1902 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
323 
HOPE FARM NOTE.S 
Hope Farm Facts.— Every now and then 
some doubting- Thomas comes along and 
says there is no such place as Hope Farm! 
One man recently said he was willing to 
bet that the nearest we could come to 
showing a real farm would turn out to be 
an office in the city stained with tobacco 
juice and blue with hard language! Why 
is it that people associate loafers with 
livery stables and profanity with a news¬ 
paper office? As I never bet and have 
strong views regarding tobacco I never 
could convince our friend on paper. Since 
I last described the farm The R. N.-Y. has 
obtained over 6,000 new subscribers, and so 
our old friends will pardon me If I repeat 
some of our story. Hope Farm is located at 
Woodcliff, Bergen Co., N. J. It lies among 
high hills nearly two miles from the rail¬ 
road. There are 87 acres all told—nearly 
half in chestnut timber and what I call 
“loafer fields”—that is, fields that were 
cropped out of breath by former owners 
and left to grow up to brush, briers and 
weeds. About 15 acres of the lower part of 
the farm are strong land. Back of these 
fields rises a steep hill, very rocky, and 
underlaid by a ledge which crops out in 
places. The farm is so narrow that we 
must travel over a mile to reach our west¬ 
ern field. 
Hope Farm Folks.— Some people are 
ready to admit that we may have a farm, 
but they say I set up people of straw and 
talk about them. I can only say that every 
character I have mentioned, from Grand¬ 
mother, who occupies our most comfortable 
chair, to old Franko, whose bones are 
bleaching in our western field, have all been 
here. Just at present the following humans 
are to be found at Hope Farm. I give them 
in the age order with a good guess at their 
weight as the fairest way to describe them: 
Grandmother . 150 pounds 
The Hope Farm Man. 170 
The Madame . 115 
Aunt Emma . 135 
Charlie . 150 
Philip . 135 
Hugh ... 160 
The Cutting. 125 
The Graft . 60 
The Bud . 50 
The First Scion. 45 
The Second Scion. 35 
The Seedling . 11 
Total .1,341 
It is no small job to provide food and 
clothing and work and fun and sympathy 
for 1,350 pounds of humanity, but that is 
the chief occupation at Hope Farm. What 
with visitors and others it is safe to figure 
that we average about 1,500 pounds of 
“family matter.” The scientific men cal¬ 
culate that for every 1,000 pounds of work¬ 
ing live beef a daily ration of 30 pounds of 
“dry matter” must be provided. This will 
give an idea of the amount of daily food 
which weighs down the Hope Farm table. 
Grandmother is the Madame’s mother. 
The Hope Farm man regrets to say that 
his own mother passed away before he 
could make want and poverty build him a 
home. We will pass the Hope Farm man, 
for you will all agree that he already talks 
too much. The Madame says I have too 
much to say about her now, so I will 
merely remark that she is the mainspring 
in the Hope Farm watch—well wound up 
by faith and belief in the eternal goodness 
of the Great Power that stands back of 
the universe. Charlie is the Madame’s 
brother, Aunt Emma is his wife and the 
Seedling his little daughter. Philip is a 
Norwegian. He came to this country some 
years ago, found a home with friends of 
ours, and when that home was broken up, 
came to Hope Farm with the old horse— 
Johnny. Hugh came from Michigan— 
brother of a friend who stands highest on 
one corner of the Madame's esteem. He 
has just grafted a 10-week's course at 
Cornell upon some years of hard, crude 
labor! The Cutting has been with us ever 
since she was a little girl. The Graft is a 
little stray or waif who came into our 
family about six years ago. His actual age 
and antecedents are unknown to us. The 
Bud is our own little daughter, and the 
Scions are children of the Madame’s sister. 
If I were to go on and give the personal 
history of the members of our family you 
would never believe the story. I will merely 
say that in the trails that lead up To Hope 
Farm are the tracks of sorrow, poverty, 
hereditary curse, wrong training and vain 
longing stepping close at the heels of am¬ 
bition, ability and sensitive pride. 
