1904. 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
783 
Hope Farm Notes 
In Florida. —I shall not try to give any 
“description” of Florida as I saw it in a 
week’s trip. A man might look at a Ben 
Davis and a Greening apple without tasting 
either and then go and praise the wrong one. 
lie should taste them before telling others 
what to buy. It is much the same about 
Florida. The State has been cursed below 
ground and praised to the skies by different 
people, and sometimes by the same people at 
different times. I went, there prejudiced 
against the country, but I now think more 
of it. That may be like looking at the apple 
—wait till we taste it by living and work¬ 
ing there. 
It was cold when we started from New 
.lersey, and the Madame wanted me to wear 
my thick overcoat. I compromised on a thin 
coat. It was useful for about 200 miles 
south, but after that it was a nuisance. 
When I got off the train at Jacksonville a 
man who stood by spoke up for Florida: 
“What did you bring that coat down here 
for?” 
He looked like a northern man who had 
seen ice and snow. He knew that coat was 
needed in the North, but he wanted to adver¬ 
tise one of the great attractions of his new 
State and show that Florida sunshine would 
melt an overcoat. This sunshine is one of 
Florida's best assets, and everywhere the peo¬ 
ple made the most of it. One man argued 
about this way: 
“In this climate clothes cost very little 
for a workingman. A shirt, a pair of over¬ 
alls, a pair of shoes and a hat can be bought 
for $1.50, and there you have a full outfit!” 
The shirt and the shoes came from Massa¬ 
chusetts, the hat from Connecticut and the 
overalls from New York, but it needed the 
Florida climate to make them into a full 
suit! Florida people do well to make much 
of their Winter climate. It is the best part 
of their stock in trade. Each year more 
and more northern people are sure to go 
South for the Winter. To care for these peo¬ 
ple and feed them offers good business for 
Florida farmers. 
Getting There. —Uncle Ed lives some 100 
miles south of Jacksonville. The little boy 
and I were glad to see him standing by the 
station when the train stopped. It had been 
a hot, stuffy ride, for the southern railroads 
seem very economical of cars and pack their 
passengers in like sardines rather than show 
any vacant seats. We left. Jacksonville in a 
pouring rain, but at Uncle Ed's place not a 
drop had fallen. Water was sadly needed, 
for the soil is as white and fine as beach 
sand. That is natural, for what is Florida 
but a great spit of sand tossed up by the 
ocean and blown by the wind? It is simply 
another Cape Cod on a larger scale, with a 
better chance for vegetation, since there is 
no ice. At the point where we stopped the 
country is dotted with lakes or ponds with 
low, sandy hills around them. It looks as 
though some playful giant had gone through 
the country scooping and kicking holes in the 
sand and piling what he removed into low 
hills or ridges. The water has run into 
these holes and made shallow ponds. Some 
of them are connected by little streams or 
canals, while others are like the “pond holes” 
I knew as a boy in New England. These 
ponds are full of excellent fish, and I began 
to see why people say that* Florida “lives on 
fish in Summer and Yankees In Winter.” I 
call that direct evidence of a great truth. 
We have heard it said that fish is brain food. 
Any Florida citizen who can make a profit 
out of what a Yankee is willing to pay for 
what goes into his stomach surely has a great 
head. The soil on the little hills around 
these lakes is pure sand. If I had an acre 
of this sand at Hope Farm I could make a 
fortune supplying masons and builders. The 
surface of the soil is largely covered with 
a coarse wire grass about as digestible, I 
should think, as shingle nails! A thin 
growth of pine trees headed high and with 
few side branches covers the uplands. The 
great majority of these trees have been 
gashed and cut for turpentine. The pitch or 
juice of the tree trickles dowm into these 
gashes, and is scooped out from time to time. 
This, of course, is killing off the trees, hut 
it fills the air with a glorious odor of pine, 
which comes like a healing balm to weak 
lungs and throat. There certainly is a balm 
and delight in the air that takes possession 
of you. You cio not seem to care what hap¬ 
pens in this land of dreams. We know that 
the old Spaniards tramped over Florida 
searching for the spring the waters of which 
gave perpetual youth. They never found it, 
yet now r , centuries later, at least six people 
assured me that “a man cannot die in this 
country—he just dries up and blows awmy 1 
I was told that there was no doctor w'ithin 
20 miles, and no one needed him. Yet so 
close does possible need dog the heels of 
health that the telephone would bring this 
distant doctor in two hours! 
