1902 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
435 
HOPE FARM NOTES 
Fruit Notes.— The first picking of Mar¬ 
shall strawberries was on June 3. This 
fruit is remarkably large and fine. Our 
soil seems to grow this variety to perfec¬ 
tion, and when at its best there are few 
varieties to compare with Marshall. It is 
a great mistake to set Marshall on thin 
soil where drought Is quite sure to occur. 
Grown in hills on our heavy soil it will 
produce fruit as large as Red Astrachan 
apples, and not unlike them in flavor. I 
shall plant a good many Marshalls next 
Fall. We also expect to sell a good many 
potted plants. 
What is a potted plant? 
A strong, vigorous runner set in a little 
pot by the side of the mother plant. We 
take a trowel and dig out a little hole, fill¬ 
ing the pot with rich earth. Some people 
fill the pot with a mixture of manure and 
earth or Jadoo fiber, but we use the soil 
from the rows. The pot is put into the 
little hole and the runner “set” in it— 
either by placing a little stone on top or 
by pinning it down with a hairpin. The 
little plant soon roots in the pot. It is fed 
largely by the mother plant until cut 
away. It can be sold in the pot or thumped 
out as desired. 
Are these potted plants good for fruit¬ 
ing? 
If set out in August, well watered and 
cared for they will give a fair cron of 
fruit next year, though of course not as 
much as a Spring-set plant. They can fol¬ 
low an early crop like peas or even early 
potatoes, or go in between onions. I doubt 
the wisdom of buying potted plants for 
commercial strawberry growing, but it Is 
an excellent way of getting a start with 
new varieties. With 100 good plants of 
some expensive new kind a man can quick¬ 
ly grow plants enough for crop production. 
Is not your Richards transplanter just 
as good as the pot? 
For some purposes, yes. It takes a good 
deal of earth away from the row, and of 
course the little plant will not ship as well 
as the potted plant. 
Shall you pot anything but Marshall? 
Yes, we have several fine new varieties 
which have not been introduced, and which 
of course we cannot sell. 
Why not? 
Because they belong to the man who 
originated them. This man spent years in 
watching his seedlings. Having found 
something that is a clear improvement 
over most other varieties he has as much 
right to it as an inventor has to a patent. 
As he can’t get any patent he should have 
moral protection at least. He sent us a 
few plants for testing. They are just as 
much his as though they were growing on 
his own farm. If we were to pot them and 
sell them quietly to some nurseryman we 
would be guilty of the meanest sort of a 
crime! 
Do you mean to say that this is ever 
done? 
I regret to say that it has been done. 
People have taken such plants to test and 
discouraged the originator with false re¬ 
ports, all the time securing a big stock to 
put on the market. Others when they saw 
the variety was sure to be a good one 
quietly gave part of their plants to a third 
party who propagated as many as he could 
and offered them in competition with the 
originator. Still others have taken a va¬ 
riety somewhat like the new one and put 
it out as true. “Thief” is - the brand I 
would put on anyone who does such busi¬ 
ness. If any monopoly is ever justified it 
is the first year’s absolute control of the 
stock of a new variety. 
What will you do with your new plants? 
Whatever the originator says. My notion 
is to pot the runners and keep track of 
them. If the owner wants tnem for sale 
he can have them, but not one of them 
shall be used to his disadvantage. 
Farm Notes.— How is the Alfalfa? 
Alive and growing. The best of it was 
about four inches high by June 10. It ought 
to live now, though its worst time is to 
come. 
What about the beardless barley? 
It stands higher than the oats, and 
grows differently. Instead of stooling and 
spreading out it appears to send up a sin¬ 
gle stem. This makes it a better crop for 
seeding to grass or clover, since it does 
not smother it out. The heads were well 
formed by June 5, while the barley aver¬ 
aged about two feet in height. It will make 
a light cutting of hay. I judge that it 
would yield a fair crop of grain, but I shall 
cut for hay, as this will give the Alfalfa 
a better chance. 
How so? 
Give it more air and sun, and also give 
us a better chance to clip off the weeds. 
We intend to keep their heads well shaved. 
How is the wheat? 
One field of three acres was thin, and I 
cut it for hay on June 5. It was at the 
back of the farm in a hard place to reach 
with the binder. I also reasoned that by 
cutting the wheat early we gave the young 
grass and clover a better chance to grow. 
Wheat hay makes good fodder, but gives 
a light yield. The rest of the wheat is 
good, and will be cut for grain. 
How about the oats and peas? 
By June 10 they stood about 18 inches 
high—a thick and solid mat. As all who 
have grown the crop know, the oats hold 
the peas up. To my surprise the clover in 
the oats and peas is the best seeding we 
have on the farm. I was told that the 
oats and peas would smother it, but thus 
far it is very much alive. The worst clover 
is in a field of rye. I put the clover seed on 
myself, “so as to show the boys how.” I 
know it went on right, and at the proper 
time, but only a little plant here and theie 
has shown itself. That seed is somewhere 
in the soil. It may stay there for years 
and then, all of a sudden, spurt up and 
give some farmer a chance to prove a 
theory or notion. The first clover was cut 
on June 6. I believe in cutting clover 
early, especially when, as in this case, we 
are to follow with a crop like squash. The 
Orchard grass in the big orchard near the 
house was cut June 9. Most farmers make 
the mistake of letting Orchard grass stand 
as long as the Timothy. This is all wrong, 
for the Orchard grass matures even eariier 
than clover. 
