11)02 
Hope Farm Notes. 
Strawberry Questions. — I will try my 
hand this week at answering some of the 
many questions that have been fired at us. 
Here we have a long string from a friend 
in New Jersey: 
“I have a lot-of chip dirt, rotten chips 
from the wood pile. Would they be good 
to cover strawberries as a mulch and fer¬ 
tilizer this Winter, or would they be of any 
value around trees or blackberry plants?” 
I would not use the chip dirt for straw¬ 
berries. It will pack down too close around 
the plants, and keep out the air. You do 
not want to smother the plants. We use 
coarse manure or straw. The chip dirt or 
sawdust will be better for mulching the 
blackberries or trees, though we do not use 
anything of this sort without first using 
it for bedding or mixing it with manure. 
We do not conside.r the fertilizing value of 
such stuff worth much consideration. It 
is a good absorbent for use in stables, and 
makes a good mulch around trees. Like 
some other loud smelling and dark col¬ 
ored substances, it fools some farmers 
who judge a fertilizer by the eye and the 
nose! 
In covering strawberries with manure, 
would you cover the paths, too, or only 
the plants? 
We cover only the rows of plants. If 
we had more manure or straw we might 
cover all, and we would be obliged to do 
so if we grew in matted beds. I see no 
reason for covering the ground where no 
plants are growing. 
When, and how would you apply ashes 
to strawberries, and of what value are 
ashes so applied? 
I do not buy wood ashes. What we have 
from our own fires is given to the hogs. 
If I were to use ashes on strawberries I 
would put them on thick when the plants 
are set out. Unless I could buy ashes 
very cheap 1 would not put them on the 
berries, because I think they will do better 
on some other crops—such as tree fruits. 
Acid crops like strawberries and cran¬ 
berries seem to prefer a soil that is some¬ 
what acid. The ashes contain considerable 
lime which is quite sure to sweeten the 
soil, so that the berries do not thrive as 
well as they would have done without the 
lime. There are exceptions to this, of 
course, but as a rule I think ashes are 
not used by most berry growers. 
Yet they are excellent for sour apples! 
That is true, but I think the lime in 
the case of the apples Is chiefly useful in 
providing for the quick and heavy growth 
of wood and leaf on the apple tree. The 
growth of the strawberry fruit is very 
different. 
Would you apply manure around peach 
trees (planted three years ago) now, or 
in Spring? 
If you intend the manure as plant food 
I would wait until Spring. If you want a 
mulch I might use it in the Fall. The 
time to use nitrogen on trees, according 
to my experience, Is either in the Spring 
or in late Summer. Manure is useful 
chiefly for its nitrogen, and I see little 
use in feeding such soluble food in Winter. 
There are some conditions, however, where 
a mulch around the tree makes a useful 
Winter protection. In such cases I would 
use the manure in the Fall. We must re¬ 
member, however, that a mulch invites 
mice, and they will girdle the trees if they 
are not well protected. 
Would you use something more stimu¬ 
lating than manure for peaches that are 
rather slow in their growth? 
Yes, indeed; the stuff to use in such 
cases is nitrate of soda. It is more rapid 
than manure in its effects, and will bring 
these trees into line if they are capable of 
getting there. 
Cow Peas and Hens.— Here is another 
Jerseyman getting at me: 
"I can see the ‘true inwardness’ of your 
advice to put the cow peas on the back 
fields. I did not follow that advice and put 
them in the orchard near the building. 
The hens began to die them up immedi¬ 
ately, so I shut them in until after the 
peas were up, thinking that would meet 
their case, but as soon as I turned them 
out they began to eat the cotyledons and 
young leaves so I had to shut them up 
until the plants had a good start before 
they would leave them alone, and when 
they began to ripen the hens were at it 
again and shelled and ate the peas, so I 
am satisfied they will do for a forage crop 
for hens. If you want to raise them with 
comfort they must be on the back fields 
away from the hens.” f. j. t. 
Pittstown, N. J. 
