1900 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
7o7 
HOPE FARM MOTES. 
Potato Prices. —We have sold some¬ 
thing over 250 bushels of potatoes thus 
far, and have orders for about as many 
more. We have decided to sort into four 
sizes, and prices at the farm are $2, 
$1.60, $1.10 and 60 cents. The lowest 
price is for the little tubers, and those 
badly scabbed and sunburned. People 
buy them to feed to pigs or chickens. 
Some neighbors who haul potatoes to 
Paterson say that they can get 75 cents 
a bushel, but our prices are at the farm 
or within two miles of it. The Rural 
Blush potatoes are worth more, and we 
can easily get our price later. Farmers 
in our neighborhood believe that pota¬ 
toes will go to $3 before Spring. I doubt 
it. At that figure a good share of the 
Canadian and German crop would be 
dumped into this country. I know, too, 
that when potatoes reach a certain fig¬ 
ure people begin to use substitutes like 
rice and cornmeal. I shall probably 
hold about 300 bushels, but the rest will 
be sold at present prices. Last year a 
man started in to peddle vegetables in 
the little towns near us. He made a 
small start, and we sold him some po¬ 
tatoes. This year his trade has grown 
so that we have sold him 50 barrels at 
one time. That shows what a market 
there is for the right man. Some one 
will ask why doesn’t Hope Farm get 
that retail trade instead of selling at 
wholesale? There are reasons for it 
which I shall talk about later. 
Potato Digging. —As I have stated 
several times, most of our potatoes were 
grown this year on a stony hillside. This 
field was not really fit for potato cul¬ 
ture, but it was the best place we had. 
After we get it smoothed and free from 
stones we can grow a much larger crop. 
Digging in this rough and stony field 
was more or less of a circus. We used 
the Hoover digger whenever we could. 
That machine is made of the right stuff. 
After we get it smoothed and free from 
with force enough to throw it right out 
and over and yet nothing broke but a 
few links of the chain. It does not seem 
possible that this complicated machine 
can endure such frightful blows with 
scarcely a wink, and go right on with 
its nose down under the potatoes. Where 
the rocks were worst we used our Suc¬ 
cess Jr., and it did better than in last 
year’s trials. It was necessary to har¬ 
row or rake after it in order to get all 
the potatoes. We also tried hand-dig¬ 
ging and plowing out. In smooth 
ground, with long rows, the Hoover is 
ahead. In small, rough fields a smart 
man with a nook will beat most two- 
horse diggers. 
Bits of Talk. —I am sorry to say that 
we have a damp cellar at Hope Farm. 
The problem of draining it has bothered 
me quite a little. I plan to run a ditch 
so as to give fall from the cellar bottom, 
and put in a six-inch drain. Then I 
wish to cement the cellar floor so that 
water will run from every part down 
to the drain. This will carry off any 
water that runs into the cellar. To keep 
out the surface water I wish to run a 
deep ditch completely around the house 
and fill it with small stones. No use 
talking, a damp cellar is cousin to a 
coffin! ... I found a flock of near¬ 
ly 50 English sparrows lined up on a 
fence last week. People talk about pay¬ 
ing a bounty for killing these little fel¬ 
lows, but I would have paid for live 
ones. They were flying on to the cab¬ 
bage field after worms. The little brown 
scamps would crawl into the cabbage, 
completely out of sight, hunting the 
worm until they caught him. I have 
no doubt that these birds do lots of mis¬ 
chief, but in this case they were cer¬ 
tainly doing us a service. . . . We 
have begun to pick cow peas, and it is 
hard work. I fear we shall not be able 
to save our full crop of seed. We have 
trouble to find pickers. The young folks 
are mostly at school, and men are busy 
at digging potatoes or other Fall work. 
We may have to let this cow-pea seed 
business remain in the South, where 
cheap hand labor is easily found. . . 
. Our Fall pastures of oats, rye and 
Crimson clover are very satisfactory. 
The stock nibbled them down close, but 
after a good rain we kept the animals 
out for a few days, and the oats and 
clover made a good start. I never had 
better Crimson clover before. The plan 
of using it for pasture is new to me, but 
it has proved very useful for this pur¬ 
pose. As a calf pasture it is very fine. 
Really, young and tender clover has al¬ 
most the same analysis as skim-milk. 
The Chicken Fever. —We find about 
50 good pullets in the yard. The yard 
is a wire-enclosed place which we found 
back of a small barn. It seemed to be 
an old garden, and we started our early 
stuff there. During corn-planting and 
spraying time the weeds got the start 
of us, and after picking the early vege¬ 
tables we let it go. After the chickens 
got large enough to realize that their 
claws are harder than the soil, I had 
a good-sized flock of them put in this 
weedy garden. It is remarkable how 
they have cleaned it up. I never thought 
it possible that 80 busy little feet could 
tear up so much space. I would like to 
keep hens there through the Winter, 
take them out in the Spring, and plant 
early vegetables, and put them back in 
late Summer to clean up the weeds. We 
haven’t given our hens a fair chance this 
year. Aunt Jennie is now catching the 
poultry fever, and wants to try her 
hand at it. i recall some of the stories 
I have heard of how the men neglected 
the hens until the women folks took 
them in charge and paid off the mort¬ 
gage! Let’s see about it. 
