1906. 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
491 
Hope Farm Notes 
“The Strenuous Life/’ —The following 
extract from a note from an old friend 
in Connecticut will serve as a text for 
various reflections: 
Several years ago, while contemplating 
spending a part o£ the cold season with a 
relative in Lee County. Fla., 1 took_ out a 
with a load of produce. There seems to 
be little u$e in a man’s trying to make 
a living on a farm unless he is willing to 
get up and dust, and unless his family 
will help him. Nothing suits me better on 
Sunday afternoon than to sit on my stone 
wall at the top of the hill and watch the 
valley. It seems to me a good thing to 
call up fancies and memories at such a 
time, but on week days, when the weeds 
are crowding into the strawberries and 
the growing season is here it is high time 
for action. As a man gets along in years 
he is likely to take one of two views of 
life. At any rate he will know he hasn t 
accomplished much, and he will either 
feel inclined to quit and nay that there is 
no use rushing now, or else he will 
10-weeks’ subscription for The R. N.-\. in 
the name of my friend, to be sent to lnm, 
so that l might still see it while there. 
Since, in one of my friend's Summer 
visits north he told me that he was still 
taking the paper, for while it was not 
adapted to his locality and products, it was 
very interesting reading, particularly the 
“Hope Farm Notes." That seems a wide¬ 
spread opinion. The President has_ had 
much to say in favor of a “strenuous" life, 
and here it seems to l>e found. Setting out 
strawberry plants two hours before breakfast, 
doing all manner of duties during the mid- 
clay hours, and during the last rays of light 
which fall on the western slope of his hills, 
punching with a crowbar among the Alfalfa 
roots which have grown clear through from 
the east side, to find a place to set out fruit 
trees. We used to be told “Go to the ant 
thou sluggard." but times have changed, and 
now it should be—“Don't get languid, Vesu¬ 
vius, but wake up and get a move on you!” 
Then too. he belongs to tlie “Apple Con¬ 
sumers’ League,” and finds time to eat 
three to five apples per dav. And right here 
—what opening on the ground floor is there 
for us old fellows whose mouths have been 
explored bv the dentist to “find the greatest 
common divisor,” so many times, that there 
is no machinery left to grind and press an 
apple with, riease “mav I go out" and get 
some cider? Surely the freshly expressed 
juice of an apple Is much the same, whatever 
the means of getting it out. But the trou- 
b'e lies in the fact that the habitual eider 
drinker acquires a taste for sour cider, and 
old hard cider is the devil in solution. Now 
there would be some satisfaction in seeing w , . t . > t , t 
this Hope Farm Man in h's muddy boots. \\ lien you got hot and sw.aty i wouiu 
i easier, but 1 like to see the weak ones 
have a chance. In April we planted 500 
President strawberry plants, as we 
thought about right. We want them for 
fruiting next year, and also for making 
as many strong plants for Fall planting 
as it will be safe to take. All the blossoms 
have been pinched off, and every weed 
pulled out. The soil around these plants 
has been kept open and loose. I hey are 
beginning to pay for this trouble, and 
we expect a great array of plants. Never 
before have we realized the importance 
of thorough culture of all crops, and 
something will be seriously wrong with 
the week in which we do not cultivate 
our strawberries and true* at least once. 
