1901 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
7ii 
HOPE FARM NOTES 
Beating the Fnosx.—In tne race with 
Jack Frost, Hope Farm finally came out 
ahead. The corn was all cut In time. 
I am told that on the track, when they 
wish to crowd an extra second out of a 
trotting horse, they put a running horse 
in a sulky and run him hard behind the 
trotter as a pace-maker. In the race our 
boys made against frost Uncle Joseph 
acted as pace-maker! 
Who is Uncle Joseph? 
“Uncle” has a wide meaning at Hope 
Farm. The cnildren have formed the 
habit of calling every man who comes 
close to the family “Uncle.” “Mister” 
seems pretty cold to such warm-hearted 
little folks, and we do not believe that 
chiidren shouid form the habit of cali- 
ing grown people by their first names. 
Uncle Joseph has no connection with 
tne Hope Farmers except that he reads 
The R. N.-Y. and is a farmer. He came 
ail the way from Oregon, where he nad 
a little fruit farm. I tell the story of 
how he came to act as pace-maker in 
the race with Jack Frost because it 
shows how people all over this country 
are strung together on invisible threads. 
Tile Man Fhom O-REoon. —He came in¬ 
to The R. N.-Y. office one day to see 
some of the people who make the paper. 
He was on his way to his old home in 
England, which ne left nearly 40 years 
ago. He went to Oregon 20 years ago, 
and took up some wild land which he 
had developed into a good fruit farm. 
This he had sold at a good figure, and 
so he was ready to go back and see the 
old country. The bhnk in New York 
found it necessary to send uack to Ore¬ 
gon to verify a draft before paying him 
money, and so he had some idle days on 
his hands. A man along in years, with¬ 
out wife or children, who has worked 
hard all his life, soon gets tired of 
tramping about the great city. While 
sitting in the office he heard me say that 
corn cutting was rushing us, so he 
stepped right up and said that he would 
like to go and cut corn at Hope Farm 
while he was waiting for that money. 
The final result was that he came out, 
put on his old coat, and fairly shocked 
the corn by the way he went at it. He 
said he wanted to work for his board, 
but he kept at it so well that the Mad¬ 
ame took me off one side and said: 
“Tell him not to work so hard—board 
doesn’t cost much!” 
I fear the Madame wouldn’t make 
much of a success as the boss of a gang. 
She doesn’’t realize that to a man like 
Uncle Joseph, who has worked all his 
life, fair lauor through the honest work¬ 
ing hours is far sweeter than play or 
idle ease. At any rate, take it irom any 
view you will, he gave us a good lift 
with the corn, and we were glad to have 
him at the farm. I did not realize be¬ 
fore how Hope Farm and The R. N.-Y. 
can stretch hands far across the country. 
Grain Seeding. —We have over seven 
acres of wheat well seeded with grass, 
and expect to have about 10 acres of 
rye. We took our time putting in the 
wheat because we wanted it done as 
nearly right as possible. The ground 
was plowed well. When the soil was so 
wet that it bunched up in a ball wlien 
squeezed in the hand, we kept out of the 
field. The fertilizer was spread on the 
rough furrows, and then the Acme was 
run three oi four times until the sur¬ 
face was mellow and smooth. The grain 
was then put on with a Cahoon seeder 
and worked in with the Acme—with the 
teeth out flat. Then the grass seed was 
put on and the job finished with th ^ 
roller. . . . We used five pecks of 
wheat to the acre, with 10 quarts of 
Timothy and seven of Red-top. That is 
lighter seeding than Mr. Clark recom¬ 
mends, but it is enough for our soil, 1 
think, when seeded with grain. I hope 
this is the last time we shall ever have 
to seed down these stony back fields. 1 
intend to set trees in them on the 
Stvingfellow plan, and if they succeed 
there will be an end to plowing and cul¬ 
tivating. . . . We hope to cover the 
corn and potato fields with rye. In the 
corn fields we scatter the rye on the 
gi’ound and work it in with cultivator 
running both ways. This is no way to 
get an ideal stand of rye, but all we 
want is to cover the ground, prevent 
washing and have something growing 
next Spring which can be plowed under 
or left to mature—just as seems best. 
