1905. 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
555 
Hope Farm Notes 
Farm Notes. —We got that clover hay in 
on July 4. That seemed to, me like a pa¬ 
triotic way to celebrate, but I.ars was the 
only one of the Hope Farmers who agreed 
with me fully enough to work all day. Lars 
has been in this country less than 00 days, 
and as far as he has read American history 
the fourth of July is the same as the fifth 
or any other day. I have great respect for 
the old fellows who signed the great Declara¬ 
tion, but I can't declare independence of my 
mortgage while good hay is spoiling. So a 
surface view of independence and another 
that has been well rubbed in made a com¬ 
bination. and we got that hay under eovei. 
The rain did it no good, but it is in fait 
shape. The rest of our folks celebrated the 
day with a picnic under the big grapevine. 
. . . We have been caught by drenching 
showers three times in one week of haying. 
In every case it came just as we were ready 
to haul the hay in, soaking it so that we did 
not dare to touch it. This thing is getting 
monotonous, but we see no way to help it. 
It makes more grass to put around the trees. 
Every one of our hayfields now is a young 
orchard We ought to leave more of the 
grass than we do around the little trees but 
when we think of the hungry mouths in the 
barn we are tempted to take it all. I try to 
go over every field after cutting and fork a 
good share of the grass to the trees. I will 
probably throw more than the rest will, but 
it takes courage to leave enough when you 
think that hay is worth $20 per ton. This 
seems to be the weakest point in mulch cul¬ 
ture—people will not realize that they must 
leave enough grass to give the trees a fair 
chance. I think a large proportion of the 
failures with this system that are reported 
are due to the fact that people try to save 
all the grass for hay and still expect the 
young trees to grow well. . . . The Al¬ 
falfa is nearly ready to cut again. It is a lit¬ 
tle thicker than when we cut it the first time, 
but still so thin that it cannot be called a 
success. I have found one strong and large 
plant in a field that was seeded three years 
ago, and since that time plowed twice. Now 
if that single plant will grow that way why 
can't I get about 75,000 on an acre? Thus 
far that has been too much of a problem for 
me to answer. . . . The rains are inter¬ 
fering with haying, so that I fear our crop 
will be short after all. So we are putting in 
fodder corn wherever we can find room for it. 
People may talk about millet, sorghum and 
other crops: after all with us there is noth¬ 
ing to beat good corn fodder, well grown and 
nicely dried. In one place where the potatoes 
did not come up well we have sown fodder 
corn between the rows of potatoes. The tu¬ 
bers will be dug when ripe and the fodder 
corn kept well cultivated with rye seeded in it 
early in September. . . . We certainly 
devoured strawberries while they lasted, and 
now we are keeping the raspberries from 
spoiling. Cuthbert. Kansas and Columbian 
make a strong team. If 1 were limited to 
one variety I would plant Columbian. The 
quality is O. K., and the season of bearing is 
long. Blackberries are coming on now, and 
the Astraehan apples are ready. Apple sauce 
time marks a great event with us. Our early 
apples never were better. As the early crop 
is reported short we ought to get something 
for our fruit. Last year this orchard was 
well worked over by the hogs, and fertilized 
in addition. This year the cows have pas¬ 
tured there and the weeds and tall grass were 
clipped off by the mower and left on the 
ground. The trees were sprayed and the hens 
have run under the trees. I call that a good 
pedigree for a fruit crop, and it is pleasant 
to see how the apples are taking on size and 
color. As I write we have hay on the ground 
in the rain, many acres yet to cut, part of 
the onions full of weeds, likewise straw¬ 
berries; fodder corn to plant, potatoes to cul¬ 
tivate. berries to pick, apples nearly ready, 
several acres of young peach trees to clean 
up. not to mention other duties. Truly a 
man needs 16 hands in dog days and plenty 
of good nature. The last named is needed 
when you go six miles from home and find 
the ground so dry that lawns are turning 
brown. 
