©24 
Hope Farm Notes 
Wet Days. —Where is this man who com¬ 
plained about the drought? He must have 
been washed away if he lived in our coun¬ 
try. Without much warning, and after 
the clerk of the weather had cried “Wolf! 
Wolf!” several times, there started in the 
heaviest rain we have known in over 30 
years. Day after day the water poured 
down. It was a gentle, penetrating rain 
without wind enough to do any damage. 
In fact on several days while the skies 
were crying the windmill stood still. It was 
a case of water, water everywhere, but 
never a drop for the bathroom until you 
pumped it by hand. When we get that gas 
pumper over the well we can cut out all 
such conditions. The carpenters could not 
work on their job. They had the roof 
partly shingled, and the rain came in and 
softened some of the plastering. Now and 
then a chunk would fall with a smash. Our 
house is small for the big family, and the 
rain seemed to make it smaller. The 
children could not get out and play, and 
of course they w T cre restless. Most of you 
know what it is to be washed into the 
house by the rain. It is worse than a cold 
wave or a snowstorm. This, however, is 
hut child’s play compared with what hap¬ 
pens in Florida, Texas or Mexico when it 
rains. 
Outdoors the rain did great things. The 
soil was so thirsty that it swallowed every 
drop of water and wanted more. The 
Belle of Georgia peaches were just ripening. 
We got them off either between showers 
or right through them without loss. The 
Elbertas did not ripen until the rain stopped 
and this water gave them extra size. The 
later varieties probably increased 50 per 
cent as a result of this soaking. I wish 
you could have seen some of our Chairs 
Choice on Labor Day. They are in sod. 
The trees are not large but the fruit is 
brick red on the sunny side. If we could 
have had this rain divided in four parts 
and distributed through July and August 
onr conditions would have been ideal—but 
why figure on things that are out of your 
reach? The late apples will be helped by 
this deluge. We have cut all the weeds 
and trash we could and this stuff will be 
piled around the trees that are left in sod. 
I find it hard to get people to see the 
value of such work, hut if you ever try to 
develop a sod orchard you will find this one 
of the best jobs you can do in late Sum¬ 
mer. You cannot put too much vegetable 
matter around a sod tree. 
Now that the soil is well soaked we can 
turn it over and put in our rye. I believe 
it to be too late now to be sure of Hairy 
vetch, and rye is the surest crop we have. 
1 hope to sow an acre or so of wheat, that 
we may say wc use our own flour, but rye 
is the most profitable Fall grain for our 
section and we can put it in until the 
middle of October. Under our system we 
can cut part of the crop for grain and 
straw or plow it all under as seems best. 
At any rate we want every square foot of 
cultivated ground covered during Fall and 
Winter with rye or some other living crop. 
During the drought I said little about this, 
because I know it is useless to put in a 
cover crop while there is not moisture 
enough to take care of the regular crops. 
Now that rain has come we should all pre¬ 
pare to cover the soil with living plants. 
Bye is the best policeman to arrest the 
nitrates that I know of at this late season. 
1 know that some of the scientific men tell 
us rye has little value. My advice is to 
listen to them respectfully and then go and 
seed the rye. 
' Farm Notes. —I told you about the old 
horse, Nellie Bl.v. We could not save her 
after all. She improved slowly until she 
seemed out of danger, when suddenly she 
showed the same symptoms of swollen neck 
i and inability to swallow. The passage had 
I clogged again, apparently in the same place. 
The doctor told us that the trouble was 
J liable to return at any time, and in her 
weak condition there was no way of helping 
her. It was a hopeless case, and so the 
old horse passed away. She was the last 
of our “old guard” of four-footed partners 
who came with us to the farm a dozen 
years ago. The others have all gone. I 
would gladly have kept the old horse as a 
pensioner, for she linked us back to the 
past. She did her duty. She was nervous 
and foolish and wanted her own way— 
■which was not always best. I sometimes 
think those individuals with nerves or a 
cranky disposition deserve greater credit 
for the work they do than the contented 
creatures 'who have no natural devil prod¬ 
ding them on to mischief. At any rate, 
as Nellie rests in the apple orchard all her 
cranks and nerves are forgotten. She 
j helped us, and her brown daughter is left 
to do her trotting and driving in a gentler 
[way. . . . Our onion crop cannot be 
the RUR-A-Iv new-yokker 
September 16* 
called a great success. The drought 
pinched it and the onions are small. They 
are gaining now somewhat, but we step 
out of tiie ring whenever one of these big 
onion stories comes forward with a shoulder 
chip. No, I fear we must step up on our 
toes to touch the “average” of onions. The 
boy’s potato crop went back on him badly. 
That dry July pinched the life out of it. 
The potatoes are not all dug yet, but it 
looks as if the returns would be only half 
what we hoped for. On the other hand 
those two hogs are growing like ragweeds 
after a blighted potato crop. The boy has 
found that the stomach of a growing hog 
is like the bottomless pit. Kitchen swill, 
weeds, garden wastes, apples, sweet corn 
ears squash, grain, all disappear down that 
black throat, and still the cry is more! 
There will be a good profit on these hogs. 
I think they will stand for one month 
each at college. I knew a boy at college 
who was carried along by one good sow. 
Her earnings, with what he picked up him¬ 
self. carried him through. . . . Let mo 
remind all of you that cold days and nights 
are coming, and it is time to consider the 
house heating for Winter. Do not put it off 
too long, but get ready now. for a cold 
house may mean Winter-long colds or even 
pneumonia. If you use stoves get them out 
and up some of these wet days all ready 
for starting. If I had my way every farm¬ 
house in this country would have hot water 
or steam heat. You who have never tried 
it can hardly realize how much it would 
mean to have a comfortable heat distriouted 
all over the house. With stoves and fire¬ 
places only parts of the house are made 
comfortable, and family life is restricted. 
