1908 . 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
853 
Hope Farm Notes 
Home Notes. —When the Youth’s Com¬ 
panion came the other night the boy made 
a run for it. There is a continued story 
now being published which keeps this boy 
alternating between high hope and low- 
down fear. He comes out to me at times 
to ask if I really think this girl will be 
able to hold the money! I haven’t read 
the full particulars, but I know from my 
own experience that holding money is not 
by any means a sure thing. But he got 
hold of that paper and soon forgot about 
his chores as the plot uncoiled a few 
links. 
“That's mean! That’s awful mean!” 
The boy probably included the editor, 
the publisher and the author in this state¬ 
ment. You would too at 14 and under 
similar circumstances. You were nearly 
through one page and looked ahead to see, 
as you thought, at least a column coming, 
which will surely tell what that girl is to 
do. You turn the page with a deep sigh 
of joy and find there are only half a 
dozen lines. The story stops just as the 
girl reaches out for that cash! T here 
will be seven long days before the truth 
can be known! And right then you hear 
Mother asking if the kitchen woodbox is 
full and the fresh water ready! T his 
“continued in our next’’ business is hard, 
and yet it is one of the things that make 
life worth living. The chapters of life 
confuse us and disgust us at times, but 
what a glorious thing it is to have faith 
in the author so that we can feel sure that 
in the end the worthy will be rewarded 
and the guilty get just what is due them! 
The boy has faith that this is so. Some 
35 years ago I was errand boy in a large 
publishing house. The author of this 
story was then a young man publishing 
his first books. I read them every one, 
and I know that the hero always came 
out on top. The harder his struggles and 
the greater his dangers, why the more ex¬ 
citing places there were to stop! I wish I 
had the boy’s faith on a larger scale! In 
the great story of life I could then come 
to the end of a chapter with philosophy, 
and look ahead to the next one as only 
another step toward the right ending! 
. . . It seems hard to realize that we 
are only six weeks from the shortest day 
of the year. Our Fall has been lovely 
thus far. I have rarely known more 
beautiful Autumn weather. We all get 
outdoors as much as possible. It is an 
excellent plan to put the baby out in the 
sun and air and let him sleep there, well 
wrapped up, of course. Night comes on 
early, but the Hope Farm people are not 
of the class that find it hard to “kill an 
evening.” I know' people in town and 
city to whom going to the theatre is so 
much a part of life that they would suf¬ 
fer if deprived of it. Our children have 
never been to a theatre, and I haven’t 
been inside one for 10 years. I should be 
sorry to have this become such a fixed 
habit of life that it would hurt us to 
throw it off. 
Farm Work. —The corn is all husked 
and the fodder under cover. We feed 
corn fodder once a day to all the stock. 
Before this we have held the fodder until 
January or later, but I believe it is best 
fed earlier before it becomes too dry. My 
experience is that when we feed dry fod¬ 
der it is well to give the horses a small 
handful of oil meal each day. That keeps 
them in good condition. We have one 
horse that was formerly very subject to 
colic. She rarely went three weeks with¬ 
out a serious attack. Nearly every change 
of feed brought it on. For the past six 
months she has been free from it, though 
she has been fed and handled just the 
same. We are feeding some ear corn each 
day. Philip tried the plan of soaking the 
ears in place of shelling. We find that 
the horses eat these soaked ears cob and 
all—something I have not noticed before. 
I have been told that dry corn and cob 
meal is bad for horses—how about this 
soaked cob? Will it hurt them? There 
have been no bad results yet, but I would 
like to hear from those who know. We 
are ready for Fall spraying. I use solu¬ 
ble oil in the Fall, as it seems to have 
been settled that the best time to use lime 
and sulphur is in the Spring, just before 
the buds open. During November we 
hope to put the oil at the rate of one 
part to 20 of water on all our trees. The 
larger ones will be sprayed with the gas 
sprayer, but it seems more economical to 
wipe off the smaller ones after they are 
pruned. To do this quickly we wear a 
rubber glove and carry a pail of the oil 
and water of the right strength. With 
a cloth dipped in the liquid it is a quick 
job to wipe off the tree. This is not equal 
to the fine mist blown on by the sprayer, 
but on little trees it is quickly done. After 
spraying the trees will all be mounded up 
by throwing several spadefuls of earth 
around the base. Thus far we have not 
found it necessary to use other protection 
for mice or rabbits. All our tools ex¬ 
cept the plow are safe in the shed. We 
shall do some more Fall plowing in No¬ 
vember. As the chicken houses are 
cleaned out the manure is carried to the 
strawberry patches and spread over the 
rows. This may be kept up until the 
mulch is put on. With us the berries 
will make best use of this manure. 
