542 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
August 14 
HOPE FARM NOTES. 
I have never known the time when 
so many oats were grown in our part of 
New Jersey as were grown this year. 
Most of them were intended for early 
cutting for oat hay. Our own crop was 
cut and cured nicely, and made excel¬ 
lent fodder. The constant rains have 
spoiled many fields. Smut has hurt the 
grain, and the straw is now too hard for 
good fodder. We intended, as soon as 
our crop was cut, to work up the ground 
and start another fodder crop. The con¬ 
stant rains prevented this, and it was 
July 31 before the ground was fit for 
seeding. The stubble was worked twice 
with the Cutaway after scattering two 
loads of manure on the thinnest parts of 
the field. We then broadcasted six bags 
of basic slag and two bags of kainit, 
and worked it in with the Acme. A thin 
seeding to German millet followed with 
Crimson clover somewhat thicker than 
usual. Another working with the Acme 
followed with the teeth as fiat as possi¬ 
ble. We hope to cut a fair crop of mil¬ 
let, and leave a good stand of clover for 
the winter. 
X X X 
A farmer in New Jersey plowed in, 
this spring, a heavy crop of Crimson 
clover on land intended for wheat this 
fall. He wants to spend $3 an acre for 
fertilizers. What shall he buy ? There 
is a general idea that Crimson clover 
will supply all the nitrogen needed for 
most crops. So it will on some soils, 
but at Hope Farm, we should use some 
extra nitrogen if we expected a full 
crop. In the case mentioned, we would 
use four parts of dissolved rock or basic 
slag, and one part each of cotton-seed 
meal and muriate of potash. With dis¬ 
solved rock at $14, cotton-seed meal at 
$21, and muriate of potash at $42, a ton 
of this mixture would cost a little less 
than $20, and $3 will give about 300 
pounds per acre. For our soil, this 
would answer very well with a crop of 
Crimson clover, and we should expect 
fair wheat and grass from it. We are 
satisfied that our soil needs large quan¬ 
tities of potash. The mixture given 
above will analyze about one per cent 
of nitrogen and 6% each of phosphoric 
acid and potash. On some soils, it would 
pay to use five parts of dissolved rock 
instead of four. 
X X X 
We formerly considered the Minorca 
a dainty and somewhat delicate breed of 
poultry. This summer’s experience, par¬ 
ticularly during the past three weeks, 
has shown us our error. We have Leg¬ 
horns, Plymouth Rocks and “scrubs” 
besides the Minorcas. The pen of Black 
Business birds have had no shelter but 
an open shed made from an old well 
house. They have been soaked again 
and again, yet they have kept on laying 
and turned up each morning good 
natured and cheerful. The constant wet 
has certainly tested the vigor and char¬ 
acter of the breeds. The Plymouth 
Rocks run first for shelter when the 
rain starts, and the Leghorns are close 
behind them. It is a common sight on a 
rainy day to see the white and speckled 
birds huddled together in the large 
brooders, while the blacks are out in 
the fields hunting for worms. We have 
found nothing quite so startling as the 
growth of a young Minorca’s comb. The 
boys evolved the plausible theory that 
the combs that turned over indicated 
pullets, while the straight-up combs in¬ 
dicated roosters. It made them thought¬ 
ful when their lop-over birds began to 
crow and fight! 
X X X 
One of our readers thinks Hope Farm 
must be a poor little place, with small 
7 
( You must have just one neigh¬ 
bor or friend who wants 
The Rural New-Yorker. 
Then just call his attention to this 
suggestion: We will send him the 
paper for the rest of this year for 
25 cts. 25 cents. 
To 
Jan. I 
Next 
for 
business transactions. That is true. We 
have 35 acres of about the poorest soil 
to be found in northern New Jersey. It 
was originally a fair sandy loam, but 
former tenants have abused it for years. 
The buildings and equipment are quite 
ordinary. We are not attempting any 
fancy farming or putting on any polish. 
