, than to plow it under soon 
as oats are cut, and then have the work of 
keeping the ground harrowed until seeding 
time. Of course, ragweed is not A No. 1 
humus, but it is there with no work, and 
thrives so, regardless of weather condi¬ 
tions. Viewing it as a weed, my feelings 
are quite kindly; it has good traits; keeps 
away until most crojis are gathered, and 
then comes boldly and bounteously out, for 
one thing. It is the mean scattered weed, 
lurking in fence corners, that I hate. They 
are the ones that are neglected and let go 
to seed; the weed that has courage to 
come and openly cover a whole field, will 
be cut or plowed under even by the care¬ 
less, before it is ripe for spreading more 
mischief. 
An III Wind. —I see that the weather- 
wise people have issued a map showing 
how that Texas tornado went sweeping 
through the country. It curved up north 
and east, and went humming down the 
St. Lawrence Valley. There were high 
gales for miles around its track—we had 
a touch of it at Hope Farm which shook 
things up. Corn shocks were blown 
down and'a great ueal of fruit was 
shaken from the trees. There were many 
barrels of fine Baldwins leit on the 
ground. I hoped to find a good sale for 
them, but the wind was quite general, 
and the markets are stuffed with these 
windfalls with poor sale. This ill wind 
blew good things for the pigs at least. 
They stuffed on fruit for once until they 
lost ambition to get up when we -mocked 
on the trough. 
Corn and Fodder. —We had a week of 
bright, clear weather, and got our corn 
nicely cut. We cut into small shocks of 
24 and 28 hills. My plan is to get most 
of the fodder under cover early, and the 
small shocks dry out quickly and are 
easy to handle. We shall have an 
abundance of grain and fodder this year 
—more than ever before. . . . The 
Kaffir corn made a great jump during 
August. It is a handsome crop with its 
bright-colored, erect stalks and piume- 
like head. We are evidently to have a 
large crop of the grain. I expect to 
throw the entire heads to the hens and 
let them do the husking and shelling. 
. . We sowed some of our Thorough¬ 
bred flint corn on July 9. It was dropped 
quite thickly in the drill. Most people 
tell us that it does not pay to sow fodder 
corn after July 4, but this lot nas made 
an immense growth of small, tender 
stalks. It is giving a much heavier yield 
than millet, and is, I think, far better 
fodder. Sweet corn planted the first 
week in August in the missing hills of 
late potatoes was in tassel on Septem¬ 
ber xo, and may give us ears before 
frost. 
All Around. —After two weeks of very 
dry weather another gentle penetrating 
rain fell on September 15. It was great¬ 
ly needed, anu the cabbage anu grass re¬ 
sponded quickly. The mixture ot Win¬ 
ter oats, rye and Crimson clover sown 
in the orchard has grown very fast. The 
oats make tne best showing, and give 
the finest pasture. . . . The grass 
seed in that orchard where we are trying 
the Clark method, came up eight days 
after tne sowing, and promises to make 
a thick and very even stana. It pays 
well to use care in spreading these fine 
seeds. I did not think at first that the 
plan of dividing the field off into even 
spaces was an important part of the 
scheme, but now I know that it is. No 
one can come anywhere near Mr. Clark's 
yield unless he gets every square inch 
of soil properly seeded. . . . The 
other field intended for grass seeding did 
not look quite fit. At first I was inclined 
to say, let it go, but then I decided that 
a little more working would pay. Then 
came a soaking rain with cloudy days 
following, so tnat we could not possibly 
work tuat neia. Then I wished that we 
had seeded. Who is wise enough to 
know just what to do? Our ragweed 
friend who is quoted above also says: 
One of your reasons for plowing the rag¬ 
weed right away, was that you might try 
Mr. Clark's grass culture. But you say that 
you will try it modified. Well, if you 
modify it enough, I believe you will be 
pleased. Now we seed one year with an¬ 
other, say 1UU acres with grass; we keep 
six teams going all the time, and I have 
figured out that to fit 100 acres according 
to Mr. Clark's instructions it would take 
the six teams two months. You are farm¬ 
ing Hope Farm with the plow, not the pen, 
and well know the many things to do, 
from the women’s lawn in front yard, to 
the fence down in back of lot. What is to 
become of other crops and the thousand 
and one things to do, if I keep our six 
teams getting ground ready for that grass? 
I didn’t attempt to fight the green 
worm in the cabbage because there were 
so few of the butterflies that it didn’t 
seem possible there could be worms 
enough to hurt. I didn’t realize that a 
single butterfly is capable of laying 300 
eggs until I saw the leaves of many cab¬ 
bage eaten into lace. Then we sailed in 
to fight them, and I hope we have fixed 
them—but the crop has been injured. 
That’s what you get by assuming that 
things are ail right when you can make 
sure if you want to. 
The Potato Question. —Last year at 
this time we had sold more than half 
our crop. This year at the middle of 
September we had hardly begun to dig. 
