1900 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
657 
Hope Farm Notes 
Farm Notes. —I am convinced that 
corn is to be one of our most profit¬ 
able crops hereafter. Some 10 years 
ago I thought otherwise. The price 
of grain was lower then, and I argued 
that it would pay farmers in our sec¬ 
tion better to raise sweet corn, sell the 
ears and buy grain. Since that time 
the area from which sweet corn is 
brought to our large cities has grown 
larger, while the price of grains has 
shot up. This changes the whole as¬ 
pect of corn growing. We have been 
cleaning up a large field at the back of 
the farm. It was grown up to birch 
and the brush and trees that come into 
such fields. Last year the birches 
were cut out, but sprouts grew up. 
This Spring we hired a neighbor with 
a strong and steady team to plow it. 
This was a tough job, but it was fin¬ 
ally thrown over. Then we put this 
same team on the spring-tooth har¬ 
row and slowly worked the piece- over. 
Two men followed the harrow, which 
acted like a big rake and tore up the 
smaller roots and brush. These were 
left in piles to be burned. After 
working the spring-tooth we knocked 
the sprouts from the stumps, using 
the back of the ax. The field is now 
rough, but fit for planting corn. We 
shall use Learning for this field, as I 
think that variety better than our flint 
for that location It will be planted in 
hills and worked both ways. The 
sprouts will be kept off the stumps 
and next Fall we expect to pull them 
out and fit this field for Alfalfa. I 
know from experience that these 
old fields, far from the buildings, are 
well suited to corn. We have several 
where, year after year, our flint vari¬ 
eties give good yields. By seeding 
Crimson clover and turnips at the last 
cultivation we usually get a good catch 
crop. This is plowed under the fol¬ 
lowing Spring and, with a fair dress¬ 
ing of fertilizer, gives another crop of 
corn. Under this system our yields 
are increasing, and this is a good way 
to handle these distant fields. It is not 
necessary to haul manure up our steep 
hills, and corn is a good crop for what 
I call distant cultivation. The only 
objection I have yet seen to this plan 
of using corn after corn is the in¬ 
crease of smut. This grows worse, 
and I see no wav to get rid of it ex¬ 
cept to grow some other crop for a 
year or so. . , . Our new straw¬ 
berry field this year was set out ac¬ 
curately—plants 15 inches in rows and 
rows two feet apart. It seemed like 
a large job to plant them this way. 
We got two rows in by exact measure. 
After that, the rows were set in a 
straight line lengthwise of the field and 
the side rows made straight by sight¬ 
ing across. Now we can cultivate 
with the horse one way and with the 
wheel hoe the other—thus saving a 
world of hard work. Handled in this 
way I think the field can be kept clean 
with less labor than when the plants 
run into matted rows. As for yield— 
that is yet to be determined with us. 
At the present time I never saw such 
promise for fruit as there is on these 
Ivevitt plants. I have seen bloom go to 
disappointment too many times to let 
out any boasts, but there is every in¬ 
dication right now of a big crop. By 
Hay 15 W e had (already ’cultivated 
these berry plants four times—and 
they show the effect. . . . The 
heavy rains seem to have insured the 
grass crop in our section. We have 
top-dressed all the meadows with 
chemicals and they bear that dark 
green color which means nitrogen. 
The rye has taken a great start. We 
depend on early-cut rye for much of 
our hay, and it looks now as if Deco¬ 
ration Day would find us read}" to cut 
this rye and the Crimson clover. I 
use this tender rye for hay because 
there seems to be more in it for us 
when used in this way than when we 
let it go to straw and grain. We need 
the hay and by cutting early we can, if 
need be, raise a crop of corn on this 
ground and follow with rye and clover 
again. 
Naming a Farm. —A North Carolina 
reader sends the following: 
Will you print or send me some names 
suitable for a farm? I am raising truck 
and fruits. 
I think this naming a farm or a 
child is a family matter in which an 
outsider’s opinion cannot be worth 
much. A farm should mean home, 
and all the hopes and ambition which 
go with home. Its name should rep¬ 
resent either the best thing that the 
family desires, or something that 
marks the place. It may be a tree or a 
river or a hill or valley, a crop or 
rock, a spring or something else which 
makes it different from other farms. 
If I wanted to name a place 1 would 
ask the family to think it over and 
suggest suitable names—giving reasons 
for them. Then we would all get to¬ 
gether and discuss the names and 
select the one that seemed best. I 
think it better to make this a family 
matter. Every farm should have a 
name. I would advise putting up a 
sign by the road naming the farm and 
stating the best things it produces. I 
would also have stationery printed, 
giving the name of the farm, the 
owner and a few things offered for 
sale. As business is done in these days 
all such things help. They will pay. 
