1904. 
719 
THE 
RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
Hope Farm Notes 
Fakji Notes. —In this Fall's seeding to 
Timothy we put about five pounds of Alfalfa 
seed per acre. It has come up quite well and 
grows rapidly, but we will not talk about it 
till next Spring. The Spring-seeded Alfalfa 
is in fair condition, green and thrifty. Since 
me last clipping the weeds are standing still. 
Here I can see one great advantage of late 
Summer seeding. The Alfalfa will get a start 
of the weeds. . . . The potatoes are all 
out and the ground lias been worked up and 
seeded to rye. I shall try to have every foot 
of ground on the farm covered with a living 
crop through the Winter—all but one field. 
This is a sour, tough old place which has 
been too wet for service. We shall try to 
drain it and plow it this Fall, leaving the fur¬ 
rows turned up to the weather through the 
Winter. Next Spring we can either plant 
potatoes in hills or sow rape for a hog pas¬ 
ture. In working over the potato ground 
after digging we found the disk plow very 
useful. . . . 1‘rices for tomatoes, Lima 
beans and peppers are rising every day, and 
will continue to mount until frost. That is 
where we hill farmers get our innings. Peo¬ 
ple on the lighter sands beat us on the early 
crops, but we have a little arrangement with 
Jack Frost which gives us some days of mo¬ 
nopoly at last. ... On the night of Sep¬ 
tember 15 a fearful wind storm went roaring 
through this section. It shook things up in a 
way to be remembered. I went to sleep ex¬ 
pecting to find most of our beautiful Baldwin 
apples on the ground when morning came. 
There was no nightmare about it, for we 
have done our best for the apples and we 
were not responsible for the wind. When 
morning came some of the peppers were flat¬ 
tened out, but most of the apples were still 
on the tree. One big red-cneeked fellow was 
swinging on a long limb, holding on tight and 
apparently talking to the rest about as fol¬ 
lows : 
“Hang on, gentlemen, and don’t let go. 
We must not go back on this man now. He 
needs us to pay taxes and interest. He lias 
given us a good chance and if. is to our in¬ 
terests as well as his to demonstrate the 
value of this mulch method. If you must 
fall pick out a soft spot to drop on.” 
The wind shook the tree, but the beautiful 
red fruit took a new clinch and hung on. It’s 
a great thing to have such friends at your 
back. . . . We are hurrying such work 
as seeding and potato digging because we 
look for a wet October. Now, while the 
weather is good is the time to get the work 
in the soil out of the way. We must get our 
Winter's wood hauled and things trimmed for 
Winter earlier than usual, as we have some 
new plans for the Winter, which I will talk 
about later. There will be plenty to do— 
peach trees to be mounded up, apple trees to 
be painted, ditches dug, apples picked, squash 
and onions harvested, strawberries mulched 
—there is no end to the work on a farm. 
IIoes From Saws.—W hile I was at the 
New York State Fair I met an ingenious farm¬ 
er who had made a new hoe for one of our 
boys. This hoe was made out of a piece of 
old saw. It is a narrow piece of steel with 
a sharp cutting edge and teeth at eacli end. 
It is an excellent tool for working among 
strawberries or onions. The boys are de¬ 
lighted with it both because it does such good 
work and because it was a present. It gives 
one a sense of power to see that a scratch 
with this light, sharp tool does more effective 
work than a hard blow with a dull heavy hoe. 
The glorious sense of power does not come 
from the results of brute force, but rather 
from the mastery which enables us to harness 
other forces. This hoe lias power over a 
weed because it is sharp and a quick jerk 
cuts the weed off without pounding it out, as 
we do with a big dull hoe. The labor of the 
man who held that sharp edge to the grind¬ 
stone serves us as we use it against the weeds. 
It is not because the steel was once a saw 
that enables it to cut, but because some one 
put labor into it which our boys now harness. 
I have heard of colored people who used the 
blood of a white cat in the hope that it would 
turn their skin white. I have also heard of 
foolish old while men who use the skin of a 
black 'cat. thinking it will darken their white 
hair. They ought to have lived so that their 
white hair would be like a crown of glory, 
but at any rate they are on the wrong track 
if they expect to pass white or black color 
along from cats to humans. Our boys might 
just as well conclude that because that hoe 
was once used to cut wood it now cannot 
help cutting weeds. I think there are many 
people in this old world, farmers and others, 
who have these mistaken ideas of life and 
power. There are some things that can only 
be worked out by labor and self-denial. Ordi¬ 
nary work and patience will not do it—only 
the concent rated toil and will power accumu¬ 
lated through years. When a man gives us a 
piece of a saw made into a hoc the cords of 
wood which the old saw cut avail us nothing. 
It is the wav we keep the edge sharp and the 
rust off our elbow. When ancestors or so- 
eiety give us money, chance or ambition it 
does not matter what they made it from, but 
what we do with it. 
Hidden Treasure. —Somehow I fell to 
thinking of this last Sunday afternoon, sit¬ 
ting on the stone wall at the top of the hill. 
