1913. 
THE RURAI> NEW-YORKER 
676 
DAY’S WORK ON THE FARM. 
A Reformed Dairy Farm. 
We sold the greater part of the dairy 
this Spring, and discarded the hired man. 
Not but that we have plenty of work for 
a man to do, but when a very poor speci¬ 
men demands $35 per month and his 
board, we decided to just do what we 
could ourselves and let the other fellow 
worry about producing food for the city 
folk.' So we have but a half dozen cows 
to milk and a like number of horses and 
colts to care for. Then there is the little 
herd of Berkshires that need extra care 
just now when their pigs are small. As 
this is Saturday and the boys will be home 
all day, I had planned to start the colts at 
plowing. Having decided that the farm 
work should be done by the mares and 
the colts before they come to full maturity, 
1 sold the only gelding on the farm that 
was past five years old. This left me with 
two colts that never had' plowed and the 
big white mare as the motive power for 
farm work. 
Just as we were going out from break¬ 
fast, a telephone call inquired if I could 
spare some silage. As w r e have more than 
we can possibly use, we told the man to 
come along for a load. And here comes 
the question of what it is worth? One 
man thought he ought to get it for $2.50 
per ton. But he is one of those fellows 
who never succeeds in growing much corn, 
so I suppose that the labor he puts on his 
crop would not be worth more than that. 
The two small boys hitched up the small 
mare, “Molly,'’ and took the cream over 
town, so that the ice cream man could have 
it for evening, and the hotels’ Sunday din¬ 
ner. Molly is one of those “wild mares" 
that I told The It. N.-Y. about a number 
of years ago. She has raised us three fine 
colts, and has become so reliable that the 
children drive her anywhere. 
The big boy—or properly speaking, our 
“college man,” for he is a sophomore this 
year—helped to hitch the big mare and 
the two colts to the sulky plow. Molly's 
big fellow that will not be three until July, 
and already weighs 1,350 pounds, was 
placed in the middle where the others 
could help to guide him. Jerry is nearly 
five, but he is more of a road horse and 
lias never plowed; but he is thoroughly 
broken, and can be depended upon. They 
all felt good, and went off with a rush, and 
the “soph” run along to see that I did not 
get into a "mix-up” on the start. The lot 
to be plowed is an old pasture that has 
become pretty well grown up to weeds, 
and it lies on a gentle hillside. The plow 
is a two-way one, so we plow back and 
forth with first the big mare in the furrow 
and then Jerry. The three - weigh 3,900 
pounds, so they haul the plow along as fast 
as I dare to let them. I tried walking 
behind the plow, but 1 found that 1 could 
handle them much better when on the seat 
and my feet well braced. As all went well, 
the boy returned to the barn and helped 
the man get his silage, after which he 
came back and began taking down the 
wide fence that separated the pasture from 
the meadow. 
By noon I had quite a strip plowed and 
felt that 1 had got over the worst of 
breaking in the colts. \Ye removed their 
harness and washed off their shoulders, and 
gave them a little drink before they were 
fed, and by the time we had looked over 
the day’s mail, which arrives just about 
dinner time, the colts had had a pretty 
good rest, and we went back to the plowing, 
and taking down the fence. By and by 
the boy got the wires off and went back 
to the house. There are some fast stones 
in this old pasture, and I got several 
good jolts when the plow came up against 
them. I would have greatly preferred to 
walk, but as 1 said, the horses were too 
rank for that. Suddenly the plow struck 
one that was just under the ground, and 
rue upper side wheel was thrown off the 
ground. Just then the short tongue to 
which the main tongue and most of the 
gearing of the plow is attached, broke, 
and quicker than you could say “Whoa,” 
the plow tipped over, and 1 jumped and 
the team jumped. I fell as I struck the 
ground, and one of the levers of the plow 
caught me by the ankle and pinned mo 
eight to the earth. 1 kept hold of the 
lines, but the horses began wheeling around 
towards the plow, and 1 had a very un¬ 
pleasant momentary vision of myself lying 
under the plow and 3,900 pounds of plung¬ 
ing horseflesh on top of me. There was 
nothing to do but say “whoa,” and I tried 
to say it as if there was nothing the 
matter. IIow well I succeeded. I can't say. 
lint Jerry stopped as if he were shot, and 
braced himself against the shock of the 
big colt as he came against him. it was 
absolutely impossible for me to move, so 
there was nothing left to do but holler. 
The “soph" happened to be within hearing, 
and while he has never been on the track 
team, I think he could do credit to it if 
he ever again shows the burst of speed 
that he did coming up that hill. It was 
all he could do to tip over the plow, for 
he was pretty well winded when he reached 
me. I found that my leg was not broken, 
but 1 have a suspicion that the high-topped 
shoe with the trousers and overalls tucked 
inside, saved the bone. 
The boy got the team unhitched and 
as I leaned against the plow fairly gasping 
with the pain of the bruised ankle, I no¬ 
ticed the piece of wood that had broken 
jy?d helped at least to cause the trouble. 
Hie thing was pine, supposed to be hard 
pine—but was too rotten for that. And 
> ™ not rot after the plow was made 
either, for the paint was unscarred and 
the plow was new a year ago. This little 
piece of wood not three feet long and 
about three inches square had nearly all 
the working parts of the plow attached 
1° i, 1 sti11 the fool man who made it 
■polled a good implement by putting in 
lotten pine instead of a good honest piece 
of ash. 