Making History.— I wish I could 
make every farmer see that he is help¬ 
ing to make history. He may be doing 
it on a very small scale, yet it all 
counts—one way or the other. A 
farmer may get hold of some improved 
methods of handling the soil or grow¬ 
ing a new crop. It is an experiment. 
He goes at it in a small way—as he 
should. The neighbors may jeer at 
him, or worse, and out of that will 
come the sort of history he will make. 
If at the first few failures he quits un¬ 
der the fire of ridicule, he holds history 
back. If he is patient and silent, con¬ 
vinced that the principle of what he is 
trying for is sound he will dig on until 
he demonstrates it. Then he makes 
the right sort of history, for nothing 
can stand against demonstrated suc¬ 
cess. , 
Two cases of history making have 
recently been reported to me.They are 
worth thinking over, as we go through 
our season’s work. Not far from where 
we live is a fine farm which, for sev¬ 
eral generations, was in the hands of 
excellent farmers. They were skilful 
and intelligent, read and studied, and 
kept up with the changes of the times 
—making fair profit each year. Final¬ 
ly, the farmer who represents this gen¬ 
eration, became disgusted, chiefly with 
the hired help question, and sold the 
farm. It was bought by the son of a 
man who came from the Danube re¬ 
gion in Europe. The new owner can¬ 
not read or write. He does not dare 
sign any papers without first consulting 
a lawyer. He has no children and he 
and his wife work long hours and 
drive their workmen like cattle, 
through rain and shine, weekdays 
and Sundays. This man never reads, 
knows nothing of what we call “im¬ 
proved farming,” yet by sheer brute 
force and' “instinct” is able to produce 
a small fortune from that farm each 
year. The amount of produce he turns 
off is astonishing. If you and I could 
do it we could go to Europe every 
year if we wanted to, and live like 
princes. Yet not one of us would do 
it if we had to pay the price of living 
the narrow life of the drudge and 
brutal driver. 
On the other hand, I learn of a 
woman who was born and raised on a 
European farm. Her father was a 
gardener, and she was taught to do 
farm work. Later she came to this 
country, and the problem of educating 
her children properly arose. Not sat¬ 
isfied with what some of the schools 
taught she resolved to give them the 
best. She remembered her early ex¬ 
perience on her father’s farm, and 
started a garden such as only these 
Europeans know how to make. They 
crowd crops together on strong land 
and make them yield. The proceeds 
from this garden will be used to give 
these children what they need of school 
and music under good teachers. If 
possible we shall give the full story of 
this work later. I want to point out 
here that the farmer I have spoken of 
and this woman are both making his¬ 
tory. Both are pushing their soil 
hard and making it yield great increase, 
yet one is the sort of history which 
puts a chain upon true farming, while 
the other helps set her free. It all 
comes down to what we have all prob¬ 
ably thought out again and again. It 
is not the labor and the money which 
we put into the soil, or the crop that 
we take out, which finally counts for 
good farming. It is the motive which 
prompts our labor and what we do 
with the proceeds. 
Home Notes.— We would like to 
have the privilege of filling you up 
with asparagus and rhubarb sauce 
right now. That, with bread and but¬ 
ter, will make a full meal for our 
family. The asparagus is fine this 
year. We are not trying to sell any 
yet—simply cutting for our own use 
and getting a good growth in the crop. 
This year we shall run .a row of 
Crosby sweet corn between each two 
rows of asparagus. Many growers tell 
me not to do this, but to give the en¬ 
tire space to the asparagus, but we 
shall try the corn after all. The gar¬ 
den is coming on well, and there will 
soon be half a dozen other vegetables 
to. select from. I talked with soqie 
friends in the city who are obliged to. 
pay 30 cents or even more for a bunch 
of asparagus. It is stale at that—three 
days or more from the soil. Now if 
we had a parcels post I could cut 
asparagus 'in the morning, pack it in 
neat boxes, and mail it so that friends 
in the city could get it in time for din¬ 
ner or supper. I could do the same 
with rhubarb. This would give them 
a superior article for at least one-third 
less than they now pay, give me more 
for my “grass,” make it possible for 
me to employ more labor and add to 
the postal revenues. It would also 
compel the express companies to give 
fairer rates and better service. Such 
things are now done in England, France 
and Germany and they would and 
could be done here if we had a par¬ 
cels post. 
I would like to have you on our hills 
some Sunday afternoon in May or 
June. No doubt you are off somewhere 
on your own farm at such time. If 
you have no steep hills to climb, I feel 
sorry for you. You may think you. 
have the advantage of us on your level 
farm because you can use all the mod¬ 
ern tools. On the day of rest, how¬ 
ever, when work is more or less of a 
memory, you would be thankful for the 
hills. h. w. c. 
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