1908. 
THE) RURAb NEW-YORKER 
63S 
Hope Farm Notes 
Hay Fever Sufferer.—I print the fol¬ 
lowing without any preliminaries: 
My health is syeh that it is necessary 
for rae to get in the country. I suffer 
from a very distressing form of hay fever, 
combined with a species of catarrh. At 
this season of the year, it is almost im¬ 
possible to breathe, at night particularly, 
the nostrils being completely stopped up. 
My position is complicated by the fact that 
I ' have four children to provide for, so 
cannot go from pillar to post in search of 
health like one without encumbrance. I 
have thought it possible that this might 
reach the eye of one who was similarly 
afflicted and has found a region where a 
cure was effected. I have been treated 
by our best doctors here, but can find noth¬ 
ing but a little relief, besides spending all 
my spare cash. It has occurred to me 
that if I could get out in the country in 
a favorable location for my trouble I could 
perhaps support my family by raising fruit 
and poultry. With this end in view I have 
been gardening and poultry raising on a 
small scale for the past four years, be¬ 
sides reading up and subscribing 'to several 
farm and poultry papers. The question is, 
where to go? Some of our doctors here 
have recommended the West for the trouble 
I suffer from, Idaho or Washington per¬ 
haps. With a family and limited funds 
you can no doubt realize what a stem 
proposition I have to face, and any sug¬ 
gestion you have to offer will be greatly 
appreciated. I might say that with three 
good rugged boys, aged 11, 13 and 15 years, 
I shall soon have plenty of help. They 
have all been brought up to work and can 
weed, hoe and pick. w. 
Providence, R. I. 
This man says he does not know of 
any better way to get at the rock bot¬ 
tom truth than to ask the experience 
of all Hope Farmers. I have never suf¬ 
fered from this disease, and do not 
know where one can find relief from it. 
I call for facts, very sure that our peo¬ 
ple will help this friend if they can. 
This case bring out a new problem, 
which a good many town folks must 
face. You see the good old farm is 
still the refuge for those who find the 
pace in town too hot. Who can tell 
this man where to go to find relief and 
support his family? 
A College Course. —At this season, 
just before the colleges open, I have a 
good many letters like the following: 
I have almost made up my mind to take 
a veterinary course. I am 30 years of 
age and in good health; have a little 
money, which we have saved by living very 
economically, not enough to put me through 
but my wife is willing to help. Do you 
think it would pay me to spend three or 
four years at college, to say nothing of 
the time it would take to work up a 
practice? Is the profession over-crowded? 
Would it be better for me to buy a farm 
on mortgage and devote my whole time to 
that instead of going to college? 
inquirer. 
I like to print at least one of these 
letters every year. They take me back 
nearly 30 years to the time when I 
thought out the same hard proposition. 
I cannot say yes or no to this young 
man because I do not know all his cir¬ 
cumstances. He wants to understand 
that he and his wife will have in some 
ways a harder job than if they went 
into a wild country as pioneers. In 
fact, it will depend much upon the wife, 
for she will be forced to practice pinch¬ 
ing self-denial, if they are to keep out 
of debt, while all the glory and most 
of the benefits will go to her husband. 
Before any man starts a thing of this 
sort he should hunt up an old poem 
called “Hannah Jane,” by Locke, and 
commit it to memory. 
I am frank to say that if I were in 
this young man’s place and felt that my 
wife understood all that was ahead of 
us I would make the trial for college. 
I think there are better opportunities 
for a good veterinary surgeon than 
most men can find in law or in the reg¬ 
ular medical profession. Combined 
with farming in a good farm locality I 
believe a faithful and studious veter¬ 
inarian would have a good chance. 
There is no question about the value of 
a college education properly earned and 
wisely used. By “properly earned” I 
mean worked for with sweat and self- 
denial. Nor is there much question 
that some men find their college educa¬ 
tion more of a curse than a blessing. 
Fond and foolish parents tried to pin 
such an education upon them like a 
ribbon in their coats, instead of driving 
them barefooted through the briars to 
the gates of knowledge. I do not know 
this man or his wife, but if they realize 
what is before them and are ready to 
work in the shadow for five years and 
hang to their purpose, I would advise 
them to try the college course. Twenty 
years from now they will find that the 
college-bred man has greater power 
even than now. 
