1001. 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
655 
Hope Farm Notes 
Strawberries. —We have cleaned the bods 
out four times, and still weeds are coming in. 
We know they are not the same weeds, be¬ 
cause the others were picked up and carried 
away to the peach trees. They have more 
relatives than you can shake a hoe at. The 
boys are about tired of strawberry culture, 
especially the plan of “building up” an old 
bed. It is hoe and dig and dig and hoe if 
we would keep the-beds clean. On soil like 
ours, which is naturally suited to grass, and 
which is full of weeds, strawberry culture 
means no end of finger work. I have heard 
people, advocate a course of instruction in 
dead languages for boys, because such study 
gave them self-control and taught them habits 
of application. I'll guarantee that if the boy 
forced himself to keep half an acre of straw¬ 
berries clean Ft would beat all the dead lan¬ 
guages that were once alive as a training for 
self-control. We have cleaned the berries 
and put fertilizer on them. The plants have 
made many runners and look well fitted to 
give us fruit next year that will pay for the 
work. When T hear people tell how easy it 
is to grow strawberries I think they have a 
special location and soil, or else I don't like 
to think about it. 
Preserving Compounds. — A Maryland 
woman .asks these questions: 
“Can you or any of your readers tell mo 
anything about these preservative compounds 
advertised to be used in putting up fruits 
and vegetables, some of which are put up 
without heating? Do the canning factories 
use this compound in corn, tomatoes, etc. ? 
The directions and circulars accompanying 
the same claim them to be harmless when 
used according to directions, but before using 
it I should like to have an idea of what it is 
made of and to know that its effects upon 
the system were not injurious.” a. r. 
The only safe thing to do with these com¬ 
pounds is to let them entirely alone. Do 
not be deceived by the “claims” made by 
those who want to sell the goods. The stuff 
usually contains borax and salicylic acid, both 
of which are injurious to health. In several 
States the laws prohibit the use of such 
drugs in food. I hope we shall soon have a 
National law which will cut off their use en¬ 
tirely. Some of these “compounds” contain 
the drugs we use to kill scab on potatoes, or 
which undertakers use for embalming! If 
you want to know how such drugs affect the 
system send to the Department of Agriculture 
at Washington for a little pamphlet on Dr. 
Wiley’s experiments. The old-fashioned Meth¬ 
odist hot-water treatment is still the reliable 
safeguard against bacteria and sin ! 
Pin Money.—I can understand just how 
the woman who wrote the following note 
feels. The “pin money” question is a hard 
one. We cannot help feeling freer and hap¬ 
pier when we have a little cash to use just 
as we see fit. It often touches me to see 
how people try to hunt for money in odd or 
strange places: 
“For some time I have been trying to de¬ 
vise a means of earning a little "pin money," 
and to-day as I was looking from the window 
my eyes happened to fall on an old stone 
wall banked with the beautiful golden-rod, 
and the thought came to me how greatly it 
was admired by city people and that probably 
they would be willing to pay a fair price for 
it. It could be packed and expressed and 
reach the city as fresh as when gathered.” 
I am sorry to say that there is little or no 
demand here for golden-rod. 1 do not think 
it would sell for enough to pay the cost of ex- 
pressage. City people like to go to the coun¬ 
try and bring back a bunch of golden-rod or 
of forest leaves, but they would seldom buy 
them. There are so many other (lowers at this 
season, and it is so easy to supply the limit¬ 
ed demand for golden-rod that: florists do not 
care to buy it. This is a case like many 
others where country people reason that be¬ 
cause city folks ought to like a certain thing, 
therefore that thing is sure to sell. That 
principle is all wrong. We cannot force our 
opinions or our goods upon the city trade. \*e 
must provide what they call for, or spend 
money and goods in educating them up or 
down to our own standard. We have many 
calls from people who want to sell roots or 
bark for medicinal purposes. Somehow they 
expect to make small fortunes, but they are 
always disappointed at the low prices. Gin¬ 
seng root brings a high price, but that is not 
because it is useful as medicine, but because 
the Chinese have a superstitious feeling re¬ 
garding it. If our friend could make city peo¬ 
ple believe that every one who wore golden- 
rod will find a pot of gold her old stone wall 
would surely be a bank. That would be just 
about as sensin’'' as the present value put 
on ginseng, but who wants the job of making 
people believe such a thing? The ginseng 
growers have the advantage of the “educa¬ 
tion” given the Chinese centuries ago. 
Big Words. —Here is a big subject for big 
people. 
“Is the word ‘gallinocurist’ admissible 
when applied to a breeder of poultry or a pro¬ 
fessor of the science of gallinoculture? You 
might discuss this through the columns of 
The R. N.-Y. Such a word is evidently 
needed. We have such words as agriculturist, 
agronomist, bacteriologist, etc., each express¬ 
ing a particular class. Why not have the 
word gallinocurist?” J. T. C. 