It might be easy to borrow money and 
make a fine showing, but that is not 
what we are after. Our heaviest crops 
thus far have been health, hope and 
weeds. Every dollar invested must 
bring back, at least, $1.06 if possible. 
We started with two theories. One is 
that we can double the productive ca¬ 
pacity of this poor soil, and do it at a 
profit by the use of chemicals and clover. 
The other is that such a farm offers in¬ 
dustrious and capable young men a 
better opportunity than they are likely 
to find in town or city. We hope that 
our readers will be interested in some of 
the plain doings of plain people. Much 
of the work that is done at our experi¬ 
ment stations is of benefit chiefly to 
large farmers or those with abundant 
capital. The same thing is largely true 
of the farming done by wealthy men. 
At Hope Farm, we are trying to make 
use of the ideas of the scientist and the 
rich farmer, but to modify and adapt 
them to the requirements of a small 
cash capital. We deal in small things 
at the beginning, but so do nine out of 
ten farmers in this country. Let us all 
try to grow, and make our business 
larger. 
X X X 
When we came to Hope Farm in April, 
we found the usual number of broken 
down fences of rail and wire. Every 
little field was fenced in, and along each 
fence was a strip of ground about 10 
feet wide grown up to weeds and briers. 
The first thing we did was to pull up 
every inside post and rail and haul them 
to the house for fuel. We have not yet 
bought a pound of coal, and there is 
a six-months’ supply of wood yet on 
hand. We have one pasture field well 
fenced and can grow a soiling crop near 
it and throw it over the fence. The 
strips where the old fences stood contain 
the best soil on the farm—the only soil 
that had not been sucked clean. This 
fall we shall break these strips up and 
sow grain on them. Thus far they 
have served as weed breeders. 
X I I 
On June 7, we planted 880 hills of 
Hubbard squash, or pounds of seed. 
With hills six feet apart each way, this 
required about three-fourths of an acre. 
The land is light and poor, and grew 
corn last year. The location is a gentle 
hill-side sloping to the northwest After 
working up the soil with the Cutaway, 
we broadcasted 600 pounds of basic slag 
and 200 pounds of kainit and worked it 
in with the Acme. All the hen manure 
we could scrape together was put in 
the hills, and when that gave out, we 
used a large handful of Mapes potato 
manure. The lice and striped bug worked 
on the young plants, but the stronger 
plants outgrew them and left a good 
stand. Tobacco dust appears to hold 
the striped bug in check. The piece 
was cultivated regularly with the “ Iron 
Age ” as long as we could get through 
without injuring the vines. On July 29, 
after 15 days of almost constant rain, 
we scattered Crimson clover seed over 
the whole patch and gave it a thorough 
weeding and hoeing. It will now be left 
alone until the squashes are harvested. 
Squash is a new crop for our country. 
No one seems to raise it, though nearly 
every one in town seems to eat it. We 
notice that most of the vine fields on the 
farms about us grow up to weeds when 
cultivation stops. We see no reason why 
Crimson clover should not grow in place 
of the weeds. We have seeded the melon 
field by scattering the seed on the sur¬ 
face of the ground. Part of it was sown 
in the midst of the heaviest shower of 
the summer. We would have liked to 
sow it just before the last cultivation, 
but the constant rains prevented that. 
The clover sown in the mud of the corn 
field is making a good growth, but is 
uneven. 
X X X 
We made our first picking of Crosby 
sweet corn on July 22. This corn was 
planted April 16, but was checked by 
the freeze in early May. The soil is 
thin and poor, and we used 400 pounds 
per acre of Mapes complete manure with 
10 percent potash in the drill. Evidently 
this was not enough. On the poorer 
streaks in the field, the ears will not all 
fill out. The quality is excellent ; in 
fact, when grown on light land with an 
abundance of potash, Crosby is equal to 
Evergreen in quality. We retail these 
ears at 10 cents a dozen. Wholesale 
prices have run thus far from 50 to 80 
cents per 100 The next picking will be 
from Shaker’s Early and Early Mam¬ 
moth. 
