1899 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
7o7 
HOPE FARM NOTES. 
Changing Around. —It is strange how 
people are forced to change their opin¬ 
ions. I had to think of this the other 
day when studying over some of our 
problems on the new place. When I 
lived in Colorado, the man I worked for 
gave stable manure to those who would 
haul it away. With irrigation, he had 
no use for manure. In Michigan, people 
laughed at fertilizers, and argued that 
dairying and sheep feeding was the only 
rational way of maintaining the fertility 
of the soil. When I came to New Jei'sey, 
I was forced to believe that chemical 
fertilizers were the very backbone of 
many profitable farms. The three crops 
at Hope Farm have shown me the great 
possibilities of cow peas and Crimson 
clover fed with potash and dissolved 
rock. On the new farm, I find that it 
will certainly pay to keep some stock to 
take care of the grass, and keep up the 
lower fields. There were sound argu¬ 
ment and reason for all these opinions. 
I am glad I accepted them, and changed 
my views, for now, on the new farm, I 
see where we can make irrigation, ma¬ 
nure, live stock, fertilizers, cow peas 
and clover, and half a dozen other 
things, very useful. It shows what a 
complicated business farming is. No 
man can lay down any exact rule for 
another, yet almost any sensible farmer 
can give another a suggestion well 
worth considering. 
Naiuiowed Experience. — Unless a 
farmer is careful, he will become fixed 
in his habits. Isn’t that a good thing? 
Yes, when the habits are wise and pro¬ 
gressive. Not all are so. A variety of 
corn or potatoes, or a breed of stock, 
may possess fixed characteristics of 
great value. So long as those habits 
suit our business and conditions, we are 
glad that they cannot be changed. There 
comes a time when changed conditions 
demand a change in method, Dreed or 
variety. Then the fact that the habits 
of the old ones are like cast iron, is an 
objection. We must go outside in order 
to change. As an illustration, take our 
Black hens. They have many excellent 
qualities, but I am forced to admit that 
the purebred Minorca is too tender for 
our damp and trying climate. That 
characteristic is fixed. We can’t change 
it by feeding or care. We found it neces¬ 
sary to breed in the blood of the Brown 
Leghorn to give us a rather more hardy 
bird, and this new blood is not so much 
hardier as to make any great improve¬ 
ment. It is a good deal so with a man of 
middle age. He (Is like a good variety of 
corn or potatoes. He does a certain 
thing well in a certain way, but 
he doesn’t produce many seedlings 
or improved methods, because he 
isn’t “receptive.” He doesn’t let the 
pollen of new ideas or suggestions get 
into his head, and fertilize his habits! 
It ought to make one of these cast-iron 
fellows thoughtful to see how every 
business under the sun 'is changing and 
ripening, and how Nature sets the won¬ 
derful example of improvement through 
outside influence. 
Child’s Questions. —We often speak 
of the ignorance of a child. Still, if a 
man wishes really to see how little he 
knows, he should sit down for half an 
hour, get the confidence of the Bud and 
the Graft, and let them ask him ques¬ 
tions about common things. How simple 
and honest some of these childish ques¬ 
tions are! You think you know it all, 
yet you can’t explain it so that these lit¬ 
tle minds can understand. A man may 
learn wisdom from a child—not from 
what the child tells him, but by reason 
of the mental hustle and exercise needed 
to bring his learning down to the be¬ 
ginning. Now, there 'is where most of 
us fail to connect with the great truths 
of agricultural science. We study them 
and keep climbing up into them, but we 
don’t bring them down and sic them on 
to the small details of our farm work. 
He is a wise farmer who will walk over 
the farm with a little child, and encour¬ 
age the budding mind to ask questions 
about the stock and crops. The efforts 
to answer these questions will be to the 
mind what a course in gymnastics will 
be to the arm or back. 
Potato Pointers. —We have dug 
about 900 bushels, and have about 700 
more to dig, though this estimate may 
be too large. The Carman varieties suf¬ 
fered severely at the end of the season. 
