046 
June 11, 
Hope Farm Notes 
The Poultry Business. —It was an 
important time for the girls when Cres¬ 
cent, the white turkey, approached the 
end of her hatching. Early in April 
the two turkey hens began to disap¬ 
pear at times, but it was quite by acci¬ 
dent that we learned where they were 
laying. Crescent climbed up high in the 
wood shed and began leaving her eggs 
on a board where they were in danger 
of rolling down. The baby found these 
eggs and started to play with them 
before we could stop him. 1 he girls 
put a box with straw in it on this 
board and Crescent accepted it and kept 
on until there were 16 eggs. Then she 
sat on those eggs and fought like a 
tiger when anyone came near. She 
showed three times as much fight as 
the gobbler, who did most of his fight¬ 
ing with his voice. I had been taught 
that eggs high from the ground would 
be too dry to hatch, but Crescent stayed 
by those eggs and brought out 15 young 
turks. In the meantime Queen made 
her nest between the fence ai d an old 
cherry tree, and laid seven eggs. We 
put a box over her as partial shelter 
and she hatched four. They were ali 
put with Crescent and Queen was dele¬ 
gated to lay another clutch of eggs. 
After two weeks 18 of those young turks 
are still alive and lively. Wait until 
they are older before we tell how the 
girls care for them. . . . In the first 
86 days the six Brahma hens laid 131 
eggs. Then one of them started to sit 
and hatched 14 of 16 eggs. In 27 days 
the five hens laid 62. Thus the girls 
have had 193 eggs thus far from their 
six hens. Some were small and out of 
shape, and these were eaten. A few 
were sold at five cents each. 1 he rest 
will be used for hatching. We intend 
to know just how many eggs these hens 
lay, and how many chicks and especially 
how many pullets we can get from a 
breeding pen. I think more and more 
that there is a place for the Brahmas, 
and I look for them to come back to 
something of their old popularity. . . 
The ducks and the Reds are still pros¬ 
pering. In 65 days from the first eggs 
on March 26 two Pekin ducks laid 114 
eggs up to May 29, and they are still 
laying, and practically every egg is fer¬ 
tile. 
Farm Notes. —We have spent five 
hours more cultivating those potatoes. 
This means $1.50 more or $32.80 in all. 
The crop looks well but naturally on 
an old sod of thin Alfalfa there are 
many weeds, and great work is required 
in keeping such a crop clean. We spend 
extra time working this field because we 
want to follow with strawberries, which 
must have clean ground. . . . Hav¬ 
ing had two days without rain we were 
able to fit a piece of low ground for 
sweet corn, but before we could plant— 
down came another shower. This is the 
greatest season I have yet known to 
show us where we most need drainage. 
For instance, on the new farm there is 
a hillside with a steep slope to the east. 
We have it in oats and peas, and expect 
to follow with Alfalfa. I thought it 
was well drained, but. this wet season 
has developed a 1 damp streak through 
the center which would surely have 
killed Alfalfa the first Winter. The oats 
and peas plainly show the danger of this 
spot. So, just as soon as the oats and 
peas are off, we shall run two rows of 
tile through this place. That will fix it 
There are several other places needing 
drainage and this wet season marks 
them. . . . On the whole our farm 
never looked better on June 1 than it 
does this year. The constant rains have 
ensured the grass and clover and rye. 
They have also made sure a lu'l growth 
of wood on the trees and driven the 
strawberries to extraordinary size. But 
we have had enough. We now want 
about two weeks of bright sunshine to 
ripen the berries, put heart itro the 
grass and give the corn a start through 
June. We have no complaint anyway, 
but if we can have what we want give 
us from 15 to 20 good sunshiny days. 
. . Last Fall I tried the plan of broad¬ 
casting lime on the top of grass and 
clover, where I knew the soil was sour. 
The evidence was a growth of sorrel 
and a sickly look on the clover. 1 he re¬ 
sult indicates that this is z slow way 
of sweetening the soil. There is some 
improvement, but very much behind the 
places where we were able to work the 
lime into the soil. Many people think 
they can scatter lime on the sod and 
obtain immediate results. My experi¬ 
ence is all against this, and I would not 
advise it. The proper way to use lime 
is to put it on the furrows and harrow 
it in. I find even now great patches 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
on these meadows where the lime has 
formed a sort of mortar on the surface, 
and has not worked into the soil at all. 
Timber Culture.— When we came to 
Hope Farm about 10 years ago we found 
30 acres of chestnut timber. T here was 
a fair demand for this class of wood for 
poles and fence posts, and the best 
posted men I could find advised me not 
to sell. They said these trees would be 
like a life insurance growing more valu¬ 
able every year as lumber rose in price. 
When I was a boy the man who brought 
me up bought a piece of New England 
woodland and cut off the timber. We 
hauled the pine logs to the sawmill and 
sold the timber. Then the land leit idle 
grew up to worthless brush. 1 know 
that if this man, with my help, had 
planted that land in pine and given it 
fair care it would now yield enough tim¬ 
ber yearly to keep me in fair circum¬ 
stances ! I remembered this, and de¬ 
cided to let my own woodland stand. It 
was a case when hindsight failed. The 
chestnut blight got into these woods 
and has already ruined the majority of 
the trees. Instead of rapidly increasing 
the price of lumber has remained sta¬ 
tionary or fallen off. There is little or 
no demand for poles, since the tendency 
is to force the wires underground. So 
many chestnuts have died and been cut 
into cord wood that there is little if any 
market for it. So my famous, plan 
of holding these woods as a life insur¬ 
ance has gone wrong. If eight years 
ago I had cut these chestnuts off and 
sold the timber and then planted an 
apple orchard we should be far ahead. 
Yet -who at that time could predict the 
spread of this chestnut disease, or know 
that the increased use of concrete would 
so affect the trade in lumber? 
Mulch and Culture. —Older readers 
will remember my speaking of a peach 
orchard of some 350 trees at the back of 
the farm. It was planted in sod which 
has never until this year been plowed. 
The trees were not pruned until this 
year, as we left them to make their own 
shape. This resulted in a high top with 
long, slender branches which, when well 
loaded with fruit, bend to the ground 
without breaking. The trees have given 
fair crops of high-colored fruit. We 
have simply scattered fertilizer in 
Spring, cut the grass and in wet seasons, 
taken part of it out as hay. Last Win¬ 
ter we pruned the orchard and cut back 
every tip. This started out a great 
growth and in the latter part of May I 
decided to try an experiment. Half 
the orchard was plowed and fitted and 
planted in corn. It will have a fair 
amount of fertilizer and will be well 
cultivated. The other side will be left 
in sod. We plan to use a- quantity of 
fertilizer equal in value to the labor 
spent in plowing and harrowing the cul¬ 
tivated side. The grass will be cut and 
piled around the trees. At this time the 
sod part of the orchard looks best, as 
the fertilizer was put on early and the 
rains have put it where the fees need 
it. Let us see what the season will 
show. h. w. c. 
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Horses are busy In haying time. Belt 
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Price $35.00 
If you lmve no gasoline 
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A S15.00 HAY RACK ONLY SB.OO. 
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i 7 23 Chambers St., 
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