1899 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
563 
HOPE FARM NOTES. 
Sweet Corn. —Last year, we planted 
Cory for earliest, and made our first 
picking July 20. It was not very satis¬ 
factory, however, the quality being in¬ 
ferior. The Cory makes an ear quite 
open and loose at the end, and is very 
likely to be ruined by worms. It doesn’t 
pay us to plant Cory. This year, we 
have only three varieties—Crosby, Per¬ 
ry’s Hybrid and Evergreen. The Crosby 
was about ready to pick on August 1, 
but all varieties of sweet corn seem later 
than usual this year. Our corn was 
planted where the clover and cow peas 
grew last season. One field of Perry’s 
Hybrid is a great illustration of the 
value of cow peas. It is on what we call 
the “Bone Yard”—a dry, thin field, 
where corn completely dried out in for¬ 
mer years. The cow peas were plowed 
into it, and now the corn is thick and 
green, forming excellent ears. By the 
side of it, is a strip of Evergreen corn 
where rye was plowed under last Spring. 
Even quantities of fertilizer were used, 
yet the cow-pea field is far ahead of the 
rye strip. It is a very striking differ¬ 
ence. 
Green Crop.— We are not sowing cow 
peas or Crimson clover this year. We 
leave the old farm this Fall. On the 
new farm, there is plenty of humus. 
Not a furrow has been turned there for 
years. The entire farm is covered with 
a tough sod. The problem is not how 
to stuff the soil with humus, but how to 
get it out to the best advantage. If we 
had time, I would plow all the soil we 
want for next year’s potato crop, and 
sow cow peas, but other work is of 
greater importance just now. With us, 
this has been a good season for sowing 
Crimson clover. We have had several 
good showers, which came just in time 
to sprout and start the seed. Corn is, 
perhaps, the best crop for seeding to this 
clover. We scatter the seed ahead of 
the cultivator and work it lightly in. It 
doesn’t do to put it too deep. 
Potato Notes. —Through late July 
prices went down beyond all expecta¬ 
tion. The South and Southwest cleaned 
up their crops, and poured the whole 
thing into New York. August promises 
to be better, but I expect very low 
prices for September, for the country 
seems to be full of late potatoes. Our 
own crop is later than usual.- Where we 
used the nitrate of soda, the vines have 
kept green and thriving, but the tubers 
are not as large as they should be. I no¬ 
tice, too, that where we plowed in cow 
peas the vines are still a dark, rich 
green, while around them the vines are 
turning yellow—ripening. An excess of 
nitrogen seems to hold back the ripen¬ 
ing, though it will, evidently, give a 
heavier yield. The scab is troubling us 
considerably in several fields. At first, I 
thought it was confined to the fields 
where potatoes grew last year, but I 
now find traces of it in ground where 
I am sure potatoes have not been grown 
for 10 years. It was in the seed, which 
looked so clean that we did not soak it. 
That’s where we made one of several 
mistakes. . . It is remarkable how 
many plants of Carman No. 3 you will 
find growing in potato fields. That va¬ 
riety seems to be pretty well mixed 
through most potatoes that you buy. 
It’s bad to get it into a field of very 
early potatoes, yet it is often found 
there. 
Potato Digging. —It is hard enough 
to plant potatoes and fight off bugs, 
blight and weeds during the season, but 
after all, digging is the worst job. This 
year, it promises to be harder than ever. 
The rains that came after the crop was 
laid by Lave started the weeds and Sum¬ 
mer grass. In one field where we were 
sure that every weed had been rooted up, 
there are lots of them now waist-high. 
