1004. 
Hope Farm Notes 
Questions Answered.—A Vermont man 
asks this question about reseeding land: 
“Will it pay to plow up old pasture land 
and fit it for mowing, putting in special mix¬ 
tures for permanent pastures?” F. 1*. d. 
It depends upon the location and character 
of the land. An old pasture is generally a 
tough proposition. Talk about teaching an 
old dog new tricks—such a job would be easy 
compared with turning some pastures 1 have 
seen into mowing fields. 1 do not believe it 
will pay to plow up a pasture, fit it in the 
ordinary way, and sow grass seed. The foul 
stuff iu the pasture would conquer the grass 
before two years. You would do better to 
follow the Clark method and keep the ground 
thoroughly stirred up all through July and 
August, but my experience is that a culti¬ 
vated crop of some sort is best to tame tlie 
pasture. I would plow and fit it thoroughly 
and plant corn or potatoes in hills, using a 
fair amount ot fertilizer. Cultivate it thor¬ 
oughly both ways, and give one and if possi¬ 
ble two good hoeings. You would then have 
the soil in far better shape for seeding. We 
may say what we will about tillage tools, but 
when a man does his full duty with a hoe lie 
tames the old field as it cannot be tamed in 
any other way. Not all old pastures will 
make suitable meadows. Some of them are 
not natural grass lands. They are too far 
from the barn, or so rough and hard to get 
at that it will not lie good economy to cut 
them. We must use judgment about such 
things, and not put our labor into fields that 
will not respond to it. 1 have a number ot 
old fields that might he cleaned up and made 
into meadows, but I think they are better 
suited to orchards, so we plant trees without 
plowing, cut the brush and weeds and pile 
around the trees. This seems to me more 
sensible than to lit them for grass. 
“Loafer Fields.” —That is what I used to 
call those back fields, and when 1 first bought 
the farm my plan was to clean them up and 
(it them for grass. We have done that with 
several of them, hut experience with the 
trees lias inclined me to change my mind. 
'l'he Madame and I have had several discus¬ 
sions as to what constitutes laziness in 
humans. When 1 see young people hang 
about and refuse to work at outdoor labor 
or sweat in the sun—and prefer to live upon 
others rather than do so—1 say without re¬ 
serve that they are lazy. The Madame holds 
that this objection to rough or dirty work 
does not of itself indicate laziness, because 
such people may be willing to work hard and 
long at other kinds of labor. 1 claim that 
the ability to labor with the hands at really 
productive work, or me self-control required 
to force one’s self into such work rather than 
stand idle, is the highest test of strong char¬ 
acter. She thinks that when a person’s tastes 
are all opposed to such work there is no rea 
son whv they should be made to do it. or 
blamed because they dodge it. It is now a 
good many years since the human race were 
commanded to sweat if they expected to eat. 
It may lie that modern civilization has 
changed all that, and made sweating unnec¬ 
essary as well as unpopular, but tne non¬ 
sweaters are always carried by those who 
sweat, though many of the former play at 
“brain work” and imagine that it is superior 
to hand labor because there is less soil about 
it. To apply all tills to my back fields, I 
used to think that the only profitable way to 
reform a loafer (ield was to clean it up in 
suitable shape for grass seeding. .Now 1 
doubt this. A soil that will grow birches, 
cedars or chestnuts can he made to grow 
apple, peach or pear by improving the condi¬ 
tions under which the wild trees grow. I he 
expensive cleaning aud culture are not abso¬ 
lutely necessary. 
Eating Peppers. —I fere is a question of 
another sort: 
“The Hope Farm man writes 
pers. Will he kindly name the 
also tell me how the Madame of 
prepares them for the table?” 
The variety we grow is Sweet 
In yield aud quality we Hud it 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
639 
about pep- 
variety and 
Hope Farm 
T„ L. 
Bullnose. 
excellent. 
Most of the peppers we use are eaten raw " 
cut up alone or with other salads, and sea¬ 
soned with sugar, salt, vinegar or mustard 
to suit the taste. Served in this way several 
of our family can handle four good-sized ones 
apiece. The peppers are also very nice when 
stuffed and baked. 'Die bottom is cut out 
and the “stuffing” filled in. Our folks use 
chopped meat, bread crumbs and a little 
salad dressing. There is no reason why one 
should not use the same mixture used in 
stuffing a turkey. The peppers are buttered 
slightly and baked about half an hour in a 
dish containing a small amount of water. A 
good-sized dish of such peppers with plenty 
of bread and butler aud baked apples make 
a meal far better than some kings deserve. 