The Alaska peas were in bloom 
pluno-e in a little harder to try to bring June t. The vines are larger than usual, 
up his average. I take the latter view, for the soil is richer and cultivation 
and that is one of the reasons why I has been better. Now we are ready for 
prefer to get out and hoe strawberries 
rather than sit in t'he shade and talk 
about it. As I do not hear well anyw".v 
talking is not much in my line, and so I 
like to demonstrate what a person can 
really accomplish with useful labor in 
the time which might be given to useless 
talk. It is a part of the philosophy of 
the deaf to argue that most people talk 
too much anyway, and that they make 
on the whole very little real use of their 
ears. Tf some of you gentlemen think 
a fellow is justified at nvddle life in sit¬ 
ting down to grow fat and soft while 
the sweet corn crop. This is planted by 
putting a line midway between the rows 
of peas and planting sweet corn in hills 
about three feet apart. The pea vines 
do not greatly interfere with the corn, 
but, of course, the pickers must be care¬ 
ful, and not step on the hills. After 
picking is done the vines are pulled, and 
cultivation begun for the corn. We might 
do better than this if we wanted to, by 
planting the corn four feet apart, with a 
hill of squash or pumpkins between each 
two hills of corn. Those who try this, 
however, must remember that it will sure- 
others do the work I have no criticism jy fail unless the most ^horough culture 
to make, but I would like to get you down 
into the dirt weeding strawberries, and 
have you look ahead to the glory of a 
clean field—a monument to your labor 
holding the plow, and know that he is not a 
phantom. 
As to whether the Hope Farm man is 
a “phantom”—the children might perhaps 
be called good judges. They could have 
given testimony on June 1. We finished 
planting corn just after dinner. Then we 
tackled the potatoes. These were planted 
in hills on the old Alfalfa field, and they 
were full of grass, plantain and Alfalfa. 
T put one of the little gfrls on Jerry’s 
back and the other on Nellie’s. Jerry 
take you to the spring. As you slowly 
absorbed a quart of that pure water you 
would say it beat anv liquor .you. ever 
tasted. We would spend a little time in the 
shade watching the clouds sail over the 
sky and the shadows crawl across the 
woods and fields. Then we would go 
back and kill weeds. 'When the bell rang 
we would go to the house, cool off. and 
sit down to asparagus just out of the 
ground, peas fresh from the vine, new 
potatoes, strawberries, rhubarb pie. bread 
hauled the heavy cultivator up and down and butter and meat for those who want 
the long rows with Merrill hanging to 't- We would also try you on boiled 
the handles. At 17 years Merrill weighs covv peas. With the appetite the weec s 
about 225 pounds, and as Jerry has a had given you it would be necessai y.. o 
is given. . . .1 think I nave spoken of 
the French eggs which came from Paris. 
A friend of ours bought several sittings 
of Faverolles, and also some large eggs 
which he found in the Paris market. 
They made the long journey by steamer 
and were carried about in this side until it 
seemed doubtful to me that they could 
ever hatch. We put them under faithful 
hens, and now they are coming out. One 
hen has 15 of these little Frenchmen, and 
there may be others. The chicks are most¬ 
ly white, with a little fluff of feathers 
around the chin—somewhat like a short 
beard. A few of them are dark colored. 
We shall watch these birds with inter¬ 
est, but if we were betting people we 
would still put our property on the Rhode 
Island Reds. h. w. c. 
good walk there was no stopping to view 
the scenery for Merrill. The boy had the 
light cultivator. Nellie combines laziness 
and nervousness to a high degree but the 
little girl kept her fairly well inside the 
rows. While the children did this culti 
lift you up and carry you from the table. 
You could take a nap under the tree 
after dinner if need be and then, at it 
again. At night you would take a bath 
and crawl into bed to sleep as no drug 
ever hilled a man to repose. Oh sav! 
vating the Hope Farm man hoed. These I can I tell you how sorry I am fin those 
potatoes were planted a little too shallow, unfortunates who never know the real 
so we pull some earth to them and hill J°Y of labor to whom physical wor is 
up somewhat. With this outfit we turned only drudgery! The little girl showee 
that grassy place into a well-tilled fieh’. me her hands the other night, linn 
and Merrill at least was willing to call were two big blisters on the t.itirnbs mac e 
it a strenuous day! When night came by the broom udien she tred to help 
all hands had a story of labor to tell. Mother sweep. That sort of a hand is 
Essie had put in a full day ironing, wnile fai r to see - 
Philip had been planting corn and hoeing. Farm Notes. —The cow peas are sprout- 
Mother had been obliged! to go away to ; ng ; n t p e orchard. As all know who 
see Uncle Ed, who is lying very sick ever saw them, cow p.’as start just like 
at a friend’s house on Long Island. She 
could not come home at night, but the 
rest of us had our simple supper of cod¬ 
fish and cream, cornbread, milk and rhu¬ 
barb sauce, and we all made up in quan¬ 
tity what we lacked in variety. Then 
.there were dishes to be washed, a few 
stories to be told, a bath all round and a 
sleep that was .more strenuous than the 
day’s work. 
