1905 . 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
2o9 
Hope Farm Notes 
Home Notes. —The last week in February 
did part of the business for our biff snow¬ 
drifts. The days turned mild and warm, and 
the nights were not cold enough to tie up 
the snow too hard. Bare ground began to 
show in the barnyard and in spots ou the 
road, with genuine mud in sight. Nothing 
could be more welcome than this mud, though 
it will be (piite the reverse before the roads 
dry up. Everybody felt better for a good 
look at the sun. Yet what's the use of talk¬ 
ing? The hardest blizzard this section ever 
had came in March, and we may duplicate it 
yet. We won't anticipate it though. Philip 
has the shingling done after a long siege. 
Day after day he was held up, and some days 
lie could only nail three courses before storm 
or frost drove him off the roof. If this sun 
lasts we shall begin painting at once. For 
the old house the Madame has picked out a 
light gray with white trimmings. At present 
the stone part of the house is painted the 
same as the wood. I would prefer the nat¬ 
ural color of the stone, but as the latter is 
painted now we must go over it again. . . . 
I have at last been able to get up into the 
orchards. The trees seem all right, and I 
can find little evidence thus far of the work 
of mice or rabbits. When the snow melts we 
may find more of it. The peach buds seem to 
be very much alive ; in fact, thus far, the or¬ 
chards look first rate. This heavy coat of 
snow will be a great thing for the grass. We 
will give it a fair dressing of fertilizer, and 
then get ready to see it jump. The Alfalfa 
is down under the snow, making up its mind 
whether to show up in the Spring or not. 
We hope it will decide in the affirmative, for 
a good crop of Alfalfa, nicely cured, will be 
a great boon to Hope Farm. . . . The 
worst thing I can see above the snow is a 
block of about 150 young apple trees that 
are sunscalded. The damage is on the south 
side of the trees. The bark is discolored 
about one-third the way around, in some 
cases down to the snow, and in others about 
half way down. I will stay on record as 
saying that I think these trees were weakened 
by being fumigated before they were fully 
matured in the Fall before they left the nur¬ 
sery. What shall I do with them? Shall I 
pull them out, let them alone, or cut them 
back below the scalding? . . . We always 
have more or less trouble with our water¬ 
works at the house. The pipe runs direct 
from the kitchen range to a pipe which runs 
from pump to tank. When the pump is work¬ 
ing there is direct pressure upon the range. 
I now think of putting a steel tank in the 
upper part of the house and have the water 
fed from it into the range. Then we can 
pump directly into this new tank and also 
connect it with the old one. Our windmill 
usually does good work up to July, when the 
wind wants a vacation ! In this connection 
I will print the following letter from Penn¬ 
sylvania : 
“Some time since in writing about that 
windmill pump, allusion was made to occa¬ 
sional disturbance from thumping or pound¬ 
ing of the pump. We had the same trouble, 
but when a new and better pump was put in 
service, with a suitable air chamber, this 
ceased, and a much better supply of water 
was secured. Our present pump has a 2 1 A- 
inch bucket and a brass cylinder, and I think 
gives double the water the old pump did, and 
at less than one-tifth the cost for leathers. 
Get a better pump.” J. p- 
Fi.orida Notes. —The weather is reported 
as delightful and everybody hopes that the 
last cold wave has waved out. Florida 
weather is treacherous ,and I am not buying 
a new overcoat or a dress suit on credit to 
be paid for out of potato profits. Prof. Brin- 
ton, in his excellent “Notes on the Floridian 
Peninsula," tells the following story of 
the old Indian tribes : 
“At the period of the French settlements, 
such amity existed between these neighbors 
that the ruler of the latter sought in mar¬ 
riage the daughter of Oathcaqua, chief of 
Tegesta, a maiden of rare and renowned 
beauty. Her father, well aware how ticklish 
is the tenure of such a jewel, willingly grant¬ 
ed the desire of his ally and friend. En¬ 
compassing her about with stalwart warriors, 
and with maidens not a few for her compan¬ 
ions, he started to conduct her to her future 
spouse. But alas for the anticipation of 
love! Near the middle of his route was a 
lake called Serope, nigh five leagues about, 
encircling an island, whereon dwelt a race 
of men valorous in war and opulent from a 
traffic in dates, fruits and a root ‘so excellent 
well fitted for bread, that you could not pos¬ 
sibly eat better,’ which formed the staple 
food of their neighbors for 15 leagues around. 
These, fired by the reports of her beauty and 
the charms of the attendant maidens, waylay¬ 
ing the party, rout the warriors, put the old 
father to flight, and carry off in triumph the 
princess and her fair escort, with them to 
share the joys and wonders of their island 
home.” 
That story may well be a warning to any 
man who attempts to grow a crop in Florida 
which Jack Frost ever hankers for. No use 
counting potatoes, truck or oranges before 
they are sold and paid for, because anywhere 
along the line old Frost or one of his allies 
may get in his work just as those Island men 
ran off the girls! It doesn't seem to me 
that the old man and his warriors cut much 
of a figure, but perhaps they did their best! 
