364 
THE RURAL, 1ST EW-YORKER 
March 16, 
Hope Farm Notes 
The cold weather has hung to us 
about as close as an}- friend you ever 
had. Every now and then “Old Boreas” 
lets up for a day and we think of 
Spring work. Then he comes again 
with a harder grip than ever as the re¬ 
sult of his brief rest. The “oldest in¬ 
habitant” in our country gave it up long 
ago. We have cut samples of peach 
wood and brought them in for testing 
in water. I should say 25 per cent 
of the buds are alive yet—but who can 
tell until April? 1 will guarantee that 
when the agony is all over we shall find 
that the trees in sod have carried their 
buds safer than the cultivated or “cover 
crop” trees. This I think is because these 
sod trees matured their wood earlier. 
I have one part of an orchard handled 
after the plan of Mr. Repp of New Jer¬ 
sey. This looks well—the weeds made a 
rank cover crop. We mowed part of 
them down as an experiment—letting the 
rest stand. ... We finally have the 
mulch on the strawberries. It went on 
thick and will stay there until danger of 
heaving by frost is over. Last year 
many growers lost a good share of their 
crop in March through the thaw and 
frost and high winds. We put the over¬ 
coat on to stay this year. Let me put out 
a word of caution about buying Marshall 
strawberry plants. There are not many 
of the true variety in the country. This 
variety does not make plants freely, es¬ 
pecially in a dry season like the last one. 
Dealers simply cannot supply large quan¬ 
tities of Marshall. This variety has 
faults enough of its own without carry¬ 
ing the disappointments of any substitute. 
I should not order large lots of Mar¬ 
shall this year. About all the outside 
work we can do now is trimming, getting 
up wood and clearing the fence rows. 
I would like to be spraying, but the 
high winds and fierce cold prevent that. 
We shall have our weather yet. 
Farm Hens. —These various hen con¬ 
tests usually show what superior hens 
under good management may do. There 
you stop, for this is no line upon what 
80 per cent of American hens are doing. 
The “ordinary” hen such as we see run¬ 
ning around the barnyard is not tested. 
How many eggs can she lay. What do 
eggs cost? Does her owner keep her for 
profit or for “society?” I thought we 
might help answer this, so we have taken 
39 “hens” for a test. These hens run 
from pullets to three-year-olds—just 
about what you find in the “ordinary” 
flock. There are Leghorns, “Rocks,” 
“Reds” and some mongrels of half a 
dozen colors. Up to February 1 they 
were kept in a poor and damp house 
and had hardly laid an egg. You will 
recognize these as “ordinary farm condi¬ 
tions”—very ordinary in fact. We built 
a “new” house of old material found on 
the farm. It has an “open front” with 
curtains down in cold weather. The 
hens are fed from hoppers. We simply 
weigh out 10 pounds of the crushed 
grain which the horses eat and put in 
the hopper. In another box meat scraps 
are kept and in another shells and char¬ 
coal. The hens also get the table scraps 
and warmed water. They have a box to 
dust in. During Summer they will have 
a run to the brook and grain in a self 
feeder. They must do the rest if we 
keep the house clean. Now these are 
busy farm conditions, and I intend to see 
what these hens will do in one year. 
A Fair Show. —Of course I know that 
the experts will say this will not show 
anything. I think it will show me some¬ 
thing I have not learned from the ex¬ 
perts, for who really knows what ordi¬ 
nary “hens” actually do when left to 
care for themselves? It may be an¬ 
swered that it makes little difference, 
since that is not the way to keep a hen. 
That is true, but the great majority of 
them are kept that way. At any rate 
we intend to run these hens for a year 
on this plan. After a few days of tuning 
up the first eggs came. There was a 
wild rush on the part of these “ordi¬ 
nary” birds to eat the eggs before they 
were cold. We have cured that by feed¬ 
ing meat and providing a dark laying 
place. I intended to start March 1, but 
as the hens began to show their apprecia¬ 
tion on February 15 we started on that 
date. Up to March 1 they laid 107 eggs. 
Had we bought them the cost would be 
$3:34. I cannot give the cost of feed, as 
the hoppers have not been emptied. Of 
course I know that this is only a little 
over 18 per cent of a perfect record, 
while others claim 60 and 70 per cent. I 
simply give you the facts and ask you 
to wait until these ordinary hens get 
going. 
