1906. 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
Hope Farm Notes 
The Season.—T he week before Christmas 
was soft and warm. Jack Frost had paved 
the roads about four inches thick, but Mr. 
Thaw took the starch all out of the job. 
When we started for the Christmas tree 
entertainment at the church on h riday nij^ht, 
the roads were mud. Hope Farm contributed 
a good share of the audience, i drove Bob 
and Nelhe in the double wagon, with Mother, 
two boys, one of the girls and Essie. Then 
came Jack driving Madge with Aunt Emma 
and the other girl. Seymour followed behind 
Beauty with his wife and little girl. 1 here 
was little use trying to make time over our 
muddy hills. 
“Make them go! Make them go!” said 
Mother as we started out, much to the dis¬ 
gust of Bob, who saw no prospect of any¬ 
thing in his stocking except a cake of mud. 
When Mother saw the real condition of the 
road she was inclined to change her instruc¬ 
tions and urge me not to drive too hard. 
We found the church a great blaze of light. 
Our folks got out and Seymour and I went 
to tie the horses under the shed. We thought 
we had them secure, when Bob seemed 
suddenly to resent the idea of being tied. 
He didn't stop to explain why he did it, but 
threw himself back and pulled until the lope 
broke. He carried Nellie with him, and in 
the struggle her bridle broke and the bit 
also snapped in two. That looked bad for 
getting home on a dark night with a nervous 
horse, but it turned out well, for we had a 
basket of apples on board for the minister, 
and he finally lent us an old bridle. As 
for Bob, he stood still without further tying 
during the Christmas exercises, thus giving 
proof that he considered that halter a re¬ 
flection upon his character. 
Hope Farm helped out the exercises. The 
children sang. Jack provided bass for the 
choir. Mother had charge of the infant class, 
and Ai»i»t Emma helped give out the presents. 
The rest of us looked wise and listened at 
tentively. The minister escorted the Hope 
Farm man up to a front seat, where he 
played the part of “leading citizen,” all 
unmindful of the fact that he had forgotten 
to take off his rubbers! It was an old-fash¬ 
ioned, simple, country entertainment, without 
expensive gifts or furnishings. Everyone 
with a child in the Sunday school could feel 
that after all they wouldn't change their 
child for any other in the church. One fea¬ 
ture of this entertainment was a collection 
of big stockings which were fastened to long 
lines by clothespins. Mother and Aunt 
Emma made them out of cheesecloth.. Each 
little child took one home and filled it with 
gifts which were sent to a Sunday school 
in Porto Rico. The shape of some of these 
stockings denoted muscle rather than beauty, 
but the love that went into them was shapely. 
Some of this public giving is worse than a 
nuisance since it is done with an air ol con- 
deseension that makes the receiver feel worse 
than a dog. When it was all over and the 
lights were out vve all packed in and started 
for home. Beauty and* Madge did not care 
to tail the home procession, so they reached 
home first. Nellie acted in the most dignified 
wav on the home journey—due to the heavy 
roads or to the influence of the minister s 
bridle—as yon please. Once home our folks 
had to cat some bread and milk and “talk 
It. over.” Our children are brought up so 
simply and quietly that such an outing is 
quite an event for them. I am glad that 
our little folks can get more fun out of 
an investment of five cents than many child- 
ien will out of $50. I think everyone of the 
Hope Farmers gave away more than he 
received this Christmas. 
As for Christmas Day, we bad a merry 
time We got up so late that we nearly 
ruined our reputation as farmers. There 
was great fun looking over the presents. 
Some one put two good red apples in the 
Hope Farm man’s stocking—an appropriate 
gift! I pruned peach trees during the fore¬ 
noon and tried to settle dinner by cutting 
brush. Everybody seemed to have a good 
dinner except the sick cow at the barn. 
The vet. told me If she got too weak to 
give her alcohol in milk, but I didn t find 
the doctor at home, and I guess I don t 
know the password at the saloon. 
Home and Farm. —One of our neighbors 
killed a steer—about the only one in the 
township. Seymour did the butchering, and 
we bought one quarter of the beef as an 
experiment. In theory it pays to buy meat 
In large chunks and cut it up to suit. I 
believe this theory is sound under most, con¬ 
ditions. In some cases the very fact that 
there is a large surplus on hand leads to 
extravagance. The large amount seems m- 
ex4idiistible, and there is waste in handling 
and cooking. Another year I shall try to 
keep several sheep and yearlings, if I can 
get. them right, to supply our own mutton 
and beef. This, with pigs, young roosters 
and old hens, ought to provide. In our 
country, too. there is a fair chance to dis¬ 
pose of anv surplus to fair advantage. The 
quarter of beef was cut so as to give several 
roasting pieces, a number of good steaks, 
soup bones and stewing pieces, and a fair 
lot for pickling and sausage. . . . An 
idea of the sort of weather we had 
at Christmas may he had when I 
sav that Charlie shipped a barrel of 
sweet potatoes from Florida. They got 
here December 23 apparently uninjured by 
cold. This is better than a thermometer 
record when we remember how easily sweet 
potatoes are chilled. These potatoes were 
grown after a crop of white potatoes, and 
are very firm and sweet—with more sugar, 
I think, than those grown farther north. 
