606 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
April 20, 
Hope Farm Notes 
We put on something like 1,600 gal¬ 
lons of spray, and then the rains de¬ 
scended—kept us out of the orchard 
and washed some of the spray oft'. At 
any rate we put up the best battle we 
could. If our power sprayer had come 
in time we could have finished the job 
before the gentle finger of Spring 
pushed the buds too far. Life is pretty 
much a question of power anyway— 
from spraying to praying. The Bul¬ 
garians beat the Turks because they had 
the best guns to be obtained and a sup¬ 
ply of ammunition always on the spot. 
Again and again the Turks stood up 
with empty guns, with no ammunition 
within miles. Farming is something of 
a battle against insects, plant diseases, 
bad weather, drought or frost. The 
battle is won by knowing beforehand 
what you want to do, and then having 
things so fixed that you can do the right 
thing exactly at the right time. It was 
impossible with our hand pump (one 
of the best at that) to cover all our 
trees when the air and sun were so that 
we could spray. With a power sprayer 
we dould have blown out 300 gallons 
where the hand pump blows 100. Thus 
power gives one man more than three 
times the capacity for spraying. The same 
with a farm team. In former years Bob 
and Jerry often had a struggle to get 
a ton of freight to the farm. This year 
the big grays Tom and Broker walked 
oft with all we could pack on the wagon. 
They ran up a hill with a ton of coal, 
and when they get on the big Cutaway 
they will do twice the work of a feeble 
team and do it just when we want it 
done. With our uncertain climate this 
question of power becomes a mighty 
factor in farming and we see how a 
man without capital is handicapped in 
the race. 
Merrill will testify to the power of 
slaked lime and lime-sulphur. I ordered 
a good quantity of burnt lime, as we 
want something that will take right hold 
of our cover crops. There is not much 
room on the railroad siding at our sta¬ 
tion, and the lime had to be hustled. 
Merrill went at it with the grays and 
when they got the last load home there 
should not have been any acid about 
them. Some bags were broken and 
while Merrill wore gloves his hands 
were well dusted. Then came the last 
chance at spraying and all hands went 
at it. The oil had been used up, so 
th ey took on lime-sulphur. What with 
pouring out the concentrate and spray¬ 
ing in the wind Merrill got the stuff on 
a hand that had been limed to the limit. 
You should have seen the way this 
combination peeled the skin and put 
that hand out of commission. I have 
rarely seen such a sight! Either one 
alone would have been bad enough but 
the combination was something to 
blister an old rubber boot—say nothing 
of human flesh. There is probably one 
enthusiastic vote for ground limestone 
and soluble oil! It is a fact that the 
oil has proved the better spray material 
this year. It is much more agreeable to 
handle, sprays out well and sticks to 
the trees better in wet weather. On 
apple trees I call it more effective than 
lime-sulphur. As for slaked lime the 
fact is that we need on our hard and 
sour land just about the action which 
helped skin the hand. We want our soil 
stirred up, and I want our annual cover 
crop to break up and feed the trees. 
The biting slaked lime will do this bet¬ 
ter than the ground limestone. Then 
comes the question of freight. The 
Erie Railroad charged me $2 per ton 
for hauling lime from Jersey City—less 
than 25 miles. I should have to use 
two tons of limestone to obtain the re¬ 
sults from a ton of slaked lime and 
this freight would make lime a luxury. 
In fact these freight rates are ruinous. 
I can get no rebate on my hay ship¬ 
ment—$3.60 per ton for 25 miles seems 
to be the usual charge for less than car¬ 
load lots! 
You get nothing from me about the 
weather or farm conditions this week. 
There is nothing cheerful to report ex¬ 
cept that the rain is making.the cover 
crops grow. We should have had our 
new acre of strawberry plants well 
under way, but we cannot get on the 
land. That’s partly our own fault. 
When we drained this field we did not 
do a complete job and now we pay for 
it. However, grass and grain and fruit 
trees are having a good drink anyway. 
At this writing it. looks as if most of 
our peach buds will get through. 
The Old Man’s Problem. —On the 
first page you find the problem of an 
ambitious young man. I like to look 
at 1)oth or all sides of a question, and 
therefore I print the following as the 
other side or background of the young 
man’s picture: 
I come to you for some advice on a 
question which is puzzling me, and perhaps 
many other farmers as well. I am now 70 
years of age, and with the aid of improved 
machinery have been able to run my farm 
of 70 acres almost entirely alone until the 
last two years, but must now depend on 
hired help the year round. Wages for farm 
help are high and hard to obtain. Taxes 
are increasing every year, so I could not 
get enough rent to live comfortably in town 
and keep the buildings, etc., in repair. 
