1908. 
THE: RURAL NEW-YORKER 
857 
Hope Farm Notes 
By the time the cows were milked they 
had eaten their silage and were let out into 
the pasture again—where they pass the 
night. Mr. Squiers then went to a small 
gasoline engine which is mounted near the 
dairy room. lie touched a screw and then 
pumped for a moment and then with a 
handle turned the wheel a few times. That 
was all—-the engine did the rest. It gave 
power for the separator, the churn when 
required, ran a pump if need be and also 
healed water for washing the dairy utensils. 
Inside the dairy room Mr. Squiers ran the 
belt in to the separator and started it. As 
soon as the sound told him that the proper 
speed had been reached he turned on the 
milk and went about his other chores. The 
cream ran out into a pail while the skim- 
milk ran out through a trough into a barrel 
on the outside of the barn. When all the 
milk had been run through the cream pail 
was put in cold water, the utensils washed 
and the engine stopped. It is easy to tell 
about it; one must see the ingenious ar¬ 
rangement of power and implements to 
realize how much one man can do. 
Contrasts.— We can quickly see that 
farming in Jefferson Co. is entirely different 
than with us in northern New Jersey. There 
farming is the main business—-the only 
business in fact—and farmers are the prin¬ 
cipal business men. With us farming is a 
side issue for which too many offer some 
sort of an apology. Other lines of business 
crowd farming out. In Jefferson Co. land is 
worth about $50 an acre for good farms. 
The soil is naturally strong—good grass 
and grain lands. I was told that land 
eared corn. What farmers want in the 
silo is quality rather than bulk. I show 
this picture to make good the claim that 
$50 land in this northern section will grow 
as much corn per acre as $150 land in 
Illinois—while the value of an equal quan¬ 
tity of corn will be 20 per cent greater. 
The contrast between this giant corn and 
the little flint which we grow between rows 
of trees at Hope Farm is striking. Yet our 
flint is best adapted to our purpose and as 
we handle it, brings in more money per acre. 
Farm Problems.— Life on these dairy 
farms among the hills seems to be well 
ordered and quiet. Farmers who own the 
land seem to be contented and yet here as 
elsewhere people have dreams and ambitions 
which carry them in spirit over the hills 
and far away. While the Summers are de¬ 
lightful the Winters are cold, and the snow 
shuts the tender ones in. The labor question 
is a hard one here. Population is not in¬ 
creasing in the rural districts, and the 
average farm family is smaller than in 
former years. I was told that the average 
farm could easily double its output if it 
were possible to obtain reliable laborers. 
New methods could be tried and new crops 
like Alfalfa or roots for stock food could be 
introduced with profit so that in time the 
acreage required to support one cow could 
be cut in half, provided farmers knew where 
the labor to do these things could be ob¬ 
tained. I can understand how these dairy¬ 
men feel when some one describes a method 
of growing soiling crops so that one acre 
provides for a cow. While they may recog¬ 
nize the possibility of such a system they 
realize that their conditions are such that 
they could not carry it out. If this is a 
good country for corn it is still better for 
children. It would lie hard to find sturdier 
little ones with higher color or Armor flesh. 
A FIELD OF EUREKA CORN IN JEFFERSON CO., N. Y. Fig. 401 
was considered good security for a loan, and 
that money can be borrowed quite readily 
on it. The soil where Mr. Squiers lives 
will give more corn to the acre than land 
in Illinois which sells at $125 an acre, and 
the corn will bring 10 to .15 cents more per 
bushel. 'Mr. Squiers says he has never 
used any chemical fertilizer whatever, yet 
the land has been farmed steadily for over 
a century. An average crop of potatoes is 
200 bushels per acre. A few miles east 
is a streak of lighter soil—originally hem¬ 
lock land. Here fertilizers are used and 
large crops of potatoes are grown. On the 
farms where the owners still live the fields 
and fence rows are clean of weeds. It did 
not seem to me that the country was as 
weedy naturally as ours is. I fear I 
shocked some of these good farmers by 
telling how at Hope Farm we often let the 
weeds grow late in Summer so they may be 
cut and piled around the trees. Here, as 
elsewhere, tenant farming works the ruin 
of many a good farm. When the farm is 
given up to the tenant it is expected to 
support two families instead of one and the 
result is usually disappointment. In our 
country the tenant generally rents for cash. 
There can be no doubt about the natural 
strength of the soil near Rodman. The pic¬ 
ture on this page, Fig. 401, shows a field 
of Eureka corn grown by F. E. Isham. This 
stood 16 feet high. I saw some of the 
stalks. The crop from 1 % acre of this corn 
filled a silo 12 feet in diameter and 24 feet 
high! As I figure it that means 50 tons 
is the best crop from an acre 
of land we have record of. There was 
scarcely a well-formed ear on this corn— 
just a few small nubbins. In Maryland, or 
somewhere with a shorter season, this vari¬ 
ety might make ears and good silage, but as 
far north as Jefferson Co. the season is too 
snort. Mr. Isham says he will not use 
this Eureka again. While if makes a tre¬ 
mendous yield of stalk the silage from it 
is not at all equal to that made from well- 
These splendid children attract attention at 
once—like a high-class Baldwin apple grown 
in the Far North. The only trouble with 
the children is that there are too few of 
them. The country schools—where they are 
not consolidated—are very small. We saw 
one “little red school house” where a very 
capable teacher is giving his time to two 
pupils. If training counts for much one of 
these children surely ought to be President 
some day! Boys and girls go away from 
the farms here as they do elsewhere, as they 
have always done and ever will do. Some 
come back after a struggle with the world— 
to find a goodly land among the hills. What 
a marvelous country that would be for the 
little city children who have no homes. How 
they would color up and grow strong in 
body and soul in that pure air and in those 
substantial homes. Suppose Jefferson Co. 
doubled its output of cheese. Suppose on 
the_ other hand it. provided homes for 1.500 
waifs. Which would do the world more 
good ? 
Home Again. —I felt some regret at tak¬ 
ing the last full breath of air on those 
Jefferson Co. hills, and yet as we drove over 
the hill at night, and the lights of home 
came in view, I was well content. I wish 
I had some of those rich, level fields on my 
farm, and sometimes when the fog rolls up 
from the marsh and fills our valleys I could 
wish for the clear, sparkling air of Jefferson 
Co., yet we have our compensations too. Our 
fields are small and rough, and I find fruit 
gardens and orchards that make a better, 
showing than ours. I admit that there are 
times when it doesn’t seem as if it were 
worth while to push hard anv longer: yet, 
what we have is ours—we have dug it 'out 
of the wilderness, and no one could pay 
money enough to make us feel that we were 
getting full value for our home. The 
baked apples were extra good that night 
and as the darkness settled down upon the 
farm we had few regrets. h. w. c. 
Less Work- 
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Just a few turns of the handle instead of the 
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SIMMONS HARDWARE COMPANY (Inc.) St. Louis and New York, U. S. A. 
ST. LOUIS 
u.s.a: 
“The Kodak on 
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Is the title of a beautifully illustrated 
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15 Cents a Rod 
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