I have had such big stories of what hens 
will do with cow peas that I have hesi¬ 
tated to print them. Our hens have never 
cared much for them. I want cow peas 
on the back fields because this neglected 
part of the farm will seldom get to the 
front without them. The hen shows her 
usual good sense in chasing after cow peas, 
but I repeat what I have said so many 
times, that for most of us, in the North 
the cow pea is a manurial plant rather 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
851 
than a useful fodder crop. Those back 
fields ought to be the backbone of the 
farm, but instead of living up to their 
oughts they become an eyesore. Plow 
them and give our friend the cow pea a 
fair chance. After it has struggled into 
a fair growth don’t go and cut its head 
off and drag it all out for hay. Pasture 
it or plow it all under and then see that 
back field get its back up and produce 
a crop! 
Farm Notes.— The first heavy snow came 
upon us December 6. Just before it came 
a small-sized blizzard so that the snow 
found frozen ground. It caught nothing 
of ours outside except one hen and part 
of the cabbage field. This hen seemed 
bent on trying to commit suicide. We 
drove her out of the trees again and again 
and shut her up with the others. She 
would crawl through the smallest hole a 
hen ever used for the purpose and go back 
to the frosty side of an apple bough. . . . 
This frosty snow found some of our 
quince and peach trees—root pruned and 
mulched—in full leaf. It was a singular 
thing to notice the thick, leathery leaves 
on these little trees standing up against 
the frost. The trees planted on Election 
Day were mulched with coarse manure. 
We see the benefit of this mulching now. 
Outside of this mulch the ground is frozen 
puite hard, but under it, the soil is still 
open and quite warm. It is likely to re¬ 
main so until after Christmas. That will 
give these trees a valuable Christmas pres¬ 
ent, for the roots will have a chance to 
begin business and_ fix themselves this 
Fall. We did not mulch the trees set 
last Spring, as I felt that they had already 
fixed their roots firmly in the soil. I be¬ 
lieve that a fresh mulch next Spring will 
be better for them.The pump¬ 
kins lasted until early In December, and 
then we began on the sugar beets. They 
are fed to cows and hogs. We have no 
root cutter, but slice them up with a sharp 
spade in a barrel or tub. The hogs may 
be trusted to gnaw them up without slic¬ 
ing. After some delay the first run of the 
shredder was made November 28. The 
fodder is in fine condition this year, but 
we are likely to run short with all our 
hungry mouths to feed. Our stubborn 
friend Julia refuses to put on fat enough 
to make respectable beef. ‘‘No, gentle¬ 
men,” she seems to say, ‘‘I am a butter 
c0 %v—my mother was before me. When 
you try to force me into beef I exercise my 
right and privilege and kick! I won’t be 
dictated to or beefed!” 
I admire the old girl’s pluck at least. I 
think I will try dishorning her to see if 
it will make her a respectable citizen. But 
wouldn’t some of our public men give a 
fortune for her inability to lay on fat— 
and at the same time eat all they can find? 
The ditches on the lower part of the 
farm have been cleaned and put in shape. 
It is remarkable how a few strokes with 
should be kept smeared with vaseline. I 
have found this excellent practice, especial¬ 
ly when working in the dust. You will, be 
astonished to find how much of the dust 
is kept out of the lungs by this simple 
plan. 
Turnips for Stock.— A Jerseyman wants 
to know about turnips: 
‘‘What is the best way to keep turnips 
over Winter? Are turnips a good feed for 
cows? Will they increase the flow of milk 
if fed in large quantities ? What is the best 
way to feed corn fodder—cut or whole?” 
n. w. 
The best way to do a thing depends 
much on what you have to do it with. 
First, we would cut the whole top off the 
turnips, below the crown, so as to prevent 
sprouting. If we had a good cellar we 
would put the turnips in it. As we haven’t 
one, we decided, this year, to pit them. In 
former years we tried to keep them in the 
hoghouse, but they froze in January and 
were badly hurt. This year we scooped 
out a shallow hole with a slope for drain¬ 
age, and put the turnips in it in a high, 
oblong pile. Straw was put over them and 
then about six inches of soil. Holes were 
left for ventilation and we expect the tur¬ 
nips to keep in good condition until March. 
