262 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
March 24, 
FARM HANDS FROM N. Y. CITY. 
The Story of Green Helpers . 
Part II. 
Help in Hard Luck. — I finished the sea¬ 
son’s work with local help, then I thought I 
would get a man for the Winter. The Christ¬ 
ian Herald had just opened a free labor 
bureau in their Bowery Mission, so I sent 
money to pay a man’s fare and said I would 
pay him from $5 to .$10 per month and board. 
In a few days I got a letter stating that 
they had sent me a man ; they gave him a 
ticket to Troy and 55 cents to pay his trolley 
fare from there. lie did not get here, but 
after four or five days I got a postal say¬ 
ing: “Dear sir, I would be very thankful if 
you will send me 55 cents to pay my fare; 
I got to Troy all right, I put my hand in my 
pocket and my fare was gone. A policeman 
run me in ; they would let me out If I get 
my fare. Address John Callahan, Troy jail, 
N. Y.” I got the postal Friday. I thought 
I would go to Troy the next day and see 
what he looked like, and what he was in for, 
but I found that he had been discharged and 
ordered to leave town about two hours be¬ 
fore I got there, lie was in for vagrancy. 
I wrote to the Bowery Mission about it and 
they sent me another man right along. He 
was a young fellow who had not been in New 
York more than two or three weeks, but he 
had been pretty well starved out and was 
footsore from walking. He had been here 
about two weeks, and I was getting him 
broken in, when he got a letter from his 
mother in Ohio saying that his sister was 
Just alive, and she sent tickets for him to 
come home, so I sent again to the Bowery 
Mission and they sent another man right 
along, Harry Miller, a German from Ham¬ 
burg, six years in this country. He appeared 
willing to work and earned his wages, but 
he had to be shown how to do everything. 
He was well acquainted with the charities 
of New York; in fact all the men I have had 
from there knew where to get free coffee 
and rolls every night in Winter and sometimes 
free bed tickets. Lo.ts of men live entirely 
on the free lunch they get with a glass of 
beer. Jim told me that the day we came 
up he got a free lunch of hash and it was so 
old It was rotten, but said he, “I did not say 
anything.” I asked him why not? “Well,” 
said he, “if I had that waiter would have 
slapped It in my face.” You can get a bed 
for 10 cents per night; they call it a “pad,” 
it Is an excelsior mattress covered with 
oil cloth, and some men who earn as much 
as $3 per day occupy them at night, so as 
to have more money to “blow in” as they call 
it. In New York it is quite necessary to 
have five or 10 cents, the number of lies these 
men will tell and the crimes they will commit 
to get it are simply astonishing: for instance, 
it is not at all uncommon for men who are 
hard up to go to some mission or the Salva¬ 
tion Army and profess to get converted, and 
then tell the captain a pitiful story and try 
to work him for 10 cents or a quarter; then 
five minutes later they will be in a saloon 
drinking it up. The German stayed about two 
months; then he said he had got enough of 
this country, and that he would go back 
on the next ship to Hamburg, but more likely 
he stayed in New York. The Bowery Mission 
Labor Bureau closed in the Spring, so I then 
sent to the Prison Gate Mission, and got a 
young man fresh from the penitentiary; he 
did not know how to do anything and was 
slow to learn, but he did the best he could. 
I paid him $12 per month. He behaved him¬ 
self all right, but two months was as long 
as he could stand it away from the city, so 
that was the last of him. 
Looking for a Greenhorn.— About the 
first of July I thought I would go to New 
York and see if I could get an emigrant, 
a real “greenhorn” who would not care about 
going back to New York, so I went to the 
Barge Office; the Emigrant Labor Bureau is 
in one part of it. It is a large room with a 
railing near one side of it, beyond the railing 
are rows of long seats. Half way down the 
room is a desk for the Superintendent. 
