1900. 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
683 
Hope Farm Notes 
Down in Maine. —The Hope Farm man 
spent a couple of days in Maine in the 
middle of August. It was interesting to 
compare the citizens and the crops "down 
Fast" with those found in our section. In 
Androscoggin Co., - some 12 miles north¬ 
east of Auburn, Turner Grange has a fine 
hall, which was crowded that hot after¬ 
noon with line-looking people. 1 was told 
that this Grange covers a territory five to 
nine miles across, and it is history-making 
territory too, as the following statement 
will show: 
This is purely an agricultural community, 
but t lie most important crop is not agri¬ 
cultural but distinguished men. Two miles 
from the Grange hall on a farm was raised 
lion. Eugene Hale. L. S. Senator. Four miles 
away was raised Timothy O. Howe, also be¬ 
came Senator front Wisconsin, and also a 
member of Grant's Cabinet. Six miles away 
in Buckfield was raised lion. John D. Long. 
Secretary of the Navy, who sent the dis¬ 
patch to Admiral Dewey to find and sink 
the Spanish fleet at Manila. Gen. O. O. 
Howard, who commanded tIre Union Army at 
Gettysburg the first day after Gen. Reynolds 
was shot: Hon. E. B. Washburn, Secretary of 
State and Minister to France under Grant : 
Senator W. I). Washburn, of Minnesota: C. 
C. Washburn, Governor of Wisconsin, were 
all raised within a radius of 10 miles from 
Turner Grange in a population not exceeding 
. null. And we are now raising a supply of 
boys to meet any future demand in this line. 
This is surely a record to he proud of, 
and the best of it is that there are more 
great men to follow. Some farm sections 
raise a good crop of citizens, and then 
stand ready to go to seed, but here is one 
with a new crop coming on which prom¬ 
ises to use the human plant food of expe¬ 
rience and character which the former 
crop leaves behind. Named above arc 
some who have had large places in Na¬ 
tional affairs. In every churchyard we 
passed were little weatherbeaten Hags 
which marked the graves of those who in 
humbler places did their duty. 
Grange Work. — The 560 members 
of Turner Grange evidently make a power 
for good in that community. It seemed 
to me like one big family. There was 
good feeling and an evident air of pros¬ 
perity and contentment, such as one can 
seldom find in a rural community now¬ 
adays. Here seemed to be a fairer dis¬ 
tribution of wealth than we have in our 
country, and surely a more equal dis¬ 
tribution of happiness. It does seem to 
me that if we could get a dozen such or¬ 
ganizations in New Jersey we could come 
close to changing the history of the State. 
If ever a State needed to have its history 
changed so as to have the must and the 
mold turned to the sun that State is New 
Jersey. 
Why then do you not organize and keep 
up such Granges? Because the whole 
spirit of society near great towns and 
cities seems to be opposed to such frater¬ 
nal feeling. In Maine farming is the chief 
business, and it is respected and honored 
as such. When a man’s treasure is in 
the land his heart will be there too. The 
necessities and comforts for the home and 
the inspiration and culture as well must 
come out of the land. In such a section 
just as farming is the main business so 
the Grange provides entertainment and 
gives expression to the best of rural hopes 
and desires. Turner Grange, like many 
others, is like a great human magnet— 
drawing from all over that territory those 
who have talent of one sort or another. 
The natural students and speakers, the 
musical and literary people, the master¬ 
ful people with a talent for education, for 
organization of for compelling self-denial 
for a worthy cause are all drawn to the 
Grange, since it offers the best opportunity 
for testing their powers. Thus, sifting 
out the strong and those of kindred mind, 
the Grange has been ab’e to develop a 
culture and power of its own. It is not 
copied after any town or city society, but 
homemade, and suited to the needs of its 
people. This is why I have long felt that 
at its best, as organized in such places as 
this one in Maine, the.Grange is the most 
hopeful organization in the country. In 
the very nature of the case, it cannot hope 
to do so well under the shadow of a great 
town or city. It is hard to stand up 
against social competition. It is a very 
extraordinary farmer who can keep up 
the true spirit of farming while constantly 
thinking how the tide rolling out from flic 
town is raising the price of his property. 
Such communities as this one in Maine, 
where they are raising a good crop of 
children, and also a crop of the old-fash¬ 
ioned homely farm character, are doing 
more for the Nation than some cities of 
fifty times their population that pile up 
millions of money in banks. 
Farm Crops. —Yet there must be other 
crops hack of these, and I was curious to 
see what they were. In the country 
around Turner the chief money crops 
seem to be sweet corn, milk, apples and 
potatoes. The sweet corn goes to the can¬ 
ning factories—the sta'ks being fed to the 
cows. Tt is too far north, I understand, 
to mature Evergreen corn, varieties of 
about the season qf Crosby being used. 
