1909 
THE RURAL NEW-YOR KFDK 
011 
Hope Farm Notes 
A Wet Day. —I had planned for a great 
campaign against the weeds for Saturday, 
.Tune 5. There was need of it. Corn 
planting had not been ended, the straw¬ 
berries were beginning to redden up with 
fruit and green with weeds at the same 
time, the rye was ready to cut and the 
grass was working into the potatoes and 
asparagus. There was a soaker all day 
Friday—just what we needed to refresh 
the crops., Now give us a good sun and 
a wind for Saturday and we could do 
great work. But Saturday came with dull 
skies and that meanest of all weather—a 
thick drizzle. The first thing I saw in the 
morning was the drip of the water past 
the window. I got breakfast and went 
out to look at the situation. It was evi¬ 
dently to be a day of fog and drizzle— 
not hard showers, but air like the mist 
from a fine spray nozzle. The ground was 
soaked, and cultivating or hoeing would 
merely transplant the weeds from one place 
to another. Yet it was just the kind of 
weather for a form of cultivation which 
we practice at Hope farm. 
Bob and Jerry had evidently prepared 
for a day of repose, or contemplation like 
those described in “Wet Days at Edge- 
wood.” They looked at me reproachfully 
wdien I told Robert to harness them to 
the wagon and clean out the barnyard. 
Four loads of manure had accumulated 
there, and the orders were to haul this 
to the side hill and throw about 40 pounds 
around each young apple tree—selecting 
the ones that bloomed this year. These 
trees are in sod and have’ never been 
plowed or cultivated. We throw manure, 
weeds, fine brush—anything that will hold 
moisture or will rot—around these trees in 
place of cultivating them. I have learned 
that the best time to do this is in wet 
weather, when the ground is full of 
moisture. This mulch material put on top 
ot the ground at such times will hold the 
moisture in the soil and also decay more 
rapidly. So Ilenry and Robert went at 
this job. Philip went at the garden, plant¬ 
ing the last of the tomatoes and thinning 
out crops. I got out the scythe and gave 
it a good edge on the stone. This is the 
wet weather hoe at Hope farm. We have 
blocks of peach trees planted in sod, and 
the grass and clover have made a heavy 
growth around them. These trees have 
been mulched and fertilized, and as a re¬ 
sult great, thick masses of clover are 
growing about three feet from the base 
of l lie tree. There could be no liner mulch 
material and no better time to put it on 
than while the soil is wet. So I put 
on rubber hoots and a light overcoat and 
went at it with the scythe. The spectacle 
<>t a man with some surplus flesh wearing 
an overcoat while mowing on a muggv 
.nine day ought to make even Jersey weath¬ 
er ashamed of itself, and I was not sur¬ 
prised to see the cloud roll off to the west 
and the drizzle stop. I could pull off 
Loth coals and swing my scythe with 
greater freedom. Some of these peach trees 
did not show the color they should, and 
these I marked for a dose of chemicals. 
I can put soluble fertilizer on such trees, 
mow the grass over it, and in less than 
a week see the effect. There is no better 
time to do it than on a wet day. But 
why did we not put the manure on these 
Peach trees? I think the manure better 
tor apples. The peach will not stand too 
much feeding. I have fed peach trees so 
heavily that gum formed all over them, and 
when Winter came they were injured even 
by moderate freezing. The apple tree can¬ 
not be hurt by overfeeding. When you 
manure a tree you do not know exactly 
how much you give it, but when you use 
a pound of fertilizer you can know just 
what you are doing. Therefore I prefer 
chemicals for the peach, and experience 
will show a good observer just how much 
to use. Between showers Henry and Rob¬ 
ert got that manure around the apple 
trees and I cut around some 100 peach 
trees. The scythe bit into the wet grass 
well, and I know that a week hence you 
can see a difference in color of the leaves. 
