1899 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
451 
HOPE FARM NOTES. 
Eggs and Hens. —Our hens laid 1,711 
eggs in May. This was a profitable 
month, though f ggs averaged hut 16 
cents a dozen. The Blacks laid 629 eggs. 
They should have laid more, but several 
of them really made serious attempts at 
sitting. This is about as surprising as 
it would be for old Jersey to indicate a 
desire to provide us with beef steak. 
We think those Blacks have had too 
much corn. Their range is limited to a 
small yard. There has been so much to 
do on the farm this Spring that there 
has been little time for spading or 
breaking up the ground in the yards. 
Thus the Blacks have had fewer worms 
and less exercise than usual. They are 
too fat. Fat turns a hen’s fancy to 
thoughts of incubation. We are sur¬ 
prised that no Jersey hen man has come 
to the front in response to our offer to 
match 15 of our B.aeks against any 15 
hens, old or young, in New Jersey. 
Prof. Voorhees, of the Experiment Sta¬ 
tion, is ready to try it. Where are the 
hens of New Jersey ? 
Seasonable Notes —The house flies 
put in a tardy appearance this year. 
They are several weeks later than usual, 
Of course, we have the screens up at 
doors and windows. Since we have used 
planer shavings for bedding, and have 
hauled the manure out frequently we 
have had fewer flies. .It is known, of 
course, that the flies breed in horse 
manure. My opinion is, that they don’t 
like the planer shavings. . . . The 
marshes along the coast of New Jersey 
are alive with mosquitoes, hut we have 
hardly seen one yet. . . . Our coun¬ 
try is burning up with drought, al¬ 
though our own little neighborhood has 
had one or two local showers. On the 
lighter sand the potatoes show how 
thirsty they are In spite of the most 
careful cultivation, these lighter places 
cannot keep up with the fields where 
clover was plowed in. . . . The sor¬ 
ghum for fodder has been sown. We 
took the precaution to soak it well be¬ 
fore sowing. It makes a small, feeble 
growth at first, and needs all the en¬ 
couragement you can give it. 
We have no really early varieties of 
strawberries this year, and picked our 
first mess June 3 A neighbor had a 
good crop of Beder Wood 10 days before 
this. The crop in our section is short— 
cut by the dry weather. I expected 
that the wild strawberries that we 
transplanted and cultivated would prove 
great hustlers in this dry weather, but 
they quit them—not like men—but more 
like steers. In other words, they quit 
entirely. You take almost anything out 
of its natural condition and try to force 
it, how it will fail when trouble com s. 
This applies all the way from strawber¬ 
ries to men. 
Potato Notes —New potatoes from 
Virginia sell in our local market at 45 
cents a p;ck ! They are small and poor 
at that. From all I can learn, the crop 
is short all the way up to Philadelphia. 
Give us a couple of good soaking show¬ 
ers, and we will have our share. On 
June 1, we found tubers as large as wal¬ 
nuts on the southern second-crop plants— 
the seed of which was dropped April 12 
1 notice that the later planted seed gets 
to the surface in less time than the earlier 
plantings. The R. N.-Y. No. 2 came up 
17 days from the seed. This may be be¬ 
cause the ground was in almost perfect 
condition. It’s quick work anyway. 
There are but few evidences of the early 
blight thus far. This dry, cool season 
has been against the blight. As we study 
the clouds, and whistle for rain, it seems 
strange to read letters from other parts 
of the country where the very prairies 
seem to be washing away. John Gould 
wrote me, from northern Ohio, that they 
For 50 Gents 
THE RURAL NEW- 
YORKER will be sent to 
any address for the re¬ 
mainder of this year for 50 cents. Tell your neighbor, 
and send us his subscription. For your trouble, we 
will send you that great historical romance, quo 
Vadis. The price of the book is 25 cents. 
have had perfect floods of rain so that 
potatoes are not in the ground yet! 
When the rain makes such discrimina¬ 
tions, we don’t know whether the unjust 
men live in New Jersey or Ohio, It 
doesn’t pay to speculate about it—just 
keep the cultivators moving. 
Home Doings. —I had a letter last week 
from a man who is now living on the 
Island of .1 ava. He was born and reared 
on a Niff York State farm, but for the 
past 25 years, has wandered through 
Europe aud Asia as an engineer. Three 
yea s ago. we bought a bag of buckwheat 
flour and three gallons of maple syrup 
for him, and sent it by express to Rou- 
mania where he then lived. He wanted 
to eat some buck wheat cakes and syrup 
such as his mother made on the old farm. 
