540 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
May 7, 
Hope Farm Notes 
School Taxes. —On page 498 I gave 
the figures showing what it costs in my 
township or borough to educate a child. 
I explained that the object of this was 
to invite comparison. The first report 
comes from Lancaster County, Pa. West 
Lampeter township covers about 20 
square miles. It is a farming section 
with only two manufacturing plants and 
about GOO farmers. The assessed valua¬ 
tion of property is about $1,750,000. 
There are eight schools, averaging TYz 
months’ tuition, and 300 pupils. There 
is no high school in the township. The 
total expense for school purposes for 
the last school year was $5,620.16. The 
heaviest items were $3,300 for teachers’ 
salaries and $407.47 for school text 
books. It cost an average of $15.60 in 
this township to give one child the year’s 
schooling. The cost to each taxpayer 
was $9.50 per child. Counting the aver¬ 
age school life of a child at 10 years 
(from six to 16). it costs about $160 in 
this Pennsylvania township to give the 
child his common school education. If 
the child then went on and spent four 
years more in a good high school the 
added cost would be $140, or $300 in 
all. This is what the public pays for 
tuition. Mr. J. Aldus Herr, who sends 
me this record, wants to know “What 
township can show an equally good rec¬ 
ordr 
Comparative Figures. —I do not know 
of any. We have now a good chance to 
find out, and I would like other records. 
Let us see what it costs society to edu¬ 
cate children, and what the money 
goes for. I have heard rich men say 
that it cost $25,000 to raise a boy to 
voting age. Many of these $25,000 boys 
are not worth 25 cents for practical 
work in the world. I should be sorry 
if I had to live with one of them. Go¬ 
ing back to the school figures in our 
borough, you will see that we have 83 
children of school age, only about 500 
population and 130 taxpayers, with 
$417,835 valuation. Yet our school ex¬ 
penses were $3,510.77, or about 62 per 
cent of what was paid out in this Penn¬ 
sylvania township five times as large, 
and with three or four times as many 
pupils. For actual teachers' salaries we 
paid $1,324.80, or $15.96 per child of 
school age. In Pennsylvania the teach¬ 
ers’ salaries in the eight schools came to 
$9.17 per child. The extra expense with 
us is due to carrying children to the 
high school and paying their tuition. 
The State pays all or part of this back, 
yet it all comes out of the public. Still, 
I have heard but one man say that 
public education did not pay. This man 
could show from his book that in 10 
years he paid over $500 in school taxes 
alone. He never had a child to send to 
school, and the school children stole his 
melons! I am going to keep at this till 
I find what it costs to educate a child 
at public expense. 
Poultry Problems. —We get all sorts 
of advice—including the following: 
Toll the Hope Farm man that if he will 
throw away his old incubator and buy a 
pood one, as I have done, he will have no 
more trouble with the temperature rising 
to 105 degrees. Nor will he have to set 
his eggs under a turkey or scour the 
neighborhood for setting hens while the 
price of hens is soaring, and while his eggs 
are getting cold. My incubator lias not 
varied over one degree in running two 
hatches, while my hens usually leave the 
eggs to get cold. I have had as many as 
five different hens on one setting of eggs, 
and I keep White Wyandottes at that. 
Vermont. mrs. c. e. b. 
Our old incubator ran to 105 and then 
sobered down so that there was no vari¬ 
ation through the hatch. The new in- 
cubator has also run steadily. I feel a’ 
little more kindly toward the old hen 
as an incubator—though we have had 
our troubles too. I am going to give 
some facts about our poultry business. 
I think facts are needed more than fairy 
tales. In the first incubator run 212 
eggs were put into the machine. The 
total hatch was 103, including four Ban¬ 
tams. Of these chicks 43 are now left 
in the brooders—while diarrhoea got the 
rest. The smaller incubator started with 
53 duck eggs. Most of these were 
bought from an advertiser, yet at the 
third week only 26 fertile eggs were 
left. • Our own duck eggs were very 
fertile. The first duck started laying 
March 26. In the 21 days between 
April 2 and 23 two Pekin ducks laid 
38 eggs. From March 27 to April 23 
one pen of six Light Brahma liens laid 
101 eggs. The two White Holland tur¬ 
key hens laid 26 eggs between them 
before they offered to sit. I hear so 
many remarkable statements of success 
with poultry with never a shade to 
them that 1 want to give some actual 
facts. My belief is that many people 
keep hens at a loss without Lnowing it. 
The Garden.— Some years ago I had 
an ambition to write something that 
would be quoted. The nearest I seem 
to have come to it is part of a doggerel: 
“The day that pieplant gives first mess 
With nice hot biscuits, I confess 
Our folks feel good. Pa says ‘I guess 
You orter have a bran’ new dress.’ 