Home Notes. —The apples are holding 
out well, and the children are hearty, so 
there are two elements at least which 
defy the Winter. A friend in Massa¬ 
chusetts sent the little boys a pair of 
Airedale terrier puppies. They are fine 
specimens of the breed, and if you ever 
knew what it means to a boy to have 
a dog of his own you can realize things. 
It was an Airedale that won the grand 
prize for best American dog at the great 
dog show, and our boys seem to think 
they have royalty in fur at their heels. 
Then another good friend has sent us a 
wire-haired fox terrier puppy. This dog 
has a pedigree alive with rat killing, for 
his father is a famous rat hunter. This 
little fellow is a good one at it too. 
I never saw a smarter or more intelli¬ 
gent dog. So you see Hope Farm is 
strong on children and dogs if in noth¬ 
ing else. I think a well-bred and well- 
trained dog may become a good com¬ 
panion and helper to a child. None of 
your curs and chance-bred mongrels, 
but a purebred dog with selected ances¬ 
tors has something very much like char¬ 
acter. I could easily stir up some of 
you older men to admit the affection 
you had for some shaggy and lop-eared 
little four-footed friend back on the 
farm. I think Children have a right 
to a childhood with all that ought to go 
with it, and some living affectionate pet 
of their own is part of it. When I was 
a boy in a seacoast town there was a 
big Newfoundland dog—the finest beast 
in fur I ever knew. He saved several 
drowning men, fought like a tiger to 
defend a child, and yet would lie pa¬ 
tiently and let the child pull his ears 
and tail. Several years ago I started to 
import several dogs from Newfoundland, 
but I learned that they cannot stand 
our warmer climate. They suffer so in 
Summer that life is a misery. You 
notice that you rarely see one of these 
fine dogs. If they would thrive here I 
should have a pack of them for the 
redheads. And by the way here is a 
good one: 
I wish to say to the Hope Farm man. 
please do not call those innocent little 
children redheads. They are not responsible 
for their misfortune and it is hard enough 
to bear, as I know from experience, without 
being reproached with it. A child’s feelings 
are very sensitive and little things seem 
large to them. It is bad enough to be 
singled out from the majority by a conspic¬ 
uous mark. Don’t let them know you call 
them names. I know some people say they 
like red hair; it is beautiful, they wouldn't 
like it on their own heads. j. e. w. 
Well, sir, I never thought before that 
our redheads regarded their flaming top 
as a misfortune or that it was a term 
of reproach. I once referred to our lit¬ 
tle folks as “scamps,” and was called 
down by one reader who says he looked 
up this word in the dictionary! There 
may be older redheads who feels as our 
friend indicates, but our little folks do 
not. 
Here is a problem which I wish you would 
put “up to the push.” About a year ago 
1 came into possession of a farm consisting 
of about 22r> acres more or less, all of ISO 
being good tillable red shale, and not bled 
to death either, as during the current year, 
with a tenant on it who found his own 
stock and tools and paid one-half taxes and 
one-half of commercial phosphates and seed, 
receiving full half share, the place paid a 
good little bit better than 10 per cent. I 
am no farmer and never was, and there is 
due on the place $2,500. Two weeks ago 
I thought I knew what to do with it, my 
hope of paying it off being through fruit, 
etc. But “God disposes” and to-day I, who 
have been sound as a nut. am carrying a 
paralyzed left hand; the doctor holds out 
no hope it will ever be right again. My 
left hand was my right, so you see I can 
do nothing at my trade and have never car¬ 
ried any stock. What would you do. sell 
out or hold on? What crops would pay me 
best so as to hold on? Can you or “my 
brothers” suggest a winning game for me? 
z. 
This, I understand, is a genuine case. 
Of course no one can give definite 
advice from a distance, but were I in 
this man’s place I would stay by the 
farm and work it. Lie will be better out 
of doors, and will be able to train his 
other hand. I know a man who has 
done this and with his best hand totally 
gone, he can plow and hoe and shovel 
with one arm. No one can outline crops 
or rotation. That will have to be 
thought out on the place, but this man 
will find a better chance for his thought 
and energy right on that farm—rather 
than “retiring” to eat his heart out 
with regrets. We will welcome sugges¬ 
tion from other afflicted persons who 
have faced similar troubles. Our folks 
are good at that. You remember that 
woman with her five children? Well, 
people have come forward to help her. 
I hope she will get a job. h. w. c. 
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