1806. 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
45 
Hope Farm Notes 
Taxes.—E very year I am asked to give our 
tax rale for comparison. Here is the bill 
which I have just paid: 
Rate per SI00 
County Tax . 
Poor Tax .yj 9 
Stale School .t < 
Borough Tax ..•]< 
Special School .*>.) 
Total.$1,409 
I also pay a poll tax of $1 and also 50 
cents for Shep. In our county town this 
year the rate was $2.G2. We are supposed to 
have no State tax in New Jersey—that is, 
no tax for State expenses. The corpora¬ 
tions pay that, and I have heard people in 
other Slates tell what a great thing this 
must be. Some of the politicians now tell 
us that they expect to get more out of the 
corporations and cut off the present State tax 
on schools. For my part I do not want any 
corporation to pay my taxes for me. Let 
them once get to thinking they do that, and 
you might as well surrender all the rights 
vou think you have left. It will be seen 
that our p'eople do not spend what you 
might call vast sums upon the poor, and yet 
the poor are with us as they ever will be. 
Home and Farm. —After many days those 
plumbers got the hot water system started 
in the new house. Mother is now at work 
cleaning-out the place, so as to get ready for 
moving. It is a hard job, with much clean¬ 
ing and scrubbing to do. The floors are 
oiled, as we do not care much for carpets. 
Those plumbers did one thing up plumb. 
Every time thev went home they filled their 
pockets with the boys’ nuts. At least ir 
seemed so when, on New Year’s Day, the 
hoy started to crack enough nuts for supper 
and found the supply short. The hot water 
heater starts right and we expect great com¬ 
fort from it when the cold weather finally 
comes. Thus far the Weather has been too 
mild to need crowding of any heating system. 
There have been a few snow squalls, but 
as I write the ground is still bare, with the 
surface freezing and thawing nearly every 
24 hours. This is a bad strain on the straw¬ 
berries that are uncovered. Many will be 
drawn out by Spring, so that the roots will 
be exposed. Ours are all well covered, and 
look well thus far. . . . For the past 
two weeks not much has been done but what 
may be called tinkering jobs. The new part 
of the house has been painted and the lloors 
oiled. We buy the ready-mixed paints and 
oils and put them on. A shed is to be built. 
For this Seymour cut timber in the woods 
and hewed out the sills. It has been a tedious 
job to make over the chicken house. The 
old hoghOHse was about 20 feet wide. It 
was sawed up into sections and put together 
in a new place, so as to make a house ot 
double length about 10 feet wide, and 84 feet 
long. The boys first laid a foundation wall 
of stone and cement. It was their first job 
at masonry. The wall is raised above the 
ground, the space to be filled first with stones 
and then with sand—-to be covered with lit¬ 
ter. It will be a good plan to take out the 
sand and litter at intervals, use It on the gar¬ 
den crops and put more sand back. We are 
trying to start the poultry business right. We 
have an eye on a few choice specimens of 
Rhode Island Reds, which I believe to be a 
coming breed. We have small but good flocks 
of White W.vandottes. White and Brown Leg¬ 
horns and a large flock of “all sorts.” Egg 
laying has only just begun, and we have 
nothing to brag about yet. . . . Beauty, 
the little bay mare, is still flying. That is 
just exactly what she does when she gets 
well started. The other night we started 
even with a railroad train on a good road 
beside the track. Half a mile from the start 
we were still even with the train, and the 
little mare just about getting ready to "go.” 
She is too fast for me. Some of those men 
who like to travel should have her. 
Harp Cider. —A Maryland friend, for whom 
I have great regard, writes thus: 
“I notice you take occasion now and then 
to give the barrel of hard cider a bump. 
If you mean this for the man who tipples 
with it solely. I agree with you, but if it is 
used in moderation I consider it the finest 
tonic in existence. 1 am told on good au¬ 
thority that a glass of hard cider taken three 
times a day will eliminate entirely the thirst 
for strong alcoholic liquors: will tone up the 
stomach, bowels, liver and kidneys, and is 
conducive to a good natural appetite. From 
my own observation I know it to be a line 
nervine and a preventive of malaria (chills 
and fever). Again, a glass of hard cider 
taken just before retiring at night will induce 
good sleep, and you will feel refreshed on 
awakening, and taken at night as suggested 
is a positive cure for phthisis in its first 
stage.” c. m. G. 