‘An’ you a coat,’ says I, ‘no less.’ ” 
I see this turning up each Spring, and 
several people seem to claim the author¬ 
ship. I thought of all this on April 21, 
when we had our first mess of pieplant 
from the garden. This is a few days 
earlier than usual. Mother had the new- 
dress, and I did not really need the new 
coat. But it is an event in a farmer’s 
family when the first outside vegetable 
comes to the table. No question any 
longer about Spring being here. We 
had onions and beets and turnips and 
spinach and peas above ground at that 
date and Golden Bantam sweet corn 
was planted April 23. In a week more 
half a dozen other vegetables will be in 
the ground. We had our first aspara¬ 
gus April 17. There may be farmers 
who have not started any garden or who 
have made but a feeble effort at it. We 
get more than half our living from the 
garden for about six months—a living 
that cuts doctor’s bills for an average of 
12 people under $25 a year. Stay by 
the garden, whatever else you neglect. 
Farm Notes.— Twelve hours after 
planting those potatoes a hard rain set 
in and lasted nearly three days. It was 
a steady rain—not a tempest—and the 
ground was not washed. It was soaked 
through and we were not able to work 
it properly for several days. I wanted 
to harrow those potatoes, but the wet 
kept us off. We have some 6,000 straw¬ 
berry plants heeled in waiting for the 
land to dry a little. It is naturally 
heavy and would bake around the plants 
if we set them in the mud. I would hold 
the plants until June rather than set 
them wrong. On the sod and the lighter 
land we kept moving when the rain 
finally quit. The strawberries have all 
been hoed. Many of the hills are al¬ 
ready a foot high. I never saw them 
jump up as they have this year. Michel’s 
Early was in bloom April 20. The in¬ 
dications now are for a great crop- 
even the eight-year-old plants are loaded 
with fruit buds. I have told 
how, during the Winter, we made a 
number of root-grafts. Most of them 
sprouted in the boxes and they were 
transplanted outdoors April 23. They 
look well, and the soil is in good con¬ 
dition for them. The grafts in the old 
seedlings are starting well, and by Fall 
they ought to be in good shape for 
transplanting. Most of the top-working 
also seems to have “taken.” . 
Every now and then some one comes 
to ask if we can keep meadows going 
year after year by using chemical fer¬ 
tilizers. I have one seeded eight years 
ago which is still nearly as thick as a 
lawn. We have just fertilized it, and 
the grass looks good for 2 Y 2 tons per 
acre. It has averaged that for the past 
six years. This meadow was seeded 
originally as nearly after the rules laid 
down by Geo. M. Clark as we could 
follow them. That meant plowing early, 
working about 20 times and using about 
twice as much seed as farmers usually 
advise. In addition, in our country at 
least, the land should be limed and top- 
dressed every year. ... If any¬ 
one wants any further evidence in favor 
of lime, I have it in one of my back 
fields. There are young apple trees in 
it, and I have tried again and again to 
seed it to clover. We fertilized and 
fitted the soil well, but the clover al¬ 
ways died out except one seeding of 
Crimson—part of which lived. Last 
Fall I worked that soil up with the 
disk, putting under a growth of weeds. 
Then we coated it with lime and har¬ 
rowed, and at a favorable time seeded 
to rye and a mixture of Red and Alsike 
clover. The rye is now the best on the 
farm, and the clover is a good stand. 
I think the lime sweetened the soil, 
opened it and gave it better character, 
and also broke up that growth of weeds 
and made its plant food available. I 
also believe the Alsike clover helped. I 
have Alsike growing in an orchard 
where formerly no clover seemed to 
thrive. It appears that Alsike will live 
and grow on damp or sour soils where 
Red clover would die out. . 
You remember that we got in our oats 
and peas April 13. On April 19 the 
oats broke through the ground, with the 
peas close after them. This field cost 
$25.05 for seed, fertilizer and labor. 
No more expense until cutting. As soon 
as this crop is off we expect to fit the 
field for Alfalfa. h. w. c. 
Kill Off The 
Crop Thieves and Poultry Pilferers 
GOPHERS 
WEASELS 
RABBITS 
HAWKS WOOD CHUCKS 
CROWS BLUE JAYS 
SKUNKS SPARROWS 
a iiig family of farm pests. The four-footers out run your dogs—the others 
laugh at your scarecrows. 
But there's one thing they can’t get away from and that is a bullet 
fired from a 
Visible Loading Repeating Rifle 
Made by the makers of the famous Stevens Favorite single 
shot rifle. More Stevens sold because they shoot straigliter, carry farther and 
hit harder on account of the extreme care used in our system of accurate rifling. 
If your dealer hasn’t it we will send express prepaid on reeoipt of LIST 
Price SB8.00. Ask for Number 70. 
With this wonderfully accurate Rifle (which only weighs 4L> pounds) you 
can send a hail storm of lead into the boldest weasel or the craftiest fox that 
ever robbed a ben coop. 
Two models: The FIRST takes fifteen .22 
Short cartridges only. The SLLONP takes any 
one of three cartridges—.22 Short, .22 Long and 
.22 Long Kifle, but the greatest accuracy is ob¬ 
tained in this model by using only .22 Long Rifle 
cartridges. 