We do not feed them to cows, but find 
them excellent food for hogs. It Is claimed 
that they increase the flow, but unless 
you are careful they will give a bad taste 
to the milk. By feeding them just after 
milking you are less likely to have trouble 
from this. The reason for this has been 
often given. The bad taste in milk is 
caused by gases or volatile oils which are 
formed from the turnips. If the turnips 
are fed just after milking, when no milk 
has been secreted, the bad smells will pass 
out of the cow’s system. If fed while milk 
is in the udder this milk will absorb the 
gas and become offensive. Cornstalks 
should never be fed whole when it is pos¬ 
sible to cut or shred them. h. w. c. 
Caused Abortion.— Several years ago we 
had a great quantity of muskmelons and 
watermelons, citrons and cucumbers, 
which we cut in small pieces and fed to 
three milch cows, and were very much 
pleased with the result. But after about 
two weeks we found that with one of the 
cows an abortion had been produced, and 
it immediately occurred to me that it must 
have been the seeds. My uncle was a 
veterinary surgeon and I asked him if my 
surmise was correct, and he said: “Yes. 
in all probability it was the seeds. It is 
a well-known fact in the study of medi¬ 
cines that any food or medicine that acts 
powerfully on the kidneys also affects, to 
a greater or less extent, the generative 
organs.” Three years ago we raised a 
great quantity of squashes and, after gath¬ 
ering what were good, we turned the cows 
into the field and they ate them, as many 
as they plessed, but with the same result. 
Minong, Wis. m. b. 
For the land’s sake, use Bowker’s Fer¬ 
tilizers. They enrich the earth.— Adv. 
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Farmers’ 
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Cider Machinery.—Send for catalogue to Boomer & 
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pick and spade will often change a water 
course so as to relieve a whole field! With 
a little obstruction the water backs up in 
a ditch, soaking out into the soil and 
making a bog where one ought to be able 
to raise corn. Wo find, too, that by bank¬ 
ing up here and there and digging a little 
on the hillsides we can prevent much of 
the washing that scarred the farm last 
Spring! 
Curing a Cold.—A friend in Ohio comes 
forward with this request: 
“In a back number of The R. N.-Y. you 
told us about a remedy for colds in head 
and throat which was used as a spray or 
vapor. We loaned our papers, and so can¬ 
not look it up. Would you send name and 
where it could be secured, with directions 
as to its use?” J - N - 
You probably refer to “Meditrina,” 
which we used during the siege of whoop¬ 
ing cough. This liquid is sold at most of 
the large drug stores. I understand that 
it is much the same as peroxide of hydro¬ 
gen or oxidized water. We used it as a 
spray in the nostrils and at the back of the 
throat—blowing it out of a small atomizer. 
It gave great relief and stopped tne vio¬ 
lent fits of coughing. The spraying should 
be done while the lungs are full—after a 
deep breath. If done before such a breath 
the patient, and especially a child, is likely 
to breathe in and swallow the spray. 1 have 
not said that this will cure a cold, but it 
will relieve it. Another good treatment 
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High-grade Telephones for farmers’ lines 
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713 State Street, CAUO, MIOU. 
BARNS 
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1297 Hamlet St., Columbus,O 
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Instead of using Metal 
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136 Water St.. New York. 
Send for free 
samples. 
American Buffalo 
ROBES 
are a thing of the past, 
but we have the KAZOO 
ItLKKALO HOBh, a sub. 
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ICE PLOWS 
#16.50. Also ice tools. 
Write for discounts. 
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ICE 
CUTTING is w 1 “ T 
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with W ood’n 
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for colds and catarrh is bicarbonate or 
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In severe cases with sore throat it is help¬ 
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tube and have it blown forcibly tnrough 
the mouth against the upper throat. Need¬ 
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throat as to blow the soda through his 
own mouth! The inside of the nostrils 
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re circulars 
