1901 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
455 
tlopeJarniNoies 
Fink Wkatueil— It came at last the 
second week in June, with sun and dry¬ 
ing wind that quickly put a polish and 
sparkle on the woods and fields. The 
sun even went into that dark hole in the 
northwest where most of our storms 
come from and chased every cloud out 
of sight. No doubt some of us will be 
calling for more rain before July, but 
right now we are enjoying perfect June 
days. The poet tells us that such days 
are the rarest thing in nature. I agree 
with him when they are as well done as 
nature served them this year. The man 
who couldn’t feel, ’way down to his toe, 
the glory and blessing of living as the 
Ijreeze crept over the hill and rippled 
the sunshine into him is a dangerous 
character. He ought to be in jail, for 
ihe evil in his heart is too strong for 
ordinary things to overcome. If a per¬ 
fect June day can’t melt him—he’s lost. 
Stone Wall Again. —Of course I am 
not urging any man to get down in the 
grass and dream away a June day while 
ihe corn is uiiplanted and the grass and 
weeds are jumping in the potatoes. I 
refer more particularly to Sunday, 
though a farmer can be thankful for 
good weather without losing a stroke of 
his hoe. 1 suppose I ought not to talk 
about my Sunday afternoons, tor since 
I spoke of sitting on that stone wall I 
have felt like a target. Here, for ex¬ 
ample comes a man from Illinois: 
You piubably were iioL aware that 1 was 
a life subscriber, and would coiiiinue ii 
ill the future if it were not for the un- 
ceiTaiiity of it being allowed to circulate 
wliere 1 am going. I do not think a papei' 
wliose writers sit on a stone fence Sun¬ 
days building air castles instead of taking 
ilie Bud and tlie Graft to Sunday school, 
and showing tlieni the other side and be¬ 
yond the fence would have admittance. 
1 still think that a man might be in 
much worse business than spending a 
Sunday hour on my hill looking off over 
the valley. The children go to Sunday 
school with the Madame every Sunday 
morning. On a recent Sunday the Bud 
had a sore foot, and could not go. I put 
the little saddle on the pony and, with 
the Bud on his back, while I held the 
halter we wandered over the hills and 
through the woods for hours. We would 
stop now and then to let Peter eat while 
we sat on walls or logs and talked the 
things which come so readily to a man 
and his little girl. A child that cannot 
pick up a more thoughtful view of life 
or gain some little strength of character 
from looking over the great, beautiful 
stretch of country that lay below us 
would hardly be worth raising! As to 
the circulation of The R. N.-Y. in the 
great, mysterious “undiscovered coun¬ 
try’’ I know nothing about it. I feel 
pretty sure that people will not be able 
to take their gold, their selfishness, their 
profit or their bigotry and narrow creed 
along with them. As for the love, sacri¬ 
fice and humble contentment 1 hope that 
will go. 
Fakm Chops. —The ground is thor¬ 
oughly soaked after our long rains. 1 
think there is moisture enough in the 
soil to mature a crop of corn or pota¬ 
toes if we can hold it there. Our soil is 
naturally heavy. Stony soils usually 
hold moisture well. As soon as the soil 
would stand it we got into the potatoes 
with the cultivators. With Dan and 
Nellie on the double cultivator and 
Frank escorting the single a big area 
could be worked over in a day. It was 
a bright, windy day just right for killing 
weeds. The potatoes are in hills, and we 
shall ridge up around them a little at 
each working. . . . We finally plant¬ 
ed five acres of corn by June 7. In seven 
days it was up nicely, and is growing 
rapidly. This corn was all tarred and 
the crows have no use for it. This corn 
is at the top of a high hill, and I expect 
it to make grain—also four acres more 
lower down. I shall plant our flint corn 
ap to July 1. . . . Our first grass 
was ready to cut by June 20. I believe 
in cutting grass early when the weather 
is right for it. Our rye and Crimson 
clover was cured in the cock this year. It 
lay on the ground long enough to wilt 
and was then raked up into large cocks. 
These were opened or turned over to the 
wind several times, but not spread out. 
In spite of the wet weather this fodder 
cured well. It is a great mistake to sun¬ 
burn hay. I was at a fair once where a 
number of men were talking of farm 
work. “I’m a farmer,’’ said one, “see 
how brown my hands are!” He held 
his hands out—backs up. A quiet old 
farmer stepped up, caught one of the 
hands and turned it. ‘|Turn them hands 
over!” he said. You see a baseball 
player or a golfer or even a dude might 
sunburn the back of the hand, but the 
true badge of farming was the callous 
on the palm! Some people go so far as 
to think hay is not properly cured un¬ 
less it is as brown as old straw. The 
cow knows better—she wants the green 
color and the sweet smell. . . . This 
is to be a fearful season for weeds. They 
are getting a great start, and they en¬ 
joy the sun as well as the next plant. 
