1901 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
375 
HopeJarmNotes 
Corn Problems.— A reader in New York 
asks some good questions: 
‘‘Would the Hope Farm man advise 
treating seed corn with formalin for the 
jirevention of smut?” 
No, I would not. It would probably do 
little if any good. With the oats these 
smut germs are on the seed—much the 
same as the scab germs are on the potato 
tuber. We aim to destroy them on the 
seed. Otherwise the smut may start 
shortly after the seed sprouts, and cripple 
the plant all through its life. The Corn 
smut, as I understand it, is different. 
These germs enter the plant mostly from 
the outside, lloating in the air and settling 
upon the ear, where they develop and 
grow. We soak potato seed to prevent 
scab, and we spray the vines to prevent 
blight. As I understand it. Corn smut gels 
at the plant much as Potato blight does, 
only we cannot save the thick, big stalks 
by spraying. 
“Last Spring the Hope Farm man told 
of his experience in treating seed corn with 
tar to prevent crows from pulling it up. 
He reported it a success. He also said he 
used Mapes corn manure broadcast. Last 
Spring, before and after plowing my corn 
ground, it was visited daily (I might say 
liourly) by some crows, until I broadcast 
4 U 0 pounds per acre of Mapes corn manure, 
and after doing that not a crow did I see 
on that ground all Summer. I have often 
thought possibly it was the fertilizer in¬ 
stead of the tar that kept the crows from 
this cornfield.” 
We used thick gas tar on the corn. It 
was thinned a little with water—the corn 
was well smeared with it and then dried 
out by mixing with wood ashes. This left 
a thick, black coating over the seed. The 
crows pulled up a few hills and tasted the 
corn, but I doubt whether they swallowed 
a kernel. They quickly spit it out, and it 
was the cause of many violent caws at the 
caucus they held later in the woods. I 
have never known fertilizer to keep crows 
away, though 1 can understand how a 
good mouthful of It would make them 
tongue-tired. If it were bunched up 
around the hill they might taste it. Crows 
arc very wise birds, and a little thing will 
often fill them with suspicion. 
Stufeing the Soil.— The same reader 
also asks this question; 
"i have a piece of ground in rye now, and 
wish to plant it to strawberries one year 
from this Spring. What course would I 
better pursue to get it in the best condi¬ 
tion for planting at that time, the soil be¬ 
ing a clay loam, facing the east?” 
Here in New Jersey, if I were short of 
fodder, I would cut that rye early for hay. 
Then I would plow the ground and sow 
cow peas in drills. Harly Hlack variety 
would be best. The peas would be culti¬ 
vated as long as we could get through 
them. This would not only give a better 
crop of peas, but would largely kill out the 
white grubs. At the last cultivation of the 
peas I would sow a mixture of oats and 
Crimson clover among the cow-pea vinfes, 
covering the seed with the cultivator. I 
w'ould rather have southern Winter oats 
if I could get them. The Farly Black pea 
drops its leaves quite early, and in most 
seasons the oats and Crimson clover would 
start. The oats make a heavy growth 
through the Fall and early Winter, but 
die out in March. This, I think, permits a 
better preparation of the soil for straw¬ 
berries than when rye is used. In this wet 
season, for example, the rye made such a 
start before strawberry ground could be 
fitted that I did not feel that we could do 
a good job until the rye was cut and 
hauled off. Remember, that I speak for 
the latitude of northern New Jersey. 
Farm Notes.— Still raining! Day after 
day the water pours down. Sundays are 
usually clear and bright. I suppose there 
are many farmers, who, if they had their 
own way, would have the sun illuminate 
work as well as worship! The stock of 
“indoor jobs” is about exhausted. 
Cherry blooming came right in a long 
hard rain. I do not look for much fruit, 
as a result of this drenching. The trees 
were heavily loaded with flowers. A wet 
season with us usually rots the cherries. 
.... The apple trees are covered with 
flowers. What a glorious thing it is to see 
great masses of pink and white color scat¬ 
tered over the valley, with the petals fall¬ 
ing like a snowstorm! Our Greening or¬ 
chard looks well. Last year it “went dry,” 
but we gave it good care. Now, we shall 
spray it and hope for a good yield of this 
delicious fruit.Those Florida cab¬ 
bage plants are thriving. They are with¬ 
out doubt ahead of the hotbed or cold- 
frame plants. The thick, chunky workers 
usually have better staying power than 
the tall, “leggy” citizens. Speaking of 
Florida, Uncle Fd writes that his potatoes 
are drying up. Not a drop of rain for a 
month or more.A friend in New 
Hampshire has sent me a few bushes of 
blueberiies. He has cultivated them for 
several years—thus developing fine, large 
fiult. We have set them out carefully near 
a stone wall. A fruit plant or a flowering 
shrub is a beautiful reminder of an absent 
friend. I want to make our roadside a 
plant album from friends all over the 
country.Little “Ape,” the heif¬ 
er’s first calf, weighed only 57 pounds when 
one day old. He was so poor and thin that 
he hardly seemed worth raising. He milked 
the kicker, Julia, so well that when sold 
at 28 days old he weighed 1)9 pounds and 
sold at seven cents. Julia nursed her own 
calf most of the time also. The trouble 
with Ape was that he got a poor start. 
Still, his grandmother, Julia, has given 
him an inheritance of “kicking” ability 
that should take some of the kinks out 
of any rough pathway.Even the 
early potatoes are not all planted yet. We 
have, however, put them in well. I hear 
some complaint of rot in early potatoes, 
and it looks as though there will be a time 
in August when prices will be high. 
