■1904. 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
7o3 
Hope Farm Notes 
Farm Notes. —We measured a space 111 
feet long by 66 wide, and dug out of it 51 
bushels of potatoes. That means a little over 
300 bushels to the acre, which is about the 
best yield we have on record. The best yiekl- 
er ttys year is Irish Cobbler, a potato which 
seems well suited to our soil. The scab was 
unusually bad this year. After what I 
thought was a careful examination I reported 
little if any rot. When we came to dig I 
found the rot quite serious and I think it 
will cause considerable loss. While the price 
of potatoes is low now I think it will rise 
later. We shall hold our stock. It is stored 
at present in a shed piled on slats which let 
the air circulate under and up through the 
pile. . . . The ground is very dry now, 
but the rye and buckwheat are up and making 
a fair growth. The grass is slower, but will 
come later. This is no time to plow ground. 
We are glad we got our seeding in early, for 
the soil cannot be well fitted in a drought. 
. . . Corn cutting is beginning in our 
neighborhood, and the crop as a whole seems 
fair—better than last year. We have no corn 
to cut, having given up this crop since we de¬ 
cided to mulch the orchards. We raise noth¬ 
ing but sweet corn. Most of our farmers be¬ 
lieve that corn is one of the most useful crops 
tney can raise, and for general farming I 
think they are right. We have started on a 
definite plan of caring for our orchards with 
as little labor as possible. Thus we seed the 
hills and cut the grass for mulch. Most fruit 
growers plant corn between the trees for sev¬ 
eral years, and thus obtain crops while the 
trees are growing. It seems to pay them to 
do this, but I cannot figure any profit for us 
in it. Every farmer should follow the plan 
which seems best for him—not what is best 
for his neighbors. At the same time no man 
should assume that he knows more about it 
than farmers who have been in the business 
for years. Every new departure in farming 
is a risk after all. ... I have learned 
that fattening pigs are very fond of tomatoes. 
Billy Berkshire and his high-living friends 
gobble the red fruit down with great relish. 
This is what we would expect from the state¬ 
ment that tomatoes are “good for the liver.” 
These pigs are being stuffed with grain, and 
the shadow of the knife is over them. If 
they knew the fate of all their race they 
would refuse to eat, but here they are stuff¬ 
ing on tomatoes in order to whet their appe¬ 
tite for more grain. I know that the anat¬ 
omy of a hog is strikingly like that of a 
human. I have also heard that there is a 
close resemblance in personal qualities. At 
present tomatoes are so cheap that it does 
not pay us to ship them. ... I have said 
that we are trying to establish our orchards 
with the least possible labor. This is not be¬ 
cause we are afraid of work. It is a part of 
my plan to see if one man cannot start and 
care for a large orchard on rough cheap land, 
by substituting mulching for cultivating. 1 
know ah orchard can be storied this way, but 
can it be carried through? 
Fruit Matters. —Every year at this time 
I have letters like the following: 
“What can 1 do for the protection of young 
apple trees during the Winter to keep the 
mice from gnawing them? I lost several last 
Winter by mice.” F. h. 
Michigan. 
We have kept the mice away from our trees 
by throwing a little mound of fresh earth 
around the base just before Winter. Of 
course all mulch or trash should be moved 
away from the body of the tree, because the 
mice rest under the mulch. We move the 
mulch back and then throw two or three 
spadefuls of earth close around the tree. The 
mice do not like to cross open ground to gnaw 
at the bark. In deep snow the mice will 
work at a mounded tree, and as further pro¬ 
tection it may be painted or wired. Linseed 
oil and pure white lead are mixed so as to 
make a thin paint, and this is put on with a 
brush from just below the ground to the lower 
limbs or as high as rabbits would gnaw. This 
is said to keep away both mice and rabbits. 
1 have not tried it myself, but shall use it on 
apple trees this Fall. Another plan is to 
take a strip of fine wire cloth and wrap it 
around the lower part of the trunk. This can 
be fastened with string or wire. ... A 
new cure for Peach borers is vouched for by 
Dr. II. A. Surface, of Pennsylvania. We are 
told to dissolve a pound of caustic soda in 20 
gallons of water, heat it and pour a quart 
around the base of the tree, first removing the 
dirt. It is said that this will really destroy 
the insect. I am also told that the lime and 
sulphur mixture will also kill the borer if 
poured on after the gum has been removed. 
