1904 
24i 
Hope Farm Notes 
Farm Notes.— Those who have been un¬ 
fortunate enough to have digging to do tell 
me that the ground is frozen between three 
and four feet deep. One of our water pipes, 
which we put over three feet deep, seems 
to be frozen solid. How the surface- 
rooted trees can live in such ground is 
more than I can see, and I believe that 
thousands of them are dead. A tree must 
have at least a little water during tne 
Winter and early Spring, and the deep¬ 
rooting trees with tap roots below the 
frost line have by far the better chance. 
The ground is still solidly frozen. While 
most of the snow has gone except in the 
hollows and along the stone walls, there 
is a coat of thick ice over all sloping or 
dishing spots. One would think this would 
be the worst possible thing for the grain 
and newly-seeded grass, yet I do not find 
much evidence of damage. The Crimson 
clover in the Baldwin orchard is beginning 
to show up. Of course I know that the 
real test will not come until the upper 
surface thaws and then freezes again and 
again. Still, I am hopeful that the frozen 
ground will not do us so much damage 
after all. On the old meadows I feel quite 
sure that the deep frost insures us a good 
start for the grass. ... It will be a fine 
time to put the mulch around the young 
fruit trees just after the upper surface 
begins to thaw. The mulch will prevent 
the soil from thawing out too rapidly, and 
thus keep it moist. True, it will hold the 
tree back somewhat, but considering the 
damage from late frosts, I consider this 
a good thing. My young trees were banked 
up for Winter—except a few that the boys 
forgot—and which the mice did not forget. 
When the weather becomes really settled 
we will hoe down the little mounds around 
the trees and put the mulch back—not 
close up against the tree, but in a circle 
a little out from it. ... I have never 
known a Winter when so little outside 
work could be done. Our ridge is right in 
the track of a fierce wind, and for weeks 
at a time it was impossible to do any out¬ 
side work in comfort. There has been 
much to do indoors. We are changing 
things about somewhat in the house. Sev¬ 
eral floors are about gone, and new ones 
are being laid. The kitchen floor got so 
rough that the women folks got their 
fingers full of splinters every time they 
scrubbed it. Now, Charlie has laid a 
smooth floor of hard pine that will make 
scrubbing a soft job. I have always 
wanted a big open fireplace. The one we 
have had isn’t half large enough for our 
big family thoroughly to toast their shins 
in concert. So we are making over what, 
we call the middle room. Charlie knocked 
down the plastering and left bare the old 
rafters. These will be boxed in. At one 
side of the room we shall build a big fire¬ 
place of brick and round stones picked up 
about the farm. I want this fireplace large 
enough to roll a good-sized log in. Then 
we can sit without any lamp and watch 
the fire snap and crackle. There won’t be 
any cider to put a red-hot poker into, but 
there will be a row of apples for those who 
like them roasted. I’ll take mine cold. If 
some one says that the Hope Farm man 
will make his family lazy around that fire, 
I will answer that nothing in this wide 
world is better for a family than to bring 
them around such a fire for a little while 
every night. The best farm crop is the 
family. 
Farm Plans.— With the ground frozen 
solid and the fierce wind blowing plans are 
likely to have the hollow heart. Ours are 
quite simple this year. As I have often 
explained, our ambition is to turn Hope 
Farm into an orchard of apple, pear, 
quince and peach. We shall have some 
plums and cherries, but only as side is¬ 
sues. It takes time to develop such things, 
starting as we did with a rough hilly 
farm with a few old trees—mostly sweet 
apples. While the orchards are growing 
to bearing size we grow what seems best 
without regular rotation. The actual cul¬ 
tivation is all done on the lower part of 
the farm—perhaps 10 acres out of a total 
of 90. The hills are put in grass as fast 
as we can get them well seeded—some 
fields are so rough and poor that they 
cannot well be seeded. In such fields we 
use fertilizer for the trees, and throw 
weeds, brush and even small stones around 
them. Where the grass is well seeded we 
use fertilizer freely and will cut part of 
the grass for hay; piling the rest around 
the trees. I am sorry to take any grass 
away from the orchards, but feel obliged 
to do it for awhile. We will haul much 
of the manure back. If I can get Alfalfa 
started on a few acres of the lower farm 
my stock will be provided for, and then I 
shall leave all the hay to rot on the ground 
around the trees, or to be eaten by hogs. 
I hope to live to see the day when every 
square rod of Hope Farm except the house, 
grounds, two acres of garden and half an 
acre each of strawberries and currants, 
will be covered with fruit trees. We shall 
never, if we can help it, ship anything but 
No. 1 fruit away, and never the best to 
a glutted market. We expect to have a 
small canning outfit for the fruit that will 
not keep, and a small evaporator for the 
apples too good for the hogs and too poor 
for the humans who want the best. That 
is what we are aiming for, but no one 
knows better than I do what a rocky road 
leads to it! With such a plan in view we 
cannot carry on regular farming, but must 
get our income as we go along. This year 
we have strawberries to sell—a good mar¬ 
ket for fence posts if we will cut them, a 
fair crop of apples in sight and a pros¬ 
pect for peaches. There will be some hay 
to sell, probably a good lot of pork and 
the garden crops, which will consist mostly 
of egg plant, peppers, pop corn and onions. 