Packed in the barrel were a few white pota¬ 
toes—second crop, just out of the ground. 
So we had new potatoes for our Christmas 
dinner. I have sent the seed potatoes to 
Florida. They will be turned out of the 
barrels in a protected place and sprouted 
before cutting. Charlie will plant earlier 
than last year, and plant on ridges instead 
of in trenches, as was done last season. 
Florida people want to plant heavily this 
Spring, as they figure that the crop of old 
potatoes will he used up early. They should 
not be too sure of this, because foreign 
potatoes will he rushed into the country as 
soon as the price reaches a certain limit. 
1 find that the freeze last year did not kill 
the orange trees at our place. Uncle Ed 
is shipping some good ones. At the same 
time 1 should not plant a new grove as 
far north as Putnam County. I have had 
orders for Baldwin apples right from the 
heart of the orange growing district. One 
great advantage they claim for the apple 
over the orange is that the former can lie 
cooked in so many different ways. . . . Madge 
and Nellie have not been doing as well as 
they should—the former especially keeping 
thin and being more or less subject to colic. 
tVhen a horse fails to respond I always fear 
trouble with the teeth, and sure enough 
Madge and Nellie needed the dentist. Their 
teelh had grown so that they could not 
grind their food. They had been bolting 
most of it without chewing. It was neces¬ 
sary to file at least half an inch off Madge s 
teeth before they could grind properly. I am 
sure that many horses suffer because their 
teeth do not fit together. They are dosed 
for colic or given condition powders when 
what they Deed is a file well rubbed on their 
teeth. . . . The shortest day of the year 
has come and gone, and I am glad to see 
it depart. These long Winter evenings could 
be made pretty dull, I presume, if people 
cared to make them so. I know some people 
who seem io believe in high living and very 
ordinary thinking, but nights go slowly with 
them after awhile. The Hope Farm folks 
try to spend a little time before the open fire 
every night)—some one reading aloud from 
some favorite book. Mother has been read¬ 
ing “The Prospector" to the children, and I 
have read “What Men Live By” and similar 
little books. This is one advantage of liv¬ 
ing in the country—good books can he read 
slowly and without interruption, and you 
can know pretty well what the children are 
reading. 
Corn Stalks for Trees. —Here is a 
problem from Virginia, which appeals to me: 
“I have had to auction ray fine herd of 
dairy cows, owing to lack of labor, so I am 
left with about 1.200 large shocks- of stover 
on hand, and as it will be impossible to get 
all of tliis up in good condition, how would 
it do to mulch about 1,300 10-year-old apple 
trees with same? The land they are on 
washes badly whenever plowed. How would 
it do to stop plowing and mulch with leaves 
and trash from woods and fence corners, 
also manure and all vegetable matter that 
can he scraped up on farm? I don’t want 
to sell the farm, and as it is impossible 
to run it with any satisfaction with labor 
in its present condition, I want to try hay, 
fruit and grazing.” J - C- 
From my own experience I feel quite sure 
this tilan would work. I wish, I had those 
shocks of stalks to put around my trees. 
I 
i would leave a clear space about three 
feet in diameter around each tree and spread 
the stalks thickly as far out as the branches 
extend. This mulching will prevent washing 
to some extent, but it would he better to 
seed down the middles, or space between the 
rows, and cut: the grass for mulch. In some 
parts of the country the land will seed itself 
if left alone. First there will come a thick 
growth of weeds. If this is cut before seed¬ 
ing and left on the ground another growth 
will come, and so on. With me when this 
is done each succeeding growth comes nearer 
to good grass and clover. I have one field 
where we started with a very poor growth 
of weeds By cutting again and again so 
that the crop' rotted on the ground we have 
on a part of that field a fair catch of 
grass and considerable clover. I think it 
would be better to have some living growth 
on part of that field rather than all a dead 
mulch. In a wet season the mulch may hold 
too much water, while a living crop of grass 
or weeds will take considerable moisture 
out of the soil, and thus relieve the trees. 
In case of a drought this living crop can he 
cut and left on the ground. I find many 
people who are situated so that they cannot 
run their farms satisfactorily with ordinary 
hired labor. They must stop running the 
farm or get rid of the crops, stock or methods 
which cannot move without hired help. In 
other words they must grow the things which 
come nearest to taking care of themselves. 
If a man can in some way manage the spray¬ 
ing and pruning a good apple orchard in sod 
will help him out. If the orchard is well 
fenced with running water available a good 
drove of hogs will hel]>—but they would not 
answer for an unseeded orchard. Close to 
the large towns hay pays well, but from my 
own experience I would get some kind of 
stock to eat the grass and sell the animals 
alive if I lived at some distance from market. 
A hay farmer does not need much hired help 
while the grass is growing, but when hay 
harvest comes he is about as much a slave 
to hired help as a man can be unless he can 
operate a side-delivery rake, hay loader, 
slings or horse fork. h. w. c. 
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