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RURAL NEW-YORKER 
January G, 
Hope Farm Notes 
“Get a Plenty.”— One of the most 
important documents ever signed and 
delivered at Hope Farm is the follow¬ 
ing note from one of the small boys: 
This was handed me for mailing, and 
I did not leave it in my pocket, as I 
must confess I have done at times. Sec¬ 
retary of State Knox is an able man 
and he has some large slices of trouble 
served up to him in gravy, but it is 
doubtful if he ever put more real 
thought and anticipation into a case 
than our little scamps did into these 
letters to Santa Claus. They certainly 
put a very liberal construction upon the 
duties of Santa Claus, and it must be 
said that the old fellow lived up to his 
privileges. When you have a chance to 
load up, why not do so? I know there 
are some cut and dried souls who as 
they grow old fail to mellow. These 
unhappy people consider it their duty 
to begin early and tell children that 
Santa Claus is a fake and a fraud. These 
gentlemen have a high opinion of them¬ 
selves, but had they shown up here at 
Christmas I should have given them two 
baked apples and chased them oft" the 
farm. A couple of good Baldwins ought 
to give them a little human nature. It 
is doubtful if they would have enjoyed 
them just before bedtime on Christmas 
Eve, when, before an open fire, I told 
the boys how Brother Bear and Peter 
Possum took the place of Santa Claus 
when that old fellow got sick. That 
pair certainly did a great job when they 
carried the sweet apples to the little 
woodchuck family! You, of course, 
would not be interested in it. Christmas 
was a good day from the time the 
children bounced shouting out of bed 
until the last little candle died on the 
tree and our singers ended “Lead 
Kindly Light.” 
Character Tests. —“The proper study 
of mankind is man!” That’s right, but 
like everything else it needs analyzing. 
The study of some of us older people 
would reveal little beside hardened pre¬ 
judice or opinion. If the study were 
carried far enough it would all lead 
back to childhood, where character 
starts. If, therefore, you want to study 
mankind you may well get at the book 
of childhood. In that you may help the 
race. All families wherein there are 
children come up against strange and 
hard problems. When I talk about our 
little folks it is only because we know 
them best and I try to make their little 
struggles and problems typical. 
Mother came home from town the 
other day with some pieces of choco¬ 
late for the children. For good rea¬ 
sons she did not want this candy eaten 
until after supper, so they each had a 
piece under promise that they would 
not eat it. At supper time they all came 
up with their chocolates except little 
Redhead! He stoutly insisted that he 
had not eaten it, but had laid it away 
and could not just remember where! 
Now it was of small consequence if the 
child did eat it but it would mean much 
to all of us if he lied about it. I re¬ 
gret to say that argument from history 
was against him, for he likes candy. 
The most probable thing certainly was 
that it was hidden in his little stomach. 
Still he insisted stoutly that he did not 
eat it. I am sorry to say that the dis¬ 
cussion finally reached the point where 
little Redhead saw that it would pay 
him to “confess.” Yet the little scamp 
stood up with a clear face and protested 
his innocence. There was no talk of 
punishment, but I fear we all concluded 
that Redhead had eaten the candy. 
When he found that I had my sus¬ 
picions he climbed on my knee at bed¬ 
time and said: 
“I’ll leave in the morning if you don’t 
look out!” 
The little voice trembled, for here 
was his last old friend about ready to 
question his word. We never knew him 
to hold out so before. That little voice 
troubled me all night. 
“ I’ll leave in the morning.” 
When morning came, however, he de¬ 
cided not to leave, but still stuck to his 
story. Finally the younger redhead 
found the chocolate. It had fallen out 
of his pocket, and Redhead had told the 
truth all through. These tests of char¬ 
acter come to children as well as to 
adults. I have no doubt your children 
have faced them many times. The most 
hopeful study of mankind is that which 
will teach our little ones to stand up 
straight and fair for the facts and not 
“confess” when that seems like the 
easiest thing to do. I am a little ashamed 
that I doubted little Redhead, yet all 
the arguments from history or circum¬ 
stances were against him. 
Cornstalks for a Cow. —Will you tell 
me the best way to feed cornstalks to a 
eow? I have a machine for cutting them, 
but am uncertain whether to strip the 
leaves from the stalk and use those only, or 
whether to cut up the entire stalk, leaves 
and all. J- M - 
New York. 
This has been answered a good many 
times, yet it is a live one to the person 
who has only one cow. We have little 
trouble with our flint or sweet corn 
stalks. The cow grinds them up prop¬ 
erly. If I had tough, dry stalks we 
should run them through the cutter into 
a box or barrel, pour boiling water over 
them and cover tight. Let them steam 
thoroughly and you will have a good 
imitation silage. Probably this would 
not pay for a herd of cows, but for the 
family cow it is a great way to dispose 
of stalks. 
Farm Notes. —A soft Christmas is 
Sgainst the rules, but what can you do? 
There was a week of mud and mist with 
the windmill idle all through. It is 
hard to find profitable Winter work on 
a farm under such conditions. If you 
have sod ground, you can plow, but 
somehow it does not seem natural to 
be plowing at Christmas. Of course 
there is wood to cut and chores to do, 
but the real work of this season de¬ 
mands fyost and snow. We have not 
even mulched any strawberries. The 
manure and straw are ready, but the 
ground is so soft that we would do 
far more harm than good by driving 
into the field. The horses and the 
wheels would tear up more plants than 
frost will throw out. There is the point 
about mulching. You do not work to 
protect the plants from cold—the point 
is to let them freeze and then hold the 
frost right in the ground. As it stands 
our plants are still growing. As soon as 
the ground is crusted, on goes the 
mulch. . . . The rye is growing 
through this open season. You can 
notice it greening and developing above 
ground, but the heavier growth is tak¬ 
ing place below ground. There the roots 
are spreading and filling out. Spade up 
the soil and you would be surprised to 
see what a network these roots have 
made. You will then understand why 
rye is such a useful crop for late seed¬ 
ing. It takes advantage of every warm 
spell in Winter—better than any other 
plant I know of. . . . We are still 
selling apples, though the Baldwins are 
about gone. There are some Black Bens 
left, but they do not go rapidly. Most 
people in our country recognize the 
Baldwin by its name and color, and it is 
the standard market variety still. We 
sold our fruit early to be sure of it. 
With good storage it could be held two 
months longer and average at least 30 
per cent more. . . . We have no 
brags to make about our poultry. Like 
most country people we have a flock of 
hens. There are some good “Reds” and 
a flock of Light Brahmas that are prob¬ 
ably above the average. We are now 
building a house in which to start a 
“contest” or trial. I expect to put 12 
or 15 Brahmas into this house and let 
them run a year, keeping an accurate 
account of what they eat, what they 
lay, and what becomes of the eggs. 
This is in no sense a “contest,” but 
merely a trial to see if these hens are 
a trial or a help. The job of keeping 
the cow’s record has opened our eyes 
to the need of facts and accurate infor¬ 
mation. h. w. c. 
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