Market Notes.— There has not been a 
day for the past year without some sale 
from the farm. We have just taken the 
contract to supply a large boarding house 
with milk and vegetables. The Graft does 
the delivering, and is to have five per cent 
of all sales. The children will pick and 
sell all they can from their own garden. 
It requires some skill to arrange a garden 
so as to have a full succession of crops for 
customers. How much of each shall be 
planted? There are some standard vege¬ 
tables like potatoes, sweet corn, Lima 
beans, peas, beets and onions which are 
always sure to sell. On a farm like ours 
we can hardly plant too many of such 
things. Wasted? Not with 10 sows on 
hand constantly ready to eat. There is 
where you get the advantage of a hog s 
society. He takes care of the waste for 
you. You may plant more than you can 
sell to humans, but the hog steps in and 
saves your reputation when he saves the 
waste. Most of us build reputation not by 
what we make, but by what we waste. 1 
shall hurt some one’s feelings when I say 
that the swill barrel out behind the shed 
may be a truer monument to the boss than 
the ornaments in the front room! The 
Graft attends to the boarding house busi¬ 
ness well. I have known farmers to take 
such a contract and when asked to bring 
sw’eet corn repudiate it in this way: 
“We ain’t got none!” 
The Graft won’t do that. He will get 
out among the other farmers and know 
where that corn can be found, and he will 
get it, too. That’s the way to keep a con¬ 
tract! 
Windy Weather.— The great Sunday 
blow of June 8 will long be remembered. 
We had had two days of dull “muggy” 
weather with little showers that made 
clover stew out of the grass in the pear 
orchard. The boys let the water all run 
out of the tank, and there stood the wind¬ 
mill with dead wings. The Madame didn’t 
purpose to have the house run dry. “Not 
with three big men on the place to pump!” 
But it cost some nerve force to remind 
them of their duty! She came close to ad¬ 
vising me to go out in the neighborhood 
of that mill and tell the community what 
I hope the Stringfellow peach trees wi.l 
do! Sunday morning came dull and muggy. 
Seven members of the family drove off to 
church, and I fear that lazy windmill tinc¬ 
tured the Madame’s Sunday school lesson. 
About 11 o’clock there came a sudden puff 
of wind, and a black cloud gathered in 
the west. Without warning the leaves on 
the orchard trees seemed to turn inside out 
with a great flutter. The windmill shook 
itself like a lazy man who shrugs his 
shoulders before starting at a job which 
he cannot avoid, and then went to pump¬ 
ing. There was a sudden deluge of rain, 
which soaked the ground and then sud¬ 
denly stopped. The sun came smiling out, 
but the wind took off its coat and vest and 
drove every cloud off the sky. How it did 
blow! The Madame saw that windmill 
turning before she got to the yard! I have 
great respect for the minister, and think 
it likely his sermon elevated her spirits 
quite as much as that whirling wheel did! 
What a glorious thing that breeze was. 
The rye waved like the billows on the sea. 
The leaves tossed up their hidden sides 
and gave a silver tint to the green. The 
man who couldn’t worship God by just 
looking off across the waving and tossing 
valley is a hard specimen! For dinner we 
cleaned up six quarts of Marshall straw¬ 
berries, all the green peas we could eat 
and three fat hens, besides potatoes and 
bread and butter! 
Pedigree and Performance.— What do 
you do with those white-faced Berkshlres 
you have been telling about? 
We offer them for sale with the grade 
pigs. 
At the same price? _ 
No, where the grades bring $3.50 we 
charge $5 for the Berks. 
Do they sell readily r 
No—farmers do not care to pay the dif¬ 
ference. When the grades are about the 
same size they appear to think one animal 
as good as another. 
Do you really think the purebreds are 
worth more money for pork-making? 
Certainly. From my experience I would 
willingly pay more for well-bred pigs. I 
believe they can be made to make more 
pork from a dollar’s worth of feed. 
How do you make that out? 
They have better shape. The hams are 
larger and the sides longer. They will 
have more lean meat and less waste. They 
have usually been selected with these 
points in view. 
How is that done? 
Take our own case. Huglia and her 
daughters are fine, well-marked hogs. 
Their hams did not seem to me as heavy 
as they should, and I wanted a quick¬ 
growing pig that knows how to hustle. I 
picked Billy Berk because he is built very 
heavily behind. He and his mother’s an¬ 
cestors were bred on a large fruit farm. 
The pigs are turned into the orchards to 
pick up the windfalls and hustle general¬ 
ly. 'i’hat is what I want the Hope Farm 
pigs to do, and I have it in the pedigree. 