Yon SKF the cartridge go into the chamber— 
you KN(IXV when the rifle is loaded. You don’t 
have to THINK whether you have another shot 
or not! Each cartridge as it comes out of the 
magazine SHOWS PLAINLY It FI'Pit L IT 
PASSES AI,()N<; INTO THE ( IIAMBER. 
After the first shot remember that you have 
We guarantee this Rifle to he the most accurate 
.22 Calibre Repeater in the world. Rifled in the 
Stevens Factory of Precision—which is celebrated 
for turning out the most accurate rifles in the 
world—the Visible Repeater is one of the very best 
of the celebrated Stevens family. 
This Visible No. 70 is a man’s gun for man’s 
work, but it is light enough for your boy to use, 
and is a splendid rifle to practice with. With this 
wonderfully exact gun you absolutely KNOW 
that the bullet will go .JUST WllEIlK it is 
aimed It isn’t every gun that will shoot straight. 
The Visible will do ITS share of the hitting—it’s 
up to yon to do the AIMING. 
fourteen more lightning shots without reloading 
Do you want a description of the latest Stevens 6-sliot Repeating Sliol gun ? 
The fastest, safest, surest Repeating Shotgun made. (No. 520.) 1.1 ST Price ¥27.00. 
Write now ; KIOHT NO W — while you remember it. 
Points for the Sharpshooter, Hunter <& Trapshooter 
Write us and tell rm what kind of shooting short cuts to expert markmnnship, which will 
you are most interested in and we will write a not only make you a better shot than you al- 
letter of advice with many valuable pointers for ready are, but will cut down your ammunition 
tiie Hunter and Sharpshooter- We will give you bills as well. 
J. Stevens Arms 6 Tool Co., Dept. 395, Chicopee Falls, Mass. 
THE FACTORY OF PRECISION 
List Price of Stevens Rifles 
Little Scout No. 14. $3.25 Favorite No. 17. (The only Boy’s Rifle 
Stevens-Mayn»rd Jr. No. 15. 3.0J used by ill on ). $<5.00 
Crack Shot No. 1(1. 4.00 Visible Loader No. 70. 8.00 
(For Young Shooteis. Accurate and made Ideal Rifle No. 44 (Man's heavy Single 
for real work.-) Shot Rifle).-.. 10.00 
— f/EIPE/r/S — 
IMPROVED CLARK’S DOUBLE ACTION 
CUTAWAY HARROW 
The most wonderful farm tool ever invented. 
Two barrows in one. ’i hrows the dirt out, then 
in, leaving the land level and true. 
A labor saver, a time saver. Needs 
no Tongue Truck. Jointed Pole. 
Beware of imitations and in¬ 
fringements. Send today for 
<► 1'TtKK Booklet. 
. , __«§=, . CUTAWAY -arrow CO. 
Ml It is 839 Main St., 
K \ Hiacanurn, Conn. 
LET ME START YOU IN BUSINESS! 
1 will furnish the advertising matter and the plans. 1 
want one sincere, earnest man in every town and town¬ 
ship. Farmers. Mechanics. Builders. Small Business man. 
Anyone anxious to improve his condition. Address 
COMMERCIAL DEMOCRACY, Dept. D-35, Elyria, Ohio. 
Wood Saws For Farmers 9 Use 
For sawing firewood, lumber, 
lath, posts, pickets, etc., the 
cheapest and best saw you can 
is a 
ertzler & Zook 
Wood Saw 
Easy to operate. Guaranteed for 
one year. You can build up a 
paying business in sowing fire¬ 
wood or lumber for your neigh¬ 
bor. Price$t0 00. Write for circular. 
Hestzuh S Zook Co., Bex 3 Belleville. Pa. 
The Fertilizer Materials Supply Co. 
All Kinds of Pure 
FERTILIZER Midi TRIALS for 
HGME MIXING 
Also a COMPLETE FERTILIZER for general 
purposes. Guaranteed 4-8-7 per cent. 
80 WALL ST., NEW YORK 
5?"We employ no salesmen or agents, and appeal 
to independent CASH BUYERS ONLY, who 
want a tlrst-class article at a minimum cost. 
Soluble Com and General Crops SVSanure 
AS PRIZES AT THE 
NEW ENGLAND CORN EXPOSITION 
WRITE FOR PARTICULARS 
THE ROGERS & HUBBARD CO ■ , Hubbard ‘‘Bone Base” Fertilizers Middletown, Conn. 
Send for our Almanac telling all about the Hubbard “Bone Base” Fertilizers. 
It Is sent free to any address. 
SIX TONS 
HUBBARD’S “BONE BASE” 
WE OFFER 
OUR NEW TRADE-MARK 
BE SURE it is on every bag of 
Fertilizer you buy, as it marks 
the genuine. 
