676 
THE RURAb NEW-YORKEH 
May 17, 
Hope Farm Notes 
We cut the first rye for hay on May 
3. I wanted to put every ounce of green 
CGver crop into the ground, but the two 
big grays will put a haystack out of 
sight in a short time. While farmers 
who supply baled hay to the New York 
market get from $6 to $9, this hay, as I 
have stated, costs us over $21.50 per ton 
before we get it out to the farm. So 
we began cutting some of the rye. The 
usual trouble with rye hay is that we 
let it stand too long before cutting. Of 
all the grains I know, none get such a 
stiff backbone right after heading as 
rye. Wheat, barley and oats make fair 
hay if cut when the grain is soft, but 
if you let rye get even past the bloom 
it will be tough and hard, and the stock 
will only eat it because they have to. 
I never yet saw a human or brute do 
good work on food that they did not 
enjoy. Cut early, just as the head starts 
up from the stalk, rye makes fair fodder 
or hay. We use such hay for about 
half the roughage. 
We may cut some Crimson clover for 
hay, though I would rather put it all 
under. Crimson makes good hay for 
cattle, but I would not feed too much 
of it to horses. The head of Crimson 
clover is of peculiar shape. When the 
seed forms or the full head dries short 
little hook-like spurs form all over the 
head. Cases have been known where 
these hooked heads formed hard balls in 
a horse’s stomach and finally caused 
colic and even death. In the big, moist 
stomach of the cow there is but little 
danger, but with the horse, when the 
clover is ripe before cutting, there is 
some danger. It is a safe rule to keep 
hay from Crimson clover and millet 
away from horses. 
When May once decided to start in 
she did her duty. If it is any' satisfac¬ 
tion we know from our records that the 
first few days of May were the warmest 
known in 20 years. How the grass did 
jump, and how the leaves sprouted ! Such 
apple blooms were never known before 
in our country. The seedling trees by 
the roadside or along fence rows where 
they can have no culture are one great 
burst of color. I wish some one would 
explain why these old chance seedlings 
have such tremendous vigor and ability 
to stand neglect. I think their root sys¬ 
tem is superior—with deep tap roots 
which go far down after moisture. We 
have several of these old trees top- 
worked with such varieties as Twenty 
Ounce, Grimes and Baldwin. The fruit 
is superior in color and quality to that 
on trees handled in the orthodox way. 
Again, I think this is due to the root 
system and the culture or lack of it. 
Of all the old high-head trees on the 
farm the strongest and most productive 
are some tough old giants growing 
along, or in the midst of, big stone 
walls. 
We have all sorts of questions and, 
as I have often said, we assume that each 
one represents a fair desire for informa¬ 
tion. Here is one: 
Will you advise me if there is any logic 
in keeping a cow from eating the Spring 
grass as soon as it becomes sufficiently 
thick? My hired man maintains that there 
is an injurious quality to it, and that the 
cow should not be put out before June. 
Marblehead, Mass. H. w. h. 
I do not know of any such logic. As 
most people know, a cow coming right 
from dry Winter feed into a thick green 
pasture might be injured if she ate her 
fill the first day. The green grass is a 
laxative, and if the cow eats too much 
at first she might bloat. We turn the 
cows out as soon as they can get a bite, 
a few hours at first and, as soon as they 
are accustomed to the change, all day. 
Green rye will often give a taste to the 
milk, but fresh young grass is about the 
best cow tonic the world knows. In 
the South I have heard the colored peo¬ 
ple speak of fresh grass as “Dr. Green” 
•—a good veterinarian surely. 
Can a farmer on an Eastern farm 
make a success at farming on an eight 
or 10-hour day? That question comes 
up with some young men who say they 
would like a job on a farm as hired 
man. As part of their Contract they 
propose to limit a day’s work to 10 
hours. They do that in other lines of 
industry—why not in farming? How 
many of our farmers quit at the end of 
10 hours? Take it in this season. April 
was cold and backward, and our farm¬ 
ers were far behind. Then comes a 
warm May with good conditions for 
catching up. Suppose a farmer said: 
“No matter what the weather conditions 
are, I will not work over 10 hours.” 
Where would he be and what would be¬ 
come of his job? The manufacturer or 
the merchant may figure on a certain 
length of daj', but the farmer must 
grasp his opportunity and push every 
moment of the busy season. We find 
that our day help works by the factory 
whistle. The regular hired help with 
work the year around ought to be will¬ 
ing to work longer hours during the 
busy season. I do not believe any 
farmer, working himself and with one 
or two hired men, can make a living out 
of a 10-hour day in the busy season. 
In fact, this labor question is likely 
to turn us all upside down. Take the 
case of J. Grant Morse as related on 
page675. He has given up the dairy be¬ 
cause hired labor cost too much. Here 
is a man who intends to run his farm 
as nearly as possible with the labor of 
himself and his family. It becomes a 
mighty problem to know what such a 
farm, with a large proportion of pasture 
land, can produce to best advantage. 
What can a family do in order to make 
their own labor most valuable? That is 
what thousands of us have got to 
answer in the near future. We hope 
to find the answer in a good orchard, 
kept in sod and partly cultivated. In 
this way some of the large pasture 
farms ought to produce meat—beef cat¬ 
tle or sheep. It seems like a plausible 
theory—this idea of producing beef on 
Eastern farms, but I fear the Winters 
are too long and cold. The demand for 
full prices for a 10-hour day on the 
farm will drive many of our farmers 
into facing this family labor situation. 
I assume that the following question 
refers to potato culture in a back-yard 
on a small area: 
I wish you would soon have an article 
on “how to plant potatoes.” I should like 
to have a try in that line at reducing the 
high cost of living. J. M. D. 
Brooklyn, N. Y. 
When a back-to-the-lander starts in 
to show them how, he will, if he is wise, 
try potatoes. I think we can learn more 
about this crop from books and papers 
than about any other crop I know of. 
You cannot expect to grow a full crop 
without long experience, but you can 
grow some potatoes by following a few 
simple rules. I am not so sure about 
reducing that high cost of living! First 
have your soil plowed or spaded deep. 
Rake or harrow it fine. If the patch is 
small dig out furrows or trenches about 
eight inches deep and a foot wide. Cut 
your seed potatoes into fair-sized pieces, 
so that each piece will carry at least one 
strong “eye” or sprout. It requires ex¬ 
perience to cut such potatoes economi¬ 
cally, but if you make sure each piece 
carries a sprout they will do. Put these 
seed pieces in a line at the bottom of 
the trench and cover with about two 
inches of fine dirt. Buy a small bag of 
some good potato fertilizer, and scatter 
a fair quantity in the trenches about 
the soil over the potatoes. Then fill in 
about four inches more. The plants 
will appear above ground in about 14 
days. As they grow fill in the trench 
level and keep the soil around the 
plants a little rounded up. You must 
now keep the soil well hoed so as to 
keep the top open and loose and the 
weeds killed off. The two great ene¬ 
mies—if you hoe properly—are bugs 
and blight. Watch the plants, and when 
they are about six inches high you will 
find little yellow masses on the under¬ 
side of the leaves. These are the eggs 
from which the beetle will hatch later. 
Crush them whenever found. Some of 
them will escape you, and you will find 
the young beetles eating the leaves. For 
a small city patch like this one I should 
go to a seed store and try one of the 
dry powders for killing .lie beetle and 
fighting blight. They might not pay on 
a large scale, but for your patch they 
will answer, and if you keep the vines 
well dusted you will kill most of the 
beetles and carry the vines alive until 
the potatoes are of fair size. If you 
carry out this plan in detail y@u ought 
to have a crop. h. w. c. 
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