1SU2 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
8i9 
Hope Farm Notes 
Flat Life.— It is a rainy Saturday even¬ 
ing, and the Hope Flatters are nearly 
ready for supper. At the farm on such 
a night we could just see the few lights 
from neighbors’ houses through the dark¬ 
ness, but here in this great city the elec¬ 
tric lights Hood everything. We can see 
the rain strike the asphalt and form in 
little glistening puddles. Here and there 
are long dark shadows where some high 
building throw's such ,a deep shade that 
the lights cannot worm into it. My friend, 
the policeman, walks slowly on through 
the rain, the light flashing on his buttons 
and shield as he passes out from the 
shadows into the light. This man tells me 
that he used to be a farmer, but left the 
farm because, at the end of the year, there 
was very little cash coming to the farm— 
and his father claimed most of that! A 
man likes to exchange his service for cash! 
We are certainly well guarded here—but 
so we were at the farm—where there was 
little to steal. After all, it’s much like 
old times. I have been sitting in the front 
room singing some of the' songs I knew 
as a boy to the children. They make an 
attentive audience, but I suppose I fail to 
realize that practically all of the 50 or 
more people who inhabit this house are 
forced to listen also. That is one thing 
that hits a countryman hard in this great 
city—the close packing that is done with 
the people. I figure that on an acre in the 
part of the city where we live there will 
average about 1,600 people! In some of 
the lower parts of the city there will be 
found twice that number. In our entire 
township at home there are barely 1,300 
people, and on our 90 acres we thought 15 
a good crowd! At the farm we knew a 
little something about each of our neigh¬ 
bors, and felt an interest in their affairs. 
Here we find all this kindly feeling an 
almost unheard-of thing. We find our¬ 
selves caring little and knowing less about 
the people who live within a few feet of 
us. Yet I should say that there is less 
friction and trouble between families here 
than in the country, for when people are 
packed in so closely they can’t shake 
about and rattle much. Some boxes of 
apples come here with the fruit loosely 
poured in under the mistaken idea that 
with plenty of space they will not be 
crushed and bruised. This is just exactly 
the wrong way to pack the box, for th« 
shaking on the cars and wagons dashes 
the apples together so that nearly every 
one is jammed and rotted. The California 
apples are rarely bruised. They are 
packed firmly and closely into the boxes, 
so that they cannot shake about. People 
are like apples. Give them too much 
space and too many idle moments and 
they are sure to clash, and, at every 
bruise decay of friendship sets in. Hold 
each one firmly down into his place and 
job and they will stay there without jam¬ 
ming the others. 
The thing that has interested me most 
is the way some of these flatters live. A 
housekeeper coming straight from the 
country would be shocked at some of the 
improvident ways to be observed here. 
For example, we live in a space of about 
60x18 feet, with five rooms and bath. The 
coal question doesn't bother us, since the 
entire house is steam heated and all cook¬ 
ing is done by gas. I regret to say that 
the Madame has at times struggled with 
green and wet wood in the farm kitchen. 
Here all this is merely a bad dream, for 
she can turn on the gas in her range, 
touch a match to it and in a very short 
time have water boiling or food cooking. 
The kitchen, too, is so small that two or 
three steps will put one in reach of any 
tool or food. I am sure that in this little 
kitchen a woman can prepare a good meal 
with only 10 per cent of the exertion re¬ 
quired to cook the same food in our big 
farm kitchen! 
With all these conveniences of course 
these flatters live on the fat of the land! 
1 regret to say that some of their meals 
are what I call very lean. There is little 
if any storage room in such a kitchen. It 
is easy to reach a butcher or a baker with 
an order, and almost before you know it 
the whistle in your kitchen blows ;and up 
comes your order on the dumb waiter. 
Where there is a telephone m the house 
you need not go out at all, but order any¬ 
thing from a dozen oysters to a full meal- 
all ready to eat. All you need is the price— 
for you may rest assured that all this is 
never done out of benevolence! Let a 
farmer take • the money he receives for a 
bushel of potatoes and use it to buy tubers 
in the small packages which fiat dwellers 
know, and his breath will be taken away, 
with his dollars. AH this has brought 
about a curious state of affairs, for thou¬ 
sands of these flat dwellers depend wholly 
or in part upon food that is cooked for 
them. A woman who expects to have 
supper at six o’clock may not know at 5:30 
what she is going to have. She may go to 
a “delicatessen” store. 
What in the world is that? 
