862 
August 10, 
Hope Farm Notes 
The Fly Problem.— The house fly 
and the mosquito are up against a 
“campaign of education - ’ which will 
sooner or later clean them out. A “cam¬ 
paign of education” gets people back to 
the origin of things. The principle is 
that you can clear out a baby easier 
than you can whip a grown-up. A mil¬ 
lion men might be trained to slap mos¬ 
quitoes, but they would make less head¬ 
way toward extermination than one 
man who studied out the life habits of 
this pest. It always breeds in stagnant 
water. The little “wrigglers” must spend 
their life where such water abounds. 
Thus the man who knows this may, 
with an oil can or a hoe, kill millions, 
while the “slapper” could get dozens. 
Thus the farmer who means business 
puts screens over doors and windows 
and then makes sure that no stagnant 
puddles are left around his house. An 
old tin can half filled with water and 
left out of sight behind a tree may 
breed thousands of the sharp-nosed ras¬ 
cals. We have screened off a part of 
the front porch -and cleared out the 
puddles. Even with this some nights 
the air is thick with “Jersey birds” 
which are blown in from other neigh¬ 
borhoods. We can sit behind our 
screens and let the heathen rage on the 
outside. The house fly nuisance is 
nearer settlement with us this year than 
ever before. With many little children 
running in and out screens are only 
half effective, so long as the flies are 
permitted to breed without restriction. 
Here again is where' the entomologist 
beats the fly catcher. We know that 
this hideous fly breeds in manure. So 
long as the manure piles are left ex¬ 
posed this nasty creature will come 
forth by the million and make straight 
for your house and your food. His track 
marks are alive with the germs of dis¬ 
ease. We have the manure hauled away 
every few days. It goes to the top of 
the hill far from the house. There can 
be no question that this practice cleans 
out the flies. Years ago it was thought 
these nasty creatures were “spontane¬ 
ously generated” as punishment for sin. 
There was some truth in part of the be¬ 
lief. The “campaign of education” 
turned the light on the domestic habits 
of i\Jr. and Mrs. Musca domestica. Yc5u 
must understand such habits of flies or 
of people in order to get rid of them or 
“uplift” them. A single fly will lay 
about 120 eggs. These eggs hatch in 
six or eight hours after being laid, and 
in about 10 days the fly is full grown 
and ready for business. Thus in one 
Summer there will be 12 or 13 genera¬ 
tions—each laying more eggs than the 
average hen! All this is dependent on 
the fact that Mrs. Musca domestica 
can find a reliable incubator for her 
eggs. She herself is less broody than a 
Leghorn hen, and the only reliable fly 
incubator is made by Horse and Com¬ 
pany. While the eggs are often laid in 
other manures and in decayed vegeta¬ 
bles, horse manure is the only reliable 
incubator for fly eggs! Put that down 
as a fact and then organize a prohibi¬ 
tion party by prohibiting the use of the 
incubator for any such purpose. Where 
only one or two horses are kept the 
manure may be kept in a shed or stall— 
with all windows and doors screened. 
Wheel the manure into this place as fast 
as made and keep the doors shut. The 
flies cannot get in to lay their eggs, and 
in a very few days you will notice the ef¬ 
fect. Where there are more horses haul 
the manure every few days and plow it 
under or pile far from the buildings. 
We use it around trees far from the 
house. Lime scattered over the manure 
will kill many of the young flies, but 
this will hurt the manure as well. The 
ordinary back yard is very attractive to 
both flies and mosquitoes. They like 
to gather near a swill tub or nearby 
dirty places to sing. The children have 
been in the habit of feeding our large 
army of cats at the back door. Little 
patches of food left on the ground at¬ 
tract flies. The habit some have of go¬ 
ing to the kitchen door and throwing- 
slops or dish water out on the grass is 
a plain invitation to Musca domestica to 
bring all his relatives to a choice ban¬ 
quet. Then he feels that he must come 
inside to express his thanks. We never 
fought the flies so effectively as this 
year. Some of them get inside the house 
in spite of screens. We use the sticky 
fly papers, but the most effective way of 
getting them is to'wait until night. Then 
the rascals make for the ceilings and 
hang there until morning. With a dim 
light you can get them all by using a 
cup or can at the end of a long stick. 
This cup is partly filled with soapy 
THE BLUR-A.!* NEW-YORKER 
water with a little kerosene. Punch this 
cup up around the fly and he falls back 
into the water. There is an end of him. 
This fly fight is a duty we owe to so¬ 
ciety as well as to the family. The fly 
is a pirate, scattering disease and filth. 
Cover Crops. —In cultivating one of 
our corn fields on July 27 we found it 
nearly ready for the cover crop. While 
the soil is dry I shall risk it. In this 
field we shall use rye and Alsike clover. 
This early start will enable the Alsike 
to make a good growth. If it seem de¬ 
sirable to do so next year, we can let 
the Alsike grow for hay or for mulch¬ 
ing. I have about given up the use of 
Crimson clover in our latitude. It will 
make a fine Fall growth, but does not 
live over on our hills. I should add 
Cow-horn turnips to the rye and Alsike 
except that this field is not far from a 
neighbor’s house. Should there be a 
January thaw the turnips would “tune 
up” like a fertilizer factory. In another 
field we shall use rye and vetch, and in 
others, with more natural moisture, rye 
and barley. This last combination is 
backed by good theory, but I am not 
yet sure of the practice. Our Soy beans 
are coming on—as it seems to me slow¬ 
ly. The weather is cool, and I think 
this crop should have moist, hot wea¬ 
ther to do its best. About half these 
beans were inoculated with, one of the 
commercial bacteria. Thus far we are 
unable to notice any difference to speak 
of. These Soy beans will be cultivated 
just like the corn as long as we can go 
through them safely. Then we shall 
sow rye and turnips or rye and clover 
as a cover crop—the same as in the 
corn. 
