1906. 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
475 
Hope Farm Notes 
The Farm. —We have no real complaint 
to make about the weather. 1 he soil has 
not dried out badly, and the early rains 
gave the grass a fine start. It looks like 
a great hay year, and, with us, that means 
a great season for tree growth. Of 
course there are a few things that we 
could growl about if need be, but on the 
whole, we can’t seriously complain. The 
frost cut a few strawberry blooms, but 
there are plenty more, and at present the 
prospect is for the best crop we have ever 
grown. Some of the plants set in early 
September and kept clean will give one 
large spray of fruit and many good run¬ 
ners for potted plants. The little boy lias 
taken a liking for potting plants and 1 ex¬ 
pect to make a bargain with him to pre¬ 
pare several thousand of Marshall and 
President. I am planning to follow the 
potatoes with strawberries* and potted 
plants, set in hills, will enable us to give 
thorough culture. That is what we are 
trying to give the potatoes. They were 
planted in hills, though Jerry and Madge 
got some of the rows badly twisted. After 
they were planted we harrowed the field 
well and as soon as we could see the rows 
I began to work both ways with the small 
diamond-tooth cultivator. This does the 
work of light spike-tooth harrow, breaks 
the crust, and tears up thousands of 
weeds. I put a saddle on Bob. and one 
of the little girls rode him up and down 
the rows while I held the handles. I 
expect to work them six or eight times, 
throwing more and more dirt to the hills 
each time. On general principles level 
culture is best, but I am looking for a 
wet season, and the hilled-up potato 
makes easier digging. If we can possibly 
get time for it I shall have these potatoes 
hand-hoed twice. This is partly because I 
want the ground left as clean as possible 
for the strawberries. Cultivating these 
potatoes gives me a new idea of the value 
of Alfalfa. It is hard stuff to kill out. 
We are sometimes told that “the good 
die young.” That has certainly been true 
of some of my Alfalfa, but when it once 
really ties its roots to the soil it requires 
more than ordinary fingers to unfasten the 
knot. We plowed the old Alfalfa field 
and harrowed it again and again, yet still 
in many places the Alfalfa is growing 
stronger than ever. I can now fully un¬ 
derstand what the experts mean when 
they say that young Alfalfa is about the 
tenderest of cultivated plants, while the 
old plants are the toughest. Our newest 
seeding of Alfalfa (last August) now 
stands a good two feet high, and thick as 
a mat. We shall probably cut it about 
June 10. Just over a stone wall is the 
orchard where we hope to repeat this ex¬ 
periment on a large scale. The sod was 
plowed, and after harrowing at inter¬ 
vals six times I sowed about five pecks of 
Black-eye cow peas per acre, and then a 
light seeding of Kaffir corn. This was 
worked under with the Acme and we 
called our job done. Like most people 
who are honest enough to admit it I have 
written poetry ( or rather verse) in my 
day, but T am satisfied that few poets ever 
regarded their work with greater satis¬ 
faction than I did that orchard as I drove 
the horses out of it, after the last round 
on the Acme. To a farmer who has 
seen the influence of the cow pea upon 
poor soil there is great satisfaction in put¬ 
ting this crop under ground. Like some 
other things which turn out to be great 
blessings, the cow pea seems like a very 
puny help when it starts. But give it a 
chance and then let it alone! T hope to 
cut a good crop of forage from the cow 
peas and Kaffir corn, and then seed the 
orchard to Alfalfa. 
Giving Advice.— This makes me think 
to print the following letter from Greene 
Co.. N. Y.: 
After reading Hope Farm Notes in your 
issue of May in, I have changed my mind 
in regard to planting a piece of ground. I 
had intended to plant it with potatoes but 
after reading your article decided to sow 
Alfalfa, and as you have finally made a 
success of raising it I thought perhaps you 
would give me some advice. The field is a 
dry knoll, sloping to the east, south and 
north, which has been well fertilized for 
several years. It contains 85 square rods, 
in a good state of cultivation, with very 
few stones upon it. Year before . last I 
plowed it after having cut a good crop 
of Timothy, and sowed Crimson clover; last 
Spring I plowed the clover under and planted 
it to potatoes. Then in the Fall I sowed rye 
and Crimson clover again, plowing that 
under again this Spring. 
