1907. 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
655 
Hope Farm Notes 
Farm Notes. —We finished the Alfalfa 
and Crimson clover seeding on August 
17. A local shower soaked the ground 
about three inches deep the night before, 
and this seemed to me just the occasion 
to take time by the forelock. We had 
already harrowed the field five times and 
crushed the clods with the stone boat 
once. First we went into the old Alfalfa 
field, and dug soil where the plants were 
green and thick. We dug about eight 
inches deep, throwing out the grass and 
weeds. This was scattered over the field 
very much as we would scatter fertilizer 
—about 400 pounds to the acre. Then I 
took the Cahoon broadcast seeder and 
put on the seed evenly—going over twice. 
When it was done I was ready to guar¬ 
antee that there wasn’t a two-inch square 
spot on that field without at least one 
seed. Then Merrill took Bob and a light 
spike-tooth harrow—the kind that Mr. 
Clark uses to put in grass seed—and cov¬ 
ered the seed. This one-horse tool was 
better for working among the trees than 
any two-horse implement. Now we con¬ 
clude that our part of the job has been 
done. Success with this Alfalfa means 
much to us, for if we can make it grow 
thick and strong I shall seed the entire 
hill with it, and carry out my scheme of 
irrigation. The hill has a sharp fall on 
both sides. I could drill a six-inch well 
at the highest point, put in a pump and 
engine, keep them working through the 
Summer and let the water run both ways. 
The hill is now covered with apple and 
peach trees. If I could get it well seeded 
to Alfalfa this water would. I believe, 
provide for both. Of course I have had 
these visions before now, and I don’t put 
any more money into them until I see 
something substantial. When I see this 
Alfalfa which we have just seeded doing 
70 per cent as well as some that we read 
about I shall begin to figure on my hill 
scheme. . . . We began shipping early 
apples August 6. The crop was large and 
has paid fairly well. When I began there 
were very few apples in the city, and 
windfalls brought a dollar or more per 
basket. I hustled home and picked up 
what we could, but before we could get 
them to market the price was down to 
40 cents, and the city seemed full of 
them. I mention this to show how 
ciuickly prices may change on a perish¬ 
able article. As a matter of fact, weekly 
quotations on such goods arc of very lit¬ 
tle value by the time they reach shippers. 
These early apples of ours are from an 
orchard near the barn, which we found 
on coming to the farm. The apples are 
mostly Nyack Pippin, Porter and a large 
sweet appple. The trees are the old- 
fashioned high heads, with the best fruit 
carried nearly 60 feet in the air. Owing 
to the way such trees grow it is nearly 
impossible to get the apples by hand. 
Some of the best have to be shaken down 
into blankets. Four children hold the 
blanket, while another climbs up and 
shakes the tree. They are going like 
cannon balls by the time they get to the 
ground. Those that hit the blanket are 
in good condition. Hope Farm has done 
forever with any more high heads. While 
these early apples are helping fill the 
purse they are also making our 11 pigs 
about as pursy as the law permits. Those 
worthy members of the Apple Consumers’ 
League are certainly making pork that 
will require no apple sauce. I never saw 
anything grow as they do. . . . Hav¬ 
ing cultivated the strawberries 10 times 
and pulled weeds three times, we are now 
prepared to set the runners where we 
want them. This, of course, cannot be 
done while the cultivators are running, 
for such working tears the runners out, 
and they root near the parent row. It is 
easy to place them now where you want 
them, which with us means about one 
foot apart all over a space 2>4 to three 
feet wide. This leaves a narrow path be¬ 
tween these spaces. No one knows until 
he has tried it how much work it means 
to clean out the weeds and keep the sur¬ 
plus runners cut off, but it pays to do it 
if you want big berries. Our plants 
never looked better than they do now. 
Home Notes. —Since I spoke of that 
suggested work cure people have been 
after me for reasons. What is the theory 
of such advice? Of course I was refer¬ 
ring to city people who work little in the 
sun. MV observation teaches me that 
most people of middle years eat far too 
much meat, take too little exercise, do not 
drink 10 per cent of the water they 
should, take too much medicine or alco¬ 
hol, worry too much and do not permit 
the body to become thoroughly tired. I 
like a combination of simple and stren¬ 
uous life—simple as to diet and habits 
and strenuous in the struggle to compel 
the mind to master the body and make it 
do physical labor out in the sun. I have 
no belief that playing golf, riding in an 
automobile or plain riding or walking 
can compare with useful labor right down 
in the dirt. To drink a large quantity 
of pure, cool water and then proceed to 
sweat it out seems to me one way to build 
up the body. Last year, when Merrill 
came here, he weighed 225 pounds. When 
he came back from the Winter course in 
agriculture he tipped at 190. Now we 
have him down to 157 pounds of solid 
bone and meat. Where is the rest of it? 
