1901 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
5i9 
H opeJarm Notes 
I will try this week to answer a few 
of the questions which have been asked 
of late. 
Why do you grow rye? 
I did not intend to have a kernel of 
rye on the farm. The crop is what I 
call a weather accident. 
What do you mean by that? 
The rye was all seeded last Fall after 
some other crop. I meant that it should 
cover the ground during the Winter. 
This Spring I meant to cut it for the 
cows as long as it was soft enough and 
then make hay of the rest. 
Why did you not do this? 
We did feed it green as long as the 
cows would eat it. As most farmers 
know, rye soon becomes tough and hard. 
When it should have been cut for hay, 
the air was like a great dishrag. As it 
was impossible to cure the rye for hay, 
I let it go to straw and grain, though 
I was sorry to do it. 
Why? 
Because the land, near the buildings, 
would have paid much better in other 
crops. For example, we could have 
grown early potatoes, with drilled corn 
fodder following, and seeded to rye 
again in the corn. It is true that we 
can still set late cabbage or drill yellow 
turnips after the rye, but I do not think 
these crops wili be very profitable this 
year? 
Why not? 
The cold, late season has prevented 
farmers from planting some of their 
usual crops, and they will now stick in 
lots of cabbage, in an effort to get some 
returns from the land. I think it will 
be much the same with yellow turnips, 
though some will be used in place of 
potatoes. 
Have your own plans been interfered 
with in this way? 
Seriously. We put one field into oats 
uecause it could be worked early, and 
we, of course, figured that the rest of 
the farm could be plowed and fitted. 
Had I known of the steady rains that 
were ahead of us, I would never have 
sown oats in that field, but would have 
reserved it for potatoes or corn. An¬ 
other field, where we had cow peas last 
year, has not been plowed yet, so that 
we have lost for this season the value 
of that fertility. 
Do oats pay? 
1 doubt if they do with us. I do not 
raise them for the grain, but cut them 
for hay. When well cured, they suit us 
as well as the best of hay. 
Are they hard to cure? 
I used to say no—but that was before 
1 tried to cure them in a season like 
this one. We shall lose part of the crop 
this year, in spite of all we can ao. In 
fact, barely 10 per cent of our hay this 
season has had a good chance to cure. 
At least three-fourths of all our fodder 
has been soaked at least once. 
Shall you sow much rye this Fall? 
1 think not. I believe wheat will pay 
better. 
Why do you think so? 
The grain of wheat is more useful for 
our farming, though rye and corn 
ground together make good horse feed. 
The rye straw is salable at fair figures, 
but wheat will make much better fod¬ 
der. It can be cut, even when the grain 
becomes hard, and make good hay for 
stock. I am so short on fodder that I 
shall sow wheat, so as to cut it early if 
need be. I may sow rye late—it has 
some advantages over wheat. 
What are they? 
It will give fair growth and yield on 
poor ground. Wheat needs better soil 
or more fertilizer. Wheat with us must 
be sown comparatively early. Rye will 
stand late seeding—in fact, we nave a 
good piece of rye that was sown last 
November. We can clear off a late crop 
nnd sow rye for a Winter cover. 
Bhall you .sow wheat alone? 
No—we expect to seed to Timothy 
with clover added next Spring. 
Then you are going to drop the fa¬ 
mous “Clark” method of grass seeding? 
No, not entirely, but I am pretty well 
convinced that in order to make that 
system pay its best one must have the 
best condition of soil to start with. My 
fields are all more or less rough and 
hilly. I may, in time, be able to grade 
and drain them, so that the Clark 
method will have a fairer chance. My 
experience this year seems to show that, 
until our lands are made smoother, at 
c-onsiderable expense, the old plan of 
seeding with grain is more profitable. 
Do you not believe in Mr. Clark’s ad¬ 
vice to seed heavily? 
I will not answer that positively until 
I see how my hayfields behave next 
year. The grass on them now Is as 
thick as a lawn. The Timothy has hard¬ 
ly appeared, and the Red-top is quite 
short. I believe that future crops will 
be thinner and higher, and that the 
Timothy will make a satisfactory ap¬ 
pearance later. I will not, therefore, 
condemn the grass yet, though it falls 
far short of filling the place in the barn 
that I blocked out for it. To a man who 
has strong soil, smooth and well drain¬ 
ed, I would certainly advise the Clark 
method—provided he was willing to 
spend some money and time on the crop. 
We judge that the season bas not been 
very satisfactory to you. 