A letter of that sort makes me thought¬ 
ful. I can wish no better farm blessing 
to a good farmer than a field well started 
in Alfalfa, yet I know the disappointments 
in store for any man who starts out to 
grow the crop. It is true that we have 
nearly half an acre well under way. Some 
croaking individuals tell me that it will 
not live, but after having tried to kill it 
in my potato field I doubt them. At 
Syracuse,- N. Y. I have seen fine crops 
growing on just such soil as our friend 
mentions. As for advice. I can only tell 
what I shall try to do in our orchard. 
When the cow peas are off I shall cut the 
soil up with the disk as thoroughly as 
possible, and use 1,500 pounds of lime to 
the acre. I shall get the soil as fine as 
possible and sow 25 pounds of seed per 
acre—buying seed grown in Colorado or 
Utah if possible. Just before sowing the 
seecl we will go to our Alfalfa field and 
hunt for a place where there are plenty 
of the little warts or nodules on the roots. 
There we shall dig up soil at a depth of 
about eight inches and scatter 400 pounds 
or more of it over each acre of the new 
seeding. I think the soil after the cow peas 
will be strong enough to start the Alfalfa. 
If it does not come up as it should I will 
use about 400 pounds per acre of a good 
potato fertilizer. I know some farmers 
will say that they cannot possibly carry 
out any such programme. I hope they 
can get Alfalfa started in some easier way. 
If they can they will beat me. and I cheer¬ 
fully admit it, for I have tried in various 
ways to get this useful crop started. There 
are some men who start a new crop in the 
neighborhood for some of the following 
reasons. They want to show some of 
these old farmers “how to do it.” They 
have made their brags about what they 
can do. They expect five or six tons of 
hay per acre without spending a dollar or 
an hour’s time more than they would in 
sowing fodder corn. I advise all such 
gentlemen to keep away from Alfalfa. 
Let the crop alone unless you ifre willing 
to put your hand in your pocket and 
spend something, unless you have the pa¬ 
tience of Job to stand up against hard 
humps, and unless you have the nerve 
to keep good matured when the neighbors 
poke fun at your folly! Why—after a 
few failures the neighbors will very likely 
have your wife and childten doubtful. 
Liang to it, however, and make the crop 
grow, and the whole farm will be a glow¬ 
ing argument to your courage. 
The Fruit. —In the latter part of April, 
when the bloom was at its best, the chil¬ 
dren counted 936 blooms on a small peach 
tree. The scale had nearly killed this 
tree and last Spring I cut it back to stubs. 
A new growth started and has made a 
vigorous head. Children, like some men, 
are enthusiastic. They fell to figuring. 
About 50 peaches will overflow a basket. 
This means 18 baskets on this one small 
tree. At $1.50 per basket we have $27! 
With 1,000 we have $27,000! Now. I have 
heard grown-up men figure in nearly the 
same way about ginseng, skunk farming, 
frog breeding, various patents and other 
things which seem plausible. To-day 
there are about 200 peaches on the tree, 
and there will be a further drop, so that 75 
good peaches will give the tree more than 
it ought to do. That is the way Nature 
does. A tree, a horse, a man, all start 
out with a wonderful surplus of energy 
and promise. It is never safe to estimate 
the performance of maturity by the great 
promise of youth. Experience and trou¬ 
ble come along, and shear ambition and 
power and health out of a man. and cut off 
the surplus with cruel hand. What a 
world we would have if a man, after such 
pruning, could make a new growth as a 
tree does. So we are not planning to go 
to Europe on the April promise of our 
peach crop, though the children will have 
plenty of fun in thinking about it. . . . 
The currants promise a good crop, though 
I am sorry to say that the scale has at¬ 
tacked them badly. They were sprayed 
last Fall, but it seems to be nearly impos¬ 
sible to cover the bushes completely. We 
are cutting out the worst stems. Between 
the currant bushes we have Marshall 
strawberries in hills while between the 
currant rows are planted melons, LIubbard 
sauash and sweet corn. We leave one or 
two stalks of corn between each two hills 
of melons and squash. It does not pay 
to plant in this way unless you are sure of 
an abundance of moisture and manure. 
