1905 . 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
61 
Hope Farm Notes 
Farm Matters. —January thus far has been 
much more favorable for farm work than last 
year. While the weather is cold the sun 
shows itself now and then, and the snow has 
disappeared, except for little drifts along the 
north side of fences and walls. At this time 
last year we were overwhelmed by snow and 
frozen solid with frost, while the sun was on 
a strike. This open weather enables us to do 
many odd jobs which will make Spring work 
come out even later on. January will see the 
shingling all done and fence posts all ready. 
Then if the sun will give us a chance we can 
begin painting and patching, and take March 
for clearing up and getting ready for spray¬ 
ing and planting. In former years too much 
of this odd jobbing has chased us into May or 
June, Interfering with work which should be 
done at that time. . . . The stock is win¬ 
tering well. Just now we are feeding the oat 
and pea hay. Old Major enjoys this fodder—• 
it is like a ham sandwich among horse forage. 
I sometimes wonder why fruit growers do not 
raise more of it for stock feed. We get a 
good yield and can either seed to clover with 
it: or plow the ground after cutting, and sow 
turnips, or even plant cabbage. One year we 
raised a fair crop of potatoes after oats and 
peas, but this cannot l)e safely recommended. 
The oats and peas make a good crop to grow 
before seeding to grass on the Clark method. 
I think the peas add at least 30 per cent to 
the feeding value of the oats. I have been 
asked so many times how oats and peas are 
seeded that I give our way once more. We 
sow 1 Vt bushel of Canada field peas per acre 
on top of the ground, and put them under 
with a small plow or disk. Then, on the 
rough furrows, we sow three bushels of oats 
and work them in with an Acme harrow. On 
light soil we roll to finish the job. We have 
had good success in seeding to clover or grass 
with tlie crop, but many complain that the 
smaller seeds are smothered out. . . . 
Now that the snow has gone I find a fair 
stand of Alfalfa. I do not think the danger 
is over yet, though I never before had it get 
along as far as January. 1 hope it will live 
through. If it doesn't 1 shall go at it again 
on the same soil. . . . The hens are lay¬ 
ing fairly well. Emma Is the hen woman, 
and she leads the neighborhood in the pro¬ 
duction of eggs. 1 cannot say that all her 
methods of feeding are strictly in line with 
tlie principles laid down in “The Easiness 
Hen,” but who cares for that when eggs sell 
at 50 cents a dozen—and the hens lay? Our 
hens are kept in an old icehouse, where they 
have little sun and really poor accommoda¬ 
tions, yet they lay eggs. Emma stays by 
them with table scraps and warm water, and 
what Is better, personal interest. She wants 
to increase the hen department, and I feel dis¬ 
posed to let her try it. Emma came from 
Sweden many years ago, and doesn't think 
much of an incubator. Her idea is to get 
a lot of sitting hens. Our incubators have 
never been able to touch the hens in per cent 
of eggs hatched—that's sure. We expect to 
select about 1.1 of our best hens and put them 
with a fine White Wyandotte rooster. This 
will be our breeding pen to start with. I like 
the Wyandottes, as I see more of them. 
Florida Notes. —Charlie planted the first 
potatoes January 7. This was a little garden 
patch in the village on light soil—intended 
for a home supply. This is pretty early 
planting, and the chances are against it, be¬ 
cause there is quite sure to be a frost in Feb¬ 
ruary. It is a fair risk, however, and Florida 
is made up of risks, some of them very safe 
and others shaky. For this early planting it 
is safest to plant in drills, covering lightly 
with soil, leaving the seed in a hollow. Then 
if frost threatens you can, with a cultivator, 
throw soil over the young plants and give 
them protection while filling up the furrow. 
I should not want to attempt this with a 
larger crop. Our farm is on lower ground, 
and thus more likely to be hit by the frost. 
Charlie nas the potato ground well grubbed 
out and partly plowed. There is no imme¬ 
diate rush about planting. 
I am asked what varieties we use. More 
of Early Marquette than any other. This va¬ 
riety was recommended by a good authority. 
I tried it here last year, and found it excel¬ 
lent in quality and yield. We shall also use 
some Beauty of Ilebron, though that variety 
is about played out for our northern location. 
Growers in the South still demand it, though 
I believe they get all sorts of things instead 
of the true Iiebrons. I am also planting a 
few Rural New Yorker. This is not an early 
variety, yet it. will make potatoes of salable 
size in fewer days than some of the so-called 
early sorts. It seems almost like a sort of 
fraud to put half-grown potatoes on the mar¬ 
ket, yet I have eaten Rurals of this size which 
were excellent. . . . Since I left Florida 
the mercury has crawled down to 29 degrees, 
but no damage was done to the oranges. That 
is too close for comfort to suit me! At that 
temperature people were glad to shake them¬ 
selves and get in by the open fires. Every 
house has a good-sized open fireplace, and in 
some rooms there is a tiny cast-iron stove, 
which will heat up a room almost instantly. 