Killing Woodchucks. —Here we have 
trouble from West Virginia. 
Our apple orchard is located on a sloping 
hillside, broken by ledges of rock. These 
ronks furnish hiding places for numerous 
woodchucks, which gnaw our trees. Could- 
you give me a plan to protect these trees? 
J. H. L. 
Woodchucks have not bothered us much 
in this way. If they did I should try to 
both kill the “chucks” and protect the 
trees. We have had poor success in poi¬ 
soning or trapping the animals. Some 
one who is a good shot with a rifle and 
has time enough to do it could be on hand 
for them early in the morning or late in 
the afternoon, when they do most of their 
work. Very few farmers can afford to 
keep a hunter. Some people report fair 
success with the use of bisulphide of car¬ 
bon. A stone is wrapped in cotton and 
this soaked with the liquid. Then the 
stone is rolled down into the hole and the 
openings all closed. A boy with a small 
but brave dog will get many of the ani¬ 
mals. For protecting trees I know noth¬ 
ing better than a strip of fine wire cloth 
high enough to keep the woodchuck from 
the tree and slightly pushed into the 
ground; the edges are brought together 
and bent over so as to hold the wire 
around the tree. This is the most expen¬ 
sive way of protection. I have seen strips 
of wood and cornstalks tied around the 
tree. -If anyone knows a sure way of driv¬ 
ing off woodchucks I would like to learn 
about it. 
I have a large field which I use for rais¬ 
ing vegetables The soil is a sandy loam, 
and is not supposed to hold manure any too 
long, being of a porous nature. I wish to 
give it a good dressing of manure this Fall, 
and plow under in Spring. IIow much fertil¬ 
izing material shall I lose by this method 
of procedure, or will there be a loss other 
than that which may result from the por¬ 
osity of soil? g. f. w. 
About the only loss will be that from 
leaching or washing through the soil. 
This will depend much on the lay of the 
land and the quality of the manure. On 
a hillside or where there is a sharp slope 
the surface wash of water will be consid¬ 
erable and this will take some of the solu¬ 
ble plant food in the manure. Fresh ma¬ 
nure, especially cow manure, does not 
carry a large proportion of its plant food 
in a soluble form, and the loss from it 
would not be large. Where manure has 
been well rotted the nitrates (which are 
the most valuable part of manure) are 
made soluble, and if you spread this well- 
rotted stuff most of its value will be 
washed out. We cannot see why it is ab¬ 
solutely necessary to spread manure this 
Fall. We would leave it in piles through 
the Winter or keep it in a heap and 
spread in Spring. A gardener cannot af¬ 
ford to use fresh or unrotted manure. He 
ought to have it thoroughly rotted. Then 
it is as soluble and easy to lose as ferti¬ 
lizer. On a farm where general crops are 
grown the case is different. There fresh 
manure can be hauled out every day and 
spread on the sod of some level field, 
without much if any loss. We would not 
Fall-spread manure fit for garden crops. 
Winter in Florida. —Here is a letter 
from Delaware which is like many others: 
Having lived in Florida for a year or 
two, and knowing the conditions there, what 
do you think about the chances for a young 
farmer, single, to find employment there, 
from November 1 until March, with salary 
enough to pay his total expenses? In what 
section would he be most likely to find em¬ 
ployment? w. A. E. 
I have not lived in Florida, but have 
made three visits to the State in Fall and 
Winter. We have a small place there 
which, thus far, has not been very profit¬ 
able. I would not advise a man to go to 
Florida for the Winter unless he was 
willing to take part of his pay in fun and 
strange experiences. The work there is 
quite different from picking fruit or 
handling vegetables at the North. A be¬ 
ginner will not make large wages at 
picking oranges. Where our place is lo¬ 
cated I doubt if a man could get work 
enough to make a living, but at Tampa or 
Miami he might do well. Florida is not 
a good country for a poor man, though 
the cost of life there is low—for those 
who put up with that sort of life. It is 
a better place for the man with capital, 
though I think he could do better in some 
other parts of the country. The Winter 
climate of Florida is delightful, and to the 
man who is pinched or stung by the frost 
this is the chief reason why he should go 
to the State. h. w. c. 
FREE 
TRIAL 
WIZARD 
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Says s 
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home." 
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co-operation, and in ac¬ 
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we will send a magnificent Edison Phonograph, with large Floral 
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PRACTICALLY A GIFT 
If you wish to keep the outfit after giving it a thorough trial, 
you may do so, and pay for it at the rate of # 2.00 per month—only 
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All steel, made to last; wood gears also. Save high 
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UNTIL YOU INVESTIGATE 
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