am. 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
571 
Hope Farm Notes 
Damaged IIay. —The following letter from 
a Massachusetts farmer may cause some 
soaked farmer to cheer up : 
“I notice your wail over damage done to 
clover hay by wetting. Some experience of 
mine makes me think the damage offends the 
eye of the farmer more than the palate of the 
cow. Some years since I cut some clover 
rowen. Weather was bad, and it was cocked 
up half dry. Of course it heated, and when 
the sun shoue out a few days later (on a 
Sunday) I spread it out to dry. The west 
looked so bright that I left it spread, hoping 
to get it in next day. Next morning it was 
raining, and that rowen lay IS days to receive 
the tears and smiles (not many smiles) of 
Then when it did get a chance 
ported is caused by an acid soil. I would 
scatter about a pound of lime around such 
trees, within a month after planting, and 
keep them well mulched. I cannot say that 
peach on such soil responds as freely to lime 
as the apple does; in fact, I should say that 
lime is more likely to hurt the peach. I have 
one peach orchard which I am sure is a mis- 
lit, that is, the soil is far better adapted to 
the apple. As fast as the peaches come out 
1 shall plant apple trees in the vacant holes. 
As a man grows older he comes to believe 
more and more in adaptability. Younger men 
are willing to whittle square pegs and tit 
them to round holes, but it seldom pays. One 
reason why the plan of planting apple, peach, 
pear and plum all together fails is that there 
are few soils well adapted to all. Generally, 
under this system of planting “tillers,” one 
kind of tree thrives at the expense of an¬ 
other, to say nothing of the injury done in 
“Does Alfalfa require a nurse crop, and 
what crop is considered best for this purpose? 
Should one sow Alfalfa in the Spring or tail? 
is it necessary to use a special kind of bac¬ 
teria for Alfalfa, or will ordinary Ited clover 
bacteria have the same effect?" e. 
Claverack, N. Y. > 
I have done best without a “nurse” crop, 
that is, when the Alfalfa was seeded alone. I 
find that good farmers differ over this, just 
as they do over seeding Timothy alone or 
with wheat or rye. I should say that the 
majority are against the “nurse” crop of 
grain. My belief is that in our section late 
Summer is the best time for seeding. I should 
say at any time between August 1 and 15. 
My own plan this year is to cut a piece of 
Japanese millet early in August, when it is 
fit. Then we shall put on a heavy coat of 
manure and plow it under. Then we shall 
broadcast lime on the furrows, and harrow 
it thoroughly in, after which Alfalfa seed at 
the rate of 25 pounds per acre will be broad 
cast and well covered. Having done that we 
the weather. 
to dry it was as black as your boot, and quite starting a poorly-shaped head. I have known 
a growth of green showed through it. My parents to grieve because their baby's head 
foreman wanted to mulch trees with it. but I was ** 0 ut of shape.” They generally do this 
told him to put it in the barn, and we would w iDi their first child, and quit after the head must take the rest out in faith. As I under¬ 
offer it to the young stock, and if they would g rows j n to form. The baby's head may stand it, there is a special kind of bacteria 
not eat it use it for bedding. Much to my *‘ s i ia pe up," but it is hard work to put a good 
surprise, they ate it as readily as any feed j lea( j on a tree that is emptied by a “filler” 
I gave them. Since then I have thought hay, jn y 0UL i 1 , . . i have told of a number of 
discolored by wetting, if dried so as to keep gun-scalded trees that looked bad this Spring. 
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27 FARGO ST. BATAVIA, ILL. 
for the Alfalfa. Red clover will not do. If 
you can find Sweet clover growing with the 
warts on its roots you can use the soil in 
which it grows for inoculation. 1 shall dig 
by the Winter sun. I was tempted to pull 
them out, but finally decided to give them a 
chance. We fertilized and mulched them. 
For a time they dawdled, seeming to question 
whether man's attempt at kindness was worth 
while in the face of Nature's bruise. Then 
they started, and now look quite well. I no¬ 
tice that most of them are starting a hud be¬ 
low the sunscald marks, as though they 
thought it wise to have an anchor to wind¬ 
ward. 
