1M«. 
947 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
Hope Farm Notes 
“Out West.” —I write this on a train 
passing through western Illinois. This 
is a long way from home, but I am glad 
to be here, so that I can see just what 
this rich western country is like. I am 
bound west of the Mississippi into the 
home of the Ben Davis apple, and there 
may be exciting times ahead! We shall 
know about that later; just now we are 
in a rich corn belt, and I wish I could 
make our eastern people realize how 
strong and productive this soil is. As we 
left Chicago and really got into the corn 
lands I began to see here and there great 
patches of black on the landscape. It 
looked to me just as if farmers had 
burned over stubble fields. That is what 
I should have said at the East, but I 
found as we came nearer to them that 
these black patches were simply plowed 
land. Instead of turning up in various 
shades of brown this soil shows a black 
as dark as a polished shoe. I was told 
that there was practically no bottom to 
this rich land. When wells are dug the 
soil thrown out at the bottom will after 
a year’s exposure grow tremendous crops 
of corn. If we had this soil at the East 
we could bag it and come close to selling 
it as fertilizer. I saw one man plowing 
this black land with five horses on a 
sulky plow, and they kept nearly at a 
trot that would have astonished Bob and 
Jerry. 
The natural wealth of this country is 
almost beyond belief to one who comes 
straight from light eastern soil that has 
been cultivated 150 years or more. Still 
what Nature does for these Western 
farmers seems to be partly neutralized by 
society! A farmer tells me of growing 
90 bushels of shelled corn per acre on 
this black soil. He is obliged to sell it 
for less than 35 cents a bushel. Corn 
with us will bring 70 cents or more, and 
with GO bushels we can afford to use $5 
worth of fertilizer per acre, and still be 
ahead of them, while the stalks are worth 
twice as much to us. Much of this land 
is worth $100 per acre. A farmer can 
go to South Jersey or Delaware and buy 
land for $50 or less, and by using chemi¬ 
cal fertilizers and crops like Crimson 
clover or cow peas average within 10 
bushels as much corn as this black land 
will produce, and sell it for nearly twice 
as much. These are things which the 
Western man fails to realize at times 
and it is hard to get him to believe such 
statements. Yet, so great is the vast 
toll demanded by middlemen who handle 
and carry that the old land near the 
market may still compete with the strong 
land at a distance. If the western 
farmers were surrounded by the influences 
which invite us to spend money and pay 
cash for what we ought to produce they 
would be worse off than we are. Another 
thing about this rich soil seems to be the 
awful roads. This rich, black sticky soil 
seems anxious to get away, for it climbs 
on the wagon wheels as I never saw 
brown mud do. There is little or nothing 
in the way of sand and gravel—at least 
in sight of the railroad. This fat country 
would be better off if there were streaks 
of thin lean soil running through it suit¬ 
able for road making. If I had my three 
miles of stone wall out here I could retire 
with a fortune. But the roads do seem 
awful at this season. I have seen no 
western country horse going at a trot 
except when the ground was frozen. They 
toil through the mud at a slow walk— 
while our gravel and stone would make 
these roads hard and firm. Now J know 
that it is never fair to judge a country 
from a car window. It is also easy to 
find fault when you start out well satis¬ 
fied that “there’s no place like home.” As 
I get out back from the railroad and 
meet people at home I shall know more 
about it, and I shall try to tell it all. 
Defeated- Candidates. — This letter 
shows how readers are interested in the 
Hope Farm man’s political aspirations: 
I would like to know if the Hope Farm 
man Is still running or has he stopped run¬ 
ning for Congress, and can you sympathize 
with our friend Wadsworth? You must know 
how he feels to get defeated. Did the 
Madame try to console you by telling you to 
never mind, you might be President some 
day, or did she tell you she was giad of it 
and that your place was at home attending 
to Hope Farm and its products? c. e. h. 
I didn’t seem to run—I walked. My 
total campaign expenses were 45 cents. 
