*1160 
December 2, 
Hope Farm Notes 
There lias been a great run of ques¬ 
tions lately, many of them being too 
much for us to handle alone. I would 
like help in settling some of them: 
Why is the Hope Farm man opposed to 
Fall and Winter plowing? 
I am not opposed to it, but on our 
farm it does not suit our conditions. On 
our steep hills Fall plowing means wash¬ 
ing of the soil during Fall and Winter. 
This is the great thing to avoid. While 
the soil is covered with a living crop it 
will not wash so badly. The great need 
of our soil is humus, or vegetable 
matter. As we do not keep stock, we 
must depend on green crops for this 
humus. With Fall plowing, of course, 
there is no chance for a cover crop to 
be plowed under in Spring. It pays us 
better to keep the land covered and get 
as much growth as possible before the 
middle of May. There is also the old 
question of the loss of nitrates by 
leaching during Fall and Winter. 
On the side of Fall plowing we have 
the advantage of getting the work done 
ahead and some good effect upon the 
soil. For example, an old pasture or 
meadow will often be full of wireworms 
or grubs. Fall plowing turns them up 
and the crows and other birds get many 
of them. Then the frost breaks up the 
old roots and stubble. The frost also 
has a good effect upon the soil, though 
all this gain cannot overcome the loss 
through leaching out nitrates. The 
great gain from Fall plowing is in get¬ 
ting the work done. Thus when Spring 
comes your corn and oat ground is 
ready to harrow and plant. Potato 
ground would have to be plowed again* 
As we are situated 1 would only plo\V 
sonic tough old sod in the Fall. Every¬ 
thing else is kept covered. In the far 
north some of the objection to Fall 
plowing is not sound. The soil freezes 
deep and stays frozen. 
Here is one that stumps me: 
You speak of obesity cures. You are 
right, they are no good. I have used a lot 
of them and am as stout as ever. I was 
talking to a friend to-day about it. I am 
a farmer and work hard. I do all my 
plowing and tending my crops with walking 
tools and am a light eater, but my flesh' 
is becoming a burden to me. A friend 
says that a good many years ago he 
read in the Scientific American of a 
man who cured himself of obesity by wear¬ 
ing a strong pair of six-hook woman’s cor¬ 
sets. 1 propose to get a pair of reducing 
corsets; they have some kind of a bandlet 
that the makers claim the wearers can lace 
as tight as they like and not injure the?n- 
selves. Have you or any of your readers 
had any experience in wearing corsets for 
the cure of obesity? Do you think they 
would help me any? I am so anxious to 
get rid of some of this useless flesh that I 
am like the drowning man, I grab at any 
thing. G. w. r. 
I am not competent to answer—never 
wore such an article and never was 
noted for any shape. I am told that 
many men, particularly army officers, 
wear such an outfit. Very likely a 
strong abdominal band kept tight would 
relieve a very fat person, but I doubt if 
a tight corset would actually reduce the 
flesh. It would simply squeeze such fat 
into another place; possibly give a little 
better shape and give relief to the 
weary bones and muscles which must 
carry the weight. I wish I knew how 
to help our fat friends. Right in the 
same mail I got a letter from an old 
friend who says he is so thin that he 
can hardly cast a shadow. He wants to 
know how to get fat. Thus it seems 
that fate and fat have a cold heart when 
it comes to distributing their rewards. 
This part, of New York is a natural apple 
country. The pastures and woodland where 
the cows pasture are full of wild apple trees 
from whips to trees a foot or more In 
diameter. Would it be a good plan to take 
some of these seedling apples, and plant an 
orchard, then after a year or moi'o graft 
whatever variety one wishes, or will it be 
better to buy the whips from some nursery¬ 
man and. then graft after they have a good 
start? Buying from a nursery, would you 
buy Ben Davis to graft R. I. Greening. Spy, 
and Baldwins, or what? c. j. f. 
Where you find wild apples growing 
freely you can be sure you have a na¬ 
tural apple section. Our experience 
in transplanting these natural seedlings 
for top-working has not been satisfac¬ 
tory. Top-working the larger seedlings 
to stand where they grow is good prac¬ 
tice where you can get them together 
in something like regularity. I call it 
a mistake to graft one or two of such 
trees here and there. It is a nuisance 
to chase about to them for spraying, 
pruning or picking. I would not dig 
up the little ones. Many of them are 
badly eaten by borers and will not give 
you a well-shaped tree. Better buy 
good nursery trees if you intend to 
start an orchard. I think Northern Spy 
gives about the best root system. 