Carman No. 3 is outyielding both R. N.- 
Y. No. 2 and Sir Walter Raleigh. Aside 
from 'its high quality, the Raleigh does 
not begin to compare with No. 3 as a 
main-crop potato. With us, it does not 
set so many tubers, neither does it show 
the vigor of the other.Pota¬ 
toes are crowding into the markets now, 
and prices are lower. A dealer in one of 
our market towns bought several hun¬ 
dred bushels of a farmer at 45 cents, and 
at once put down the price so that the 
whole market was upset. He offered us 
the contract, but we wouldn’t take it 
because we knew it meant a slump in 
trade. A farmer makes a mistake in 
cutting under a fair price at this season. 
The local market will never rally. . . . 
We are making a few contracts with 
private families for their Winter supply 
of potatoes in bushel or barrel lots. The 
average family will consume about two 
bushels of potatoes for each member. 
We will take the full order, and deliver 
as needed. This makes a nice little 
trade which can be worked in towns of 
fair size. 
Oak Timber. —We are to put a big 
cedar tank in the barn on the new place, 
and heavy planks were needed to make 
a firm foundation. There are nearly 30 
acres of woodland on the farm, with a 
fair proportion of White oaks. We cut 
down several trees, and hauled the logs 
to the mill to be sawed into plank. The 
prices paid for oak timber give me some¬ 
thing of a cutting fever. The oak and 
chestnut on these 30 acres are worth 
nearly the face of our mortgage. It is a 
great temptation to sell 20 acres of tim¬ 
ber, wipe off part of the mortgage, clear 
the land and set it to fruit trees! Yet I 
do hate to see one of these grand old 
forest giants throw up its arms and fall. 
It makes a man thoughtful to remember 
that he cannot live long enough to see 
it replaced. When the Madame talks 
about her new carpet, I can easily say: 
“Very well, three of those fine White 
oaks in the woods will pay for it!” 
Short Stops. —We cut the sorghum 
with the mower, and cured it like millet. 
The stock eat it greedily. A second 
growth has started, and this makes the 
finest pasture. In a dry, hot season, this 
sorghum certainly is more satisfactory 
than fodder corn.Our first ex¬ 
perience with Pekin ducks is quite satis¬ 
factory. The ducklings have proved 
stronger than chicks, and have made a 
remarkable growth. It won’t do to say 
that a duck is stupid, for up to 10 weeks 
old, at least, the ducklings have more 
sense for self-preservation than chicks. 
. . . . People smiled at us when we 
rented the old place. The landlord 
had hard work to dispose of it. This 
year’s potato crop has changed all that. 
You see, it isn’t the farm itself but 'its 
reputation—its ability to produce some¬ 
thing, that gives it character. 
I am more and more convinced that it 
will pay the man who knows how, to in¬ 
vest in a farm that has lost its character 
and reputation through neglect and ill 
usage. Many of these farms are well 
located, and naturally good, but tenants 
or careless farmers have abused them so 
that the majority of people consider 
them “run down.” It pays a man to in¬ 
vest some money in them and work 
them up. This can be done in many 
cases so as to pay good dividends. A 
man will buy a poor steer or hog, and 
buy grain to feed it—often with profit. 
Why not buy the poor farm at a low 
figure, and feed value into it? H. w. c. 
BULLETINS BOILED DOWN. 
Wheat.—B ulletin No. S3 of the Kentucky 
Experiment Station (Lexington) is devoted 
to wheat tests. Fertilizer experiments 
and variety tests are given. The largest 
yield per acre was 14.6 bushels, with Kan¬ 
sas Mortgage Lifter, which was also the 
heaviest grain grown, averaging 66 l At 
pounds per bushel. 
The Central Experiment Farm, at Ot¬ 
tawa, Ontario, has published a catalogue 
of trees and shrubs in the arboretum and 
botanic garden at the farm. The list in¬ 
cludes 3,071 species and varieties, giving 
experience as to hardiness, thus forming 
a valuable guide to northern planters. Of 
the species and varieties tested, 1,434 have 
been found hardy. 