I am going to try the caustic soda, but I will 
let some one else experiment with lime and 
sulphur on the roots. . . . Our little boys 
are getting to be good “mulchers.” They 
have come to the stage when they want to see 
all grass, weeds or trash piled around a tree. 
Whenever they see a man cutting weeds or 
briars and burning them they call it bad farm¬ 
ing—and that’s what it is when there are 
trees to be pushed along. No organic matter 
should ever be burned on a fruit farm ! 
Training the Young.— Beauty, the filly, 
had her first experience with an auto last 
week. We were on our way home, and had 
entered a narrow road wheq. we saw an elec¬ 
tric auto coming rapidly toward us. Beauty 
and Nellie were at the pole, Charlie was driv¬ 
ing, and the Madame, the little girl and I 
were passengers. The driver of the auto did 
his best to get by quietly. Nellie was pre¬ 
pared to let it go with a little snorting and 
dancing, but Beauty's one idea was to get 
away from this horrible thing as rapidly as 
her legs would permit. She reared and 
plunged, and finally Nellie went with her. 
The harness seemed to be all peeling off, and 
the pole seemed pointing a dozen ways at 
once. I looked for a soft spot on the road, 
where if it seemed necessary I could drop the 
Madame and the little girl over the back of 
the surrey. The most foolish thing one can 
do at such a time is to cry out or offer advice 
ito the driver. The lines broke. Beauty got 
them wound around her jaw with one end 
caught in the ring, and this held her until I 
got. out and took her by the head. Luckily 
she did not think of kicking. If she had it 
would have ruined the carriage, the family 
and Beauty herself. In driving her alone 
Charlie has kept a heavy strap buckled from 
the shafts over her hind quarters, and this 
seems to have made her think that every har¬ 
ness is an anti-kicking device. We patched 
up and drove home in safety, thankful no one 
was hurt. Beauty is a sensible creature, and 
as soon as she knows that the auto will not 
hurt her she will stop trying to climb the 
fences to get away from it. We cannot deny 
these horse-scarers the right to travel on the 
road. We must get our horses used to them. 
We can put a stop to the auto-hog or careless 
driver. ... I have spoken of Bessie, the 
French bulldog, and her little black puppy. 
They are “boarders" belonging to Jack. I am 
told that the puppy will bring $75 when it is 
older, since it has a pedigree much longer 
than its nose. I wouldn't give 75 cents for 
it, but I have lived long enough to know that 
value is a strange thing, since it is built on 
sentiment. I really think our children would 
work and earn $5 rather than have one of 
Fatty’s mongrel chickens sold. To think that 
this puppy will bring five times as much for 
petting as Billy Berkshire will for pork gives 
me a variety of thoughts. I see Bessie out 
on the lawn “fooling” with her daughter. 
They drag an old rag or a paper about and 
pretend to fight with it, or roll on the grass 
pretending to tear each other’s throats. It 
seems to me that the older dog is teaching her 
daughter a lot of folly which some trainer 
will take out later with a stick. She is not 
unlike some women who send their child out 
into the world a shining mark for the whip 
of old Brother Experience. My idea of testing 
the value of Bessie and her daughter would 
be to put them down a woodchuck's hole and 
see if they could bring Mr. Chuck out. That 
would be practical service, but it is not in 
their line. They are destined to take the 
part of a child for some lazy woman who 
could if she would help society by caring for 
an orphan. 1 should feel sorry for the or¬ 
phan though, and so perhaps these pet dogs 
have their use in absorbing the curse of idle¬ 
ness and small ideas which such women 
carry. That might justify one in raising 
dogs at $75 a dog. We might figure as the 
ginseng growers do. I can keep 25 dogs like 
Bessie on an acre. Allowing each one six 
puppies a year at $75 each we have $7,.>()0 
an acre; we have provided 300 women with 
pets and perhaps saved 300 children from be¬ 
coming human dogs. But I fear I was not 
cut out for a dog breeder and I will stick to 
Billy Berkshire and Baldwin apple. 
Home Notes. —The Bud, my little girl, has 
gone away for a visit. She has not been feel¬ 
ing quite well for some time. A change 
seemed needed, and so Aunt Jennie took her 
back to Massachusetts. There is no need for 
me tottell what a large hole in the home this 
little girl digs out when she goes away. She 
writes to some of us every day, for the Hope 
Farm folks believe in letter writing. There 
is a strength about love in ink lines which 
holds families together. Our folks stop a 
dozen times a day and wonder what she “is 
doing now.” The little girl writes that she 
is wiping dishes and learning to cook all sorts 
of tilings. Aunt Jennie is a famous house¬ 
keeper, and I would rather have my little girl 
spend a month with her than to study at any 
fashionable school I know of. “I made 
Barker House rolls to-day,” writes the little 
cook, “and they were fine!” I have tried 
hard to get my children to adopt some adjec¬ 
tive other than “fine,” but they stick to that. 
