1909 
043 
Hope Farm Notes 
Bic; Berry Crop. —I promised to go 
to T. C. Kevitt’s place on June 16 and 
see if he could make good on his great 
berry growing claim. Kevitt set this, 
date over six months ago and said he 
would show plants each carrying a 
quart of berries and planted so close 
together that there would be a crop of 
50,000 quarts on an acre. That is the 
claim as I stated it to the crowd on 
Kevitt’s place. It was a bold thing for 
a man to tell six months ahead what he 
can do, and I think most of us went 
there expecting to find a good many ifs 
and buts about it. 
Kevitt has about 11 acres in berries. 
Some are grown for plants, others are 
newly set and still others not planted 
on the system he advocates. There 
were about two acres which he offered 
as evidence of what he can do. As 
is now well known, these plants are 
set in beds. Each bed contains five 
rows one foot apart with the plants set 
one foot apart in the row. Thus each 
square foot of the bed is occupied by 
a plant. The runners are all cut off 
so that each original plant retains its 
strength and develops a great root and 
crown. Between the beds arc alleys 
wide enough for a careful picker to 
stand in and reach over into the bed. 
I he best part of the field was a patch of 
Cden Mary, which was originally set 
October 6, 1906, and this was the place 
we took for the test. All who knew 
the Glen Mary realized that it could 
not be in full fruiting at this date. 
There were a few large ripe berries on 
each plant and 100 or more green ones 
ranging all the way from those just 
forming from the blossom to those all 
ready to color. We took a sample plant 
on one of the outside rows—not the 
best we could find by any means. All 
the berries, green and ripe, were taken 
off this plant. There were more than 
150 of them and they more than filled 
a quart basket. It was evident that 30 
or 40 of these small green berries 
would, if left on the plant, grow to full 
size. I should say that about 40 aver¬ 
age Glen Mary strawberries would fill 
a basket. This plant was selected and 
picked in the presence of such men as 
Judge Blair, of Jersey City; Dr. Ward, 
of the N. J. Horticultural Society and 
prominent fruit men from all over. I 
called upon the company publicly to 
say then and there if that acre was 
good for 50,000 quarts. I also talked 
with at least 50 persons privately. I 
could not get anyone to say that he 
ever saw more fruit on an acre. It 
was admitted generally that the plant 
which we selected and picked would, 
with a reasonable amount of moisture, 
ripen nearly or quite two baskets of 
berries. We did not, of course, count 
the missing plants, but there were, I 
should judge, between 40,000 and 45,000 
plants on the acre. Some of the plants 
mi the inside rows, especially where 
they had made a rank growth, were, 
not as well fruited as the outside rows, 
but there was a good set of fruit on all. 
1 lie picking will cover nearly or quite 
three weeks, so, of course, I cannot 
give the actual number of baskets taken 
fr °m the acre. On the next day, June 
17, Kevitt expected to take about 12,000 
quarts from the entire field. 
Now, no one feels the need of being 
conservative about such statements any 
more than I do, for I see all the time 
the sad results from printing these 
plausible big stories. My conviction is, 
however, after seeing Kevitt’s fruit and 
studying our own berries this year, that 
it is entirely possible to grow 40,000 
or more baskets of some varieties on 
an acre. To do this I should want such 
varieties as Glen Mary, the old Parker 
Earle and _ others which set a great 
many berries of an inferior quality. 
I he most favorable conditions of soil 
and moisture will be needed, and I 
doubt whether one man in 10,000 can 
acquire the skill and patience required 
to carry the plan through. No man can 
ho it on light soil nor can he do it 
with such varieties as Marshall or 
other naturally light croppers. T 
tmnk, however, that with proper care 
1 hner crop of these varieties can be 
giown in hills than when the vines run 
m matted rows. \\ hen the season is 
over I can give some facts and figures 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
regarding this method. I think Kevitt 
puts the plants too close together for 
best results. Where his plants were 
largest they grew together so that the 
inside rows were somewhat like the in¬ 
side of a wide matted row. His best 
yield seemed to be where the plants 
were smaller—with less vine to shade, 
so that the sun got at the fruit. My 
own plan is to put the plants two feet by 
15 inches. This gives a chance to 
work both ways and also gives each 
plant more light and air. 