What a Name!—I refer to these things 
for two reasons. I have had people say 
that if “the philosopher of Hope Farm” 
knew what real trouble and sorrow is he 
would sing a very different song. Trouble 
and sin have laid foul hands upon us again 
and again, but we decline to let the marks 
stay while there is any way of bleaching 
them out. If there is any brooding to be 
done let us do it over fresh and hopeful 
eggs—not over the sad misTakes that are 
past! You good people with raw and bleed¬ 
ing hearts who wince at the touch of bitter 
memories need not think that the Hope 
Farm man and the Madame are a couple 
of untried chickens, playing at the easy 
game of life, for we have, between us, 
seen all sides of it. We did not name the 
farm “Hillcrest” or something similar, be¬ 
cause we wanted it to stand for the thing 
that our people have needed perhaps more 
than anything else— hope! I don’t pretend 
to be a model farmer. We do some things 
not because there ,is most profit to them, 
but because there is most hope in them. 
We have both a financial and a moral 
mortgage to pay—one in dollars and the 
other in honest character. Now, I never 
would refer to these things were it not for 
the fact that since I began to write these 
notes I have become convinced that hun¬ 
dreds of R. N.-Y. readers look upon life 
somewhat as we do. I will be honest and 
say that had I consulted my own feelings 
I would have stopped writing about Hope 
Farm last year. I know that many of 
those who read these notes are better 
farmers, richer and more capable of giving 
advice than we are, yet I have thought 
that one corner of the paper might be de¬ 
voted to a string on which a clumsy hand 
may try to pick out some of the simple 
and homely tunes that so many of us have 
In common. I am sorry to have taken so 
long to say that there really is a Hope 
Farm, and that our folks are neither people 
of straw nor angels. 
Crows and Tar.— It rather startles one to 
think that corn planting is so near that 
we must talk about seed. Here is a letter 
from Connecticut: 
“Will you give directions for using tar 
on corn? I have never quite liked the 
way tar is used alone on corn, so have 
not yet used any. I think the crows will 
be as plentiful this year as last by the 
way they are around now. Last year they 
were not afraid of scarecrows or some of 
their dead comrades hung up in the air 
for them to look at. The only thing that 
worked best was to lay somewhere for 
them, and that took time, and of course 
they are pretty good in smelling gun¬ 
powder.” N - H - 
I never saw a scarecrow that was not 
an insult to the intelligence of the average 
crow. Our dog Shep will keep the birds 
out of a cornfield, but what is the use of 
wasting even dog flesh when tar will do 
the business? We thin the tar with water 
and soak the corn in It until well black¬ 
ened. Then the corn is turned out of the 
bucket and dried by sifting plaster or 
wood ashes over it. This leaves the corn 
with a dark gray smear over it. You can¬ 
not use this tarred corn in a planter—it 
must be dropped by hand. It is slower to 
germinate than the clean corn, but we 
have always obtained a good stand. The 
crows begin work on it as they usually 
do—pull up a hill or two and sample the 
seed. We have watched them carefully, 
but have rarely seen them swallow a kernel 
of tarred corn. They spit it out, look at it 
sadly and edge away at once. Our corn¬ 
fields are close to the thick woods, which 
are full of crows, but they never touch 
the corn after one of them tastes the tar. 
If your crows don't hold a caucus and 
vote you no gentleman after you tar the 
corn they are different from our Jersey 
birds. 
Farm Notes.— If that barley and Alfalfa 
fail to grow—why, we’ll try it again. Hugh 
claims that he “walked 40 miles ’ in sowing 
the Alfalfa seed on two acres! In order to 
get a perfect seeding he went over the 
field three times with the seeder and then 
twice with the weeder to cover. This left 
the surface in fine shape. .... Our 
corn is going fast, and the feed bills fairly 
give me a nightmare! I shall watch that 
Alfalfa with every eye I have. The clover 
seed is making a good start. If you have 
ever examined a grain field you know how 
the little clover plants come crawling out 
of the cracks in the ground. The great 
majoritv of them start from these cracks, 
which explains why we like tp sow on a 
frostv morning when the soil is fairly 
wrinkled up.I had marked a 
piece of land in which we had rye last year 
for potatoes. The boys began hauling out 
manure for it, but were surprised to find 
it thick with clover. Where that clover 
came from beats me, but it is a welcome 
sight, for in these days of blistering feed 
bills anything that bears the marks of pro¬ 
tein is doubly welcomed. I shall not plant 
potatoes there, but cut the clover and then 
plant squashes.I now expect a 
rather dry season, and shall plant some 
potatoes in a field that is naturally wet. 