Arizona Experiment Station (Tucson). 
—The tenth annual report of this Station 
includes notes on soils and waters, canai- 
gre, crown gall of fruit trees, date palms, 
sugar beets, green manures, etc. Yellow 
sweet clover and Alfalfa proved the most 
satisfactory manurial crops tested. The 
tests with garden vegetables will prove 
very useful to farmers and truck growers 
in that region. 
The interview with Mr. Wm. H. Barnes 
last week recalls the fact that the Kansas 
Horticultural Society has issued a pam¬ 
phlet on the apple. This book of over 
200 pages discusses the apple question from 
almost every point of view. It is, in one 
sense, a Ben Davis pamphlet, yet it gives 
a good deal of valuable information re¬ 
garding other varieties, and the general 
care of this fruit. It is sent out by Mr. 
Barnes, of Topeka, Kansas, and is a good 
advertisement for a lively State. 
The Massachusetts Horticultural Society, 
Boston, Mass. (Robt. Manning, secretary), 
has issued its transactions for the year 
1S99. This society holds a series of valu¬ 
able meetings every year, and at the close 
of the season, publishes the addresses in 
pamphlet form. The present volume in¬ 
cludes the addresses by Prof. Sedgwick, J. 
H. Hale, Prof. C. M. Weed, Prof. G. C. 
Caldwell, W. R. Sessions, W. F. Taber, H. 
W. Collingwood, and others. Taken as a 
whole, this volume is, probably, one of the 
most valuable issued by any of the State’s 
societies. 
Revised Catalogue of Fruits.— This is 
issued by the United States Department of 
Agriculture, Division of Pomology. It is 
an enlarged and improved edition of the 
catalogue sent out two years ago.* It em¬ 
braces lists of the various fruits recom¬ 
mended for cultivation in the different 
sections of the United States and the British 
Provinces, and like its predecessor, was 
prepared by a committee of the American 
Pomological Society.' While this list does 
not claim infallibility, it is believed that 
it will be of value to the planter in the 
selection of varieties adapted to his special 
locality. The price of the former cata¬ 
logue was 10 cents, and we believe this is 
the same. 
Proceedings of the Guernsey Breed¬ 
ers’ ’Association.— This is the title of an 
extremely interesting book of 254 pages, 
published by the Association. This As¬ 
sociation has acted as an ally of and in 
harmony with the American Guernsey 
Cattle Club. The Association was organ¬ 
ized in Philadelphia, February 5, 1884, and 
its present members are made up largely 
of breeders of eastern Pennsylvania and 
New Jersey. This book contains a record 
of the proceedings from its organization 
until the present time. Not only must it 
prove of interest to all Guernsey breeders, 
but there is much matter in the published 
minutes and papers that will interest all 
breeders. The discussions cover such 
topics as breeding problems, beets vs. en¬ 
silage, ensilage, feeding problems, feed¬ 
ing vs. breeding, silos, soiling, testing 
cows, etc. The members of this Associa¬ 
tion comprise some of the best breeders in 
the country. The price of the book is $1 
in cloth, or $1.40 bound in sheep. It may 
be ordered from this office. 
Forest Conditions of Porto Rico. —The 
United States Department of Agriculture, 
Division of Forestry, has issued an inter¬ 
esting bulletin under the above title. It is 
somewhat surprising to learn that Porto 
Rico has extensive areas of denuded land 
which, from long cultivation, the failure 
to apply fertilizers, and, in some cases, 
through erosion, has been abandoned by 
cultivators. This soil is known in the 
English West Indies as “ruinate”—in other 
words, it has been run down by the robber 
cultivator. The reclamation of these lands 
by forestry or scientific agriculture is one 
of the problems now presented to Uncle 
Sam. This bulletin says that there are 
26,650 farms in Porto Rico, or nearly 7.4 
farms to the square mile. The island is 
densely populated, and the whole area, 
with the exception of, probably, less than 
one per cent, is or has been devoted to 
agriculture or stock raising. The forest 
products, though of great value on the 
Island, are not considered of special value 
for export. The main crops are coffee, 
sugar and tobacco, and these appear re¬ 
sponsible for the disappearance of the for¬ 
ests. The coffee and tobacco, as grown 
here, are very exhausting to the land. 
