1906. 
4l I 
Hope Farm Notes 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
Save One-Fourth to One-Half 
Farm Notes. —The days are all too short 
to cover the work. We finished planting 
the potato field April 27 and, in order to 
be a truthful historian, I must admit that 
part of that job drove me to drink. We 
had Jerry and Madge on the marker. 
You can cover a good many crooked jobs 
on the farm with a plow or harrow, but 
zig-zag rows will play tag with your 
pride all through the season. Now Jerry 
is like a cranky old man, while Madge is 
like a nervous woman, neither willing to 
admit any fault. Jerry bites and nips at 
Madge, and site makes about 10 times as 
much fuss over it as need be. You can 
imagine some of those rows! I must ad¬ 
mit that they drove me to drink at fre¬ 
quent intervals—but as the drinking was 
done out of the spring no harm was done. 
It was a beautiful day to be working on 
the eastern slope of our hill. When the 
horses got into their most crooked work 
it straightened me out to stop and look 
over the valley. The crab apple trees 
were in full green, and the Baldwins were 
just leafing out. The peach trees were 
pink with bloom and here and there a big 
cherry tree shook out its white flowers 
far above the lower trees. Across the 
valley great brown squares showed like 
the marks on a vast checkerboard, where 
fields had been plowed. At the end of 
the field Philip and Alex were cutting 
the Irish Cobbler seed. Alex’s ancestors 
must have sported by “Afric’s sunny 
fountains” (I doubt if they worked hard) 
while Norway is on the road to ‘‘Green¬ 
land’s icy mountains.” Hope Farm brings 
the two together and, in such a missionary 
enterprise, one should not swear at a team 
of cranky horses. It was a relief, after 
dinner, to leave Madge in the stable and 
substitute Bob. He bites back instead of 
jumping, and it looks to me as if these 
people who show their teeth get more of 
what is coming to them. You take a 
combination of potato planting outdoors 
and ironing indoors and there will be 
short graces and few courses for dinner. 
We made out on a beef stew and canned 
cherries. When I pointed to the hill and 
told Alex it was time to go “marching 
up to higher ground!” he fell into step. 
It was a great satisfaction to drag the 
empty Acme harrow over that potato 
field as a farewell job, and feel that the 
seed had gone in about as well as we 
know how to put it. ... I never did 
so much harrowing as we are doing this 
year. We are not plowing much land, 
but what we do turn over we plan to 
harrow five or six times and more if 
possible. On dry days, when the wind is 
blowing, I like to harrow at once, after 
plowing. When working in sod on such 
days I would stop the plow every three 
or four hours and harrow down what 
has been turned over. I know it is argued 
against this practice that by leaving the 
sod furrows turned up and open to the 
sun and wind much of the old grass is 
killed out, but this is done at the expense 
of moisture. On our dry hills we need 
water more than anything else, and I 
would make every effort to hold it in the 
soil. By harrowing plowed sod at once 
witli the Acme harrow we pack the fur¬ 
rows down and thus prevent the wind 
from stealing our moisture. At the same 
time we break up and fine the surface of 
the soil and thus prevent evaporation. 
Some farmers prefer a roller to a harrow 
for this work, but with us the Acme does 
it well. Even when a spring-tooth is 
used to tear up the sod, I would pack it 
down first and smooth after tearing it 
up. By continued harrowing before the 
crop is put in we do more easily and 
effectively the work that we try to do 
later with weeder and cultivator. I am 
aware that this may not seem sensible 
to farmers who plow over large areas, but 
those of us who plow but little and try to 
push that little hard will find that extra 
harrowing pays. . . . Our hay is get¬ 
ting short, and as usual we must cut 
some of the rye for fodder. Much of it 
this year has been plowed under for green 
manuring, but the thickest of it is stand¬ 
ing. This will be cut when the heads are 
well formed and cured much like hay. 
Then manure can be put on the stubble 
and plowed under, and a great variety of 
crops planted. On one piece we shall 
drill sugar beets for the hens next Win¬ 
ter, to be followed by rye in the 
Fall. On another piece sweet corn will 
follow, with turnips and Crimson clover at 
the last cultivation. On such a farm as 
ours it does not seem right to grow less 
than two crops each season on plowed 
land, and three if possible. 
The Other Side. —The following letter 
from some good friends in Illinois is a 
good illustration of the way a thing may 
seem to two different people who look 
at it from different sides. As I grow 
older I realize more and more how im¬ 
possible it is for one man to put himself 
exactly in the place of another. Let me 
give my description of our hill and my 
neighbor on the other side of the ridge 
give his, and who could expect the two to 
agree ? 