To my eye the stalks in this latitude are 
shorter and more “stocky" than ours, and 
I should say that the quality is higher. 
I saw a few fields of field corn to be cut 
for grain, and many acres of silage corn. 
The latter was making a fine growth, 
promising to equal crops in our country 
for size, though the ears would not ma¬ 
ture. Every farm has a field of potatoes 
which, one year with another are profit¬ 
able. The apple crop in this section is 
good, the quality of the fruit being extra. 
I fully believe that some day sections of 
Maine will ship and handle apples much 
as they do in Oregon and Washington. 
Maine has the fruit, and some of those 
boys they are raising to go out and shape 
national affairs will stay at home and 
change apples into gold. I could find no 
scale on any of the trees I examined, and 
the Maine growers do not realize what a 
blessing that is. A large proportion of 
these farms it left in grass and pasture— 
from five to 10 per cent only being plowed. 
Possibly it is due to the dry weather, 
but I do not think weeds grow as vigor¬ 
ously as they do with us. There are 
many silos, and the care given to the 
Maine cow is pretty near good enough 
to use as a model. Another crop much 
in evidence at this season is the tourist 
or Summer boarder crop. During the 
Summer thousands of people pour into 
the State for a vacation. They spend 
money freely, though probably not much 
of it gets directly into the hands of 
farmers. I did not get the idea that this 
troubles the Maine farmer half as much 
as it would our Jerseymen. There was 
a general air of contentment among those 
1 talked with, and I do not think the 
struggle for life and a living worries 
them as it would if they were nearer a 
big city. I have been told of a case 
where a lazy man in a Maine town was 
sent with his family to the poorhouse. 
A wagon came and carried the children, 
while the man rode on his own bicycle. 
I do not know of any other State where, 
even the paupers are so prosperous that 
they own bicycles. I understand that 
the farm population in that part of Maine 
is not increasing. The farms are all oc¬ 
cupied, but the families average smaller 
—in spite of that crop of boys which is 
coming up. The Winters must be long 
and cold, but the Summers are delight¬ 
ful. I could be well contented in such 
a locality, and it seems to me that Maine 
offers to-day a better chance to farmers 
than any other New England State. I 
have said that everyone seemed content¬ 
ed and happy. I have no doubt, how¬ 
ever. that if I could stay there long 
enough to take some of those men by 
the arm and walk them off where confi¬ 
dence could come out I should find that 
there are troubles of heart and pocket, 
dreams and longings, unsatisfied ambi¬ 
tions and doubts—as there are in our own 
homes. I am glad, however, that there is 
also the power to rise above them. 
Farm Notes. —We are still turning that 
cow pea hay. Just as we get it in what 
seems to he nice shape there comes an¬ 
other shower to wet it. We shall keep 
turning it until the weather turns with 
it. While we are struggling with the 
hay the cow pea stubble is attending to 
business. At every joint the stems are 
sending out new leaves. In some parts 
of the field the ground is quite well 
covered already. We will let them grow 
awhile and perhaps turn the pigs in be¬ 
fore seeding rye. ... I well know 
that pride goetli before a fall and so I 
do not exactly take pride in any crops. 
I am well pleased though with the corn, 
the potatoes and the strawberries. The 
potatoes are the best we have ever had. 
We have been digging the Irish Cohhlers, 
and find no rot, but a hillful of good fat 
tubers. This variety suits us well. 
What made the crop do so well? It may 
have been the Alfalfa sod and the eight 
harrowings before the seed was planted, 
or the 10 cultivatings—or the season. 
They might all put in a claim, but I 
thing all helped. The best of our trees 
have made a most satisfactory growth. 
The Learning corn on that drained field 
is fine. I should not feel afraid to match 
it for actual grain and stalk with anyone. 
Some of the human crop also have satis¬ 
factory storieg to tell. For example, the 
little four-year-old boy has earned 26 
cents at pulling weeds, and Merrill has 
worked off 29 pounds! On the other 
hand we have some things that do not 
wear the mantle of pride. Weeds? We 
have a lot of them. We have kept the 
strawberries clean, but some other parts 
of the garden are awful! Early in the 
Spring we bought two expensive trios of 
poultry—one Columbian Wyandottes and 
the other R. I. Reds. We tried to set 
eVery egg of fair shape. The result is 
perhaps 20 Reds and not a single Colum¬ 
bian chick. The rooster and one hen 
died, and not a chick has lived. That 
means an expensive 0. I do not think it 
pays to buy trios or small pens to start 
with. Better put the money in eggs. 
H. W. C. 
1 *v-v. 
tiMfo-... . 
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