1900 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
5 05 
Hope Farm Notes 
Field Day. —You might have thought 
it was a sewing circle had you gone 
into one of our rooms Friday night. 
Mother sat at the sewing machine 
with the baby hanging on, watching the 
wheel turn. The girls were pushing 
their needles and the boys were look¬ 
ing on. It was a great event—flag¬ 
making for the great field day. Our 
district had selected blue and white for 
colors—a white W on a triangular piece 
of blue, and it was necessary for every 
Hope Farmer to carry the flag. I have 
told how the six grammar schools in 
our valley organized for baseball and 
other sports. They ended the season 
with a “field day,” and all the schools 
sent their little champions to com¬ 
pete for prizes. There were at least 
3000 people present, and some of the 
most prominent men in the com¬ 
munity had charge. It was a thing 
never to be forgotten to see these 
happy and excited youngsters. The 
older people were no less worked up, 
for everyone who could lay even dis¬ 
tant c'aim to a child was on deck. 
Mother desires to be rated as a serious 
and dignified character, yet in the 
quarter-mile run, when two boys from 
our district ran away from the field she 
yelled and nearly jumped off the bank. 
In the exciting tug of war I had the 
baby on my shoulder, so he could see, 
and frightened him by yelling for our 
side. Our boys did not do as well as 
we hoped at baseball, but on field day 
they led the way to glory. One of the 
Hope Farm boys won the short dis¬ 
tance races and the neighbor’s boy 
came in second. In the potato race 
two girls from our country got both 
prizes. We folks on the hills seem to 
have good wind at least. The free¬ 
holder is a man of about my age, and 
I challenged him to a race after he 
told how fast he could run when he 
was a boy. He wouldn't accept, and 
to tell the truth I was very glad he 
didn’t. One of the most satisfactory 
events was the last round of the “tug 
of war.” At one end of the rope were 
six boys from town. Two of them had 
that abnormal growth which we often 
see in children—making them heavier 
than many grown men. At the other 
end were six farm boys, lean and light, 
with hands hard from hoeing and weed 
pulling. The town boys must have 
weighed at least 100 pounds more than 
the others, and it seemed as if they, 
would pull the young farmers all over 
the lot. The lighter boys shut their 
teeth and at the signal dug in their 
heels and yanked. Then there was one 
long scream and shout. Everyone was 
yelling except the 12 pullers. They 
were straining every nerve they had 
and trying to borrow more from the ex¬ 
cited people, who were urging them on. 
Inch by inch those light farm boys 
gained. Then they lost and gained 
again—then lost while the great crowd 
cneered or groaned as the rope went 
back and forth. At last with one great 
effort the farmers pulled the others 
about two feet over the line and the 
contest was over. Then how we did 
yell and wave our flags! 
I regard this “field day” for the chil¬ 
dren as one of the best things that ever 
happened in our valley. There are 
thousands of country townships in this 
land where the same thing could be 
developed. Breaks up the school? Not 
a bit of it! It bands the children to¬ 
gether, makes new and stronger ties, 
and above all teaches them to be or¬ 
derly and businesslike in their sports. 
Our children should not be deprived of 
their sports and playtime, but should 
be taught to make the most of them as 
they should of work. 
Our folks turned out in force. The 
sun' was over the hill before the last 
race was over, but we stayed to the 
end. Then Madge and Nellie carried 
us back to supper. How we did wave 
our flags and give our district “yell” on 
the way home. It was like forgetting 
about 30 years for one afternoon at 
least. 
Decoration Day means much to me, 
and is usually a thoughtful time. At 
middle age a man finds that the many 
things he was sure of years ago have 
mostly passed into doubt, or a few 
things remain surer than ever. I pre¬ 
sume we all have at times a feeling of 
regret that we cannot make younger 
people see the futility of plans which 
our experience shows are bound to fail. 
It somehow comes like a jarring note 
on an occasion like Decoration Day to' 
have young and strong people boast of 
what they will do. I have had people 
on my hills with me telling of their 
“sure thing.” It was a farm or a busi¬ 
ness or a start in some profession. 