In many places, the Summer grass has 
formed a regular sod among the pota¬ 
toes. It is well enough for those who 
kill weeds with a lead pencil to tell us 
that the crop ought to be clean. It isn’t 
clean, and the potatoes are down be¬ 
neath the foulness. How can we get 
them out at least cost? We tried plow 
diggers, with a standard in the center, 
last year, and they clogged up. The 
grass was too much for them. We 
might hire a gang of Italians to dig 
with forks, but when it comes to a con¬ 
test between foreign cheap labor and an 
American machine, we will, at least, 
give the latter a chance. We have a 
Hoover digger, which will be tried this 
week, and then we can tell more about 
it. From the looks of this machine, it 
ought to get the potatoes out, but I judge 
that it will require about as much power 
to run it as an old-fashioned grist-mill. 
We shall hitch the three horses on, and 
try it. 
Sundry Notes. —We are always glad 
when the first apples are ripe. The 
Hope Farm folks can get both bread and 
meat out of baked Apples and apple 
sauce. The apple is the most faithful 
friend we have in the fruit line. . . . 
Jack is with us this Summer. He is try¬ 
ing to work his way through school, and 
this vacation, he is canvassing for a set 
of photographs of the Cuban war. He 
starts off on his wheel every morning, 
sometimes covering 50 miles or more 
during the day. Twenty years ago, I 
tried the book agent business, but failed 
to make a living at it, and went to ditch¬ 
ing instead. I judge from what Jack re¬ 
ports, that the dog and other two-legged 
terrors of the book agent are still alive. 
. . . . Our sorghum is not so good 
as last year. I think we made the mis¬ 
take of sowing it too thickly on poor 
land. A bit of nitrate of soda will soon 
bring it up. I sometimes think that a 
few bags of nitrate of soda are about the 
handiest fertilizer for a farmer to carry 
through the Summer. How it will 
quicken up cabbage, grass or any crop 
that makes its chief growth above 
ground. Take the fodder corn crop or 
anything designed to substitute for hay, 
and a little nitrate will make them 
jump. 
Don’t Overdo It.—I t is possible to 
get too much nitrogen, just as it is pos¬ 
sible to get too much of any good thing. 
The result is a great growth of stem 
and leaf, and a poor and slow develop¬ 
ment of seed or fruit. Here we have a 
good illustration of it: 
The R. N.-Y., for years, has advised 
setting traps to catch nitrogen, and as I 
set great store by what it says, I sowed 
Crimson clover in about two acres of corn 
last Summer. Well, I caught the nitrogen, 
and now it has caught me. I pastured the 
clover till it was time to set out tomato 
plants. The nitrogen and tomatoes have 
formed a trust. Such vines! I have trim¬ 
med them three times, and now have vines 
to spare. Nitrogen says to the green to¬ 
matoes, Grow! grow! grow! and they bid 
fair to rival the pictures in some of the 
seed catalogues, of watermelons where 
they have to take a lever to roll them on 
a stoneboat. Ripen! They can t stop to 
ripen, but just grow. I was intending to 
sow a bushel on another piece of corn, and 
if I had, and could have sold the nitrogen 
for 10 cents a pound, I don’t think Vander¬ 
bilt would have been in it with me as to 
wealth. If I had put corn on this piece 
for the silo, that nitrogen might have had 
a chance to show what it could do; but no 
more traps for nitrogen for my tomatoes! 
If you want a reference for your “nitrogen 
trap,” you can refer to me. e. w. b. 
Elmira, N. Y. 
That is what we should expect with 
a crop like tomatoes. A person might 
have a large sum of money given him in 
an unexpected way. I never had any 
such experience, so I must give you a 
theory about it, but I believe that, un¬ 
less that person had good judgment and 
clean desires to go with his money, 
he would raise only a big crop of un¬ 
happiness. He might be a high-flyer for 
several years, but when it came Lime to 
show the seed or fruit of life, it would 
be a pretty dark case of dissatisfaction 
and discontent. Now nitrogen is like 
money. It is the only one of the needed 
elements of plant life that we can catch 
and really add to the soil free of cost. 
