1899 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
4o7 
A BOY’S OPINION —Life. Fig. 161. 
On the Wing. 
Farm Run by Daughter Power. 
Fruits and Vegetables for the Home Mar¬ 
ket.—The Birthplace of the New 
York Strawberry. 
[editorial correspondence.] 
Pabt III. 
Women’s Work. —Other women, who 
are looking for some business of their 
own, will, doubtless, ask, “ How much 
of the berry farmer’s work can we do 
ourselves ? Are we to do much outside 
work, or are we merely to superintend 
others while they work?” Yes, they 
must expect to do a certain amount of 
outside work, yet no more than many 
farmers’ wives are now doing, without 
the pleasure and profit of an independent 
business. Miss Yates was first a success¬ 
ful school-teacher ; then, desiring to ex¬ 
tend her experience, she became a stenog¬ 
rapher, but the nervous strain and close 
confinement of office work affected her 
health seriously, and compelled her to 
seek an occupation out-of-doors. I asked 
her whether she found much work to do 
outside. 
‘ Indeed, I do work, and though I do 
not plow, cultivate or hoe corn, I find 
plenty to do. As soon as the Spring 
work opens, I am up at five every morn¬ 
ing, and enter the house only to eat and 
sleep.” 
Educating the Summer Boarder.— 
Peas are in excellent demand in the 
home market, and are planted at inter¬ 
vals until July 1, to give a succession. 
This vegetable, perhaps more than any 
other, deteriorates in quality when btale, 
but many city dwellers have no idea of 
the delicious flavor of freshly-gathered 
pods, consequently one hears persons 
declare that they “ don’t care much for 
peas”, when in reality they have never 
tasted the vegetable in perfection. I 
suggested to Miss Yates that there is 
one disadvantage connected with feeding 
the Summer visitors on those freshly- 
gathered peas ; when they return to the 
city, they will scornfully reject the 
products retailed by the marketman, 
and be compelled to subsist on peas 
gathered from the canuing factory. 
Field Experiments. — il You are, evi¬ 
dently, interested in experimenting,” I 
said, as Miss Yates told me of a case 
where she had carried out her own ideas 
successfully, in spite of the misgivings 
of a friend who didn’t believe in the 
women folks as farmers. 
“Yes, I worked out some field experi¬ 
ments with corn last year, for the Cor¬ 
nell Experiment Station, and this year, 
I am to make fertilizer tests on seven 
potato plots, each containing one-tenth 
acre. I shall, also, have one plot with 
stable manure only, one without aDy 
feitilizer, and one with Crimson clover 
plowed under. I am trying the Crimson 
clover on my own account; it is not to be 
plowed until the clover is in bloom. 
“ How has the Crimson clover stood 
the Winter ?” 
“Finely ; it is strange to me that so 
few farmers here usa it. I shall let one 
small piece (sown in pop corn at last 
cultivation) go to seed, as an advertise¬ 
ment of the place and soil.” 
Improvements and By-Products.— 
At the time of my visit, a broad-shoul¬ 
dered young man in a picturesque ma¬ 
roon sweater was whistling joyously as 
he made the wet earth fly from a new 
ditch, and Miss Yates had in view a 
thorough draining of alow place beyond 
the berry field. Later developments 
showed that this draining would open 
for cultivation a plot of rich black muck 
which, as Miss Yates observed, would be 
a perfect bonanza if properly used. I 
asked whether she grew celery. 
“Yes, we have had it for Fall and 
Winter use, and now intend to make it 
a Summer crop, too. There is a demand 
for Summer celery, from the hotels.” 
“You mentioned pop corn; I was 
under the impression that it was not 
very remunerative; at least, so some of 
the city commission men say.” 
“Perhaps it would not pay to send to 
the city. I don’t raise a great quantity, 
but can easily sell all I have to dispose 
of. The variety I grow was given to 
me originally by one of the experiment 
stations ; it is a miniature variety, dwarf 
and very productive, producing neat 
little ears with round yellow kernels.” 
Canada Peas. —“We are hearing a 
good deal about Canada peas ; have you 
tried them ? ” 
“Thisyearl purpose one experiment 
with them—to sow them between black¬ 
berries. My two acres of blackberries 
are planted in rows eight feet apart; 
what does The B. N.-Y. think of sowing 
the Canada peas between them ? ” 
The R. N.-Y. was inclined to believe 
that the peas would be detrimental used 
in this way, unless the season prove very 
wet. In a dry season, one would expect 
the blackberries to suffer from the prox¬ 
imity of these greedy neighbors. How¬ 
ever, the end of the season will tell us 
more about this; it is always safer to 
prophesy after the event. 
