1804 
349 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
Hope Farm Notes 
Draining Saucers.— I have spoken 01 
ields at the lower part of the farm which 
resemble several saucers put side by side 
in a large dish. These little depressions 
have no natural surface drainage. The 
water runs into them and stays until it 
sinks slowly away. As a result these sau¬ 
cers are cold and wet. The soil is rich, as 
it ought to be after receiving for years the 
drainage from other fields, yet we have 
not been able to use these saucers to ad¬ 
vantage. In wet seasons they are damp 
and spongy—impossible to keep clean. In 
dry seasons they bake hard. Such saucers 
do nothing but hold a cup of annoyance 
to a farmer’s mouth. There is no way of 
finding an outlet for the whole field with¬ 
out blasting through a good-sized ledge, 
so I decided to try a plan that I saw prac¬ 
ticed when I was a boy. That is, to dig a 
aeep well at the center of the saucer and 
'ill it with stones—running ditches into it. 
vVe were able to hire live Italians from 
the new reservoir for this job. They dug 
a hole nearly 10 feet in diameter and seven 
feet deep at the lowest point of the saucer. 
At this depth they struck a soft, porous 
clay that easily lets water through it. We 
dumped 14 big loads of stones into this 
nole—part of them large rocks from an old 
„tone wall. This filled it to a little below 
the point of the plow. Most of the sub¬ 
soil was hauled away to mend the road in 
the lane. Three ditches were dug leading 
to this hole with a sharp grade down to 
it, and partly filled with stones. In dig¬ 
ging these ditches the men threw out 
stones enough to fill the ditch nearly half 
full when thrown back. Here was the 
material for a whole sermon if anyone 
could heed it. These stones all together 
at the bottom of the ditch meant^drainage 
—benefit. Scattered all over the soil they 
meant nothing but hindrance—a nuisance. 
It was like the successful man who con¬ 
centrates his work and the other who 
scatters it all over and gets nowhere. The 
Italians apparently cared nothing for the 
sermon, and I will wait until I see how 
the thing works before I preach much 
about it. I think, however, that it will do 
the business and dry out that saucer so 
that we can work it. The deep soil is as 
black as a hat, and is so close to the well 
that it can be irrigated if need be. I have 
seen a man improved in citizenship by 
taking the wind out of some of his airs. 
Now let’s see what this soil will do when 
we let the air into it. 
Italian Workmen.— This is our first ex¬ 
perience with Italian workmen, and we like 
them. Charlie brought them over and took 
them part way home each day. They 
brought their dinners—usually a big chunk 
of bread, some meat or cheese or an onion. 
They made no trouble, but kept at work 
steadily. They were small, chunky men, 
but the way they threw out the dirt would 
be an eye-opener to many a good-sized 
Jerseyman. They didn’t look it, but their 
ancestors in the Roman army conquered 
the world and led kings and queens in 
chains through the streets of Rome. Still, 
it is likely that those little black-eyed men 
with pick and spade, putting life into the 
soggy soil of Hope Farm, are doing better 
service than their ancestors who cut holes 
with sword and spear. Through some 
strange working out of history Charlie and 
I are for the moment permitted to boss 
these sons of world conquerors, but their 
children may rise above ours if they have 
the character and stamina to do it. If the 
old Romans could have come back to 
sneer at their degenerate offspring for 
changing the sword for the pick so the 
old settlers who cleared this farm might 
come and hoot at us for hiring men to dig 
for us. I suppose these Italians would 
have said they used pick and spade be¬ 
cause they had to, or because they would 
be arrested if they used knives! We would 
have said that tht Italians dug faster than 
we can, and we make more at other work! 
The little boys thought well of the Italians 
until they went by the dump one night 
and saw over 50 ignoble Romans chasing 
a little red squirrel. They caught the lit¬ 
tle creature and killed it. Such men do 
not deserve to conquer the sort of a world 
we have now at least. I imagined that one 
of these men must be named Romeo, and 
1 picked out what seemed the most ener¬ 
getic of them as worthy to carry the name. 
He proved to be the one lazy fellow in the 
lot—thus proving the original Romeo’s re¬ 
mark about the true value of a name. 
One of these Italians could speak fair 
English. The others confined themselves 
to such questions as: 
“Who will paya me da mun?” 
I regret to say that questions and prob¬ 
lems regarding the payment of “da mun’’ 
beat either music or drawing as the “uni¬ 
versal language.” 
Industrial Changes. —We begin to see 
how the building of the new reservoir is 
likely to change farming in this section. 
Any public work or a great factory is 
sure to influence the character of all in- 
lustry near it. A cash value .has been 
given to the labor of a man and team. 
The water company pays $4.50 a day for 
such labor. Can a farmer earn that much 
money working with his own team at 
home? Suppose there are 200 full working 
days in a year! Is a farmer with one 
team sure of an income of $900? If a man 
on a one-team farm cannot make his team 
earn $900. how does it happen that the 
water company can afford to pay it 
What privileges do I get on my farm aside 
from the money I earn? Our farmers will 
be forced to think out these things They 
will find that the coming of this gieat in¬ 
dustry will unsettle all the old-tiiue farm 
plans. Labor will be harder to obtain than 
ever before and will demand a higher 
price. Yet, one of the Italians who dug 
our ditch wants to come' and woik among 
the fruit trees for the Summer. Again, so 
many horses are at work that the local 
price of hay has gone up, and there will 
be a somewhat better demand for our 
local produce. I think, however, that the 
day for what we call old-fashioned farm¬ 
ing has now gone forever from this section. 
