1901 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
3o5 
Hope Farm Notes 
Home Notes. —I did not expect that 
Hope Farm would ever go into the 
Belgian hare business. Still life is full 
of unexpected things. The hoys started 
last Summer with a pair of hares. If we 
were to believe all we hear about these 
creatures we ought to have at least 50 
now, but truth compels me to say that we 
still have two. A neighbor’s dog killed 
two, and one doe killed eight of her little 
ones. For my part, 1 am rather glad 
there are no more. The boy, however, is 
sorry to have his visions of great wealth 
driven away. Belgian hares and ginseng 
seem to me pretty well mated. . . . 
1 regard the man who poses as very wise 
before his children as sure to have a fail. 
The children will catch him sooner or 
later. After posting themselves in the 
encyclopedia they come after you with 
some such question as “What is the popu¬ 
lation of China?” 1 know people who 
think their last chance to gain a reputa¬ 
tion for wisdom lies in laying down the 
law to children and inferiors. They arc 
like the man who built his house upon the 
sands. ... At this season we see the 
advantage of a hot-water heater. The 
weather is raw, but not cold. A gentle 
fire of wood keeps the pipes as warm as 
we need. With steam it would be neces¬ 
sary to have a hot fire in order to drive 
the heat all over the house. Our heating 
plant has given ns great satisfaction. As 
for light, 1 would like to have acetylene 
gas. There is a small brook running from 
our spring which might be used to turn 
a small water wheel. With this power it 
may be possible later to develop a smail 
electric plant. Most of these things are 
in the future—a good place for some of 
them, for it is a pleasure to grow up to 
them and see them develop. As 1 get 
older I see more and more the folly of 
toiling and scrimping to send our savings 
away for some one to manipulate for us. 
Let us invest more of it at home both 
indoors and in the soil. There are mighty 
few of us that have used all the tile our 
land needs, or all the fertilizer our crops 
could use, or who have the best outfit of 
tools or suitable buildings. . . . Our 
first plowing will be on the soil where the 
pansies are to be transplanted. You will 
remember that last August we sowed 
pansy seed in drills. There was a fair 
stand, and to my surprise the plants have 
come through the Winter thrifty and 
green. We have covered a patch of light 
soil thick with manure and as soon as pos¬ 
sible this will be plowed and smoothed. 
I hen the plants will be set in rows one 
foot apart, four inches in the row, and 
well cared for until they are large enough 
to sell. ... I am doing a number of 
things that I never expected to do. For 
example, I have been inclined to hoot at 
the idea of using chaff and seeds from 
the hay mow to seed down with, although 
many farmers do it. There is an orchard 
of high-headed apple trees near the barn 
that we use as a hog pasture. Last Fall 
the pigs rooted it pretty much all over 
and this Spring we are sowing some of 
this chaff right in the mud. As our hay 
is a good quality of Timothy and Red- 
top. with some clover, we expect a fair 
pasture seeding. Of course there will be 
some weeds, but the hogs know what to 
do with them. ... It looked at one 
time last week as if we would have a large 
family of orphans left on our hands. All 
hands went to church last Sunday and 
left the farm to run itself. Mrs. Cheshire 
and her family of seven fine children were 
happy when we left, but when we came 
hojne the poor mother lay with a leg 
broken or dislocated. It is a mystery 
how she did it. It would have been an 
object lesson for some women to have 
them sec how gently the poor suffering 
creature protected her little ones. I did 
tiot think at one time she conld recover 
or nurse the pigs, but we cared for her 
as best we could and she seems likely to 
get through. 
Words ! Words ! —I do not pretend to 
be much of a word carpenter, and the 
following questions are hardly in my line. 
Still, I am trying to interest the children 
in hunting out the origin and meaning 
of words: 
Can you fltlvp me the origin of the terms 
'haw - ' anil “gee" as applied to oxen or 
horses to designate left or right respectively? 
I doubt not that you can, give me (Ills In¬ 
formation, which I will appreciate very much. 
w. N. B. 