“I shall be as stiff as a board to¬ 
morrow,” said Merrill—but he wasn’t. 
Young joints are full of rubber, and after 
a sleep in which there were no harrowing 
dreams he was ready for another day! 
I know that whenever I speak of work¬ 
ing the children in this way a number of 
wise people shake their heads and say 
“too bad—I am so sorry for those poor 
children!” They don’t need to be sorry 
—the children are not. They are brought 
up to do their little share of labor for the 
home, and they are paid in cash for jobs 
like this cultivating. I have seen all sorts 
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beans—lifting the seed completely out of 
the ground. The warm weather we are 
having now will push the peas along. 
They are more idle than honey-bees in 
damp, cold weather. A reader in Sara¬ 
toga County. N. Y.. wants to know if 
it will pay him to sow cow peas there 
on warm, sandy land. That is pretty far 
north. This is a southern crop, and re¬ 
quires hot weather to make its growth. 
I should consider it an experiment—most 
likely ordinary field beans, broadcast, 
would do about as well as the cow peas. 
Tf I tried them at all I would sow Early 
Black, Black-Eye, New Era or Warren’s 
Early. More or less is said about eating 
cow peas. We serve them boiled with 
pork. They have a rank taste, not so 
agreeable as beans, but our folks, are 
fond of them. . . . The Alfalfa is all 
right except that a quantity of dock has 
grown up with it. It had not bloomed 
by June 1, but we are watching it care¬ 
fully, as we want to cut .it at the right 
of men and conditions, and I know that time. We are now finding patches or 
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far more people are hurt by youthful 
idleness than by labor. On Decoration 
Day a package containing 1.000 pepper 
plants came by express. Philip had gone 
for the day, and so the children and I 
got those plants into the ground. After 
the last one was planted T played ball 
with the little folks for a while. It could 
not be called a scientific game. Tt was 
necessary to have a new ground rule 
“over the fence out.” This was a sort of 
protective tariff in favor of the short stop, 
who had to do all the chasing. 
We try to keep busy, but I feel a little 
ashamed to be held up as an example of 
the “strenuous life” when thousands of 
farmers and gardeners put in longer and 
harder days than I do. I accept it as 
much the same “poetic license” which 
prompts our friend to say that the Al¬ 
falfa roots dig clean through the hill! 
I have a neighbor who is a dairyman. 
Long before six o’clock T see his boys 
starting out to deliver milk. Others are 
up long before daylight and off to market 
clumps of Alfalfa on the bill among the 
trees. Four years ago wc seeded in the 
Spring to Alfalfa in beardless barley. We 
thought it had all died out. and the 
ground was plowed and seeded to grass. 
Some of the Alfalfa lived in spite of 
all, and is quite thick in several places. 
All such things encourage me to try 
harder to obtain a good stand on at 
least five acres. . . . T am putting in 
most of my own time just now trying to 
coax along some backward strawberry 
plants. They were set out last November 
—too late to put their roots down as 
they should. Many were thrown out dur¬ 
ing the Winter, while others were very 
feeble when Spring came. We have cul¬ 
tivated them five times already, and hoed 
them three times and they show their 
appreciation. There are many vacant 
places, but I think we can push them on 
so as to make a respectable showing after 
all. I would much rattier try to bring 
up the weak in this way than to kill them 
and start with stronger prants. The latter 
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