1905. 
827 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
Hope Farm Notes 
Tim Fly Question. —The few flies left 
at Hope Farm do not feel happy, and are 
not inclined to exert themselves. They were 
bad enough, in hot weather. Looking back¬ 
ward at the season it's a good time to read 
the following from Maine : 
“Speaking about killing flies, it Is not 
always practicable to have permanent screens 
in all windows, and we found that where 
movable screens were used the flics would 
get into the house by crawling between the 
upper and lower sashes, and thence over the 
top of the latter. To obviate this my wife 
had our joiner place a board seven-eighths 
of an inch thick and about five inches wide 
in the top of the window, secured to the 
side pieces, so that when the screen is in 
place the upper bar of the lower sash is 
pushed up back of this board. This com¬ 
pletely tills the space ordinarily left open 
over the lower sash while the screen 
is in place, and it is simply impossible for 
a fly to gain entrance where before they came 
in by the hundred. Then by using fly paper 
on the piazza and in the woodhouse we get 
rid of (piantities of them.” F. c. c. 
By all means try to keep them out. but 
with children darting in and forgetting to 
shut the door they are sure to enter. This 
board attachment seems like wooden common 
sense. 
Cold Weather. —The first real bite of 
Winter came about November 1. There was 
a regular crust on the ground in the morn¬ 
ing, and a frost that looked like a light 
fall of snow. We were all ready for it, 
except one lot of strawberry plants that had 
just been set out. They were small plants, 
and there is danger that the freezing and 
melting of the crust day after day may 
slowly lift them out of the ground. This 
Is one danger in late planting, but by going 
over the field now and then and pushing 
down any plants that have started out we 
can usually prevent serious loss. I find it 
hard sometimes in making such statements 
to have people see that we merely state 
what we are doing, and that we are not 
trying to give general advice. I would like 
to have about three weeks of mild weather 
during November so as to let these straw¬ 
berry plants fix themselves firmly in the soil. 
Then before the ground freezes deep we will 
mulch them heavily and thus keep the soil 
open as long as possible. We should con¬ 
tinue to put the scrapings from under the 
henroosts on the strawberries until Decem¬ 
ber. That Is our best place for the strongest 
manure, and there is no fear of forcing the 
Fall growth too much. From December until 
April we keep the manure in barrels dried 
out with plaster or phosphate rock. In tlie 
Spring it will be crushed fine, mixed with 
potash and bone, and used on onions and 
berries. 
Farm Notes. —The draining Is done at 
last. It was a tedious Job, but it ought to 
last as long as some of us do. A trickle of 
water continued from one part of the field: 
I presume from an underground spring. The 
field was plowed as the drains were laid, and 
the stones picked up and thrown into the 
ditches. As a result we have a clean field, 
with the furrows left rough except where 
the stone boat has crushed them down. Now 
we expect to put a good coat of lime on the 
field and let it lie through the Winter. Our 
present plan is to work the field mellow in 
the Spring with the Acme, and drill onions 
In wide rows with strawberries planted be¬ 
tween as far as our plants will go. The soil 
seems just right for such varieties as Mar¬ 
shall, (landy or President, and I do not 
want to lose a full year in planting, or to 
have no income at all from the field. I plan 
for the onions to pay for labor and lime, 
and leave the field well set In strawberries. 
1 am satisfied that we dug treasure out of 
that field when we dug those ditches.’ It is 
not likely that Captain Kidd or any other 
old rascal sailed up the Hackensack River 
and buried treasure in our hills, but Nature 
has hidden fertility in our lower fields, and 
locked it up with stagnant water. The ditch 
is the key. 
Adapting Crops. —Mr. Cosgrove of Con¬ 
necticut. came to see us recently. In looking 
over the young apple orchards he said that 
apples in his section came near representing 
a losing game. lie had a fair crop this 
year, and sent some to Boston. It gave 
him about all he could do to pick from high¬ 
headed trees, sort, pack and haul to station 
four barrels a day. They rarely sold for 
over $1 a barrel, and taking out price of 
barrel, commission, cartage, freight, etc., 
there was barely 80 cents left! Not much 
for a day’s work, to say nothing of rent of 
land. No more apple tree planting for him ! 
That is probably a fair statement of con¬ 
ditions in that section, where there is no 
local market for apples. Yet with us the 
case is quite different. Our country is filled 
with people who grow no fruit at all. The 
scale has killed off a large proportion of the 
old orchards, and there is practically no 
need of shipping Winter fruit away. Thus, 
while it might be great folly for Mr. Cos¬ 
grove to plant an apple orchard it seems 
like a wise thing for us to do. I speak of 
this to show how farming has changed. 
Some years ago all farmers grew much the 
same crops; a little of this and a little of 
that. Now they must find what their soil 
and conditions can best produce and grow 
enough of that to give them a chance in the 
market. Another thing: Suppose Mr. Cos¬ 
grove instead of the old high-headed trees 
had wide-open trees close to the ground. 
He could nearly double his daily output. 