X X X 
Eggs are sold in our market, not by 
the dozen, but a certain number for a 
quarter. Just now, “ 12 for a quarter” 
is the store price. In June, the quarter 
bought 19 eggs. In December, it will 
buy only six or seven. With ordinary 
hens and ordinary care, there is most 
profit in May and June eggs—at least, 
that seems to be the story told by our 
scrub hens. They lay well in April, 
May and June, and then they are ready 
to rest for the remainder of the year. 
Our 32 scrubs laid only 231 eggs in July, 
and it costs more to keep them now than 
in May or June. The 10 Black Business 
birds fell away, too, laying 114 eggs in 
July. Here is their record since March 2: 
March. 121 
April. 175 
May. 163 
June. 151 
July. 114 
Total. 724 
That is too much of a drop from June to 
July. Part of it was due to the bad 
weather. A soaked hen cannot be com- 
fortab'.e, and eggs will be few from an 
uncomfortable hen. We don’t pretend 
that there is anything remarkable about 
this record of an average of over 72 eggs 
per hen in five months. These hens 
have not been forced, and have had only 
average care. Our observation is that 
many hens do not lay over 60 eggs dur¬ 
ing the entire year. The chicks from 
this pen have been remarkably strong 
and vigorous. Some of the chicks show 
a few white feathers in the wing, though 
the breeding birds are coal black. The 
original stock was from a cross between 
the White and Brown Leghorn. These 
few white feathers, probably, represent 
a cropping out of the old White Leghorn 
blood. One of the hens has a wry or 
crooked tail, and this deformity has been 
bred into a number of the chicks. We 
are willing to raise the wry-tailed pul¬ 
lets, but the roosters must go to thi 
broiler pan. _ h. w c. 
Diabetes and Skin Disease in a Horse. 
I. K. B, Pearsall, N. V .—We have a horse 10 
years old, affected like that of F. W. S. (July 3, 
page437), and In addition to his symptoms, the 
hair is coming off with dead skin, and he is very 
easily galled. What is your advice about him ? 
Follow the treatment advised on page 
437 for diabetes, by a course of arsenic 
for the skin. Give one tablespoonful 
Fowler’s solution of arsenic in the feed 
once daily for one week, after which 
give two tablespoonfuls once daily for a 
month. The course may be repeated 
after an interval of 10 days if desirable 
Thorough daily grooming, especially 
with a stiff brush, will improve the con¬ 
dition of the skin. If galled, anoint 
daily with benzoated oxide of zinc oint¬ 
ment. If tender, but the skin unbroken, 
bathe with tannin in alcohol. 
NOTHING 6UT CRAIN 
INSURES 
MORE EGGS 
QUICKER GROWTH 
SHORTER MOULTING 
“Your Money's Worth 
or Your Money Back 
ft 
Address 
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73 PARK PLACE. - NEW YORK 
CREAM SEPAR ATORS. 
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Randolph and Canal Sts., I 74 Cortlandt Street, 
CHICAGO. I NEW YORK. 
Buy a Cream Separator. 
Steam is a necessity in a successful 
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must be used in wash¬ 
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A Little Giant Sepa¬ 
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will furnish the hot 
water and the steam, 
and will also save an 
immensity of labor. 
At this time of year it 
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Elgin, III. 
Omaha, Neb. 
CIDER 
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PresseB, Gratere, Elevators, Pumps, 
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PRESS CO.. 
118 W. Water St., Syracuse, N. 
CIDER & WINE PRESS 
MACHINERY. 
POWER AND HAND PRESSES. 
Capacity, 10 to 120 Bbls. in lohrs 
SEND FOR CATALOGUE. 
EMPIRE STATE PULLEY & PRESS CO., 
FULTON, Oswego Co,, N.Y. 
HEEBNER’S 
With SPEED REGULATOR. 
For 1,2 and 3 Horses,. 
Patent LEVEL-TREAD 
Horse-Power 
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SMALLEY FEED SAVERS catalog of Feed 
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1SILOS 
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IF YOU ARE LOOKING FOR AN ENSILAGE OUTFIT 
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