Of course I realize that my views on the 
drink question are radical. When I say that 
I would as soon have a barrel of gunpowder 
down cellar as a barrel of hard cider I know 
that I shock some good people. As for 
saying that drinking hard cider will cure 
the thirst for liquor—I know better than 
that, for I know of several cases where such 
drinking led to drunkenness. Some of the 
worst evils of intemperance are found in 
country towns where cider is about the only 
beverage easily attained. How can this be 
otherwise when some samples of this cider 
contain more alcohol than beer or light 
wines? A man would hardly argue that the 
excessive use of beer will cure intemperance. 
Yet cider is often a stronger liquor than beer. 
I have been in communities where, I am cer¬ 
tain, the hard cider in respectable farm cel¬ 
lars has done just as much damage as the 
rumshops. The rumshon was despised and 
outlawed by most good people,_ and was 
classed among evil things. The cider barrel, 
with most of the elements of deviltry in it, 
was classed as a worthy and necessary thing 
by these same “good people." I have no 
doubt I could drink three glasses of hard 
cider a day without great injury to my own 
morals. I don’t believe this cider would do 
me a bit more good than my raw apples do. 
and I am sure that if I drank cider or beer 
at least a dozen other people closely con 
nected with me would begin to do the same 
thing either openly or on the sly. The very 
■Old Boy himself has crept into the pedigree 
of some of these people, and he is only kept 
out by “the grace of God” and strong self- 
denial. Some people may be so fortunate as 
to be surrounded by relatives and friends 
who are so strong and surely bred that temp¬ 
tations have no hold upon them. I should 
not say “fortunate,” because such people lack 
one great opportunity for building up char¬ 
acter. Let a man eat apples freely and he 
can drop the cider without any injury to his 
health. As regards both drinking and 
smoking I agree with Apostle raul when he 
says: . 
“But take heed lest by any means this 
liberty of yours become a stumbling block to 
them that are weak. For if any man see thee 
which hast knowledge sit at meat in the 
idol’s temple, shall not the conscience of him 
which is weak be emboldened to eat these 
things which are offered to idols t 
“Wherefore if meat make my brother to 
offend I will cat no flesh while the world 
standeth, lest I make my brother to offend.” 
I have certainly seen people drinking hard 
cider "in the idol’s temple”—the idol being 
the desire for “something strong.” 
Now, gentlemen, many of us grieve because 
social reforms are so slow in making pro¬ 
gress. The men who represent us shirk their 
duty or dodge' it. Did it ever occur to you 
that one reason for this is that we, in our 
humble capacity as citizens, do not live up 
to the scriptural advice I have quoted? I 
ask you1 
The IIog and the Hawk. —Here is another 
man with an heroic remedy for a chicken¬ 
eating sow : 
“I notice on page 915 a question is asked 
how to cure a hog of killing chickens. That 
takes me back to my boyhood days. We had 
an old sow r that used to indulge too frequently 
in a chicken dinner. One day I had been out 
hunting and had shot and wounded a large 
hawk : had broken one wing, so that it could 
not fly, and after considerable difficulty suc¬ 
ceeded in capturing the bird and brought it 
home. The first thing that greeted my ears 
was the startling news from the younger 
children that the old sow had eaten my favor¬ 
ite Dominique chicken. Well, I was just as 
mad as I could hold, and felt like getting into 
that hogyard with a good club and chastis¬ 
ing Mrs. IIog severely, but I knew that 
Father would not allow that, so I had to 
smother my wrath and content myself with 
wishing all the bad things I could think of on 
the perpetrator of such a dastardly crime. 