Intensive Farming. —In Mr. Powell’s 
article on The Troubles of the Farm in 
last week’s R. N.-Y., he lays special 
stress upon the fact that an eastern 
farmer, to make a living under present 
conditions, must recognize the causes of 
these conditions, and adopt an intensive 
system, distinct from the large methods 
used where culture is spread over great 
tracts of virgin soil. This is exactly 
what Miss Yates is doing. Were she to 
attempt a large farm growing mixed 
crops and, perhaps, keeping a small 
dairy, too, we should have a very differ¬ 
ent story to tell. That horseless, cow¬ 
less 10 acres give the concentrated essence 
of farming. The careful supervision 
which prevents leaks is another point to 
be borne in mind. 
Perhaps some of The R. N.-Y. sisters 
have been constructing a mental picture 
of Miss Yates, and privately wondering 
whether it really resembles the heroine 
of this interview. Well, it isn’t quite 
fair to publish even a pen picture with¬ 
out first warning the subject; but if any 
one pictures her as a broad-shouldered, 
strapping Amazon, capable of any 
amount of muscular effort, I wish to 
state that the picture is, as the boys 
say, “ ’way off.” She is slight in figure, 
stands perhaps five feet four inches in 
her stoutest shoes, and looks out upon 
this wprld with a pair , of bright hazel- 
gray eyes that well express the active 
bra’n behind them. She has a good many 
interests besides those of the farm, which 
she enjoys during the resting season, 
but naturally, while things are growing, 
she finds constant occupation among 
outside things. Like every one with a 
real interest in life, she finds no monot¬ 
ony in the country. k. t. r 
-A woman at middle age retains noth¬ 
ing of the pettiness of youth; she is a 
friend who gives you all the feminine 
delicacies, who displays all the graces, 
all the prepossessions which Nature has 
given to woman to please man, but who 
no longer sells these qualities. She is 
hateful or lovable according to her pre¬ 
tensions of youth, whether they exist 
under the epidermis or whether they are 
dead.—Balzac. 
The Aftermath. 
.’...I like to go into an old house, wan¬ 
der through its halls and chambers and 
remind myself of the customs and habits 
of a generation that has slipped into the 
past. Such a house is quaint in its 
architecture and its decorations. 
....“Socialists brand riches as theft. 
The most upright farmer, who has 
worked honestly for his little farm, is 
the same as the footpad. ‘ No saint can 
own a farm,’ cries one with a morbidly 
sensitive social conscience, but in the 
next breath he contends that a com¬ 
munity of sinners can.” 
....“ Of all the unclean birds that prey 
upon the ignorant, discontented, covet¬ 
ous elements of society,” contends 
Professor Quackenbos, of Columbia Uni¬ 
versity, “the human vultures known as 
communists, socialists, Christian social¬ 
ists and nationalists or collectivists are 
at once the most detestable and the 
most to be feared.” 
.... He only is great of heart who floods 
the world with a great affection. He 
only is great of mind who stirs the world 
with great thoughts. He only is great 
of will who does something to shape the 
world to a great career, and he is the 
greatest who does the most of all these 
things and does them best.—Roswell D. 
Hitchcock. 
....I used to dread to grow old, but 
now I prize age more highly than any 
other season of the year. There may be 
lines in the face, but they are like the 
furrows in a plowed field. They tell 
where the harrow has been and where 
the crops have flourished. The physical 
vigor subsides, but the man himself is 
stronger than ever, handicapped, like 
a chained athlete, but still strong ard 
hopeful, and even youthful. 
....I reverence old age; I mean the 
right sort of old age. If one can grow old 
gracefully, can ripen like an apple which 
is ruddy with sunshine and dew, and at 
last drops into the basket of the fruit 
gatherer, then I think the sunset of life 
is more beautiful than its sunrise. Of 
course, there is a peculiar delight in 
youth, with its many tasks in front of 
it, but mellow and sweet-tempered age, 
its stint all done, ready to go when the 
summons comes, has a charm of its own, 
a richness as of the autumn forests, a 
sanctity like that of a cathedral, and 
the dignity of a lofty pine which totters 
in the gale. 
... .But one may be soured by old age, 
and that is a great misfortune. To fret 
because we cannot do what was so easily 
done in days gone by,to chafe because 
our will is no longer the law of the 
household, to rebel because the new 
generation has a way of its own, new 
customs and habits, to which we are 
strangers, and constantly to find fault 
because we must sit in the background 
while our children, grown to men and 
women, occupy the foreground—to do 
these things is to err sadly, to make the 
last days of our journey more difficult 
than they need be, and to overtax the 
love- that does so much and makes so 
many sacrifices for our contentment and 
happiness. It is a duty to grow old with 
as much sweetness as can be gathered 
from the fact that Heaven is close at 
hand. After a certain age, this world 
has practically done with us, for others 
have taken our places. 