Everything has a dingy dreary look. On the 
seats were 40 or 50 men as still as if they 
were in church. When I went in the man 
at the desk got up and asked me what I 
wanted. I said I was looking for a couple 
of farm hands. “Well, you can’t get them 
here,” said he, with the air of one who owned 
the place and all the people, “we have more 
orders than we can fill.” “Well,” said I, 
“there are a good many men here; perhaps 
so of them will go.” “No,” said he, “not un¬ 
less they are farmers.” “We will see,” said 
I, so I called out, “Do any of you want work 
on a farm?” One man got up and said, “1 
will go with you.” He came around the rail 
and I proceeded to question him, while the 
man in charge walked up and down and kept 
his eye on me as if he was afraid I would 
steal the building and run off with it. I asked 
the man if he could milk and he said “Yes, 
I can milk, but to tell the truth, I am ‘no 
mechanic’ at it.” He was an Irishman but 
not an emigrant. I made a bargain with him 
at $20 per month; then I spoke to another 
man and he came around the rail and I 
hired him. Then the superintendent or man 
in charge asked me if I intended to take 
those two men. I said yes, I thought they 
would do. He did not say anything, but 
walked over to the door, and as the men 
were going out he took one of them by the 
collar and said: “Where are you going? go 
back there and sit down,” and he went like 
an obedient dog and sat down. I did not 
know what to make of it The superintend¬ 
ent turned on his heel and would make no ex¬ 
planation. My man who got out agreed to 
meet me at the Troy boat to go up that 
night; then I went to the Bowery Y. M. C. 
A. to see if I could get another man. The 
Assistant Superintendent was there, he seems 
a very nice man. He said farm help was 
very scarce; said he. “These lazy beggars 
would rather work here for 25 cents a day 
than go in the country at any price.” There 
were about a dozen men there looking for 
work. He went in and said: “Do any of 
you want work on a farm?” They all looked 
down at their feet. “You see how it is,” 
said he to me, “just say farm to them and 
they are all deaf, dumb and blind.” I went 
from there to the Salvation Army on Four¬ 
teenth street, but they were having a big day 
and the Labor Bureau was closed, so I went 
to the New York State Free Labor Bureau, 
107 E. 31st street, but they had just closed ; 
they close at 2 p. m. So I went to the boat. 
My man was there and we started for home. 
We took the trolley from Troy and when we 
landed in Schuylerville I left him alone for 
about five minutes. When I came back the 
man bad disappeared. lie had free transpor. 
tation, I bad the experience. My experience 
has been worth all it has cost, and I do not 
regret it, but it has lead me to believe that 
as long as I can get local help I would better 
let New Yorkers stay in New York. 
George Van Dewerker. 
Oats and Lime for Alfalfa. 
I. G. II., Chester, N. Y .—Are oats and peas 
cut in the milk as good for milch cows for 
milk making as Alfalfa? When should lime 
be applied to the land to raise a crop of 
Alfalfa, and how much per acre? 
Ans. —Well-cured Alfalfa is better 
forage than oats and peas. We put Al¬ 
falfa first, clover second and oats and 
peas next—when all are well handled. 
Put the lime broadcast on the fresh- 
plowed furrows and harrow it well in. 
Use at least one ton per acre. Wood 
ashes contain about 650 pounds of lime 
to the ton. You will need to use three 
tons of the ashes to get the effect you 
will in one ton of lime. 
Treatment of Kentucky Orchard. 
L. V., Sharpsburg, Ky .—I would like to 
have some information in regard to treating 
my young orchard. It has been set out three 
years, and I have cultivated it all the time. 
The first year I raised tobacco and the next 
two I cultivated it in corn. I would like 
to know what to do with it this year. The 
trees are very thrifty and healthy. Would 
it do to sow it to clover alone, and ought 
it to be sprayed, and if so what with and 
what time? I would like to hear from some 
one who has had anthracnose of blackcap 
raspberries, and if there is any remedy; 
also the nature of the disease. 
Ans. —An apple orchard only three 
years old is rather too young to seed 
down to clover. I would rather cultivate 
some crop in the spaces between the trees 
for several years yet. The potato is a 
very good crop to grow in an orchard. 
Corn is not bad, but it shades the trees 
considerably, and is also somewhat ob¬ 
jectionable on account of the amount of 
water it takes from the soil in Summer 
when the trees need it for their growth. 
All crops will act in this way to some 
degree, but the potato is as little damage 
as any, and does not shade the trees. It 
leaves the ground in good fix in the Fall 
to receive a seeding of Crimson clover, 
rye or any green crop that may be al¬ 
lowed to lie over Winter. Even grass or 
weeds on the ground in Winter are bet¬ 
ter than nothing. A late seeding of oats 
will grow up and then be killed by severe 
weather, making a good covering, but rye 
will not winter-kill and for that reason is 
better, but it must be promptly plowed 
under before it is a foot high in Spring. 
H. e. v. D. 
c 
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