Other farm work that seemed to me 
more important has occupied us, and I 
have felt that prices were likely to go 
higher. All through our part of the coun¬ 
try the crop is short. While the season 
was more favorable than in some other 
sections the tubers are quite small, and 
the yield is below the average. From 
all that I can learn the indications 
through the country are for a medium 
or light crop, and prices ought to ad¬ 
vance. This, however, is no sure sign 
that they will go up, for prices, like men 
and women, sometimes fail to do what 
is reasonably expected of them. I am 
seriously debating the wisdom of hold¬ 
ing 400 bushels or so for Winter or 
Spring sales. Our June Eating are 
plenty good enough for seed. As we dig 
in the big field we are glad to find them 
clean and free from scab. That is the 
result of the sulphur, we think. In a 
year like this it becomes a problem to 
know what to do with the small pota¬ 
toes. There are many of them, for we 
try to sort carefully and make our 
“firsts” uniform in size. 
The Bovee Potato. —I have never 
quite understood why reports of Bovee 
should vary so. Some people are extrav¬ 
agant in their praise, while others will 
have nothing to do with it the second 
time. In a rich garden soil the Bovee 
gave us a fine yield, while on poorer soil 
and with farm methods it has proved 
inferior to June Eating. I conclude that 
the Bovee is a forcing or trucker's po¬ 
tato. With very rich soil, high feeding 
and the best of culture Bovee will re¬ 
spond at a great rate. With ordinary 
soil and care it will not make large 
tubers. It is like a man who must have 
abundant capital when he goes into busi¬ 
ness, or every tool and convenience if he 
goes to farming. Given this aid, and he 
will accomplish wonders. Throw him 
out to make credit or make him try to 
produce a crop with crude tools and 
homemade contrivances, and there will 
be very small potatoes in his hill. Few 
of us are ready to admit that we cannot 
yet give Bovee the backing it needs, but 
I am one of me few. ir. w. c. 
Pea Louse in Wisconsin.— Relative 
to the Pea louse the following, just re¬ 
ceived from a firm at Green Bay, Wis., 
may be of general interest. They say: 
“We are large packers, planting about 
2,400 acres this year ourselves. We had 
a very fair crop on all but the late 
seeding. About July 20 the Pea louse 
got very numerous. We had about 500 
acres of peas left just ready to blossom, 
when the louse appeared in such quan¬ 
tities that it actually seemed as though 
they could not have multiplied to that 
extent, but that they had rained down 
on the fields. At the time of blossom¬ 
ing these fields were perfectly healthy, 
and in fine condition; did not show a 
spot in the fields where the insect had 
previously worked, but the destruction 
was so rapid that we did not harvest a 
single pod from these fields. In less 
than a week from the time we first no¬ 
ticed the louse the fields were brown.” 
The exact significance of the rapid and 
wide spread of this pest cannot as yet 
be predicted, but it is certainly a most 
interesting one. e. d. s. 
Mu. 
It is sometimes true that the noblest in 
character are really unconscious of the 
height which they have gained, while some 
one with an unruly liver and solemn face 
imagines that he is extremely pious. 
The Farmer’s Responsibility.— The At¬ 
lanta Constitution says that at a so-called 
“literary” in a Georgia settlement a sturdy 
old farmer obtained the floor anu spoke for 
one hour on corn raising, foduer pulling 
and cotton picking. The local preacher 
was present and arose to a point of order. 
“I do not see,” said he, “what a literary 
meeting has to do with corn raising and 
fodder pulling!” 
“Well,” replied the old farmer, “it’s got 
jest this to do with it: Ef it warn’t fer 
corn, cotton an’ bacon an’ greens, there 
wouldn’t be a literary man in the whole 
blamed country!” 
“City Farmers.”—I was reminded by the 
confessions of a “City Farmer” of two 
other city farmers I knew of at one time. 
One was so bothered by his family about 
the country in the Summer that lie finally 
bought a farm near enough to the city to 
make it a permanent home; he hired a far 
mer to care for it, and told him nil that 
he wanted of him was to keep the place 
looking nice for a home for his family, say¬ 
ing he would pay the bills. In about three 
years’ time that farm was as nice as the 
owner wanted it, and the .armer was pay¬ 
ing his own bills and throwing money 'nto 
the owner’s purse. Another rich man. see¬ 
ing how nicely this man got along with his 
farm, thought he might do the same thing. 
He bought a farm, but he did not hire a 
competent farmer to care for it, but said 
tie would run it himself, and it did not take 
long to get him into a hole, where his farm 
cost him from $1,000 to $2,000 per year to 
run it. “City Farmer” seems to have made 
a mistake in the man he hired. l. c. 
Farming as a 
Business for 
Young Men 
A talk with the 
HON. JAMES WILSON 
Secretary of Agriculture 
Facing the World at Fifty 
In this brilliant paper Senator Albert 
J. Beveridge writes of the men who 
have reached middle life without having 
O , 
achieved anything out of the ordinary ; 
points out their opportunities, and shows 
how they may make the most of them. 
In this week’s number (date of Sept. 29) of 
THE SATURDAY 
EVENING POST 
Established 1728 by Benjamin Franklin, and regularly published 
for 172 years — a handsomely illustrated weekly magazine. 
For 25 Cents we "will send it every week from now to Jan. 1 , iqoi 
Agents Wanted for Winter Work —A Thousand Dollars will be 
-- given the agent sending the 
largest club up to May 1 next. $18,500 to be distributed among 764 best agents, 
besides a good profit on every subscriber secured. Young men and women can make 
more money this winter by working for us than by any other way. 
The Curtis Publishing Company , Philadelphia , Pa. 
Publishers of The Ladies’ Home Journal and The Saturday Evening Post 