With hot water or steam, life is broadened 
out and the entire family feels better. I 
know that many feel that the 35-cent dollar 
does not make a foundation for steam heat¬ 
ers. and it is true. I wish that conditions 
were such that every farmhouse in the land 
could have these conveniences. That is 
where they belong if anywhere. 
“The Hope Farm Crowd.” —During each 
year a number of people come forward with 
a comment like this: 
“Does Hope Farm and its raft of kids 
really exist or is it just plain guff? I 
always knew newspaper men were long on 
children and dogs, but his crowd takes the 
cake. My wife says if it is a fake she will 
never look at The R. N.-Y. again.” 
New York. o. B. 
Whenever you see a fake in The R. N.-Y. 
it is your privilege to come and chop it out 
by the roots. Hope Farm could no more be 
hidden than a city set on a hill. We have 
100 acres of valley and hill at Woodcliff 
Lake, N. J., that have been here for cen- 
tries and will no doubt remain for many 
more. If my friend will come here 1 will 
walk him up and down those hills until 
ho will admit that the angle at which he 
climbs is anything but “plain guff.” The 
way to convince his wife would be to have 
her cook half a dozen meals for our family 
just as it is. As I write I can count up 
10 adults and nine large and small children 
who will sit down to dinner. Three of 
these are visitors. We have a good range 
and a convenient kitchen. Let this lady 
cook six meals, including bread baking, for 
this crowd, and the chances are that she 
will consider it anything but a fake. I 
do not know of any more practical test. 
“Takes the cake !” We will agree to take 
cake as fast as she can bake it. As for 
being “long on children and dogs.” we have 
no dog on the farm just now, and only one 
child of our own. The others are fixtures, 
however, and they are all here as repre¬ 
sented. Come and pay for the shoes they 
wear out. or darn their stockings for a 
while, and see how much “guff” there is to 
it You would not find any model farm 
here, but plenty of weeds and blunders and 
balks—probably below the average and in¬ 
ferior to your own place. Such as it is. 
however, it is all here, from the sod or¬ 
chard up to the smallest redhead. I 
think you will find, too, that the story of 
Hope Farm is a fair pen picture of condi¬ 
tions as they are. Another friends has 
asked: “Who or irhat ore -these redheads 
that you tell about?” That is a fair ques¬ 
tion, but I must leave it for another week. 
Orchard Cultivation. — “I have long 
practiced with satisfactory results thorough 
cultivation of orchards. An authority states 
that the same results can be obtained by 
plowing only two or three furrows in one 
direction midway between the apple trees. 
This would be a great economy if feasible. 
What is your experience?” H. M. 
New York. 
T doubt it unless you have just exactly 
the right kind of soil. I should want to 
know iiow much experience that “authority” 
had back of him. Rome of the best culti¬ 
vators let their orchards “rest” at times. 
That is, they let grass and weeds come in 
for a couple of years and then resume 
cultivation. They get nearly as good re¬ 
sults while the trees are in sod. yet this 
might not be an argument for no culture. 
I know that we can grow good trees and 
good crops by leaving a Strip of sod 10-12 
feet wide along the tree runs and plowing 
or cultivating the middles. The grass on 
the sod strips is cut and piled around the 
trees. On a natural grass soil, wet in most 
years, the plan mentioned would give fair 
crops at reduced cost. On lighter soils sub¬ 
ject to drought I should doubt it. 
Fertilizing Hillsides. —Here we shall 
have a good chance for an argument: 
“Is it safe, on a sandy hillside (sandy 
loam), which will be covered with rye 
and vetch this Winter, to apply enough ad¬ 
ditional chemicals, i. e., potash and slag, to 
provide for the crop to be sown in the 
Spring as well as the green manure crop? 
The object is to save time in the Spring. 
Will the fertilizer in excess of the needs of 
the rye and vetch wash away or rather 
leach away?” s. h. s. 
I would not do it. The time required 
to broadcast fertilizer will not amount to 
much, and there will be more or less loss 
by washing over such a hillside. Of 
course I know how some of the authorities 
talk about the safety of spreading Winter 
manure on hillsides or broadcasting fer¬ 
tilizer in Winter. They are at liberty to 
continue, such practice, -but I think there is 
too much risk about it. H. w. c. 
“No Hunting 7 ’ 
Signs FREE 
I want to send every Farmer 
reader of this paper enough 
fine, large, “No Hunting” 
signs to cover his whole farm 
All I ask in return for this 
favor is your name, address 
and the number and kind 
of farm gates you are now 
using. Then I want to 
send you my Special Money 
Saving 1912 Proposition on 
Iowa Farm Gates 
You will be under no obligation to me, re¬ 
member, by accepting the Free “No Hunting” 
Signs. I want you to have them, anyway. 
Later, I want a chance to convince you—as I 
have thousands of farmers—that I can save 
you 5-50 to 5250—at least 510 on every gate you 
buy from me. I can do it all right! 
But don*t bother about that right now— 
just send for your signs and tell me how 
many and what kind of gates (wood or metal, 
etc.) you now have on your farm. 
As I have only 10,000 of these signs, it 
might be a good thing to let me hear from 
you right away. I don’t want to disappoint 
any of my Farmer Friends, if I can help it. 
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