1902 
HOPE FARM NOTES 
Farm Matters.— We began cutting green 
rye for feed on May 6, giving the cows 
about 25 pounds each at night. They 
showed a gain in milk at once. We have 
four different sowings of rye so that they 
lasted until the wheat was large enough. 
One piece of about an acre and a half was 
so fine that Charlie wanted to let it stand 
for grain. It is where we had potatoes 
last year, or rather where we got ready 
for them and they didn’t come. The feast 
that we prepared for them just suits the 
rye! We will have one show field at least! 
I am asked if this plan of soiling cattle or 
cutting green feed for them is an easy job. 
No, it isn’t. It is no lazy man’s scheme. 
It saves pasture and enables a farmer to 
grow much larger crops of fodder—but you 
must do the nibbling and the walking that 
the cow does at pasture! .... The 
wheat looks well. Early in April there 
were bare places where water washed or 
froze last Winter, but the plants had good 
tillage and fertility at the helm, so they 
tillered out until they cover up the scars. 
The clover has made a good start and bids 
fair to stay by us.The growth 
of the little Alfalfa plants interests us all. 
They seem to be slower and more feeble 
than the clover, yet they are spreading out 
their leaves as though they expected to 
stay with us. Millions of little weeds are 
also starting. All through the Summer 
they will try to get the Alfalfa by the 
throat and strangle it. We will clip off 
their hands with the mowing machine. 
The barley thus far makes a better growth 
than the oats.I have seen many 
things grow—from a debt to a boy's appe¬ 
tite, but I can remember nothing that quite 
equals the Crimson clover. The warm sun 
of early May made it jump. We could 
see it grow if we had time to stop and 
look at it. Many people complain that the 
Crimson clover was killed out last Winter. 
We have it in all its glory.We 
shall have our corn ground in shape much 
earlier than last year. The young orchard 
on the lower farm has been plowed. It 
was a so-called sod—mostly weeds and 
coarse grass, wet and sour. The furrows 
were turned up on edge and we let the 
dry, cold winds blow through them for a 
week. Usually we harrow and pack such 
soil at once, but in this case we want it 
well aired—and the sod is getting the air¬ 
ing as though it were hung on a line. 
.Plowing among small trees is 
a job that requires a careful man. I think 
so much of the trees that I would about 
as soon have a man come and rub my 
shins as to have him carelessly bark these 
trees. We use a Sherwood harness for 
plowing. There are no traces to rub or 
strike at the trees. In order to make 
doubly sure Hugh took Frank alone with a 
small plow and plowed two furrows on 
each side of the rows of trees. Frank has 
far more sense about such things than the 
average hired man and he can be trusted 
to keep away from the trees. Then the 
field is plowed in long, narrow lands be¬ 
tween the rows. 
A Garden Association.— The children 
begged for a piece of ground on which to 
raise a crop. As a rule the children’s gar¬ 
den is a very childish affair. Can this 
rule be broken? I got the children to¬ 
gether under a tree on the lawn and we 
organized the Hope Farm Garden Associa¬ 
tion. After some caucusing they elected 
the Graft President, the largest Scion 
Vice-President, the Bud Secretary, the 
Hope Farm man Director and the little 
Scion Treasurer. It is very satisfactory 
when each one can have an office! After 
the meeting adjourned I noticed a lively de¬ 
bate among these officials. The Bud final¬ 
ly came with eyes wide with importance: 
“Don’t the President have to work?” 
It appears that the President and Vice- 
President claimed that office is not only 
a public trust but that it carries Immunity 
from labor! I told them that they would 
not only have to work themselves but that 
they would be held responsible for the 
labor of others. If the Director found 
weeds in the garden he would overhaul the 
President for it! This idea was so new 
and startling that the officers were ready 
at first to resign. Then the idea of hold¬ 
ing authority over others came up and 
they concluded that it sweetened the cup 
of responsibility! The little folks con¬ 
tinued their caucus after they went to bed. 
The President informed them that he in¬ 
tended to make them all work hard. 
“But,” said the Vice-President, “you told 
us that if we would vote for you for Presi¬ 
dent you wouldn’t make us work!” 
“I don’t care if I did! I’m elected now.” 
It looks as though we should have some 
politicians that will stand a better show 
for office than the Hope Farm man ever 
did. It doesn’t seem to make much differ¬ 
ence whether a politician is 7 or 70! 
Good Work.— I found a good place for 
the garden at one side of the barn. The 
two little boys got out their wagon and 
hauled 10 good loads of manure and spread 
it thickly on the ground. Then Hugh 
plowed and harrowed it and the four little 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
371 
folks raked and picked the stones and 
made it smooth and fine. No use talking, 
they worked hard. At one time, when they 
were just about ready to cry and quit, 1 
left my own work and proposed that we 
play ball for 10 minutes! That brightened 
them up so that they went back and fin¬ 
ished the job without a murmur. What a 
silly thing you will say for a man with the 
joints and girth that belong to 50 years 
trying to play ball with legs that belong 
to 19! Oh, I don’t know! If some old fel¬ 
low's I know had played a game of ball 
now' and then their boys would now be at 
home, first-class farmers, Instead of third- 
class clerks! When the ground was 
smooth and fine the boys cut stakes for 
their rows. They needed 22, 11 at each 
end. The rows were three feet apart and 
about 60 feet long. They put their line 
from stake to stake. Then the Vice-Presi¬ 
dent scratched a mark under it, the Presi¬ 
dent made a furrow with a wheel hoe, the 
Secretary dropped the seed and the Treas¬ 
urer covered it. They planted two rows of 
American Wonder peas, three of Carman 
No. 3 potatoes, two of early cabbage, one 
of lettuce, one of beets, and one of snap 
beans. They plan to transplant two rows 
of onions and to plant one row of Hubbard 
squash. A week after planting the peas 
they planted sweet corn midway between 
the rows of peas and potatoes, and radish 
between the row's of cabbage and lettuce. 