Now he writes to say that the doings at 
Hope Farm bring him back to the old 
farm life of his boyhood days. He says 
he had forgotten many of the old farm 
scenes and incidents but Hope Farm 
brings them back to him across a wide 
gulf of 25 long and lively years. I have 
never claimed anything very remarkable 
for Hope Farm—except the young human 
live stock, which we are prepared to 
brag about I think most agricultural 
writers are too much inclined to take an 
article and wash its face and brush its 
hair and polish its shoes before putting 
it in print. Now farming is a hard, toil¬ 
some and earthy business. The boiled- 
shirt and plug-hat side of it is good for 
Sundays, but I’ll tell you right now that, 
on week-days, the plug hat goes to the 
closet, and the hands go into the dirt. 
I try to show the life at Hope Farm be¬ 
fore it3 face is washed and while the soil 
still s'icks to it. 
A Western Voice. —You can’t please 
everybody, however. I have a letter 
from a Colorado man, who says we are 
getting mighty “narrow and provincial ” 
Here is a sample of his letter : 
Stop calling Ohio “ out west ”. Abandon that 
Hope-less farm, and bring the family out into 
America. Locate in that vast empire—the real 
West—where men do not use tags on cattle, or 
pay their employees in pennies; where men’s 
minds are as broad as their acres, and where 
they plant the Ben Davis apple even yet, and 
can’t raise enough to supply the demand. It is 
a shame that the Bud, Graft, Scions, etc., should 
be reared where one-horse plows and fertilizer 
bags prevail—where horses have to eat corn 
stalks, and the pigs are fed on slop. Where men 
and women think California is an island in the 
Pacific, Iowt a vast desert inhabited by savages, 
and the Rocky Mountains are in Asia. Come oat, 
I say, into a country that God intended to be in¬ 
habited, and in a few years, you will look over 
the files, and wonder whether you were ever such 
a confirmed mossback as they indicate. 
I lived in Colorado 20 years ago, and I 
don’t expect to go there to live again 
unless I go for my health. No, sir, 
“there’s no place like home”, and Hope 
Farm is our home. I have no fault to 
find with any man who wants to be 
broad enough to live in Colorado, and ha3 
no use for pennies. We find them useful, 
and can’t afford to throw them away. 
You’re right—our horses do eat corn 
stalks, and we don’t consider it a crime 
to feed the house wastes to the pigs, and 
thus save them The men who have 
made Colorado what she is—or rather 
expects to be—trace back to penny fin¬ 
ance and small eastern farms. A good 
lot of money earned by one-horse plows 
and fertilizer bigs is earning interest in 
Colorado. It remains to be seen what 
their children can do besides talk and 
raise Ben Davis apples ! The Bud, the 
Graft and the Scions are all right, thank 
you. They will be reared on a system 
narrow enough to make them sharp, and 
they know enough about geography to 
understand that New Jersey is still tied 
to the rest of the country. We never ask 
any one to follow our methods if he 
doesn’t want to. We can learn a little 
something from almost any sort of farm¬ 
ing. It’s a great thing to save a farm 
from the Great American Desert, as 
many hard-working farmers have done. 
It’s not a small thing to save a worn-out 
farm in the East, and make it profitable. 
In fact, I think the redemption of the 
poor eastern farm requires more quiet 
pluck and endurance. h. w. c. 
THE ELBERTA PEACH. 
ITS BEHAVIOR AT THE NORTH. 
There has been some d’scusslon as to the hard¬ 
iness and vigor of the Elberta peach when grown 
north of central Illinois. Has this southern 
peach the vigor to sustain itself in northern or¬ 
chards ? Judging from the sales of nurserymen, 
it is still very popular. 
With us, it has been a profitable variety 
for market. Its large, regular size and 
beautiful color cause it to sell for the 
highest price in its season. It is not as 
hardy in bud as Stump, Stevens, and 
some other red peaches. While not an 
ideal peach, it has enough good qualities 
to lead us to set more of it. 
Orange Co., N. Y. w. D. barns & son. 
This season, the Elberta peach has 
not bloomed well as compared with 
Fox’s Seedling or Family Favo ite, but 
much better than the Crawford Late 
class. In previous seasons its buds have 
been among the hardiest, and the trees 
have produced fruit where any have. 
With us the fruit is of fine size and 
appearance, a good handler, but rather 
poor quality. The tree is quite differ¬ 
ent in manner of growth from an Old- 
mixon or Fox Seedling, and probably, 
would be considered a poor grower. In 
the 100 acres of three and four-year-old 
trtes of various kinds that we have 
planted, more than 10 per cent are 
Elbertas. We have had to replace more 
Elbertas than of all other kinds, and in 
our older orchards, they do not promise 
to be long lived. R pening at the time 
they do, they make a good succession 
for a yellow peach, and at present, we 
have no variety to recommend as being 
superior to take their place. 
New Haven Co., Conn. J. N. babnes. 