Farm Education. —The Madame has 
opened her little school again with six 
pupils—our own children and two other 
little girls. We still think it much bet¬ 
ter to have the little ones taught at 
home. We are “strong-handed” in the 
house, and thus the Madame has a good 
chance to organize and classify the facts 
and thoughts which these little folks 
are packing away in their heads. 
“Oh Father, won’t you show us the 
big book?” That is what I hear every 
night before the last mouthful is fairly 
swallowed. The Bud is spokesman for 
the other children. The “big book” is 
a well-worn copy of the Standard Dic¬ 
tionary. The Bud crawls up on my 
knee and the Graft and the Scion draw 
up their little chairs and we go diction¬ 
ary-hunting. Our method is to examine 
the pictures one after another. I tell 
what they are and we talk about them. 
If you have never tried it you would be 
astonished to see how helpful it is to sit 
down with children in this way and try 
to direct and answer their questions. 
. . I also plan to read aloud to the 
children every night in some helpful 
book. I have read Mayne Reid’s “Bush 
Boys” in this way and just now we are 
having a beautiful time with Robinson 
Crusoe. Oh dear! How the little Bud 
cried when Robinson ran away from 
home. The Graft, too, swallowed lumps 
as large as barrels when the ship was 
wrecked. Well, well! what wouldn’t I 
give if liie in the world outside of Hope 
Farm were as hopeful and new as it is 
to these little folks. I sometimes wish 
I had never seen some sides of life that 
have been well rubbed into me. 
_ H. W. C. 
DISSOLVING COPPER SULPHATE. 
Work from the Top Down. 
In TnE R. N.-Y., page 623, C. W. Bur¬ 
nett, of Ontario Co., says: “I have just 
been reading L. A. Clinton’s article on 
spraying in The R. N.-Y., and it is 
somewhat amusing to a practical man 
to learn how our scientific friends make 
Bordeaux Mixture and apply it. I would 
venture to say if you should put 50 or 
100 pounds of sulphate of copper in a. 
cask of cold water you would find a good 
share of it in the crystal form at the 1 
end of a month. I should feel sorry, in¬ 
deed, for the man who tries to dissolve* 
his vitriol in cold water.” Mr. Burnett 
refers to the article on spraying in the 
issue of August 18, page 558, in which 
we said: “Forty pounds of copper sul¬ 
phate may be suspended in a barrel con¬ 
taining 40 gallons of water and in a few 
hours all will be dissolved.” In writing 
the article referred to we simply stated 
a matter of experience, and tne state¬ 
ment concerning dissolving the copper 
sulphate was simply a statement of fact. 
We have been dissolving the vitriol in 
that way for the past five years, and 
have not experienced any difficulty 
whatever. If we should throw the vitriol 
into the bottom of the barrel, and then 
fill the barrel with water, we would 
meet with just the difficulty mentioned 
by Mr. Burnett. As the vitriol dissolved 
there would be produced a saturated so¬ 
lution, which is heavier than water, and 
remains in the bottom of the cask. As 
soon as the saturated solution is pro¬ 
duced no more vitriol would be dis¬ 
solved. In practice we suspend the 40 
pounds of vitriol at the top of the barrel 
and then fin the barrel with water. This 
we usually do before leaving work at 
night. In the morning, when we are 
ready to spray, we have never failed to 
find the vitriol all dissolved. Without 
doubt the hot water would dissolve the 
material more readily, but we let it dis¬ 
solve while we sleep, and it has not fail¬ 
ed us yet. L. A. CLINTON. 
A Compressed Air Sprayer. 
If C. W. Burnett will try the cold 
water process for dissolving copper sul¬ 
phate in the proper manner, his amuse¬ 
ment over the antics of our scientific 
friends will be somewhat modified, and 
his sorrow will be only for the fellow 
who tugs and works an hour with hot 
water over a job that is easy and only 
10 minutes’ work with cold water. Put 
50 gallons of cold water in your supply 
cask. Tie a" old phosphate sack over 
the top, letting the bag down into the 
water nve or six inches. Pour on to this 
sack o0 pounds or 100 pounds of sulphate 
of copper. The whole job will probably 
take 10 minutes. Do this after supper; 
it will be all dissolved long before day¬ 
light next morning. I use a compressed 
air spray machine of my own invention. 
One horse draws the 50-gallon spray 
tank and air tank on a low two-wheeled 
cart. I use two lines of hose and two 
men. I use four nozzles on each une. I 
can take it with Derfect ease up and 
down any hi 1 ' that a horse can pull a 
cultivator, or under any tree where the 
horse can walk. I use a continuous 
pressure of 60 to 80 pounds, and it 
throws a fine mist or fog. I use a two- 
horse-power gasoline engine and two- 
horse-power Clayton air compressor 
mounted on a light wagon (so as to be 
portable) to get up pressure in the air 
tanks. a. i. h. 
North East, Pa. 
Tlio Only Cough Remedy that Can Be Re¬ 
lied Upon. 
Mr. H. D. SMITH, Bradgate, Iowa, October 17,1899. 
writes: 
We have frequently used Jayne's Expectorant, and 
tind it to be the only Cough remedy that can be relied 
upon for the desired results, and I confidently recom¬ 
mend It to ail who need a Cough remedy.— Adv. 
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1901 
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