1899 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
139 
HOPE FARM NOTES. 
A Blizzard, —On February 7, the clerk 
of the weather began to open his valves 
and let in the cold The mercury hov¬ 
ered around zero—mostly below—until 
Saturday night, when a whirling snow 
storm set in. The biting wind put its 
teeth in through cracks in our old house, 
that we never dreamed were there. 
After several days of this fierce cold, 
the walls of these old stone houses are 
packed full of frost, and they chill the 
rooms as wooden walls never do. Sun¬ 
day was the sort of day one would select 
for reading Snow Bound. We were able 
to appreciate it as never before. Whew ! 
But it was cold. At one time, we bad 
two coal fm s, one big wood stove, one 
kerosene stove and three lamps all going 
at once. The Bud was sick with the 
scarlet fever, and the two Scions were 
just recovering from it, so we had to 
warm both upstairs and down. We had 
a battle with the wind and no mistake. 
One of the humors of the siege was my 
adventure with the small oil stove. I 
brought it home on one of the coldest 
nights and frosted the tips of my fingers 
while carrying it. The children called 
it a great joke that I should freeze my 
fingers wjiile holding them on a stove 1 
Worse Yet. —We went to bed Sunday 
night thinking the worst was over, but 
on Monday morning, we looked out upon 
a desperate sight. The air was just a 
mass of flying snow. The drifts were 
piled up to the windows. The wind had 
increased in violence. Wherever there 
was a fence along the road, great drifts 
were thrown. The worst of it was that 
the coal bin was nearly empty. Had 
there been no sickness in the house, we 
could have made out well with wood, 
but coal was necessary for the room 
where the little Bud was kept. 
“Well now”, said the Madame, “ first 
of all let’s get a good warm breakfast, 
and be thankful for food and shelter 1 ” 
We all said Amen to that. It was car¬ 
ried unanimously, and so was the break¬ 
fast of oatmeal and cream, fried pota¬ 
toes and bacon, scrambled eggs, coffee 
and buckwheat cakes—maple syrup. The 
Bud had her breakfast in bed, and felt 
quite proud to be considered an invalid. 
The Barn Stock. —In the meantime, 
the boys had started a fire under the 
cooker. The boiled turnips and cab¬ 
bage in it were still warm from the last 
firing. Before our breakfast was ready, 
the big pot was boiling. We take a 
bucket about three-quarters full of this 
hot vegetable soup, and fill it up with 
wheat bran. This makes a thick mush, 
and will pour readily into the pigs’ 
trough. The eight pigs were burrowed 
into the bedding so that one could hardly 
see them; but at the first sniff at that 
warm soup, the whole mass of bedding 
seemed to jump up in the air. We notice 
quite a difference in these pigs during 
the cold weather. Several of them show 
evidence of long-nosed “rail-splitter” 
blood mixed with the Berkshire. This 
scrub blood seems to have more fuel in 
it—at least these spotted and ill-shaped 
pigs make most gain in the face of Jack 
Frost. I notice a difference, too, in the 
horses. Frank is a big, fat, corn-fed 
western horse ; Major is a thin, wiry old 
fellow. You can't keep his ribs out of 
sight through his skin. Frank is fat, 
and he has the warmest place, yet he 
shivers and must be kept blanketed. Put 
a blanket on Major, and he will tear and 
kick it off. He never seems to be cold. 
One would suppose that the younger and 
fatter horse would be naturally warmer; 
it is not true in this case, though it 
usually is with humans. Our happiest 
barn boarder during the blizzard was 
the Shetland pony, Peter ; his thick over¬ 
coat just suited zero weather. 
Hard on the Hens. —The henhouses 
were nearly buried in snow at one time, 
and the snow blew inside of one house. 
You get the “ colony” plan at its worst 
when you have to wade through the 
blizzard from one house to another. At 
such a time, the single-house man has 
his innings, and gets many runs ahead. 
We gave the hens a hot breakfast—that 
is, it was piping hot when it left the 
cooker. Our hens kept at it right 
through the blizzard. They gave us 368 
eggs in the first 13 days of February. 
The P. Rocks proved the best blizzard 
layers, with the Minorcas next. In the 
same house with the Blacks, and with 
the same treatment, the White Leg¬ 
horns surrendered to Jack Frost, and 
nearly quit laying. Our first hatch with 
the incubator, like the weather, went 
down to zero. The first eggs began to 
pip during the cold snap. In closing the 
incubator door, by some accident, the 
lamp was put out. This was not dis¬ 
covered for nearly an hour, and in the 
meantime the eggs and chicks had been 
chilled beyond recovery. That’s our 
fault, mind you—it wasn’t the fault of 
the incubator, or the rooster, or the 
hens. 