I have had Elberta fruiting for only 
three years, and cannot speak positively 
on the subject; but in my orchard, the 
first crop was the best in quality, 
and each succeeding crop had a little 
less color and less flavor than the last 
This would look as though the as, 
sertion often made that Elberta lacks 
vigor when grown as far north as 
this is true I believe, however, that 
this deterioration may be due to the fact 
that Elberta is an early, and a heavy 
bearer, and the first year I did not thin 
as closely as I should have done. The 
first crop was a fine one, the trees were 
young and vigorous, and the size, color, 
and flavor of the peaches were all that 
could be desired ; but too many were al¬ 
lowed to ripen, and the trees showed 
the effects of the over-draft the next 
season. I planted a lot of them this 
Spring, because I do not know as good a 
variety that will come in about a week 
before Crawford’s Late ; but when these 
trees tear for the first time, I shall thin 
them very carefully. Notwithstanding 
my first experience, I still have faith in 
ELberta as a money maker for this part 
of Pennsylvania. 
Dauphin Co., Pa gabriel hiester. 
“In Union 
There is Strength. 
True strength consists in the union, the 
harmonious working together, of every 
part of the human organism. This strength 
can never be obtained if the blood is im¬ 
pure. Hood's Sarsaparilla is the standard 
prescription for purifying the blood 
Never Disappoints 
Preserves 
i 
Paraffine Wax 
p—fruits, Jellies, pickles or catsup are f 
more easily, more quickly, more 
healthfully sealed with Refined -* 
Paraffine Wax than by any other 
method. Dozens of other uses will be 
found for Refined 
In every household. It is clean, 
tasteless and odorless—air, water 
and acid proof. Get a pound cake of 
it with a list of its many uses 
from your druggist or grocer. 
Bold everywhere. Made by 
STANDARD OIL CO. 
FRAZER 
AXLE 
BEST IN THE WORLD. 
Its wearing qualities are unsurpassed, actually 
outlasting three boxes of any other brand. Not 
affected by heat. VT GET THE GENUINE. 
FOR SALE BY DEALERS GENERALLY. 
Lane’s Steel Jack. 
All steel. Unbreakable. Compound Levers. Quickly 
adjusted any height. Best and easiest operated jack on 
r ' * market. Thousands in 
use. If your local deal¬ 
er doesn't keep them 
will send sample at 
regular price prepaid. 
LANE BROTHERS CO., 
Prospect and 1st Sts., Poughkeepsie, N. Y. 
4,000 Pounds 
is the guaranteed capacity of this wagon. 
It is equipped with 
ELECTRIC STEEL WHEELS 
with stagger oval spokes, broad tires, etc. 
It has angle steel hounds front and 
rear. It’s low down and easy to load. 
One man can load it; saves an extra 
hand in hauling corn fodder, etc. A 
pair of these wheels will make a 
new wagon out of your old one. 
Send for free catalogue and prices. 
Elecric Wheel Co. Box 88, Quincy,III. 
L ARGEST manu¬ 
facturers of the 
best steel wheels 
for farm wagons in 
America. Any size, 
straight and staggard 
spokes, any width tire. 
The head of 
spoke in the 
groove can't 
wear off. 
Make best 
Handy Steel Wagons. 
All steel, and wood. 
Four different kinds. 
8END FOR CATALOGUE 
Havana Metal Wheel Co. 
Havana, III. 
Farm-profits depend on correct weighing. Ask your 
implement dealer for an Osgood. If he tries to sell you 
any other make, send for our 8peeial Oiler for 
Introducing the Osgood. It will pay you. 
Osgood Seale Co. 10ttCentral St., Binghamton,N.Y. 
IDER 
MACHINERY 
I Best and cheapest, 
’ Send for catalogue 
BOOMER & BOSCHERT 
PRESS CO., 
118 Water Street, 
SYRACUSE, v. Y. 
Dutton’s Mower Knife Grinder 
grinds a set of Mowing Machine Knives in ten min¬ 
utes better than can be done on a grindstone in an 
hour. It does not heat the knife. Saves more than 
its cost in time and horseflesh the trst season. 
GUARANTEED 
VEHICLES QQ A C 
as lowasq0i40 
The price of this Buggy 
is so low it will astonish 
you. Send for our free 
catalogue. It 
will post you on 
manufact urer’s, 
prices and save 
you money on Ve¬ 
hicles, Harness, _ 
Bicycles,Sewing “Chicago Special,” described 
Machines, Etc. in catalogue on page 30. 
CONSUMERS CARRIAGE & MPG. CO. 
269-271 S. Desplaines St.,CHICACO, ILL. 
This Company is reliable.— Editor. 
nil.,, We will send you one upon re- 
ORCbldl Ullcia celpt of our wholsale price ($5), 
and if after trial you are not perfect y satisfied with 
it in every way, send It back and we will return your 
mouev. Haying time Is near—send to-day. 
CUTAWAY HARROW CO., Box 10 Hlgganum, Ct. 
