1899 
•THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
467 
HOPE FARM NOTES. 
Drought on Deck. —The fearful dry 
weather continues. Hot sunshine is all 
very well in its place, but one can have 
too much of it. I like to see sunburn on 
the children, but when the potato plants 
begin to turn yellow and curl up, I’ve 
had enough. We planted about two 
acres on light open soil, expecting to 
push them on for the early market. The 
hot, dry wind that Friend Atkinson tells 
of on page 463, got at them, and gave 
them a bad attack of the yellows. If 
the rain do not come soon, the crop will 
be cut down, at least one-half. 
It’s hard I 
Yes, it is hard to watch the sky day 
after day, and see that blistering old 
sun come shining through every cloud. 
We have done our part, at least. We 
fitted the ground properly. We put in 
strong, fresh seed, cut right and planted 
well. We used the best fertilizer we 
could find. We have chased the weeder, 
and ridden the cultivator, and swung 
the hoe until the field is as mellow as 
can be, and there is hardly a weed to 
the acre. We have killed the beetles, 
but drought is ahead of us thus far. 
Notes From the Field. —I think we 
could make a cow-pea crank out of any 
reasonable being by walking him through 
our potato field this year. There are 
streaks through it where we had rye and 
Crimson clover growing this Spring. On 
other strips, we had cow peas last year, 
and on others, we put manure. The 
rows of potatoes all run the same way, 
and we used just the same quantity of 
fertilizer in each. In this dry season, 
you can see far across the field where 
the cow peas were plowed under. There 
the plants are strong and vigorous, and 
when you get into the rows, you can 
scratch up the dark soil with your foot. 
On the strips where the rye was used, 
the ground is well dried out, and the 
potatoes begin to turn yellow. The rye 
and Crimson clover did not give growth 
enough this Spring to make a suit¬ 
able humus crop. ... In the large 
chicken yard last year, as the manure 
was cleaned out, it was thrown over the 
ground at random. The y ard was plo wed 
up this Spring, and planted to potatoes. 
You can tell by the appearance of the 
potatoes, just where this manure was 
thrown, and also where the hens ran to 
be fed, or to be sheltered from the sun. 
Chicken manure, certainly, when de¬ 
parting, leaves behind it footprints on 
the potato field. . . . To our sur¬ 
prise, some of the best potatoes are 
found in a strip where, last year, we 
tried to grow a late crop of barley and 
peas. The “authorities” said that it 
would fail, and their prophecies knew 
no failure. The peas did well for awhile, 
and then, all of a sudden, they dis¬ 
appeared. I never did know where they 
went to. The barley seemed to pine 
away for lack of company. There 
wasn’t enough to cut, and we plowed 
the whole thing under this Spring. The 
potatoes have fairly jumped, and are a 
dark, rich green. 
Potato Stalks. —I notice what Mr. 
Atkinson says about planting one-eye 
pieces and cutting out the surplus stalks. 
I have hardly keyed my courage up yet 
to cut down to one eye. We used to 
plant half a good-sizjd potato—often 
with four or five eyes. This sent up 
several shoots, but there seemed to be a 
survival of the strongest—the weaker 
ones, when planted close together, mak¬ 
ing mere spindles. Since using the 
planter, we have been obliged to cut 
smaller pieces. We leave two good eyes, 
and this has given a remarkably good 
stand. How many stalks to a piece ? 
That depends on the variety largely 
with us. The Carman potatoes usually 
send but one strong stem. Varieties 
like .June Eating or Rural Blush Bend 
several stems from two-eye pieces. We 
have planted 18 and 20 inches apart this 
year. This has given larger and thicker 
plants than when we planted one foot 
apart. We have kept the drills slightly 
ridged up. Those southern second-crop 
potatoes are ahead of the lot thus far 
for size. 
Bug Killing. —The bugs came upon 
us in a perfect army last week. We 
went at them with both dry and wet 
poisons. We used Paris-green, Laurel- 
green and I’aragrene with varying re¬ 
sults. The Laurel-green kills the bugs, 
but it injures the vines. So far as we 
are able to tell, Paragrene is just as 
effective as Paris-green. There is more 
bulk to it, and it appears to remain sus¬ 
pended in water longer. It killed the 
bugs—there can be no doubt about that. 
We put it cn in some places very strong, 
so as to watch the effect on the vines. 