Strawberries. —I have just been over 
that Kevitt patch again, cutting off the 
runners—for the fourth time. I like to 
get rid of them before they root. It 
is not a hard job with a sharp steel at 
the end of a stick. It is surprising how 
many runners a healthy plant will try 
to make. Marshall is not with us a 
heavy plant maker, yet I surely cut 30 
runners from some plants before Au¬ 
gust 1. I trust these plants will soon 
get discouraged and throw their energy 
to producing fruit buds, but there seems 
to be too much bulldog determination 
to make runners in spite of the knife. 
The plants are making a large growth. 
By August 1 some of them covered an 
area 14 inches in diameter. Kevitt sent 
me a Glen Mary plant which had al¬ 
ready produced nine yearly crops. We 
planted it, and now it measures 54 
inches around. By this I mean a circle 
touching the tips of the lower leaves 
as they lie on the ground. I am aware 
that this seems a large story, but here 
is the plant! . . . We have dug up 
and transplanted about 1,500 Marshall 
plants from this year’s fruiting rows. 
They are put one foot apart with rows 
two feet. I want a large crop next 
year, and I reason that these yearling 
plants started early and handled after 
the Kevitt plan will give me more ber¬ 
ries next year than either layer or pot¬ 
ted plants. I do not know about this, 
but I am going to find out. Do not 
think I advise any such plan. I will 
take the risk and test it. Perhaps some 
one who has tried it will come forward 
and show the folly of the scheme. 
Wood Growth. —This has been a good 
season for most of our trees. I have 
spoken of a small space back of the 
house where we are crowding currants, 
young peach trees, strawberries and 
corn together. I measured some of the 
peach trees July 25, and found many 
of this year’s shoots over 40 inches long 
and still growing. No fertilizer or ma¬ 
nure was used on this patch except the 
mulch for the strawberries. It was-cul¬ 
tivated eight times, and great piles of 
weeds have been thrown around the 
trees. Many of the apple trees on the 
hill, in sod, without manure or fertilizer, 
show 16 inches of growth. The trees 
where we have a row of potatoes cul¬ 
tivated on either side will average 20 
inches. As for peach trees the results 
are conflicting. By far the best orchard 
we have is on a rocky ledge near the 
house, where there are barely 18 inches 
of soil above the solid ledge. These 
trees are in sod with weeds piled around 
them. Much of this year’s growth is 
24 inches long, and the branches are 
bending to the ground with Carman 
peaches. Further up the hill is another 
orchard nearly as good. These trees 
were planted by mistake as they came 
from the nursery without trimming 
either top or root. They have never 
been plowed or cultivated. The grass 
was cut and left on the ground. They 
are loaded with fine peaches, with a 
good growth of wood. On another part 
of the farm an orchard which we ex¬ 
pected to make a star exhibitor for the 
mulch method is far behind. We used 
fertilizer heavily, cut the clover and 
grass and piled around the trees, yet 
one cannot be proud of their appear¬ 
ance. They do not show good color, 
have nowhere near the growth of the 
others, and do not carry the fruit. 
Speaking of mulch I call the follow¬ 
ing note from Iowa sound common 
sense: 
Summer mulch after heavy rains for 
trees is the greatest factor of help to trees 
in western dry belts and sections. The 
Spring mulch without culture is a great 
error, as it runs water off and serves to 
dry the soil, and puts trees at a disad¬ 
vantage. But Fall and Winter mulch, if 
it is applied after long wet spells, counts 
greatly for growth, fruit and improved 
growing conditions. 
That is our experience. I would put 
the mulch on after the heavy rains, 
when the ground is soaked, and thus 
hold the water in the soil. 
Farm Notes. —At least one Hope 
Farmer wearied of our way of living 
and cleared out. He had the easiest job 
on the farm—nothing to do but eat, 
sleep and laze around, with occasional 
exhibitions of himself. It was the boy’s 
woodchuck who took French leave. 