We have drained out most of the water, 
and should there be a dry Summer It will 
be just right for potatoes. Should it be 
we t—well, we have lost part of a crop be¬ 
fore now. I am fully convinced that the 
greater part of success with potatoes de¬ 
pends on the soil. No fertilizing can make 
up for the needed quality in the soil itself. 
On farms where potatoes are grown in a 
regular rotation I notice that certain fields 
always do better than others, even with 
the same fertilizer and equal care. We 
now know something about our soil, and 
can give our potatoes the best showing 
they have ever had.When 
Philip came to start his garden he dug 
down into the manure pile and found a 
rich, black mass—well rotted and strong. 
There was a big pile of hog manure near 
at hand, but Philip passed it by. His ex¬ 
planation was about as follows: "That 
hog manure may be all right, but I never 
tried any. I know that this black stuff 
will make crops grow. Tou expect these 
garden crops to grow, and I can’t guar¬ 
antee them unless I know what I load, my 
gun with!” That’s business! You can’t 
experiment and guarantee results. 
Are we not afraid of filling the garden with 
weeds when we use so much manure? 
What weed seeds can you find in shredded 
fodder and bran? That is about what our 
manure comes from. Most weed seeds come 
from the hay. The best of Timothy is a 
weed when it grows in the garden. There 
are few weed seeds in corn fodder. 
We have a bad stand of Prizetaker onions 
in the hotbeds. Planted early, in flats, the 
seed made a good showing, and is now 
nearly ready to transplant. In the beds 
much of the seed failed to sprout. 
We have a good lot of manure this year, 
and it has kept well. I am using it some¬ 
what as I would nitrate of soda. That is, 
I figure that it is useful chiefly for the 
nitrogen it contains, and that it does not 
contain enough potash. We aim to spread 
about half as much manure as would be 
considered necessary to produce a full crop 
of potatoes alone, and then add muriate of 
potash and acid phosphate. I feel sure that 
this is good practice, for we can supply 
nitrogen to twice as much land as we could 
if we tried to use manure enough to furnish 
all the needed potash. h. w. c. 
If you want the best, the most im¬ 
proved and the most reliable binder in 
the world—buy the McCormick—it is 
the unit of measure in harvesting ma¬ 
chines.— Adv. 
Electric 
Handy Farm Wagons 
make the work easier for both the man and team. 
The tires being wide they do not cut i nto the ground; 
the labor of loading is reduced many times,because 
of the short lift. They are equipped withourfam- 
ous Electric Steel Wheels, eitherstraightorstag- 
ger spokes. Wheels any height rrom 24 to 60 i ncheB. 
White hickory axles, steel hounds. Guaranteed to 
carry 4000 lbs. Why not get started right by putting 
in one of theso wagons. We make our steel wheels 
to fit any wagon. Write for the catalog It is free. 
ELECTRIC WHEEL C0. f BOX 88. QUINCY, ILL. 
•STEEL CLAP STONE BOAT 
AVA/fli. C 4 ^CiV/Vf/O, 
W/rerca A tcf** a+/c 
PAiPb aug. sou* iaaj> 
\ 
Rain and sweat 
have no effect on 
harness treated 
with Eureka Har¬ 
ness Oil. It re¬ 
sists the damp 
keeps the leath- 
er soft and pli¬ 
able. Stitches 
do not break. 
No rough sur¬ 
face to chafe 
and cut. The 
harness not 
only keeps 
looking like 
new, but 
wears twice 
as longby the 
use of Eureka 
Harness Oil, 
Sold 
everywhere i jr \ 
in cans— II' \ 
ail sizes. / L. ' 
Made by 
Standard Oil 
Company 
1 
i "i-‘ 
LIME FERTILIZER 
Special preparation giving splendid satisfaction. 