Something Doing. —On the slopes of the 
little hills rising from the lakes orange groves 
are planted. These situations give the groves 
better protection from frost, and the soil is 
best suited to the orange. I had never seen 
orange trees growing before, and I looked 
over Uncle Ed's grove with great interest. 
This locality is far north of the frost line, 
and orange growing is a great gamble ! Ten 
years ago everything was frozen to the 
ground. Before that fortunes had been 
made at orange growing, and people felt se¬ 
cure. In 48 hours the savings of a lifetime 
were swept away. In many cases the hopes 
of life went also. I heard of one case where 
a man had been taking $4,000 a year out of 
a small grove. He did this year after year, 
and yet wiien the freeze came lie did not 
have money enough left to hire a man to 
saw the trees dowm. When asked what he 
had done with the money he said that he had 
regarded that grove the same as he would a 
bunch of Government bonds. It paid him 
an income each year, and he felt sure it 
would continue to do so. That was.where he 
made his mistake, for Jack Frost is on the 
board of directors of an orange grove in cen¬ 
tral Florida. That man was like many others 
who were badly frostbitten by the great 
freeze. Many of them w r ere past middle 
life, not in good health, and all their own 
savings and borrowed money besides invested 
in these groves. No wonder they were sick 
at heart when the blow came. Many of us 
whose crops are so adapted to the climate 
and so varied that frost or drought or flood 
cannot make a total failure cannot under¬ 
stand the desolation and hopelessness that 
fell upon that, country at the touch of frost. 
Some lost hope, and moved away, leaving 
the orange trees to die. Some could not. go, 
but lived on as best they could, unable to fer¬ 
tilize or work The orange trees as was needed. 
A few stout hearts stuck to the trees and 
tried to make them over. They did not know 
just what was best to do, but after the trees 
had stood awhile they sawed them off quite 
close to the ground and let new sprouts come 
up, which were budded or left to grow. It 
seems to me that they would have lost less 
time if they had gone out at once and “dis¬ 
horned” the trees; that is, cut them back 
beyond the frost killing and started them 
again, much as .7. II. Hale did when his peach 
trees in Georgia were frozen. I do not be¬ 
lieve the entire tree was frozen, but naturally 
the frozen part left on injured the rest of the 
tree. The freeze so took the heart out of 
the people that they knew not what to do, 
and so the trees stood still until they were 
ruined. They sprouted from the stump, and 
the present groves have quite changed in ap¬ 
pearance. The trees are low-headed and 
bunchy, and I should think this form an ad¬ 
vantage for orange, as I consider it for apple. 
Tt has now been several years .since a killing 
frost has come to this part of Florida. 
There will* be some fruit this year. Uncle 
Ed will have some oranges and grape fruit. 
He put on all the fertilizer he could afford 
and chased his one-horse Acme harrow up 
and down the grove all through the Sum¬ 
mer. Groves that have not been fertilized 
heavily or worked have made some wood 
growth, but very little fruit. But orange 
growing in this latitude will always be a 
gamble, with .Tack Frost holdins.all the best 
cards. The shadow of the great freeze still 
hangs over the country. The orange grower 
must feel like a man who has been warned 
by his doctor that his heart is defective and 
liable to snap at any time. Still if frost will 
keep off for five years I can see that fortunes 
can be made in these orange groves, for the 
closer you climb to the frost line the better 
the oranges are. Some people believe that 
seven years of famine are to be followed by 
seven years of plenty. There are few young 
men left in the country, and outside of the 
little towns abandoned houses are seen. Per¬ 
sonally I do not expect to try the gamble 
of orange growing. I would be willing to try 
peach, pear and pecans, but I think there is 
more in starting some sort of forage and 
building up a small herd of choice cows, or 
in selling hav. The future of that country 
as I view it is as a Winter home for middle- 
class northern people. They can live com¬ 
fortably there at a fair cost, and there is 
money ‘ to he made in supplying them with 
eggs, chickens, milk and other food. At 
present a good share of the milk used comes 
from ‘tin heifers,” which name is given to 
cans of condensed milk. T will try to tell 
about some of these things from time to time. 
TTome Again. — I left the boy in Florida 
and got back to Hope Farm in good order. 
I came back by train. It is well enough to 
go away from home in the slowest way, but 
when vou come hack you cannot go too fast. 