Had I done this last year I should have 
been at least $150 better off, as several 
acres stood idle through the season, 
while had they been seeded to rye in 
this way the straw and grain would now 
be for sale. ... It must be under¬ 
stood that we are not sowing grain on 
the lower part of the farm, near the 
house. The fields I speak of are far over 
the hill—a long distance from the barn. 
I want these distant fields in crops 
which require no cultivation and few 
visits. We haul all our manure upon 
the few fields close to the barn, and 
there we expect to grow small fruit. 
Farm Notes. —Our ice gave out before 
September 1. I was afraid of it after 
the wet April and May. Looking back 
at it I think our mistakes were in not 
making the house perfectly tight at one 
side where it came close to the barn, 
and in neglecting proper ventilation at 
the top. . . . We have more trouble 
from crows in Fall than in Spring. By 
tarring the corn we prevent their pull¬ 
ing it, but in Fall after cutting they 
come to the shocks and get some grain. 
Shoot them? 
We haven’t such a thing as a gun on 
the place. Why should we keep one? 
Those crows worked for us all through 
the season. My notion is that they 
averaged several times their live weight 
of insects. Now don’t you think it 
would be rather small business after 
they have served us all Summer to turn 
in and kill them? . . . The cows 
broke out last week, and Julia and old 
Jersey filled up on apples. Happily we 
got at them in time. It’s hard to kill 
Julia—these kickers die hard—but the 
old cow bloated until you could play 
the bass drum on her side. Three years 
ago an overdose of apples made her 
helplessly drunk, and brought great 
scandal upon me. This time we pre¬ 
vented that. She was fed cornmeal and 
given doses of cooking soda and a 
homeopathic remedy. . . Our late- 
planted corn made excellent fodder, but 
the grain is not a full yieid. No use 
talking, it is impossible to obtain a full 
yield of grain unless the crop is planted 
by May 20 in our latitude. The month 
of June is the proper time for the baby 
plant to get out of its cradle and shed 
its long dress, and no later season can 
quite make up for the loss of June days. 
School Notes. —We are doing our 
best on the farm to start the peach trees 
right. Hugh brags about the pure blood 
in the hogs, and Charlie believes that 
the colt will make Father Time take 
the dust. These things are all very well 
for the bread and butter side of life, but, 
inside the house, the Madame is train¬ 
ing a crop which, after all, is worthiest 
to carry the Hope Farm brand. The 
little school is doing well. I am no 
hand to brag up our own little folks, for 
I know that few of their good qualities 
come from my side of the house, but I 
feel that we have four as pure and sweet 
little chunks of humanity as any fami y 
need call for. That they are so is aue 
to the fact that the Madame has had 
them constantly under her control. Off 
here among the nills, on this farm, she 
is able to keep them from influences 
which corrupt and spoil many a child 
in town. It means hard work and a 
good deal of self-denial to conduct a 
home school, yet what better crop can 
one grow on the farm than boys and 
girls of strong and earnest character? 
Sometimes I look at my uttle String- 
fellow peach trees and become nearly 
discouraged. They are still such little 
things, and have made such a slow 
growth above ground this year. It 
seems as though one could take one of 
these little stubs and pull it out with 
one hand. But try it! Take noth hands, 
and grunt and strain, and the roots of 
your back will give before tne tree wi.l 
come. Why? Because these roots have 
gone down deep and firm into the soil. 
The growth this first season has been 
mostly below ground—where it ought 
to be. Stem, branch and bud will come 
all in good time. So it is with our lit¬ 
tle folks. I have no doubt that plenty 
Oi children from the public schools can 
“recite’ all around ihem. That doesn’t 
disturb me in the least. I he Madame is 
their day teacher and their Sunday- 
school teacher, too. They are pucting 
the roots of character down deep into 
the soil, and I hope they will never be 
pulled out. 
Horse Feed. —The following question 
is asked by a New York State man: 
1 am at present feeding my farm horses 
rye ground with bran. Is that a good ra¬ 
tion? Compared with oats, four quarts 
per feed, how much rye and bran should 
I feed? I had about 650 pounds of rye 
ground with 500 pounds of bran. Would 
cow pea or common bean hay be good 
horse feed, that is a balanced ration? 
If not, how much grain should be fed? 
