70 
January 21, 
RURAL NEW-YORKER 
Hope Farm Notes 
There is a flood of questions this sea¬ 
son the like of which I have not seen 
before. 
I would like to ask the Hope Farm man 
what be would advise a single man to do 
with his money when he is working on a 
farm by the month, and can save anywhere 
from $200 to $300 a year? He is looking 
ahead to a time when he can buy a place 
of his own. J- v - 
Up here in northern New Jersey the 
best investments for such a man are 
savings banks and local building and 
loan associations. The savings banks 
pay four per cent, and are safe. The 
building and loan will often pay five to 
six per cent., and when properly man¬ 
aged are reliable. I would put my 
money into such institutions at sure in¬ 
terest even if small. Do not under any 
circumstances buy shares of stock in 
"large” institutions which promise big 
dividends. Keep out of gold mines and 
wildcat schemes, and do not loan your 
money on personal notes without good 
security. If you can get money enough 
to get a good real estate mortgage do so, 
but a man like you wants his money 
safe and at the same time where he can 
get it when necessary. I have had 
people who had “prospects” to sell find 
fault with this advice. They say the 
man who sticks to the savings bank is 
like the man in the parable who hid his 
talent in the ground. Don’t you let 
them fool you with any such argument. 
There are some born traders who can 
safely speculate, but most of us will do 
better to stick to solid things. 
Carrots and beets were sown side by side 
the last season. Carrots did well, beets 
very poorly. Can you suggest the reason? 
E. s. B. 
I can make a guess and that is all. 
One good test for the use of lime is to 
sow table beet seed. This vegetable is 
peculiarly a lime plant. Unless lime is 
present the beet will not do well, and 
this living test is regarded as a sure one. 
On the other hand, carrots, while need¬ 
ing lime, will not respond to it as 
quickly as beets do. I think, therefore, 
that the beets failed because that soil is 
too sour. I should regard it as a sure 
indication that lime or wood ashes was 
needed. 
Late Seeding to Clover. —Here is a 
question which I have often considered: 
Last Fall I purchased a farm. Two 
fields had been seeded with Timothy, no 
clover sown. The Timothy made a nice 
growth ; is so Thick I am thinking of har¬ 
rowing in Spring and sowing a liberal 
amount of nitrate of soda and phosphoric 
acid mixed, and seed at the same time with 
Alsike. Please give me your experience 
with the first seeding with Timothy. 
New York. J. o. c. 
My experience is that clover seeding 
under such conditions is almost sure to 
fail. The harrowing and fertilizing make 
the best possible treatment, but with us, 
after the grass has had a year’s start and 
made a good sod, it is very hard to 
bring clover in. I have seen this tried 
several times—never with full success. I 
think clover must have open soil or a 
very young crop of grain or grass in 
order to make a good start. 
1 have a strawberry bed which is cov¬ 
ered with straw hauled from barns uptown, 
sind it affords a line place for my neigh¬ 
bors’ chickens to scratch in, causing serious 
damage to the weaker plants. They say I 
can’t compel them to keep the hens closed 
up at this time of the year, being outside 
of the city. Do I have to fence against 
them, or what shall I do to get rid of 
them? I have no chickens of my own. 
You are against a hard proposition in 
Winter damage by chickens. You can¬ 
not compel your neighbor to keep his 
hens up. All you could legally do would 
be to sue him for the damage they 
might do. You can fence around 
the berries or if, after notifying 
your neighbor, the hens still come 
you can shoot into the flock. All he 
could do in such case would be to sue 
for the value of the hens you killed— 
unless, of course, he tried to settle. it 
personally. I never know how to advise 
in a case of hen trespass. “The Business 
Hen” with a mean man back of her can 
stir up a neighborhood row as sharp as 
the business end of a hornet. 
On page 1164 the Hope Farm man asks 
"Who is the Moses to touch this red soil 
and let the people pass out of bondage?” 
He recalls to mind a sermon preached by a 
colored preacher at Staunton, Virginia, some 
years ago. His name was Moses, and he 
was quite fond of preaching sermons 
wherein Moses figured, and in the course 
of one he referred to the wonderful view 
to be obtained at Afton, Va., where the 
mountain drops almost sheer down, reveal¬ 
ing a magnificent panorama of farms, or¬ 
chards, and old colonial houses in the val¬ 
ley below. After elaborating on same for 
two hours, he asked the choir to sing an 
appropriate hymn. They surprised him by 
rendering in fine voice, “Could we but stand 
where Moses stood, and view the land¬ 
scape o’er.” b. t. 