On the whole, no. It bas neen diffi¬ 
cult to do any work right. The nearest 
approach to it with us was the setting 
of the Stringfellow peach orchard. Our 
corn is backward, while the potatoes are 
fair. Hay is disappointing, but our 
apples promise to make up the loss. The 
farm bas been greatly damaged by 
washing. The cows have done well, we 
have not lost a single pig out of 25, and 
the mare and her colt are in excellent 
health. July finds Hope Farm in much 
the condition of some men of middle 
age. From earliest boyhood they have 
worked under a shadow. Poverty, afflic¬ 
tion, natural depression of spirits, phy¬ 
sical defects and strange and little-un¬ 
derstood burdens have been heaped up¬ 
on them. At middle life they see that 
the best of youth has gone, and through 
it all they have not been able to de¬ 
velop any one of their loved ambitions 
in their own way! Such men will carry 
a life-long sorrow in their hearts yet, 
without knowing it, the habit of work 
and thought tempered by these very 
trials may still carry them on to nobler 
achievements than they ever dreamed 
of. We realize that we are 75 days from 
an average frost yet! Many things may 
be done in that time—^that is, provided 
we have decent weather! 
Are your potatoes satisfactory? 
I suppose a farmer should never feel 
fully satisfied with his crop, but the 
potatoes promise well. They are in bills 
and have been well tilled. During the 
fearful heat they wilted, and did not 
have a good color. I thought they need¬ 
ed more fertilizer. 
Can you put it on so late and get re¬ 
turns? 
We have put nitrate of soda on pota¬ 
toes in early July and increased tbe 
crop—but that was in a very dry sea¬ 
son. This year we mixed equal parts ni¬ 
trate of soda and sulphate of potash. 
Why did you not use some form of 
phosphoric acid also? 
We did not have any on hand, and I 
did not consider it so necessary for po¬ 
tatoes. On a crop like grain, which 
must mature seed, the phosphoric acid 
would be necessary, but for potatoes I 
think not, w'hen used so late in the sea¬ 
son. 
How did you put it on? 
Hugh and Philip dropped it by hand— 
scattering a handful around each bill— 
not touching the vines, but in a circle 
about six inches out. This meant about 
275 pounds per acre. They covered 
about half the field by July 9—then rain 
drove them out. It was July 16 before 
they could work in it again, and I felt 
that it was too late to do much gocKl. 
I'he moist weather had helped the 
plants and they had taken on a better 
color. I finally agreed to let the boys 
put fertilizer on half the field and the 
remainder on half of one of the Clark 
grass fields. The other halves will be 
left as they are, and we shall see if the 
fertilizer pays so late in the season. 
But what is your opinion about it? 
I think more of my opinions than I 
used to, and therefore keep them more 
to myself! My former experience was 
on light sandy soil, quite level and in 
a dry season. I have now heavy hill¬ 
side soil with a very wet season, when 
drenching showers may be expected. I 
expect to see the nitrate and the potash 
c'olor the plants, make them better able 
to stand the blight, increase the size of 
the tubers, and also delay their ripen¬ 
ing for a week or 10 days. That was tbe 
result on the light soil, but the heavy 
soil may not respond in this way and, 
on tbe hillside, there is constant dan¬ 
ger that the fertilizer may be washed 
out. If the fertilizer is put on too late, 
it is apt to cause prongy potatoes. A 
naturally wet season will, on ground 
with fair drainage, cause a heavy 
growth of top; but, unless there is a 
fair amount of sun, the tubers do not 
form well. When people look at po¬ 
tato tops in a wet season and guess at 
the yield of tubers, they are likely to 
put it too high. 
What about corn and late fertilizing? 
We snail put the regular corn ferti¬ 
lizer on each of our 10 acres of corn. The 
stalks do not have the right color. The 
corn was planted on last year’s potato 
field without manure. At any time up 
to the formation of the ear, the ferti¬ 
lizer will make itself felt. We scatter it 
around the hill. If put on when tbe 
stalks are about waist high it will, I be¬ 
lieve, do more good than if it were put 
in the hill at planting. 
■On January 1 you gave a statement of 
the value of live stock and hay. Have 
you ever considered the plan of making 
two estimates—one in January and an¬ 
other in July? 
Yes, it is not a bad plan. Our ac- 
c-ount this year would stand about as 
follows: 
Horse.s: 
January. 
July. 
Frank . 
...$150.00 
$150.00 
Dan . 
... 125.00 
125.00 
Major . 
... 15.00 
15.00 
Nellie Bly . 
... 125.00 
125.00 
Peter . 
... 40.00 
40.00 
Marla S. 
60.00 
Cow.s: 
Jersey . 
... 25.00 
25.00 
Julia . 
45.00 
Genevieve . 
40.00 
Heifer.s: 
Blossom . 
... 30.00 
35.00 
Daisy . 
... 15.00 
20.00 
6 pigs @ $7. 
... 42.00 
4 Berkshires (p) $20.... 
... ..... 
80.00 
3 grade sows @ $12.... 
••• •.••• 
36.00 
17 pigs «i) $2.50. 
42.50 
1 porker . 
10.00 
70 hens (® 40 cents. 
... 28.00 
50 hens ® 35 cents. 
17.50 
196 chickens @ 20 cents. 
. 
39.20 
Really the horses are worth more than 
they were in January. They would all 
sell for more and sell more readily. The 
colt, Maria, I put at ?50, though she is 
worth more than that. It is not pos¬ 
sible to give a fair estimate of the value 
of fodder and hay, because this year’s 
crop has not been housed. ii. w. c. 
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