1904 
7 
THK RURAL NEW-YORKER 
Hope Farm Notes 
That Tree Trimming.— People are taking 
great interest in those peach trees that 
were cut back without orders. Here is a 
man from New York State: 
“1 have tried to help you out of your 
quandary as to why any person should 
cut off the tops of so very many of 
your little trees. In the first place, 
it isn't natural for most humans to do a 
great deal of work for the sake of being 
mean. A person in passing through an 
orchard might cut off a few tops, out of 
pure cussedness, but not a whole lot of 
them. But let me ask, do you have any 
of our large white hares in your country? 
t suppose you have lots of the small gie> 
rabbits. Has it occurred to you that hares, 
or even rabbits, can cut off a-large limb, 
twig, branch or scion as smoothly and 
neatly as any knife can do it? In our coun¬ 
try the white hares (Lepus Canadensis) 
can reach up three feet or more and cut 
off a tree as thick as my finger. Is it pos¬ 
sible that these animals have wrought the 
damage? If not, I shall have to give it 
up.” G - c ' w ; 
We have few if any of the large white 
hares, and not many of the grays, as the 
hunters keep them well thinned. I am 
now satisfied that the rabbits did at least 
part of the mischief, though some of it 
seems almost too much like human mean¬ 
ness. I do not know that brutes are ever 
really mean. They follow their natural in¬ 
stincts with no apparent desire to spite 
others. Mari, however, does some things 
which show that he has merely inoculated 
brute instincts with human deviltry. I do 
not know of any milder word to use. A 
friend in Massachusetts in speaking of 
this says: 
••You certainly displayed great modera¬ 
tion when referring to your young String- 
fellow orchard, which some one had gone 
to the work of pruning for you. I am 
afraid I did not show quite so much philos¬ 
ophy when I discovered on r l hanksgiving 
morning that some one had twisted and 
broken one of my young Baldwin trees. 
Such business is certainly exasperating. 
Oh, well, a man gets to be a philosopher 
in time. The uses of adversity ought to 
grow upon one like the benefits that come 
from deafness. The other night I had an 
errand after dark, and two of the chil¬ 
dren wanted to go with me. Each took 
hold of one hand and we plodded off 
through the dark-they chattering over 
some happy little game and I thinking 
over some problem I had in mind. All of 
a sudden the little folks ran round on my 
right side and crawled up close to me for 
protection. It seemed that a dog weigh¬ 
ing about 15 pounds, but with a voice nearer 
a ton in weight, had rushed out of a yard 
and let out a dozen barks and growls. To 
the children this sound was full of terror. 
To me, unable to hear its full volume, the 
noise reached its full value, for the dog 
was just about as frightened as the chil¬ 
dren were. I threw a stone in his direc¬ 
tion and the growl changed to a yelp, and 
he ran for dear life. I once gained a great 
though bogus reputation for courage by 
walking up to a crowd of drunken men 
who were cursing and threatening in such 
a way that I did not hear them. I never 
could make people understand that there 
was no bravery about it. Now all this has 
convinced me that most of our terrors and 
forebodings are imaginary. We would do 
much better to take a calm and philo¬ 
sophical view of life. When some one cuts 
our peach trees we neither help the trees 
nor hurt the man by swearing about it, or 
cursing the hired man or the members of 
the family. If a man has done his best to 
make a good orchard or a good farm and 
some enemy sows tares in the wheat, I 
believe in trying to pull out the tares 
rather than to swear at the enemy's 
shadow'. If I were to get hold of the 
enemy’s substance, however, we might 
hear of another story. I heard of a col¬ 
ored woman once whose husband w r as mean 
•enough to kick his wife—or cut a young 
tree! She asked the minister what she 
ought to do and he advised her to “heap 
coals of fire on his head.” He saw her 
later and asked her how she came out. 
"Well,” she said, “I didn’t have no coals 
handy, and so I used boiling water. 