Laurel-green seemed to scorch the leaves 
like hot water, but the Paragrene left 
them unharmed. We put it on so thick 
on some rows that, after the water 
evaporated, the lower parts of the leaves 
were coated with the poison We used the 
Paris-green gun whenever possible, but 
there has been so little dew and so much 
scorching wind, that water poisoning 
was necessary on tome days. A knap¬ 
sack sprayer is a hard thing to tote. All 
hands turned out with watering pots or 
whatever was to be had, and those 
beetles were slaughtered before they 
could send a delegation asking for a 
conference. 
Taking a Drink. —It hurt our feelings 
to see how bravely the four-year-old 
Parker Earle strawberry plants were 
facing the drought. These plants had a 
great start. The Spring was wet, and 
they, evidently, male up their minds to 
give the Hope Farm folks a new suit of 
clothes. Many of them started over 300 
berries each, but the dry weather cut 
off their water supply, and those berries 
could not mature. 
“ Why don’t you turn on the water ?” 
said a neighbor. 
We had been so busy that we had for¬ 
gotten that the water-works belonging 
to the little town near by had put up a 
hydrant near Hope Farm. The water is 
pumped from a spring into a tank, and 
then piped about the country into some 
places where, some day, they hope 
streets will be made and houses built. 
Here was a chance to test irrigation on 
a small scale. 
“What is your price for water?” I 
asked at the water-works. 
“ Five cents a minute—through an 
inch nozzle ! ” 
That is at the rate of $72 a day ! We 
got the longest hose to be found, and 
ran the water for half an hour on the 
strawberries and raspberries. This gave 
a patch about 100x350 feet a fair wetting. 
I am sure we shall get our money back on 
the strawberries, though we can’t tell ex¬ 
actly until they are picked. Throwing 
water in a big stream this way drives a 
lot of dirt and sand on the berries. Five 
cents a minute I That looks like a big 
price, but I think it would have paid us 
to give that much if we had only thought 
of it a week before. Think what a man 
misses in a year like this when he fails 
to utilize a spring or brook. Speaking 
of strawberries, I want to say that two 
of the wild plants which were set out 
last year are quite promising. One is a 
dark, rich crimson, nearly the average 
size of Bubach. It is as sweet as honey, 
with the peculiar fragrance of the wild 
strawberry, but is not a heavy bearer. 
It’s good enough to try another year. 
Short of Vegetables —Tnis is a hard 
year on vegetables. The garde a is nearly 
a failure. Our early peas dawdled along, 
but turned yellow and old before their 
time. The pods finally formed, and our 
folks determined to have one good tuck- 
out at least. They did. They filled up. 
Then they found that, according to 
‘•the going prices,” they had eaten a 
dollar’s worth at a meal. That won’t 
buy shoes for the children, and they 
shook those vines hard to get peas to 
sell ! Beets, lettuce and all such things 
that are not watered are very poor. 
Prices for such vegetables are almost 
prohibitive. Men who go around selling 
them from house to house say that peo¬ 
ple cannot afford to buy. It is much the 
same way with new potatoes at 45 cents 
a peck. Folks dug dandelions, and boiled 
them for greens while they lasted. Now 
they eat corn meal and rice instead of 
vegetables, and pray for rain. The 
blackcaps and blackberries have started 
an immense set of fruit—but unless we 
can have a soaking rain, there will be 
little si ze to them. Still, there is plenty of 
wator in the well, the hens are shelling 
the eggs out, and every weed you pu'l 
out in this sun is dead as a door nail in 
half an hour. “ We have much to be 
thankful for!”_ H. w. c. 
A Cheap Mixture.— A Boston seed firm 
has been selling a five-cent package of 
mixed (extremely mixed) seeds under the 
name of Beautie’s Flower Garden, the 
packet purporting to contain 300 varietit s 
of “the very best flower seeds.” A. .1. 
Pieters, the Government seed expert, 
has examined one of these packets, and 
he gives the following analysis, in the 
Florists’ Exchange : 
The bulk was chafT and seeds of Red-top and 
Timothy, but there were a few large seeds that 
would materially alTectthe per cent by weight. 
The large seeds were picked out and found to be 
23.1 per cent of the whole sample. They were: 
Sunflower, 2; sweet pea, 1; Convolvulus minor, 6; 
Tagetes, 6; parsnip, 4; Commellna, 2. The remain¬ 
ing 70.9 per cent was then examined, and In this 
were found chaff of Red-top and dirt, 55 percent; 
Red-top seed, 30 per cent; Timothy, 10 percent. 