Is it true that a standard variety of 
apple, say Grimes Golden, grafted on a wild 
seedling, will prove superior in color and 
quality? 
Our experience is that this is some¬ 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
times true—not always. You might dig 
up young seedlings, plant them out, cul¬ 
tivate and top-work. I doubt if you 
would, in such cases, see any difference. 
If, however, you were to top-work an 
old seedling, fully established, and then 
let it alone, except for feeding and 
pruning, I think the fruit would be su¬ 
perior. I am not an expert and not 
prepared to argue with the fruit sharps, 
but this is our experience. I think the 
reason is that the root system of the 
old seedling is best adapted to give a 
constant and steady supply of moisture 
and food. That seems to be the cause 
of any superiority in the fruit so far 
as color and flavor go. 
Advertising. —A farmer in a small 
Illinois town with about 75 barrels of 
apples wanted to advertise them in The 
R. N.-Y. It probably would not have 
paid him to do so. The cost of ship¬ 
ment would have made them too high 
for private sale. I advised him to ad¬ 
vertise in the local papers. It is often 
surprising to see how many wants can 
be supplied in this way. We always go 
to the local papers with, such wants. 
Not long ago a guest lost a small bag 
out of the wagon in the dark. We ad¬ 
vertised in a local paper and in a few 
hours after it was printed a man 
brought the bag. I was once on a local 
paper when a woman came in crying to 
say she had lost her canary bird! I 
was young and hopeful then, and told 
her to advertise, though finding a bird 
in several thousand acres of air seemed 
foolish. The woman advertised and ac¬ 
tually got the bird back. It flew into 
a tree some three blocks away and a 
boy caught it. We sell apples, potatoes, 
eggs—anything by advertising. A black¬ 
board in front of the farm will prove a 
great help, but a small note in the local 
paper will surely make sales. It will 
also help the paper and help farming. 
The average newspaper man wants to 
please his advertisers. That is often 
why the local papers advocate things 
that are a positive injury to farmers. 
Let these same farmers also become 
advertisers and they will get a much 
better showing in the paper. When we 
get parcels post these local papers will, 
if they are sharp, make much of this 
feature. If any farmer has a lot of 
good produce which he can guarantee 
my advice would be to try an adver¬ 
tisement in the local paper. Keep it 
right up. Do not try it once and then 
quit. You must hang on and get ac¬ 
quainted with people. 
Farm Notes. —The first snow came 
upon us November 14. It whitened the 
ground but did not last. The two 
younger redheads never saw snow and 
ice before. It is doubtful if they will 
ever again experience the wonder of 
that first morning look through the win¬ 
dow. Every tree on the place has been 
prepared for Winter by digging a four- 
foot circle around it, breaking up the 
sod and stirring the soil with a grub 
hoe. This is to keep away all trash 
that might attract or harbor the mice. 
Then the borers were dug out. We 
stick to the good old plan of hand dig¬ 
ging. I have tried hot lye. It works 
well if you first scrape off the gum, but 
if you are to do that, you might as 
well go on and finish with the knife or 
wire. Later a mound of coal ashes or 
light soil will be put at the base of each 
tree. This is usually all the protection 
we need against rabbits. The hunters 
do the rest! If I lived where there are 
more rabbits I should put wire netting 
around the trees. We intended to spray 
with oil as soon as the apples were off, 
but in spite of several hard freezes the 
trees are still full of leaves. They are 
dead and brown, but they stick and 
cover the trees so it would be impos¬ 
sible to spray the trees thoroughly. I 
believe this habit of carrying the leaves 
into Winter is a good thing—an indi¬ 
cation of vigor. It would be hard to 
spray anyway now for high winds have 
prevailed all the Fall. . . . Most 
of the corn fodder is still outside. It 
has been hard to dry things out this 
Fall, as heavy rains have come at in¬ 
tervals and kept the fodder moist. It 
will all make good feed, though we may 
have to use part of it to mulch the 
strawberries. It will soon be time to 
do this—the ideal plan being to put on 
the cover when the soil is frozen about 
two or three inches deep. Then you 
can hold the frost in the ground. Fine 
corn fodder makes a good mulch ex¬ 
cept that it gets in the way of Spring 
handling of the crop. What we want is 
coarse, open material which will not 
mat down over the plants, yet cover the 
soil enough to prevent it thawing out. 
Many growers have found to their cost 
that it does not pay to mulch with 
leaves, sawdust or fine manure. The 
plants must breathe and this fine stuff 
mats down over them and smothers the 
life out of them. h. w. c. 
When you write advertisers mention The 
R. N.-Y. and you'll get a quick reply and a 
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