When the peas are picked and pulled they 
will plant a new lot right in the same 
place. Won’t they get tired? Yes, but the 
Director thinks he can keep them at it. 
Stock Notes.— We thought we had 
Nellie well sobered, but now a new terror 
has appeared in the shape of an automo¬ 
bile. The thing goes putting and snorting 
along the road, enough to frighten old 
Major into forgetting his stiff leg, to say 
nothing of a nervous horse like Nellie. A 
man in the town near us has one of these 
machines and it is a constant menace to 
drivers.. I am told that the law holds that 
this machine has a right to the highway 
and that it is the business of the horse¬ 
man to get his horse used to it. This may 
be good law, but it is tough on the women 
folks who would like to drive a spirited 
horse.We are feeding the hogs 
on green rye. They eat it just as 
the cows do. It would be a revela¬ 
tion to some of these men who 
think a hog can eat nothing but 
grain and swill to see our sows eating hay 
and cut fodder. I know that they are 
much better off for this bulky food. . . 
. . I would like to know how much trouble 
breeders of Berkshire swine have with ani¬ 
mals badly marked. I have had them un¬ 
dertake to tell me that they never have a 
pig marked with white except on face, 
foot and tail, but when I refer to our own 
experience they conclude it is safe to tell 
the truth. We have now a litter of five 
pigs out of Hugha by Billy Berk—all eligi¬ 
ble to registry—yet two of them have a dot 
of white on one side. Billy has a few white 
hairs on one ear—otherwise he is well 
marked, while Hugha is about perfect in 
her markings. Where does the extra white 
come from? Are breeders usually troubled 
in this way? What proportion of ordinary 
litters must be rejected for this cause? I 
should say that our Yorkshires will give 
a greater proportion of pigs true to type. 
Manure Matters.—You seem to think 
more of manure for farm crops than you 
once did. 
That is true; I am older than I used to 
be. 
What have you learned about it? 
First, I have more of it on the farm. 
Without at first intending to do so we have 
been led into stock farming and have now 
quite a collection of animals. This means 
a large amount of good manure which we 
must utilize to the best advantage in order 
to get our money back for grain. 
Are you satisfied with your plan for 
keeping manure? 
Not at all. I think we have lost part of 
its value by not taking better care of it. 
1 hope to remedy this before another Win¬ 
ter so that less nitrogen and potash will 
go to fertilize the brooks and wells. I 
never before realized that manure has a 
great value on such soils as ours, aside 
from its actual plant food. 
What is this special value? 
It is full of bacterial life. I am well 
satisfied that our soils are partly “dead.” 
There may be a fair amount of plant food 
and some of it quite available for plants, 
but the soil seems to lack life, that is, the 
tiny creatures known as bacteria which 
make over the humus or organic matter 
in the soil and fit it for the plant. Stable 
manure contains this “life,” and that is 
the great reason why I believe our soil 
particularly needs it. 
Suppose you plow under a crop of clover 
rye or cow peas, do you mean to say that 
they would do your soil more good if they 
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. 
were fed to stock and thus turned into 
manure? 
As my soil is now, I believe it because 
there seems no doubt that manure con¬ 
tains more bacteria than merely decayed 
vegetable matter. Afteragood manuring it 
might not be true and it might not be true 
of some other soils, but just now I feel 
satisfied that my farm needs manure. I 
use it freely with potash and acid phos¬ 
phate to even it up even though my pre¬ 
vious remarks on the subject stare me in 
the face! h. w. c. 
Kerosene Emulsion.— Dissolve half a 
pound of soap in one gallon of water and 
heat to boiling; remove trom the fire and 
while hot add two gallons of coal oil, 
churning the mixture with a good force 
pump for fifteen minutes or until it re¬ 
sembles buttermilk. To each quart of this 
emulsion add 15 quarts of water and apply 
with spray pump or sprinkling pot. It is 
good for all sucking insects. 
The Country Loafer.- He is well de¬ 
scribed by The Farmer’s Guide: “We have 
run across him several times the past 
Winter. He was hatched among the corn 
and potato fields, usually the progeny of 
some hard-fisted, avaricious old granger 
whose only purpose in living is to get more 
land. As a boy, deprived of a boy’s rights, 
he worked too hard, living in an atmos¬ 
phere of greed and unreflnement. He 
gravitates naturally just as soon as he is 
big enough into a rural smart Aleck, tak¬ 
ing to cigarettes, beer drinking and the 
periodical raising of the devil in ordinary 
country communities. He has no manners 
except bad ones. He is unpleasantly con¬ 
spicuous at horse races, circuses, Fourth 
of July celebrations and camp meetings, 
the legitimate prey of fakirs, an all-round 
nuisance and really the very poorest and 
most worthless product of the fertile farms 
of the country; coarse, loud-mouthed and 
never well dressed. This ill-begotten chap 
is the direct antithesis of that industrious, 
patient, ambitious farm boy who gravi¬ 
tates from the corn fields into the highest 
places in politics, commerce and the reli¬ 
gious and educational life in this country." 
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610 Church St., Owego, N. Y. 
NITRATE OF SODA 
THE STANDARD AMMONIATE 
FOR 
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Sugar Beets, Fruit, ’Wheat, 
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You get YOUR share of the profit when you use this 
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Send post card for formulas and free bulletins. 
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WATER. 
If you want water only when the wind blows a windmill will do your work 
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The Side Delivery 
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