1902 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
129 
hope farm notes 
Harnessing a Stream.— Here Is a ques¬ 
tion from Connecticut which I must leave 
to readers: 
“We have plenty of good cord wood on 
our farm, and there is a ready market for 
stove wood in the village three miles dis¬ 
tant; also kindling. Near our house is a 
swift mountain stream of considerable size. 
Would it be advisable to start a wood 
yard on a small scale at this end of the 
route 9 We find it to our advantage to fur¬ 
nish our men with work the year around, 
as good men do not care to move at the 
end of the busy season, and as we have 
plenty of idle horses during the Winter, 
we might engage in some such business. 
Will some of your readers who have had 
experience in this line kindly give their 
advice, as it is time some of these idle 
mountain streams were harnessed?” 
I think such a wood yard would pay 
here, provided we had cheap power to turn 
the saws. It seems to me that town people 
are using more stove wood than formeily. 
\ don 't see why farmers cannot sell wood 
as well as potatoes. It certainly is a good 
D lan to provide a permanent job for men 
and horses. Yes-these idle mountain 
streams have loafed long enough. Like 
many other farm friends they are very 
willing to use their strength to help out 
the home if they can only be trained and 
directed. This training and handling of 
the crude forces of nature is as much a 
part of the farmer's duty as anything else. 
Animal Sense. I have this note from 
a farmer who is interested in what has 
been said about wood ashes and stock: 
“Is there not danger of animals eating 
too much ashes when they can get all they 
want? I have read or heard that a tea¬ 
spoonful is enough ashes for a single feed 
tor a horse, and that is my rule. Some 
people 1 know fear that ashes will injure, 
but a little, I think, is an excellent thing. 
1 asked our family physician once what he 
used as horse medicine, and his answer 
was nothing but ashes; he did not say what 
quantity. I would like to know more in 
regard to this, as it is a wonderfully cheap 
medicine.” B ' c ' F ' 
I think that an animal may safely be left 
alone with a box of ashes. We have had 
several years’ experience, yet have never 
known an animal to take too much. 1 ie 
ashes may be “medicine” for aught 1 
know, but I do not use them for that—but, 
rather, because they supply the bone-form¬ 
ing food which is lacking in some of our 
other grains and fodders. I judge from 
observation that our hogs eat the ashes to 
satisfy some craving for mineral matter. I 
know it does them good. I hear of a min¬ 
ister who went away for three days and 
left his horse where he got plenty of water 
and then measured out nine big feeds of 
grain. The horse had never heard about 
Mr. Mapes and his plan for balancing the 
ration. That horse wanted to make sure 
of the grain, and he put it all down at 
once—and balanced it with a colic. My 
hogs have never acted that way with the 
ashes, and I consider it safe and wise to 
keep them well ashed. 
Sore Horses.— The following note Is 
enough to make old Major rise and ad¬ 
dress the chair: 
“1 have purchased a horse that is sore 
from the pavements. Can anything be 
done for him? What is your opinion of 
such horses for farm work?" e. s. k. 
Major is a retired car horse—very much 
retired in some ways. About seven years 
ago he came limping out of New York, 
where he had been graduated from a street 
car to take a post-graduate course on a 
peddler’s cart. He had been sold for $7! 
The man who bought him took off his 
shoes and gave him a chance to put his 
bare feet into the ground. Two years later 
1 paid $50 for him and called it a fair bar¬ 
gain. There are big bunches at his ankles 
that will never be smaller, and his hoofs 
are soft and split easily. Not all “sore” 
city horses will turn out as well as Major. 
He was well-bred to begin with, and had 
good “blood” to sustain him. Do I mean to 
say that what we call “blood" will help 
carry a horse through the trials and fire of 
city life? Yes, or a man either. A well- 
bred horse will be well put together, with 
firmer bones and better balanced muscles 
not so likely to break down as some loose- 
jointed and lunk-headed mongrel. 
"Sore” horses are like gambler's cards. 
You cannot tell what causes the lameness. 
If it is from bruised or battered feet you 
can often help them greatly by taking off 
their shoes and either letting them run on 
grass or work barefooted in soft ground. 
If the trouble is in hock or shoulder it will 
be a job to cure him. If I bought another 
such horse I should call it an even chance 
of losing my money on him. I would keep 
him barefooted for a while, and if this did 
not help him and the horse had good shape 
and size I would have some good veterinary 
look him over and locate the trouble, and 
then try to relieve it. There isn’t much 
use in doctoring a horse until you know 
what to doctor him for. Big and active city 
horses can be made useful in the hands of 
a patient farmer. They are not unlike a 
city workman transplanted to the farm. 
They are usually willing but must be 
taught. Among other things they seldom 
know how to “back.” Some of them have 
been abused and beaten until they are ugly 
and will bite and kick. It takes a patient 
and well-controlled man to handle them 
properly. That, however, can be said of 
anything that has been abused or has lost 
character, yet sometimes there is good 
profit in bringing that character back. 