As soon as the frost permits we shall start 
ditching three fields that are so wet that 
they have long been a running eyesore. I 
intend one of them for a Bartlett pear 
orchard. As a preparation we shall sow 
it to oats, peas and rape as early as pos¬ 
sible, and let a drove of active shotes feed 
it down. Thus our plans are quite simple 
—to try to obtain a fair income from 10 
per cent of the farm and the wood lot, 
while the remainder is growing into an 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
orchard. Many will say at once: “Why 
do you not grow cultivated crops among 
your young trees?” That has been done 
by others, but our plan is different, and 
we want to stick to it. 
Stock Notes. —I finally sold the black 
calf. She was big. and strong, but as 
nervous and unruly as her grandmother 
Julia. The children at first wanted me 
to raise the calf, but after it gave a few 
exhibitions of its skill at bunting they 
rather lost interest in it. Nervous energy 
is a very useful quality, and I like to see 
it in others, but there is such a thing as 
having too much of it. This calf brought 
$10.25 for veal—a good price.The 
horses are coming through this hard Win¬ 
ter better than ever before. Major, as the 
Graft remarked, has “taken a new leaf 
out of life.” I never saw the old fellow 
so gay. We have had him seven years, 
and thought he was about ended when 
we bought him, but here he is frisking 
about still. He must have seen what 
happened to Johnnie when that old veteran 
became depressed and lost interest in life. 
The Bird, our thick-winded specimen, is 
still on deck and old Kate is as anxious 
as any to have Spring crawl into the barn¬ 
yard. The filly. Beauty, has had as dull 
a Winter as any. She has been out very 
little, as the ice gave her a poor footing, 
and we have taken no risks with her. 
She is worthy of her name—a beautiful, 
kind-eyed creature that gives great prom¬ 
ise of speed and endurance. The Madame 
thinks of driving the filly every day when 
the weather grows warmer. I hape she 
will. I sometimes wish I cared for a 
horse as some people evidently do. but I 
regret to say that for ordinary journeys I 
would rather walk than ride—which is cer¬ 
tainly better for my weight.The 
little boy’s three hens laid 11 eggs in seven 
days. I shall give him a few more to care 
for, and see if he takes to this work. We 
need a good hen man, although Hope Farm, 
is not a good place for poultry—too windy 
and cold.After much thought 
and figuring I have about decided not to 
try the breed test of hogs this year. The 
cold Winter has upset many of our plans. 
Brood sows of good quality are higher 
than usual this Spring, and I have not 
been able to obtain animals that would 
have made the test entirely fair. Again, 
there is no doubt that you are at a dis¬ 
advantage when you try to raise little pigs 
without skim-milk. A man with a large 
dairy or near a creamery can do that 
cheaper than I can. This year, therefore, 
while I may buy a couple of good sows 1 
expect to depend largely on good shotes. 
I expect to be able to buy some good 
young Berks and also a few Chester Whites 
of fair breeding, and possibly some Poland 
Chinas. I expect to keep accurate ac¬ 
counts of weights and cost of food, and 
possibly this will be as fair a comparison 
as it would be to buy the sows, although 
the shotes will cost more than home- 
raised pigs would. It must be understood 
that what we want of a hog is to run in 
the orchards and fields, eat apples and 
growing crops, and with a fair amount of 
grain make 125 pounds of lean solid pork. 
I don’t intend to stuff him in a small pen, 
but part of his business is to eat the in¬ 
sects that fall in the apples, and give fair 
cultivation around the large trees. I find 
a hog’s mouth a great addition to a spray 
pump. Though you may root prune his 
snout with a ring he will do some culti¬ 
vating. 
Alfalfa Bacteria.—H ere we have a 
common question about Alfalfa: 
“What benefit would you get from the 
200 pounds of soil from the New Jersey 
Experiment Station, where Alfalfa has 
grown, in seeding Alfalfa?” f. a. w. 
New York. 
I have tried to explain this several times. 
It has been demonstrated to my satisfac¬ 
tion that germs or bacteria have much to 
do with the success of Alfalfa. Unless 
these germs are present in the soil the 
Alfalfa cannot grow properly. As no Al¬ 
falfa has ever been grown on my farm I 
feel quite sure that these necessary germs 
are not present. By using the soil from 
a field where the Alfalfa has succeeded I 
expect to get them started in my soil. T 
will admit that I never saw any bacteria 
in my life, but I fully believe what the 
scientific men tell me about it. I accept 
the “evidence of things unseen” by me, 
for I know that the wise men look through 
compound microscopes. H. w. C. 
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