There is now a large number of wo¬ 
men pastors in the United States; one 
of the pioneers in this work was Mrs. 
Claisy Miller, of Cumberland County, 
Ky., who died more than a quarter of a 
century ago, aged 90. Cumberland County 
is a rich agricultural region, but the 
Cumberland River is the only means of 
transportation to outside markets, and 
MOTHERS.—Be sure to use “Mrs.Wins- 
low’s Soothing Syrup ” for your children 
while Teething. It is the-Best.— Adv. 
much of the district is still a primeval 
solitude. Mrs. Miller was a Methodist, 
joining that Church when a young 
woman. When she felt called to preach, 
she was refused a license, so became an 
independent evangelist. She was natur¬ 
ally a fervent orator, and became a great 
revivalist. Her familiarity with Scrip¬ 
ture was amazing, and it was said that 
she could repeat every word of the New 
Testament, and much of the Old. She 
wore homespun, with an enormous sun- 
bonnet, and when not engaged in preach¬ 
ing or praying, was always knitting. 
Granny Miller, as she was called, be¬ 
came known throughout Kentucky, and 
her zeal and wisdom, together with her 
ardent piety, gave her a powerful in¬ 
fluence. 
in : 
j Lease of Life I 
4 is enjoyed by those who change 4 
♦ from an impoverished diet of ordi- ♦ 
i nary flour to one of life-giving, 
tissue-building qualities. Nature 
places in the wheat berry these 
healthful elements in abundance and 
wisdom requires that we use them 4 
♦ all and do not sacrifice the best of ♦ 
^ them on account of color. In our J 
4 foolish prejudice for white bread we 
♦ do this very thing, and man in mill- 
^ ing into white flour removes them 
4 nearly all, leaving little but starch 
FruUfflHFliiw 
A FINE FLOUR 0FT11E ENTIRE WHEAT 
^retains all the mineral elements of^ 
4 the wheat, phosphatic and nitrogen- * 
ous, and is, therefore, rich in nour¬ 
ishment for the whole body. 
| 
4 If your grocer does not have it, send us his 
4 name and your order—we will see that you are 
4 supplied. Send postal for Booklet—FRF.K. w 
J MADE ONLY BY ^ 
♦ FRANKLIN MILLS CO., L0CKP0RT, N. Y. $ 
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B. & B. 
pretty, inexpensive wash goods 
nothing to equal the assortments here— 
extent and prettiness—ever known. 
Variety almost to excess—but strictly 
within the limits of choice style. 
Goods that every one who sends for 
samples will be pleased with—and im¬ 
pressed with the earnestness of this 
store’s way of winning increased busi¬ 
ness. 
Choice goods at the lowest prices such 
kinds are sold for anywhere. 
10,000 yards best 10 cent quality 
American Dress Ginghams, G]^c. 
Fine 15-cent Madras Percales 12 %c. 
— double width — splendid for shirt 
waists. Fine Madras 20c. to 35c.—great¬ 
est variety. 
Several thousand yards choice Organ¬ 
die Batiste lOc. yd.—white grounds— 
neat medium floral designs in dainty 
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Beautiful Organdies, 12%c., 15c., 20c. 
—artistic printings. Fine French Or¬ 
gandies 25 to 35c. , 
Superb imported Dimities 20c., 25c. 
American Dimities, 63i, 8, 10, 12%c. 
Fine dainty Dress Cottons—handsome 
effects, 20c. to 75c. 
Give us an idea of your preference 
when writing for samples—it’s easier 
then to send, out of so many thousand 
styles, plenty of the exact sort you’re 
interested in. 
BOGGS & BUHL, 
Department C, 
ALLEGHENY, PA. 
GOOD INCOMES 
(20,25 and 30 per cent commission) 
made by gettinK orders for our 
celebrated Teas, Coffees, Spices, 
Ac. The goods sell themselves. 
If you don't want commissions 
we will give you Premiums: Lace 
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loc., and we will mall you a sample of best Tea im¬ 
ported and catalogue. The Great American Tea Co., 
31&33 Vesey St.. New York.N.Y. P.O.Box 289,Rural. 
w. p., 
freight 
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full set of attachments. Adapted toj 
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“10 years. 30 DAYS FREE TRIAL. 
ciii. ^ictor 
Church or Parlor ORGAN guaran¬ 
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VICTOR MANUFACTURING UO., 
295-297 Fifth Ave., Chicago, III. 