All Sorts. —We have been hauling saw¬ 
dust freely. By fixing up a couple of large 
bins In the barn we can keep a good supply 
on hand. I notice that the Maryland Ex¬ 
periment Station has been testing various 
bedding materials. Sawdust takes the lead 
because of the low cost. It absorbs the 
liquids freely, and while it does not add 
much fertility it costs so little that it is 
really cheaper than rye straw or planer 
shavings. It would seem to me poor busi¬ 
ness, in our section, to use rye straw or 
coarse hay for bedding while we can get 
sawdust. We keep a good layer of it under 
the stock, so that the liquids are well taken 
up. Where cut cornstalks can be had the 
bedding is pretty well settled. In the bulle¬ 
tin 1 have mentioned some interesting things 
are brought out. I suppose if 50 tanners 
were asked whether it would be an advan¬ 
tage to cut straw that is to be used for 
bedding. 85 or 40 would say yes. This bul¬ 
letin seems to prove that the long straw Is 
cheaper and better. Most sawdust is wet so 
that it does not absorb moisture as freely 
as one would expect. It requires nearly 
nine pounds per day to take care of the 
liquids fiom one cow about three times as 
much of shavings or straw. The manure 
with sawoust in it is crumbly and dry—not 
so easily handled with a fork. . . Beauty, 
the young trotting mare, is sobering down 
somewhat. We drive her every day, either 
double, with one of the older horses, or single 
In a two-wheeled cart. She shows good speed 
and nerve, but is desperately afraid of auto¬ 
mobiles. She does not try to run away so 
much, but trembles with fright and tries 
to crowd to one side. Aside from this she 
seems true as need be, and certainly shows a 
good gait. I do not want another Lotting 
horse, i see little use for them, except as 
playthings. They lack the st.ecgtb and 
weight and patience to do ordinary work. 
As for breeding them. I should think the 
competition with autos and motor wheels 
would hurt this class of horses most of all. 
1 will stay on record as saying that I wish 
I had a good span of mule colts in place of 
our two beautiful fillies. The little brown, 
however, seems to be of gentler disposition. 
I think part of this is due t> the fact fhat 
she has had old Major as a pasture compan¬ 
ion all Summer. I have seen Beauty dancing 
and darting about the pasture while Brownie 
gazed at her in amazement, content, to keep 
at Major’s side. I have no doubt the old 
fellow has given his young companion good 
advice. . . . Our two cows are doing 
their duty. One of them will be fresh in 
March, arid the other has given milk steadily 
for 15 mouths On ordinary feed they give 
us all the milk and cream we can use. and 
nearly five pounds of butter per week In 
addition. This would mean over 12 pounds 
of butter if all the milk were used. With 
a separator it would mean even more, for 
you cannot get all the butter fat out with 
a pan. 
Florida Farming. —I still have a good 
many letters from people who want to know 
about Florida. Our folks are not going there 
this Winter. If the workmen ever get our 
house finished we can be comfortable in New 
Jersey. Charlie is getting ready for another 
crop on the Florida farm. He has cut a 
good crop of cow-pea hay, and has a small 
crop of sweet potatoes growing. Our last 
crop of white potatoes was a failure. They 
were planted too late, and the soil was too 
sour and damp. To remedy the dampness 
open ditches were dug, so that the surface 
water will run quickly to the lake. One 
great trouble with Florida farming is the 
drenching from heavy showers which often 
scour across the fields, making bad gullies. 
To remedy the sourness air-slaked lime was 
put on after the cow peas were cut, and 
worked under with the disk plow running 
very shallow. This mixes the lime with the 
soil, and later plowing and harrowing will 
stir it up still further. It is now Intended 
to plant potatoes again earlier than last 
year. Charlie also wants to try his hand 
at raising early watermelons on the lightest 
soil—starting the seeds very early in straw¬ 
berry boxes under cloth or in pits. We 
have heard considerable about cow peas in 
the North. Charlie contributes the following 
about the uses of this crop in Florida: 
“The cow pea can be planted here from 
April 1 to October 1, with success. I 
will divide the plantings into three, and 
tell what each is good for. First, from May 
to June. During these months we plant 
for hay, as we get two cuttings of the best 
feed for stock that grows. Horses* will work 
on this hay with half the feed, and keep 
in fine shape. You can also let this hay 
stand longer in order to get weather suit¬ 
able for cutting than you can either of the 
other plantings. This planting does not 
fruit much. Second, from June to August, 
l’lanting in these months* is for both fruit 
and vine; it makes as line hay as the first, 
but should be cut at a certain time, weather 
or no weather, and that time comes generally 
in the wet season, so that it is risky. 
Third, from August to October. For fruit 
and no vine this is the planting that makes 
the seed, and beats anything 1 have seen in 
the string heap, giving just enough vino to 
turn under. You can eat the pea from June to 
June. This may sound funny to you north¬ 
ern farmers but I will tell you how if. is 
done, and if you were here would show 
you as well, if not better. When the pea is in 
its string form it is eaten just the same 
as* the ordinary string bean, and is just as 
good. When it: is in the pea form (that is, 
when you can shell it and the pods are not 
hard) it is the next, thing to a good mess 
of Telephones that it has ever been my lot 
to tackle and I think to most people is 
better, and you can put me in with the 
most. If planted in succession they will give 
you food in the green form until frost, say 
December 1 ; then we have them in the 
dry form anytime we want them just the 
same as the navy bean Is used In the North, 
and we like them better. So you see what 
it does for us in the way of feed, besides 
feeding our horses, hogs, hens, etc., and 
last but by no means least what It does for 
our lands and the shape it leaves it in 
after a crop of peas. Beas, peas, peas; 
yes, cow peas.” u. w. c. 
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