A Coal Famine. —About 11 o’clock, 
the storm let up a little, and one of the 
first signs of disaster was a horse down 
in the drifts on the road in front of our 
house. A milkman was trying to get 
through from town, and his horse had 
given out. We saw the horse get on his 
feet finally and struggle back to town, 
with hanging head, the man walking 
behind to push the sled through the 
drifts. About 11, we hitched old Frank 
to the sleigh and started after a little 
coal. I have always been a no-fence 
man, and that ride has made me down 
on a roadside, fence for the rest of my 
life. At every fence corner, great 
mountains of snow had gathered, while, 
where the fences were down, the wind 
had blown clean across the road, leav¬ 
ing it clean and open. We had to drive 
through the fields in order to get around 
the drifts. At the coal yard, there was 
nothing on hand but a small pile of fine 
nut coal. It required some eloquence to 
get even 500 pounds of that. It had to 
be broken up with a pickax, and prob¬ 
ably 20 per cent of the weight was water. 
There was a shortage of coal all through 
the smaller towns at the East. When 
the zero weather came down upon us, 
thousands of cars of coal were on their 
way from the mines, and many of them 
were held at the larger towns and cities, 
and used to supply the local trade. The 
smaller places outside suffered greatly 
in consequence. 
Laying In Supplies. —There was no 
let up of the storm in sight. It got 
worse, and we began to figure up our 
stores of fuel, light and food. We al¬ 
ways carry at least 10 days’ supply of 
food ahead, and at this. time we had 
meat, eggs, vegetables, fruit and flour 
enough in sight to last a month. Coal 
was low, but we had plenty of oil. It 
was hard, though, when the Bud’s fever 
began to rise, and the doctor could not 
get out to the farm, and the “ fever 
medicine ” was all gone ! 
We think sometimes it is a great ad¬ 
vantage to live close to town where it is 
so easy to get hold of things. The trouble 
is we get so dependent on middlemen 
and others that we do not carry large 
supplies of anything, in fact we do not 
make conveniences for doing so. The 
result is that when old Bill Blizzard 
comes down upon us, he catches us off 
our guard, and what a blow he does get 
in ! These blizzards sta/rt in Dakota, and 
the farmers out there are always ready 
for them. They end up in New Jersey, 
and the end has a sting to it like a lance. 
You will see the blizzard caught us 
off our base. I’ll admit that I thought 
Winter was about over, and we were 
getting ready to make a hotbed. Just 
now, we have no heat to spare from any 
of the beds indoors ! The blizzard pitch¬ 
ed us some lively balls, but we managed 
to bat them all out of the house. The 
wind was howling a song it must have 
learned on the Rocky Mountains as it 
shook our windows on Monday night. 
We were eating our supper, and the 
Madame said, as she passed the muffins : 
“ Who was it wrote that poem contain¬ 
ing : 
Thank God for home this bitter, bitter night! 
I couldn’t think of the name, but I tell 
you right now that he voiced the senti¬ 
ments of the Hope Farm folks. H. w. c. 
BUY "DIRECT FROM FAOTORY," BEST 
MIXED PAINTS 
At WHOLESALE PRICES, Delivered FREE 
For nooses, Barns, Boots, all colors, and SAVE Dealers 
profits. In nse 54 years. Endorsed by Qraaie & Farmers’ 
Alliance. Low arlces will surprise yon. Write for Samples. 
0. W. 1N0EBS0LL, 346 Plymouth St., Brooklyn, N. Y. 
•.. k ti 
Write at once for our Free Illustrated 
Catalogues for anything required for the 
Home, Farm or Factory-^ 
Chicago House Wrecking Co., 
West 35th & Iron Sts., CHICAGO. * 
The largest mall order depot In the world for merchandise bought 
at Sheriffs’, Kecelrers’, Assignees’ and Manufacturers’ Sales. 
MICA 
AXLE 
CREASE 
The best slippery 
stuff for saving 
wear and tear on wagons and carriages. It saves 
horseflesh Tour dealer sells It. Get coma. 
FRAZER ™ 
BEST IN THE WORLD. 
Its wearing qualities are unsurpassed, actually 
outlasting three boies of any other brand. Not 
affected by heat. 0 GET THE GENUINE. 
FOR SALE BY DEALERS GENERALLY. 
LANE’S*§TEEL JACK. 
All steel. Unbreakable. Compound 
levers. Quickly adjusted any 
height Best and easiest oper¬ 
ated Jack on market Thousands 
In use. If your local dealer don’t 
keep them, will send sample at 
regular price prepaid. 
LANE BROTHERS CO.. 
2 Second Street, poughkeepsie. a ».7 
WHY BUY! 
An Old-Style II AY Car- 
kiek, when you can get 
LATEST IMPROVED 
LOUDEN, worth more 
than twice as much. 
The Strongest Lasts 
Longest. Takes Least 
Room, and Works Best. 
GOLD MEDAL at Oma¬ 
ha. Write for “Pointers” 
shoving superior Merit; also circulars of Best Barn 
Door Hanger on Earth, “How to Buii.d Hay 
Barns,” &c. Louden Machinery Co., Fairflold, la. 
that weaves the above 
fence and many other 
styles. Write for cat. 