I presume we all know how the expres¬ 
sion “kicks like a steer” arose. The steer 
is a mild, inoffensive creature whose high¬ 
est ambition is to carry out his purpose— 
which is to eat and grow fat. Fighting 
is not part of his plan, but sometimes he 
is provoked beyond endurance and, not 
knowing what else to do, he lets out a 
kick which, while the most awkward and 
unscientific blow that one can imagine, is 
from its fearful power the most effective. 
A mule may be in constant practice with 
his heels, but a steer will pulverize him 
with one awkward blow'. When your good- 
natured philosopher does kick it comes 
like the blow- of the steer, for it contains 
the combined force of a thousand self- 
denials! 
Bean Straw Mulching.— This letter from 
Illinois interests me: 
"I notice on page 839, last volume, you 
speak of mulching straw'berries with bean 
and cow-pea straw. Have you ever had 
any trouble w’ith your berries making 
buttons w'here you use them? What I 
mean by buttons is small berries with a 
bunch of seed in the center. The old 
growers all say that bean straw or buck¬ 
wheat straw will button the berries. Of 
course it is caused by the berry not fer¬ 
tilizing right, but I cannot see why the 
mulching should make any difference. I 
have a lot of cow-pea straw and some Soy 
bean straw but have been afraid to use it 
on this account.” E - G - c - 
I do not believe the bean vines had any¬ 
thing to do with those button berries, I 
have had such fruit form—as I thought— 
for several reasons. A wet cold season at 
blooming time will sometimes cause it, and, 
of course, imperfect flowers not properly 
fertilized will grow' that way. I have 
known berries to start properly and then 
strike a dry scorching May so that they 
developed little except their seeds. I have 
used cow pea. vines several seasons, and 
always found them excellent. This is the 
first year we have had bean vines to use 
for this purpose, and I fully expect them 
to protect the berries. Of course such 
coarse mulch should be pushed back from 
the plants in Spring. I do not believe that 
bean vines or buckw'heat straw will cause 
berries to “button” any more than baked 
beans and buckwheat cakes will prevent a 
man from sawing wood. 
Home Notes.— Here is some good advice 
about carrying a cat: 
“The next time you want to carry a cat 
get a muslin bag large enough comfort¬ 
ably to hold pussy, provided with drawing 
strings at the mouth. Put pussy in with 
her head out and draw strings just tight 
enough not to choke her, and I’ll guarantee 
you won’t exercise in a railway station. ’ 
Maryland. P. b. crosby. 
You mav be sure I will take that advice. 
I ought to have known about it, but I 
didn’t pack those cats, and had to face a 
situation organized by some one else. That 
has been one trouble with my plans and 
prospects ever since I can remember. 
Others have started things and I have done 
some dodging and dancing to head them 
off or catch them.Speaking of 
cats and dodging, you should have seen the 
wild rush the Hope Farmers made the 
other night to protect Dickie—Grand¬ 
mother’s bird. This little bunch of feathers 
has been through some stormy times. 
When we sat down to supper the Madame 
took the cage off the nail and put it on the 
mantel. It takes a strong shock to break 
the Hope Farmers away from baked beans 
and apple pie, but when the gray cat made 
a jump for that cage we were right after 
him. The Madame was nearest and her 
hand warded off those sharp claws. Why 
will a cat—well fed and petted—sneak and 
prowl about for a chance to strike at a 
bird? I have seen our cats wait for hours 
and crawl at the risk of a back-breaking 
fall to get at a young squab in the barn. 
If I could get a few men to display half 
the persistence in trying to close up an 
illegal rumshop or strike at some other 
evil I believe we could make a dent on 
society. Personally I have little respect for 
a cat. I agree with Maeterlinck that the 
cat is a dwarf tiger who “curses us in her 
mysterious heart,” and "to whom we are 
nothing more than a too large and un¬ 
eatable prey.” .... The children are 
working away at their music. The natural 
character of children will come out in such 
things. One little girl learns quickly, 
fingers for a few moments and then wants 
to stop. To pin her down to it and make 
her practice is to get her all mixed up. 