Our old hill never did seem quite such a 
good friend as it did when I climbed it an 
hour after I struck the farm. Florida has 
her charms, but she never can show such a 
glorious wealth of color as the woods about 
Hope Farm now display. Jack Frost can 
run his paint brush over our woods and do 
us little harm, but if he gave Florida such a 
painting the entire peel of the State would 
come off. Uncle Ed brags about his beautiful 
orange trees, but are they really any hand¬ 
somer than the Baldwins with their long 
strings of red fruit? And yet when the 
north wind howls down the valley and the 
trees stand bare Florida will have some ad¬ 
vantage. That is so, and our folks will try 
to see what there is in working both ends of 
the country. We shall keep Hope Farm mov¬ 
ing. too.' . . . The onions and apples are 
all under cover and most of the onions are 
sold or “spoken for.” They go lively at $1 
a bushel, and seem to carry satisfaction 
wherever they go. That is the best part of 
the sale. Several customers call for small 
onions, but we cannot supply that size. 
While there are not as many very large ones 
as last vear, the average is quite as large. 
-. . We are offering' the “Bird” for sale, 
but thus far no one rushes forward to buy. 
We were badly cheated when we bought her, 
but no one will be cheated who takes her off 
our hands. We point out her defects at once. 
The “thick wind” is the worst. Possibly 
some one wants to make a blind man believe 
he owns an automobile. Let him trot the 
“Bird” along the road until her wheezing is 
at its best and I’ll guarantee a good imita¬ 
tion of a well-loaded auto climbing a hill. 
And yet, old “Bird” has her good points, too. 
. . . The fires have been going in the 
house for some time. These old stone houses 
can hold a vast amount of dampness and cold 
if they try. Even when the air is mild out¬ 
doors‘it pays to keep the fires going. Our 
open fire is a great treat, and we could hard- 
Iv get along without it. I expect to find it 
very comfortable this Winter while the 
Madame and the children are away. Every 
house should have an open fire. It will 
open up family confidences. H. w. C. 
For Cupboard Corner 
SUacobs Oil ; 
Straight, strong, sure, is the best 
household remedy for 
Rheumatism 
Neuralgia Sprains 
Lumbago Bruises 
BacRache Soreness 
Sciatica Stiffness 
Pric*» 25 c. and 50 c. 
INDRUID 
ROOFING 
Requires no Coating or 
Paint. 
Acid and Alkali Proof. 
Elastic and Pliable 
Always. 
Strong and Tough. 
Absolutely Water Proof. 
Climatic Changes Do Not 
Affect It. 
Practically Fire Proof. 
Can Be Used on Steep or 
Flat Surfaces. 
Any Workman Can Put 
It On. 
No Odor. 
Will Not Shrink or Crack. 
Light in Weight. 
Does Not Taint Water. 
Write for samples, prices and 
circulars. 
H. F. WATSON CO. 
ERIE. PA. 
Chicago, Boston. 
Mention R. N.-Y. 
Extension Axle Nuts 
make old buggies run like new; quick sellem; very 
profitable. Our hub covers keep all grit out of boxes. 
Aoknt8 Wanted. 
1IAKDWARK SPECIALTY CO., Box 13, Pontiac, Mich. 
5-TOft 
ALSO P1TIE5S AND SHALLOW 
THU AMERICAN SCALE CO., 
■j Am. Bank Bldg, Kansas City, Mo 
U SE our Loader for hauling 
Hawkeye Co., la. City, la. 
CORN FODDER 
ENMANSHIP, TELEGRAPH 
Bookkeeping, Stenography and Type¬ 
writing thoroughly taught at EAST¬ 
MAN. Outfit for Ilome Study, #5. 
Insure a beautiful hand Situations for 
all graduates. Special offer to write now. 
Catalog free. C. C. Gaines, Box 637, Poughkeepsie. N.Y 
P! 
GASOLINE 
ENGINES 
for pumping or commercial pur¬ 
poses, from H to 28 horse power. 
Also Steam Boilers and Engines,Saw 
Mills. Keed Mills, Cider Presses and 
eupplles. Machinery guaranteed. 
Catalogues free. 
hydraulic press MFG. CO., 
39 Cortlandt St„ New York City. ■ 
rpT 
Western Canada's 
Magnificent Crops 
For 1904 
Western Canada’s wheat crop this 
year will he 60,000,000 bushels, and 
wheat at present is worth Si a bushel. 