Help Wanted. —Y'ou should see the letters 
rolling in upon us from people who want farm 
help. One who reads between the lines can 
see the great drama of American farm life 
acted out. Here is a note from Pennsylvania : 
“We had a man farming on thirds; he had 
good crop prospects, 20 acres corn, four of 
potatoes,. 12 wheat hay; silo corn, good gar¬ 
den, dairy 17 cows, etc. Just said he was 
going to quit, without a word, so wife and 
two' daughters who are in a nearby store, and 
myself are holding the fort. I am 68 and a 
cripple, having lost most of one foot by acci¬ 
dent. I find too much in fodr mules, three 
horses, hogs, calves, etc. The women milk. 
We have 130 acres; were fortunate to get 
most of our harvest up before our man took 
his spell.” 
racial n ccl\ our friend in Now York WftntCfl 
a crackerjack. He hasn’t appeared yet. This 
man evidently doesn't hope for an expert, but 
wants a plain, reliable man. I don’t suppose 
any reader of The R. N.-Y. is going to say: 
“Here is a brother in trouble. I will jump 
in and help him out!" I don’t expect it, be¬ 
cause I know by sad experience that while a 
good many people are willing to sing “Help a 
worn and weary brother," they are going to 
take'it out in singing until they see the price 
in view. But this Pennsylvania farm ought 
to offer a good home to some worthy family. 
It is one of the chances we read about to 
bring labor and capital together. Here cap¬ 
ital makes the advance. Now where is labor? 
Home Notes. —Old Jerry toiled in the hay- 
field all the week. He nearly fell under the 
burden one day, hut came up with his best 
imitation of a horse laugh the next morning. 
He did his host, and when Sunday came he 
had no ambition to accompany Bob and Nellie 
to church. I saw the old fellow standing in 
the stall, and thought to give him a holiday. 
I told Lars to turn him into the pasture and 
let him fill up on grass. Do you know that 
old Jerry' nearly fought against freedom? He 
refused to go up the lane and tried to get 
hack into the halter in his hot stall. I have 
heard of “free negroes” at the South who 
were willing to go back into slavery, hut old 
Jerry was the first animal I have seen who 
refused freedom. We finally succeeded in 
driving him into the field, where he stood for 
a time apparently talking to old Major. He 
seemed convinced, for he kicked up his heavy 
limbs and started to eat grass. Y r et in an 
hour he was at the pasture gate begging to be 
haltered and tied. Not a few of us are like 
old Jerry. We have worked on and on for 
years, and while at times the harness galls 
and the load pulls hard we hate to leave it. 
It would take too much of life out of us to 
lay down the burden. Some of us would he 
sorry to hear the children say: “Father and 
Mother must rest now, and let us manage 
things." We don’t like to drop the reins, for 
while it has seemed a struggle to hold the 
team that pull on the reins has really been 
part of our support. 
Alfalfa Questions. —The Alfalfa question 
is like an endless spring. Here are three 
good ones: 
use that when I seed. 
n. w. c. 
without getting musty, is not injured for feed rpj ie gQ^jj s j(] e of each tree was badly burned up the soil around my strongest plants, and 
so much as usually supposed. Don't throw 
away that clover hay, dry It well and ask 
the cow how much it is hurt.' m. mouse. 
It may he that the eye and nose are not 
good instruments for deciding hay values, yet 
we would depend on them when buying. You 
certainly could not sell such hay as Mr. 
Morse tells about, but it is pretty safe to 
trust the cow. I left about one-third of that 
clover around the trees, and hauled the lest 
down. Had It been nearer the barn I would 
have hauled it all in, but I cannot believe 
that such discolored stuff is first-class fodder. 
It may do to feed young stock on, but if what 
the scientific men tell us is true the soaking 
and stewing must take considerable of the 
nutriment out of clover. We do not need all 
our clover for feeding this year, and so I feel 
justified in leaving some of it on the back 
fields. 
