THE RURAL NEW-VORKER 
3ii 
idol 
HopeFarmNotes 
Hidden Treasure.— When we came to 
Hope Farm we found an old hogpen by the 
side of the old barn. It was about 10x20, 
with two little houses in it. The floor was 
broken, and it had evidently been in ser¬ 
vice for years. There was a big crop of 
weeds growing shoulder-high in it. We 
have kept pigs there, though they were 
never comfortable, but when the new hog- 
house was built we moved them all up to 
it, and pulled down the pen. We thought 
there might be two or three loads of ma¬ 
nure, but a pick driven into the soil showed 
it rich and black, and we kept on digging 
and hauling until 11 good two-horse loads 
had been hauled out. I would much rather 
have it than an equal number of loads of 
ordinary manure, as I think it is richer, 
and it certainly spreads over the ground 
more evenly. I believe that fat layer of 
soil and manure was worth $25 at least. It 
was mostly leachings through the broken 
floor, for we have cleaned the pen out 
several times. 
Lost Fertility.— The remarkable mine 
underneath that hogpen makes me shut one 
eye and look at the two barns! When we 
came here we found stalls for 23 animals, 
and there were plenty of auger holes to 
let the liquids off easily. The barns are 
built on flat ground, and have no cellars. 
The soil beneath them must be as black as 
my hat, and as rich as a fertilizer factory. 
People in the South have told me how, 
during the Civil War, they leached compost 
heaps and the soil under them in order to 
obtain nitrate of potash for making gun¬ 
powder. Thus it was that the patient 
mules and motherly cows of the South pro¬ 
vided some of the force that drove the 
bullets and cannon balls home. There are 
nitrates enough under my barns to blow 
a big hole through the mortgage if I couid 
only get them out and aim them properly. 
But, seriously—what an awful mistake we 
eastern farmers make when we let the 
manure leach down in this way, and then 
pay our good money for nitrates. Why, 
no nitrate of soda that ever was dug out 
of the South American desert into which 
Nature packed it can whip up crops any 
faster than the nitrates which have gath¬ 
ered under my barns. Yet, how are we to 
get at this wonderful store of fertility 
without tearing the barns down? One of 
them will need a new floor before long, and 
then we can tap that safety vault. The 
soil under that hogpen has made me love 
cement and hate an auger hole. 
Dry Up!—I spoke last year of our damp 
cellar. It was a constant annoyance and 
we were always afraid of it. Every time 
the children had a cough or a cold the 
Madame w'ould look at me and make an 
assault with the word cellar! The soil 
near the house is rocky and springy. Water 
seeps in from the sides and rises at the 
bottom. There were two large cisterns, 
which we have never used since our well 
was drilled. The formation of the ground 
made it impossible to put tiles under the 
cellar floor, as is often done. We dug a 
deep ditch from one side of the house, so 
as to give drainage from the cellar floor. 
A four-inch tile takes care of all the water 
that could come In. Then we put a thick 
coat of cement all over the cellar floor, 
grading it so that all water must run down 
to the opening in the tile. This has settled 
it. A little water works in at one side, but 
it cannot stay. The tile provides air 
drainage, and there is a current of air 
passing through which dries the cellar 
quickly. The stone cistern has been 
emptied, and I hope to have a hole broken 
through one wall so as to make a milk 
room out of it. It is a great satisfaction 
to be dry below stairs. The Madame can 
no longer remark “Damp cellar’’ when one 
of the Hope Farmers begins to feel his 
bones! 
Farm Notes.— The rain Anally let up, and 
the sun and wind took the sap out of the 
soil so that we were able to plow for oats. 
It was raw weather, but Charlie tried to 
have the job well done. We formerly sowed 
grain and grass by hand, but this season 
we have a Gaboon broadcast seeder which 
does fine work.Nothing shows how 
“streaky” the farm is like the effect of a 
drying wind in early Spring. Here and 
there are fields or strips through the farm 
where the soil is ready to plow, while other 
fields or strips nearjby are still soggy. 
