1901 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
759 
HOPE FARM NOTES 
Look Out fob Locusts. —I have the 
following letter from Paterson, N. J.; 
1 see it reported that the 17-year locusts 
are coming next year. 1 intended to plant 
600 pear and apple trees this Fail, but after 
reading about them 1 desired to get your 
advice first. I saw an article in The R. 
N.-Y. of October 12, from a district where 
the locusts were last about four years ago. 
it is about seven years since they were in 
this section, and at that time they did con¬ 
siderable damage to young trees. Don’t 
they show up all over the country at the 
same time? Is there anything to keep 
them off young trees, or do you think it 
better to wait and plant them next Fall? 
w. G. B. 
What our friend saw was a warning 
by Prof. J. B. Smith, of the New Jersey 
Experiment Station. These locusts are 
due next year. They spend 17 years in 
the ground, and then crawl out and lay 
their eggs. The little ones, when hatch¬ 
ed, crawl into the ground and remain 
17 years more before coming out. In 
1885 these locusts came in great num¬ 
bers over the northern part of New Jer¬ 
sey, and did great damage. This is only 
one brood. There are at least 22 differ¬ 
ent broods in the country, each occupy¬ 
ing a certain tract of land, and sure to 
appear every 17 years. In the South 
the locust remains 13 years in the 
ground instead of 17. We are therefore 
reasonably sure to see these creatures 
next year. We may expect them in 
enormous numbers during the last of 
May or early in June. They will be 
with us about a month, though they 
will wear out their welcome in 24 hours. 
There is no way of fighting them with 
poisons. 
WiiAT About It? —These locusts ap¬ 
pear to have no ill-feeling against hu¬ 
manity. Like the poor fellow in Bleak 
House, they don’t “go for to do it,” but 
they get in their work all*the same. Like 
many a human blunderbuss they do 
damage without meaning to. They cut 
slits in the twigs and small branches of 
trees in which their eggs are laid. 
When they are numerous they cut so 
many of these slits that the tree may 
be killed, or twisted and warped all out 
of shape. That is why Prof. Smith ad¬ 
vises farmers in our part of New Jersey 
not to set any fruit trees this Fall or 
next Spring, because these tender little 
trees will be just the sort of incubator 
and baby carriage that the locusts will 
pick out. The older trees will be able 
to provide a cradle for the young locusts 
and still have energy enough to attend 
to their own business. Growing grafts 
or buds are said to be favorite resorts 
for the locusts. The danger is'a real 
one, I am sure, and it is well to be 
warned in time. 
Take a Risk.— In the face of this 
warning shall we plant trees next 
Spring? I had planned to plant a good 
many, but there is surely a big risk 
about it. I shall certainly not plant any 
very small trees. No June-budded 
peach trees for a locust year! I shall 
get the largest trees I can afford, and 
not prune them close. The idea is to 
leave as much wood as possible on the 
tree, so that even if the locusts are nu¬ 
merous there will be a chance to save 
some good shoots. I had intended to 
do a good deal of pruning this Winter, 
but shall now give it up until after I 
see how many locusts we are expected 
to provide for at Hope Farm. I do not 
understand that they fly far. I think 
there will be localities right in the 
track of the last brood where there will 
be but few locusts. It is said that the 
sparrows hate these locusts as they do 
few other insects. They tear the locusts 
in pieces in the most savage manner, 
and kill thousands of them. The spar¬ 
rows will be worth their weight in gold 
next year, and if you see a boy killing 
them it is your duty as a fruit grower 
to spank him then and there. I expect 
to plant some large trees, for I do not 
like to change the plans we have made. 
At the same time I know that it will be 
a risk, and that it will be my own fault 
if the locusts ruin the trees. 
Farm Notes. —We have learned to re¬ 
spect the roller this Fall. Much of the 
land where we have sown rye and wheat 
was quite rough. Charlie spent one 
whole day harrowing two acres, and 
still there were little ridges. After sow¬ 
ing the grain the roller was put on and 
it packed and smoothed the ground, 
making a far better seed bed than could 
have been possible without it. I see 
many fields of wheat and rye covered 
with big clods which the harrow did not 
break. The roller would have crushed 
and fined them, and added 20 per cent 
to the stand of grain. A tiny grain plant 
will grow weary of trying to crawl 
around and under one of these big 
lumps, and will simply quit trying and 
die. . . . Husking has begun, and 
the corn is turning out well. We hope 
to get our stalks mostly under cover be¬ 
fore another long rain. The hay mows 
will be filled and also a big barrack back 
of the barn. The first shredding will be 
done as soon as our sowed fodder is all 
eaten. The horses have no hay now. 