But of course I hear some one saying, 
Why does this man work with a hand 
scythe? Why not take the mowing ma¬ 
chine and make a full job of it? The 
truth is that on these blocks of orchard 
I cut grass for hay in early July. The 
purebred mulchers will call me a' traitor 
to the cause, but on part of my soil I 
can take a ton or more of hay per acre, 
besides leaving grass enough around my 
trees for a fair mluch. , This hand cut¬ 
ting is done before time for haying. I cut 
a circle some eight feet through. The 
more this grass is cut the more it grows. 
We went down early for dinner, to find 
that mother and the children had been 
busy in and around the house. We soon 
spoiled the appearance of a pot roast, emp¬ 
tied great dishes of mashed potatoes and 
rhubarb sauce, and in spite of the high 
price of wheat carved up several loaves 
of bread. 
The sky was clearer after dinner, and 
Philip started to plant Hubbard squash. 
We crowd things pretty hard on the lower 
farm—one crop following another. The 
lirst of the peas were in bloom. They 
had been fully cultivated, and now Philip 
put hills of squash eight feet apart in 
every other row of peas. Chicken manure 
is put in the hill and one or two kernels 
of Evergreen sweet corn put in each hill 
of squash. As soon as the peas are picked 
Hi(‘ vines are pulled and the field thoroughly 
cultivated. The squash vines, in time, 
cover all the ground, and the sweet corn 
grows up above them. Then in August 
Crimson clover and turnips are seeded 
among the vines. It requires an abundance 
ot plant food and moisture to grow things 
m this way, but it can be done. Bob 
was hitched to the covered wagon and a 
load of fertilizer put aboard. I took my 
scythe and sickle and Robert and Henry 
started for the Stringfellow orchard. Our 
older readers will remember that this or¬ 
chard stands in a rough field at the back 
of the farm. The trees were little .Tune 
mul whips planted in holes made by punch¬ 
ing a crow-bar into the ground. These 
trees have a crop this year and they need 
some food. The soil is naturally poor. 
Rye was seeded in the orchard last year 
and grass is growing around the trees. 
In feeding these trees I told Robert and 
Henry to be mindful of the scriptural in¬ 
junction, "To him that hath shall be 
given.” They were to use fertilizer in pro¬ 
portion to the fruit in sight. I do not 
much believe in fertilizing a tree, but I 
use it for the fruit. They went ahead 
with buckets and threw on the fertilizer 
with their hands—not close to the tree, 
but out near the ends of the branches. I 
followed with the scythe and cut the weeds 
and rye so that it covered the fertilizer. 
These trees goc from two to three pounds 
apiece. After the men got their fertilizer 
on I sent them down to pump out the 
cesspool. I wanted- to finish my job, but 
clouds came up from the north and the 
drizzle started in once more. In time of 
rain I think a man of my age should be¬ 
gin to work back in the direction of the 
house. I venture to say that most men 
who swing a scythe for the first time in 
seven months will feel it in the back. So 
I started for home—and the rain stopped 
just about as I got there. There being 
an hour before supper, I got the spade 
and began cutting dock. In one of our 
strawberry fields dock has worked in as 
never before. We are turning this field 
into a peach orchard, having planted some 
125 trees there this Spring. I got out the 
dock by driving a spade under the root 
and pulling out the entire plant. These 
are thrown around the little peach trees 
for a mulch. Some big plants _ of clover 
have also worked into the berries; these 
are dug out in the same way and used as 
mulch. In going through the Kevitt patch 
I saw a few red berries, so I got a big 
saucer and was able to pick a dish of fine 
ones, which were brought in for mother’s 
supper. 
There was hardly time to . get clean and 
dry before the call came for supper, and 
we lined up as usual for baked beans and 
rhubarb sauce. It had been a lively day 
for all as we learned in comparing notes. 