Who Killed Cock Robin? —When I was a 
boy a local character was constantly saying, 
“What’s one man’s owl is another man’s 
nightingale.” lie was trying to make peo¬ 
ple see that there are two sides or more to 
every proposition. This is a tough job. be¬ 
cause few people care to look at more than 
half of one side at a time. The following 
letter from Louisiana made me think of this 
old saying: 
“Can't something be done to stop that fel¬ 
low scaring the dear little robin from the 
cherries and grapes? Shoot the little boy 
full of salt and give the poor weary tramp 10 
days in jail if they come in and touch a 
cherry, blit the robin must have all he wants, 
so that when the Winter comes and Mr. Yan¬ 
kee is freezing his fingers, toes and ears, 
carrying an icicle on the point of his nose 
and hoar frost on his eyebrows and hail 
then the dear little robin comes to the South 
where the roses are in bloom and the green 
grass and leaves on the trees and warm sun¬ 
shine make life a pleasure. Then bang-bang 
goes tlie gun and the dear little robin goes 
in the creole gumbo that tastes so good, 
warms the stomach and strengthens the body 
and in the pot pie. or split down the back, 
smashed flat and fried in hot salt butter 
and nicely cleaned, dinned in whipped eggs 
dusted with cracker floor and fried brown 
and many other ways. They are cooked and 
eaten by sensible folks. Of a truth those 
Yankees are of use to raise plenty of robins 
for us to eat.” creole. 
A little more of that would make a fellow's 
mouth water. That is a new idea to me. 
Last week the children saw a man hauled to 
court for shooting a robin! Our creole 
friend would hardly pay his fine! Here is 
the State of New Jersey protecting robins and 
giving them a good start in order that south¬ 
ern people mav eat Fhem during the Winter. 
The birds have bothered us more than ever 
before this season. What a pleasure to think 
that Hope Farm may provide some of these 
toothsome dishes for our creole friend ! _ I 
hope he will enjoy his meat. Tt certainlv 
cost us enough. Some of these people who 
stood with tears in their eyes to point out 
the sin of shooting robins should move to 
Louisiana and try to have a law passed in 
that State 1 
Moss Covered Customs. —-Our southern 
readers are right after us of late. This is 
from a Florida man : "The best ‘inoculation’ 
for garden crops—sweat drops from ’The man 
with the hoe,’ page 428. There are a lot 
of moss-covered customs, beliefs and century- 
old opinions going to be kicked to death by 
facts before the twentieth century is over or 
sooner.” 
I certainly hope this last statement is true, 
though 'kicked to death” is a long, hard way 
of dying. 1 asked this man just what he 
meant, and he says that he thought we were 
making fun of "inoculation" because we re¬ 
ferred to drops of sweat. Now this “inocula¬ 
tion" theory is all right, but the trouble is 
that people* get an idea that the little “bac¬ 
teria" are to do all their work tor them. We 
may learn how to start them in the garden, 
the hayfleld and the manure pile, but even 
when we do we cannot hope to hang up the 
hoe, pitchfork or shovel for good. We have 
got to work and sweat even though we “inocu- 
late." The thing that must be “kicked to 
death" is the idea that this “inoculation the¬ 
ory” cuts around the corner of hard work. 
No greater nonsense has been printed than 
this stuff which gives people an idea that 
things are to be done for them in some mys¬ 
terious way, so that they may sit down and 
play while* the work is being done. The fact 
remains that no one ever has a good garden 
or anything else unless he or some one else 
waters it with sweat. If you show me a dol¬ 
lar I will claim that some one had to sweat 
before the value hack of that dollar was 
earned. The trouble is that too many young 
fellows are looking for a breed of bacteria 
that will earn a good living for them. They 
will end up by seeing no good reason why 
some classes of human beings should not con¬ 
tribute to their support. 
Working Things Out. —I suppose that 
most of us have run against people who for 
some reason have a better grasp of affairs 
than others. 1 once had a contract that I 
was a little doubtful about. I went to one 
lawyer. He glanced at it and said : “That's 
all right : good as gold." Still I was not sat¬ 
isfied, and went to another. He studied ovei 
it and finally said: “It isn't worth the paper 
it is written on.” In a few minutes he 
showed me just why this was so. It was 
easy when you knew all about it. One man 
had dug down to the bottom and knew every 
pebble. The other dug until he got tired and 
then guessed at the rest. The other day our 
folks wanted a few quarts of red raspberries 
to put in ice cream. Picking had been thor¬ 
oughly done: all there was left was a small, 
neglected patch grown up to weeds and grass. 
