1906. 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
587 
Hope Farm Notes 
A Happy Guest. —In my younger days 
I did some work as society editor on a 
country paper. In that business we learned 
the full use of adjectives. I once wrote a 
note about the visit of "the very beautiful 
and highly accomplished Miss Smith.” The 
chief editor was a profane man with an 
eye to business. He read my note and 
remarked “ Beautiful! As homely as a 
mud fence—but that will sell 15 copies of 
the paper!!” I was not a great success 
at that business, but if I were in it now 
I might write the following: 
“Mrs. Clara Cheshire, the well-bred and 
comely matron from Pennsylvania, with 
her highly interesting family, is occupying 
a cottage in the orchard of our esteemed 
townsman, the Hope Farm Man. Mrs. 
Cheshire expresses herself as delighted 
with our locality and cannot understand 
how it is possible to provide such ex¬ 
cellent accommodations at such a low fig¬ 
ure.” 
Mrs. Cheshire probably will not see the 
point until the bill is presented on the 
point of a knife at her throat about 
Thanksgiving time. I have no desire to 
disturb her mind, because good nature and 
contentment have much to do with the 
production of pork. The Cheshires are 
very happy. So would you be if you were 
a hog at liberty in a shady orchard, with 
a cool stream running through it, sweet 
apples falling, grass, clover and weeds in 
abundance, plenty of wood ashes, grubs to 
be rooted out with a free! nose and a fair 
amount of grain—to say nothing of swill. 
This is the easiest and cheapest way to 
make pork I ever heard of. The trees are 
helped also. There is a woven wire fence 
around the orchard, and five minutes a 
day does the work of caring for the pigs. 
In former years we found it necessary to 
carry water to the pigs, but this year we 
extended the fence, and thus included a 
little stream. One who has never tried 
this would be surprised to see how cheap¬ 
ly a ton of pork can be made in such an 
orchard. This sort of a Summer boarder 
pays well. It seems best for us to have 
the pigs come in March and sell them be¬ 
fore Christmas. With turnips or beets 
and clover or Alfalfa the sows can be 
wintered at small cost. I have never 
kept Cheshires before, but I like the way 
they are growing. 
Lively Days. —We finished the first 
round of haying on July 14. Later will 
come the Japanese millet, the Alfalfa and 
the cow peas, but now we have a little 
breathing spell for planting cabbage and 
buckwheat, sowing turnips and cleaning 
the crops. The last field to cut was what 
I call the Alabama orchard—a field of 
about 400 peach trees at the end of the 
farm. There isn’t much grass in it, most¬ 
ly daisies, but I observe that the horses 
like this flower, so we hauled two loads 
to the barn. I cut the strips along the 
trees with a scythe, and now Merrill will 
take the horse rake and gather all the 
scatterings, which will be piled around the 
trees—also the weeds and brush along the 
walls. All the orchards will be treated 
that way, and during August all the ma¬ 
nure, leaves and trash we can scrape up 
will be put around these trees. That is all 
the cultivation they will have. ... As 
I have stated, we plowed several acres 
among the young apple trees where the 
grass had run out. and planted corn. It 
is close by the woods. We put tar on 
the corn, and threw in plenty of seed. 
The result was in some places 8 or 10 
stalks to the hill. I ought to have greater 
faith, but somehow I am always afraid 
the tar will hurt the seed, and plant more 
than we need. Thinning out that corn 
was a job, but we got it done. We have 
kept the cultivators running through it, 
as we expect to seed to grass after or in 
the corn. I have faith in the Early Can¬ 
ada flint corn for late planting. I put 
some in on July 4, confident that it will 
mature ears on our hills. . . . Having 
had some trouble in getting our folks 
started in the morning, I was quite sur¬ 
prised to find them getting up before I 
did. It appears that the Sunday school is 
to have a picnic, and among other attrac¬ 
tions are to be racing and other contests. 
Jack is master of ceremonies, and our 
children are out for the prizes. They tear 
up the road with their practicing,_ so that 
we need a King drag to smooth it. 1 he 
boy claims that he can jump 11 feet, while 
the girls claim six feet as their record. 
I imagine Merrill will be the champion 
wrestler of his age. Efforts are being 
made to induce Mother to enter the ladies’ 
running race, but she declines. The Hope 
Farm man might agree to hoe corn with 
anyone of his age and size if the contest 
can be held in my cornfield. If there is 
to be a contest where people sit in the 
shade and tell what they did 20 years ago 
I might stand in for a prize. This makes 
me think that we are making a tennis 
court near the road in front of the new 
house. We dig ditches in the form of a 
cross at the center of the court and fill 
them nearly full of stones. This is for 
drainage. Then the ground is smoothed, 
made leve.l and pounded and packed with 
roller and maul. The children will do a 
large share of this work. What do you 
want such a thing for? Why, to play on, 
of course. I shall have this sign near by: 
“ BUSINESS HOURS BELONG TO 
THE BOSS!” 
but when work is done our folks will have 
lots of fun knocking those balls about. I 
shall be at it myself. Mother and I were 
good tennis players in our younger days. 