Correspondence solicited TUB 8NOW FLAKE 
LIME CO., Bowling Green, Ohio. 
NITRATE OP SODA 
THE STANDARD AMMONIATE 
FOR 
Money Crops 
Sugar Beets, Fruit, Wheat, 
Corn, Grass, Truck. 
You get YOUR share of the profit when you use this 
Ideal predigested Ammoniate as plant food. 
For Intrinsic value costs 20 per cent less than other 
aiumonlates. 
Send post card for formulas and free bulletins. 
WILLIAM S. MYERS, Director, 
13 R John Street, New York. 
,o* v 
DIRECT DRAFT 
BAKER’S TRACELESS HARNES S 
■in—— i— mi umm iii ii iwhi 11 hi ii 
Saves its cost every season. Best farm and field harness. 
Adapted to all kinds of low down work where whiffletrees 
and traces are objectionable or may interfere with work. 
Very valuable for work in orchards or about young trees, 
equally good elsewhere < Catalogue/rrr. 
fillARAMTPP Give a week’s trial, and if not perfectly 
UUHnHIl I CC satisfied, return the harness to us at our 
expense, and we will return your money. 
B. F. BAKER CO.. 220 Main St.. Burnt Hills, N. Y. 
Rural Free Delivery 
SIGNAL 
MAIL BOX 
Bates-Hawley Patent 
A POSTOFFICE 
AT YOUR. DOOR 
THE SIGHAL MAIL BOX, Bates- 
Hawley Patent, IS THE ORIGINAL BOX 
FOR RURAL SERVICE. It has been 
especially recommended by the Post¬ 
master General— Is full government size, 18x6Mxll!4, and is the only 
one which will meet all your requirements. Material—Heavy Steel andl 
Iron, completely Galvanized, finished very attractively in Aluminum and 
Red. Yale lock. Automatic Signal flag. Individual celluloid name plate. 
Write for partlcu lam. SICNAL MAIL BOX CO., 107 Benton St. Joliet, 
The Side Delivery 
Hay Windrower 
and Clover Buncher 
is the best haymaker on the market. 
Saves all raking and tedding. Fits any 
mower. If your dealer doesn’t handle 
It, write us for catalogue. 
The Side Delivery Buncher Co., 
TOLEDO, OHIO. 
; c 
) ( 
} 
u 
! i 
.;‘ajS WtiWft 
JiFX'-V V’T "V ’• — 
.. 
1 
IT 
MEANS 
DOLLARS 
TO 
YOU 
The Chatham Fanning Mill 
cleans grain and seeds, cleaner, faster and 
with less labor than any other mill made. Its 
bagger attachment does away with labor of 
one man. 
WE SELL IT ON TRIAL. 
There is no seed that grows which it will not clean 
perfectly. Saves the grass seed that now goes to 
waste. Get the foul seed out of your grain. Send for 
free booklet on “How to Make Dollars Outof Wind.” 
M. CAMPBELL FANNING MILL CO., (Lid.) 
116 h esson Ave., Detroit, Mleh. 
(factories at Detroit and Chatham , On/.) 
1 Chain Gear 
American. 
Hay Tedder 
Planter and Fertilizer 
STAR PATTERN 
BILLINCS 
It Is the latest, and it drops at 
twelve different distances. 
Is the only perfect 
'machine for turning 
or tedding hay. 
I No breakage of forks and Arms. 
t For Corn, 
Beans, 
Peas and 
Beet 
Seeds.... 
It you want them, we furnish Marker and Trip attach¬ 
ment for rowing both waya. Send for circulars. 
AME8 PLOW COMPANY, «4 MARKET 8T., BOSTON. 
NEW UNIVERSAL 
Hand Double Wheel Hoe. 
Also Seeders j 
and Horse, 
Hoes., 
Send ' 
for * 
I our I 
new < 
80- 
page [ 
catalogue of our Agricultural i 
labor waving Bpecialtles, 
