190 ?. 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
345 
Hope Farm Notes 
More About Chemicals. —The man 
who wrote about mixing chemicals on 
page 325 comes back as follows: 
The fertilizer question is indeed a “much 
vexed question.” I have studied it for a 
number of years, so as to be able to tell my 
customers which brands would give them best 
results for their field or crop, and have been 
successful generally, but ! find that there are 
many things that I am not certain of. Ai 
least two of my customers who have been 
buying chemicals, and using them as they 
need, have told me that (hey should buy the 
mixed goods in future because they cannot 
mix them properly. Unless the farmer under¬ 
stands that nitrate of soda or muriate of 
potash is very concentrated he is apt to burn 
his plants, and that same tiling is often done 
with the high-grade mixed goods. Manufac¬ 
turers mixing goods do not put more plant 
food into the goods, but do make that same 
plant food more readily available. Take 
South Carolina rock. The phosphoric acid is 
there, but the treating to oil of vitriol makes 
a per cent of it soluble, according as to how 
thoroughly it is treated. I am now watching 
to find out what effect the liquids in stable 
manure have on that same ground rock and 
basic slag. I have for several years advised 
farmers to buy chemicals and do their own 
mixing, but am not so sure that it is best, as 
so many injure the crop by not understanding 
their power to injure. I have this year sold 
four tons of kainit, but a principal objection 
to it is that it cannot be used in a grain 
drill, but must be sown by hand. That is 
true of nitrate of soda and muriate of pot¬ 
ash, one great objection to the chemicals, as* 
you may see. j. d. s. 
This is all sensible. It is a job to mix 
sticky chemicals like acid phosphate, ni¬ 
trate or muriate of potash, unless we use 
a “filler” like plaster. Where ground 
bone is used to supply phosphoric acid 
the mixture will drill better. But why 
mix two elements like potash and phos¬ 
phoric acid together? The only answer 
1 know of is this fact, that most farmers 
want to use the grain or fertilizer drill 
for applying chemicals. We spread them 
broadcast by hand or in our machine, 
which whirls them out near the ground. 
When acid phosphate and potash arc used 
to “balance” manure why not put them 
with the manure itself and spread all to¬ 
gether? The acid phosphate can be used 
to good advantage in the gutters back of 
the stock as the manure is thrown out 
into a pile the potash can be scattered 
over it so that when it is spread and 
plowed under you have much the same 
thing as a dressing of fertilizer. I said 
that manufacturers add nothing to low- 
grade goods by mixing. You spoke of a 
32-5 mixture, or one containing 240 pounds 
of phosphoric acid and 100 of potash. 
That could be made by mixing 1,600 
pounds acid phosphate and 200 muriate 
of potash and 200 pounds of plaster, but 
the mere putting of these things together 
would not give any extra value to the 
mixture. I can understand how by re¬ 
mixing, regrinding and producing a chem¬ 
ical action a manufacturer might greatly 
improve a mixture of several chemicals, 
which could be called “high-grade.” 
The Picture Habit.— Here we have 
the comment of a Michigan man: 
Do the farmers down East milk left- 
handed? I see in your paper that the farmer 
sits on the wrong side of the cow in the 
picture. Was it a “Hope Farm” man that 
milked that cow? Please explain, it worries 
me. s. a. 
No—that was not my picture. When 
we milk our cows we get on the right side 
or stand for some hard kicking. 1 am 
willing to respect the good habits of a 
cow. If I might venture an opinion I 
should say that the milker in that picture 
is a victim of the “picture taking” habit. 
Some of the most sensible people in the 
world piake themselves ridiculous when 
they stand up to have their pictures taken. 
A benevolent citizen in his efforts to “look 
pleasant,” will as likely as not, look like 
a highwayman. You will see a man 
standing in the most loving attitude be¬ 
side his wife when they haven’t had a 
pleasant word for weeks. You may get a 
photograph of a woman standing with her 
children with a “these are my jewels” 
air when 15 minutes before the picture 
was taken she had them out behind the 
shed with a shingle. Tt is a fair infer¬ 
ence that our dairy friend got on the 
wrong side of the cow in his desire to 
show himself. The cow realized the situ¬ 
ation and respected it. I would suggest 
to people of middle life that they resist 
the picture-taking habit. 