Rented farms Soon run down, and of course 
decrease in value. What would you advise 
me to do, continue to worry over the prob¬ 
lem of hired help and stick to the farm, or 
sell out and move to town to live? I could 
sell for $100 per acre, but the buildings are 
all lirst class and could not be built for 
.$5,000. No better land or liner section of 
country, or better markets can be found any¬ 
where, but having lived here for 07 years, 
and helped and worked hard to beautify 
and build up the farm, it has now become 
a great puzzle just what to do. J. J. 
Ottawa Co., Mich. 
During the past few years I have had 
more than a dozen similar questions. 
In two or three cases we knew enough 
of personal details to warrant direct 
advice—in the others I did not know 
what to say. In one case the elderly 
man found a young couple, honest and 
kindly, who took the farm and gave him 
a home where he kept his hand on the 
helm. This case worked well. In two 
others the young people who took the 
farm proved selfish and mean, and made 
the old man’s life miserable. In several 
cases the old man gave up general farm¬ 
ing and seeded down the entire farm— 
raising hay or pasturing stock like beef 
cattle and sbeep. This worked well, as 
but little labor was required and not 
much hired help needed. My observa¬ 
tion is that where such men sell their 
old home and leave it entirely they are 
unhappy. I used to tell of Mr..Alfred 
Johnson, the “one-horse Jersey farmer.” 
When his wife died Mr. Johnson was 
left with much this same problem. He 
seeded the farm to grass, got a man and 
his wife to occupy it, and then spent 
much of the year in travel. lie went 
around the world twice and into every 
part of this country. 
Has my neighbor who joins land quite 
close to my barn the right to spray his 
trees with lime and sulphur at a time when 
the •wind is blowing so as to carry the 
spray against my barn, which I newly 
painted last Fall, causing the paint to turn 
black wherever the lime and sulphur solu¬ 
tion strikes it? My barns are painted a 
pearl gray trimmed with white. c. v. P. 
Columbia Co., N. Y. 
Your neighbor has no more right to 
damage your barn with lime-sulphur 
spray than he would have to throw mud 
at it or smear it with filth or dark paint. 
He is as much responsible in one case 
as in the other if the spray comes from 
his property. I know the spray will 
discolor paint as you state. 
I wish to know how to get rid of the 
large white grubs. I have plowed a piece 
of sod ground to put in corn; it is in¬ 
fested with them. o. G. 
Ohio. 
I know of only two sure ways. Turn 
a drove of good shotes into the field 
after plowing and give them only enough 
feed to keep them hungry. They will 
dig out and eat every mature grub 
within two feet of the surface if you 
give them time. There will be some 
of the eggs or young grubs left, but 
the pigs will get the large ones. Hens 
and turkeys will get many -so will 
skunks and coons. The trouble with the 
pig remedy is that it takes an entire 
season to work it. Aside f .1 this I 
know nothing better than thorough cul¬ 
ture with cultivator and hoe. The life 
history of this grub runs through 
several years. You cannot kill them out 
in one season like potato beetles—the 
young remain in the soil at work. The 
thorough culture keeps the surface stir¬ 
red up and prevents the eggs from 
hatching. You will hear people tell of 
using salt or ashes to kill the grubs. 
Those things never worked with us. T 
should harrow that soil again and again 
with a spring-tooth or disk and keep the 
hens on the field while doing this work. 
Then plant corn in hills and give good 
culture. It is well enough to put a 
handful of wood ashes around each hill 
and hoe in, though I doubt if it .does 
much good. Never shoot a skunk near 
that field. ir. w. c. 
You can have 
Running Water in 
your House and 
Barn, at even tem¬ 
perature Winter or 
Summer, at Small 
Cost. 
Send Postal 
New Water 
asking for 
Supply Plan. 
It will bring you a Hundred 
Pictures of it in actual use. 
Do It Now. 
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Aermotor Co., 2nd and Madison Sts., Oakland, Cal. 
Aermotor Co., 1213 W. 8th St., Kansas City, Mo. 
Aermotor Co., 332 1st St., North, Minneapolis, Minn. 
This rat destroyed over one dollar’s worm of property 
last year. Every other member of his tribe did as 
well. How much disease they spread no one can tell. 
The farmer is one of the worst sufferers from their 
depredations. They make his corn crib their head¬ 
quarters; they burrow through his silage and ruin it; 
they gnaw through the floors of his bam, granary and 
poultry house; they hide under his board walks or 
wooden floors or in his cellar. 
There is only one effective way to stop the rat. Build 
of concrete. Rats cannot gnaw through or climb up 
concrete. There is no nesting place for them under 
concrete floors. Any structure built of concrete is 
proof against them. 
When you build of concrete always specify 
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When you write advertisers mention The R. N.-Y. and you’ll get a quick 
reply and a “ square deal.” See guarantee editorial page. 
