1899 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
159 
HOPE FARM NOTES. 
Winter Strawberries. —February 7 
was a bad day in our part of the coun¬ 
try. The temperature hung 1 about 15 
degrees, and there was a cutting snow 
storm. On my way home, I passed a 
man offering strawberries for sale. They 
were packed in half-pint baskets, and 
he offered them at 10 cents a basket. 
He stood out on the sidewalk with, per¬ 
haps, 20 baskets on a board. I remem¬ 
bered the little Bud at home, sick with 
the fever, and bought a basket for her. 
Several of them were frozen solid, but 
they thawed out and were really good 
fruit—Clyde and Lady Thompson, I 
should say. They came from southern 
Florida, and had been sorted and re¬ 
packed. For my part, I prefer the 
canned fruit, but they did the Bud more 
good than a dose of medicine. It seems 
like a singular thing to buy strawberries 
in a freezing snowstorm, in February. 
It just shows what a wonderful country 
we live in and what an age we have 
grown into. 
The Cost of Food. —I notice that some 
farmers are able to figure the cost of pro¬ 
ducing a quart of milk or a pound of 
pork right down to a fraction of a cent. 
I can’t do it. Take, for example, our 
stock. We have two work horses and a 
pony, a cow and a calf, 10 pigs, and about 
140 fowls. We buy all our grain, and 
these animals consumed $71.16 worth of 
grain during the 92 days from November 
1 to February 1. The rest of their food 
was all produced on the farm. Most of 
it, like corn stalks, oat hay, small pota¬ 
toes and wormy cabbage, was not sal¬ 
able in our neighborhood at anything 
like its feeding value. How can we figure 
the cost of producing pork, eggs or milk? 
We know that the hens have eaten six 
cents’ worth of purchased food each per 
month. We have no estimate for the 
cabbage they have eaten, because we 
could not have sold it. This means a 
cash outlay of $25.20 for the hens. They 
laid 1,048 eggs, which were worth $28.96. 
We have $3.76 and the hen manure to 
pay for the cabbage, labor, and invested 
capital! Last year, during these three 
months, we lost over $30 on our poultry, 
and still came out ahead on the year. 
Estimating the Cost. —Deducting the 
cost of the hen food, we have $45 96 as 
the cash cost of feeding the 15 animals. 
How can we put a fair value on the 
stalks, cabbage and turnips, which were 
fed with the grain ? We have sold and 
eaten $19.40 worth of pork during the 92 
days, also, about 600 quarts of milk. In 
addition, we have had the labor of the 
horses, and now have the increased value 
of the calf, the pony and the pigs. In 
our country, there is little sale for such 
rough fodder as we use, and not much 
chance for cash labor on the farm during 
Winter. If I were to figure the fodder 
at what it would actually sell for, and 
labor at what it would bring elsewhere 
on the farm, it would bring the cost of 
feeding ridiculously low. I don’t, there¬ 
fore, attempt to give the cost of a quart 
or pound. I think that such figures are 
misleading. They often do great harm. 
Suppose a farmer pays out $250 a year in 
cash for fertilizers, feed, taxes, interest, 
or hired labor. He sells $800 worth of 
produce. He has made the farm and the 
stock pay him $550, Out of that he pays 
for groceries, clothing, and other family 
expenses, and is ahead or behind accord¬ 
ing as they are large or small. As for 
saying that a farmer should charge his 
farm with so much a day for labor, and 
so much a ton for the hay he produces, 
and so on, I think that is a poor and mis¬ 
leading way to figure unless he credit 
the farm for what it would cost to board 
his family or his team at a fair price. 
The Farm Pays. —If some farmers 
would do this and thus really see what 
it would cost to support a family in town, 
I think they would feel more kindly dis¬ 
posed toward the farm. I don’t know 
where the idea started, but it is a fact that 
some farmers, with a good farm paid for 
and a nice family, think they would be 
better off with the selling price of that 
farm invested in some town business, or 
their life work invested in some trade or 
profession. It may be true of some cases, 
but not for most of us if we will figure 
things fairly, and put the cost of keep¬ 
ing the family at what it would cost 
elsewhere. 
Better Weather. —The blizzard fin¬ 
ally tired itself out, and has gone off 
somewhere to rest. We were not sorry 
to see it go. The old house was cold 
enough at times. Some of those zero 
mornings it was just like going on an 
Arctic expedition to get out of bed, and 
shake down the stove! The frost and 
the fever sort of staggered us for a little 
while—I won’t deny that—but we held 
the fort, and found things better than we 
expected. The Madame is nursing the 
Bud herself. I expect they will get 
pretty well acquainted in the sick room. 
