1899 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
595 
HOPE FARM NOTES. 
Early Apples. —There is one strong 
and vigorous apple orchard near the 
house on the new place, which turns out 
to be of early varieties entirely. There 
are many Red Astrachans. Many of 
the old farmhouses in Bergen Co. have 
these early apples planted around them. 
In years gone by, these early varieties 
were profitable, but now they barely 
pay for picking. The fruit markets have 
been all upset of late years. Up to a 
few years after the War, Bergen County 
had the entire New York market for 
about 10 days of strawberries, and dur¬ 
ing the early-apple season. That has 
all gone now. Delaware, Virginia and 
Maryland pour the finest of early apples 
into our markets, and the trees that did 
so well for the old-timers are now of 
little value. I have sold the whole 
apple crop for $50 on the trees. It is 
worth far more than that, but we shall 
have more than we can do to handle 
the potato crop on the old place, to say 
nothing of a dozen things that should 
be done. No more early apples for us. 
Red Winter apples for Hope Farm! I 
think of grafting some of these early 
trees to the best quality late varieties— 
for family use, so as to leave the com¬ 
mercial orchard, which we hope to set 
out, for business apples entirely. 
Major’s Revolt. —I spoke last week 
of hitching three horses to the Hoover 
potato digger. We put Major in front 
of Frank and Dan, with a long chain 
back to tbe front of the machine. The 
old horse decided at once that this was 
too hard a job for one of his years. 
He balked and turned around until 
Uncle Ed got on his back with a good- 
sized switch. Then ,ne old fellow found 
that he had to pull, and he went down 
that row like a good one. At the end, 
they unhitched him for a moment to 
bring him closer to the work. He 
glanced over his blinders at that digger 
like an old man looking over his spec¬ 
tacles at some dreaded job. Then he 
shook his head and started across the 
field, on the trot, for the barn. The 
Madame caught bim in the yard. Ac¬ 
cording to her insight into horse na¬ 
ture, Major reasoned about this way: 
“This machine is too heavy for my old 
bones. They don’t put much value on 
me, and they won’t look after my com¬ 
fort anyway. My partners are young 
and strong, and they are too dull to 
know enough to strike. If I make a 
row and show that I won’t work too 
hard, they may give me a few cuts with 
the whip, but in the end, they will 
either drop me out or get another horse 
somewhere to help us. I’m going to re¬ 
volt for the sake of my companions— 
and myself!” 
The Madame has been reading a story 
by Miss Wilkins called “The Revolt of 
Mother,” which seems to have given 
her some strong notions about the re¬ 
wards for woman’s work on the farm. 
Old Major carried his point. We hired 
another horse. If thoughts could kill, 
he would have died a dozen times as he 
ran across that field. I would like to 
know what you think about the sin of 
mental profanity Qr that expressed by 
the eyes instead of the tongue! 
Potato Digging. —We have tried the 
Hoover with four horses abreast. It 
works first-rate with this power, clean¬ 
ing out the potatoes perfectly, and 
At the Fairs 
we always meet old friends of the 
paper who wish to renew their ac¬ 
quaintance and subscriptions. Where 
we cannot attend ourselves, we de¬ 
sire to make arrangements with some 
other friend of the paper to repre¬ 
sent us. Perhaps you are just the 
man to do it. Will you? If so, write 
us, giving date and place of the fair 
you will attend. We will send you 
terms and samples. 
The Rural New Yorker, 
New York. 
leaving them on top of the ground. It 
is not afraid of vines, grass or weeds, 
but goes wherever the horses pull it. I 
am told that some farmers use it with 
one good team—throwing out a single 
load, and then resting the horses. I 
can see that this might be done in 
some cases where the potatoes are shal¬ 
low—in light soil—but with deep plant¬ 
ing in grassy soil, the work is too much 
for such teams as our farmers use. I 
Bke a machine of this sort, because it is 
only a question of increasing the power 
to make it work satisfactorily from the 
easiest to the hardest conditions. 
Studies of Growth. —An observing 
man can find some very interesting 
things in a potato field. We have the 
R. N.-Y. No. 2 growing side by side 
with Rural Blush. The tubers on the 
No. 2 are crowded up together in a bunch 
on the stem, while the Blush tubers are 
often two feet apart on the same plant! 
One would say that the Blush has a 
much larger feeding ground, and ought 
to give a larger yield, especially in a 
dry season, The No. 2, however, with 
half the vine surface, and its tubers all 
crowded together, will usually outyield 
the other. June Eating with us plants 
its tubers down deep; quite different in 
this respect from a variety like New 
Queen. For this reason, I think June 
Eating is one of the surest of the early 
varieties, and one of the hardest to dig. 