Some fields receive the full force of our 
prevailing northwest winds, but I think the 
chief reason is that in places the rock 
comes quite close to the surface. There 
were some things about our potato field 
that I could not explain last year. I now 
see that in parts of the field the rock bulges 
up, so as to leave but little soil. When 
you come to understand a farm you can 
arrange crops and methods to far better 
advantage.I have mentioned a 
field at the far western end of the farm 
where we had cow peaa last year. I had 
Intended to put corn there, but finally 
changed to oats. It does not seem desir¬ 
able to put a crop that one must cultivate 
or hoe so far away. It makes too long a 
journey in getting there. Some crop that 
will take care of itself is better. I want 
that field in Alfalfa some day.We 
have been planting some peach trees on 
the Strlngfellow plan, or as near as we 
could get to it. I am frank to say that this 
kind of planting was done against the ad¬ 
vice of every northern peach grower I con¬ 
sulted. Therefore, I am not going to say 
a word about it until it is too late in the 
season for setting others at it. I’ll tell all 
about it later.A friend in Con¬ 
necticut asks which he should sow for early 
hay—oats or Japan millet. “Oats every 
time!” would be my vote. We find oat 
hay very useful—but the seed oats must be 
treated in some way to destroy the smut 
germs. Japan millet, which I understand 
is the same as “Billion Dollar grass” makes 
a heavy growth on good moist soil. It is 
a userul green fodder, but hard and coarse 
for hay—in fact, it is not a good hay plant. 
I do not care for it, as I think the Thor¬ 
oughbred flint corn grown in drills will 
make more and better fodder.In 
seeding the orchard we first plowed and 
then put the oats broadcast on the rough 
furrows. Then we harrowed both ways 
with the Acme. The Orchard-grass seed 
and clover were then put on and worked 
in with the Hallock weeder. It is often 
desirable to use the roller after grass seed¬ 
ing, but in this case the field was a little 
too damp, and I knew thac the roller would 
pack it down too hard for the light seeds. 
Clean Grass.— What about our grass 
seeding after the Clark method? The lower 
field is a pretty sick-looking place. The 
grass started well, but the open Winter 
and the Spring floods have heaved and 
hauled and plowed and flooded it until it 
shows more of what Nature can do at its 
worst rather than what Mr. Clark could 
do at his best. On the higher parts of the 
field the grass is fine, but where the floods 
got at it there is little left. This failure 
is not the fault of Mr. Clark’s system, nor 
is it entirely our fault. We might have 
ditched that field, or tiled it, yet we have 
had so much rain this Spring that more 
or less wash was unavoidable. Clark’s 
method is all right if we understand that 
it means ideal conditions all around. We 
hear about big yields of potatoes or corn 
or fruit, but they are not obtained on or¬ 
dinary soil or with ordinary care. That is 
also true of grass. If Mr. Clark’s grass 
field had secured the flooding which Hope 
Farm has had this season he could show 
clean culture—that is, it would be mighty 
clean of grass. The grass field higher up 
on the hill looks better—in fact, it prom¬ 
ises to give a good yield. I must state, 
however, that Charlie claims that the grass 
will still come up. He has more fhith than 
I have. 
Waxing Fat. —We have been interested 
in weighing the four baby Berkshires at in¬ 
tervals to see how fast they gain. Here 
are a few records: March 19, 14 pounds; 
April 1, 31 pounds; April 8, 45 pounds; April 
15, 60^4 pounds. One thing I am trying to 
get at is the amount of milk the old sow 
gives. She must be giving a good mess to 
provide this increase of young pork, for 
the little fellows have had nothing else 
thus far. I would like to know how this 
increase of weight compares with others. 
If there are oithers who have weighed 
young animals in this way I wish they 
would let us have the ngures. Why do I 
want to know how much milk a sow gives? 
Am I going to boom the Hope Farm Berk¬ 
shires as dairy animals? Well, not exact¬ 
ly, though good dairy qualities are desir¬ 
able both in sows and ewes. I do a good 
many things that are more interesting than 
profitable at the moment, yet I find that 
most of them finally pay. h. w. c. 
A few farmers of this locality will be 
short of hay this Spring, but those who 
have silos will have fodder enough. The 
corn crop was a remarkably good one, and 
all silos were filled. Many fields of fodder 
corn are in sight where no silos have been 
built by these farmers. More than a dozen 
will be built the coming Summer. With 
a silo filled with well-matured corn, so 
that but little heat and less acidity is de¬ 
veloped, the farmer has a product which 
goes a long way towards reducing his feed 
bills, and helps materially in solving the 
problem of producing cheap milk. The 
corn fodder referred to has furnished a 
good shelter the past Winter for mice, and 
helped greatly in carrying the crows 
through the severe weather. It looks like 
a wicked waste of time and money for 
farmers to work hard all Summer that 
these pests may have a good shelter and 
enough to eat at his expense. Can any 
farmer afford to do business in this way? 
Oneida Co., N. Y. J. e. h. 
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L 1 I I H I I I 
if; 
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CORN 
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No. 65—Single Buggy 
wit* 
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trimmings $16. 
retails for $2^ 
ith rubber ^ 
Good 
