162 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
March 
HOPE FARM NOTES. 
In Farm Poultry, for February 1, the 
editor, Mr. Hunter, takes his broadax, 
and chops our little experiments at Hope 
Farm into sawdust. The main trouble 
seems to be that we said that November 
and December are the idle months for 
old hens. They certainly are with our 
hens, but Mr. Hunter proves to his own 
satisfaction, at least, that we are in a 
bad “ rut ”, and that his hens and those 
of others who follow his advice work 
like slaves in these so-called “idle” 
months. Here is a fair sample of it : 
It is the common “ rut ” idea that 80 or 90 eggs 
per year, and 11 profit, are all that can reason¬ 
ably be expected, and we want particularly to 
impress it upon our readers-tbat the difference 
between the $1 profit hens and the $3 profit hens 
lies wholly in that November and December egg 
account. Take birds that are bred for layers and 
fed for layers, and which are giving us a 50-per 
cent egg yield in November and December, and 
we get from 150 to 175 eggs apiece in a year, and 
$2.50 to $8 profit apiece in a year; but, allowing 
the birds to be idle in November and December, 
we get but 80 or 90 eggs apiece In a year, and per¬ 
haps $1 a year profit. That is a very simple 
mathematical proposition. The November and 
December eggs sell at the big prices which pay 
the “ creamy ” profits, and those high prices and 
creamy profits are wholly due to the fact that 
nine-tenths of the fowls are making “idle months” 
of November and December. It is ridiculous to 
assume that those months are naturally idle 
months. With stock that is bred for layers and 
fed for layers, there is no more need of those 
months being “ idle months ” than for a railroad 
to be idle in those months, or for the sun and 
moon to be idle; and we accuse. Mr. C. of being 
false to his trust in preaching that those are idle 
months, because, by so preaching, he is foster¬ 
ing and encouraging the idea that those months 
are normally idle. 
Now we don’t purpose to get into any 
controversy over this matter. It wouldn’t 
pay, for our friend Hunter knows it all, 
and we are beginners—feeling our way 
along. Some of these smart fellows are 
born poultry men, but mxst of us have to 
be made by hard experience and costly 
experiment. We are coming, however, 
and when the year is over, we shall give 
results and state accurate figures. If he 
wants an argument, however, he might 
tackle the following note from one of 
our readers in Maine : 
I have just been reading Mr. Hunter’s article 
in Farm Poultry, February 1, criticising your re¬ 
mark that November and December were not 
egg mouths among the average farmers or 
breeders. Now there are some figures I would 
like to have explained. He says that he wants 
particularly to impress upon his readers that the 
difference between the dollar-protit hens and the 
three-dollar-profit hens lies wholly in the Novem¬ 
ber and December egg account. That is, the hen, 
to earn the difference between $1 and $3, must do 
it in November and December. Those two months 
contain 61 days. He bases his article upon a 50- 
per cent egg yield, which would give about 30 
eggs per hen. For these 30 eggs to sell at $2, they 
must bring almost seven cents each, or about 80 
cents per dozen. Does the average farmer have 
this fancy market? Or, looking at it from another 
standpoint, the hen must lay an egg every day for 
60 days, and those eggs sell at over three cents 
each to earn the $2. How many of Mr. Hunter’s 
hens lay so well ? In our market, eggs touched 
30 cents for a few days. Our pullets' eggs were 
too small in size to get that price, and the high¬ 
est price we obtained was 26 cents. Few have 
the special trade enjoyed by Mr. Hunter or Mr. 
Wyckoff, and must take the market prices; but 
we would like to add to our pens some stock that 
can earn $2 per hen in November and December. 
F. C. CURTIS. 
We would certainly like to have some of 
those S3 birds. There are none that we 
know of within reach of Hope Farm. We 
would like to know when these wonder¬ 
ful hens go dry, anyway. 
