1909. 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
300 
Hope Farm Notes 
“Novelties/' —I sometimes fear our 
folks think I am a little slow. I am 
prepared to stick to Baldwin and 
Greening apples, Carman and Elberta 
peaches and Marshall strawberry, yet 
these are voted back numbers by many 
“authorities.” No use talking, when it 
comes to horticultural progress, the 
Hope Farm man, compared with such 
men as Luther Burbank, is like old 
Jerry racing with Dan Patch or some 
other famous racer. Our folks opened 
a great magazine and there was the 
story of how Burbank had “tamed the 
desert” by breeding spines off the cac¬ 
tus ! The daily paper told of Burbank’s 
wonderful Christmas tree that grows 
its own presents. Then' came >the 
Sunday school lesson proving several 
fine points by Burbank’s work. No—- 
I’m too slow. Hope Farm needs a good 
“horticultural novelty,” or we must 
take a back seat with no hope of being 
called “up higher!” I have thought 
that an announcement like the follow¬ 
ing might do the trick: - 
THE FOOD PROBLEM SOLVED. 
Marvelous Money and Muscle Maker. 
A few years ago, while working in his 
garden the Hope Farm man discovered a 
plant which seemed to possess remark¬ 
able qualities of growth and character. It 
was closely watched and thoroughly cul¬ 
tivated—given every possible test. As it 
continued to improve, and met all ex¬ 
periments successfully, the Hope Farm 
man feels justified in claiming that he has 
made a discovery which will prove of great 
benefit to the world. He has decided to 
offer a limited number of these remark¬ 
able plants for sale—at the very low price 
of one dollar each. These plants are well 
bred and carefully selected, and may be 
guaranteed to grow anywhere. 
Among the qualities claimed for this 
plant are the following: 
It grows without culture. Once planted 
it spreads rapidly on any soil and, strange 
to say, permits the growth of other crops. 
For example a crop of strawberries may 
be harvested—after which this marvellous 
new crop will come in and give a large 
yield without culture. The cultivator may, 
if he likes, sit in the shade and this crop 
will do the rest. 
Chemical analysis show's that this mar¬ 
vel is richer in protein than clover or 
Alfalfa. It may be fed to stock or used 
as a substitute for meat in the human 
ration. It also possesses medicinal qual¬ 
ities and is useful in several well-known 
diseases. 
Aside from these valuable material qual¬ 
ities this plant also exerts a great in¬ 
fluence upon human character. We may 
state without qualification that associa¬ 
tion with it will develop those higher qual¬ 
ities of mind and courage which are the 
hope of the race. No man can cultivate 
this plant as he should and thoroughly 
master it without submitting himself to a 
test of character which will leave him 
with great patience and moral strength. 
Any man who can successfully handle an 
acre of this Hope Farm marvel will surely 
be considered by his countrymen capable 
of the highest patriotic effort! 
The plant has been tested at most of 
the experiment stations. While these in¬ 
stitutions have little to do with the de¬ 
velopment of character every worker who 
has handled this crop will endorse the 
claims here made. The price has been 
made exceedingly low, for Hope Farm has 
developed a very vigorous strain of these 
plants. 
Now, I’m not a Burbank by name 
or nature—but I have the plants. Every 
statement in this description can be 
vouched for. In view of this “awful 
feed bill,” such plants ought to be cheap 
at a dollar apiece. Some of those 
farm women who complain that their 
men do not defend them properly will 
want a few of these plants as asso¬ 
ciates for their men folks. 
Now, half the truth is probably worse 
than an entire lie. Let me make it 
complete by telling what our famous 
“horticultural novelty” is. We call it 
purslane or “pussley.” If we haven’t 
the most vigorous strain of this weed 
to be found in the country I lose my 
guess. Everything I have said about 
it is true. It is rich in nitrogen and 
robs the soil instead of adding to it. 
I ate it as a boy with good relish. 
As for developing character, any man 
who will fight and conquer “pussley” 
on an acre of Kevitt strawberries is 
fit for larger things. In all seriousness 
I believe that this weed and others 
like it may be used to fair advantage 
as sheep food and green manuring. 