Vermont Feed Inspection.— A law in 
Vermont regulates the sale of cattle foods. 
Speaking of the need of such a law, the 
Director of the Vermont Station says: 
“The farmers of Vermont pay something 
over $3,000,000 a year for grain feeds for 
their live stock. Over 80 per cent of this 
sum is paid for corn, oats, and the wheat 
offals, which are of a fairly uniform com¬ 
position. Several hundreds of thousands 
are spent, however, for the by-products of 
sundry manufacturing processes, such as 
cotton-seed and linseed meal, gluten and 
oat feeds, etc., which are more or less 
variable in composition, and open to adul¬ 
teration. These materials sometimes bear 
misleading names, and their selling prices 
often have no relation to their value as 
feeds.” 
Wheat; Varieties, Breeding, Cultiva¬ 
tion.— The Minnesota Experiment Station 
(St. Anthony Park) issues, in Bulletin No. 
62, a comprehensive account of extensive 
studies in wheat. Among 200 varieties 
tested, Blue Stem and Red Fife proved the 
best in Minnesota. Winter wheat is but 
little grown, and entomologists question 
the wisdom of bringing it northward, think¬ 
ing that Hessian fly will follow it, and 
spread to the fields of Spring wheat. It 
is observed that the average yield per acre 
of wheat in Minnesota is smaller than it 
should be, and the quality is not as good 
as the conditions of soil and climate should 
make it. The Station authorities consider 
that more care should be given to sys¬ 
tematic rotation. It is observed that a 
farm on which one-third of the land is de¬ 
voted to growing grain, one-third to grass, 
and one-third to forage crops, can be kept 
up in fertility, if part of the grain, as well 
as the forage, is fed to stock. Farm 
plans are given, showing a desirable and 
an undesirable system of rotation. This 
is very suggestive, and we think that 
many a farmer might profit by studying 
this point. It is observed that, in Minne¬ 
sota, wheat farming has paid, but not so 
well as general farming, where most of the 
crops are fed to live stock. It is ad¬ 
vised that wheat be grown on a small por¬ 
tion of the farm where it may receive 
higher cultivation. The Station has de¬ 
voted much attention to producing new 
and improved varieties of wheat. 
Westchester County Fair.— The four¬ 
teenth annual fair and horse show of the 
Westchester County Agricultural Society 
was held at White Plains, N. Y., Septem¬ 
ber 18 to 23. The fruit and vegetable dis¬ 
play exceeded that of any previous year, 
and was one of the most complete ever 
made in this section. James Hopkins, of 
North Castle, president of the society, led 
the display in the vegetable tent, with a 
collection of potatoes, which included 
nearly every variety grown in this sec¬ 
tion. Albert Sweet, of Glens Falls, showed 
a pumpkin weighing 125 pounds, a Chili 
squash weighing 100 pounds, and some re¬ 
markably large cabbage. The fruit was 
displayed in the large agricultural build¬ 
ing. The collections of apples were re¬ 
markable, both for the number of varieties 
shown and the size and perfection of the 
specimens. The cattle exhibit was not up 
to the average, but there was a fine show 
of swine. The industrial building was 
well filled with specimens of women’s 
work. The poultry building was filled 
with good stock. Owing chiefly to bad 
weather, the attendance was considerably 
less than last year, but the fair was in 
many respects the best ever held by the 
Society. 
Profitable 
Em-ploymen t 
We want a good 
agent in every town to 
secure subscribers to 
The Ladies’ Home Journal 
AND 
The Saturday Evening Post 
You can make 
good wages and share 
in the $18,000 to be 
distributed among 
the best agents at 
the end of the season. 
The Curtis Publishing Company, Philadelphia 