Well, sir, that certainly was appro¬ 
priate. I have had a number of protests 
from Southern men who say that those 
remarks about Southern farm land were 
not fair. They forget that what I stated 
represented the opinions of Southern 
farmers with whom I talked. I am not 
qualified to lay down any laws—from 
looking out of a car window, and I will 
resign the job of Moses long before it 
is offered me. The South, however, 
needs a whole army of men who will go 
down into the Egypt of those red old 
lands and “let my people go.” 
On page 1120, in "Hope Farm Notes.” I 
notice an inquiry in regard to Fall plowing. 
As you are always willing to give all a 
hearing may I beg to differ with the views 
expressed in your comment on the question ? 
I hold that ‘ however good a theory may 
be from a scientific standpoint, if experi¬ 
ence has proved to the contrary, that must 
be the guide. I have never resided in New 
Jersey and cannot say what methods are 
best employed there, but I have lived in 
New Hampshire all my life. I have always 
advocated and practiced Fall plowing as 
much as possible and I have yet to notice 
any bad results from it As a market gar¬ 
dener I find the land cannot be put in 
too good shape for planting and Fall plow¬ 
ing greatly aids in accomplishing this, and 
even on old ground a Fall and a Spring 
plowing are advantageous to a good gar¬ 
den. i hold that corn stubble and other 
roots or stubble when turned under in 
the late Fall not only rot and make 
the ground in better condition to work 
the next Spring, but also add to the fer¬ 
tilization bv decomposition. On land that 
is to be used for other than garden pur¬ 
poses and will not need a second plowing 
the coming Spring, Fall plowing greatly 
facilitates the Spring work and the land 
is accessible much earlier. To finish the 
Fall plowing just before the ground closes 
is in my opinion desirable. In this way 
sod ground is given a longer time to rot 
and become mellow. I have been a market 
gardener all my life and have for many 
years practiced Fall plowing and have used 
but little commercial fertilizer the last few 
years, and I may say with due modesty 
that such remarks by my neighbors as 
“You never had a better crop of peas,” and 
“What do you put under them to make such 
vigorous looking vines,” and the fact that 
the demand for my products is often greater 
than the supply, indicates to me no detri¬ 
ment from Fall plowing. I should like to 
hear from others who have based their 
opinion on their own experience. 
Wilton, N. H. J. L. p. 
My wish is to give all a chance in the 
discussion. I think this is largely a mat¬ 
ter of locality. Our Winters are milder 
and shorter than in New Hampshire. 
Our soil is lacking in humus. We aim 
to add all we can. Rye and clover often 
grow through our mild spells—so does 
sod. Our Springs are warmer and decay 
starts in early. In New Hampshire the 
ground freezes early and does not thaw 
out all Winter. This solid freezing 
breaks up the sod and has an excellent 
effect on the soil. Fall plowing gets the 
work out of the way, and when Spring 
comes there is no delay. With us, on 
our hills Fall-plowed land would be 
washed and gullied by the rains in Feb¬ 
ruary and March, while in New Hamp¬ 
shire there would be no such trouble. 
While I grant that our friend’s practice 
is right, I still think our Jersey soil 
should not lie bare and open through 
the Winter. 
Home Notes. —Reports from Florida 
were that the mercury went to 25 de¬ 
grees one morning. I have not yet learned 
if any serious damage was done to the 
oranges. I imagine the boy’s garden suf¬ 
fered. The climate of north Florida is 
certainly treacherous. When the warn¬ 
ings that fly ahead of this cold wave 
came the air was soft and balmy and 
people were out in their lightest clothes 
—glad to seek the shade. True, we had 
nearly as great a change in New Jersey 
within 48 hours of New Year’s Day, but 
up here we rather expect such things in 
Winter, and are ready for them. I am 
overrun with letters from people who 
want to know if they can make a living 
in Florida on a small place, and with 
limited capital. I frankly say that I do 
not know. Let these people take a map 
and measure the distance from the 
Georgia line to the end of the Florida 
Keys. Then measure the same distance 
from the southern line of New Hamp¬ 
shire down. You will reach to North 
Carolina. Now suppose you asked me 
if within this territory somewhere a man 
could make a living on a small farm! 
Florida will offer even greater diversity 
of climate and soil than the stretch of 
country at the North will. There are 
parts of the State well favored by nature 
where I think a man could do well. In 
others I should feel sorry for him. Right 
where we are people live but do not get 
rich by any means. A man can easily 
hand you out the truth about some par¬ 
ticular section of Florida, yet when you 
come to apply it 25 miles away it will 
not fit. One thing is sure—as a place 
for resting and healing the weary body 
or mind Florida in Winter cannot be 
beaten—but be sure you have the price. 
H. w. c. 
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