The other little girl picks away and seems 
to have some little comprehensions of the 
fact that skill is made up of a million little 
motions repeated over and oyer again. One 
boy learns like a flash, but is too indolent 
naturally to practice. Does the Hope 
Farm man mean to say that any members 
of his family are lazy? Why. there are 
certain parts of the truth that we would 
all gladly turn around into the shade at 
times. I have a few natural habits of my 
own which would make some good people 
sigh! The other boy learns slowly and 
can barely grasp one thing while the other 
is absorbing half a dozen. As I watch 
these little folks and see their different 
natures I see what folly it is to lay down 
cast-iron rules for the training of children. 
People get up in horticultural meetings 
sometimes and tell us how to shape a tree— 
yet each tree has a character of its own 
which can only be brought out by the 
hand of the man who loves it. Just so 
with a child. If it is to be developed into 
a good man or woman its natural habits 
must be considered. As our children grow 
older I give up the idea of trying to root 
out bad habits when they once start. You 
may cut them off, but a new bud is likely 
to form under the cut.As for 
music, I am more than ever determined 
that the children shall at least understand 
the rudiments of it. Two of them will, I 
think, do more. When I was a boy we 
used to put wooden rollers on the corners 
of the barn door, so that when the sheep 
crowded in those at the sides would not be 
hurt on the sharp corners. Music will act 
like a roller on many a sharp corner of 
life to prevent bruises on the feelings. I 
would work hard and practice some self- 
denial in order that the children might be 
started in music. I met a farmer once 
who had six children of his own who had 
organized a band. I envied him, the chil¬ 
dren and the music.A number of 
our Christmas gifts this year will be little 
albums made up of photographs showing 
people and scenes at Hope Farm. We 
have taken many pictures with the little 
camera, and some of them are very clear. 
We hope that these little collections will 
carry pleasant memories of the farm. We 
try to make much of our pictures, and. if 
possible, get one of every friend who visits 
us. I often think what a blessing these 
cheap and serviceable cameras have been. 
In spite of all the jokes we hear about the 
"camera fiends,” the little pictures which 
these cheap machines have made possible 
have added untold happiness to country 
homes The Madame bought some little 
calendars at five cents apiece. There is a 
blank space at the top, and some picture 
of Hope Farm put there will bring us to 
memory every day in the year. H. w. c. 
YOUR BUGGY DEALER 
lc A (Vainct lie and we can’t blame 
■ 9 O I a IJ i him much. When you 
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prices direct from our factory and there is no chance 
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We sell you direct o buggy that has 100 Points of 
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that you may be more than satisfied with your bargain. 
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Made 
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Read and Note a Few of the Points of Merit. 
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back. Top —Genuine No. 1 enameled leather quarters with 
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work carried 100 days in pure oil and lead. 16 coats of paint 
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THE OHIO CARRIAGE N1FG. CO. 
H. C. PHELPS, President. 
1239 Sixth Street, Cincinnati, Ohio. 
NOTE:—We carry a full line of high grade Harness 
sold direct to the user at wholesale prices. 
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DRILLING 
MACHINES 
D 
Over 70 sizes and styles, for 
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ff li.i.IAMS BROS., Ithaca, N« X. 
ANDY Bean Picker. 
Hand-picked beans bring double 
r price. Make $2 to 83 a day 
picking them over at home in 
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LUTHER BROS. CO., 
19 Bill SL M. Milwaukee, Wig. 
INCUBATORS 
Prom $6 up. Best reasonable priced 
hatchers on the market. 
Brooder., 4-1 up. None better at any 
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GLOBE INCUBATORS 
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_ FEED GRINDER 
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*19 
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“LEADER” Road 
Wagon — Imitation 
leather trimmed: 
carpet, wrench and 
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description. 
Write for further 
9 
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A special circular quoting our entire lire of 
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Improved 
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Box, 28, Springfield, O* 
$ I O-80 For 
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INCUBATOR 
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110 1 
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EXCEL GRINDING MILLS. 
The Mill that excels them all. Beat 
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TILE DRAINED LAND 
I I L* Ci U M I IM bi Smi ■ « surplus -water and admit the> air to the soli— 
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SSityouYvant and prices. JOHN H. JACKSON. 76 7bird Ave. Albany,N.Y. 