The Madame finds a good deal of com¬ 
fort and backing in a certain black 
book that is always on deck in our fam¬ 
ily. The Bud has a very light attack of 
the fever. I think she is a little disap¬ 
pointed at not being more of an invalid. 
It’s funny when she asks some one to 
rub her back ! You may rub her from 
head to foot, and in every corner of her 
little body, yet she will say : 
“ That ain't the right place ! ” 
We haven’t been able to find the 
“ right place ” yet, for I suppose a new 
place begins to itch before we are 
through with the old one. h. w. c. 
A water insect is now exported by the ton 
from Mexico to England, as food for birds, poul¬ 
try and fish. It requires over 250,000,000 of these 
insects to make a ton. 
The Indiana Horticultural Society is trying to 
secure a tract of 20 to 40 acres of suitable land, 
to be used as an experiment orchard. This is 
especially designed for the testing of new ap¬ 
ples, etc., and seems a very valuable new de¬ 
parture. 
A note by a correspondent of the Minnesota 
Horticulturist states that experiments in graft¬ 
ing plums on the Sand cherry show the latter to 
be a poor stock. The scions tested were Wyant, 
Rockford, Wolf and De Soto. When they fruited, 
the product was all Inferior in size and quality, 
A Massachusetts Land Lover. —For several 
years, I have read The R. N.-Y. with much inter¬ 
est and benefit. A teacher for over 55 years, 50 
years in this village, I frequently drive 11 miles 
to our homestead in Medfleld where, at present, 
are living our people of the seventh, eighth and 
ninth generations, upon the spot where our Allen 
ancestors settled 250 years ago, purchasing land 
of the Indians, and paying for the same. You 
will see that we are not “ expansionists” of the 
jingo class. a. 
A writer in Harper’s Weekly gives what seems 
like a fair statement of the chances for sugar 
culture in Porto Rico. Less sugar is produced 
there now than in 1837, most of the cultivated 
sugar land is in poor condition, and the mills are 
small and old-fashioned. Labor is very cheap, 
and back on the Island are tracts of new land 
that are well suited to sugar culture. By build¬ 
ing electric roads, with power taken from the 
many swift streams, and importing improved 
machinery, Porto Rico seems to be able to raise 
cane profitably, and incidentally to raise Cain 
with the beet-sugar industry in northern States. 
BUY "DiSIS©T FROM SP A©TO R Y,” B«SY 
MIXED PAINTS 
At WHOLESALE PRICKS, Delivered FREE 
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0. W. INOERSOLL, 246 Plymouth St., Brooklyn, ri. V, 
Write at once for our Free Illustrated 
Catalogues for anything required for the 
Home, Farm or Factory-- ^ 
Chicago House Wreckihg Co., 
West 35th & Iron Sts., CHICAGO. ' 
fffco largest mail order depot in the world for Merchandise bonght 
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Our New Fence Ratchet 
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W. H. MASON & CO., Box G7, Leesburg, Ohio. 
YOU C AN USE 
Coiled Spring, Cable, Barbed 
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And Build the BEST Wire Fence at 
16 to 24 Cents per Rod. 
Agents Wanted. Write for Catalog 
BOWEN CABLE STAY FENCE CO. 
Box 1 Norwalk, 0., U S. A 
You want the BEST and SIMPLEST 
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SIOpC^ $15 LAWN FENCING" 
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Box Y, RICHMOND, IND. 
STRONGEST FENCE MADE. 
BULL-STRONG AND CHICKEN-TIGHT. 
Our prices will surprise you for we sell direct to tli« 
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COILED SPRINC FENCE CO., 
Box 24. Winchester, Indiana, U. S. A. 
cart 
The barbed wire 
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Pig-Tight 
With our Duplex Automatic 
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Makes a good hog fence at 12 o, 
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at 19c. per rod. Every foot of 
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buying. Address, 
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Box 106, Rldgevlilc, lad. 
Bull-Strong 
A MINIE-BALL 
won’t “sweep an avenue,” but its screech will call 
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PAGE WOVEN WIBK FENCE CO., ADRIAN, MICH. 
Like a Bull. Dog. 
That’s the way this lock and 
fence stay grips the wire and 
hangs on. It’s “« fence stay 
that will stay.” No twist, 
lag, straining or breaking 
,of wires; no shaking loose or 
rslipping. .Makes the most 
’ rigid, strongest, most dur¬ 
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| out of wire. Any kind o wire may bo 
used. It can be built with a hammer. 