With almost every variety, I find here 
and there plants that continue to grow 
after the bulk of the crop has died. 
These great vines usually produce many 
small tubers, which begin to rot quickly 
at a slight bruise. Why do these plants 
grow so late? This season gave a sec¬ 
ond growth to most of our potatoes. 
The drought nearly stopped their grow¬ 
ing, and the later rain started it again. 
On the long, slim varieties, this pro¬ 
duces many fantastic shapes making 
unsalable tubers. The round, or 
chunky varieties are of much better 
shape. They disposed of the second 
growth to better advantage. Some peo¬ 
ple put the second growth of middle life 
all on the stomach, while others dis¬ 
tribute it well! 
A Water Supply. —There is a beauti¬ 
ful spring on the new farm on a hillside, 
with quite a fall 'to the house. I ex¬ 
pected to have this water piped down 
so that we might have a living stream 
through house and barn. The cold fig¬ 
ures of cost, however, have frozen this 
project. We would need 1,350 feet of 
pipe, which costs now an average of iB. 
cents a foot. This with the cost of 
ditching and laying and other expenses, 
is too much for us now. Iron piping has 
risen to an outrageous price. A few 
months ago, tnis pipe could have been 
bought for less tnan six cents. All 
forms of iron and steel are fainy jump¬ 
ing—on the consumer’s pocket book. I 
now expect to build a stone house over 
the spring, and leave it as it is for the 
present. We shall, probably, bore a 
driven well near the buildings, and 
when we are able, run the water as 
seems best to various points. There 
are several driven wells around us. In 
one case, they struck water at 40 feet, 
while at 92 feet, the pump gave 100 
gallons per minute. With an engine on 
the pump, this can be used for irriga¬ 
tion. I want a supply large enough to 
use for this purpose, if necessary. 
Farm Food.—A friend in Alabama 
read about our picnic dinner on the new 
farm, and sends the following: 
The Hope Farm man’s account of his 
picnic on the new farm, and his bill of 
fare, was amusing. Following he will find 
a recipe of an “old Virginny” Brunswick 
stew that I advise him to try on his next 
outing, if he and “the Madame” have not 
a better one; but this recipe should go 
down to posterity, so here it is: Boil a large 
fat hen, or two large Spring chickens, or 
four fat squirrels—red or fox squirrels pre¬ 
ferred—until you can extract the bones 
easily. Add 12 roasting ears cut off fine, 
one peck of tomatoes or more, one-half 
peck of okra, one quart of butter beans, 
and one quart of peas mashed well, two 
large onions chopped fine, green red pep¬ 
per, black pepper and salt to the taste. 
Boil until done, stirring well. It should 
be of the consistency to eat with a fork. 
I,et him try and report. Make of fat 
ducks, slack off the tomatoes, and increase 
the okra, and you have a black terrapin 
stew. 
Some of our folks have water in the 
mouth at the mere reading of that rec¬ 
ipe. “Every man to his taste!” I 
was brought up on mighty plain food. 
When I was a boy, I suppose we had 
corn-meal mush, fish balls, baked beans 
or fried pork 350 days out of the year’s 
365. One of this solid quartette, with 
bread (mostly brown) and fruit and 
vegetables always stood ready to carry 
us on. The Cape Cod Yankees never did 
hanker much after stews and “mixed 
victuals.” Instead of getting tired of 
this plain diet, I had my “feeding hab¬ 
its” pretty well fixed, and simple food 
suits me still. As to eating a squirrel, 
well now, to tell the truth, I would just 
about as soon eat a baby! However, I 
haven’t a word to say against any one 
who likes “Brunswick stew,” and our 
folks expect to try it. I won’t com¬ 
plain if I can have a couple of ears of 
sweet corn, bread and butter and sev¬ 
eral baked apples. The rest may divide 
the stew among them. The Madame 
makes an apple sauce with about 20 
per cent of crab apples, that ought to 
make almost any reasonable human be¬ 
ing reconciled to his fate. h. w. c. 
NOTES ON EARLY MATURING FRUIT. 
Part II. 
Kieffkr Pears— We have several 
Kieffer pear trees that were planted in 
the Fall of ’96. These trees bore a good 
lot of fruit last season. They are plant¬ 
ed near the Bartlett and Seekel varieties. 
We think that this had a good influence, 
for the quality of our Kieffers last sea¬ 
son, when thoroughly ripened, was as 
good as that of any Bartlett we ever ate. 