The children are running about in the sand, 
having a glorious time in the sun and mild 
air. They write me of playing baseball until 
I wish I could take a hand myself. It is 
warm enough to go barefooted, but they keep 
on their shoes because the ground is well 
seeded with a small burr which bites like a 
needle on wheels! The little school is still 
prospering. Often it is held in the open air. 
The Madame has asked me to send her tlie 
Hope Farm flag. It will be a good thing to 
raise that over a Florida home. . . . 
Charlie tells me that one day all hands quit 
work to rake and haul pine needles out of 
the woods. They use them for making side¬ 
walks about the little town. A coat of these 
needles on the soft sand makes it easier for 
people to thread their way about. In some 
parts of Florida I found that these needles are 
used for mulching orange groves after culti¬ 
vation is done. . . . On December 29 1 
planted a small orchard in peach trees on 
Uncle Ed's place. This was an experiment 
to see if our plan of close pruning will work 
in that country. The trees were green, with¬ 
out leaves, and averaged over live feet. high. 
I cut the roots to about three Inches, and the 
tops to two feet or less: dug small holes, 
about large enough to hold the roots without 
crowding. As I worked the dirt firmly around 
the roots one of the boys poured in water, 
which puddled the roots and packed the soil 
around them. Then we filled the hole and 
pounded the soil hard about the tree, putting 
a fair amount of good manure around it to 
serve as a mulch. Now we shall see what fol¬ 
lows. Uncle Ed tried this plan, but seemed to 
lose faith because the tree did not start off 
and grow rapidly above ground. lie dug up 
one of these trees and. just as I expected, he 
found a long tap root formed and the side 
roots coming out. Is this tap root any ad¬ 
vantage to the tree? f think so, though we 
have not yet had a season that will demon¬ 
strate it. 
Local Taxation in England. — I have the 
following interesting note from an English 
reader: 
“Noticing recently in 'Hope Farm Notes’ 
an account of the tax bill on Hope Farm, 1 am 
induced to ask if you can help me to compare 
local taxation upon farms in your country with 
those of my own. Is it possible that the 
sum of $1,426 ner $100 represents a year’s 
local taxes in New Jersey? If so, are they 
lower or higher than in most other States? 
And are there any Federal Government or 
State taxes usually in addition, apart from 
duties paid by consumers of imported com¬ 
modities? The amount named is less than 
1 V, per cent, whereas in England local rates 
for relief of the poor, the maintenance of lun¬ 
atic asylums, highway roads, education, sani¬ 
tary arrangements, etc., range commonly from 
12 to 20 per cent, w.ith extremes possibly as 
low as 10 per cent, and as high as 30 per cent. 
These rates are levied on all real property, 
but under a comparatively recent act agri¬ 
cultural land pays only half the rate in the 
pound charged on houses and other buildings, 
and railways, farmhouses and other farm 
buildings paying the fill 1 rate. Under older 
acts only one-fourth of certain small rates, 
such ns the sanitary rate, is charged on farms 
and their buildings. Rut the local rates on 
farms in England range from about three 
shillings and sixpence to five shillings per 
acre. They are highest where a farm is 
within the parish of a town in which rates 
are very hl"h. Imperial taxes, apart from 
customs’ and excise duties on certain com¬ 
modities, stamps on checks and other com¬ 
mercial documents, and gun and carriage li¬ 
censes fnot carriages used for farm work- 
only), press lightly on tenant farmers, all but 
the largest occupiers being outside the inci¬ 
dence of the income tax. On land owners, 
whether they farm or let their land, income 
tax, now one shilling and twopence in the 
pound on the gross rent and lithe, presses 
very heavily. Land tax does not in any case 
exceed one shilling per acre. They also lia'-e 
to pay tithes, commonly three to eighl shil¬ 
lings per acre, and up to 10 shillings in ex¬ 
treme cases. In this country if a farmer im¬ 
proves his farm, as, for example, by planting 
fruits, his assessment to rates is put up on 
bis improvements. Is it so in the United 
States?” AN ENGLISH READER. 
Sussex, England. 