Well, old Jerry chased much of it off 
before the cultivator and plow. You will 
find some more in the hayfield and scat¬ 
tered through the corn and strawberries. 
We have unpacked his frame, but I be¬ 
lieve the same process would pack up 
another man’s trunk—if he needed it. But 
with most men I know I wouldn’t touch 
the job without a galvanized iron con¬ 
tract, or I should have to fight him twice 
a day to keep him at work. If he held 
out a week lie would need little urging. 
I mean just what I say about meat eat¬ 
ing. It is a perfect curse with some 
grown-up people that they think they 
must devour meat like an animal. Just 
now we can furnish potatoes, cabbage, 
tomatoes, sweet corn, peppers, beets, 
onions, turnips, lettuce, cabbage, three 
kinds of beans, squash, carrots, apples in 
all forms, blackberries and peaches. . . 
. . At last one Hope Farmer has won 
a prize on his looks and shape. Jack’s 
little Boston terrier Punch won two firsts 
and a second at the dog show, and thus 
established the Hope Farm record for 
personal appearance. The rest of us 
must look to behavior or brains if we 
are to win prizes, but we are glad to 
have one member in the beauty class 
anyway. 
Value of Plastering. — I find that peo¬ 
ple are getting what I call the fertilizer 
scent. They are studying up values of 
waste substances which were formerly 
thrown away. You will notice how many 
people think there must be great value in 
coal ashes. Others think hen manure 
must be just as valuable as Peruvian 
guano. Here is a Massachusetts man 
asking an old question which no doubt 
has often occurred to others: 
Will you tell me the value of plastering 
taken from an old building? If valuable how 
should it be applied? H. b. 
I have tried to answer this several 
times before. The value of any substance 
for fertilizing will depend upon the quan¬ 
tity of lime, nitrogen, potash and phos¬ 
phoric acid it contains. What is there in 
the plastering? Lime, sand and a little 
hair to hold it together. The hair con¬ 
tains a small amount of nitrogen. In 
damp situations old plastering forms small 
amounts of nitrate of lime. The lime in 
the chunks of plastering of course is not 
as valuable for fertilizing as powdered 
lime. You will see therefore that unless 
the plaster can be crushed or powdered 
it will have little value. If you had much 
of it you could keep it in boxes or barrels 
and pour liquid manures over it. It 
would absorb and hold them. We find 
the best use for it is to pile around young 
trees as we do coal ashes. This helps 
keep borers away, keeps the soil cool 
and does something in the way of fertiliz¬ 
ing. We would not pay much for the 
plastering. 
A Pansy Bed. —A Delaware girl wants 
to know about pansies: 
I am anxious to start a pansy bed this 
Pall, so as to have blossoms early in the 
Spring. Can you give me some information 
on this subject? L. w. 
All I can do is to tell what our chil¬ 
dren did. Last year at about this season 
we bought our pansy seed, and after spad¬ 
ing a good piece of ground we raked it 
fine and smooth. Just after a little shower 
the seed was put in very much like beet 
or turnip seed. The little plants came 
un slowly, and as soon as they could be 
distinguished we kept them clean with 
fingers and hoes. You will find it neces¬ 
sary to give them good culture and crowd 
them through the Fall. We did not put 
any mulch over them, but let the plants 
alone through the Winter. This year, 
however, we shall put a coat of fine man¬ 
ure on the ground between the rows and 
leave the plants uncovered. In the Spring 
as soon as the soil is fit we dig up the 
little plants and set them in very rich 
soil in rows one foot apart and four 
inches in the row. They grow rapidly 
and are ready to sell or transplant when 
the flowers appear. We have some of 
these plants still in bloom. As soon as 
the pansy plants were removed lettuce 
was set in their place and now that is 
gone celery is growing there. When that 
comes out rye will be seeded to plow 
under next Spring. H. w. C. 
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