This is too much for me. Every year some 
fraud tries to sell an old book on incubation 
by “Prof. Corbett, Professor of Gallinocul- 
ture.” It is an old book published years ago, 
when incubators were little known. If it 
were offered as a book by John Corbett, the 
hen man, few would notice it, but “professor 
of gallinoculture” has a ring about it that 
rings in the dollars. I was weeding straw¬ 
berries with the boys last week, and somehow 
they got started at those big words. “What 
‘1st’ am I?” asked one boy. I told the boy 
who keeps the hens that he is a “gallinocul- 
turist,” while Merrill, who wants to be a doc¬ 
tor, is a physiologist, and the boy who likes 
birds is an ornithologist, while the other boy 
is a horticulturist! Each boy seemed proud 
of his “ist,” but I noticed that the gallinoeul- 
turist forgot to feed his hens, the physiologist 
drank too much water at dinner and the hor¬ 
ticulturist left plenty of weeds in his row ! 
I will say that hen man. gardener and farmei 
are plenty good enough for me. It may be 
necessary for teachers of agriculture to divide 
up the science into departments and select 
such words, but plain, everyday farmers 
would better leave the “ists” out. 
Fa it Sr Notes.—T he buckwheat is all seeded, 
and now we are working on the rye. When 
this is in, with the grass, our hills will be 
permanently seeded, and I hope it will not be 
necessary to plow them again. The young 
trees are still growing. We are now making 
the last clipping of grass around the young 
peach trees. . . . The Carman peaches 
were excellent this year, of a dark, rich color 
and fine flavor. This is an excellent early 
variety for us, though it is nearly a cling 
here. For market the early peaches are not 
desirable, as they come into competition with 
better varieties from the South. Mountain 
Rose is about the earliest peach that will 
pay us to raise for market, and even that is 
too early for the best profit. I still think 
that on our hills the latest fruit that we can 
ripen will pay best. . . . The young 
roosters have been shut in a small house and 
are making fine broilers. It is much better 
to have them in narrow quarters quietly put¬ 
ting on flesh than to have them running at 
large. ... I took advantage of a rainy 
afternoon to help the boys clean out the hen¬ 
house. It was made over from an old ice¬ 
house, and is full of cracks and corners. 
These make an ideal place for lice and mites, 
and as usual at this season the house swarmed 
with these blood-suckers. The house has an 
earth floor. We scraped up all the rubbish 
and took all the old hay out of the nests. 
The roosts are movable and we carried them 
outside and sprayed them with kerosene. 
Then we took the Niagara gas sprayer and 
pul in a good charge of Zenoleum and water 
at the rate of one quart for two large buckets. 
We let in gas enough to give about 50 pounds 
pressure, took the nozzle and hose inside the 
house and let it go. Every square foot of 
wall and floor was thoroughly sprayed. There 
was pressure enough to drive the liquid, in a 
fine spray, into every crack and corner. The 
nests and roosts were washed out with the 
mixture and fresh hay put in. Next time we 
shall spray with lime and sulphur. No use 
expecting a hen to lay eggs and put on flesh 
while lice are sucking her blood. The boy 
has eight hens and a Wyandotte pullet in one 
house and they lay four to eight eggs per day. 
I often hear complaint, of hens that refuse to 
lay in August and September. I'don't blame 
them, for the lice torture them beyond en¬ 
durance. . . . How about the Alfaua? 
It is still in evidence, but the Crab grass out¬ 
grows it. We keep clipping it. down, but 
somehow the Alfalfa does not seem able to 
get ahead. While it is far behind what I have 
seen the crop do in other places. I am thank¬ 
ful it Is not dead ! 
Uneven Development.— While we have 
l>een soaked with rain and mist other sections 
have been dried up. Sometimes when we look 
out of the window and see the rain pouring 
down it is hard for us to realize that only a 
few hundred miles away friends are looking 
sadly at dried-up crops and parched soil. I 
find it hard sometimes to get the children to 
realize that Nature distributes her favors so 
unevenly over tlie land. To soak in one lo¬ 
cality and burn up in another, with frost in 
tlie valley and green leaves on the hills, with 
one windmill standing still and another 20 
miles away hard at work—it seems hard for 
the child to reconcile some of these things! 
We older folks smile at what we call the 
child’s lack of experience, yet we often make 
worse mistakes iu judging character. I sup¬ 
pose we all know people who are unevenly de¬ 
veloped. Some sides of their character have 
grown steadily, while others have remained 
dormant. We may know a man who has de¬ 
veloped powerful character in some direc¬ 
tions. We strike him from this side and feel 
that we are in the presence of a strong, noble 
personality. All at once we are shocked at 
some foolish or ignoble action which we might 
overlook in a boy, but which we cannot for¬ 
give in a strong man. In such cases I think 
most of us make a wrong judgment, and fail 
to realize what the man’s folly means. It is 
simply the undeveloped boy in him. We ran 
against the manly side of him and formed our 
estimate by it. Then we hit the undevel¬ 
oped boy side and it took the glory out of the 
other! Had we hit the boy side first and 
then had the manly qualities unfold them¬ 
selves we should have more confidence in the 
man. It is safe to say that all of us carry 
a good share of the undeveloped boy and girl 
around with us. If we can realize it and 
keep it to ourselves it becomes a comfort. If 
we shuffle it up with what should belong to 
man or woman and try to pass it all, it means 
discomfort and unhappiness. h. w. c. 