The next morning, however, as I was con¬ 
tend dating my wounded hand, and reflecting 
on my adventures with the hawk the day be¬ 
fore, a bright thought struck me. I called 
the children and said ‘Come dow'n to the hog¬ 
yard and see some fun,’ so I took the hawk 
from the cage that I had constructed for 
him, and the children, eager to knew what 
was to take place, followed me. I dropped 
the hawk over into the yard and Mrs. IIog 
was not long in making up her mind tliac 
there was another chicken dinner in store for 
her, but imagine her surprise and disappoint¬ 
ment ! Just as she was about to partake of 
her sumptuous feast Mr. Hawk fastened his 
talons securely into her snout, and of all the 
antics anyone ever witnessed in a hog that 
was the limit. One would think that she had 
been trained for the circus ring. Around the 
yard she went, squealing, snorting, whirling 
and plunging in every conceivable manner, 
until the hawk, satisfied with his ride, 
dropped off, while Mrs. IIog placed all the 
distance possible between herself and her un¬ 
welcome visitor, and with a very loud ‘woos-h’ 
of relief eyed him very suspiciously. Suffice 
it to say that ever after that the presence 
of a Dominique chicken would drive her to the 
farther corner of the yard. Now, this method 
of cure may not always be practicable, but it 
was certainly effectual in this case.” 
A. L. s. 
I am not so sure of these remedies which 
depend upon the hog’s memory. ’They say 
that “a burnt child fears the fire," but I know 
from experience that this fear is often over¬ 
come by curiosity or cupidity. I still think 
that if I had a sow that killed chickens. 1 
would make her into pork or put her inside 
a pen covered with wire, so that chickens 
could not get near her. 
An Old Orchard. —A Connecticut man has 
the following problem, which is rather in our 
line: . „ n 
“I have come into possession of an old 
apple orchard—very good once, but very 
much neglected of late. It is in sod, and 1 
would like to keep it so. I propose to put 
on a good dressing of ground bone. How 
much to the acre? Can it be drawn and 
put out at anv convenient, time this open 
Winter, or would it be better to wait until 
Spring? Will it be necessary to plow it in, 
or will it find its way to the roots of the 
trees if scattered on the surface?” 
A. T. B. 
Very likely this is an old high-headed or¬ 
chard with some dead wood and more or less 
scale. But for the scale I would not hesitate 
to attempt to put new life into the trees. 
With the scale the chances are no more than 
even. First prune the trees thoroughly. Cut 
all the dead limbs out below live wood if 
possible, and paint the stubs. Cut out limbs 
that cross or grow into the center of the 
top. Leave some of the best of the suckers 
which grow from the lower limbs, as you will 
need them for a new low-down top. Some of 
the highest upright branches may be cut off 
to bring the top down. We would not cut 
away more than one-third of the top of any 
tree. If you plow the orchard this severe 
pruning will be absolutely necessary, for 
otherwise you will cut off the roots and leave 
too large a top. Your best and surest plan 
will be to break up the old sod and reseed, 
unless you can put a good drove of hogs in 
the orchard, feed them some grain and let 
them tear the sod. Your dressing of ground 
bone will not answer alone. If you do not 
plow the orchard the ground bone will mostly 
lie on the surface, helping the grass to some 
extent, but not getting down into the soil for 
the trees. We would not use much ground 
bone in a sod orchard unless the bone could 
be plowed or harrowed into the ground. In 
such cases we would use soluble plant food—- 
that is, chemicals that will be dissolved in 
water and thus washed into the soil. A mix¬ 
ture of one part nitrate of soda, three parts 
acid phosphate and one part muriate of pot¬ 
ash will lie a much better dressing for a sod 
orchard. If the orchard is plowed you should 
use muriate of potasli with the bone. Potash 
will be needed in such an orchard, as new 
wood growth will be made, and this should 
be solid and firm. Our own plan would be 
to prune the orchard freely and use either 
400 pounds per acre of the mixture men¬ 
tioned above or 300 pounds ground bone and 
100 muriate of potash. Then we would turn 
in about six good, hogs to the acre and feed 
them about two pounds of whole corn each 
ner day, with an abundance of wood ashes. 
They will take care of most of the wormy 
fruit and tear the sod up well. Take the 
hogs out in September, tear up the ground 
with a spring-tooth harrow and seed to rye 
and clover. In May of the following year 
turn in more hogs and so on. If hogs are 
not desirable plow the orchard shallow and 
give good culture through the Summer and 
reseed to grass in the Fall. You must, of 
course, spray thoroughly if you expect good 
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Name 
P. O. Address 
State 
17 
4Z. 