Good Haying. —The daily showers threat¬ 
ened to make haying a nuisance, hut all of a 
sudden the weather changed. Clouds gath¬ 
ered day after day, but hardly a drop fell for 
nearly a week, except one or two little sprin¬ 
kles at night. A few miles away from us 
the ground was soaked daily, but on our hills 
we were as dry as a bone. Still the skj 
threatened, and we were cautious. Our plan 
was to cut enougu giao.. . mnmin" for the 
next day’s hauling. This cutting was raked 
in the afternoon, and left over night in the 
swath. The next morning it was shaken out 
to the sun and air, so that it went into the 
barn smelling like tea. We never had better 
hay or more of it, and I have to smile as I 
think how 10 days ago the prospect seemed 
good for a lot of discolored, damaged trash. 
I enjoyed driving the mowing machine in 
the early morning on our high hill. The 
great sweep of the valley below us, the dark 
woods behind, the young apple trees starting 
thrifty and green from the grass, the clouds 
sailing overhead and the great glory of the 
sunshine fairly spilling from the sky all 
around us was enough to start the music in 
any man—if he has any in him. Most of 
us have a little, but it is hard to get it out. 
The thing that came into my mind to sing at 
that time was “Rest 'Thee Here. Thou Trou¬ 
bled Spirit.” It didn't pay, for Boh took me 
right at my word, and stopped pulling, leav¬ 
ing Jerry to haul the mower alone! I chopped 
off a couple of young peach trees too. Sing¬ 
ing Is well enough at the hoe or plow, but not 
on the mowing machine, especially among 
young trees. Y’ou need every faculty alert 
when at such a job. As soon as the hay is 
off the field one of the hoys takes a hand rake 
and pulls all the scatterings up around the 
trees. Then the weeds along the walls and 
corners are cut, and also used as mulch. This 
is Merrill’s job for the Summer. lie takes 
Boh in the small wagon and hauls trash, 
weeds, forest leaves, anything that will rot, 
so that each young tree will have a good pile 
around it. 
Tree Notes. —The trees are responding to 
this treatment, and most of them look well. 
In one orchard Merrill has blocked out an 
experiment in fertilizing. On most of the 
rows he has used a fertilizer containing two 
per cent nitrogen, seven of phosphoric acid 
and 10 of potash. On others he used nitrate 
of soda alone, on others muriate of pot¬ 
ash alone, while on others lime covered 
with a good-sized pile of forest leaves. I 
have an idea that this sod is in need of pot¬ 
ash and lime. We hope to learn rrom this 
experiment. ... I am more and more 
convinced that apple trees planted in rough, 
uncleared l'and or land recently cleared, need 
lime. I think the poor dawdling growth re- 
II- YOU TV M 
Well 
Hay Loaders. —fi have used a loader one 
season, and like it very much. I would not 
know how to get along without it, help being 
so scarce. We have put a load on in seven 
minutes. I had about 75 tons last year, and 
did my haying with a hoy and a $10 man, 
and was through before my neighbors were 
about half through. I can take it out of 
windrow or swath perfectly clean, but it pays 
to rake it, because you do not have to drive 
as far to get a load and do not worry your 
team as much. Of course you have to take 
advantage of hills, as they draw a little hard. 
I think a loader will pay for itself in from 
one to two years. If I had but 25 acres I 
should want one. I could take my 13-year- 
old boy and do my haying alone. I have 
bought a side delivery rake, but have not 
used it yet, but am convinced they ought 
to go with a loader. My neighbor has one 
and it works nicely. I can start loader 
as soon as rake if desired. They make a 
straight windrow, and rake sideways of hill, 
so as to use loader same way. They leave 
hay loose like a feeder and make smaller 
windrows, throwing two together if desired. 
Of course these tools take up some room in 
housing in Winter. W. S. L. 
Odessa, N. Y. 
Durable and Inexpensive Bench. —An ex¬ 
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following manner, says the American Florist: 
Common drain tile are used for posts and are 
set in concrete. Rests for steampipes, of the 
same material, are laid crosswise. For the 
box a false bottom is made of lumber, and 
overlaid with concrete, one inch in thickness, 
in which is imbedded common wire netting 
the width and length of the bench. Cross 
pieces of one-inch pipe, about two feet apart, 
will give added strength. Galvanized siding 
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will last a lifetime. 
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