My understanding is that “gee” comes 
from an old German word jtt, or Italian 
gio, which is an interjection used to turn 
a driven animal to the left. “Haw” comes 
from German “hu” or French “hue,” to 
turn to the right. The words were for¬ 
merly used to designate which side of the 
yoke or team the driver walked on, as 
the near or off side. In this country haw 
is to the left and gee to the right. The 
general rule is that haw is toward the 
driver and gee away from him, and in the 
United States the driver usually walks on 
the left of the oxen. Go back to one of 
the hill towns in New England where 
oxen are still kept and you will be sur¬ 
prised to see how the cattle respond to 
“haw” and “gee.” Neither oxen nor 
driver care where the words came from, 
hut they certainly know where they lead to. 
Another man from Massachusetts comes 
forward with the following old-timer: 
(Jive plainly tho correct pronunciation of 
San JosA scale. I know how to snv It, or 
think I do, because I have Just been to tine 
fruit growers’ meeting, and then came home 
and studied the dictionary, hut there must 
he thousands who think It should lx. pro¬ 
nounced like (lie pot name for Josephine. 
The proper pronunciation is “ho-zay,” 
the accent on the last syllable. In Span¬ 
ish j is sounded like the sofl sound of h, 
while the accented e has the long sound 
of a. We have heard the name pro¬ 
nounced Josie by men who know all about 
killing the scale and who murder some 
millions of them every year. 
Oat II a v. — Every year we have many 
questions like the following: 
The writer has laken possession of a small 
farm on which there Is no meadow. lie 
desires to know If he can sow oats for hay 
suitable for a horse that, does light: driving. 
If so, kindly tell at what stage to cut It 
and how to cure. x. o. m. 
Ohio. 
You certainly can use oats in this 
way. We never let our oats make dry 
grain. Our plan is to cut the grain 
when the first heads will crush to milk 
between the fingers. Tt is a temptation 
to let the crop grow longer hut I do not 
think anything is gained by doing so. I 
doubt whether the plant takes up any 
more plant food from the soil after the 
head is well formed. More likely the 
head is developed at the expense of the 
stalk. If we wait too long the grain will 
be larger but the straw will not he eaten 
well. Tf we cut early enough the entire 
plant will be consumed. We cut the oats 
about as we do clover hay—largely in 
windrow or cock. The object in “curing” 
hay is to get the water out of it quickly. 
A large part of this water is evaporated 
through the leaves. I try, therefore, to 
keep these leaves from drying up quickly 
in the sun. When put in cocks or wind¬ 
rows the. leaves remain fresh and suck the 
water from the stems. 
Alfalfa Acjain. —People are starting 
early with their Alfalfa questions. Here 
is one from New Jersey: 
I am planning for Alfalfa after early 
potatoes. I would like your opinion of my 
plan. I propose to put. In with grain drill 
a mixture of about 1,0(10 pounds to the acre 
of muriate of potash and acid phosphate, too 
pounds of former to 800 of latter. My Idea 
Is that the potatoes will not take all of 
this, and there will be a fair amount left 
for the Alfalfa when the potatoes are off. 
I think the piece has a fair amount of 
nitrogen, bill after potatoes are up In good 
shaoe will sow broadcast about 100 pounds 
to acre of nitrate of soda. After potatoes 
are oil' will give a pood coat of barnyard 
manure, run over with Cutaway harrow, 
and follow host approved plan for Alfalfa. 
The question with me is, will the notash and 
aeld phosphate dissolve and leach down In soil 
while potatoes are growing so as not to have 
any on hand for Alfalfa at proper time? 
Do you think It best to lime If soil Is not 
add? F. M. c. 
My opinion is not worth much, and my 
Alfalfa seems even less valuable this 
Spring. The Timothy seems to have 
pretty well crowded it out. I should use 
lime after potato digging, even if the soil 
does not show the acid test. If 1 could 
get ft conveniently I should also use 200 
pounds per acre of soil taken from a suc¬ 
cessful Alfalfa field. If you keep those 
potatoes clean the soil will be in excellent 
condition for seeding, as the cultivating 
and digging will give it nearly as much 
working as Mr. Clark recommends. You 
need not fear that the potash and phos 
phoric acid will “dissolve and leach down.” 
While some nitrogen from nitrate of soda 
might be lost in that way the reverse 
would be true of potash and phosphoric 
acid. These elements form new combina¬ 
tions in the soil and are held there. While 
some potash is passed away in drainage 
water the great proportion of it remains 
in the soil and you are safe in applying 
enough for the potatoes and the Alfalfa at 
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