1905. 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
281 
Hope Farm Notes 
Farm Notes.— As I write a warm soft rain 
is falling, and the ground is nearly bare ex¬ 
cept for the fringe of drifts in the hollows 
and along the north sides of the stone walls. 
Spring hasn't come, however, though we are 
so glad to see the ground again that younger 
people conclude that Winter is over... Not 
much—we shall see rough weather yet. But 
the green of the rye and the lighter color 
of the young trees, as the sap begins to start, 
are mighty cheerful signs. It does an old 
fellow lots of good to see this young life 
swelling and painting the face of nature after 
the long and dreary Winter. It is a hopeful 
season, and we must do our part at once. It 
won't do to sit on the fence and dream while 
spraying and pruning are waiting. Up and 
at it! . . . I find people here and there 
who think the birds and wild animals know 
more about the weather and the seasons than 
the weather prophets do. They will be inter¬ 
ested in the following record made at Spring- 
field, Mass., showing when the first birds 
come back from the South : 
“The bluebird is the latest In five years. 
The record in recent years has been : 
Song sparrow. Bluebird. 
1901.March 8. March 4. 
11>02.March 8. February 27. 
1903 .March 3. February 23. 
1904 .March 12. March 11. 
1905 .March 9. March 12.” 
If this means anything we are to have a 
season about as late as last year, which seems 
to me reasonable. I don't believe the first 
bluebird knows what he is up against when 
he strikes our country. The weather in Flor¬ 
ida is now pronounced “delightful,” but with 
more rain than they need. By the time this 
is read I expect to be on my way to the 
South in order to see how the potatoes and 
the humans look. 
Fruit Matters.— As the trees begin to 
shake themselves after their Winter's sleep a 
few lessons seem to stand out clearly. It has 
been a hard Winter. The ground has been 
frozen and dry for a long time, and trees 
have suffered from lack of moisture. We do 
not always consider that a tree must have 
some moisture all through the Winter. There 
is more or less water evaporated from the 
trunk and limbs that must lie supplied. Thus 
a Winter like the past one is very hard on 
young trees. I am glad that I did not plant 
last Fall. The most thrifty trees I have 
this Spring are some that were heavily 
mulched last Summer, and have kept the 
mulch around them through the Winter. Un¬ 
der this mulch the ground did not freeze until 
late in January, and then not as deep as it 
did where the soil was bare. Thus these 
trees did not suffer from moisture, and the 
roots have kept at work through most of the 
Winter. I was afraid that these mulched 
trees would be badly injured by mice, but I 
can find only two or three that are hurt. 
Hereafter I shall try to protect the' trees 
from mice and rabbits, and leave a thick 
mulch around them through the Winter. A 
friend in Vermont assures me that cow ma¬ 
nure well smeared on the trees in the Fall 
will keep the mice away. Somehow the mice 
seem to have left us, and I have no desire to 
call them back. . . . What with injuries 
during Winter and the San Josf* scale the 
outlook for the future fruit grower seems 
framed in sweat and worry. I am sure that 
we shall be obliged to upset many of our old 
plans and change about. The old high-headed 
apple orchards seemed doomed. It is a great 
job to get the spray all over them—the tops 
are too high, and in many cases one branch 
defends another. We have got to get our 
trees low down where we can get at them for 
spraying, pruning and picking. I also doubt 
if we can expect to fruit our trees as many 
years as we have in the past. I shall keep 
planting each year, so as to have vigorous 
young trees coming on all the time, Tf a 
tree becomes badly crusted with the scale I 
expect to cut it down and burn it, starting a 
new tree in its place. While I am not sure 
of it, I think a tree in sod, well cared for— 
that is, well fed and mulched—is less likely 
to be troubled by insects than one thoroughly 
cultivated. I know that entomologists do not 
agree upon this point, but I would like to 
have it discussed. 
Crimson Clover.—A friend in Illinois asks 
this question, which comes up every Spring: 
“I want to sow clover seed with my oats 
as a catch crop, so as to improve the’ground. 
I shall plow it up next year again. Clover 
seed is .$10 a bushel. Would Crimson clover 
be just as good at .$4 a bushel, or would 
Crimson clover be good seed at that price? 
Does Crimson clover winter-kill? Would it 
be more liable to smother out in the oats 
than Mammoth clover?” g. k. 
I should pay the price for Bed clover seed. 
Do not sow Crimson clover with the oats. 
That is just like running out to welcome a 
failure. It is probably inferior seed at that 
price anyway. Crimson clover is a cold 
weather plant. Warm weather causes it to 
head out and that ends it. It makes a good 
growth through the cool weather of Fall, and 
If it lives through the Winter it starts rapidly 
in the Spring, but ends its growth during 
May. If you were to sow it with oats, it 
would grow a few inches high and when hot 
weather came bloom and form a seed head 
and then die. Never sow Crimson clover ex¬ 
cept in late Summer. 1 have had people 
growl at me and express a desire to use their 
teeth because they sowed Crimson clover and 
cow peas with oats—and failed! They might 
just as well have sowed corn in the Fall at 
the time of wheat seeding! 