Whenever I am tempted to retire from 
exercise and join the ranks of the sitters, 
1 run upon some 350-pounder who scares 
me into extra exertion through fear that 
flesh will accumulate upon my frame! 
The Crows Again— Our genial friend. 
John Gould, of Ohio, sends a report of 
what he calls “Another Crowville Con¬ 
vention” : 
The convention that met at Crowville to 
denounce the Hope Farm man, certainly did a 
tine bit of resolution making, and besides 
cannot be accused of using ambiguous terms 
to disguise the real intent of the meeting. 
The inhabitants of our local Crowville re¬ 
cently met in a similar mass convention, to 
express their sentiments in regard to their 
treatment at Maple Crest Farm, following 
corn planting. From a shorthand transcript 
of the proceedings we made out something as 
follows : 
Resolved—in convention assembled, (hat we 
hereby return our most cawfull thanks to 
the Maple Crest Farm man for his thought¬ 
ful attention to our wants during the late 
corn planting season, and in return for the 
ears of corn he distributed about the corn¬ 
field. pledge our sacred honors that we never 
pulled a kernel of corn from his field. 'Hie 
only criticism we have to offer is, that in 
shelling the corn ears we had often to labor 
over hours without compensation, a matter we 
may have to report to the walking dejegate 
of our local order of “The Crows’ Union” 
for future action." 
The matter may be made clearer by saying 
that for several years we have fed the crows 
during the corn-pulling time, by scattering 
a few ears of corn at a time in the 
field. The crows immediately commence 
picking the kernels off and carrying them 
away, and burying them, leaving them 
to soften, when they pull them up. if 
the actions of a tame crow are any guide 
in guessing what a wild crow does with 
shelled corn. Since adopting this plan 
several years ago we have had very little, if 
any corn pulled, and all of our fields are 
within the corporation limits of a large crow 
village. Possiblv I throw out a half bushel 
of corn ears at the different times in a season. 
This year I am trying an experiment to got 
the crows to help me in subduing the horn- 
fly pest. I am feeding the cows each a small 
ear of corn daily, and it seems if every crow 
is on duty looking over the pasture for fresh 
droppings for the undigested corn, and inci¬ 
dentally the manure is scattered so well, that 
it quickly dries up. and is of no use as a fly 
incubator: and I am thinking that this little 
amount of corn does the cows some good, as 
food ; is certainly prized bv them as a relish, 
and seeminglv diminishes the fly pest; in fact 
I think I get pay for the small amount of 
nubbins fed. John gould. 
That may be better than my tar for 
aught I know, and it seems to gain the 
good will of the crows. It surely beats a 
“scarecrow.” Our children fourfd a crow’s 
nest in a barrel put up to “scare” black 
citizens. These crows evidently think more 
of Brother Gould than they do of.me— 
but he must remember what the Scripture 
intimates is the condition of a man when 
all speak well of him! 
“Human Nature.” —This is what you 
get by marking out a straight line which 
is too narrow for your wandering feet: 
I am attracted to your article in Hope 
Farm Notes, page 523, on strawberries, and 
especially to that part, “President was the 
berry,” etc., and continuing to the end of the 
paragraph. Here you say that you have 
turned from better berries to a “Ben Davis" 
strawberry for the money there is in it! You 
raise the better quality of berries for your¬ 
self. and the poorer ones, because they are 
large, sliowv and more fruitful, even though 
thev ship poorly, for your marketing! Shades 
of John D.! Please do not say another word 
against Ben Davis or Kieffer pears. I am 
more and more convinced that “us humans” 
are nearly alike in this respect, the only dif¬ 
ference being in the ratio that horse thieves 
are to chicken thieves: a sin to raise and to 
sell Ben Davis, but no harm in the same 
practice in the strawberry world. Your 
friend, and a friend of Ben Davis, too. 
EARL PETERS. 
It does not seem possible that Brother 
Peters ever grew the President straw¬ 
berry. It cannot fairly be compared with 
the Ben Davis apple. T should class it 
in quality with a good Baldwin, while 
Marshall ranks with Northern Spy or 
Grimes Golden. As we grow President, 
it is larger and handsomer than Marshall 1 
not so good as a shipper, and lower in fla¬ 
vor, but three or four times as productive. 