We must not use it alone. Potash repre¬ 
sents the good judgment, and phos¬ 
phoric acid the clean desires, which, 
with money, will make a sound crop of 
contentment. The potash and phos¬ 
phoric acid must be used to balance the 
nitrogen, if we expect good seed and 
fruit. If you are to use Crimson clover 
or cow peas, you must use the minerals, 
too, or sooner or later, you will get out 
of balance. H. w. c. 
first to utilize this rapid force for funeral 
purposes. 
An English gardening paper answers a 
query regarding “American-bug” on apple 
trees. We infer that our disesteemed 
friend, the Wooly aphis, is meant by this 
description, as the attacks of this insect 
are Included abroad under the term 
“American blight.” As many of our most 
troublesome weeds are of European origin, 
it is only carrying out a system of reciproc¬ 
ity to send them a few of our insects and, 
if they wish a little variety, we are quite 
willing to include the kissing-bug and the 
strangle-bug in the lot. 
A CONNECTICUT FIELD MEETING. 
Among the Strawberries. 
Each season the Connecticut Pomological 
Society inaugurates its series of field meet¬ 
ings with a strawberry meeting in June. 
This year, Mr. E. C. Warner, of North 
Haven, entertained the society, and the 
result was one of the most successful of 
the many gatherings held on the farms of 
the members. No better place than these 
field meetings has yet been found, to ex¬ 
tend the influence of the organization, and 
at the same time, provide pleasure and in¬ 
struction to the fruit grower. 
Mr. Warner has long had the reputation 
of being one of the largest and most suc¬ 
cessful of strawberry growers about New 
Haven, and the large number who attend¬ 
ed the meeting found this to be true. 
Despite the fact that we were in the midst 
of a severe drought at the time, seriously 
affecting the strawberry crop, Mr. War¬ 
ner’s farm was in fine condition with crops 
all growing vigorously; his crop of berries, 
especially, was making a remarkable show¬ 
ing as to yield, size and quality, it was 
very soon learned that his irrigating plant 
was largely responsible for all this. His 
experience in irrigation dates back several 
y ears; in fact, he was a pioneer in this 
work in Connecticut. But never has an 
abundant supply of water been so valuable 
in crop-saving, as this year. 
Mr. Warner gets his supply of water from 
a nearby pond, whence it is raised by a 
ram into tanas located on the higher por¬ 
tion of the farm, 'the land is rolling, thus 
making it possible to flow the water from 
me tanks down over the strawberry fields, 
iron pipes and discarded firehose are used 
to convey the water, after which it finds 
its way down the long rows of berries, which 
are thus "treated to a drink, with their din¬ 
ner." irrigation, coupled with a liberal use 
of stable manure and thorough cultivation, 
is, apparently, the secret ot ivir. Warner s 
success. 
About four acres of strawberries were 
yielding a crop this season, f’icking is done 
every other day, a portion being ready to 
pick from each morning; Sue bushels pei 
day are the usual pick. As to the varieties 
grown, it is a remarkable fact that Mi. 
Warner still pins his faith to the old Sfiaip- 
less, and that he succeeds with this variety 
was plainly shown by the wonderful loan 
of big berries that the plants were cann¬ 
ing. Nothing in the Sharpless line for, m 
fact, few, if any other varieties) had beeA 
seen to equal this remarkable show of bel¬ 
lies. By allowing them to ripen thorough¬ 
ly, he gets berries of luscious quality, lhai. 
find a ready, market in New Haven, seven 
miles distant. Occasionally, the surplus is 
shipped to Boston. 
Other varieties grown are Crescent and 
Bubach, with Lovett for a pollinizer. Mr. 
Warner is testing the newer sorts, but 
finds nothing so far that he would exchange 
for his time-tried friends. Some of the 
fields have been occupied with strawberries 
continuously for many years, and he often 
picks berries three successive seasons be¬ 
fore renewing the plants. This he has done 
profitably. His large crops of berries are 
obtained by no peculiar methods, only good 
care and liberal feeding are the means em¬ 
ployed. This same good care extends to 
the other crops on the farm; 26 acres of 
peach trees, a portion of them in full 
bearing even in this off-year, potatoes, 
raspberries, etc., all show evidence of in¬ 
telligent cultivation. 