If we can handle them before they 
seed they will make genuine “soil im¬ 
provers.” 
Farm and Home. —As I expected, the 
season is to be no earlier than usual. 
A few gardeners on the lighter soils 
are taking chances at plowing and 
planting. They *use large quantities 
of city manure to warm the soil and 
gamble on results. Sometimes they 
make three or more plantings a week 
or so apart, so that if frost kills one 
set there will be others coming on. 
We do not attempt that—our soil is 
too cold. If there is to be any stretch 
of the season it will be made in the 
Fall. . . . We are doing but little 
spraying for the scale this Spring. In 
one or two of the orchards we find 
a few scales and these trees will be 
sprayed with soluble oil. .Most of the 
young trees seem to be free, and we 
shall let them go. This may prove to 
be a mistake, yet I believe I can keep 
the young trees growing and fight the 
insect next Fall if need be. The bear¬ 
ing trees should be sprayed, and we are 
prepared to fight the Codling worms 
with poison as never before. . I have 
spoken of an acre of ground more or 
less on the lower farm where we shall 
try to see what we can produce. It 
includes a good-sized garden, over 150 
peach trees, mostly young; over 50 
grape vines, 200 currants, about 600 
bush fruits, strawberries and potatoes 
and sweet corn between the fruit. This 
soil is heavily fed with both manure 
and fertilizer, and we give it good 
culture until August, when either cover 
crops or weeds grow among the fruits. 
I will try to follow this land through 
the season and see what comes from 
it. Each year I become more and more 
a convert to the plan of crowding a few 
acres near the buildings hard and let¬ 
ting the rest of the farm go to orchards. 
Of course, this plan is not suited to 
all farms, but for our steep and rocky 
hills it seems most sensible. No man 
knows what he can do with a. small 
piece of ground until he really tries. If 
farmers could have faith enough to 
plow less and spend the extra time 
in fitting the ground better they would 
be better off. Here in the East we 
have all got to come to better care 
of our cultivated crops. . . . Look¬ 
ing back over the past six months it 
hardly seems that we have had any 
Winter. There has not been a stretch 
of four days sleighing at any time, and 
hardly a week of steady coasting. 
There are others, however,' as we may 
see from the following: 
Here it is the 22d of March, and the 
snow is nearly waist-deep in the woods, 
and has been for eight weeks. The road- 
track in some places is nearly on a level 
with the tops of the fences. Let a horse 
get off the narrow* track and it may t*e a 
case of dig him out with a shovel. If 
warm rains should come it would lie im¬ 
possible for a horse to travel. You should 
he thankful that you don’t live in Maine. 
v L. M. A. - 
About the same time we had letters 
from Florida stating that the sun was 
uncomfortably hot. As between the 
two sections for an all-the-year home 
I would take Maine. My farm would 
be far better off right now if we could 
have had that snow cover all Winter. 
Value of Stubble. —This one from 
Ohio requires closer figuring than I 
do: 
Can you or some of your readers esti¬ 
mate the probable damage, if any, caused 
by fire burning over 10 acres of oat stubble? 
Besides the stubble there was a growth of 
ragweed and Fall grass. I want to put 
the land in corn in the Spring. The land 
needs humus. Have I sustained any loss? 
A. T. K. 
Fire will cut closer than any mowing 
machine. On the 10 acres it might get 
six tons of dry stubble and weeds. 
Ragweed is very rich in potash. I 
should say the six tons might contain 
75 pounds of nitrogen, 210 of potash 
and 30 of' phosphoric acid. This ni¬ 
trogen is lost, because when organic 
matter is burned the nitrogen is driven 
away in the form of a gas. The pot¬ 
ash and phosphoric acid are not lost, 
but are left in the ashes—in better con¬ 
dition for feeding plants than when 
they were in the stubble. You have, 
therefore, lost the value of the nitro¬ 
gen and whatever value the stubble 
would have had as humus or vegetable 
matter. On the other hand your pot¬ 
ash and phosphoric acid are in more 
available form, and you have destroyed 
many weed seeds. I know farmers 
who burn over their meadows every 
Spring. When the grass is to be cut 
once more this burning destroys the 
foul trash which might clog the mower 
knives. Others burn over land which 
is to be plowed so as to kill weed 
seeds. I would not burn such fields, 
H. w. c. 
. 