There was hardly a weed to be found 
on Kevitt’s place while inv own berries 
are getting foul. I have' not thought 
it best to pull weeds while the fruit is 
ripening. Kevitt does not seem to do 
any horse work at all. I saw a gang 
of men with hoes chopping out the 
weeds in some newly set plants. We 
should have worked most of that with 
a horse. I understand Kevitt buys five 
to six carloads of city manure each 
ball and gives the entire field a coat 
of mulch. I his means about eight tons 
to the acre, which represents all the 
plant food that is given. In the Spring 
the manure is raked away from the 
plants and worked into the soil. I 
have hesitated to talk much about this 
tiling because I realize how easily I can 
send people astray. A few people can 
make considerable money at this plan 
but I fear 100 will drop money where 
one will pick it up. 
Farm and Home. —\\ e got the last 
°t .the rye hay into the barn June 21. 
This is a little later than last year. We 
try to cut rye when in bloom but this 
year the rains held us up and we were 
nearly 10 days late. I have often ex¬ 
plained why it seems to pay us better 
to turn the rye into hay rather than 
let it go to grain and straw. You must 
remember that practically all our crops 
are grown among young trees. From 
the middle of June until grain can be 
cut is usually the critical time with a 
tree—for it needs all the moisture it 
can get. Few things suck the moist¬ 
ure out of the soil like a grain plant 
while maturing its seed. We do not 
want such plants in the orchard. While 
rye makes the poorest hay of any of the 
grains, our horses eat it quite readily 
in \\ inter.The corn looks 
well, especially where we plowed under 
Crimson clover. It looks like a good 
corn year with us. That is as it should 
be considering the prospect for high 
prices. My plan of growing corn after 
corn, year after year, with clover and 
turnips at the last cultivation is work¬ 
ing out well. 1 see no chance for 
trouble with it except danger from 
corn smut, which is likely to grow 
worse each year. On part of the field 
the clover does not do its best because 
the soil lacks lime. 1 am satisfied that 
lime does not suit the young corn crop 
very well, but I have a scheme for scat¬ 
tering lime in the corn rows in late 
July and cultivating it in. Then about 
two weeks later I will sow the clover 
seed. I do not think this late liming 
will bother the corn, while I am sure 
it will help the clover.The 
little girls wanted to make some money 
this year, so I gave them a piece of 
strawberries back of the smaller barn. 
I hey pick and sell all they can and 
have made quite a little from it al¬ 
ready. This patch has now been fruited 
five years and we shall keep it going 
a few years more. One hot afternoon 
last week the girls were picking with 
visions of dollar bills and what they 
stand for floating about them, when 
there appeared a strange band upon our 
hill. Some 40 persons appeared against 
the sky and some walking, others run¬ 
ning and still others rolling down hill. 
Hope Farm had surely been invaded 
from the rear. It turned out to be a 
crowd of “fresh air” children from 
New York. They had been out walk¬ 
ing and had lost their way in the woods 
and were now hunting for the road. 
The lost children that you read about 
in books present a sad appearance, but 
these “fresh airs” were anything but 
unhappy. They rolled and danced and 
shouted as if it was great sport to be 
lost. Our folks rounded them up on 
the lawn and the girls donated nearly 
a dollar’s worth of their hot-earned 
strawberries as a treat. The little 
“fresh airs” sang their songs, absorbed 
the berries and finally went on their 
wav as if they thought it a great treat 
to. he lost. .... Does anyone 
with ordinary facilities for obtaining 
pickers succeed in growing both cherries 
and strawberries? The combination is 
too much for us, and I am glad I did 
not yield to the temptation to plant a 
good-sized bunch of cherry trees. It 
is almost impossible to get cherries 
picked. Strawberry picking comes at 
about the same time. We find it hard 
to induce people to mount a tree, also 
the average cherry picker will eat more 
than he puts in the basket. The aver¬ 
age person comes to a point where he 
• cannot absorb more strawberries, but 
I have yet to find a person who reaches 
this point with cherries. My advice is 
not to mix the two kinds of fruit. In 
theory cherry culture offers great re¬ 
turns, but the picking problem is a 
tough one. 
’Zwei back.” —The following question 
is. out of my line, but happily a wise 
friend is able to answer it for me: 
Will you tell me what ‘‘zwieback” Is, 
as a vegetable, also about the “lentils.” 
The dictionary says they are of the vetch 
family. My Bible says they are beans. 
The recipe given in the report of the 
“vegetarian roast” says use “pens and 
lentils." MRS. j. H. B. 
Zweiback means twice-baked, and the 
name is given to a species of hard 
bread, often prescribed for dyspeptics. 
It is made as follows: Scald one cup 
milk, add half a teaspoonful salt, and 
when cool dissolve in it half a cake of 
compressed yeast. Stir in flour to make 
a batter that just drops from the spoon. 