In fact, the flavor was so much like the 
Bartlett that many thought they were 
eating the Bartlett pear instead of the 
Kieffer. Among these Kieffer trees, we 
have examined one of the most produc¬ 
tive bearers. On August 7, it had over 
150 pears on it. We see no reason why 
these will not mature, when we shall 
have at least one bushel of fruit from 
this tree, which is 10 feet in height. 
Near by, in adjoining rows in the 
same field, are trees of Seekel, Bartlett 
and Sheldon, planted at the same time 
with the Kieffer. The Seckels are bear¬ 
ing 15 to 20 pears each, while the Bart¬ 
lett and Sheldon trees nave only 10 to 20 
each. I make these comparisons to show 
the early-frniting capabilities of the 
Kieffer as compared with these old 
standard varieties. However, I would 
not think of planting a large pear orch¬ 
ard without setting a large per cent of it 
to Bartlett and Seekel. 
One of the surprises of the season is 
found in the dwarf pear trees. We have 
many hundreds of these only four years 
old from the graft—Angouleme, Seekel, 
Bartlett, Kieffer, Sheldon and Anjou—all 
bearing more or less fruit. The Seekel, 
however, is bearing at least four times 
as much as any of the other varieties, 
except the Kieffer. It really seems in¬ 
credible to see these little Seekel trees, 
planted where they are now growing in 
the Spring of ’98, bearing from 10 to 20 
pears. The trees are not more than 
four feet in height. The dwarf Kieffer 
trees near by were planted at the same 
time, have made a much more vigorous, 
upright growth, are about five feet in 
height, and many of these trees are 
bearing from five to ten pears. 
This little experience with dwarf pear 
trees shows very forcibly their value for 
those who are desirous of obtaining 
choice pears in a short time after the 
trees are set. I would not wish to de¬ 
ceive any one by giving the impression 
that he could depend to a certainty on 
getting pears from his dwarf trees the 
Impossible for any Liquid that is Sprayed on 
Cow, to protect her from Files, In sun of 1U0 de¬ 
grees, as long as “SHOO-I’LI” applied with a 
brush. See “Shoo-Fly ” adv., pagoSOli. this paper. 
first season after planting. I am stating 
only what I have accomplished without 
any extraordinary care, cultivation or 
stimulating, for the trees are growing 
closely together in the rows, and have 
not had the opportunity that they would 
have had if planted solely for fruiting in 
the regular orchard system. I feel safe 
in saying that three-year-old dwarf pear 
trees will, under ordinarily favorable 
conditions, bear a fine lot of fruit the 
second year after planting, and produce 
quite a full crop the third year. The 
dwarf trees are very desirable for many 
gardens, as they may be planted six to 
eight feet apart in the garden or along¬ 
side the walks. They require little more 
room than a well-developed currant 
bush. 
Ben Davis. —I have a good word for 
the much-abused but grateful Ben Davis 
apple. We have a tree on our grounds 
that was planted only six years ago. In 
’97, when the tree was only four years 
old, we gathered from it a trifle over a 
barrel of apples. Last season, we had 
few apples of any kind in this locality, 
and this tree had only a few apples on it. 
This season, it is nicely loaded, and will 
from present appearances, produce two 
barrels of fruit. In contrast, the Bald¬ 
win planted at the same time and in the 
same row, is bearing this season for the 
first time 10 or 12 apples. The Ben 
Davis is certainly the apple for quick re¬ 
sults, and my judgment is that it will be 
a profitable commercial fruit for many, 
many years to come. This .tree has re¬ 
ceived very good, but not extra care, is 
15 feet in height, and measures seven 
inches in diameter two feet from the 
surface of the ground. t. j. dwyer. 
Orange Co., N. Y. 
A header in New York State asks 
whether the English horse bean is tiie 
same thing as the southern cow pea, and 
if ‘either one of them will be suitable for 
use in the silo, mixed with corn. There 
has been some little talk of late about 
cutting beans, cow peas and sunflowers 
into the silo with corn, in order to make 
the ensilage a little higher in protein. 
Prof. J. L. Hills, of the Vermont Experi¬ 
ment Station, sends the following note 
witli regard to the horse bean and tlie cow 
pea: “As the plan of using beans or peas 
in connection with corn in the silo finds 
few advocates among those who have 
really tried it, it seems to be pretty well 
settled that the best use to make of nitro¬ 
genous fodders like clover and cow peas, 
is to cure them and feed them dry.” 
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