. . .The plan of throwing ears of 
corn lo a horse is seldom satisfactory 
unless the feeder is able to reduce the 
ear to pounds. We find that 10 pounds 
of our ear corn shells out on the aver¬ 
age about seven pounds of grain. Later, 
when the cob is further dried out, the 
proportion of grain will be higher. 
While plowing lasts we aim to feed a 
work horse about eight pounds of corn 
and four pounds of bran per day. . . 
. The tender stalks of the sowed corn 
make good horse feed, and you can grow 
a heavy weight on an acre. Still, I 
shall not muo any more corn. It pays 
better to drill it and give fair cultiva¬ 
tion What we want to get into our 
stock food is sunshine, not shade. Sun¬ 
shine is force, and unless tne fodder has 
it while growing, you will need a whip 
to get force out of your animals. . . . 
The mixture of Cow-horn turnips and 
Crimson clover has made such a strong 
growth that I am now sorry that we did 
not seed this mixture in all of the corn¬ 
fields. It makes a fellow inclined to 
kick himself for his obstinacy in not 
having faith when he sees what might 
have been done for that cornfield. 
Strange Things. —An old pear tree 
near the woodshed had two branches in 
full bloom on October 28. The tree gave 
a fair crop of fruit, which ripened in 
August. Then the web-worms got at 
the tree and nearly stripped it. After 
that these branches put out new foliage 
and bloom. There are scattered blooms 
on other parts of this tree, but I have 
not been able to find another bloom in 
the entire orchard. 1 shall expect next 
to see old Major start into a sudden 
burst of speed without any urging, and 
while headed from home, or Grand¬ 
mother show us how to dance, or the 
old buggy carry us over the hills with¬ 
out sounding an alarm like a watch¬ 
man’s rattle. . . Another mystery is 
the reason for our potato failure. I am 
quite unable to account for it, for as a 
matter of experiment we tried seed of 
the same vai’iety from Maine, from New 
York, and also from New Jersey and 
Florida. We also planted on high 
ground and low ground, sod and corn- 
stubble, and used both fertilizer and 
manure. Our best returns were on low 
ground with manure, but even these 
were barely worth digging. Yet, after 
all, I believe we have the best crop of 
any farmer in our neighborhood—so 
general has been the failure. . . . 
Who can explain how a boy is able to 
turn work into play? The Orchard grass 
in the barn orchard grew so tall after 
the second cutting that we turneu the 
cows in for a few hours each day to nib¬ 
ble it down. Orchard grass will stand 
this sort of pasturing better than any 
other hay grass that I know of. At one 
end of the orchard is a newly seeded 
piece. Julia and Blossom persisted in 
•tramping over this, one because she is 
a natural kicker, and the other because 
she is hunting for her calf. To keep 
them off this seeding we put che little 
boys on guard. Had they been simply 
ordered to watch the cows this would 
have been hard work. I told them to 
play that the cows were buffaloes and 
that they were Indians. When the buf¬ 
faloes came to the line they were to ride 
their ponies out and drive them back. 
They got some hen’s feathers and stuck 
them in their caps, ran muscle into their 
little legs and had a glorious time. 
What a world this would be if grown 
up men could inoculate their daily toil 
with play like that! 
Stock Notes. —Blossom is developing 
into a fine young cow. She has milked 
the theory all out of my prediction as 
to how her thick neck and fat ribs would 
empty the pail. Her big neck, those fine 
potato tops, and the appearance of some 
of my old apple trees have been so dis¬ 
counted by the actual results that I 
don’t care to do any more judging by 
the eye alone. . . . Blossom’s moth¬ 
er, old Jersey, is still on hand, and will 
end her days at Hope Farm. Her milk 
is a little short now, and we shall give 
her a long vacation. I saw the old cow 
the other day with her neck stretched 
out while Blossom was licking the old 
lady. How the old girl did enjoy that 
sandpapering. I am no mind reader, but 
it was easy to imagine Blossom saying 
to her mother; “Now, Mother, I want 
you to rest. I am young and strong, and 
I can fill the pail. You have done more 
than your share. You are old and tired. 
Stop working so hard. Take a good 
long vacation and leave things to me!” 
“What nonsense to talk that way 
about a cow,” some of our practical 
folks will say. Very well, drop the cow 
part of it if you like. Isn’t that the way a 
dutiful daughter ought to talk to her 
mother? Would it hurt a son to give 
voice to the same idea? . . . Several 
weeks ago I spoke of two little pigs. 
They are own sisters, and at that time 
had had the same food and care. One 
weighed 42 pounds and the other 19. 