Tlfe children were hunting for four-leafed 
clover plants, still thinking that the plant 
and not the example it sets will bring “luck. 
Old Shep, the dog, sat close to me. He is 
older and knows that there is little luck 
about the attention and home that all of us 
crave. I had been looking off across the 
valley, bevond the last range of which the 
Hudson goes flowing down to the great city. 
I had been thinking of the stories of buried 
treasure I have hoard. In about every neigh¬ 
borhood I have known certain people believe 
that money has been hidden In the earth by 
miser or robber or some one who feared 
thieves. I have known people to go out and 
dig here and there for such tilings, fully ex¬ 
pecting to strike a pot or box of gold. Pos- 
siblv some of the generations\who have occu¬ 
pied this farm in the past hidvtreasure in the 
soil. As I see the big, vigorous cherry trees 
growing along the stone wall I rather think 
they did, for the strip of soil under these 
walls seems to be nearly as rich as a manure 
pile. I see my young apple trees glistening 
in the sun, spreading out their long arms and 
stretching their limbs like a growing boy, and 
I begin to see what would have happened if 
50 years ago some one had started orchards 
as we are starting them now. There are Bald¬ 
win trees on the farm now which will give 
95 to $10 worth of fruit each this year. Sup¬ 
pose the men who planted these few trees 
could have had the faith to plant 1.500 and 
cover the hillsides. lie would not only have 
put this farm far out of my reach, but he 
would have changed the entire character of 
tne country. Instead of the tracts of waste 
land and chestnut timber which l see to-day 
there would lie one great fruit orchard 
stretching off on every hand! From where 
I sit I can see the unfinished reservoir. A 
great corporation is building a dam across 
the neck of a long valley. For centuries the 
little I’ascack Itiver has gone aimlessly along 
roaring in flood or whispering in drought. It 
drained a little valley, watered a few docks 
or herds and turned a few little mills long 
ago. In all its length perhaps $5,000 would 
measure the cash value of its service. Now 
its waters will be held and piped down to the 
thirsty cities below, and I have no doubt that 
during the next 10 years this water formerly 
a waste will bring somebody $75,000,000! You 
see there are hidden treasures in the com¬ 
monest sort of soil and water. Many of us 
hunt for them with the wrong tools.'lacking 
the faith to build for the future.” On the 
whole I am glad that the older owners of this 
farm neglected their orchard chances. Yet as 
1 look at my beautiful young trees I know 
that the San .losfi scale is crawling in from 
all sides. I have also heard the doubters: 
“You cannot get pickers !” 
“You will die before they bear!” 
“The varieties are probably untrue!” 
“The market will be overdone!” 
“The children will leave the farm !” 
Still we have faith that our trees will dig 
the hidden treasure out of the farm—the chil¬ 
dren, Shep and myself. The children have 
faith because they think I have. Shep be¬ 
cause he knows that: his home is assured as 
long as he is faithful and I—well, for much 
the same reason carried on a little higher 
than Shep can ever take it. 
Ann Sorts.—I have never known a season 
wnich brought so many four-leafed clover 
plants. The children find them everywhere. 
They have guarded a few so as to get seed. 
We shall see what they produce. There 
would be real value in a true strain of such 
clover. . . . The old Brahma hen with 
her eight chicks presents a curious study. As 
most of us know, the hen usually gets tired 
of her chicks when they are of fair size. 
They usually separate and apparently forget 
their relationship. The children took great 
interest in old Brahma and drove her, with 
her chicks, into a little house every night. 
When the chicks were large enough to shift 
for themselves the children insisted in putting 
them under the old hen. As a result the 
usual separation has not taken place. Most 
of the chicks are now two-thirds as large as 
Brahma and yet they follow her about and 
apparently mind what she tells them. All 
except poor Crossbill. Her lower jaw is 
twisted to one side. She cannot eat small 
grain—the largest kernels of corn suit her 
and she stays by the corn crib. To walk 
about among weeds and worms is only an 
aggravation to poor Crossbill. The children do 
not want her killed. They would rather feed 
her out of their hands. It is a curious thing 
to see this family keeping oy itself and not 
mingling with the other hens. Here we have 
a fine example for some humans I have known 
in my life! I notice, too, that our White 
Wyandottes seldom keep with the White Leg¬ 
horns when both are at large. I can under¬ 
stand that this is because the breeds are 
very different in habits. You would hardly 
expect the slow and dignified Wyandottes to 
feel easy with the nervous Leghorns. 
I.ast Spring we set out 390 currant bushes in 
six rows. The rows were six feet apart and 
the bushes three apart in the row. The soil 
is hard and stony, and I intend next Spring 
to plant dwarf pear trees between the currant 
rows and mulch the whole surface. Rather 
than have the place lie idle we planted a bill 
of potatoes between each two currant bushes 
and put a row of sweet corn between two cur¬ 
rant rows. It was all well fertilized, culti¬ 
vated and hoed. The currants have made a 
growth of two to 2% feet. We dug about 15 
bushels of potatoes, picked at least 1,000 ears 
of sweet corn and have a good lot of fodder 
for the cows. We can now seed to rye and have 
nearly enough to mulch the trees and bushes. 
