iw. . THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
r n(J .« \Tw4-z\c* cream. We find a modest sum of money acre of air-slaked lime on the furrows, 
nOpC rdlill lNUlCo in the business, while the cream and sugar harrowing it well in. In that way I think 
-— -part is played to the limit. Some wise the “old wife” would drop her sourness 
scientific man is now out with the solemn and become so sweet that the crops would 
statement that strawberries are injurious, jump like a man trying to please his bride. 
Another Fake Story. —I received the 
following from a friend in Massachusetts : 
Farm Notes. —That rain I mentioned 
last week kept on in showers until lues- 
day night. Little harm was done, and it 
put the soil in fair shape for planting cab¬ 
bage. The hay lay out through it, but we 
gave it the best care we knew how, and it 
will all be eaten. With strawberry picking 
corn cultivating, haying, cabbage planting, 
hoeing and plowing grain stubble for fod¬ 
der corn all pushing at once, there is no 
time to write poetry or play baseball. It 
requires some nice judgment at this season 
to steer things so that all work will get its 
fair share. We get plenty of sleep, eat all 
the fruit we can, drink an abundance of 
cold water, try to keep good-natured and 
think each day’s work out in advance. 1 
try to write out each day’s job in the 
morning, so that each one of us will know 
what is to be done. It is a good plan to 
have a slate or a blackboard hanging in 
the barn where the day’s programme can 
be “chalked up” for all to see. During 
the busy season I try to run the mower 
half a day and haul in hay the other half. 
The extra horse is kept on the cultivator as 
much as possible, and when the day’s 
picking is over, all hands know what to 
do with the hoes. 
Fourth of July was a lively day at Hope 
Farm. We had much on hand, and we 
were glad to see the sun bright and shin¬ 
ing. There was a patriotic meeting in the 
forenoon managed by the local Grange. 
The Hope Farm man was to play the part 
of “orator of the day,” but most people 
are able to size up a prophet at short 
range, and the four children were the only 
Hope Farmers who cared to hear this ora¬ 
tion. We drove over to the hall while 
Merrill and Philip shook up the hay and 
Jack and Henry did light chores. The 
patriots came home with two quarts of ice 
cream, which, with four quarts of straw¬ 
berries and a peck of ‘green peas, made a 
comfortable dinner. We sent a little con¬ 
tribution of cherries, strawberries and 
cream to a sick neighbor. There were or¬ 
ders for some 50 quarts of berries, so 
after the children had let off a few fire¬ 
crackers we adjourned to the berry field. 
Old Jerry is a safe Fourth of July horse, 
and the little boys started off to deliver 
the berries as soon as we had them picked. 
Then Merrill and I hitched Bob and Nel¬ 
lie to the wagon and hauled in a mam¬ 
moth load of Alfalfa. The little girls 
rode down on the load, and it was a thrill¬ 
ing experience to drive under the apple 
trees in the lane, for you had to burrow 
down into the hay to keep from being 
brushed off. There being a few more 
hours before night. I got out my hoe and 
imagined that the weeds in the strawber¬ 
ries were a regiment of Hessians, such as 
used to march through this country.. As 
evening fell the little girl and 1 picked 
four boxes of berries for supper. Nothing 
of ordinary rank suited us. We scoured 
the field for dark red Marshalls, not one 
less than an inch and a half through. The 
boys came home well satisfied with their 
trip. They had collected over six dollars 
and had a load of orders on their book. 
Then we settled up. One boy takes 10 per 
cent of cash sales and the other 5 per cent. 
One little girl got 10 cents for hoeing a 
row of berries, while the other got a dime 
for making a strawberry short cake. I 
believe it a wise thing to give the children 
a financial interest in the farm work. Peo¬ 
ple may say what they will about the 
money value of service, but when we see 
our labor turned into cash and know that 
is all we are to get, the money side of life 
helps the moral side. Our children became 
quite careless about their clothing—shoes 
and stockings disappeared like smoke. Fin¬ 
ally Mother laid down the rule that when 
these things were lost through evident 
carelessness they must be replaced out of 
the child’s own funds. After some little 
enforcement of this rule shoes and stock¬ 
ings held out like “the woman’s cruse of 
oil.” After surrounding those strawber¬ 
ries and what was left of the peas our 
folks cooled off on the porch. At. least 
the elder members did. while the children 
saluted the evening with fire crackers. As 
night came on the rockets began to shoot 
up from the little towns below us, and 
now and then a paper balloon went sailing 
over the ridge. That was our signal, and 
we all journeyed to the top of our hill. 
There T spread a blanket on the grass and 
Mother and I rested while the children 
sent their supply of fireworks flaming into 
space. We certainly let .the people realize 
that Hope Farm was alive. Oh, it was a 
great day, with patriotism, pleasant labor 
and honest fun made into a good sand¬ 
wich. 