It’s just as'easy as nailing pickets. The cheapest 
COOD wire fence made. 
i .Mr iniiiT A PCUTC Responsible and reliable 
HE WAN! AuEN I v< men only. Exclusive ter¬ 
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CHAND1.EE FENCE CO., II S. Howard St., Baltimore, Md- 
No. 7 
Hard 
Steel 
Lamb Wlro Fence Go., 
Actual.... 
Experience 
clearly demonstrates 
that a light, soft up¬ 
right in a wire fence 
IS A FAILURE. 
Better look them over 
carefully and 
Buy onethat will 
not disappoint 
you...... 
Adrian, Mich . 
? 7.~7 "2 L 
- pit m 
.1 ~z: t l 
] ] / / ] • ) \ " C 4 -i ] ■ 4—f T 
7 7—7—7—7—7—7—7—7—7—7—7—7—7 
~r \ rr 
-f — f■■ r - 7 7 7 7 7 ■ 7 'l T 
:z~7 ' " 7 7~~T7 7 7 V \ 
Machine $6 
that weaves the above 
fence and many other 
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McFarland Fence Machine Co., Portland, Ind., ll.S.A. 
THE MIDDLEMAN’S MONEY 
makes the fence no better. Then why pay him a lot 
of extra money? Why not save that amount by buy- 
; ing from us at wholesale prices? We do not impair 
the quality to make our fence cheap. In fact, we de¬ 
pend upon the quality to hold your trade. Wo could 
not sell the 
Advance Fence 
as cheaply as we do if we had to sell it through the 
dealer. When you buy from us you only pay one 
proiit, when you buy from the dealer you pay two profits. Send postal card for circulars and prices. 
THE ADVANCE FENCE CO.,5303 OLD ST., PEORIA, ILL . 
ROUND OR FLAT FINGERS. Which am Rest? 
One of the new plants introduced last year was 
an Acalyplia from the Philippine Islands, which 
has a long, feathery spike of bloom looking like 
a striDg of bright erimsom chenille. It was ex. 
hibited last Fall as the Chenille plant, and is 
certainly a very odd and striking thing. It blooms 
freely, appears to be of easy culture, and is likely 
to be very popular. In spite of all these virtues 
we were a little surprised to see it advertised by 
a mail-order florist as “the Philippine Medusa ” 
—“Dewey’s favorite flower.” Medusa, as may 
be remembered, was a classical heroine whose 
back hair was composed of serpents, and the 
snaky flower spikes of the Acalypha may suggest 
this resemblance; but as far as Dewey’s associa¬ 
tion with it is concerned, we think that doughty 
Admiral would willingly “ swap ” all the Acaly- 
phas that ever grew for a bunch of Vermont May¬ 
flower. Why is it necessary to use such claptrap 
advertising for a worthy plant ? 
NO GOOD JUDGE decides a case until BOTH sides have 
been heard. Neither should YOU. Read and BELIEVE all that 
oilier manufacturers say of the value of a GOOD weeder in the 
field, but before buying ANY weeder see. what WE have to say 
BREED ’S new “VICTOR” WEEDER 
with ROUND FINGERS, 
then decide in favor of the one you think is best AND BUY IT. 
Twelve years of PERFECT success with ROUND FINGERS 
enables us to 
GUARANTEE that our “Victor” Weeder will do BETTER 
work in ALL crops and EVERY spot and place than any other' 
shape or make, and that they will do GOOD work where others 
will not work at all. When one does not do so it may be returned 
and we will refund the entire cost to you. 
tfif-Agents wanted everywhere. First Weeder in a town a 
special price, and you have the agency if you want it. Writ/ 
TO-DAY for OU." circulars. THEY MAY SAVE YOU DOLLARS 
THE Z. BREED WEEDER CO., 
261 Merchants Row, Boston, Mass, 
>CH>0<>-0<K><>-<>0<KK>-0-CK><><><>0<><><>-CK><X><>0-<>0-0-CK><><>CK>s^^ 
Hoe Four Rows at Once. 
That’s the way farmers make money with “Planet Jr.” tools. The new Four- 
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wife. The Two-row Pivot-wheel Cultivator is even more remarkable for its range 
of work. The Hand-drills and Wheel-hoes have revolutionized gardening. 
The new “ Planet Jr.” catalogue this year shows pictures of these money-making tools at work all over the world—in French 
vineyards, in California orange groves, in Jersey truck patches, in Manitoba gardens. It's the most interesting and inspiring im¬ 
plement catalogue ever published—and it's FREE. Write us for a copy. 
$500 in Gold Write for particulars. 
S. L. ALLEN & CO., Box 1107 V, Philadelphia. 
$500 in Gold—$500 in Gold-$500 in Gold-$500 in Gold-$500 in Gold-$500 in Gold-$500 in Gold-$500 in Gold 
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