Turning and Tossing Plows. —Here is a 
hard one from a farmer who has neither 
money nor strength to throw away : 
“If you could buy but one plow which 
would you get, a walking plow or a Cutaway 
disk on wheels? My horses are old aud my 
fields are stony. I have come to an age when 
it is not easy’to travel behind a plow. 
To answer the question directly I would 
buv the turning plow if I could afford lint 
one If I half an old plow which could he 
used at times I would, with my present expe¬ 
rience, trv the disk. The walking plow will 
do fair work under almost any circumstances. 
'Die disk does fine work in many places, but 
poor work in others. I assume that most 
farmers know how the disk works. It is 
something like a big wash basin with sharp 
notches cut iu the edge, with an axle run¬ 
ning through its center and held down to its 
work by a good weight. As it turns over and 
over the edges and notches tear and kick up 
the soil instead of turning the furrow upside 
down as the plow does. If the wheels are 
kept well oiled aud the depth of the cut is 
regulated I do not consider the draft on the 
disk heavier than that of the plow. I lie 
driver can ride, and does not have to hold the 
plow to the ground. While the turning plow 
bumps and jerks at large, partly hidden 
stones the disk rides over them. t he worst 
places for the disk are in tough, hard sod, 
and where there are many large, Hat stones 
on the surface. The turning plow will work 
under these flat stones and reach the ground 
under them, but the disk passes over them 
without touching the ground, 'l'he disk chops 
and tears up the sod and leaves much grass 
at the surface. If we have the time and 
power to keep at this sod again and again 
with the disk we can kill the grass, but most 
farmers plant corn on the sod, and when this 
is done it is an advantage to turn the furrow 
slice over, smooth it down and plant just 
above the buried grass. Of course this 
grass will start again with such culture, but 
the cultivator and hoes will kill most of it 
out. If after the corn is cut we can work 
tlie stubble with the big disk we shall have 
it in better shape than if we plowed it again. 
Thus on the average farm the turning plow 
is more useful in handling sod. For open 
land or for putting manure or dead weeds out 
of sight the disk is better than the plow. The 
plow was once regarded as the great general 
purpose tool, just as when 1 was a boy the 
old Thomas smoothing harrow was considered 
to be the onlv proper tool for smoothing land. 
We can never get rid of the turning plow, 
for it does some parts of our work better 
than anything else can. The disk beats it, 
however, at other jobs. 
Home Notes. —A stranger entering the 
gate at Hope Farm at dusk the other night 
might have wondered what was up. The sun 
had gone over the hill aud the stars were 
doing duty. A woman stood leaning against 
one of the big cherry trees on the lawn with 
her face covered with her hands. It was the 
Mauame! She was not grieving over some 
fearful loss, but was simply “it" in a game 
of hide and seek. When you act as "it" yon 
are obliged to shut your eyes and count while 
the others hide. Tnen you go out and hunt 
for them, and unless you can get back to the 
tree before the hiders do you are “it" again. 
Supper was over and the older folks had 
joined with the children. It was a sight to 
remember to see the Madame catch Aunt 
Jennie in the woodshed, while Charlie 
crawled behind a rose bush and others crept 
out of various holes aud dens. When it got 
loo dark to play all hands went into the house 
and sat before a big fire in the fireplace. 
The children took turns popping corn and 
passed it around. Merrill has donated a pair 
of andirons that have done duty in the fam¬ 
ily for at least a century. These two old Are 
dogs held up the logs with great dignity. 
