1905. 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
683 
Hope Far m Notes 
Washing Machines.—W hen I answered a 
Question about our washing machine I tried 
to give tlie facts as they apply to our house¬ 
hold. It seems that these remarks will not 
cover the ground at all. Several women say 
I do not give the washing machine a fair 
show. Now I wouldn't willingly be unjust 
to a washing machine or the one who runs 
it, so the fairest way is to let some friend of 
the machine speak up. This Rhode Island 
housekeeper does it well: 
“I was sorry to see the blow you gave to 
washing machines, for I have one which has 
been one of m.v best friends for over seven 
years and has been used once and occasion¬ 
ally twice a week for all that time, except 
•for one period of three or four weeks. Be¬ 
fore having this machine I had a woman come 
in to do the washing and noontime often 
came before the last of the wash was on the 
line, although the water would be drawn and 
hot when she reached here at 7.30 or 8 a. m. 
I still have help about the washing, as I am 
a young mother with an even half dozen little 
ones (think of the washing!) and do all the 
rest of my work alone. The programme is 
as follows: After the breakfast is off the 
stove the boiler is brought out and filled, and 
all the convenient pails filled. After the 
water becomes hot I proceed to put the 
clothes, which have been carefully sorted, to 
soak in lukewarm water if I am using naph¬ 
tha soap, or in as hot water as I can put m.v 
hands in if ordinary soap, and herein lies 
the secret spell in using a machine. Use 
plenty of soap, and when you think you have 
enough rub on as much more. In using the 
washboard your laundress rubs on a little soap, 
uses the board, then more soap, and so con¬ 
tinues and when you put her at the machine 
she only rubs on about one-third as much 
soap as she would use on a garment at the 
board and consequently the garment comes 
from the machine in a decidedly grimy condi¬ 
tion. My machine holds four sheets or their 
equivalent bulk, and after putting the first 
lot to soak in the machine the remaining 
clothes are put to soak in large candy pails, 
each pail holding one machine full. I aim to 
have the clothes soak at least one-half hour 
before the man comes to run machine. The 
first, machinefuls are washed for five minutes, 
the others from eight to 15, depending on 
how soiled they are. I usually have only one 
lot that needs the 15 minutes. 
“After the first lot is run through the 
wringer, which is placed on the machine, the 
next lot is turned from the pail in which it 
soaked into the machine, and so on until all 
are done, water being drawn from the ma¬ 
chine as it becomes too full by the addition 
of what was in the soaking pails After al 
are washed the machine is emptied, rinsed 
and the rinsing water is put in. and the 
clothes rinsed by turning the machine a few 
times and after going through the wringer 
the clothes are ready for the line with no 
boiling and very little hand rubbing, and 
looking better than nine-tenths of the wash- 
women you hire would have them. I haven t 
a washt.ub to my name, and my washboard Is 
laid away. As I am putting clothes through 
the wringer I look at the childrens’ sleeves 
and the neck and wrist bands and if not en¬ 
tirely clean rub with hands a little. I tind 
that clothes last much longer than when a 
board is used. To convince yourself take one- 
half of your daily paper and rub it on the 
washboard for two or three minutes. Then 
nut the other half in your machine and rub 
for 10 or 15 minutes and note the difference 
Two hours help from a man does for me what 
double that time from my washwoman did. 
Not that it requires a man to run the ma- 
cliine—oh no, for not a month ago the child¬ 
ren (the oldest a girl of 10) and I. did an 
unusually large washing entirely alone, except 
for drawing the water, and T was not unduly 
tired, but i have a man to help because he is 
here at work, and it is hard to get women 
help here now. though some of the time I 
have had a woman assistant. Now I hope 
you will pitch in and convince Mother and 
the “various women who wash for you that 
a washing machine is a jewel: one of the 
most necessary machines on the place and 
don’t forget the SOAF. 
MRS. LENA GRIFFITHS. 
I see now that I threw a little cold water 
over this woman’s best friend when hot water 
and soap are what it needed ! There seems 
to be no need of short prayers, lean dinners 
and long scolding over such a wash day as 
this I have known before now that soap is 
a moral agent! As for “pitching in to 
convince our women folks that I know more 
than tliev do about housekeeping—-I thank 
you—No f A woman might suggest offering 
such advice, but a married man—never, un¬ 
less he had some grudge to work off. ( liem- 
istrv tells me that a little bit of kerosene oil 
put on the dirty dishes in the disbpan will 
save time and trouble in dishwashing! It is 
also a part of natural law that you waste 
sugar in fruit canning when you cook it with 
the fruit but let me see some gentleman who 
can convince his wife that she ought to give 
up her lifelong methods. Better leave the 
job to the minister or to some other person 
who has presented only his choicer qualities 
to the ladies. 
Old Man Farming. —The following note 
states a problem which has caused many a 
man sleepless nights and sad worry : 
“I thought perhaps you or some of your 
readers could help me out. The situation is 
50 acres i;i a good state of cultivation in 
central New Jersev. I am (53 years old. and 
not able to work as I could 20 years ago, and 
the Madam is in about the same fix. Me 
have no help, only a young girl, and she will 
go to school as soon as it opens. Me find 
that we cannot (To the work as it should be 
done. I cannot afford to hire a good man, 
even if I could get one. and a poor one is 
worse than none. Now what is best to do— 
sell out and quit, or is there some other way . 
1 have no boys to take the farm. h. it. r. 
1 know just exactly what a childless farmer 
feels when he has nothing but a farm, often 
slow of sale, and knows that his best days 
work has been done. It is a hard situation, 
vet men before now have worked it out. Suen 
a man must do one of three things hire help 
and continue growing cultivated crops, change 
the crops so as to make his own work go as 
far as possible, or sell the farm and try to 
live on the proceeds. Speaking for myself I 
would cut out the first and last, and do the 
best I could with the second. I am planting 
orchards which I hope will take care of me. 
but my farm is natural apple land, and close 
to good markets. Our friend at his age may 
not feel like waiting for apple trees to grow. 