'Pile figures given are the only direct, taxes 
levied on Hope Farm, in our county town, 
10 miles away, tlie tax is as follows: 
County tax .52 
Bounty and interest. 4 
Township and poor. 4 
State school tax. 22 
Special school tax. 82 
Commission tax . 76 
Fire tax. 10 
Library tax . 6 
Sewer bond tax. 24 
Total .$2.80 
This is twice the tax we pay on the farm, 
the difference being in the cost of local priv¬ 
ileges. such as schools, library, sewer and so- 
called protection. The county tax pays the 
cast of county government, bridges, etc. We 
pay no State tax in New Jersey. It has) be¬ 
come the policy in many States where there 
are large cities or rich corporations to dis¬ 
continue taxes on property and levy larger 
sums on corporations for franchises or spe¬ 
cial privileges. New Jersey encourages such 
corporations to come here and organize, pay¬ 
ing a tax or license for the privilege of doing 
so. Thus it is said that the corporations 
pay our State expenses, and many of ns think 
Ihey just about own tin 1 State as payment 
therefor! Our National Government is sup¬ 
ported chiefly by tariff taxes, internal reve 
nue or stamp taxes on certain manufactured 
articles, sales of public lands, fees and many 
small items. Thus the general Government 
derives most of its revenues from “taxation 
of consumption,” or on those things which 
people consume, while the State gets what it 
can out of corporations and the locality aims 
to tax real estate. Both the taxation of arti¬ 
cles consumed and on corporations prove an 
indirect tax upon the common people. While 
one may think the direct tax of $1.42 on the 
Hope Farm property is light it is a fact that 
we also pay an indirect tax on everything we 
buy or consume, for in the end we pay out- 
part of the tariff tax. while the corporations 
are sure to make us chip in for the part they 
are supposed to contribute. It will be seen 
that the poor in our county have little public 
money spent on them. They are regarded 
here largely as objects for private benevolence. 
The amount which the Hope Farmers contrib¬ 
ute during the year for charity would run the 
tax bill up to a startling figure. Local taxes 
are hard on real estate. The assessor in our 
district has raised the valuation of Hone 
Farm over 20 per cent because of improve¬ 
ments. such as planting trees. It seems im¬ 
possible to compare the taxes on American 
and English farm property, since there is evi¬ 
dently a difference in valuations. While the 
direct taxes are heavier in England, the indi¬ 
rect taxes on this side of the water are enor¬ 
mous. and they really hurt us more in the 
end, because we do not recognize them, and 
charge our expenses to other items. If we 
were forced to pay all public expenses 
through direct taxation there would he a roar 
of indignation, but in the end these expenses 
would be cut down without injury to the Gov¬ 
ernment. II. w. c. 
When 
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_^ ____ ___ howweship anywhere on 
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and 100 styles of harness from #4.40 up. 
Write today for Free Money Saving Catalogue. 
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B 627, Cincinnati, O 
Let Us Send You 
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about good wheels and good wagons that will save 
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HAVANA METAL WHEEL CO. 
BOX 1 7 HAVANA. ILL 
Red Chief 
Combined Corn 
and 
Pop-Corn Shelter 
( Patented ) 
Best hand sheller 
made. Closed hopper, 
can’t pinch fingers, 
adjusts for any size 
ear. 
SHELLS EVERY GRAIN 
and cracks none. Always throws cob outside the vessel. 
Clamps to barrel, keg or straight edge box. P op-corn 
attachment quickly applied, shells perfectly. Small 
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BRIHLY-HARDY CO., 253 Main Street, Louisville, Ky. 
with an Appleton Wood 
SAW you can rapidly and with 
ease and safety m > m ■ 
SAW 
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$5to$l5aDay 
Strong, rigid 
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Also the famous “Hero” Friction-Feed Drag Saw, 
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Appleton Mfg. Co. 27 Fargo St., Batavia, 111. ^ 
Harness 
We sell custom made, oak- 
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t! Lake St. 
Onego, Tioga Co., N. Y. 
Get Our 
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q It tells all about Attrition 
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catalog' almost'^ 
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Sprout 
p. o. box 263 
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MUNCY, PA. 
TRY IT “BUY IT 
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rilling to let you prove It. 
DITTd’S 
Triple Geared Ball Rearing 
_ FEED GRINDER? 
is sent on triaL If It Is not the largettcap*. 
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are feed grinders tested and used 
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THE FOOS MFG. CO., LEst. 25 years.) Springfield, Ohio. 
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Avoid imitators and infringers and buy the Genuine. 
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MILL 
I 
CUTAWAY v-TOOLS FOR LARGE HAY CROPS. 
Clark’s Reversible Bush and Bog Plow, cuts a track 4 ft. wide, 1 ft. deep. Will plow a 
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Hlggamuc, Conn., U. 8. A. 