Ice Harvest. —The ice house is full and 
in better shape than last year. The ice 
itself is clearer and more solid, and it Is 
packed better. Last year we left one end 
not fully protected, and did not leave a 
good chance for top ventilation. This year 
we think these defects have been remedied. 
The pond where the ice was cut is about 
on-third of a mile from the farm, and the 
sides are steep, so that every cake must 
be pulled up by horse power. We got two 
neighbors to help us cut, and made short 
work of the job. It started to make short 
work of the Hope Farm man as well, 1 
went down to show the boys how to cut 
off a cake of ice! Many a man of my age 
has attempted such personal example be¬ 
fore now, and afterwards regretted that 
he did not stop with talking about it. I 
shall always claim that I did a good job 
with my own saw, but I did not notice 
what Neighbor Felter was doing to the 
long end of the cake. When I broke my 
cake off the whole strip gave way and I 
stepped right down to the bottom of the 
pond! It wasn't deep enough to drown— 
but if it wasn’t several degrees below zero 
I am no thermometer. I felt my clothes 
freeze as I crawled out. I ran into the 
kitchen of the nearest house, where they 
took good care of me—though I was a 
tight fit for the garments they had on hand! 
It came out well, but repetition might 
spoil it. 
Sawing Things Off.—T he process of 
warming up gives cl fellow a chance for 
cool reflection. It was my own fault that 
I permitted Neighbor Felter to saw me off. 
It was my business to keep an eye on his 
saw as well as my own. As society is made 
up at present one cannot expect that per¬ 
sonal rights can safely be left entirely to 
others. We must keep an eye on the other 
fellow even though we know that he is 
above suspicion, or first you know he will 
saw us off—with as much injury to him¬ 
self as to us. Many of us as farmers have 
gone on in much the way our fathers did, 
without considering what farmers in other 
parts of the country are growing or how 
they are growing it. First we know they 
"saw us off” by filling our markets with 
produce which costs less than we can af¬ 
ford to produce it for. Had we watched 
them and thus known what they were do¬ 
ing we could have kept on top. As it is we 
“cut little ice” for all our work, and get 
that pretty well soaked. As I view it 
there are no farmers in this country who 
really want to saw us Jerseymen off for 
the sake of hurting us. They all want to 
make a fair living, and many of them can 
only do it by raising the crops that we 
raise. They will saw us off unless we get 
out of the way by cutting the same sized 
cake in a different manner, and we must 
learn how to do that. 
The Seedling.— Ice harvesting was cold 
enough—just the right weather for canning 
Jack Frost. The chinks between the cakes 
were filled with snow and pounded ice, 
which froze solid. When everything was 
closed and packed in sawdust there were 
several big cakes left. 
“Why not have ice cream?” said the 
children, whose idea of economy was to 
save the ice! There was a good lot of 
cream and milk on hand, and so on Sunday 
Charlie got out the freezer. To tell the 
truth not much of that ice was needed, for 
Jack Frost was biting hard that day. It 
did seem a little odd to be eating ice cream 
with a roaring log fire to help us thaw it 
in comfort—but it was good, and man may 
safely regulate the temperature of his food 
by the side of the glass he occupies. On 
the cold side something hot—on the warm 
side something cold. The Scion started 
quite a laugh by asking: 
“Can’t the little baby have some?” 
Even Grandmother couldn’t find an argu¬ 
ment for cooling the stomach of a 10-days’ 
old baby! So the Seedling did not vary her 
usual diet of warm milk. But who is the 
Seedling? Why, she is the youngest Hope 
Farmer. As I write, a long procession, 
headed by the Madame and tailed by 
Grandmother, is passing by me into Aunt 
Emma’s room to see little Katharine, who 
has just "waked up.” Charlie is master 
of ceremonies, and they all vote his daugh¬ 
ter a very fine girl. The Seedling is all 
right! She bids fair to make a variety 
worthy of introduction when she grows up. 
The Madame hopes that she never will be 
called “Kate,” which reminds me tnat I 
have a letter from a good friend who says 
we make a mistake in ever referring to 
the children as Bud, Scion and Graft! 
All Sorts.— The farmers' institute was 
held about three miles from Hope Farm. 
1 took the three larger children and drove 
old Major as an illustration of how shred¬ 
ded fodder will keep an old horse spry and 
fat. The institute was a good one. I told 
the children I would give five cents to the 
one who could tell the best account of it 
to the Madame. They all remembered 
much of what the speakers said. 
We finally decided to paint the new house 
white with green blinds. I bought a ready- 
mixed paint, and Charlie and Philip will 
put it on. The masons have nearly fin¬ 
ished plastering the house, and we get a 
good idea of what It will be. The Madame 
can see how it will look from the plans, 
but I have to see the house in order to 
understand it.The grass and 
grain were doing well up to February 1. 