ONE MAN DOES 
WORK OF TWO 
With Iron Age Hiding Culti¬ 
vators. You can do it easier and 
better, because they are built oa 
lines that make this possible. 
Hoes are under perfect control. 
Can regulate depth and 
keep hoes desired dis¬ 
tance from growing 
plants. More ad¬ 
vantages in our 
IRON AGE 
Book.l t’« 
FREE. 
BATEMAN MFG. CO., Box 102-Q, BRENLOCH. N. J. 
Anybody Can Kodak 
There’s no longer anything complicated about 
photography. From pressing the button to developing 
the negatives, every step has been made simple, easy. 
By the Kodak system it is daylight all the way. No 
dark-room is needed for loading, unloading, develop¬ 
ing or printing, and all the processes have been so 
simplified that the merest beginner can take and finish 
the photographs with good results. The Kodak tank 
method of development has, in fact, so fully proved 
that skill is not necessary in development that thou¬ 
sands of professional photographers, in spite of the 
fact that they have the skill and have the dark-room 
facilities, are using the tank system of development for 
all of their work. Anybody can Kodak. 
And there are interesting pictures everywhere, pictures 
that you can take and that you and your friends would enjoy 
having. Ask your dealer or write us for a copy of “ The 
Kodak on the Farm.” 
EASTMAN KODAK COMPANY, 
387 STATE STREET, ROCHESTER, N. T. 
AGRICULTURAL 
OR 
FERTILIZING SALT. 
Write for prices. 
THE ONONDAGA COARSE SALT ASS N., 
Syracuse, .... New York. 
iiPIIII | kills Prairie Dogs, 
m ■ ■ ™ Woodchucks, Gophers, 
and Grain Insects. 
“The wheels of the gods 
grind slow but exceed¬ 
ingly small.” So the weevil, but you can stop their 
£ with “ Fuma Carbon Bisulphide are doing. 
EDWARD R. TAYLOR, Penn Yan, N. Y. 
FUMA 
Wood Saws 
that are guaranteed to give 
satisfaction or money re¬ 
funded. 1 Wood Saw Frame 
Complete with 18 in. Cirenlar Saw, $10; 24 In., $10.91; 26 in., 
$17.81. Just the thing for the farmer and fruit-grower for 
sawing crate lumber, hewing fence posts, etc. Send for circular. 
HEBTZLER & ZOOK, Belleville, Fa, 
IITPI ¥ DRILLING 
ff JC/ is Lf MACHINES 
Over 70 sizes and styles, for drilling either deep or 
Bhallow wells in any kind or soil or rock. Mounted on 
wheelsoron sills, with engines or horse powers. Strong, 
simple and dnrable. Any mechanic can operate them 
easily. Send for catalog. 
WILLIAMS BROS.. Ithaca. N. Y. 
Concrete is Better than Wood 
for making more things on the farm than you 
would suppose possible until you looked 
into it. Our book shows that 
EDISON 
Portland Cement 
is a substitute for wood in making pretty nearly 
everything on the farm, and shows why it is 
better than wood, as well as cheaper. 
Color, texture and strength are always the same in 
every bag of “Edison Portland;” and every 
bag contains 10 per cent more cementing 
material than the same weight of any other 
brand because it is 
Uniformly 10 Per Cent. Finest 
Ground in the World. 
“How to Use Concrete on the Farm” is a book you should see 
before you buy any cement. Write for it Today—decide after 
you read it. 
Make it of “EDISON” and Save Money. 
EDISON PORTLAND CEMENT COMPANY 
921 St. James Building, New York City 
MARK 
EDISON’ 
PORTLAND 
CEMENT 
m\ COMPANY, 
NEW VILLAGE . 
N.J 
SpisomI j 