One of the hoys started for the berries, and 
I saw him coming back with c-rmtv baskets. 
"None there.” he said. I knew better, for I 
had watched that patch through the season. 
We went back and easily got more than we 
needed. It is just that way all through life. 
There are plenty of prize packages and neces 
sary things tucked away in the weeds and 
brier patches, but comparatively few can 
swear to them or know where they are. The 
great and useful people seem to be those who 
know what secrets the uncultivated places 
hold. 
“Crackerjack” Wanted. —Here is another 
sample of what people call for : 
“I am without help, and would like very 
much to have a man capable of handling 
horses. By that I don’t mean one capable of 
making a nervy team balky, but one who can 
use judgment and can plow well. Now. what 
have you to offer? I would give $'23 per 
month and board, and if he is a crackerjack 
and not afraid to hustle, I might give $25. 
I have about 60 acres of fruit, mostly grapes, 
some peaches, strawberries and raspberries, 
and just now no one to drive a horse except 
myself. Peaches need thinning, hay cutting, 
and then a little oat harvest, and spraying 
the 40 acres of grapes once more, and by that 
time weeds will be higher than a horse’s back 
in the vineyard for want of plowing. Hoping 
you can help me out, although I am a doubt¬ 
ing Thomas.” f. m. n. 
Highland, N. Y’. 
This man may well call himself a doubting 
Thomas if he expects to find a “crackerjack” 
out of work. The man he has in mind prob¬ 
ably has no reason for making a change. 
Surely no lazy man or dreamer should under¬ 
take such a job. This “crackerjack” busi¬ 
ness may be all very well, but I am not so 
sure that “nervy" teams and road dusters are 
after all best. I fear that many of us block 
out too much and then have trouble in work¬ 
ing out our plans. I cannot say that our 
new l.crse Dick has an overabundance of 
nerve, while Beauty, the filly, has so much 
nerve that she isn't safe. I consider it a 
good thing that we are not all “crackerjacks." 
I should think the old age of such a eharactei 
would be melancholy. 
Growing Bartlett Pears.—T he following 
question will interest many people: 
“I have an orchard of Bartlett pears, set- 
last Fall, on the southern slope of a rather 
light, sandy loam knoll. When planting we 
dug a fair-sized hole, and put a one-horse load 
of sod and loam from an old hedgerow under 
and around the roots of every sixth tree 
This Spring we planted to early potatoes, 
using about 1,400 pounds per acre of high 
grade potato manure well scattered in the 
rows. We also put about two pounds of bone 
and potash around each tree, cultivating the 
trees when we cultivated the potatoes. We 
are digging the potatoes now, while the vines 
are still green, and retailing to local custo¬ 
mers at 50 cents per five-eighths bushel bas¬ 
ket. Would it be advisable to mulch the 
trees with these green vines, and do you 
think sowing to cow peas after the potatoes 
are off. cutting for hay and plowing under 
the stubble, would benefit the trees? Or 
would it be better to plow the whole crop un¬ 
der? This ground is rather dry in ordinary 
seasons, and was also rather poor, but was 
sown to cow peas last Summer and a good 
crop plowed under before setting the trees. 
No trees have died, and they are making a 
fair though not rapid growth. 1 do not want 
to do anything that would increase the danger 
of blight*, which is a great drawback to Bart- 
letts in this section. w. B. n. 
Franklinville, N. .T. 
From my experience I should say it is a 
wonder those trees started and grew with all 
that rich stuff around the roots. If I had 
them as they are I would throw the potato 
vines around the base of the trees. After 
the potatoes are off I would sow cow peas in 
drills 2V> feet apart, cut the vines for hay 
and carry them off. work the ground lightly 
and sow rye. 1 think these pear trees have 
had about all the food that is good for them, 
and thus I would not plow under the entire 
cow-pea crop. h. w. c. 
Power For The 
Thresher. 
The right kind of power, the kind 
that saves you dollars. Are you inter¬ 
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power used in threshing. The shiftless 
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thresher uses a money making, money 
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You can find out how to be one of 
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NEW YORK. 
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When writing, ask for Catalog Eli. 
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