1 Ml. 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER,. 
891 
Hope Farm Notes 
There has been a lively run of ques¬ 
tions and comments of late. To-day there 
is a flood of rain changing to sleet. With 
the corn and cabbage still mostly outside 
it is not the most cheerful thing to dis¬ 
cuss our own farm prospects. Of course 
the silo men will be telling how we would 
feel if that corn had been cut into a silo 
two months ago. As we are situated we 
think we have better use of the dry stalks 
and grain—though there is little dryness 
about them just now. But here is a man 
from New Jersey with a proposition: 
I can buy from a local hay press rye chaff 
at $1 a ton. Will it pay me to cart this 
2Vi miles and put in barnyard for manure? 
I have only two cows. The quantity that 
I would get would probably be 100 tons a 
year (dry material). IIow best can I turn 
this chaff into manure? Would it be a good 
idea to turn hogs in on this? Quite a few 
farmers in this locality who carry their rye 
to this press are overrun with wild radish. 
Would I not be running a great risk from 
this foul seed? Would the heating of the 
chaff destroy the germination of the seed? 
Farmers who previously bought this chaff 
state that they have had no trouble with 
the wild radish on their farms, r. m. d. 
1 should be only too glad to get the 
chaff at that price. I should use most 
of it for mulch around trees. Some 
would be used to absorb liquids in the 
stable and the rest put in the barnyard 
with such manure as I had, with a good 
drove of hogs to work it over. If it is 
kept fairly moist the hogs will quickly 
work it up. I have no doubt there will 
be a good many foul seeds in this chaff. 
While fermentation will kill some of 
them there will be a good many left alive. 
With good culture I think these weeds 
can be kept down. I would take the risk 
for the sake of getting the vegetable mat¬ 
ter in that chaff. 
The following note from New York is 
like many at hand: 
I write to ask if it is safe and practical 
for a dairyman of ordinary intelligence to 
test his cows for tuberculosis? If so, where 
can the necessary requisites and instructions 
be procured? h. v. r. 
I never tested a cow for tuberculosis 
and should hesitate to do so. In theory 
it looks simple. You take the cow’s tem¬ 
perature, inject the tuberculin, and then 
at the proper time take the temperature 
again to see if it rises. This is much 
more complicated than putting a clinical* 
thermometer in a child’s mouth to see if 
there is any fever, or getting the proper 
churning temperature of a batch of cream. 
What is “ordinary intelligence?” It 
might be far above ordinary to the man 
who owned it, but very ordinary to his 
neighbor who saw its application without 
prejudice. If a man had seen the testing 
done and could interpret what the ther¬ 
mometer told him, it might be safe, al¬ 
though I should want something better 
if I were buying the cow. This testing 
is a professional operation. I think those 
who have not had experience would bet¬ 
ter not touch it. How many of our peo¬ 
ple have tried it? 
Here is a girl from Kent Co., R. I., 
who does things: 
Three years ago you printed a recipe 
for green tomato mincemeat that I tried and 
found fine. When I told anyone about it 
they made fun of it, till I gave them a 
sample, then they wanted to know how to 
make it. So I have sent it far and wide, 
and have never found one to dislike it. The 
farmers’ women folk have been telling about 
what they do, so I'm going to tell a little. 
I took the Cutaway harrow and went over 
the ground, where the garden and potatoes 
were, four times for rye. It is rocky, too. 
But I would jump off just as the disk struck 
and hop on as soon as they cleared. I got 
off to turn and didn’t stop the horses for 
anything. I also covered five acres of rye 
with a spring-tooth, and used the Cutaway 
for one acre of grass. I found it much 
easier than lots of the work in the house. 
A FARMER’S DAUGHTER. 
The world is well filled with people 
who laugh at new things until they get 
a good taste. Then they remain to pray 
for another bite. A good pie maker can 
make almost anything go inside the crust 
of a mince pie. As for working the Cuta¬ 
way and other tools our women folks 
have done that successfully. You are 
wise to jump off when going over rocks 
and turning. On smooth ground, with a 
steady team and the machine weighted 
heavily a light man or woman can just 
about dispense with the turning plow. 
But if the women work outdoors who is 
to do the housework? There are short 
cuts here also. In some families when 
hard work presses the “hay box’’ acts as 
the Cutaway harrow does outdoors. This 
“box” is built so as to retain the heat of 
boiling water put in an inside can. This 
retained heat will slowly finish cooking 
stews, vegetables, cereals, soups and simi¬ 
lar things. You put them inside in the 
morning and by noon they are ready for 
you. No woman can expect to get up a 
dinner of four or five courses and ride a 
Cutaway at the same time. She may be 
able to feed her family on soups and 
stews and get outdoors. I see they are 
discussing .“physical culture for farmers’ 
wives.” My observation is that more of 
them need the mulch method—a good 
sound nap in bed. 
This man must be a new subscriber, or 
he would know about Cow-horn turnips. 