We are using the weeder wherever we 
can, but there will be much hand hoeing 
in spite of all. Three days after the 
corn was planted Charlie went over the 
field with the Acme harrow, and thus 
killed millions of the little weeds. . . 
. It is almost impossible to find a Cab¬ 
bage butterfly this year. Usually they 
are here by the thousand at this time. 
Potato beetles have been kept back by 
the wet season, but we now find plenty 
of hard-shelled rascals, and their chil¬ 
dren will rise up to curse us later. 
Gueen Stukk.—O ur first early peas 
(Alaska) were ready June 19. This is 
later than usual, but earlier than we 
hoped for at one time. The first mess 
of peas makes an event with our family 
that is worth recording. . . . Tur¬ 
nip greens were ready June 14, and the 
little turnips will follow quickly. I am 
very fond of boiled turnip tops. . . . 
Beets are late this year. They grow slow¬ 
ly and our own crop will not be ready 
for some days yet. Nothing can ue finer 
in the season than the first inch beets 
boiled until they are tender and well 
pickled. . . . Those Florida cabbage 
plants are doing well. They began to 
head up early in June and have made a 
good growth from the start. One of our 
friends in Dakota says this: 
I don’t think it fair to New Jersey to 
put New Jersey hotbed cabbage plants by 
tile side of outdoor grown Florida plants. 
1 think the test would be fairer if outdoor 
or eold-fraine New Jersey plants wei'e 
used. 
Of course I want to give New Jersey 
every chance she is entitled to. It may 
be that plants sown in the Fall and win¬ 
tered over in the frame would beat the 
Florida plants sown in the open in 
January and reset several times, but as 
compared with our Spring-started 
plants, 1 think Florida will win, though 
it may cost too much to get them here. 
. . . Some of the Lima beans required 
several plantings this year before we 
could hope for even a fair stand. We 
have it at last and with the return of 
the sun the beans are fairly dancing. 
That’s good—for they will be bread and 
meat to us in August. 
Cud and Kicking. —Three things con¬ 
nected with our life at Hope Farm seem 
to have stirred readers up with a long 
stick. 1 told about spanking the chil¬ 
dren and several good friends seemed 
willing to undertake the job of giving 
me a dose of the same medicine. I sat 
on a stone wall of a Sunday afternoon 
and thus sat down on a whole regiment 
of pet theories and ideas. I spoke of 
.lulia, the kicker, and straightway I 
learn of dozens of such animals. I am 
led to conclude that spanking, philoso¬ 
phizing and kicking are both popular 
and unpopular, with strong partisans on 
both sides. Here is a good one: 
I see you had some experience with a 
kicking cow. I broke in eight heifers this 
Spring, and six of them were reasonably 
quiet, but two were kickers. One of them 
was the worst case I ever saw, without 
any exception. She was large and strong 
as an ox; she would not own her calf; if it 
came near her she kicked it clear across 
the stable. I put that cow in her stanchion 
and pushed her around against the stanch¬ 
ions and strapped her to them so she 
could not throw herself or lie down; then 
I tied a rope around the leg next to me 
and pulled it back and tied it fast about 
right to milk her. She kicked and 
flounced and tried to lie down. I kept 
right on milking. She could not bring her 
foot forward any more to hurt me. After 
a week's milking she gave up, and now 
she walks right into the stable and puts 
her foot back as gently as any cow could 
to be milked. The other kicker gave up 
much sooner. I have always noticed that 
when a cow chews her cud there is no kick 
in her heart, and when a cow does that it 
is not necessary to have a rope on her 
any longer. a. l. s. 
Huron Co., Mich. 
That is about the way we made Julia 
quit—prohibition did it. The relations 
between cud and kicking are too much 
for me. In my younger days I once saw 
a prize fighter preparing for the ring. 
He chewed gum continually. While 
meditating and planning for his hardest 
blow he kept his jaws at work. He 
claimed that this working of the jaws 
overcame his nervousness, deceived the 
man he was trying to hit, while the mass 
of gum might ease a blow on the mouth. 