I fear that old-fashioned farming cannot 
live in the shadow of new-fashioned indus¬ 
try. It certainly cannot compete. What 
about new-fashioned farming, if there is 
any such thing? Well, I think there are 
still good chances for farming here—better 
than ever before, if we can utilize them. 
My own plan is to put the hills into or¬ 
chards and the lower fields into vegetables 
and small fruit. As the country builds up 
I think it will be easier to hire pickers and 
weeders. I am told that our country was 
designed by nature for the purpose of pro¬ 
viding water for the towns and building 
places for the people. 1 cannot vouch for 
that, but if my farm must go that way 1 
will make it as valuable as I can for 
practical farming before "civilization” gets 
hold of it. 
Farm Notes.— Up to April 15 but little 
plowing was done in our country. A few 
light fields were turned over for early 
sweet corn or peas, but even this soil 
turned up cloddy and stiff. We did little 
beside sow the clover seed, get the hotbed 
started, and make ready for planting trees. 
The fields were staked off and the holes 
dug early. The soil is so wet and cold 
that I consider it wise to dig the holes 
ahead and let what little sunshine there is 
get down into them. The mounds put 
around the young trees last Fall are being 
hoed down level. This is not a heavy job, 
and gives one a good chance to go over the 
trees for scale or frost damage. I find but 
little scale—hardly enough to pay us to 
spray with lime and sulphur this Spring, 
though I shall put the wash on some of 
the trees. ... We find that the rabbits 
killed 51 peach trees in the back orchard. 
Some of the other trees were gnawed, but 
not enough to destroy them. After a care¬ 
ful search I have found only two apple 
trees seriously hurt by rabbits—one of 
these a Ben Davis! . . . We are to plant 
Clapp’s Favorite, Bartlett and a few more 
Kieffer pears this Spring. This planting is 
done “in the brush”—that is, in an old 
field well grown up to brush and trees. 
We cut out a swath with a brush scythe, 
plant the trees in fair-sized holes, and pile 
brush and weeds around them, using a 
small quantity of fertilizer. As we get a 
chance we shall grub up the roots and 
mow down the brush, keeping a fair-sized 
space around the trees clean. We have 
settled upon 16 feet as the proper distance 
apart each way for peach and pear trees 
planted on this method. We do not get the 
growth that we would on cultivated trees, 
and we are able to control the shape of 
the head. . . . There is one good thing 
about these raw days and nights. We can’t 
plow or start crops, but we can build a 
roaring fire in our big fireplace and get 
around it after supper—before the children 
go to bed. There’s comfort for you. One 
of the little boys has a pile of fine wood 
to keep up a blaze, and the way it lights 
up the room is enough to convince anyone 
that if Lincoln used to read by such a fire 
he was in no danger of straining his eyes. 
If I were a novel writer and not a plain 
farmer I could read a whole story in the 
faces of our family as they sit looking into 
the fire. Well. I hope the children will see 
something there that they can carry with 
them all through life. I would not tell 
them how many things I see blaze up with 
the wood—and then settle to ashes with it. 
I hope when they do find it out they can 
realize with me that even the ashes are 
good to start a new tree! 
All Sorts.—T he following questions have 
come among many others: 
“Is the gas tar suitable for sweet corn, 
and will it not hinder sprouting (earliness) ? 
To enrich a small piece of ground having 
no manure shall we sow Crimson clover 
soon? When turn under?” 
We have used the tar on sweet corn. It 
kills some of the seed, and you will have 
to use a heavier seeding than with field 
corn. It also delays sprouting somewhat. 
Do not sow Crimson clover in the Spring. 
This is a cold-weather plant, and even if 
it sorout the first hot weather will cause 
it to bloom and seed, though only a few 
inches high. Sow peas or even oats. Have 
them turned under in July and then sow a 
mixture of Crimson clover and Cow-horn 
turnips, leaving them until Spring. 
Here is one that comes up every year: 
“Is it difficult to propagate and transplant 
the whortleberry? How are these two op¬ 
erations performed?” 
It is very difficult. I have a few plants 
sent from New Hampshire, but we have 
never been successful with them. The 
Maine Experiment Station at Orono has 
published some facts about this which, are 
very interesting. 
Here is one from Connecticut: “What is 
the best kind of clover to sow that will 
yield a good crop same year? I would like 
to sow Alfalfa.” 
Why ask the impossible of any crop? 
Common Red clover comes the nearest to 
it of any I have tried. By seeding right 
and feeding it well you may get a small 
crop in the Fall of the first season. Crim¬ 
son clover is out of the question. I have 
seen Alfalfa in September which looked 
like a fair crop, and which was said to be 
seeded five months before. I have never 
been able to do this, and doubt my ability 
to do it. h. w. c. 
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