The remaining 5 per cent consisted of the follow¬ 
ing kinds: Sorrel, 7; Dianthus, 0; Plantago arts- 
tata, 2; Atropa belladonna, 2; Brasslca sp , 1; 
Trifollum sp., 1; Specularia sp., ‘1; Coreopsis, 12; 
Pantcum sp., 1; Veronica sp , 1; Myosotls Inter¬ 
media, 1. Besides these there were a few unde¬ 
termined seeds. We tried to buy more of this 
firm’s seed but without result, so this report 
deals only with the packet first received. 
There was plenty of profit in that packet, 
even at five cents. 
Potato and Pka Experiments — M. 
Garrahan, of Pennsylvania, is trying 
some interesting potato experiments this 
year. He has a lot of potato seedlings 
of the White Bliss variety fertilized with 
a variety bought for New Queen, but 
which resembles Carman No. 1. These 
seedlings are yielding heavily and seem 
to have many good qualities. Mr. Gar¬ 
rahan says he has read much about the 
superiority of the second-crop southern 
potatoes for early planting. In order to 
learn something about this he measured 
a peck from one of several barrels of 
Pride of the South, a variety grown in 
North Carolina. He also ordered a peck 
of the same variety grown in Aroostook 
County, Me. These potatoes were planted 
side by side on the same day and under 
exactly similar conditions. Up to date 
Mr. Garrahan says that the Maine seed 
seems to be ahead of the southern seed. 
The true story, however, can be told 
only when the potatoes are dug. Last 
Fall, the season was unusually favorable, 
and Mr. Garrahan says he was able to 
save some seed from the Wonderful or 
Unknown cow pea. In ordinary seasons 
this variety will not mature seed so far 
north. Mr. Garrahan is trying this 
home-raised seed this year by the side of 
the Velvet bean. We feel pretty sure 
that the cow pea will come out ahead. 
Wine from Apples. —It is reported 
that the foreign agents of the De¬ 
partment of Agriculture have unearthed 
some facts about European “ wine¬ 
making ”: 
One fact which the Dspartment learned was 
that American apples were being made Into cider 
In Europe, the cider treated by the means de¬ 
scribed above, and the product returned to this 
country as wine. Apples unsalable In their 
natural size in this country are cored and sliced 
and dried by large factories in Michigan and 
other apple-producing States, and the dried ap¬ 
ples baled and exported. In France and Ger¬ 
many these apples are soaked, ground, and the 
juice extracted. With the addition of the proper 
yeast, and perhaps some high wines or chemi¬ 
cals, the cider is turned Into wine, is charged 
with carbonic gas, and much of It returns to 
America as champagne. 
Secretary Wilson purposes to learn all 
about this, and then “ to teach our farm¬ 
ers to sell their apples by the bottle in¬ 
stead of by the barrel I ” This sounds 
very well, but haven’t we bottles enough 
already ? Stick to the barrel, and pro¬ 
duce [/nod eating apples. 
PaOF. Robekthon says that Canada's apple 
trade is being injured by dishonest packing. 
At an auction sale of a cargo of lemons and 
oranges at Montreal, Canada, selling began at 
1:30 r. m., and lasted until 10:30, one auctioneer 
doing all the selling—890 lots. 
PARAGRENE 
Is Sure Death to Potato Bugs 
and all Insect Pests. 
It is the best insecticide ever offered for sale in 
this country. It kills quicker than Paris-Green, and 
leaves no bad effects after it, such as burning the 
foliage, etc., a characteristic common to all other 
insecticides. It is cheaper and bulkier than 
Paris-Green, and saves the farmer money and his 
crop as well. Recommended by all users. 
“ I put Paris-green on nine acres of potatoes—some of the 
bugs died, but there are still enough to strip the field. I 
put I’aragrene on another plot and the bugs have all dis¬ 
appeared. Send me more Paraerene at once.” 
.June 14, 1899. J. Kbusen Yerkes, Richboro, Pa. 
“ I have used and found Paragrene the best, safest and 
quickest insecticide I ever used, and recommend it to every 
grower of currants and gooseberries for absolute destruction 
of currant worm and does not injure foliage.” 
Geo. W. Finger, Tivoli, N. Y. 
“I used Paragrene just as I would Paris-green ; it did not 
in jure the foliage, but killed the potato bugs quickly I 
like it better than Paris-green and shall always use it in 
the future.”—A. E. Bunker, Suburba, Tenn. 
Send for samples and booklet. Your dealer should 
keep it. If not, write to 
FRED L. LAVANBURG, 
165 William Street, New York. 