Since then the larger one has run In a 
field with just enough food to keep her 
growing thriftily, as we intend her for 
a brood sow. The other has been kejit 
in a small pen and stuffed with food 
to see if we can feed the runt out of 
her. On October 26 the larger one 
weighed 62 and the little one 33% 
pounds. No use talking, runts will be 
runts. The poorer the breeding the 
larger the per cent of runts. 
All Sorts. —The pullets are going in¬ 
to Winter quarters in good condition. 
They have been well fed and warmly 
housed. For the first time in several 
years we have been able to keep the 
poultry well yarded. Not over half a 
dozen have been able to get over or 
through the fence. As the cool nights 
come on these few outsiders fly into the 
trees for roosting. This seems to be a 
habit which the unconfined fowls can¬ 
not shake off. Though housed for a 
hundred generations the hen follows 
her remote ancestor into a tree when¬ 
ever she can. . . . We had an ob¬ 
ject lesson in the power of a hen’s leg 
when we opened the garden door. This 
garden is the hens’ Winter playground. 
In early April we turn them out, plow, 
smooth and sow garden seeds. Late in 
September we turn the hens back. By 
this time little is left on the ground 
but weeds. The corn and Lima beans 
are beyond the reach of the hens, and 
the low-growing vegetables have been 
picked. This year the garden was 
weedy, out in two weeks the hens had it 
scratched and cleaned from corner to 
corner. Weeds and all had disappeared. 
It seemed impossible that the small 
hen’s claws had rooted out such a mass 
of vegetation, yet it had been done. . . 
. . One of the interesting things this 
Fall is the way the Japan plum trees 
are holding meir leaves. The pear trees 
are mostly bare, and the Greening apple 
trees have nearly shed their coats, but 
the plums and the Baldwin apple trees 
have a grip like iron, and refuse to take 
leave of their leaves.There 
have been too many augur holes in the 
floor behind the cattle and under the 
horses. These holes do not augur well 
for the size of the next crop. We plug 
them up and use old sawdust freely un¬ 
der the stock. The solid value of the 
manure is in the liquids. . . On Oc¬ 
tober 28 the nasturtiums were killed by 
frost. The Gannas look sad around the 
edges of the leaves, but are not yet dead, 
and the sweet corn at the top of the 
hill has not yet soured on the world. 
H. w. c. 
For the land’s sake, use Bowker’s Fer 
tilizers. They enrich the earth.— Ad/v. 
It Brings More Eggs 
’ Get a Dandy Green Bone Cutter and 
double your ecg yield. Our new cata¬ 
logue tells all about feeding green 
bone, and the best machine 
for cutting it. 
Direct 
on 80 days’ trial. 
Stratton Mfg. Co., Box 
PUICE, I 
and up 
13, Erie, Pa. 
60HE GUTTER MONEY 
The money spent for the Adam 
Ball Beurliiir I'reeii Bone Cui- 
ter is money in your pocket. We 
will convince you of this if you 
send for our Illustrated Catalogue 
No. 33 The Adam cuts clean, easily and quickly. 
W. J. ADAM, • JOLIET, ILLINOIS 
\ 
Rain and sweat 
have no effect on 
harness treated 
with Eureka Har 
ness Oil. It re¬ 
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keeps the leath¬ 
er soft and pli¬ 
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do not break. 
No rough sur¬ 
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and cut. The 
harness not 
only keeps 
looking like 
new, but 
wears twice 
as long by the 
use of Eureka 
Harness Oil. 
Sold 
everywhere 1/ \ 
in cans— 11' \ 
all sizes. / v*. ' 
Made by 
Standard Oil 
^ Company 
BEFORE BUYING 
A NEW HARNESS alogiie glv- 
Ing full de¬ 
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double harness and save 25 per cent. 
King Harness Co. 510 Church St., Owego.N.Y. 
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O' Grafton, lUo. 
COOK VOUR FE*-0 and SAVB, 
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Mass. 
KENBMt^ 
SPAVIN 
CURE 
Used It 20 Years. 
^ Goff, Kan,., Feb. 7th. 1900. 
I Dr. B. J. Kendall Co., GentleinenI 
ha-o used your Kendall’aSpavin Cure ev- 
I r : Ince I can remember, about 20 yeare, 
and It la all you recommend for it. 
ana It >8 wax. D. CALDEK. 
Never Failed. 
R».Iding, Cal., Apr. 2ud, 1900. 
Dr. B. J. Kendall Co., DearSirs:—Can’t 
get your book here. Please send me one. 
Have used your Kendall’s Spavin Cure on 
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THE OLD RELIABLE 
And Most Successful Remedy Ever Discovered for Spa-vlrvs, Ringbones, 
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Enosburg Fodls, Vt. 
'KENDALL’S _ 
ISPAVIN CIREJ 
_L’S , 
iPAVlN ClREj 
