iooa. 
948 
Hope Farm Notes 
Farm Notes. —We tried a new plan 
at digging part of the potatoes this 
year. There were not enough left in 
the ground to pay us to fit up the big 
digger. Our crop was in small patches 
too. I had been using the big Cutaway 
disk plow in fitting land for rye, and as 
an experiment we tried it as a potato 
digger. The disk was set into the 
ground as far as it would go at one side 
of tile row. It was hard on the horses, 
but soil, potatoes, vines and all were 
tossed over and spread out. About half 
the potatoes were exposed and most of 
the rest came out with the harrow. A 
few potatoes were sliced and cut. I 
cannot recommend the scheme for gen¬ 
eral use, yet with close growing kinds 
like R. N.-Y. No. 2 it is a quick way of 
digging. . . We like that disk plow in 
some situations. In mellow and open 
soil it tosses up the earth and makes a 
fine seed bed. One piece of rye worked 
with the disk and then with the spring- 
tooth was about as near to an “ash 
heap” as anything I have seen. The 
disk also works well among small round 
stones but with large or loose flat 
stones it rides over too many, and 
leaves too much soil unworked. In a 
sod it tears up and leaves too much 
grass on the surface, unless you are 
prepared to work the ground several 
times over. We are using it this Fall 
on an old field which is being cleared of 
small stumps and brush. . . By October 
15 practically all the face of Hope Farm 
wore a beard for WEntcr—that is, car¬ 
ried some living crop. As fast as the 
potatoes came out we used the spring- 
tooth back and forth until the surface 
was level, then sowed rye and harrowed 
again. This gives rye a fair chance, and 
it will make quite a growth before the 
ground freezes solid. No other crop 
that I know of can stand rough treat¬ 
ment like rye. We cut a good share of 
our rye when in bloom and cure it for 
hay. As for the feeding quality of such 
hay, our horses have had nothing else 
for the past two months. They will 
soon begin on cornstalks for Winter. 
With the earlier-sown rye we seeded a 
mixture of Red and Alsike clover. The 
little plants are well past the third leaf 
—they can take care of themselves. . . 
We have used lime freely in all soil 
where rye and clover have been seeded. 
This lime was put on at once after 
plowing, and well harrowed in. This is 
by all odds the best way to use lime. 
I have spread it on old meadows or 
clover and left it on the surface as an 
experiment. It is too slow in acting 
under such conditions—I doubt if it 
will pay to lime a sour old meadow 
without plowing and re-seeding. I be¬ 
come more and more convinced that it 
pays us to take a small piece of land 
and work it thoroughly rather than try 
to tear up more area by half work¬ 
ing it. We tried a crop of sunflowers 
this year as an experiment. The yield 
is heavy and when the time came for 
harvesting we hardly knew how to go 
at it. It is quite easy to drive through 
the field, cut off the heads and throw 
them into the wagon, hut in this wav 
many of the seeds are shelled out and 
lost. Having a lot of empty bags, I 
tried the plan of taking two rows at a 
time with a boy to follow and hold a 
hag open. By cutting off the heads with 
a sharp knife and throwing directly 
into the hag, we saved our seed and 
found the crop easy to handle. The 
hags we emptied in a dry place, and we 
found about half the seed left in the 
hag. I he rest can he knocked out on 
stormy days. I shall cither sell the 
seed or grind it up with the grain for 
stock food. 
himrr.—Last year we lost' most of our 
apples by picking them too early. The 
weather turned hot and the fruit melt- 
c d away in the cellar. This year we arc 
THE RURAIi 
leaving the fruit on the trees later, and 
selling everything that softens at once. 
There has been a fine trade in windfalls 
—both Baldwin and Greening. These sell 
at an average of 40 cents for a peach 
basket in our local markets. You must 
remember that those windfalls drop 
but a short distance and strike a soft 
place on the sod. You would hardly 
know they had fallen. T he hand-picked 
fruit will bring more. We gave up the 
barrel trade last year, and started this 
year to sell in boxes. There is more 
profit in smaller packages, and practical¬ 
ly all our fruit will be handled in bas¬ 
kets. The smaller the package the more 
careful you must be about packing. 
Many customers might buy a barrel to 
advantage, but their cellars are hot aid 
they cannot hold the fruit. The entire 
tendency in buying food is to select 
small packages and get them often. 
That is what the apple trade is coming 
to more and more. As for quality our 
apples never were better. . . The 
strawberries promise to go into Winter 
properly. They have made large plants, 
and we have kept them well cultivated. 
We arc satisfied that two feet each way 
for Marshall plants is on the whole best 
for our planting. This gives horse work 
both ways and makes a better job of 
cutting off runners. We shall put on the 
mulch when the ground freezes solid. 
There has been some argument about 
the best time to mulch. Some argue 
that the cover should go on before the 
ground freezes. The argument is that 
even a light freezing lifts the plant a 
little, and that November is as bad as 
March. It is of course understood that 
the object of mulching is not to protect 
plants in Winter, but to prevent rapid 
changes of freeze and thaw in Spring. 
The conditions which surround the plant 
in November are very different from 
those found in March. In one case 
the plant is at its best, full of life, and 
so firmly rooted that freezing in the 
upper soil will not disturb it. In March 
the plant is feeble and the roots have 
no such hold in the soil, so that a light 
freeze might lift them. My idea is to 
keep the plants growing as long as pos¬ 
sible and then cover. . . We hope to 
begin spraying with soluble oil late in 
November. There is some scale in two 
of our orchards, and the wisest plan will 
be to go over everything thoroughly this 
Fall, provided we can get a time when 
the winds are still. 