The oat and barley crop will also 
yield abundantly. 
Splendid prices for all kinds of 
gTain, cattle and other farm produce 
for the growing of which the climate 
is unsurpassed. 
About 150,000 Americans have 
settled in Western Canada during the 
past three years. Thousands of 
_ FREE HOMESTEADS _ 
of ICO acres each are still available 
in the best agricultural districts. 
It has been said that the United States 
will be fo.ced to import wheat within a 
very few years. Secure a farm in Canada 
and become one of those who will help 
produce it. Apply for Information to 
Superintendent of Immigration, Ottawa, Canada, 
or to 
M. V. McTNNKS, 
Sixth Ave. Theatre Blk., Detroit, Mich. 
H. M. WILLIAMS, 
Room 80, Law Building, Toledo, Ohio. 
Authorized Canadian Government Agents 
WE LEAD THE WORLD 
We are the largest manufac¬ 
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Tire Steel Farm Wagon 
Wheels in America. W* 
guarantee our patent 
Grooved Tire Wheels to 
be the best made by anybody 
anywhere. Write us. 
HAVANA METALWHEELCO. 
SOI 17 HAVANA. ILL 
h 'RIPPLEYS COOKERS 
| Recommended and used by I 
I WIs., Iowa, Georgia and I 
I New Mexico State Kxporl* I 
I nient Stations Mode of j 
I Cast Iron and Heavy Steel. 
I Last for years. Run dairy I 
I separators, cook feed, beat I 
I hog and poultry houeoa, eto. f 
I Heat water in tanka or cook 
I feed 260 feet away. Little I 
1 fuel needed; burns coal, I 
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I No flues to rust or leak or 
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[ cookers in America. Cooker and Breedera 1 Supply catalog froe. [ 
Rlppley Hdw. Co. Mfr... Bo* 223, Crolton, III* 
Eaatern Agents: Johnson A Stokes and Henry K. Mitchell Co., I 
Philadelphia, Pa., Excelsior Wire A Poultry Supply 
Company, New fork City. 
FEED 
Cooker 
Tank 
I Heater 
To Owners of Gasoline Engines, 
Automobiles, Launches, Etc. 
The Auto=Sparker 
does away entirely with all starting and 
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batteries. Can be attached to any en- 
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'Mot singer Device Mfg. Co. 
08 Main Street, Pendleton, Ind. 
Galvanized Steel Tanks 
i for stock Sc storage 
Lowest Prices 
Highest Quality 
300 Sizes Tanks 
I Any size iuado to 
! 
2 Styles Cookers 
2 Styles Heaters 
A postal will bring Cat. of entire line 
B. F. Freeland Sons Co., Box 230 Sturgis, Mich. 
COOK YOUR FEED and SAVE 
Half the Cost—with the 
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With Dumping Caldron. Empties its 
kettle in one minute. The simplest 
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Jacket Kettles, Hog Scalders, Cal¬ 
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THE AIR-COOLED 
GASOLINE ENGINE. 
Weight 350 pounds. Has jump 
spark. This engine requires 
no water for cooling purposes. 
No water jacket-pipe or tapk 
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fan on the exhaust side of 
engine cools it better than 
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THE MASTER GASOLINE ENGINE. 
in poonomlcal 4 H. P.. 4 Cycle, dependable, thoroughly well maae, and absolutely guaranteed engine. At 
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THE MjA-STUlL engine co. t 
704= Street, Wi nim antlo, Conn. 
is a boon to every farmer and fruit grower. The use of S. P. F- CAKBO- 
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33. Groscho < 1c Oo., 27 Sit., 3XTew Yorlxi. 
" • ■ - “- 7 
IT AW AY TOOLS FOR LARGE HAY CROPS. 
- Clark’s Reversible Busn and Bog Plow, cuts a track i ft. wide, 1 ft. deep. W1U plow ft 
new cut forest. His Double- Action Cutaway Harrow Keeps the __ 
land true, moves 18,000 tons of earth, cuts 30 acres per day. 
Rev. Disk Flow cuts a furrow 5 to lOin. deep. 14 In. wide. 
AU these machines will kill witch- » - - 
grass,wild mustard, charlock.hard- 
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ior any foul plant. Send forcir lars.l 
CUTAWAY HARROW CO.,’ 
Higganum, Conn., C. 8. A. 