Clover for Potatoes.— Here is one that 
has often puzzled me: 
One question r would like to ask. Does it 
pay to plow down Crimson clover for pota- 
10<?S ? \\r # 
I answer such questions from my own 
position. It would depend upon the con¬ 
dition of the soil and the amount of fod¬ 
der I had on hand. This Spring I am 
a little^ short, and I would cut and cure 
the Crimson clover, plowing under the 
stubble. As a general proposition Crim¬ 
son clover is about the best green manure 
I know of—certainly better than anything 
I have had except cow peas. It decays 
rapidly and gives up its plant food at 
once. Owing to its peculiar habit of 
growth it is easily plowed under. I 
would as soon have a crop of Crimson 
clover plowed under as eight loads of 
stable manure per acre. The potato crop 
is very responsive to green manuring. An 
acid condition of the soil helps reduce the 
growth of scab. The potato loves a soil 
packed with humus, since it hoicks water 
well and keeps the soil from baking. I 
have heard farmers object that when a 
heavy green crop was plowed under there 
were two troubles: the soil dried out too 
fast and the heavy sod makes hard work 
for planting tools. The first objection 
can be overcome by packing the sod hard 
with a roller after turning it under. I 
have found the other objection more seri¬ 
ous. and would prefer to plant corn or 
cabbage on a sod. 
All Sorts. —After much trouble and 
work we succeeded in spraying the oil 
on all our orchards except one of old 
high-headed trees near the barn. We 
started with 16 to 1, hut as the buds de¬ 
veloped we made the proportion 20. 
Wind, cold and rain all tried to hold us 
up, but the boys stayed l’y it and finally 
oiled the trees. We never did a more 
thorough job, but the cost mav well make 
one thoughtful. We tried the new 
“Friend” nozzle. It is well named. The 
spray is blown out in a cloud, and on out- 
smaller trees one nozzle, did the work 
thoroughly. The liquid is blown through 
this nozzle with a curve and a twist that 
appears to make the particles so tired of 
co-operation that they separate as far 
apart as possible. At a little distance you 
would think the sprayer was puffing out 
smoke. I feel very sure fhat the oil has 
killed every scale we have hit with it. 
Will it hurt the tree? I do not think so, 
but of course we shall know later. Does 
it have any effect to kill Peach curl or 
other diseases? T consider it doubtful, 
but I am trying this year a new combina¬ 
tion which may do it This is a mixture 
of oil and carbolic acid—the latter, as we 
know, being death to germs Let us see 
what comes from it. . . Cold weather 
set in just as we were ready to do great 
things with early vegetables. We had 
plowed but little during the first week in 
April, and hardly begun to transplant 
strawberries. The pansy plants are all in 
place. They wintered better than I ex¬ 
pected, and are large and healthy thus far. 
Now we shall see if there is any sale for 
them. ... As usual the crab apples 
are first to show life. They throw out 
young leaves while other apple trees are 
making up their minds to wake up. Cherry 
comes close behind them, and peach buds 
are white and ready to burst. The straw¬ 
berries are fighting their way up through 
the mulch. Spring never seemed to me 
more hopeful and full of vigorous life 
than right now. The best of all to me is 
that field of strawberries that jve saved 
last year. It was set out very late in the 
Fall—too late to root properly, and the 
mulch matted down over the little plants 
and nearly smothered them. It was a 
sorry outfit in the Spring. Our folks 
thought it would be better to let this 
ragged and feeble regiment go—plow up 
the field. I said I would try to rally the 
falterers and I do not like to tell how 
much time I spent on my knees weeding 
and training. Now you ought to see the 
field. Perhaps the same work would have 
paid better with a new and fresh field, 
but what would this world be if we all 
killed off the weaklings, cultivate^ the 
strong and did nothing out of sympathy. 
In ancient days Sparta did that, and not 
only failed at last, but never handed down 
to history permanent things which should 
live. ... I get a good many letters 
from people who ask if we will sell hatch¬ 
ing eggs, strawberry plants and other 
things. I would not guarantee the R. I. 
Reds to breed true. This breed “splits 
up” more or less, and while some of our 
birds are good, I do not feel like trust¬ 
ing them yet. As for White Wyandottes 
I have one flock that we are proud of. 
It would be hard to find handsomer spec¬ 
imens. As for strawberry plants we can 
swear that our Presidents come from Mr. 
Hunt and that Hope Farm has not cor¬ 
rupted thetp. Still, I have nothing for 
sale, because I do not think it would be 
a “square deal” for advertisers in The 
R. N.-Y. if we were to offer the same class 
of goods which they want to sell. I 
will take no back seat on the Wyandottes, 
but other folks have just as good plants 
and better “Reds” than we have, and I 
would advise a buyer to go to some hon¬ 
est advertiser. Some people write me that 
they would like to have something 
that came from Hope Farm. The 
children and the Wyandottes might prove 
a credit to us, but they are not for sale! 
I would like, however, to dispose of the 
colt! • h. w. c. 
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