A store where “table delicacies” are 
sold—cooked food or articles all ready to 
eat. Upper New York is full of these little 
stores. The woman I speak of may go to 
one of these stores and buy four ounces 
of sliced boiled ham or tongue, half a 
pound of potato salad, a loaf of bread, four 
ounces of butter or cheese, a small jar of 
fruit preserve, a little bottle of cream 
and a small cake. Her order may be home 
before she is. She arranges the food neat¬ 
ly on the table, starts her gas stove and 
heats her tea and is all ready with "sup¬ 
per” on time. Now there are thousands of 
people who seem to live in this improvi¬ 
dent and easy-going way. Farmers know 
little about it, but it is a great eye-opener 
to me to see how the food we produce is 
handled and changed before the consumer 
gets hold of it. You sell potato salad at 
25 cents a pound and you are getting $15 
a bushel for potatoes! Four ounces of 
sliced boiled ham cost 15 cents—and so it 
goes. These “delicatessen” stores sell 
about everything but baked apples. As a 
member of the Apple Consumer’s League 
I shall do my best to create a demand for 
this “delicacy.” The way some of these 
people live fairly staggers me. I have 
never understood before why the grocery 
stores have become rumshops with a fringe 
of flour, “cereals” and canned goods around 
them. The display of bottled liquors is 
usually the largest and most attractive 
thing about them. I have been considered 
a shining light in the cold-water party, 
but if I had to live on this readymade food 
and drink the water which issues from 
these faucets I should take to drink my¬ 
self to drown my sorrows and forget my 
food! 
But here is the Madame calling us for 
supper. We are to have our usual dish of 
baked beans, bread and butter and baked 
apples. No bakers’ bread, mind you. for 
Nurse Barkman has just baked a batch 
that would make your mouth water. Why, 
these sweet loaves make our little kitchen 
smell like a flower garden! We have no. 
use for the “delicacies” of the shop 
counter. Of course, it wouldn’t hurt my 
feelings to have enough of Julia’s thick 
cream to float a baked apple! Hugh has 
just sent in a big basket from Hope Farm. 
There are apples, potatoes, three dressed 
chickens, a squash, yellow turnips and 
celery, and ,a few cans of Marshall straw¬ 
berries line the pantry shelves. So we 
come as close to a Hope Farm Saturday 
night as we can, in a flat. Grandmother 
is able to be up with us to-night. We can 
shut our eyes and imagine ourselves back 
at the farm. The rain patters on—bur all 
is well. 
Farm Notes.— “The Lord favored us with 
fine weather,” as Hugh expressed it, and 
we got the corn fodder under cover in fine 
shape. It is crisp and green—just at its 
best for feeding. The first run of the 
shredder was made the day before Thanks¬ 
giving. No more long stalks are to be fed 
on Hope Farm. The shredder turns these 
tough old fellows into good feed. This is 
a dull season for all our horses except 
Frank and Dan. We shall winter them 
as economically as possible—shredded fod¬ 
der for roughage, a few ears of corn and 
a little bran or oil meal. We have found 
nothing better than oil meal for stock that 
is eating dry fodder. . . . Before Winter 
sets in we shall have the open drains on 
the lower farm cleaned out. Two fields 
have suffered because the drains are clog¬ 
ged and the water backs up into the soil. 
In former years we have had great trouble 
from washing on the steep hillside. Be¬ 
fore the ground freezes this Winter we 
shall bank up or dig out so as to throw 
the water where it will do the least harm. 
. . . . The trees that were planted on 
Election Day have all been banked up and 
well mulched with manure, in a circle of 
about four feet around each tree. The 
object is to keep the ground open and 
moist as long as possible, and prevent 
heaving in the Spring. The manure was 
kept away from the body of the tree, and 
later we expect to wrap them all with 
tarred paper to keep off the mice. 
Bone Meal for Strawberries.—A 
Maryland man wants to know: 
“Will it pay to use raw bone on straw¬ 
berries this Fall before mulching for the 
coming crop? w. t. g. 
It would hardly pay with us. I would 
use bone meal in August or September. It 
is one of the best fertilizers for straw¬ 
berries, but ought to be used before the 
fruit buds are formed. We are too near 
to freezing up to obtain much good from 
the bone this season. In Maryland I 
should think the plants could grow at 
least a month longer than with us. It will 
do no harm to put the bone on and then 
cover with the mulch. If I did this I 
would ranch before the ground freezes 
hard, so that the ground would be kept 
open as long as possible. That is one rea¬ 
son why I am mulching those apple trees. 
I want them to keep working their toes 
into the ground as long as possible. 
_H. w. c. 
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*16.50. Also Ice tools 
Write for discounts. 
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