1904 
367 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
Hope Farm-Notes 
Tree Planting.— We were all up in lively 
fashion on the morning of April 12. The 
peach trees had come, and we were eager 
to get them into the ground. We don’t 
believe in letting young trees stand in the 
wind while we think about them. We were 
mostly anxious about a little field at the 
back of the farm, which we are to call 
the “Alabama Orchard.” When we came 
here this field was a part of the wilderness. 
We used fire and ax, bush scythe and 
plow and hoe, and, I regret to say, some 
hard words, and finally got it fit for corn. 
This was followed by wheat seeded with 
grass and there is now a good sod on the 
iield. By its side we have another field 
planted to trees right in the brush. We 
shall see if our work at clearing up paid. 
Charlie did a good job at staking out this 
little field 16 feet each way. Then the 
holes were dug so that when the trees 
came we were all ready to put them in. 
As is well known, we dig small holes— 
about 15 inches across and just deep 
enough for the tree to go down about an 
inch below where it stood in the nursery. 
We hauled the box of trees right to the 
field. As fast as a bundle was unpacked 
I carried it to the row where it belonged 
and got the roots right under ground in 
one of the holes. An April wind in Jersey 
is no respecter of a peach tree’s roots. 
Charlie pruned the trees. They were June 
buds, and he cut the tops back to little 
whips averaging about 18 inches. If there 
were good branches low down he left one 
or two with about two buds on them. The 
roots were cut back to stubs long enough 
to anchor the tree firmly in the ground. 
As fast as he cut them the little girls 
carried them to the holes and scattered a 
little dirt over the roots. The little boys 
and I followed and set the trees firmly 
in the ground. The way we did it was to 
hold the tree at the center of the hole and 
scrape good soil around it, working it well 
around the roots with our hands. Then 
pieces of sod, grass down,, were thrown in 
and stamped down hard with our feet. 
Philip and Alex followed with spades filling 
up the holes and stamping them down, and 
throwing sods face down around the trees 
to finish off. The trees were rapidly 
planted in this way, and I think it is, all 
told, the best job of planting we have yet 
done. We shall broadcast, before May 
1, 800 pounds per acre of a high grade 
fertilizer. About two-thirds of the grass 
will be cut and cured for hay, and the 
rest will be piled around the peach trees. 
This field combines a variety test with 
a trial of sod culture. The varieties are 
Crosby, Elberta, Emma, Heath Cling; 
Crawford Late, Levy’s Late, Salway; 
Wheatland, Victor, Belle of Georgia, Car¬ 
man and Picquet’s Late. As payment for 
their services the children each pick out 
five trees in the orchard which they will 
care for themselves. In addition the boys 
have started a little orchard of their own 
near the house. They did all the work 
from marking the rows to planting. Some 
of the trees are a little out of line, as the 
boys forgot to measure the distance from 
one end of the row. I am not quite sure 
whether I should have them change the 
trees now or wait till they grow larger, so 
that the evidence will be more striking. 
Many of our mistakes are due to the fact 
that we measure off one end of life and 
then drive no worthy ambition down to aim 
at. Of course our rows are wobbly. We 
have also planted an orchard of Chair’s 
Choice peaches, one tree at each center of 
a square of four apple trees, which stand 
32 feet apart each way. All these trees 
will be mulched with leaves, grass, weeds, 
manure or anything we can get, and also 
w'ell fertilized. 
A Picnic.— The children worked so well 
in the peach orchard that they earned a 
holiday. They begged me to show them 
how I used to cook my dinners when I 
was a herder in Colorado, so one day 
when Mother had to go to town we started 
for the hill. We carried a frying pan, 
some salt pork and salted fish, some flour, 
and a big spoon and pan. Ida gave us 
the mashed potato left from dinner and 
some pieces of bread. Of course hunters 
in the mountains do not have bread and 
potatoes, but they wouldn’t reject them 
if they were offered. One of the boys 
carried his small ax, and the other the 
air gun. We made our camp by a stone 
wall at the end of the peach orchard. The 
boys put the air gun against a tree in 
plain sight, so that it would be ready for 
use in case the enemy appeared. The boys 
used to be on the watch for the Indians, 
but now it is “the enemy” that does the 
damage! In case this “enemy” appeared 
the boys planned to throw up breastworks 
of stone from the wall. We were to get 
inside, write a note and pin it to Shep’s 
collar and send him home. Charlie and 
Philip were prepared at this message to 
leave their work and run to our rescue. 
As soon as we got to camp the children 
said they were hungry, but there were 
several hours’ work on the peach trees be¬ 
fore our meal could be cooked. The hunt¬ 
ers in the West have to hunt their game, 
and so we hunted for borers and limbs 
that ought to be pruned before cooking 
our meal. 