Billy’s grandfather dressed nearly 700 
pounds. These are some of the things I 
feel sure of, and so I won’t sell a pig that 
has fallen heir to these qualities for the 
same price that we get for some hap¬ 
hazard. 
But suppose they won’t pay the price? 
Then we’ll keep our white faces and turn 
them into pork. A ton or so of pork next 
Fall will make taxes and interest look like 
a blank sheet of paper. h. w. c. 
Fence-Corner Peaches.— Your query as 
to why fence-corner seedling peaches bear 
when others do not is easy to answer. 
They are usually a hardy variety, or they 
would not grow to bearing age in fence 
corners, and they are not forced to be 
tender. reader. 
The man who is feeding plenty of late 
cut hay and cornmeal may have fat sleek- 
looking cows, but you may be certain that 
he isn’t making any money out of the 
milk they give. And how is he going to 
get any pay for the fat on their backs? 
That’s easy; kill them, but the milk stops 
then. _ h. g. m. 
If you want a harvesting machine that 
is reliable—one that will work success¬ 
fully in all conditions of grain—buy the 
M cCormick.—.4 dv. 
FARMERS 
Waterproof or Plain Canvas 
Stack Covers, Hay Caps, Wagon 
and Implement Covers, Tents, 
Plant Bed Cloth, etc. 
HiEUSTIFL'Sr 
124 Chambers Street, - 
- New York, N. If. 
Before Buying a New Harness 
Send 4c. postage for Illustrated Catalogue: full 
description and prices single and 
double Oak Leather Harness direct 
to consumer at Wholesale Prices and 
Save Money. Address 
KING HARNESS CO.. „ 
610 Chureh St., Owego, N. Y. 
ARROW BRAND 
Ready Roofing 
can be laid on 
top of old 
shingles with¬ 
out tearing off 
the old roof. 
ASPHALT READY ROOFING CO. sendee 
136 Water St., New York._ samples. 
For the Roofs and 
Sides of your Barns 
and Poultry-Houses 
Lasts Ihdefinely. Booklet “K” 
THE STANDARD PAINT CO 
102 William St,-,. New York, . 
r y e , n Jaa ENSILAGE 
the 1 ROSS machinery 
is the best , and if you will send for Catalogue No. 45, 
we will tell you why. Send 10c for Prof. Woll’s 
Book on Silage. Address, 
THE E. W. ROSS CO., Springfield, 0. 
HE AMERIGJEr 
"f _ 
I Combined Feed Cutter & Shredder 
handles all fodder crops and ensilage. Stationary or traveling feed 
table. Foursizes—13, 10. 18 and 20 inches. Right, left or straight 
away Swivel and Giant Elevators or special Blower 
Outfit. They are doubly strong, _■■ , j g: 
durable, fast and efficient. Can * 
be used mounted or unmounted. 
Send for special Illustrated Cata¬ 
logue of Farm Machinery. 
J K, WILDER SONS, 
Box 20 Monroe, Michigan* 
WATER. 
If you want water only when the wind blows a windmill will do your work 
and cost less money than our llider and Ericsson Hot-Air Pumps, but If you want 
water every day while your flowers are growing and do not want your pump blown 
down when the wind blows too hard, no pump In the world can equal ours. We 
have sold about 20,000 of them during the past twenty-flvo years, which is proof 
^\! that we are not making wild statements. 
Our Catalogue “C 4” will tell you all about them. Write to nearest store. 
Rider-Ericsson Engine Company, 
35 Warren St.. New York. 
239 Franklin St., Boston. 
092 Craig St., Montreal. P. Q. 
Teniente-Key 71, Havana, Chiia. 
22a Pitt St., Sydney, N. S. W. 
40 Dearborn St., CHICAGO. 
40 N. 7th St., Philadelphia. 
HIGH GRADE FERTILIZERS 
OUR PRICES LOW. QUALITY PURE. 
Write for Memorandum Book, Prices and Samples. 
The Scientific Fertilizer Co. p - °- ^itts 0 .^, pa. 
THE GREATEST BARGAIN 
fill ri nru Keeps our competitors awake 
UH CAll I 11 nights to tell how wo do it. i 
DESCRIPTION— Selected second growth hickory 
wheels and gears; Norway iron clips and bolts; inch axle 
double collars, full length body loops, long body, any width. . 
Solid spring bellows back, with Ideal spring cross bar (spring cushions 
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- - rail Send for Big Free Catalogue of Vehicles und IliirneMS In Colors. A , 
No. 212J4 J ump Seat Trap. Price, $t0. 
fine as sells for $4U to $50 more. 
29 YEARS SELLING DIRECT. 
We are the largest manufacturers of 
vehicles and harness in the world sell¬ 
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WE HAVE NO AGENTS 
but ship anywhere for examination 
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No. 152 Top Buggy hns A inch 
Kelly rubber tires and rubber cov¬ 
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as sells for $40.00 more. 
Elkhart Carriage A Harness Manufacturing Co., Elkhart, Ind. 