The future seemed absolutely sure to 
them, and with this assurance had 
come a feeling of arrogance and a lit¬ 
tle of contempt for those who had not 
succeeded so well. When such men 
tell me their success and the great 
things they are to do with it, I listen, 
but have no argument' about it. What 
would be the use? Did you ever hear 
of anyone who learned humility or the 
great lesson of life except at the end 
of the pitchfork of experience? While 
such boasters arc talking my mind runs 
back to the Bible story of the rich man 
whose grounds brought forth abun¬ 
dantly. He had great confidence in 
himself and in his farm. He was will¬ 
ing to tear down his barns, build 
greater ones and fill them with his 
goods. 
“And I will say to my soul — soul, 
thou hast much goods laid up for many 
years—take thine ease, eat, drink and 
be merry. 
. But God said unto him—thou fool, 
this very night thy soul shall be re¬ 
quired of thee—then whose shall these 
things be which thou hast provided? 
Ministers have preached sermons from 
that text, in which they tried to show 
that it was not a wise thing to try to 
accumulate property or power. I 
think they missed the real point of it, 
for if we carried out their advice lit¬ 
erally there would be no inducement to 
improve a farm or make it more valu¬ 
able. Now I think that if a man is to 
be a farmer at all it is his duty to be 
the best farmer he can. A man should 
take pride in leaving a farm better 
than he found it, whether he be tenant 
or owner. These boasters who make a 
great success of a farm miss the point 
because they imagine that the dollars 
they get out of it represent all that is 
worth while. Every man’s life laps 
over into the future in two ways. These 
are the things which represent money 
and the things which represent man¬ 
hood. You can get them both in 
greater or less degree out of farming. 
When a man can refer only to the 
money side at such time as Decoration 
Day I feel sorry for him. The things 
he leaves will not be likely to make the 
world better. 
Farm Notes. —We got our spraying 
done in good season. I like that “Py- 
rox.” It is easy to mix and will stick 
to the foliage. We cannot, of course, 
tell how effective it will be, but I have 
faith in it. I observe that some of the 
institute speakers are up in arms 
against the use of mixed fertilizers or 
insecticides. Except for the increased 
cost I think the mixed goods are often 
advisable. When a man must leave 
mixing of fertilizers or lime-sulphur or 
Bordeaux to careless hired help he 
would be far better off to buy some re¬ 
liable brand. The manufacturers are 
better able to do the mixing accu¬ 
rately. . . . The Crimson clover 
was a beautiful sight on Decoration 
Day. A field of it on my hillside looked 
just like a great slash of scarlet. My 
neighbor, two farms away, has two 
acres of this clover that he is cutting 
for the cows. This man has a dairy 
farm and is building up his soil in a 
remarkable way. When he came here 
he could barely cut hay enough for two 
horses. Now he grows forage for 40 
head of stock. This is done by crowd¬ 
ing crops, one after another, keeping 
the soil covered with living crops and 
using chemicals with the manure. It 
does not make so much difference what 
a man decides to grow. The point is 
to make a definite plan. Study out all 
the helps and then stick to that plan 
through thick and thin. ... I have 
often been asked what Crimson clover 
amounts to anyway. On May 22 
I went into last year’s cornfield on the 
hill and measured a space three feet 
square. Last year, early in August. 
Crimson clover and turnips were seeded 
in the corn. The turnips had all died 
out, but the clover had lived through 
the Winter. With a spade we dug all 
the clover plants on this square yard 
and shook the dirt thoroughly from the 
roots. After thoroughly cleaning the 
soil away this bunch of tops and root 
weighed seven pounds five ounces. Be¬ 
sides this the soil was full of fibrous 
roots and tap roots which we broke off. 
This, you will understand was two 
weeks before the clover is at its best. 