One boy had two ducklings just out, while 
the other had 13 tine Red chickens out of 
14 eggs. The girls had six bantam chicks 
hatched by the little bantam hen. On the 
farm the subject of our little farm con¬ 
ference was what to do with the Crimson 
clover. The men think it a great shame 
to plow that beautiful growth under. I 
think there must be about $30 worth of 
hay on each acre of corn ground. The 
men want me to hold up corn planting 
while we cut and cure this hay. But 
here we are close to June 15, with berry 
picking coming on, hoeing at hand, and rye 
ro cut and Alfalfa beginning to head, and 
wet weather in sight. That hay would do 
our cattle good, but so it will the ground 
and the trees, and the main object of 
rhis farm is to produce a fine apple or¬ 
chard. The corn, the clover, the cows and 
the peach trees are side issues—helps along 
the way. That clover in the ground is 
where the trees get their share of it. It 
does look like a sin on this country to put 
that fine red crop all under ground; yet 
it was a present to us, and the ground 
needs it. I shall use some fertilizer in 
addition and try my hand at a big corn 
crop. 
I thought of all this when, after the 
lamps were lighted, I sat down to look 
over my mail. I ran upon a letter from 
Pennsylvania in which this question is 
asked: 
“Page 557. Why did you not use a disk 
harrow instead of a spring-tooth?” 
I find this refers to the way we handled 
that old field at the back of the farm. It 
was covered with young birches and briers, 
and of course the soil was full of coots. 
The plow broke many of these roots off. 
The spring-tooth seemed better for several 
reasons. It not only ripped out the roots, 
but raked them off. A disk would have 
cut some of them and slid over others, 
but would have left the soil still filled with 
broken pieces. Again, there are still many 
stumps in the field and it would have been 
a slow and clumsy job to work the disk 
among them. The spring-tootli could be 
lifted around or over these stumps quite 
easily, and also worked up closer to them. 
After figuring on it carefully, we con¬ 
cluded that the spring-tooth did greater 
execution and left the land freer. Clear¬ 
ing this place is part of a plan I have 
had to try to show what we can do 
with some of these loafer fields. We have 
planted Learning corn on part of it, and I 
intend to try to see how large a yield 
we can get. The corn was planted four 
feet apart and is now up. It has been 
well fertilized, and we shall give it as good 
culture as we know how to give. I am 
going to prove, if I can, that the time 
has come when it will pay to plant corn 
in these loafer fields and take care of the 
crop. In our short northern seasons we 
cannot stop to tarry and dream while 
crops are growing. I am glad that at 
Hope farm we can cultivate profitably 
■with a scythe when we cannot cultivate 
with a hoe. Of course, I know that there 
are those who will call such work small 
business. Possibly, yet where the soil and 
location are right a fair-sized family can 
take good care of 500 peach trees and 
500 good apple trees in sod—all but the 
picking. That, with the hay they can cut 
and the garden they can make, will pro¬ 
vide them with a fine living and more. I 
hope it is 1 worth something to the world 
to help demonstrate such things. It would 
be a good thing if every farmer would ask 
himself what he is helping to demonstrate 
at the same time that he makes a living 
on his farm. 
It is a good thing to close what might 
be a discouraging day by such reflections. 
A man on the desert who has for days 
endurud a boiling sun might work up en¬ 
thusiasm over rain, but when a Jerseyman 
has been soaked and needs sunshine, he 
knows when there is enough. After my 
wet day in the grass it seemed quite ap¬ 
propriate to open the history and read 
how the Dutch cut the dykes and let the 
water in to drive out the Spaniards. Since 
the birth of the new little queen of Hol¬ 
land I have been going over Dutch history. 
Those patriots certainly made great use of 
a “wet day.” I sat reading until long 
after the house was still and the rest of 
the family were asleep. The surface of 
Hope farm was still like a sponge, but 
our day’s work will count, and as I blow 
out my lamp at last I see a little break 
in the clouds and the faint glimmer of a 
star. We shall have sun and wind to¬ 
morrow, and no doubt within TO days we 
shall long for another wet day. h. w. c. 
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