IS05. 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
6i9 
Hope Farm Notes 
Getting a Start. —The snn was slow 
about showing himself on the morning of 
August 5. The clouds hid his face, and I 
was a little slow in rolling over to look at 
the watch. I realized just how older and 
wiser men than I have dissolved reputation 
and opportunity in the desire to turn over 
for another sleep. August does bring stiff¬ 
ness and pain to the joints and back that 
seem so free in April. I got into my oldest 
clothes, for the farm is wet and there is 
weed pulling to do. The little hoy is wrapped 
in slumber that may be called both sound 
and kind for into the harmony of such a 
sleep no discord of weed-pulling or wood 
sawing can enter. lie keeps his little store 
of money in a bureau drawer and this morn¬ 
ing I am able to pull out all the drawers 
and rattle them before I waken him to show 
him how easily a robber could find his treas¬ 
ure. The larger oo.vs are up and we go out 
to the barn to discuss the day's work. The 
crops are weedy, the strawberries need clean¬ 
ing, there are apples to be picked, peach trees 
to be cleaned out, the turkeys are coming and 
half a dozen other things are crowding. 
Philip is milking ayd Lars is cleaning the 
horses, and while breakfast is cooking Merrill 
and I cut up some wood with the cross-cut 
saw. For breakfast we had oatmeal, bread 
and butter, fried bacon and eggs and baked 
apples. 
Clean Fritit. —After breakfast Philip and 
Lars went to work in the Lima beans. Nellie 
Ely needed shoeing so the little boy led her 
behind the wagon when he went to get some 
grain, ft was arranged that: Jack and the 
little girls should go after the turkeys. They 
were Coming by express to a point almost six 
miles away. The two large hoys and T went 
at the strawberries. This patch was planted 
in April and has been cleaned four times al¬ 
ready. The plants stood nearly still during 
the drought but since the rain the runners 
have begun to walk out. The rain has packed 
down the soil so that those runners have no 
place in which to stick their feet. A few 
small weeds were creeping in. and Lyon and 
I went ahead pulling these weeds and’ putting 
them in baskets. At my age I find it good 
economy to get down on my knees for such 
work. Merrill followed with the scuffle hoe 
and worked up the soil thoroughly so that the 
runners might find an easy place to rest. We 
shall need about 1,000 plants out of this 
patch to finish our Fall planting, and as I 
crawl along I can mark the most likely ones 
to take. By selecting these strong layer 
plants we do better than if we used 1 potted 
plants. This job was finished before 10 
o'clock. Lars and Philip were piling up a 
small mountain of weeds in the garden. We 
do not leave these weeds where they fall, but 
haul them away and pile them around the 
young trees. I believe this pays well on 
farms where young trees are planted each 
year. There are five rows of young peach 
trees on the hill that have not been cleaned 
up, and so we will make that job complete 
before dinner. We mount the hill. Merrill 
carrying in addition to the brush scythe and 
spade several dead little chickens to plant 
around one of his trees. There is some riv¬ 
alry among the boys to see who can get the 
best growth on a tree. They each pick out 
several of peach and apple and feed them all 
sorts of plant food. Merrill is ahead just 
now with a big peach tree, which is absorb¬ 
ing nutriment from dead brooder chickens, 
kittens, fertilizer and various other matters. 
There is a pile of leaves and weeds and brush 
nearly three feet high around the tree. The 
chances are that the tree will die as the re¬ 
sult of all this kindness, but we shall learn 
how to force a tree at least. In addition to 
our tools we carry the little rifle, as I prom¬ 
ised the boys they could try a few shots. 
The little peach trees were planted right in 
the weeds and brush last year. They made 
but little growth then, but this Spring we 
gave them a good dose of hen manure and 
they have hopped up to a higher roost in con¬ 
sequence. The weeds and some bushes are 
growing around them and Lyon and I go 
ahead and cut this growth down while Mer¬ 
rill follows to fork it around the little trees. 
Merrill planted four little apple trees that 
were left over. It is late in the season for 
tree planting, but I have made them live be¬ 
fore now. It is hot working in the brush, but 
the job must be done. I am sorry to find 
that some of our largest peach trees are not 
doing well. The scale has suddenly got at 
work and the borers have beaten us. Some 
of these trees I shall cut down and burn at 
on.ce, and then we shall spray the latter part 
of August, when the tender growth has 
stopped. The soil where they stand is better 
adapted to apple, and I shall put no more 
peaches there. After many sweat drops and 
brier scratches and an occasional hornet sting 
we finished our job before dinner. Then the 
boys stuck a board in a cedar tree and tried 
their hand with the rifle at 60 and 100 feet. 
They shot standing, lying down and with a 
rest, and succeeded in hitting the board, 
though I doubt if their style of shooting 
would hold the Russian army in check. There 
Is some fun about it, however, and it makes 
weed pulling a little easier. We got back to 
the house to find that the turkey hunters had 
not. reiurned. Pretty soon, however, we heard 
them calling down the road, and Madge trot¬ 
ted into view with the wagon load. Jack 
and the little girls were waving their hands, 
and all the Hope Farmers ran out to see the 
turkeys, for they have been a long time on 
the way. There were 16 young turks in one 
crate and the hen turkey in another. In a 
corner of the old turkey’s coop were four lit¬ 
tle white Plymouth Rock chicks—a gift to 
the little girls. We never owned any turkeys 
before, and it was a great event to set these 
white prisoners free in the orchard. They 
were glad to get out. They stretched them¬ 
selves, drank water and began eating the 
fallen apples like true members of the Apple 
Consumers’ League. We have had no experi¬ 
ence in turkey raising and people tell us it is 
close to a gamble, but we will stay by these 
as be 3 t we can. A turkey is well able to put 
up a good fight at least. I had supposed that 
a young turk was a gentle peace-loving bird, 
but you should have seen what one of them 
did to a chicken who undertook to show him 
a few things about fighting. The turk sim¬ 
ply knocked him down and jumped on him, a 
style of fighting not encouraged at Hope 
Farm. It was a very small chicken too. 