Two objections to Marshall are its very 
light yield and inability to stand drought. 
These drawbacks have driven it out of 
market cultivation except in some favored 
sections. I raise the Baldwin apple, not 
because it is the highest flavored fruit, 
but because it suits our soil and condi¬ 
tions. That is also why I am planting 
President strawberry. Our folks prefer 
Marshall, but no box of Hope Farm Presi¬ 
dents will drive a strawberry customer 
away from the fruit. This statement can 
hardly be said of Ben Davis. I know that 
while these Ben Davis fellows deal in 
a pretty tough apple their feelings regard¬ 
ing the “ethics” of the business are pretty 
tender. However, I am not disposed to 
criticise our friend’s estimate of the un¬ 
happy streak in poor human nature. 1 
never robbed a hen roost or stole a horse, 
yet I am quite well aware that if some of 
my mental inclinations to do things had 
really been carried out into practice I 
would probably be behind the bars—in 
company with a large majority of adult 
citizens! My observation leads me to 
agree with Mr. Peters that our concep¬ 
tion of sin is largely modified by our point 
of view. This point is based on bringing 
up, environment and both personal and 
pocketbook influences! I would give peo¬ 
ple a wider range of deviltry than he does, 
and put it in thought rather than in ac¬ 
tion. The inclination to do mischief runs 
all the way from the man who hides be¬ 
hind a tree and puts a charge of shot into 
a neighbor to the man who gets up in the 
morning and kills the children’s dog or 
cat when caught in some little mischief. 
I can understand how one inclination 
grows from another. 
Injustice. —All of which calls up an¬ 
other matter. I have had my say about 
postmasters and other public officials. 
Now here is the other side: 
I have great faith in The R. N.-Y., and I 
like to feel that if you see it in The It. N.-Y. 
it’s so. Pardon me therefore if I attempt to 
correct a gross 1 misrepresentation published in 
your paper a while ago. I refer to “The 
surly postmaster” matter which was printed 
in Hope Farm Notes, and which called forth 
comments from several different subscribers. 
As there is but one Brandon. Vt., in the 
county, and only one postmaster in that 
town and as his name can easily be obtained 
by everyone who wishes to look him up, it 
is easy to see that the attack is personal. 
I have lived in Brandon, Vt., 40 years. I 
have known the postmaster all his life. I 
also know the gentleman who lives “half a 
mile from the road.” I have had dealings 
with several postmasters in different parts 
of the country, and I have found them 
courteous gentlemen, but of them all I have 
met none so genial as the good-natured offi¬ 
cial at Brandon. There are several thou¬ 
sand citizens who get their mail at Brandon. 
You have the opinion of the abused farmer 
and also mine. Would it not be a good 
idea to hear from a more representative 
number? If Mr. G. will meet me at the Bran¬ 
don post office at any time convenient to him¬ 
self, and when met if he will show me five 
patrons of the Brandon office who will say 
that the postmaster is not a pleasant, accom¬ 
modating official, I will present five people 
a year’s subscription to The R. N.-Y. Mr. 
G. has evidently got the postmaster mixed 
with some R. F. I). man with whom he has 
had a difference. I have long been an ad¬ 
mirer of the homely philosopher of Hope 
Farm, and I regret that he should publish 
anything so unfair to a good man. Tilling 
the soil does not make a man infallible, 
neither is a clean collar a badge of insol¬ 
ence. F. II. G. 
Rutland, Vt. 
That’s right! This “homely philoso¬ 
pher” (well named as to appearance) can¬ 
not afford to do injustice to anyone. It 
would be a source of lifelong regret to 
me if I felt that I had held an honest and 
worthy man up to injury or ridicule. It 
is clearly the business of the other man 
to come forward with his five names. We 
can use them on The R. N.-Y. list, but 
we don’t want them at the expense of any 
honest man’s- reputation. I am obliged to 
F. H. G. for what he says. This old world 
would be a better place to live in if we all 
had such just and loyal friends. 