Fertilizer Problems.— A friend in Mis¬ 
souri asks this question : 
“I have several times seen coal ashes rec¬ 
ommended as a mulch for gooseberries. IIow 
is it possible to manure them if surrounded 
by coal ashes and cinders? Coal ashes are 
said to have no fertilizing value.” 
The coal ashes will let some water pass 
through them. You could put the manure 
on top of the ashes and obtain some benefit 
from it. In a garden we would hoe the ashes 
to one side, fork in the manure and spread 
the ashes again on top. It Is not meant that 
the coal ashes should cover the entire ground 
around the bushes. We would rather put a 
little pile close around the bush. The ma¬ 
nure may then be spaded or plowed in outside 
of this pile. The feeding roots of the bush 
are out nearer the middle of the rows. 
Another reader who has a garden wants to 
know if he cannot dissolve Babbitt's potash 
in water and pour the liquid along the rows. 
He can, but it would not pay. This "potash” 
is not potash at all, but a soda lye. Soda 
will not take the place of potash any more 
than salt will take the place of sugar. Even 
if it would this method of applying it would 
be likely to kill most of the plants. If you 
had lye that you knew was made of potash 
and wanted to use it the best way would be 
to dissolve it in water and then sprinkle this 
liquid over coal ashes. The ashes will absorb 
the liquid potash and when they are dried 
and spread they act like a potash fertilizer. 
Stagnant Brains. —I have the following 
note from an indignant reader in New York: 
"\\ hat do you think of the conclusion ar¬ 
rived at In the enclosed clipping from the 
Christian Herald? As an agriculturist I re¬ 
sent any statement of this sort. It is not 
the case out here in old Chautauqua ; Oranges, 
farmers’ clubs, literary societies, W. C. T. 
U. and many church societies, Institutes, home 
readings, etc., do not indicate mental inac¬ 
tivity to my mind, it seems very plain that 
the man who thinks that present-day farming 
can be carried on without thought has a very 
low conception of the matter. Why, the man 
who for a compensation agrees to help on the 
farm, if he won't think, is dismissed as soon 
as possible for one who will.” 11 . d. w. 
The clipping refers to a so-called inquest 
held by an English coroner some years ago. 
A man had died from softening of the brain. 
This is what the Christian Herald says: 
“The actual cause of death had been an ac¬ 
cident in driving; but the injuries he had re¬ 
ceived were not of a character to produce 
death. They had been followed, however, by 
softening of the brain. The medical expert 
said that this malady was peculiarly common 
among agricultural laborers. He said that 
this class of men did little thinking, and as 
a result, the brain cells* were not nourished, 
and they gradually refrain from carrying the 
blood to the brain. The result is paralysis 
of those parts and the victim goes off in an 
apoplectic fit or in paresis, while the judge 
or the clergyman, with far less vigor, goes 
on living. It is significant that it is not by 
use, but by disuse that the brain is weakened 
and destroyed. All God's gifts are intended 
to be employed, and when they are not em¬ 
ployed they are withdrawn. ‘By much sloth¬ 
fulness the building decayeth and through 
idleness the house droppeth through.' (Eccles. 
10; 18).” 
What do I think of that? I think the man 
who wrote it has a softer brain than the man 
who is said to have died ! He ought to fol¬ 
low his own pious text. I know the way 
such items are written. A man catches at 
some floating item in a daily paper. Without 
stopping to verify it he pads it out, talks 
wise ignorance, adds a little preaching and 
then pats himself on the back as having done 
a great thing. To my shame be it said I did 
some of this very thing years* ago, though I 
will say that some of it was done in a joke, 
and I never did attempt to cast discredit 
upon any worthy class of people. We saw 
the item from which this started months ago. 
It had come through a dozen hands, each 
probably adding to it. It referred to the 
lower class farm laborers in England, a class 
distinct from anything we have in this coun¬ 
try. No sane man had any business to make 
the application lit the men who do farm work 
here. A large proportion of the very judges 
and clergymen this silly person refers to 
were once agricultural laborers themselves. 
Most writers in such papers are at least 
skillful enough to hide the sneer at farmers 
and farming, but this man doesn't know how. 
This must be one of the gifts that has al¬ 
ready. been “withdrawn" from him. Yes, by 
all means, this person should follow his own 
text. I would like to pull him awav from 
his soft chair, his paste and his shears, and 
make him work as an “agricultural laborer” 
about six months. I'll guarantee that he 
would then be in less danger from paresis 
than he is now._ 11 ..w. c. 
’Twas ever thus! From childhood's hour 
I’ve seen my fondest hopes decay : 
We saved three bits last week on hour. 
But the meat trust got it all away." 
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