This is one way to handle the land near the 
buildings under our plan of putting the hills 
into grass and fruit and crowding the manure 
and the culture upon the lower tields. . . . 
A friend who has become interested in mulch¬ 
ing trees asks if it would not lie a good plan 
to put the cleanings of the chicken house 
around young trees now. No, ‘I should con¬ 
sider it:' a poor plan. Chicken manure will 
force the trees too much and start a late 
growth which we do not want. The trees 
should now stop growing and harden or ripen 
their wood for Winter. With a plain mulch 
of straw or weeds they will do this, but if we 
put on manure now and the next few weeks 
are warm a new growth may start. I would 
use the manure for mulching in Spring. If 
desired to use it this Fall I would scatter it 
on the young grass and grain. It is a good 
rule to k^ep all soluble forms of nitrogen un¬ 
der cover until Spring. h. w. c. 
CUTTERS and BLOWERS 
Bullton the right principle, combining eafet j flywheel, belt pulley nnd 
feeding device. Will elevate easily Into any silo. Also siloe, engines, 
horse powers, threshers and hay presses. Write for our free catalogue.^ 
HARDER MFC. COMPANY, COBLESKILL, NEW YORK. 
ENSILAGE AND FODDER 
CUTTERS 
with Crusher and 
der. Also 1.2 and 3 Horse Tread 
Powers, 2 to 8 Horse Sweep 
Powers, 5 sizes Grain Separa¬ 
tors, Feed Mills, Hand and 
Power Corn Shellers, Wood 
Saws, Engines, 3 to 25 H. P., 
Mounted or Stationary, etc. 
Catalogue free. 
THE MESS1SGEK 31FG. CO., Tatamy, Pa. 
THRESHERS 
FOR BUSINESS 
FARMERS. 
Both Undershot and Overshot Separators from 
one to ten horse power. Our Catalog may 
save jeu money. Wr'te for It to-day. 
ALSO A FULL LINE OF 
ENSILAGE CUTTERS, CARRIERS. 
ENGINES: Tread and Lever Powers. 
ALL MACHINES FULLY GUARANTEED. 
ORANGEVILLE AGRICULTURAL WORKS, 
Orangeville, Fa. 
WINCHESTER 
FACTORY LOADED SMOKELESS 
POWDER SHOTGUN SHELLS 
Good shells in your gun mean a good bag 
in the field or a good score at the trap. 
Winchester “Leader” and “Repeater” 
Smokeless Powder Shells are good shells. 
Always sure-fire, always giving an even 
spread of shot and good penetration, their 
great superiority is testified to by sports¬ 
men who use Winchester Factory Loaded 
Shells in preference to any other make. 
ALL DEALERS KEEP THEM 
Keep them dry and warm by wearing 
the genuine 
Buckskin Brand 
(Not Made by a Trust) 
Rubber Boots and Shoes 
They’ll outwear any pair you ever bought—because 
they’re honestly made of pure, new rubber, guar¬ 
anteed free from cheap adulterations. Don’t be 
imposed upon by shoddy goods. Get the Genuine 
Buckskin Rubber—the boots and shoes with honest 
wear in them. They cost but little more than the 
“cheap” kind, because we sell direct from our fac¬ 
tory to retailers by catalog—no traveling men. 
If your dealer does not handle the genuine Buck¬ 
skin, send to us direct. Wo have a special proposi¬ 
tion for first Inquiry from each neighborhood. 
Send to-day for Free Booklet. 
Banner Rubber Co. 
280 Bittner St. 
St. Louis, Missouri. 
THE MASTER GASOLINE ENGINE. 
An economical 4 H. P., 4 Cycle, dependable, thoroughly well made, and absolutely guaranteed engine. At 
the price we offer this engine, you cannot afford to buy elsewhere. Write fo r pa rticulars. 
THE MASTER ENGINE CO;, 
704 Main Street, ~W illimantic, Oonn. 
THE 
EQUITABLE 
■ r -mn't 
J.W.ALEXANDER. 
PRESIDENT 
J.H.HYDE 
VICE PRESIDENT 
' 1: <! 
S;-*3 
m 
life; 
$ 
A, 1 . 
-V 
HENRY B.HYDE 
IN Tilts . 
IftOR^ 
HARNESS 
THE POWER! 
Why not utilize that 
part of your income now 
going to waste ? 
By taking an Endowment 
policy in the Equitable 
you will protect your 
family and provide for 
your own mature years. 
Splendid opportunities for men of character to act as representatives 
Write to GAGE E.TARBELL. 2™ Vice President. 
m 
For Full information till out this coupon or write 
THE EQUITABLE LIFE ASSURANCE SOCIETY OF THE UNITED STATES 
130 BROADWAY, NEW YORK. 
Please send me information regarding an Endowment for $. 
if issued at.years of age. 
Name. Address. 
Dept. No. 125 
2222S22222S522BSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS2 