Seeding to Grass in Corn. —There are 
some cases where we cannot get the corn 
off early enough, or where there is no 
chance to fit the ground. Here is a bit 
of experience from Connecticut: 
A year ago I had a plot of about Iwo 
acres of ground on which corn was growing 
that I wished to seed to grass, so that it 
could l)e mown this season. The ground 
was mellow, free from weeds, and the culture 
had been level. How to do it with economy 
of labor and leave it so the mowing machine 
would run smoothly over it when the stones 
and stubble were removed this season, was a 
subject of some thought, but I finally adopt¬ 
ed the following plan. Having an old liorse- 
rake that time had side-tracked, leaving a 
sound head eight feet long with all the 
teeth in working order, runners were made 
of two short pieces of plank wide enough 
to raise the rake-head above the corn, and 
bolted underneath, far enough apart to let 
two rows of corn pass between (rows were 
3 V> feet each way). Then a pair of old 
cultivator handles widened the better to con¬ 
trol the motion of the rake, were firmly bolted 
to it. Then teeth which would draw through 
the hills of corn on either side were raised, 
and held up by a light: strip of board laid 
across the handles. Thus the work was 
well done, eight feet at a time, and the 
ground left as smooth as any witli the roller 
left out. I do not put this forward as the 
only or best plan for such a job, but it may 
tit the needs of some who want to make 
use of implements that otherwise might be 
valueless, and are right at hand. 
c. G. perry. 
T have used an old hayrake for much 
the same purpose, though a weeder is 
better. The chief trouble I have found 
when seeding in the corn is that the cul¬ 
tivators hilled too much and thus made 
ridges. We should also be careful to 
cut the stalks close to the ground. I am 
thinking of seeding about two. acres in 
the standing corn. I can do it quicker 
and easier in this way, yet I know it will 
not be as well done or as permanent as 
it will be if I take off the corn crop and 
fit the ground properly. You see many 
1 of us have a fair idea of the way things 
I ought to be done. The spirit is all right, 
abut the flesh—both of horse and human— 
II is weak, and with a dozen jobs all call- 
Pling at once. H - W. c. 
WHAT DO YOU SAY? 
Several hundred thousand farmers say that 
the best investment they ever made was 
•when they bought an 
Electric Ha Wagon 
Low wheels, wide tires; easy work, light draft. 
We’ll sell you a set of the best steel wheels 
made for your old wagon. Spoke united with 
hub, guaranteed not to break nor work loose. 
Send for our catalogue and save money. 
ELECTRIC WHEELCO.. Box 88.Quincy,III. 
STEEL 
WHEELS 
with wide tires double the use¬ 
fulness of the farm wagon. 
We furnish them any size to 
fit any axle. Cheaper than re¬ 
pairing old wheels. Catalogue/ree. 
EMPIRE MFG. CO., BoxTOa, Quincy. Ill. 
The WAGON to BUY. 
Properly con 
strneted. Saves labor, annoy 
ance ami expense of repairs. 
STEEL WHEELS 
Your address on a postal will bring you free catalog. 
The Geneva Metal Wheel Co., 
(7 ^ - ■**•-*- 
^ \ § o 
WE LEAD THE WORLD 
, We are the largest manufac¬ 
turers of Grooved and Plain 
Tire Steel Farm Wagon 
Wheels in America. Wa 
guarantee our patent 
Grooved Tire Wheels to 
be the best made by anybody 
anywhere. Write us. 
HAVANA METAL WHEEL CO. 
BOX II HAVANA, ILL. 
pi »g ■ Save and bind the 
tLf If A 3 hefiCnAHC straw in neatbun- 
llwt? I lllv«llvl W dies and clean the 
# grain perlectly. 
400 bu a day Small power required. Also Manure 
Spreaders, Silos, Horse and Dog Powers, Cutters. Catalogfree 
HARDER MFC. CO., Box 11, COBLESKILL, N. Y.. 
Tons 
HAY 
In Ten Hours 
We can prove it. 
Ask for free 
catalogue. 
Columbia 
Baler. 
Anti Arbor Machine Co. 
Box 04, Ann Arbor, Mich. 
The Baler for speed. Bales 12 to 18 tons a day. 
Has 40 inch feed hole. Adapted to bank barn 
work. Stands up to its work—no digging holes 
for wheels, Self*feed Attachment increases 
capacity, lessens labor, makes better bales and 
does not increase draft. Send for catalogue. 
Sandwich Mfg. Co., 157 Main St., Sandwich, Ills. 
Eli” 
Hay 
HORSE and BELT 
POWER. 
38 styles and sizes of 
Presses. 
For many years the stand¬ 
ard. Lead in character 
of work, speed, easy 
and safe operating 
Don’t buy until 
see tlie Eli catalogue. 
Mailed free. Write 
for it today. 
COLLINS PLOW CO., 1111 
HORSE POWERS 
THRASHERS Wood 
and CLEANERS Saws 
One& two-horse Thrashing Outfits. Level PUTTCRO 
Tread, Perfect Governor, Feed & Ensilage UU I I Lilt) 
Write for catalogue 
ELLIS KEYSTONE AGR’L WORKS, Pottstown, Pa. 