Another thing — Mr. Hunter doesn’t 
like it because Hope Farm is run on a 
small and modest basis, quite in line 
with the operations of the common 
farmer with limited capital and average 
ability. Here he comes again : 
In The R. N.-Y. for January 15, Mr. C. says: 
“ At Hope Farm, we try to conduct operations on 
a scale that is quite within reach of the every¬ 
day farmer who has but little capital, and has 
moved along certain fixed lines for the greater 
part of his life.” To what end, pray, is Mr. Col- 
lingwood doing this ? The fallacy of those “ cer¬ 
tain fixed ” lines has been proved over and over 
and over again. Why not tell the farmer that he 
is dead wrong in his “ fixed lines,” and that if he 
will throw away his old scrub hens, clean up and 
whitewash the old foul fowl house, and raise 
some early-hatched pullets that will reach lay¬ 
ing maturity in October, he can just as well get 
175 eggs a year with a 50-per cent egg yield in 
November and December, as to stay in those 
“ fixed lines ” of November and December being 
idle months. Others are doing it, and any farmer 
can do it. 
We are sorry that we can’t change our 
plans to accommodate our friend. We 
expect to stick right to the line we have 
marked out. We hope to reach those 
great 175-egg hens some day, and we 
think that we are on the right track, 
though it may be a long one. “Any 
farmer can do it! ” If that is true, there 
are few of the folks in our part of the 
country who get within gunshot of their 
possibilities. What is the use of our 
telling the farmers that they are “ dead 
wrong,” etc., when thousands of them 
won’t listen even to Brother Hunter ? I 
often hear these scientific men talk at 
farmers’ gatherings. It does seem as 
though the average man ought to know 
all about it when these men sit down ; 
but, somehow, a lot of their wisdom fails 
to stick. Why ? Because the wise men 
are too wise or. rather, not wise enough 
to get down to the level of the every-day 
life of the every-day man. They don’t 
seem to realize that their wisdom must 
be tempered by experience before they 
can steal away a man’s prejudices, and 
put inspiration in their place. Some¬ 
times a man goes through the fire him¬ 
self. and only succeeds in burning away 
the sympathy for others which would 
have made his wisdom priceless. Hope 
Farm is a humble, little place. We have 
nothing to brag about, and haven’t yet 
bought any horn for blowing. All the pub¬ 
lic will ever get out of it will be the 
truth—the facts about the efforts of com¬ 
mon, every-day folks to improve a run¬ 
down farm, with a limited capital. 
XXX 
Wk have had so much poultry talk 
lately that some other matters have been 
neglected. The Crimson clover is look- 
(Continued on next page.) 
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CREW 
THOSE 
HANDSOME PLUMS 
The R. N.-Y. said: 
“Handsomest ever 
seen.”—September 18, 
Page 614. 
which made such a sensation in leading New England markets the past season. 
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THE BUTLER & JEWELL CO., Cromwell, Conn. 
ARE YOU IN DOUBT"”SV E , TO 
In these times with so many catalogues, each claiming to have the best, many are in doubt where to 
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PEACH TREES (75 varieties); STRAW¬ 
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JOS. H. BLACK, SON & CO., 
Village Nurseries, - Hightstown, N. J. j 
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WEST JERSEY' NURSERY CO., Bridgeton, N. J. 
FITZGERALD 
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A large stock of the above at a low 
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A, D. PRATT, 
NURSERYMAN, 
ROCHESTER, N. Y. 
TREES.' 
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C. F. MacNAIR & CO., Dansville, N. Y. 
JAPAN PLUMS 
Large stock of best 
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Plants. Get our prices before ordering elsewhere. 
Catalogue free. Established 1869. 150 acres. The 
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DC API! TDCCC First-class Trees, 3 to 4 feet, 
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1,000 Peach Trees y b * d ar 2 
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Sample prepaid, 25c. Other sized trees proportional 
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E 
VERGREEN 
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D C IT OJHut.FruHind 
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TREES 
i'fb, x luibi. y unite, Liicrry,__ 
Peach, 3c. Don't buy before you 
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P each, Pear and Plum Trees; Raspberries, Black¬ 
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Shrubs. Write me for special prices. 
C. L. YATES, Nurseryman, Rochester, N. Y. 
New Brunswick Nurseries^sx".. 
Ornamentals. See our new Price List; sent free. 
EDWIN ALLEN & SON. New Brunswick. N. J, 
Peach Trees 
a specialty. Other 
stock, too. Don’t 
buy without first seeing our catalogue. Send for it, 
W. M. PETERS, Wesley, Md. 