Besides the fruit, Mr. Warner has a large 
dairy, producing milk for the retail milk 
dealers. The fields of Timothy and clover 
were promising well in spite of the dry 
weather, but, then, dry weather has no 
terrors for Strawberry Hill Farm, with its 
irrigating plant, and it is safe to say that 
the visitors gathered many valuable lessons 
on successful irrigation farming. 
h. c. c. miles, Secretary. 
The latest use of the electric car is a 
hearse. In Chicago, it is said, trolley fu¬ 
nerals are not uncommon. One car is fit¬ 
ted up as a hearse, and others in a suitable 
way for conveying the mourners, and the 
cost is only about 40 per cent of the aver¬ 
age price paid for hearse and carriages. 
We have always been led to believe that 
Chicago was a rapid town, yet, it is the 
impossible for any Liquid that Is Sprayed on 
Cow, to protect her from Files, In sun of 100 de¬ 
grees, H as long as “SHOO-FLU” applied with a 
brush.. See “Shoo-Fljr” adv., page 506. this paper. 
if 
big 
hill 
you 
grease 
the 
wagon 
wheels 
with 
MICA Axle Grease 
Get a box and learn why It’s the 
best grease ever put on an axle. 
Sold everywhere. Made by 
STANDARD OIL, CO 
FRAZER c a ,«s E 
BEST IN THE WORLD. 
Its wearing qualities are unsurpassed, actually 
outlasting three boxes of any other brand. Not 
affected by heat, tr OUT THE GENUINE. 
FOR SALK BY DIALERS GENERALLY. 
A Low Wagon at a Low 1'rlce. 
In order to Introduce their Low Metal Wheels 
with Wide Tires, the Empire Manufacturing 
Company, Quincy, Ill., have placed upon the 
market a Farmer’s Handy Wagon, that is only 
25 Inches high, fitted with 24 and 30-lnch wheels 
with 4-inch tire. 
This wagon Is made of best material throughout, 
and really costs but a trifle more than a set of 
new wheels and fully guaranteed for one year. 
Catalogue giving a full description will be mailed 
upon application by the Empire Manufacturing 
Company, Quincy, Ill., who also will furnish 
metal wheels at low prices made any size and 
width of tire to fit any axle. 
^GOOD WHEELS 
MAKE A GOOD WACOM 
Unless a wagon has good wheels It is 
useless. r| PATBin STEEL 
THE tLtbllflb WHEELS 
are good wheels and they make a wagon 
last Indefinitely. They are made high or 
low, any width of tire, to fit any skein. 
They can’t get loose, rot or break 
down. They laatalways-Catalogfree. 
Electric Wheel Co., Box 88, Quincy, Ills. 
Largest manufacturers of 
Steel Wagon Wheels and 
Handy Truck Wagons in 
America* Guaranteed su¬ 
perior to any other make 
writs us 
Metal Wheel Go. 
HAVANA. ILLINOIS 
Cheaper to buy new than repair old— VV H Y ? 
$7,50 buys 4 Buggy Wheel* 7-H In. Sleel Tire 
$8.00 buy* 4 Carriage Wheel* 1 lo. Sleel Tire 
Ui Repairing soon eats up price of new. 
W Our wheels stand the racket. 
3 We give full value for money. 
5!- We can furnish axles and set boxei 
2 properly. Write for new price fist 
0) No. 14 and directions for measuring. 
WILJlIJiUTON WHEEL CO., Wilmington, Del. 
The Farmers HANDY WAGON 
Company, 
SAGINAW, Mich, 
are makers ot 
Low-Down 
Wide-Tire 
TRUCKS. a,.o 
METAL 
WHEELS for 
OH Farm Wagons, and 
All-Steel Trucks. 
Clreulart Frt». 
You need a ‘‘Handy” 
r every day In the year, 
, especially for 
Hauling Corn Stalk*. 