Labor doesn’t call very loud to the heart 
of a child when its stomach is talking, 
and so we started early to prepare our 
feast. First we found which way the 
wind was blowing by wetting a finger and 
holding it to the wind. The finger got cold 
first on the southeast, so we built our fire¬ 
place with the large opening that way. We 
wanted the wind to blow through it. We 
dug a good-sized hole in the ground and 
lined it with flat stones. Then we built 
up walls above each side of the hole, with 
openings for the air to come in and the 
smoke to go out, laid flat stones across, 
and there was just the place for our fry¬ 
ing pan on top. When we started our fire 
in the hole you should have seen how the 
flame curled around the pan. Of course 
there was much loss of heat and some 
smoke in your eyes, but wouldn’t it he a 
queer hunter to find fault with that? The 
boys went to the spring for water, and I 
sliced the salt pork. The girls soon had it 
sizzling in the pan. I stirred up the bat¬ 
ter for the pancakes and we soon had 
them frying. The children made little 
balls of the mashed potato and fried them 
with the rest. Their hands were not what 
you would call surgically clean, but heat 
destroys all germs! They fried and ate 
ana ate and fried till the batter was all 
gone and there were no pork or potatoes 
to take home. I would not like to say 
how many pancakes those children sur¬ 
rounded. They could eat no supper when 
they got home, and no wonder! Some of 
you good folks may have dined sumptu¬ 
ously that day with all that taste could 
crave, but I’ll guarantee that you did not 
enjoy your meal as we did on that windy 
hill, even though a few chips or leaves 
may have been fried with our pancakes 
and pork. I would like to have some of 
you who are a little weary of life eat such 
a dinner with us and then go home te 
talk it all over before the big fireplace! 
Education.— The little boys used to be 
greatly afraid of the Indians, but now 
"the enemy” is the one to be feared. The 
largest boy came home from Sunday school 
one day with a card which stated that he 
had been authorized to collect one doliai 
for the education of an Indian boy in 
Oklahoma. Philip started the list with 10 
cents. This idea of putting a whole dol¬ 
lar. which the boy knows means a lot of 
toil and sweat, into the education of an 
Indian is enough to clear anybody’s men¬ 
tal vision. When we act as agent to help 
a red boy to grow up into a well-read 
man it is hard for us to believe that this 
boy or any of his race will crawl upon us 
in the field with designs upon our scalps! 
Respect follows the dollar spent on educa¬ 
tion. Put a dollar into a man for some 
worthy motive and we may expect to see 
his dignity rise. Therefore, having some 
of their little funds invested in an Indian’s 
education our boys feel that they no long¬ 
er need the air gun to protect them from 
an Indian raid. As they grow older I hope 
they will learn that “the enemy” may also 
be made harmless through education—for 
example, they will learn how to fight the 
Peach borer and the San JosG scale. 
Farm Notes.— There isn’t much to say 
yet, for the cold winds have our plans 
held up. Tree planting, ditching and haul¬ 
ing manure have been about all we could 
do. The first plowing was done April 16. 
Part of the oats and peas were put in on 
this date, and a strip of Alaska peas for 
earliest crop. The weather seems to be 
clearing now, and we shall soon be at it 
in earnest. The Prizetaker onions are up 
in the hotbeds. We shall not have plants 
enough, and as soon as the ground is open 
we shall drill a few long rows outside 
and transplant later from the drill. No use 
talking of planting potatoes yet. . . We 
feel sure that our experiment in trying to 
drain that big saucer will prove a great 
success. The soil is already drier and 
warmer. We never were able to work It 
early before, but this season it will be 
possible to seed it before May 1. We plan 
to use it for onions next year. We have 
two more fields to ditch when the weather 
gets warmer. The strawberries are coming 
out of Winter quarters in good condition. 
They were left through the Winter in nar¬ 
row ridges with a furrow on each side, 
thus leaving a wider ridge between the 
furrows. Now this will be split with a 
small plow so as to fill the present fur¬ 
rows. Then the space between the rows 
will be made level with a cultivator. This 
bed has been kept going by plowing out 
the old plants each year and leaving the 
new ones. This works quite well, but we 
made the mistake in the first place of 
planting these strawberries before the 
ground was thoroughly cleaned. The grass 
comes in during a wet season before we 
can possibly head it off. We started our 
currants in the wrong place last year. 
Now we are transplanting them to a strip 
of clean land which is to be permanently 
planted to currants, with dwarf pears in 
between. . . . The Madame has discov¬ 
ered that our open fire is a time killer. 
She says we waste too much time looking 
at it. If some of us could kill a little time 
as a sacrifice to honest reflection we 
would be better off. n. w. c. 
What Shall We 
Have for Dessert? 
This question arises in the family 
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baking! add boiling water and set to 
cool. Flavors:—Lemon, Orange, Rasp¬ 
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