WATER! WATER! 
No matter how heavy the downpour, not a drop of water 
penetrates the farm building roofed with 
REX FHntkote ROOFING 
It is not only waterproof, but fire-resisting, and is fast taking 
the place of shingles for this reason. It can be laid by any¬ 
one; is made of the best material; is better looking and more 
durable than any other roofing known. 
Better write for free samples and our book to-day. It is full of 
points about roofing Send for our agent’s name in your locality. 
''Look for the Boy on every roll." 
J. A. & W. BIRD & CO., 70 India St., Boston, Mass. 
Ensilage & Fodder Gutters 
told direct to the consumer. We have no agents— 
iherefore save you the middleman’s profits. Every 
naebine fully warranted, and trial of same given 
THE KENDRICK 
is the STRONGEST and BEST on the market. 
Manufactured 16 years by 
P TTP. G. J. EMENY COMPANY, Fulton, N. Y. 
iy Send postal for free catalogue. 
ENSILAGE AND FODDER 
GUTTERS 
with Crusher and Shred 
der. Also 1.2 and 3 Horse Tread 
Powers, 2 to 8 Horse Sweep 
Powfers, 5 sizes Grain Separa¬ 
tors, Feed Mills, Hand «*$jd 
Power Corn Shellers, Wood 
Saws, Engines, 3 to 25 H. P., 
Mounted or Stationary, etc. 
Catalogue free. 
THE 3IESS1NGERMFG. CO., Tatamy, Pa. 
The Most Power 
Fearless Kali way llorae Powers. 
W* make them for 1,2, 3 and 4 horaoa, "with epeed 
regulator*. Unequalled for Cutting and 
Grinding Peed, Sawing Wood, Thresh¬ 
ing, Pumping Water, etc. AIbo make 
Thresher*, Engine*, Feed Cutter*,Siloa, 
eto. Illustrated Catalog Free. 
HARDER MFG. CO. f 
Cobleak 111, N. Y. 
for the least money ,for any purpose I 
tho farm,can be secured from o 
$1,000 SEWARD' 
1 for its equal. 'id power I 
rdoubled.£T wo H ft. wheels work on same | 
pinion; second wheel gives more power than 
first. A governor that governs in all winds 
I Develops 10 full h. p. in 25 mile wind. All I 
power needed for farm, shop machinery, pump¬ 
ing, irrigating, etc. for $1.00 a month. Ask | 
I for Booklet40« Ask about Armsaver Husker. 
Double Power Mill CO. t Appleton. WIs. 
$5.00 A Day Saved at Silo Filling Ti 
How? Self Feed saves one or two men and increases capacity 33% per cent- 
The New 
Jointed Ensilage 
UniU Distributer' 
(patent applied for) is improvement over old style hood, 
Baves men in the silo. Th« man at the cutter does 
It all. Two new sizes for 1904. Nos. 14 and 17, built 
like the No. 19 “Ohio” Monarch, heavier, stronger, 
faster and better than ever before. Patented. They 
have deeperthroats, larger-cutting cylinders, more 
clearance. Fill an ordinary silo In one day. Unprece¬ 
dented success in 19031s proven by innumerable views and 
letters from users, in the new catalogue. An “Ohio” Blow¬ 
er will save you the $5.00 a day. Our absolute guarantee 
goes with every machine. We continue to manufacture 
other sizes and styles of cutters and elevators as before. 
The Silver Mfg. Company, Salem, Ohio. 
BOth Year. 
“Modem Silage Methods” ten cents, stamps or coin. 
HENRY B.HYDE 
rOUWDLRj 
J.H.HYDE 
VICE PRESIDENT 
J.W. ALEXANDER. 
PRESIDENT 
r2*£m - 
Storing shall plant 
And autumn garner to the end ot lime " Srowntng. • 
WHEN THE AUTUMN IS" 
of your life arrives, what 
will you gather as the fruit of your 
labors ? 
An adequate Continuous Instalment 
Endowment in the Equitable will pro- 
vide for ever y year of the winter , as 
® well as of the autumn of your life. 
And if you die prematurely it will pro 
vide for ever y year of your loved 
one’s life. 
Opportunities for men of character to act as representatives 
Apply to GAGE E. TARBELL, 2nd Vice President. 
For full information fill out this coupon, or write 
€ • 
The Equitable Life Assurance Society of the United States 
120 BROADWAY, NEW f<)RK Dept. No. 125 
Please send me information regarding a Continuous Instalment 
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Name. 
Address. 