Let the bowl stand in a pan of warm 
(not hot) water, and when the sponge 
is full of bubbles add two rounded 
tablespoonfuls butter, creamed with one- 
fourth cup sugar, and two well-beaten 
eggs. Add more flour, knead until a 
stiff dough, and let rise until it doubles 
its bulk. Bake like any other bread, and 
when one day old cut into half-inch 
slices, and put them into a moderate 
oven until they‘are dry all through and 
lightly colored.' ;-■•* _• 
I he vetch, the lentil and the true bean 
all belong to the same family, the. Legu- 
minosac. I he lentil, Lens esculenta, is 
a pea-like annual, cultivated in Egypt 
and Palestine from remote antiquity. It 
is still largely cultivated in southern 
Europe and the East. It is highly nu¬ 
tritious, and forms a valuable food, but 
is less used in America than abroad. Its 
protein takes the place of meat in vege¬ 
tarian recipes. The red pottage for 
which Esau bartered his birthright was 
probably made from lentils, h. w. c. 
Cultivating a Drained Swamp. 
If. K., Milwaukee, Wis .—I own 120 
acres of land close to an inland lake. Tbe 
peat extends down about four to six feet. 
At tbe present time it is rather wet The 
town intends to drain all lands in the sur¬ 
roundings. '1'be soil is virtually tbe same. 
If such lands were properly drained can 
tbe land in such case be used for ordinary 
farming, or would it have to lie used for 
some special crops? After land is drained, 
bow must tbe land be treated? Can you 
refer me to any special reading on that 
kind of land? 
Ans.— You will get useful pamphlets 
on handling such lands from the fol¬ 
lowing: German Kali Works, New 
York; Illinois Station, Urbana; Indi¬ 
ana Station, LaFayette; Rhode Island 
Station, Kingston. This drained peat is 
usually very sour, and lime should be 
used, one ton or more per acre. The 
soil contains a large amount of nitrogen, 
a little phosphoric acid and still 
less potash. After the land is drained 
it should-be plowed deep, if possible, in 
the Fall, and left with the rough fur¬ 
rows exposed through the Winter. Bet¬ 
ter plow in narrow lands, using the dead 
furrows as open ditches. If you can 
get wood ashes at a fair price, you will 
have a good fertilizer for such land, as 
the ashes contain lime, phosphoric acid 
and potash. If you cannot get ashes, 
lime and potash will pay best. Put the 
lime on the rough furrows and harrow 
it in, and broadcast muriate of potash. 
Corn is one of the best crops for start¬ 
ing such soils. When thoroughly drained 
potatoes do well. After such land is 
limed grass does well, but if it is kept 
sour Timothy and clover will die out. 
but Re>d-top will thrive. When such 
land is subdued such crops as celery, 
onions and other garden crops give 
heavy yields. 
When you write advertisers mention Tub 
R. N.-Y. and you'll get a quick reply and 
“a square deal." See guarantee page 8. 
Is Granular Lime a Profit- 
Maker ? 
Our agricultural colleges and the 
ablest authorities—men who are quali¬ 
fied to speak from practice, experience 
declare that it certainly is profitable 
to sow granular lime. The trouble has 
been that machines for handling this 
product, as well as nitrate of soda, land 
plaster, dry wood ashes and commer- 
cial fertilizers, had not been, strictly 
speaking, a success. These materials 
are hard to sow, and the sowing re¬ 
quires a machine that will spread the 
materials evenly over the surface of 
the ground. However, the Farmers’ 
I'avorite Broadcast Lime and Fertilizer 
Sower, manufactured by The American 
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Springfield, Ohio, is a success, and it 
is guaranteed to handle the above ma¬ 
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Many farmers in the East have for a 
number of years been using these ar¬ 
tificial fertilizers, distributing them on 
the soil by various methods. The bene¬ 
fits of these fertilizing agents are, with¬ 
out doubt, intended for the soil and 
not especially for the seed. Therefore 
it naturally follows that the best re¬ 
sults are obtained by fertilizing all .he 
soil from which the plants obtain their 
growth and sustenance. We must ad¬ 
mit the logic in this latter method, be¬ 
cause the practices in Europe, where 
the crops average more per acre than 
they do in this country, are in direct 
line with this latter method. We urge 
our readers to send now to the manu¬ 
facturers for a copy of their Farmers’ 
Favorite Broadcast Lime and Fertilizer 
Sower booklet and any other informa¬ 
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given. When you have looked into this 
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