A good deal of rye is fed in our sec¬ 
tion, but mostly to hogs and work 
horses. It will not take the place of 
oats for a driving horse. It is now 
pretty well known that oats contain a 
principle called “avenin,” which gives 
spirit or “good feeling to a horse. My 
experience with rye is that it has a 
sluggish or constipating effect upon ani¬ 
mals. For that reason bran would be 
a good grain to mix with it. I would 
mix the two grains half and half. This 
would make a good feed for horses that 
are at good steady work where no great 
speed is required. 
Do we feed it? 
No, for we think it pays us best to 
sell both the straw and grain of rye. We 
have been feeding a mixture of about 
equal parts of ground oats and corn and 
bran. Oats cost more than we can af¬ 
ford to pay, and we shall now feed ear 
corn and wheat bran. 
As to cow-pea hay, I do not make any, 
nor do I advise northern farmers to ex¬ 
pect hay from the crop. I would use it 
for green manuring or for pasture only. 
At the South there is better weather 
when the cow pea is ready for cutting 
and considerable hay is made there. I 
have heard of horses being well win¬ 
tered on pea hay alone, but I did not 
find the small amount I made four 
years ago a full ration, and fed corn 
with it. H. w. c. 
Some Laws of Trees. 
The Christian Endeavor World gives the 
following: 
“In planting his orchard a farmer placed 
one row of trees close to the fence which 
divided his land from his neighbor’s. While 
the trees were small they caused no trou¬ 
ble; but, when they grew large, the 
branches extended out over ihe neighbor’s 
land and became a source of annoyance to 
him. One Fall, when the trees were Ipaded 
with line fruit, the neighbor’s boys com¬ 
menced to take apples from the overhang¬ 
ing branches: and the wife of the owner 
of the orchard, being a hasty woman, 
scolded the boys and said some mean 
things about the neighbor’s family. This 
started a very bitter quarrel. A few days 
after scolding the boys the woman crossed 
the division fence for a basket of apples, 
and was ordered out. Upon learning this 
her husband went to an attorney, and was 
told that, although the apples belonged to 
him, by crossing the fence to get them he 
made himself a trespasser; so the fine fruit 
fell off and rotted on the ground. 
“The next Spring, the neighbor, while 
plowing under the overhanging branches 
of the apple trees, scratched one of his 
horses badly. This made him angry, and 
he sawed off all of the offending branches, 
straight above the fence. Then the owner 
of the trees again sought advice, but learn¬ 
ed that he had no remedy. The trees look¬ 
ed very unsymmetrical, with the branches 
on one side all gone, but the neighbor had 
only exercised a legal right.” 
Unlawful Feed. 
Prof. C. W. Woods, of the Maine Experi¬ 
ment Station, says that the law designed 
to prevent the sale of adulterated stock 
food works well. Formerly considerable 
adulterated cotton-seed meal was sold in 
the State but now a sample of this poor 
stuff Is seldom seen. Not long ago ajsam- 
ple of this meal was sent for analysis. It 
had a bright color and was of good me¬ 
chanical condition, but when analyzed It 
was found that some coloring matter had 
been mixed with it to conceal the ground 
hulls. The dealer was notified that this 
was the poorest sample of meal seen in 
the State for many months. 'This Is what 
he had to say: 
“The cotton-seed meal was sent to us by 
a New York party who wished us to handle 
the product of the mill. We requested, 
for the first thing we did, to send us the 
analysis of it. which they failed to do, but 
they still kept trying to make arrange¬ 
ments with us to handle their meal. We 
at last requested them to send us a large 
sample, which we immediately sent you 
for analysis, and now that we have found 
it so poor, we certainly shall not handle 
any of It, and shall make sure that none 
of our> competitors does.” 
Prof. Woods says that this shows that 
the dealers are being educated so that they 
realize the difference in value of good and 
poor samples of feed, and this is largely 
the result of this law. 
When you write advertisers mention The 
R. N.-Y. and you will get a quick reply and 
“asquare deal.” See our guarantee 8th page. 
For the land’s sake, use Bowker’s Fer¬ 
tilizers. They enrich the earth.— Ad/v. 
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THE 
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I 
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FIRE, WIND and 
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THE A. P. SWAN C0„ lU Nassau St., NEW YORK. 
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