Home Notes. —The long nights have 
come, and with them arrives the best 
test of the strength of a farm home. 
As the weather gets colder the family is 
driven together, and must grow or 
stagnate. It will all depend upon the 
family spirit and interest. I can easily 
imagine people to whom the coming of 
Winter is hateful because it breeds 
gloom and sorrow. Others look forward 
to Winter as a time for genuine rest 
and recreation right at home with their 
own family. It’s all in the way you look 
at things. Our folks are all too busy to 
feel discontented. Mother has blocked 
out the children’s studies, and they are 
hard at it. We have all planned a 
course of reading. One boy is scouring 
the library in search of books on ani¬ 
mals. Roberts is his favorite author. 
When some one told him what Roose¬ 
velt said about “nature fakers’’ the ex- 
Prcsidcnt cut himself off forever from 
one future vote. We have all picked out 
our reading for the Winter—good clean 
books that give us visions of hopeful 
things. With good reading, plenty of 
work and plain food and hope in the 
home these Winter nights will pass like 
happy days. 
But a cold house and dim lights will 
discourage almost anyone. We started 
the fire in our heater on October 12 at 
the first hard frost. We get more and 
more satisfaction out of our hot water 
system. At this season a light wood fire 
is ample, while in zero weather we can 
make the fire roar if need be and find 
Florida inside the house. An open fire¬ 
place is another great home organizer. 
When the family can end their cold 
day before a roaring fireplace you can 
feel pretty sure of them. All such 
things help make home feeling. One of 
the boys tells me that lie can hardly 
sleep some nights because the brook 
NEW-YORKER 
makes such a noise rushing along over | 
the stones. That boy does not realize yet 
that wherever lie goes in after years he 
will at times hear the voice of that 
brook. 
There ought to be if possible a bright 
light in every home when night comes. 
A dim light or a smoky lamp is depress¬ 
ing, I would make the night around the 
table as much as possible like day. I 
like to feel that when people pass our 
house at night or look across the valley 
in our direction the light is clear and 
bright enough to attract them. If a 
farmer can afford gas in his house he 
would better put it in. If not get the 
best lamp you can afford and let your 
light shine. Those of us who live in 
lonely country places ought to figure as 
best we can to make the Winter nights 
cheerful. A child or two will prove a 
great blessing at such times. The baby 
often breaks in upon me just when I do 
not want to'be disturbed, and demands 
that I kick football with him! If I 
should feel a little depressed at the time 
I should certainly go out into the hall 
or down cellar with a couple of candles 
and kick his little football. It is a won¬ 
derful thing to get back as close to 
childhood as you can—especially in 
Winter when Nature seems asleep. 
College Education.— I print the fol¬ 
lowing as a fair sample of many letters 
from young farmers. There arc thou¬ 
sands of young men who arc trying to 
decide this problem of education. The 
great knot for them to untie is the true 
value or importance of what a college 
can give them. Do they really need 
the schooling? 
I am a farmer lad, 22 years old; the 
occupation I have chosen Is fruit growing 
with poultry a a a side line. Now I would 
like some advice. What do you think 
would lie Hie best, to rent a small place 
and begin and learn it by myself, or to 
wait until 1 had saved enough money to 
take me through an agricultural college 
for a year, and then try to get a situation 
on some large fruit farm, or try to get 
a sltunt.lon with some up-to-date fruit 
grower and learn the business there? I 
haven’t much money, so It would lie slow 
work to rent a place, and l would have to 
work a couple of years before I could earn 
enough money to go to the agricultural 
school, and it seems to me to he the best 
to try to get: a situation on a good up-to- 
date fruit farm, for several years. There 
are no fruit farms around here, or I would 
he working on them. Which do you think 
would he the better plan? If the latter 
how am I to tlud that place that wants a 
man? w s c 
New York. 
Now, T am going to put this question 
tip for decision. It is a good idea for 
a discussion, and I think the best peo¬ 
ple to decide it are the hoys and young 
men. I want to hear from those who 
are looking through the door of en¬ 
trance to the college. They have the 
vision and the hope. Then let us hear 
from those who have worked their way 
through college. They have the experi¬ 
ence and they can tell us whether the 
college education pays. If I were in 
this young man’s place I would work- 
on the farm and take a short Winter 
course at some good college. That 
would give him an idea as to whether 
it will pay him to go on. At present 
lie does not know. At this Winter 
course he will meet men and boys from 
all over the State or country. That will 
help him locate in some good section 
if he wants to learn fruit growing as 
a business. If he is a hard worker 
and energetic he can get far more than 
book knowledge at the school. That is 
my advice. Let us hear from the 
younger men. Here is one of your own 
kind eager to make the most of himself. 
Let us help him. w. n. c. 
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ITheuThrive&Fallenl 
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Hog Cholera and 
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ace unkno wn where 
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A necessity for cooking food for 
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Tecumseh, Mich. 
aKHS 
out 
if 
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r# 
AUTOMOIUI.KS ItOIKillT ANI) SOLD 
Honorable and fair treatment to all. 
■Sample copy "Auto Review" free. 
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lolS-liKll Broadway. Cor. •I'.lth St., Now York 
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