Then came a hard freeze after a rain, and 
the fields are pretty well covered with a 
sheet of ice. This is bad business for 
young grass. Snow is good, but ice will 
hurt it.Rose is the latest addi¬ 
tion to our live stock. She is a purebred 
Improved Yorkshire sow. She is a beauty, if 
hogs may ever be said to be ornamental 
as well as useful. We evidently need both 
white and black pigs for our trade, and 
the Yorkshire strikes me as about the best 
white hog I have seen. h. w. c. 
Known 
everywhere 
by its 
good work s 
An Elgin 
r Watrh is the most 
. perfect timepiece possible . 
. to make, with exact machines , 
and most skillful hands. Every 
ELGIN 
Watch 
is designed to increase the great repnta- 
l of the Elgin as the world’s stand- l 
V 
V \\ 
ard timekeeper. Known everywhere;. 
•old everywhere. ‘ 
Every Elgin W»tch has “Elgin” 
eugnred on work*. Book fre«. 
Elgin National Watch Co. 
Elgin* Ill. 
The Larimer Ditching Plow 
“Liquid Grafting Wax.”—1 tried the 
liquid grafting wax recipe on page 37, last 
volume, and would advise no one to use it, 
as the alcohol is destructive to plant life 
as well as animal life. Alcohol seeks after 
moisture and I find the majority of the 
grafts died on which I used this wax, and 
the stubs were dried up around the grafts. 
Reddick, Ill. e. s. k. 
Liquid grafting waxes containing alcohol 
as a solvent have long been used with good 
success. Our own experience has been very 
favorable when a protecting agent is need¬ 
ed to cover both stock and scion. The 
amount of water or sap absorbed by the 
quickly evaporating alcohol must be very 
small and soon replaced by the stock. We 
are inclined to think other causes are re¬ 
sponsible for the death of the grafts. 
DOLLARS or DIMES 
Which Do You Prefer? 
WITH SUBSOIL ATTACHMENT. 
If you have ditching to do, this plow will save you 
more money than any Implement you have on your 
farm. It will reduce the cost of digging ditches from 
one-half to two-thirds. Send for Descriptive Circular 
JOHN J. LARIMER Sc CO., Latrobe. Pa. 
Corn Planting 
must be well and carefully done, as the fu¬ 
ture crop depends upon it. For all purposes, 
w in any soil, on all kinds of 
ground nothing equals the 
SPANGLER 
_ CORN PLANTER. 
It saves time, labor, money and Immres the crop. You 
know when It is working; you can see the corn on its 
way to the ground. Made with or without fertilizer 
attachment. New device for sowing peas, beans, ensl- 
lage, corn, et«. We also make the famous Spangler Ix>w- 
Down Grain and Fertilizer Drill. Write for catalog and circ. 
SPANGLER MANUFACTURING CO.. 505Qu9en St., York, Pa. 
it is but slight exaggeration to say 
SUCCESS c£og WEEDER 
you ard now getting dimes. If you are satisfied with 
dimes, all right, hut of course you prefer dollars. 
CAPTION.—The fiat tooth in our Weeder is pat¬ 
ented. All other flat tooth weeders are infringe¬ 
ments on our patent. Selling or using a Court 
We now have suit pending in L nlted States court 
against Keystone Farm Machine Co. of York. Pa. 
Ask vour dealer for Success Anti-Clog Weeaer 
and insist on liaving it. I f he wlll o ? l .0 , „ g ?lt r it .t® r £®kinc 
will sell you one. Full information for the asking. 
HALLOCK WEEDER CO., Yorkt Pa. 
_ _ ELECTRIC_ 
Handy Farm Wagons 
make the work easier for both the man and team. 
The tires being wide they do notcut into the ground; 
the labor of loading is reduced many times.because 
of the short lift. They are equipped with our fam¬ 
ous Electric Steel Wheels, eitherstraightorstag- 
ger spokes. Wheels any height from 24 to 60 inches. 
White hickory axles, steel hounds. Guaranteed to 
carry 4000 lbs. Why not get started rightby putting 
in one of these wagons. We make our steel wheels 
to fit any wagon. Write for the catalog It is free. 
ELECTRIC WHEEL CO., BOX 88. QUINCY, ILL. 
Send For Our Free Catalog- 
Itshows large picturea, fall description and prices that are In your favor of first-class vehicles of ail kinds. 
Everyth ng in the vesicle A CC1II of our attractive lines are Piano and Corning body, steel and 
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THE 
Saving 
on a 
Buggy 
The illustration in this advertisement is a sample of the saving 
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The Columbus Carriage Ic Harness Co. 
ST. LouL, Ho. Write to Columbua, O. 
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No 
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I 