Three or four years ago it was our privilege 
to offer the Hope Farm man some very ex¬ 
cellent advice about pigs in pasture. We 
greatly felicitate ourselves to note that in 
spite of the fact that Hope Farm has taken 
some radical changes, some of the standard 
things being dropped and a few of the fads 
like Alfalfa and trotting horses seem to be 
getting on the ragged edge—the pigs in 
pasture are occupying the permanent posi¬ 
tion that they merit. If you had a nice little 
bunch—say 75 to 100—thrifty Fall pigs to 
fatten on grass and grain, and sell at piesent 
prices—what they would do to that mortgage 
would be sufficient. Our success on that line 
causes us to aspire to another needed reform. 
Some day we are going to invite the Hope 
Farm man out here and feed him on Ben 
Davis apple pie. Then if he does not recant 
we won't give him the receipt. It is such 
a shame that he sets the example of going 
after the business apple, forgetting it is 
barely possible that his taste may be mis¬ 
taken and even undergo changes. We can re¬ 
call a few times that he has changed his 
mind before. We might stand it from him. 
but his example encourages some who love 
the sound of their own voices and haven t 
anything else to write about to indulge m 
diatribes against the apple that makes more 
monev for farmers than any othei. They 
overlook the fact that the successful business 
man is the man who furnishes what the 
better class of consumers want, and are 
willing to pav for. Such men do not have 
time to educate the public up to their own 
2x4 tastes. If I were selling aPP^s—in¬ 
stead of pigs—for a living the kind that 
sells for .>9 a barrel would be plenty good 
enough for me. Possibly there are those who 
for sake of “ethics” would pass up the y* 
for about .$3, but it takes all kinds ot people 
to make the world, and while some may faie 
over bv the Styx as described on page 349 
there may be others who. according to the 
old gag, will have to be hung up to dry 
because they are too green to burn. 
Our taste may not be orthodox, but we don t 
intend to starve or refuse round steak, lie- 
cause we can't always afford porterhouse. 
When if comes to apples we prefer Jona¬ 
thans, but when they are gone we have 
found bv actual personal contact that Ben 
Davis is not poisonous, in fact we may punish 
several from time to time without serious 
iniurv to life or limb, and when it comes to 
Lpple pie—that staff of life—well the 
Madame took the premium on apple pie at 
our fair last Fall, so we ought to know 
Illinois. A - E< T - AND WIFE ' 
You are right about the pigs. I keep 
them up to what I think is the limit of 
profit. I don’t seem to be able to make 
western men understand how thin and 
poor most of our farm is. The few acres 
of good soil at the lower end are worth 
more for fruit and truck than for hogs. 
If I undertook to buy grain for 100 hogs 
at present prices that mortgage, instead of 
being rooted out, would have longer roots 
than some of my Stringfellow trees. It 
I had a level farm of strong soil I would 
grow mostly clover, sorghum and rape, 
and let hogs feed it all down, but we 
can’t do that where land is turned up on 
edge the way ours is. As for Alfalfa, I 
have one good field of it, and I am going 
to have about five times as much, or admit 
that I can’t find out the reason why. Trot¬ 
ting horses? If anyone will take Beauty 
off'my hands for what she has cost I will 
get out of that branch of farming faster 
than she can trot. No more trotting 
blood for me—thank you! I’m too slow ! 
As for Ben Davis—if it is true that my 
example encourages people to exercise 
their voices about nothing I don’t want 
to set any more examples! I will gladly 
sample the pie. I am willing to concede 
this lady’s ability as a pie manufacturer, 
but she couldn’t win any prize with such 
Ben Davis apple as this country will pro¬ 
duce unless she added a little Baldwin 
vinegar. Our Russets and Greenings will 
carry very inferior pastry through. There 
is just the point! The Ben Davis as we 
grow it here is not the business apple by 
a long shot. It is the most. unbusiness 
apple we can grow. In sections of the 
West the Ben Davis does better—and it 
seems to be about the only apple they con 
grow. I don’t blame people for growing 
it, and they are wise to make the best of 
it! As for the people who are too green 
to burn there is certainly more future for 
them than for those who are thoroughly 
dried out. I shall have to send this good 
lady a basket of Jersey Russets at the 
proper time. Let her exercise her pie¬ 
making art with them, and various things 
will happen. Ben Davis will take a back 
seat with none to do him reverence, and 
few to notice him when there is anything 
else in the way of fruit. A few of those 
pies wisely distributed will send this lady s 
husband to Congress. It’s a shame that 
such high art should be hampered by an 
apple like old Ben. h. w. C, 
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