Appropriate Books. —In the fearful 
mixup of this Presidential election there 
are two books which might well be 
studied. One is an old book, “Coni- 
ston,” by Churchill, the other a newer 
book, “A Hoosier Chronicle,” by Nichol¬ 
son. They are both political stories— 
stories of a “boss” and of the meanest 
kind of political corruption. I like 
“Coniston” better. It is a New England 
story, and I knew dozens of just such 
people as a boy. The “Hoosier Chron¬ 
icle” is a more modern story of Indiana. 
Morton Bassett, the Indiana “boss,” was 
a very different type from Jethro Bass, 
the uncouth countryman, who bought 
and sold men in the Legislature. For 
50 years and more men representing dif¬ 
ferent degrees of these two types have 
been working politics—going just as far 
as they dared to in the face of public 
opinion. They were reasonably safe at 
the game just as long as the rich were 
willing to pay and the middle class peo¬ 
ple saw no particular sin in taking po¬ 
litical advantage. The rich have now 
more money than ever to pay, but every 
year brings thousands of men and 
women to understand just what such 
methods mean to the country. Years 
ago there were not so many millionaires, 
and the plain people-could not see what 
all these franchises and special privil- 
ages and nice little laws were likely to 
do. Now they suddenly wake up to find 
that all this political legislation has 
simply taken money and with it power 
away from the plain people who pro¬ 
duce wealth, and put it into the hands 
of the rich. This year brings the thing 
to a head as never before. There are 
thousands who recognize the evil and 
yet hesitate to fight it openly and in the 
most effective way. Why? Because it 
will mean sacrifice or injury on their, 
part. You cannot cut away any great 
public sin unless thousands of citizens 
are willing to stand up and feel the edge 
of the knife. You should read pages 
392 and 393 of “Coniston,” or the 
chapter entitled “The Man of Shadows” 
in the “Hoosier Chronicle.” In all these 
cases men are called upon to give up 
something which they have spent their 
life working for. It is this renunciation 
which gives power to a reform move¬ 
ment—it can have no other enduring 
power. These books I have mentioned 
make people think and it is only through 
the slow process of thought that we 
can hope to make our public life what 
it ought to be. 
Ideals. —I have had more or less to 
say about ideals in public life or private 
business. Whenever I speak of this 
some one comes forward to sneer at 
such a thing. These people are usually 
men of middle age who have become a 
little sour. Some have been quite suc¬ 
cessful financially—others have failed 
to get very far. They seem to think 
grown-up men have no use for ideals. 
They may be very nice for children’s 
playthings, but life is a hard battle 
where you need brickbats and clubs 
rather than ideals. I wonder if these 
gentlemen ever realize why, as they say 
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brickbats and clubs are so much in use! 
It is because ideals have been crowded 
out of public and private life. Could 
we have had more of them life would 
have been better for all of us, because 
humanity would prefer to get away 
from the brickbat age if it could. 
There is a great building going up 
in New York. As part of the or¬ 
namental stone work there are to be 
gigantic faces carved out of great 
blocks of stone. As the building was 
raised these blocks were left in the 
rough—square and without character. 
Now, day by day, men perched in the 
air are carving those faces. With mallet 
and chisel they knock away chip by 
chip until likeness of the human face 
slowly appears upon the stone. A sin¬ 
gle wrong blow might spoil the image, 
yet these men knock away like a stone 
mason squaring a foundation stone. 
These sculptors do not work alone. 
Within three feet of them, on a frame 
within constant reach of their eye is a 
plaster cast of the face they are to 
work out. At every blow their eyes are 
upon this image, and the eye works out 
its impression through the hand. These 
men may have chiselled the face 50 
times, but the model must be there— 
constantly before them. In a way this 
is my answer to those people who claim 
that ideals have no place in public and 
private life. It is hard for me to be¬ 
lieve that anyone can be so sick with the 
canker of cynical discontent that he has 
no room in his mind for visions of a 
better condition. For that is what an 
ideal is—a vision of life. It should dom¬ 
inate thought, and thought should dom¬ 
inate action. 
Born Farmers. —Last week I spoke 
of the famous Tice farms in our neigh¬ 
borhood. There is a human side to this 
farm proposition which is more inter¬ 
esting than the immense crops which 
are taken out of the soil. The Tice 
family may be said to be born fruit 
growers. For generations they have 
worked that land at high pressure—son 
following father along fixed lines of 
work. We read of men who are nat¬ 
ural lawyers or mechanics or doctors. 
They do not become so by accident, 
but because their ancestors for genera¬ 
tions past have used their brains or 
hands in a> certain distinct way. The 
child inherits the tendency, and if the 
opportunity comes to him he can make 
it shine with the flame which his an¬ 
cestors lighted for him. Oliver Wen¬ 
dell Holmes agreed to make a great 
physician if you would let him start 
with the grandfather! This successful 
Tice farm is as good an illustration as 
I know of the truth that farmers are 
born and not made. It may be said that 
you can find farmers of the third or 
fourth generation who are doing a very 
poor job of farming. Even such men 
know by instinct what to do and when 
to do it, and if they fail it is usually 
because inheritance compels them to do 
just the mechanical work their ancestors 
did without thinking out more progres¬ 
sive methods. I find many city men who 
think they can take a farm, put in fair 
capital and make a great living because 
they see certain farmers doing well. 
These men do not realize that there 
must be something of the instinct of the 
born farmer in a man or all his money 
or his business skill will fail him—on a 
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