We all did full justice to our dinner of beef, 
potatoes and baked apples, including the boy 
who had been running the mower on the lawn. 
Organized labor regards Saturday afternoon 
as a legal holiday, but our work is a little 
disorganized, and there were a number of jobs 
to be done. Lars hitched old Jerry to the 
horse rake and went to rake up the Japanese 
millet. I do not care for any more of this. 
It was so tough and thick that we broke the 
mower blade in cutting it. Lars finished 
with the scythe. The Russian machine broke 
down when it ran against the Japs, but there 
were no individuals in Russia who seemed 
anxious to finish things up. I am satisfied 
that corn fodder will pay me better than mil¬ 
let. When Lars finished this job he went at 
the sweet corn in the front garden. Here was 
a patched-up case. First, we planted pota¬ 
toes, but the stand was poor and the stalk 
borer killed many plants. If looked like a 
failure, and so we planted rows of sweet corn 
between the rows of potatoes. Then the po¬ 
tato plants which were left decided to remain 
in the ring and took a mighty start. While 
we were haying the red-weed joined forces. 
Now we cannot use a horse to cultivate be¬ 
cause this would rip out the potatoes, so the 
weeds must be pulled by hand. That is about 
the way it goes whenever you try to grow two 
crops at once. What is gained on one crop is 
lost on the other. It is the same in our 
strawberries. We planted sweet corn in one 
row, between the plants, and now this row is 
far behind the others. True, we have a lit¬ 
tle sweet corn, but the object of the patch 
was berries. It. does not pay to scatter or 
crowd either crops or conduct. While the 
boys were waiting for Jerry they worked 
in the strawberries. As soon as the old 
horse was honorably discharged from cavalry 
service against the Japanese millet the boys 
put him in the light wagon. They hauled 
several loads of wood and then started at the 
weeds which Philip and Lars bad piled up. 
They put about three bushels of weeds around 
each tree, and the way the color is showing 
at the tops of these light trees.shows that 
such weeds are plants right in place. The 
click of the mower was heard as the boy ran 
it over the lawn. Aunt Jennie busied herself 
over some delicacy which she was preparing 
for supper. Mother Invited me to drive over 
to a nearby town to see if we couldn't get 
some lower" figure on our house plans. So we 
took Nellie Ely and started, though I was a 
little sorry to play gentleman and leave the 
battle of the weeds. There is no use denving 
the statement that Nellie is a lazy Hope 
Farmer. She won’t work unless she has to. 
She seems to feel that since she has given two 
such colts as Beauty and Brownie she is en¬ 
titled to a pension. Madge bad done her share 
in bringing the turkeys and Bob is laid up, so 
the job of bringing the friends who came on 
the train devolved upon old .Terry. When the 
time came the old fellow doffed his work har¬ 
ness and stepped into the traces of what is 
our best apology for a family carriage and 
went to meet the bride and groom, the little 
boy driving and Aunt Jennie along as ballast. 
Mother and I came driving home just as the 
gompany appeared in view. All hands were 
cleaned up and I was amazed to notice that 
Hope Farm could produce such an array of 
good clothes. Fourteen hearty eaters sat down 
to baked beans, bread, butter and pot cheese, 
blanc mange and baked apple, and when we 
got up there was not much except a smear 
left on most of the dishes. Then all but 
Fssie and the little hoy who were to clean 
the dishes, and I. who was to help Philip and 
Lars attend to Bob. adjourned to the big 
grape arbor for a talk. I took a pail of hot 
water, and while Philip and Lars held hi'" 
soaked Bob’s shoulder thoroughly, and then 
smeared it with earbolated vaseline. The 
vet. says it is a “cold abscess,’’ but it is cer¬ 
tainly hot enough for Bob. for he kicked and 
fought well before I could complete the ioh 
The barn folks were all right as night came 
on, all from old Jerry to the little kitten in 
the hole in the hay mow. who is wise because 
her eyes have not yet been opened to the 
world." The new turkeys had gone to roost 
in the yard. Madge looked out of her box 
stall, willing even to forgive old Jerry When 
they are hitched together Jerry bites her, pip 
after nip, until her side is well scarred. We 
have been obliged to put the muzzle on the 
old fellow to protect the mare. Philip says 
Jerry does this because Madge shirks and 
makes him pull all the load. Why he does it 
1 do not know, but the old fellow has evi¬ 
dently come to an age when the ladles interest 
him only when they do their share. 
The barn folks ended the dav In comfort, if 
we may except Bob. and the house folks too 
could not reasonably complain. It had been 
a day of scrappy work, yet the crops were 
cleaner and better for it. Thousands of weeds 
bad been transferred from a place where they 
were a nuisance to a situation where they 
helped the trees. The strawberries were in 
better shane. the peach trees are cleaner and 
we all felt that the labor of our hands bad 
produced something worthy. Mother and I 
didn’t succeed in getting the price of our 
improvements down, hut we learned a thing 
or two about the reason for the awful increase 
in the cost of such things. The day ended 
oufetlv and hopefully. I could not think of 
anv better chapter to read than the 14tli of 
John. ti. w. c. 
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