We expect to feast on gems, Parker House 
rolls and other dainties when the little cook 
comes back. It gives the Madame great pleas¬ 
ure to say : “Well, I never felt the least fear 
about that little girl’s behavior!” Of course 
after saying this the mind begins to reason 
out things. Where does this excellent be¬ 
havior come from? The Madame seems to be 
“it,” for the little girl recently said in confi¬ 
dence to Aunt Mary : “I try to be like Father 
and eat apples, but I am afraid I am like 
Mother and don’t like them!” 
But, really, my friends, is it not like a 
crowning blessing of life to have children 
about us that are true? It is some compen¬ 
sation for gray hairs and failing powers to 
feel that we may send our children out into 
the world with confidence and trust. We are 
training them for it all through these years 
of home influences. ... I went to the 
New York State Fair last week, and I am 
sure that at least 40 »eople asked about the 
little boys who tried to run away. It is a 
great pleasure to me to see how farmers re¬ 
gard their home life and the future of their 
children. It does not seem to me that we 
have ever known a time when, in comfortable 
farm homes, the boys and girls received such 
a hopeful and kindly training, it is my con¬ 
viction that 20 years hence we shall find a 
much larger proportion of the best boys and 
girls at home on father's farm. I hope so, 
for there is where they will help their coun¬ 
try. __ H. w. c. 
Fitzgerald Peach. 
K. H. II., Randolph. Vt. —1. Is the Fitzgerald 
peach any good or not? An agent represent¬ 
ing a Rochester, N. Y., firm, was along here 
awhile ago selling nursery stock, and espe¬ 
cially recommended the Fitzgerald peach as 
being perfectly hardy, “will grow where an 
elm or apple will grow,” and would bear 
within two or three years; “a nice large 
peach of most excellent flavor." He would 
only sell two or more, as it was necessary to 
have two to fertilize each other, price 50 
cents each. I did not bite, though a num¬ 
ber did. If the peach is anything as recom¬ 
mended by them it seemed to me that 1 
should have read something of it in the 
papers, but do not remember ever having seen 
anything about it. 2. I have four or five 
peach trees that I raised from pits, being 
two years old ; one killed back but little last 
Winter, the others further, though probably 
they were nearly covered with snow. They 
had no further protection. I have left them 
where they grew. What is the proper thing 
to do with them? Until last Winter I never 
knew it cou.er than 26 below at our place, 
but very much colder in valleys below us. 
Ans. —The Fitzgerald peach is a good 
one, and no humbug about it, but those 
who are selling the trees for 50 cents each 
and with the claim that the trees are as 
hardy as plums or even as apple trees are 
crooked. The price of good peach trees of 
this variety is from five to about 15 cents, 
according to whether sold direct from the 
nurseries at wholesale or at retail by relia¬ 
ble and truthful agents. They are some¬ 
what more hardy than most other peach 
trees, but the claim of these agents for 
their hardiness in exaggerated. Their plan 
of saying “it was necessary to sell two or 
more, so they would fertilize each other,” 
is decidedly fakish. The statement is 
false upon its face. One of these trees 
will bear alone just as well as if there 
were two or more, for their flowers are 
perfect within themselves. If one should 
be defective in point of pollen so would 
be another, for the variety is fixed in its 
flowers as well as otherwise. How could 
nurserymen or their agents grow or select 
trees of a given variety that would be fer¬ 
tile and infertile, respectively? It is a 
nonsensical lie, got up to befog and befool 
the public, and in the end to get money un¬ 
justly. If the claim was for two varieties, 
one might be fertile and the other infertile, 
and thus be mutually helpful. 2. The 
seedling peach tree mentioned as having 
been covered with snow during the severe 
weather of last Winter may be more hardy 
than most other peach trees, or it may not 
be, for the snow was a great protection, 
it might be well to transplant it in some 
good place, or let it stand where it is. The 
chances are that it will bear fruit of only 
average quality, and no better than well- 
known varieties, if as good. 
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A 
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