Co., Portland, lnd., U.S.A 
Machine $6 
McFarland Fence Machine 
[ADAM 
THE FENCE MAN! 
Makes Woven Wire 
Fence that “Stands 
Up,” Cannot Sag. 
\ Get hlsnewcatalogue. It 
tells all about The Best' 
& Farm Fence Made. ._ 
| y W . J. ADAM, Jol 
THERE ARE OTHERS 
But the 
LAMB 
Is the. 
ONLY 
Lamb 
factory made fence 
on the market with a 
heavy, continuous up¬ 
right wire. It will 
pay you to investi¬ 
gate Its merits. 
Fence Co., Adrian, Mich. 
Smokeless Powder 
is used to escape notice. For years wo’ve loaded 
with black powder. You’vo noticed tho smoke, 
why not promptly return our fire with a letter. 
PAM? WOVEN WIRE FENCE CO., ADRIAN, Ml< II, 
A Good Fence, 
a *trong fence, a cheap fence, 
an every purpose fence and one 
which you can build yourself is 
Chandlee Fence. 
secret is in the lock which 
the stays in such an 
easy and simple way that they 
must stay. Makes the most rigid, 
Htronge.t, nnd most durable lence 
that can bo made of wire. No expensive 
machinery required to build it. You make it any 
height and with any number of stays you wish, r 
\l/c li/ A M T A PC AIT 0 Responsible and reliable 
WE W ft PI I fulfill I Oi men only. Exclusive ter- 
rltory to the right men. Write to-day for terms, etc. 
CHANDLEE FENCE CO., 11 S. Howard St„ Baltimore, Md. 
No. 7 
Hurd 
Steel 
l¥ OBXCMVUL 
CRlKocK mo 
IMRQ Sim. Wire: ftset 
The key to success is found between the 
wires; this permits the use of our double¬ 
strength Coiled Spring Wire, which, like the 
lock, never loses its grip on the fence, on the 
trade or on the consumer. Replies to adv. of 
tin's date will get special discount. 
the hard steel wire PENCE CO., 
Cleveland, Ohio. 
Our New Fence Ratchet ^ y ht x 
fence. Grips automatically as wire 
is wound. No holes to bore in posts. 
Attaches at any point between end 
posts. Sample and oircular free. 
MASON & CO., Box 67, LEESBURG, OHIO. 
A MACHINE 
to weave your own fenceof 
Colled Hurd Steel 
Hprliijj Wire. 
f>2 inches high, at 
25 Cts. per Rod. 
820 buys wire for 100 
rod fence. Agents 
Wanted Catalogue Free. 
CARTER 
Wire i’eiireHaeli.Co. 
Box 23 Mt.Nterli ng,©. 
Make Yourself Glad 
By buying the Front Fence. Made from 
coiled spring wire, heavy hard spring stays, 
firmly united at crossings by the Front 
Wedge Lock. It will protect your property 
while you sleep. Adopted by the leading rail- 
road companies. Write for oar Illustrated catalogue. 
THE FROST WIRE FENCE CO., CLEVELAND, OHIO. 
M. M. S. POULTRY FENCING 
is thoroughly interwoven but has long horizontal wires, 
which classes it as 
A FENCE, NOT A NETTING. 
Like a fence, it can be properly stretched and erected with 
few posts and without top and bottom rails. Has cable selv¬ 
age and a cable running through the fence every foot. 
Each roll contains the famous M. M. S. trade mark. 
None other genuine. 
We are manufacturers also of the following famous fences: 
CABLED FIELD AND HOG FENCE 
with or without lower cable barbed. All horizontal 
lines are cables. 
STEEL WEB PICKET FENCE SVSS 
parks, cemeteries, etc. Steel gates, posts, etc. Everything 
the best of its kind. 
DE KALB FENCE CO., 315 High St.. DE KALB. ILL 
Hr\ A A a a a /r 
n a r\ a/ ^ rAVvrr 
A A A AYVT T 
I 
Pat. July 21 , 1806 . Pat. J uly «, 1897 . 
DON'T BE 
A ROBBERJ 
Husband the fertility of your farm 
and every time you pltmt seed 
you will yet a paying crop. 
Strange how a man will take crop after crop off the farm, putting nothing back, and then expect 
to be prosperous. If you handled the manure you have on the farm properly, results 
would be different and you should not need to be be buying commercial fertilizer. 
The KEMP MANURE SPREADER 
Will Double and Treble the Value of the Manure Heap. 
It spreads all kinds of fine and coarse manure evenly; makes no “skips;” does not dump a great 
load in one spot, but covers the entire ground evenly. Tears up coarse and lumpy manure and 
makes it fine. Better than anybody can do it by hand. Spreads lime, wood ashes, salt, etc., equally 
well. With the drill attachment it puts the manure direct into the open drill. Made in three con¬ 
venient sizes. Ask the opinion of anybody that uses one. Write for illustrated catalogue. 
Kemp & Burpee Mfg. Co*, Box. 38, Syracuse, Nr Y, 