I wanted to see just what a farmer 
could do with such clover and not in¬ 
terfere with ordinary corn planting 
time. Now if all of the acre were as 
good as that yard I should have about 
17 tons of- organic matter to turn un¬ 
der—provided we used the entire crop. 
I do not think it is all as good, though 
some spots are better, I estimate that 
we have at least 14 tons of tops and 
roots on the acre. By analysis it is 
equal, ton for ton, to manure of fail- 
quality. Now, 12 pounds of Crimson 
clover seed will cost about $2. Suppose 
it had killed out as it did on part of 
your field? I am satisfied that in Feb¬ 
ruary, when it began to kill out, there 
was a yield of four tons, anyway, 
on the poorest acre we have. Before 
Thanksgiving the clover seed had paid 
for itself twice over, both in the growth 
it made and in saving plant food which 
would otherwise have been washed out 
of the soil. If anyone doubts the value 
of this clover as manure I can show 
him a rye field where, on part of the 
land, the clover lived and on the other 
it failed. A blind man can tell which 
is which. Any plant that will make me 
a present of 10 tons of manure, carry 
it up my steep hill and spread it over 
an acre is quite good company for me. 
Our potatoes are up and thriving. I 
have tried the experiment of planting 
one patch of small tubers without cut¬ 
ting. There has been so much said 
about this that I mean to find out for 
myself. If we are to judge by the 
number of hard-shelled beetles, we are 
to have an awful crop of the pest this 
year. For the past two years we have 
not had much bother, and I cannot see 
where all these hard-shelled rascals 
come from. . . . The strawberry 
plants have already began to send out 
runners. They usually start early in 
a wet season, and if the weather turn 
dry later, this runner growth will cut 
down the berry crop. We are chopping 
them off in the Ivevitt patch. Of course 
it is impossible to do this in the matted 
rows. Will we get a quart to the 
plant? I’ll tell you later about the 
whole field, but I feel sure some of 
our single olants will do it. h. w. c. 
Sis 
Harvest 
Use Plymouth Twine. It 
prevents costly delays. 
Runs smoothly and is extra 
strong. No bothersome 
knots, no stopping to thread 
up, no loose sheaves or lost 
grain. 
PLYMOUTH 
Binder 
Twine 
costa a little more and is worth 
a great deal more. It is guaran¬ 
teed full length, and 
every inch is good. 
It saves more than 
It costs, and in a 
season’s harvesting 
it is the most eco¬ 
nomical twine, be¬ 
cause it goes farthest. 
Try it this season. 
Ask the local dealer 
for PLYMOUTH TWINE. J/ffW Ipivt 
aud see that the 
wheat-sheaf tag Is on 
every ball. 
PLYMOUTH CORDAGE COMPANY 
Largest Rope Makers in the World. 
Oldest in America. 
Plymouth, Mass. 
We Are The 
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We make fence that has 
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Thousands of good farmers 
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Empire Fence 
All big—No. 9— 
just like this 
sample. This knot shows 
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Freight Paid 
to your town if you live north of the Ohio 
and east of the Mississippi. Paid that far 
for everybody. Write us. We want to send 
you sample Free. 
BOND STEEL POST CO., Adrian. Mich, 
RUNNING WATER ON FARM 
THE AERM0T0R GASOLINE ENGINE 
Is designed to supply water for the farm 
building. This outfit insures a supply of 
water at all times and the price is within 
the reach of every farmer. Pump cap.—1600 
gals, per hour, 15 ft. elevation; 800 gals. ,*25 
ft.; J 00 gals., 50 ft. Complete outfit $37.50, 
or del. at K. It. Stn. $4*2.50. 
Write for descriptive Catalog 
No. 5 giving full information. 
k J. H. EDWARDS, 
55) Park Place, N. Y. 
VOUR RAZOR ALWAYS SHARP 
A Buy no more razors. Pay no more hone bills. 
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Cost No 
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and 
Bottom 
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Send 
Your 
Name 
For 
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Rear View 
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Days 9 
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Side View 
Cruel “Sweat-Pads” Gall ■ 
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