I notice that you have spoken several 
t’mcs recently of Cow-horn turnips. Can 
you let me know when you planted and 
for what purpose? g. w. t. 
We sowed the Cow-horn furnips and 
Crimson clover mixed together at the 
last cultivating of the corn, about August 
12. This turnips grows much like a pars¬ 
nip, with a long tap root. It is much 
like other turnips in quality, and can be 
harvested if need be. We leave it in the 
ground for green manuring. It is better 
than the flat turnip for this purpose, be¬ 
cause it digs down deep and opens up the 
soil. In this late, open season both tur¬ 
nip and clover are still growing, forming 
a dense mat all over the ground. Most of 
the turnips die during the Winter—the 
Crimson clover usually lives over. 
Life Insurance.—I have stirred up a 
hornet’s nest over this insurance propo¬ 
sition. On page 591 you will find various 
comments, and here is a note from an old 
friend in New York State. He pays 
$79.60 per year on a $2,000 policy. As I 
understand it, this company allows him 
$330.36 in cash as earnings on what he 
has paid in 15 years: 
In your “Notes” on page 591 you ask if 
anyone has paid out and received their divi- 
dens, and if so what it amounted to. The 
enclosed official slip will answer your ques¬ 
tion fully. You will notice that as this 
number was on my own life I ought to be 
able to reply intelligently. On this .$2,000 
policy (20 payment life—15 year distribu¬ 
tion), I have “paid out” $1,194, and was 
offered a cash dividend of $330.36, or addi¬ 
tional paid-up insurance of $583 which would 
have made my policy amount to $2,583. The 
cash value offered me, which means the legal 
reserve, together with the dividend appor¬ 
tioned, if accepted by me (which, hy the way, 
was not accepted), would have made the net 
cost of my insurance for 15 years at age of 
40. $2.18 per $1,000 per year of insurance. 
Not very rank robbery was it when you 
come to consider that fraternal societies, 
etc., are asking five and six times as much, 
and only giving temporary protection? I 
can also' say that had my death occurred at 
any time after my first premium was paid 
my family would have received $2,000 cash. 
I know of death claims paid by this com¬ 
pany in my own neighborhood amounting to 
over $14,000 on small policies of $1,000 and 
$2,000, some of which had run less than one 
year, and without delay or objection. Now, 
of course, there is no doubt all those old 
companies could have saved much more for 
their members than they have saved, and no 
one denies but the money has been used il¬ 
legitimately ; still we ought to “give the 
devil his due,” and not curse the companies 
simply because the man from Florida or the 
Hope Farm man made a contract which they 
find it unpleasant to keep. They had the 
privilege of refusing their policies if they 
saw it would be burdensome to them. All 
the old companies will make loans on con¬ 
tracts, so the trouble experienced by the 
Florida woman could he avoided. I believe 
the Massachusetts Savings Bank Insurance 
did not take effect till November 1 last. 
G. c. w. 
Buckwheat for Feeding. —Here is 
a question from Louisiana: 
Is buckwheat good for chickens and hogs? 
Can pigs be allowed free range of the field, 
or has the seed to be ground or cooked before 
feeding? I planted a patch to see how it 
would grow In Louisiana ; it is two feet high, 
branching and a mass of seed and bloom. Of 
course I know that in the North people eat 
it, but not here, and if I cannot feed it to 
hens or hogs it will be waste labor to grow it, 
unless it will pay to plow it under for fer¬ 
tilizer. J. M. M. 
I call for information from buckwheat 
growers. Our folks are more in the line 
of buckwheat eaters. We never feed 
more than one-fifth buckwheat in the ra¬ 
tion for hens. The whole grain is stimu¬ 
lating. I have heard that it is used for 
hastening the moult in hens, and I can 
well believe it after seeing how too many 
buckwheat cakes affect the human skin. I 
have no experience, but should not con¬ 
sider it good pasture. I would thrash out 
the grain or plow the crop under. Buck¬ 
wheat is a good green manuring crop on 
poor ground. It grows fairly well where 
most other crops except rye would starve. 
It has been called the goat among farm 
crops because of its hardy habits. I be¬ 
lieve that a farmer could take a piece of 
ground where neither cow peas nor clover 
would grow and save it with buckwheat. 
The first crop would make a fair growth. 
Plow it under and sow rye. Plow the rye 
under and sow cow peas. Plow the vines 
under and sow clover. With a fair quan¬ 
tity of lime this would give a good seed¬ 
ing, and when you get clover started you 
have things in your hand. But this doesn’t 
answer our Louisiana friend. Buckwheat 
growers to the rescue. h. w. c. 
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The Neatest Thing on the Farm 
Makes Stable Work Lighter, 
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Soon Pays for Itself. 
The Climax 
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Can go anywhere by curves and switches. 
Hook the same car to our large ensilage 
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Positive chain hoist. Pans will rest on 
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DRAG SAWS 
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Steel Wheels 
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