1 he little boy has been listening to Ills 
!' ,,;ul the “Jungle Book,” so he is a 
b '-at hunter. He saw a big woodchuck 
. 'sterday, so he coaxed his brother to buv 
!,.i® bl ?v? est steel-trap that they could find 
.pi,’ n , they were over town with the cream. 
tra P \ Vi * s s ot, but was forgotten when 
Papa got his leg hurt, for the small bov 
was deeply concerned about it. and hung 
around to wait on me and save me from 
limping around too much. It was nearly 
dark when he remembered about it, but 
he and brother started at once to see what 
luck they had. They came back much ex¬ 
cited for the chuck was in the trap, but 
only by his toes, and he pulled out when 
he saw the boys. I did not spoil their fun 
by telling them that I could sympathize 
with Mr. Chuck, for I ^iad just tried being 
in a trap myself. Mother thinks we ought 
to discourage the boys from hunting wood¬ 
chucks and other such acts of barbarism, 
but then she never was a boy. and never 
has experienced the thrill a boy gets when 
he finds woodchuck in the trap, or shoots 
him with his first rifle, or hooks a stray 
trout that has escaped the sport from the 
city. 
The boy remembered that one of the 
litters of pigs was in need of a clean bed, 
after the other chores were all done, so 
he fixed them up before dark. I suppose 
that a good many readers will say that 
this college boy ought to have Saturday 
to himself, for his own amusement, and 
others will say “Why send him to college 
at all, unless it be an agricultural college?” 
Most of the old-time farmers know how to 
manage our farms a great deal better than 
we are able to manage them, for various 
reasons, and we can teach our sons what 
we know, and with what they can add to 
this from the numerous outside sources 
they can become pretty good farmers. So 
this eliminates the agricultural college so 
far as I am concerned. What our farmers 
need is a broader general education. Being 
able to raise a big crop lacks a whole lot 
of being a successful business farmer. Give 
the boy a well-trained mind, and he will 
grasp these farm problems in a few min¬ 
utes, where the uneducated boy would 
struggle over them unsuccessfully for an 
indefinite time. Then there are the social 
questions in which all men should be in¬ 
terested. We hear a good deal about how 
the farmer should take part in the making 
of the laws of our country, but we hear 
mighty little about fitting him to be able to 
toke his place by the side of the lawyers 
and other professional men and be able to 
help make our laws, and incidentally head 
off a lot of harmful ones that others might 
make. So I am sending this boy to college, 
and shall send as many more of them as 
I can. It is a great deal harder for the 
boy to go through in the way he is going 
than it would be for him to go as Mayor 
Gaynor’s son does, who is in the same 
school. But who knows but that the boy 
who has to work harder for his education 
may appreciate it more, and make better 
use Of it? J. GRANT MORSE. 
Madison Co., N. Y. 
-,- - 
Clearing Land. 
We cleared some land of underbrush two 
years ago, and pastured it with sheep. 
They ate everything pretty well, but some 
mulleins that came up pretty thick in 
places. I would like to know some way 
I could get rid of them without much 
trouble. h. d. m. 
New York. 
I want to know how to kill sweet fern. 
I have a couple of acres of stumpy new 
land, thickly covered with it. It is grassed 
over nicely from sheep pasturing on it. 
Will salt kill it, or cutting it in August? 
Let me hear from someone. e. c. s. 
New York. 
Soy Beans or Buckwheat. 
Will you give me some advice in the 
planting and growing of Soy beans? Would 
they pa/ better than buckwheat on land 
that last year grew a fair crop of corn? 
Soil is gravelly loam. What variety is 
best suited for this locality? I wish to 
grow for a crop of beans. When should 
they be planted, and would a 2-10-10 fer¬ 
tilizer be suitable, as I have some of that 
brand? c. b. d. 
Upper Black Eddy, Pa. 
If you are depending on buckwheat for 
a money crop and know how to grow it, 
we should go slow with Soy beans. Try 
them in a small way to beerin with, and 
do not entirely drop a crop which you 
know how to grow. You can sell the buck¬ 
wheat, while the Soy beans are to be fed 
on the farm. We lost most of our first 
crop of Soy beans, as we did not know 
how to handle them to advantage. We 
should try Medium Green variety—plant at 
about corn planting time in drills and give 
about the same culture as for corn. That 
fertilizer will answer. 
Making the Farm Pat, by C. C. Bows- 
field. This is a plain and practical book, 
intended to appeal primarily to the “back- 
to-the-land” farmer. This does not mean 
that it is written from an amateur’s stand¬ 
point, for it gives the wisdom of experi¬ 
ence, but it aims to cover many different 
lines of farm industry, and give an idea 
of varied problems that come up on every 
farm. It will be suggestive to the man 
of experience and extremely helpful to the 
beginner. Published by Forbes & Co., Chi¬ 
cago ; 300 pages; price, $1 net; postage 16 
cents additional. 
Co-operation in Agriculture, by G. 
Harold Powell. This subject is now so con¬ 
stantly brought before the farmer that he 
has need to study it carefully, and separate 
the wheat from the chaff. Mr. Powell gives 
concrete examples of work in this line, 
legal features of co-operative organizations, 
and adds to it a brief but comprehensive 
chapter on rural credits. It will be found 
a useful reference book for the farm library. 
Published by the Macmillan Company, New 
York; illustrated; 324 pages; price $1.50 
net, postage. 16 cents additional. 
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