1 have never had occasion to try it—but 
it looks reasonable. Julia is mean 
enough to chew the milker off his guard 
and then put her foot ’way through him. 
The “cud” is really a wad or parcel of 
“grass hash” floated up from the great 
stomach of the cow within reach of her 
tongue for chewing over. If some men 
I know could reach back into their past 
actions and bring up a mental cud for 
lethinking I should think they would 
aim several hard kicks at themselves. 
H. w. c'. 
Double Sunshine.— We had Just finished 
reading Hope Farm Notes and were try¬ 
ing to bask in its imaginative sunshine, 
and wearily watching the dripping trees, 
as we have been wont to do for days and 
days, wondering when real sunshine would 
come. As we have suffered from a cli¬ 
matic disorder for several weeks, and were 
waiting for Nature’s great physician, the 
sun, perhaps impatiently, the male portion 
of our neighborhood came stalking Into 
our yard with axes and saws, and at once 
pounced upon our (un) fortunate pile of 
logs that had been secured at our last 
sleighing. It is needless to say that our 
tog pile was soon transformed into a good¬ 
ly wood pile, and though the lowering 
clouds did drip a little, it was hard, very 
hard, to rain where there was so much 
sunshine. In the afternoon the clouds 
broke away and there was more sunshine, 
and wo just felt thankful for two kinds of 
sunshine, and that we could enjoy them 
both. j. A. o. 
Sardinia, N. Y. 
For the land’s sake, use Bowker’s Fer 
tilizers. They enrich the earth.— Adv. 
N In cvll 
limes 
ekll 
Times 
its accurate 
adjustment 
makes the 
ELaiN 
WATCH 
most reliable. Ractory- 
Icsted by refrigeration 
and oven heat, its per¬ 
formance is perfect any¬ 
where and any time. 
An Elgin Walidi always 
has the wont “Elgin” 
engraved on the works. 
Send for free liooklet. 
Kl^iIl Nulionlil Watch Co. 
KIkIo. 111. 
CHARTEFC 
Gasoline Engine 
I t r* r\ Any Place 
I I \ H 11 By Any One 
For Any Purpose 
Ht.ationariea, Portables, JCnginttn 
and Pumps. Hoisiers 
Send for Illustrated Catalogue and 
Testimonials, state your Power Needs. 
Charter Gas Engine Co., Box 26, Sterling, III. 
THE MIETZ & WEISS 
Kerosene Engines 
Cheapest and Safest Pmver 
Known. For pumping and 
eleotno lighting, grinding 
corn, separating cream, 
sawing wood, and all power 
purposes. Send tor t'atalog. 
A. MIETZ, 
128 Mott Street. New York. 
ENSILAQE 
is prepared quickly and 
Q to tile best ad- 
iIilL _L,__ vantage by 
•™T7^.---^^^tlie use of 
“New Hero” 
Cutters 
with or without 
self feed table, 
with swivel fod¬ 
der carriers or 
Swivel Wind Stackers 
because they are Appleton quality 
MACHIMERY. 
Simplest in Construction, Easiest to 
Operate. Most Effective i.v 
Operation, Stronoest and 
Most Durable. 
tSUWe make also acomplete line of Grind¬ 
ers, Shellers, Huskers, Shredders, Wood Saws, 
Wind Mills, Tanks, Sweep and Tread Horse 
Powera, etc. 
156 PAGE CATALOGUE FREE. 
APPLETON MFC. CO., 
27 Fargo St., BATAVIA, ILL. 
AFTER. FIFTY YEARS 
At the end of fifty years of continuous wagon construction, every one of 
which has been crowded with conscientious elfort for the bettering of our 
product, we bring out as the accumulated experience of all those years this 
“Studebaker 20th Century Wagon.” There is not the smallest detail or 
part entering into its make up that is not the best that design, material, 
workmanship, finish, experience and the advantage of the largest and 
must complete factory in the world can make It. In consequence it is the best wagon 
that can be made. Of those who bought the “Studebaker” 80, 20 and 10 years ago many 
are still using them daily and find them strong, efficient and enduring up to the present. 
Y'ell, this wagon has all the good features of the old, besides many new iinproyements. 
Ask anybody who uses a “Studebaker” how he likes it. We will abide by his decision. Go 
to your nearest dealer and ask to see this new “ 20 th Century Wagon." If you don’t find 
it there write us direct, we’ll give you the name of nearest agent where you can see it. 
St\ideba.ker Bros. Mfg. Co., South Bend, Ii\d., V. S. A. 