The boy dug a large hole and put wire 
netting at the bottom and sides. Then 
he threw back the dirt and built a fence 
around it. The woodchuck walked into 
his new domain, sniffed about for a 
while and then fell to digging like a 
sandstorm. He dug until he struck the 
wire netting, J:hen he came out of his 
hole to think it over, and evidently to 
eat a few sweet apples. The boy 
thought that wire netting had discour¬ 
aged chuck, so he forgot to hook the 
front of the box while he went for wire 
to cover the yard. Those who call a 
woodchuck a stupid beast should revise 
their opinion. This one had his eye on 
the door of his box. He knew it was 
not hooked, and while the boy’s back 
was turned he pushed the door open 
and with a jump and a climb got up 
the chicken wire at the side and was off 
like a gray flash into the potatoes— 
headed for freedom. As Mother puts 
it, we are “sorry for the boy, but glad 
for the woodchuck!” Put yourself in 
his place. Take you or me and make 
us wear a high hat and white vest, 
without a weed to pull or a stroke of 
work, with nothing to do but eat our 
meals and find fault with them, and sit 
or ride about. How long would it be 
before we would use the high hat for 
a football, knock down our keeper and 
gladly go back to the farm to struggle 
with the mortgage? . . . How late 
can you put fertilizer on the corn and 
expect a benefit in this year’s crop? We 
put chemicals this year in one field on 
July 23. The stalks were yellow, and 
did not look able to mature one ear. 
I think nitrate, acid phosphate and pot¬ 
ash will get into the crop at once, but 
I should not use less soluble forms so 
late in the season unless it might be to 
help the clover and turnips which are 
to follow the corn crop in this field. . . . 
Baked apple time has come once more 
and finds us ready. A baked Porter or 
Nyack Pippin is well calculated to make 
life seem cheerful. Good sweet apples 
well baked and sliced into cold milk 
would tempt me away from a hot din¬ 
ner of meat. I would like to try the 
apple and work cure on some of these 
people who find fault with the world. 
Give me the power to compel them to 
pall weeds, drink cold water and eat 
appies and I think their nervous pros¬ 
tration would be helped. ... I have 
had more or less to say about Beauty, 
our bay colt. She has the speed of a 
race horse and the nerve of a steam 
engine, but less courage and common 
sense than any horse we ever had. At 
the sight or smell of an auto she will 
bolt, turn in her tracks, try to throw 
herself backward or back the whole 
thing. This foolish timidity spoils her 
for ordinary purposes. Her half sister 
is a small delicate sorrel, and we have 
been eager to see if she would resemble 
her father or her mother in character. 
The bay is an exaggeration of her 
mother, and we made the mistake of 
breeding Nellie to a nervous horse much 
like her in blood lines. Brownie’s 
father is of a different family—a quiet, 
gentle animal “without a mean bone in 
him” and thoroughly well bred. Now 
Brownie “takes after” her father. She 
has the nerve and spirit, but coupled 
with it that plain “horse sense” which is 
after all the most valuable trait of 
character. We have had her trained 
and broken, and now Mother drives her 
all over the country. She passes autos 
and bicycles with a glance and a toss of 
her head, but at the driver’s voice goes 
steadily on, while Beauty would throw 
herself and break things if she could. 
It is a great satisfaction to have a colt 
with common sense, and this little expe¬ 
rience in breeding has set me to think¬ 
ing hard. Here are Nellie’s two daugh¬ 
ters, one a perfect bag of nerves, the 
other calm, cool and sensible. There 
might be some “sport” who would give 
a price for Beauty, but nine out of 10 
buyers would pay twice as much for 
Brownie. Now if a farmer is raising 
heifers or sheep or hogs, and this same 
difference held true between half sis¬ 
ters, it would mean a loss or profit in 
the selection of the “head of the herd.” 
Trace up the pedigrees of “Alcyrener” 
and “Freedom,” the fathers of these 
two colts, and I am sure you will find 
in one family a list of nervous, high- 
strung individuals, and in the other a 
quieter line of horses. One simply in¬ 
tensified Nellie’s foolish and undesirable 
qualities—the other toned them down. 
I can imagine a farmer buying a pure¬ 
bred animal and being quite disap¬ 
pointed in the outcome because the 
breeding of that animal was too much 
in line with some of the things he did 
not want in his own herd. The only 
sure thing that I see for such a man to 
do is to study pedigrees and deal with 
a breeder who knows enough about the 
breed to advise him. H. w. c. 
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