Strawberry Culture.— There are peo¬ 
ple who, in books and articles write so 
pleasantly about strawberry growing that 
you must believe that It is just picking up 
money while you sit and eat sugar and 
He says they make people ugly and mo¬ 
rose. If I could have him here I would 
work him in the sun half a day and then 
give him a quart of Marshalls well layered 
in sugar and swimming in thick cream 
I enclose a clipping from a newspaper. If 
the statement Is true it is interesting to 
every farmer who has very large rocks to 
Morose! He would feel so gay after eat- move. I suspect that the whole story is 
ing them that he would feel like standing Eave^rnE^R * ^.-TL^give its opinion on the 
on his head. We find some fun in the subject for the benefit of its readers. “A 
business and a large amount of sweat and Dane at Fertile, Minn., recently proved to a 
. .. ,,,, i • • n crowd of doubters that it is possible to blast 
toil. When the berries are ripening all at ^ stone without explosives. He blasted two 
once and pickers are scarce, rain threatens big bowlders in the presence of the skeptics, 
and every other job on the farm is calling. «{f e vi “ c ^^ he e “£ simpiT amf highly 
the nervous man with a weak heart action j nteres ting. A stick of burning wood is laid 
ought to quit the business' of raising big on the stone where it is intended to have it 
berries The big berries shown on the first blasted, and this is then suiioundod on. u 
perries, i ne Dig oernes snown on uic m sl jd an the t0)) 1)y several more pieces 
page are not our largest. We sell many of wood t0 cl . ea . te a draught. Inside of half 
boxes just as large as these. It is, course, an hour the stone will crack in two as even 
easy to pick such bi; ones, but they bruise as if cut with a knife. it. l. ii. 
easily, and do not ship as well as the I believe this ranks with the old classics 
smaller ones. The big Presidents are about boring a hole in a stump or feeding 
softer than those of medium size, but the a pumpkin on milk and raising a ball of 
large Marshalls are usually firm and solid, butter inside the pumpkin. There may be 
These big fellows are best for a local a Dane at Fertile, but there is also some 
trade, where you can deliver without pack- man with a fertile imagination who does 
ing in crates. We mound up the boxes not disdain to draw the long bow. It may 
and deliver mostly in trays—a single layer be possible to crack some kinds of flat, 
of boxes. When we are obliged to use so ft rock. We had two of them as a rest 
crates for these big ones I put pieces of for one big iron kettle, and the heat of 
wood about an inch thick between the the fire cracked them. To say that one 
layers. This separates them, and we can can crack granite bowlders in this way is 
round up the boxes without crushing. Of a ltogether too good to be true. Scripture 
course, in this way we can only get 24 says, “Take heed how ye hear!” It is 
boxes in a bushel crate, but for retail de- better to apply the principles of common 
livery it gives a better appearance. We sense to such things. Such treatment will 
are very much pleased with this year’s usually blast them as this fire is supposed 
experience with Wm. Belt. It will do to to blast the rocks. H. w. c. 
go with Marshall and President in our big 
berry collection, besides being a good one 
to fertilize President. I want no more 
Excelsiors, and we cut out Glen Mary. If 
we have the true variety the tip stays hard 
and green too long to suit our trade. Long 
before picking is over the Spring-set 
plants demand hoeing. There is a streak 
through the center of the field where crab 
grass and redweed come in like an armv 
bent on destruction, and every hoe on the 
farm must be drawn in defense. I notice 
that at one end of the field where we 
broadcast turnips last year and plowed the 
remains under this Spring there are few 
weeds, while the soil is mellow as need 
be. My friend the turnip is a good one 
for the soil. 
559 
When you write advertisers mention Thu 
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Oats for Mulch.—A woman in Indiana 
■sends this advice: 
Oats is the stuff to sow in your straw¬ 
berry patch for mulch. We tried it a few 
years ago, and It was a success and we are 
going to try it again this year. Keep your 
Strawberry patch well cultivated and clean 
up to the middle of August; then sow your 
oats and sow them pretty thick. The late 
runners will not take root in the oats, and 
when freezing weather comes the oats will 
all fall down, and then you have just as nice 
a mulch as you could wish for. If you 
want the oats all to lie one way, just go 
over the patch with a drag, and there you 
have it. mbs. j. u. 
I have heard of that before, but I con¬ 
fess that some experts frightened me 
away from it. They said it was a mistake 
to sow anything in the field. You should 
have nothing but berries there—they say. 
It seems like a sensible plan, and I think 
T will try it on part of the field. You 
will see that my faith is a little small after 
talking to those experts. Can any prac¬ 
tical man tell me what actual objection 
there can be to the oats? I don’t want j 
any “plant out of place” in my strawberry 
field. We work hard enough as it is to 
keep the weeds out. Why not barley or 
Winter oats? 
“The Old Wife.”— Some years ago a 
farmer in the South asked a question 
about as follows: 
What can I do to overcome the disease 
known as the old wifet It has ruined part 
of my corn! 
This was too much for me. I asked a 
dozen scientific men what they made out 
of “old wife,” but every one dodged it. 
One said he might tell if he could see one 
of the plants, but when it came be could 
only look wise and say the trouble was 
due “to an evident lack of power to as¬ 
similate nutriment!” It seems that he was 
right, though his wisdom was unavailable! 
Not long since I received the following 
note from Virginia; 
I have a piece of land that grows what we 
call sheep sorrel or sour grass, and hardly 
anything else will grow on it. If put in conn 
or‘wheat it turns white about in spots and 
falls down ; looks to l>e a kind of blight. _ I 
would like to know what is best to do with 
it. The farmers in this section call this 
disease the old wife. w. J. b. 
Now there you have it made clear. T 
do not see that the name is very appropri¬ 
ate for the effects, of a sour soil, but no 
one cares to criticize a local name. 1 hat 
land is sour. It can no more nourish 
crops than a sour stomach can nourish a 
man, or a sour, bitter mind can nourish 
the germs of good nature and good citi¬ 
zenship. The soil may be reasonably 
strong in plant food, but crops will not 
thrive on it until it is made sweet. I would 
plow that land and put 3,000 pounds per 
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