I believe that Uncle Ed and Charlie will 
make a harder fight for the potatoes than the 
old man did for the girls! . . . The pic¬ 
ture on page 199, Fig. 89, shows one side 
of Florida farming. When it is too wet to 
plant potatoes you can take your gun and 
get out after quail. They rounded up 
Charlie in the woods. The picture shows 
the beautiful sunlight effect on a bright day 
in a Florida forest. If the old man and his 
warriors had carried that double-barrelled 
gun they would have beaten the Island men 
off. A glance through the hindsight of that 
gun may mean a dinner of quail on toast, but 
the potato crop is to be won through the fore¬ 
sight in using a hoe while the weeds are 
small! . . . Our folks have been picking 
beautiful wild violets in the open air. I am 
asked why these violets cannot be dug up 
with a good bunch of earth around the root, 
packed in crates and sent to the North. They 
could, but what would be the use, since they 
would not compete with the cultivated vio¬ 
lets with much greater success than wild 
strawberries would compete with the best 
from cultivated fields? The cultivated violet 
is larger, more perfect and with stronger and 
more delicate fragrance. Nature in a Florida 
field cannot compete with a skilled florist in 
a northern greenhouse, because the latter has 
complete control of conditions and can pro¬ 
duce flowers just exactly as the public want 
them. 
"Coox" Cats. —Since I intimated that we 
might give squab raising a trial i have had 
considerable advice-. Some have tried squabs 
and failed to make a fortune. Others have 
different schemes to propose. Here is one 
aoout as good as any : 
"I see you are thinking of raising squabs. 
Rerhaps that loft would be a good place to 
raise ‘coon cats.' I send you a clipping 
which I suppose gives all the information 
necessary if you know how to translate it. I 
don't, l’lease tell us how we are to make 
cats ‘coon,’ which will thrive with a little 
extra care during mating season, etc.” 
GEORGE C. WILCOX. 
The article referred to is printed in an ag¬ 
ricultural paper, part of it reading as fol¬ 
lows : 
"1 earn a little money by raising coon cats. 
There are not many farmers but have one or 
more cats about the house or barn, and by 
taking some pains to have these cats coon, 
which will thrive with only a little extra care 
during mating season, one can realize quite 
a little sum of money from them in the Fall. 
'In this vicinity buyers come to the house. 
1 Tices of kittens range from $1 to $8 or $9, 
according to size, color, sex, age and length 
of fur for kittens. Cats bring more.” 
I am told that “coon” cats are of a partic¬ 
ularly handsome breed, perhaps descended 
from Angoras. Very likely a cross of the 
“coons" on our ordinary cats would find 
favor with many cat lovers. Even $9 apiece 
wouldn't tempt me to have more cats around 
than we have now. You might possibly keep 
coon cats and squabs in the same house, but 
I think the squabs would be inside of the 
cats. I'm sorry that I can't get up much 
enthusiasm over ginseng, coon cats, seedless 
apples and other rapid routes to wealth. I 
guess 1 wasn't cut out for a rich man. After 
all, this coon cat scheme is just about as sen¬ 
sible as many others that are eagerly caught 
up. 
Ax Alfalfa Question. —Here is a ques¬ 
tion with a knot in it : 
“I have about four acres of corn stubble 
that I want to seed to Alfalfa this season. 
I have two plans under consideration. First, 
sow the piece with peas and oats mixed as 
soon as the ground is fit to work; at the 
same time sow one-half bushel Alfalfa seed 
to the acre. The question is, will the peas 
inoculate the soil sufficiently so I shall stand 
a reasonable chance of getting a good stand 
of clover? What time should the oats and 
peas be cut? Second plan: Sow to buck¬ 
wheat about the first of July, sowing Alfalfa 
with it; also sowing soil from an old Alfalfa 
patch. Which is the better plan, or have you 
a better plan still?” a. l. s. 
New Y'ork. 
I am not prepared to answer the question 
exactly, as I don't know. Wait till I see 
whether my Alfalfa has committed suicide 
down under the snow. I would like to hear 
from those who have had experience. I 
should say that oats and peas would be a 
>oor crop to nurse Alfalfa. They would lie 
ike some of those nurses that kill a child 
"by bundlin'* it up too much. The oats and 
peas are so rank and thick that they might 
smother out: the little Alfalfa plants. Red 
clover often “catches” with oats and peas, 
but young clover is a much stronger infant 
than’ young Alfalfa. I should not. expect a 
good catch of Alfalfa with buckwheat. We 
often have a drought at buckwheat seeding, 
and the buckwheat will get about all the 
moisture there is. I did sow Alfalfa wi"’ 
buckwheat last Fall, and got a fair stand in 
some places, but if I ever sow it again in 
late Summer I shall sow the seed alone. The 
"knot” I spoke of is this idea that the peas 
will inoculate the soil for the Alfalfa. They 
will do nothing of the sort, because the little 
bacteria which work on the roots of peas are 
different from those needed by the Alfalfa. 
Even those on the clover roots are different 
from those on Alfalfa, though the latter are 
much the same as those on Sweet clover. 
The Department of Agriculture sent out sam¬ 
ples of 18 different kinds of bacteria, each 
suited to a particular plant. There are many 
"human beings in the world divided into differ¬ 
ent races. They look much alike, but you 
wouldn't expect a Frenchman to inoculate 
an American district school with knowledge 
of the English language. You must get the 
Alfalfa bacteria if you want to inoculate the 
soil for that crap. The soil you speak of 
will do it. h. w. c. 
Wit ex you write advertisers mention The 
R. N.-Y. and you'll get a quick reply and 
"a square deal." See guarantee, page 18. 
4 PER CENT, 
and Safety 
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Department II booklet tells some interest¬ 
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No. 19 
Iron Age 
Wheel Plow 
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