We feel quite sure of a wet season, and 
the manure was crowded in to begin with. 
. . . One reason why some people sel¬ 
dom have good strawberries is because 
the average human doesn’t like to get 
down into the dirt. I don’t believe any 
man can produce the finest strawberries 
and stand up all the time There is some¬ 
thing about finger work down among the 
plants at the right time that beats any 
hoeing that ever was given. As for the 
benefit of a classical education in training 
men to persevere and concentrate their 
thoughts and energies it doesn’t compare 
with the situation we often meet at Hope 
Farm. The sun is broiling down upon 
your back, and there is no wind. You 
planted strawberries in unsuitable soil— 
hard-baked and stiff. You were going to 
show people how to do it, and so you set 
the plants in double rows 18 inches apart 
vv.’th no chance to work a cultivator be¬ 
tween ! The weeds are swarming, th- s soil 
is baking and vour onlv hope is to get 
down with a short-handled tool and do 
your duty. The dirt is on your knees, the 
sun on your back and the sweat all over. 
Then comes the voice of the tempter: 
“Come, old man. what are you doing here? 
Get to the shade. Let those berries rest. 
You may get a little finer fruit to pav for 
it, but unless von dig and pull all Sum¬ 
mer Nature will beat you in the end, and 
those who come after you will never 
know you toiled here ! Get out! Quit!” 
Now in order to raise the finest berries a 
man must have courage enough to keep on 
in spite of all this and stick to his job. 
In fact all farm operations prove that it 
is mind and courage that after all masters 
matter. 
Wasted Fertility. —A Vermont man 
puts this question after me: 
Do you know that on most old New Eng¬ 
land farms there is a large bed of fertilizer 
under the old stables? Two years ago I dug 
out an old stable and spread some on the 
meadow, five acres, 20 large loads. There 
is more than enough such on most farms to 
fertilize the meadows. 
Know it? I know it to my shame and 
sorrow. I regret to say that at one time 
we had auger holes in the barn floor to let 
the liquids drain away. There are many 
foolish operations on some farms, but that 
one heads the list. The liquids are the 
most valuable parts of the manure, and 
should always be saved. It is just like 
throwing dollar bills away to bore those 
holes. This practice is not confined to 
New England by any means. Fruit grow¬ 
ers in the East are willing to pay $70 a 
ton for nitrate of potash, and this chem¬ 
ical is made in just such deposits as we 
find under a barn. It rises to the top of 
those rich soils, and is scraped off. Dur¬ 
ing the war southern men that I know 
worked “nitre beds” which were piles of 
manure and soil. They obtained in this 
way nitrate of potash, which was used in 
making gunpowder. The rich stuff down 
under many an old barn would blow the 
mortgage off the farm if we could get it 
out and spread it, but the thing is not to 
let any more get under there. A good 
cement floor under manure is like a stout 
chain to hold the valuable nitrogen from 
running away._ H. w. c. 
Vermont Dairying. —leaving Waterbury I 
passed through Jonesville and Richmond to 
Williston. Vermont; this section is Winooski 
River valley, and reminded me of the valley 
of the Connecticut in Massachusetts, except 
for the absence of tobacco sheds, etc. Wil¬ 
liston is a famous dairy town. The farms 
which I saw were, I think, tlie nicest I have 
seen anywhere. Large, well-kept houses and 
immense dairy barns, and the herds of cows, 
many numbering from 00 to 100 animals, 
make, with the broad level fields, a very pic¬ 
ture of the dairyman’s paradise. The cows 
seen here are usually grade Short-horn or 
Holstein, very few Jerseys being noticed. I 
was told that the preference for other breeds 
than tlie Jersey is due to tlie belief of some 
of the leading farmers that the latter breed 
is more susceptible to tuberculosis than Hie 
larger breeds, several herds of Jerseys in 
this vicinity having been found diseased and 
slaughtered three years ago. l, c. i.. 
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