In our country hay would be the best crop 
for such a man on good land. It is a big 
job to get the land seeded, and where hay is 
sold year after year money must be spent for 
fertilizers. To save help a hay loader, deliv- 
ery rake and hay forks would be needed and 
these require capital. In our country 30 to 
40 acres of good hay would keep a man better 
than some princes are kept. Next to hay. if 
the fences are good, the whole farm could be 
put in grass and pastured to live stock. Me 
have made money feeding hogs this way. A 
few good brood sows would pretty nearly 
care for a frugal family. In our country 
stock could be taken to pasture at fair prices, 
just as I got this letter another came from 
an elderly- man in Iowa. See what he says : 
"M'e grow meat now. It used to be meat 
and butter, but the labor question reduced it 
to meat. M'ife. daughter and myself start for 
an outing of three weeks to-morrow to Denver 
and other Colorado points, but the meat will 
grow just the same, as pastures are good, 
and a record-breaking crop of corn is nearly 
ready to feed.” 
In his well-watered pastures the stock take 
care of themselves. If we turn the farm over 
to hay or grass how can an old man make 
The labor of his hands most productive? I 
should say gardening or lieus—one or both. 
Both cover occupations in which patience and 
good judgment count for more than brute 
force. As for me, I hope as my orchards 
come into bearing to keep hogs in the back 
fields and hens near the house. Even when a 
man has no boys to follow him such things 
pay, for they give the farm a good reputation, 
which advertises it and gives value. 
Farm Notes. —Our folks are eating peaches 
now on every occasion. The Elbertas proved 
excellent—large and very handsome. I have 
seen Elbertas which took rank with the Ben 
Davis apple for quality, but on our rough land 
and in sod culture they can be classed as 
good. There seems little doubt that some 
varieties are better adapted to mulch or sod 
culture than others. Carman seems to me 
one of the best for us. M’hy this should be 
so I cannot tell, but it is quite true of peaches 
as it is of potatoes. The best example I can 
think of is Bovee. M’hen this potato was in¬ 
troduced many farmers bought small quan¬ 
tities and planted in rich garden soil, where 
it had high culture. It was highly praised 
for its behavior there, but when largely 
planted in ordinary- field culture it jiroved in¬ 
ferior to other sorts. It must have the finest 
of soil and care to do its best. . . . The 
new Alfalfa is still growing. It has put out 
the third leaf, and seems to be turning over 
a new leaf entirely- so far as its former be¬ 
havior is concerned. I welcome every new 
sign of prosperity in it. but I am not betting 
on it yet. Several other fields have been 
seeded in our neighborhood. They have 
started well, and most of the owners are 
hopeful, not to say enthusiastic. As for me, 
I have seen young Alfalfa sprout up before. 
. . . Our cellar has been dug and stones 
hauled from the old walls for the foundation. 
The masons ought to begin work this week, 
and the carpenters are all ready to follow 
them. The boys learned a lesson when they 
dug the cellar. It was necessary to dig the 
earth away from the old wall. M’hen they 
cleared it awav down came part of the stones 
upon them. In building, the masons had put 
up a solid wall about a foot out from the 
earth and filled in behind with loose stones. 
No one ever expected that a new cellar would 
be dug. Surely the good old earth was solid 
enough backing! Yet it was taken away as 
all earth is liable to be, and then, down came 
the stones. The boys were probably more 
concerned in getting their job of digging done, 
but when you come to think of it there was 
a whole sermon in that cellar. There are 
some earthly things that look as though they 
would stand forever, and prove an unfailing 
backing. M’hen the time comes, however, 
down they go, and unless there is something 
stronger than earth to hold the foundation— 
it goes too. . . . Prices for farm products 
with us have varied, but on the whole are 
satisfactory. Lima beans are low, and sweet 
corn is lower. I hear of one man who picked 
1,000 ears of fine corn and sent them to 
market by a neighbor. The corn sold at 50 
cents per hundred, and the neighbor charged 
$3 for his work. Thus the owner of the corn 
got 20 cents per hundred ears ! This is an 
extreme case, but prices for the late crop have 
pot been satisfactory. Prices were high last 
year, and the result was a heavy planting of 
corn. It all comes in together! Tomatoes, 
apples, peaches and eggs are bringing good 
prices. M’e have not grown sweet corn for 
market for some years. The crop is too 
bulky, and our soil is not earlv enough. Tak¬ 
ing it all in all our farm never looked better, 
nor presented a more hopeful prospect than it 
does now. The trees have made an excellent 
growth, the crops were never cleaner and 
most of the stock looks well. ... I 
ought to except the young turkeys. I have 
had a letter from a farmer’s wife asking us 
to tell how voung turks should be cared 
for This is a* worse sarcasm than assuming 
that I am an Alfalfa expert. M’e bought one 
large turkey and 10 young ones—the first we 
ever owned. Six of the young ones have 
died aud another one looks a little frail for 
this world. M'e have done our best to act 
upon written and spoken advice, but experi¬ 
ence is evidently needed. You can hardly 
expect me to talk turkey to those who lose 
the voung birds until we save a few. I have 
never seen as many crows as there are in 
our neighborhood this Fall. Hundreds of 
them sjiend the early morning in my neigh¬ 
bor’s cornfield, and then scatter over the 
young orchard. They do me no harm, and 
appear to be slowly carrying the fertility of 
the cornfield to my apple trees! 
H. W. C 
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M r ood, 
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No Water 
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WAR D 
Mr*: 
Sff 
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