They could tell us great stories if they could 
talk. The whole story of human life has 
been acted before them—all the way from tfle 
little children who pop their corn with no 
thought for the morrow to the old folks who 
have yesterday always with them. No family 
is complete without a fireplace and andirons 
with a history. . . . The weather is not 
a subject for talking about just now. Wet, 
muggy and sticky are the words. No wind 
and plenty of work at the pump. Well, it 
makes the grass aud trees grow! . . . We 
have three dog boarders, Bessie, the French 
bulldog and her little son, and Teddy, the lit¬ 
tle hound. With Shop they take dog days 
easily. It is said that a poor man is known 
by tiie number of his dogs, and when this 
quartette appears on our lawn I Imagine that 
people are thinking of taking up a collection 
for us. There is one thing I won’t have, and 
that is a pack of dogs running out to bark 
at passers-by. The farm is a great place 
though for dogs and humans to spend their 
vacations. . . . After much trouble the 
little boys finished the strawberries. That 
was certainly a thing to be celebrated, and 
they wanted to do it in a game of baseball, 
for we shall have to knock out the weeds 
once more before Fall. The game was finally 
made up with the three small boys on one 
sine and Merrill and 1 on the other. Charlie 
agreed to catch behind the bat for both sides. 
We tried to get Philip into the game, but he 
says they do not play baseball in Norway ! 
'Die game was played just before supper on 
Saturday and our side won five fo three. I 
find that I can throw some of my old curves 
still. I recommend work with a brush scythe 
as good exercise for a pitcher. If any old 
ball player will get out with the boys for a 
little while now and then he will recover 
some of liis youth. 
Lost Bovs.—The Madame and I were both 
away from home one day last week. Coming 
at nightfall we were startled to find 
the two little boys had disappeared, 
worked in the berry patch, stopped to 
then did more work and early In the 
afternoon started to play again. No one 
had seen them since three o’clock, 'l'he chil¬ 
dren are never permitted to go away from 
the yard without permission, but these boys 
had certainly vanished. When children go 
wandering about without any restraint such 
things might not cause much alarm, but never 
before had night come upon us without know¬ 
ing just where the little fellows were. 
Charlie had hunted for them on the hill and 
around the buildings, 
that they had started 
Nellie into the buggy 
hear for me 1 started 
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back 
that 
T..ey 
play. 
1 concluded quickly 
to run away. I got 
and with Merrill to 
_ „ .. out. Night was com¬ 
ing rapidly, and Nellie will testify that she 
has not covered the miles so rapidly before 
in years. I stopped everybody we met. but 
no "one had seen the boys. I had become 
satisfied that the little fellows had not gone 
east of the farm aud was just starting back 
to try to cheer the Madame and start west 
when I thought I would try one more little 
town. We were speeding Nellie for ail she 
was worth down the road when just as we 
came to the bridge who should we meet 
tramping in the dirt hut our two little wan¬ 
derers. Both were barefooted, and one had 
no hat. They were ‘headed back for home, 
which thev concluded was the best place after 
all. You “may lie sure that no time was lost 
in getting back over the hills to Hope Farm. 
When the lights came in sight I began to 
shout, and you should have seen the folks 
pour out into the darkness! When they saw 
the Madame and Aunt Jennie waiting for 
them the little fellows began to bawl. 
Well, did we kill the fatted calf and give 
the prodigal children what they desired 
rather than what they deserved? I have been 
advised to whip such hoys “within an Inch 
of their lives." etc., hut can you tie a boy 
to his home by a whiplash? Through that 
long dark ride I asked myself if it could be 
in anv way our fault that the hoys left home. 
After the household had quieted down the 
Madame and I talked it all over. She said 
among other things that all people have a 
desire for freedom. Somehow we crave the 
chance 1o “get away” somewhere—we know 
not where—only to remove from things that 
have grown common. Sometimes a person 
can get out and walk and walk and walk 
nowhere iu particular until the feeling passes 
away and home seems the same again, it 
cannot he said to show disloyalty to home 
and family to have this feeling come. _ 
The next morning we went off alone witn 
the little chaps and talked it out with them. 
They Hied to ,)e htrnl an<1 unyielding at tirst. 
They could not tell why they went away. 
They did not have half as good a time as 
thev expected, and when tlie darkness came 
and other bovs went home it came to them 
with a power’that they never felt before that 
after all “there’s no place like home. So 
thev trudged back to it. I am glad they had 
started home before I found them. \\e told 
them that we did not want anybody to stay 
at I lope Farm who did not feel that it was a 
good home, ft they really were dissatisfied 
with it they might go and we would get an¬ 
other home for them. The end of it saw two 
very sad aud sobbing little hoys who have 
had all the “running away” they will want 
for a long time. It seems to me that to whip 
a child for sucn a performance would he a 
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iB a striking comment 
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l 
I n 
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Geneva Cooperage Co. 
Geneva, 0. 
o 