There was only one person in the district 
who really thought I would be elected— 
that was my little daughter. The little 
bovs doubted it. I lost no sleep over this 
failure to secure the right to put “Hon.” 
in front of my name. Let’s see if I 
can leave the word behind me. Mother 
takes very little interest in politics. Once 
she wanted me to vote for a certain 
candidate, and used strong language. In 
effe t she said that if I did not vote for 
him she would feel tempted to go to the 
polls and try to vote in my place, on the 
ground that I was mentally incapable of 
doing a citizen’s full duty! No, we all 
realise that we haven’t any massive politi¬ 
cal timber at Hope Farm, and lightning 
will not strike the kind of a rod we put 
up. I don’t know how Mr. Wadsworth 
feels, as he has not written me a letter 
of sympathy, but I try to be a philoso¬ 
pher and remember that there is more fun 
and greater usefulness in acting as high 
private in the rear rank. 
Corn and Cob for Horses. —This is the 
first reply I have had to my question: 
You ask regarding corn-and-cob meal for 
horses. We fed it for a time with no evil 
results, but gave it up because we could see 
no advantage in it. Several of our horses 
have for years had the habit of eating their 
corn, cob and all. and I never noticed any 
difference between them and those that left 
the cob. 
Our horses continue to eat the soaked 
corn, cob and all, and no trouble has re¬ 
sulted thus far. I worked for a man once 
who was very sure that cob meal killed 
two horses. He said there were little 
sharp plates left unground by the mills, 
and that they caused irritation. I have 
never believed in feeding clear cornmeal 
to a horse. I would rather feed the whole 
grain or mix the meal with chopped hay. 
Stones for Mulch.— I have been ex¬ 
pecting this question which comes from a 
man in Pennsylvania: 
Fallowing up the mulching discussion with 
the closest interest, I noticed Mr. Hale's re¬ 
mark that he had to haul away so many 
stones from some of his rough ground. Sev¬ 
eral years ago I read of a man who piled 
stones about his trees, both to dispose of 
them and for a mulch. I have tried this 
wi • very evident advantage. Fertilizer can 
be dropped upon the stones, or just under 
the top ones, for the rains to wash down. 
Will you give your opinion of this method? 
w. G. N. 
My experience is that a pile of stones 
around a tree will act much like a mulch 
of straw or hay. The stones keep the soil 
moist and cool—the most vigorous trees 
I have grow alongside the stone walls. 
The objection to the stones is that they 
make a hiding place for vermin, in some 
cases being very bad. I am going to try 
the plan on one block of 100 apple trees. 
I want to reseed the ground, which is 
very stony. My plan is to pick the stones 
and pile them around the trees—not close 
up, but leaving a foot or so clear. I have 
no doubt the trees will make a fair 
growth, but it will be necessary to protect 
them with wire cloth. 
Drilling Japanese Millet. —Here is a 
suggestion which may prove very profit¬ 
able to me: 
Have you ever raised any Japanese mil¬ 
let? If you have not, next Spring after you 
cut off your rye and oats for hay use put 
in a little Japanese millet—you will find it 
the greatest crop that you ever raised. It 
wants strong, rich soil, and wants to be put 
in as early as possible, and do not, under any 
circumstances, let anybody persuade you to 
put it in broadcast—it must be put in in 
drills so that you can cultivate it once or 
twice to kill out the weeds, and then it will 
take care of itself. I have tried Japanese 
millet this Summer for green food and also 
for hay. and I am very much pleased with 
it. Next season I shall put in a big pile of 
it. The books tell us that it is a well-bal¬ 
anced cow ration, that is, you do not need 
any grain for a cow when fed Japanese mil¬ 
let. Next Spring I am going to put in enough 
so that I can have a mow of. it to use as dry 
feed with m.v silage. I think it would pay 
you to try this. c. m. j. 
We have raised three crops of Japanese 
millet, getting a large amount of forage 
each time. We have always broadcast the 
seed, but if the drill plan will work it will 
be much better for me. This year I lost 
my chance to seed Alfalfa because we 
broadcast the cow peas. The cold season 
gave the weeds a chance to take posses¬ 
sion. Had I drilled the seed and used the 
cultivator I could have fitted for Alfalfa, 
but the cow peas did not make growth 
enough to pay. Now if I can drill the 
millet and give good culture I can get a 
"ood crop of forage by August, keep the 
ground clean and be in good coudition 
for Alfalfa seeding. This seems like a 
good game. h. w. c. 
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I 