Chicken Facts.—A good friend who has 
had “bad luck” with chickens wants to 
know how the Hope Farm chicks act in 
the brooders. When you force us to tell 
the truth in that way 1 must admit that 
‘the brooder has been the scene of a 
tragedy. You will notice that I haven’t 
bragged about our little chicks. No use 
blowing a horn over the dead. We started 
with 103 chicks in the brooder, and now 
have three left—under a hen. What killed 
the 100? Various things. They were never 
strong to begin with. We bought the eggs 
and paid $10 for the lot. There you have 
$3.33 for a single bird! They were never 
thrifty, but moped around, and when they 
were tired of that, lay down and died. 
Our own eggs are much better. Out of. 172 
fertile eggs 164 hatched, and only four have 
been lost in the same brooder which wit¬ 
nessed the former wholesale slaughter. 
You never saw a livelier lot of chickens. 
There is a sore place on my leg which in¬ 
dicates to me the chief reason for this 
lively crowd. It is where Don, the Wyan¬ 
dotte rooster, spurred me when 1 went to 
look at the egg record of his family. The 
sons and daughters of a nine-pound bird 
that is willing to tackle a 175-pound man 
will not fall down and die without a 
struggle at least. The lighting blood in 
that old chap does those chicks more good 
than the lamp under the brooder! What 
a great privilege it is to have light and 
kick in one’s pedigree, so that they may 
be turned to worthy ends! 
Making Faces.—I am not going to refer 
to the habit some children and young 
women have of screwing up their face 
when there is a screw loose in the temper. 
1 refer to the good folks who put up a 
smile and a brave front though the wolves 
are gnawing at their hearts. Here we 
have a letter from a Jerseyman. 'Phis 
man leads the singing in a Methodist 
church in a country place: 
“I often see you (in my mind) sitting on 
the fence, or stone wall (which was it?) 
that Sunday dreaming and building castles 
in the air, and feel like taking a seat along¬ 
side of you. After coming home from 
Sunday school and church, eating a hearty 
dinner, and taking a nap for 15 minutes, 
there is nothing I enjoy more than taking 
a stroll down through the lields with my 
two dogs, and they seem to enjoy it, and 
know when Sunday afternoon comes as 
weli as I do. But we have not indulged 
in that pleasure much this Spring, as we 
have only had one clear Sunday out of the 
last nine. That puts me in mind of an in¬ 
cident that occurred at church last Sun¬ 
day. Everyone was feeling the elfecis of 
the weather, and looking a bit blue. As 
i got up to announce the lirst hymn, my 
wife nudged me and said: ’Sing Some of 
these days the skies wili be brighter; 
Some of these days our hearts wuil be 
lighter,’ etc.,' (a beautiful hymn). As i an¬ 
nounced it a smile spread over the faces 
of the congregation like a ray of sunshine, 
and then when the minister began to 
preach, and announced tliat grand old 
hymn, ‘From every stormy wind that 
blows; From every swelling tide of woes,’ 
etc., the ray still brightened till every¬ 
body was in good humor.” W. B. 
For all the sport they make of me for 
sitting on a stone wall there are plenty of 
farmers who lind rest for body and brain 
in looking off over the valley. We have 
great and noble thoughts on the hills. If 
we could carry some of these thoughts 
down into the dead level of common life 
how we would stir up this world! Some¬ 
how we drop most of them as we walk 
down hill. You see this man’s wife nudged 
that idea into him. These wives are re¬ 
sponsible for a good share of the worthy 
things that men start. I have often seen 
a farmer’s wife halt her husband before 
he goes into church or before company 
and dust him off with her handkerchief, 
or straighten his necktie. It is a good 
thing for man that woman can also dust 
up his morals and good intentions from 
time to time. H. w. c. 
See Publishers’ Annoimcenient, Page 3tSl. 
A Text Book of Plant Diseasb.s, by 
George Masseo, of the Royal Herbarium, 
Kew, London: New York. The Macmillan 
Co., price $1.60. Tlie sub-title of this ex¬ 
cellent work qualifies the diseases treated 
to those caused by cryptogamic parasites, 
by which is meant the various microscopic 
germs preying on useful plants. The whole 
subject is very thoroughly treated, both 
from a practical and technical standpoint. 
Tlie number of destructive germs thus 
brought together for description is quite 
astonishing. The book will be very useful 
to the intelligent cultivator, as well as for 
the student, for whom it is primarily 
Intended. 
Sweet Clover. —Reverting to the recent 
Sweet-clover discussion, I have a letter 
from an Ohio correspondent who has the 
following to say: “In your review bulletin 
you speak of all clovers being excellent 
restoratives to worn-out land. ’Would not 
Bokhara or Sweet clover be the best to 
begin with upon totally unproductive land? 
I planted some small stalks upon the 
south side of a mound of rotten shale 
which had been piled up 10 years ago from 
a railroad cut. It made a marvelous 
growth, though the slope was so dry and 
poor that no weeds nor grass could grow 
upon it for 10 years. The tap roots of the 
clover run down 2 l^ feet, and this year it 
will ripen seed. I have never seen it grow 
in rich or cultivated soil, and I believe it 
is easily crowded out by other plants, pre¬ 
ferring to grow in spots where nothing 
else can grow. ” john craig. 
When you write advertisers mention The 
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