628 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
July IS, 
Hope Farm Notes 
A PATCH-WORK DAY. 
Part II. 
LANTING THE POTATOES—Hitch 
yourself to an Acme harrow 
with a healthy man sitting on it 
on a sultry, windless day, and you 
may imagine how Tom and Broker looked 
at me every time they passed. I sat on 
the wheelbarrow at one end of the field 
cutting seed—the two little girls “help¬ 
ing” by passing the potatoes. The Ital¬ 
ian army gladly raised the siege of as¬ 
paragus, untied a few knots in their 
backs and came to the rescue of my 
theory. We ran two lines of twine across 
the field—the rows three feet apart. One 
man followed each line—the other be¬ 
tween dropped seed for both. With a 
blow from a large hoe a hole or cut was 
made about four inches deep down into 
the buried sod. The seed was dropped 
into this, covered with soil and firmed by 
patting down with the hoe. As we cul¬ 
tivate I expect to hill up gradually. You 
may call this slow and tedious planting, 
but under all the circumstances I think 
it the best way to plant at this season. 
.You would be surprised too if you could 
see how rapidly the men put the seed in 
after they were organized. I purposely 
cut the seed in large pieces, usually cut¬ 
ting a good-sized tuber in halves. We 
have often tried late planting before, but 
never with much success except once, 
when we used seed which was dug in 
Florida during April and shipped here. 
This gave us a fair crop of medium-sized 
tuhers. I have always believed that in 
order to do well late potatoes must be 
put into damp soil, rich in organic mat¬ 
ter, in a cool moist season—planted 
about as we put them in. Now having 
a chance to try my theory let us wait and 
see. 
Clearing 111’.—There were still some 
90 minutes of the day’s work when the 
potatoes were in. The Italians went at 
the asparagus once more, and the little 
girls begged me to show them how to 
pot strawberry plants. So armed with a 
hoe, a trowel and a string of pots, we 
hunted through the newly set Marshalls 
for runners. Down in the dirt the little 
girls soon leaned to fill the pot with 
fine soil, sink it in the ground, bringing 
the roots of the runner over it and fasten 
it down with a little stone. I went ahead 
with a hoe and cleaned out the weeds. 
The girls were having a glorious time, 
fat and wet and dirty, when a stern 
figure with waving arms appeared in the 
barnyard. 
“Oh, ain’t it awful !” 
“We gotta go an’ have our bath !” 
Off they trotted, leaving me to finish 
the pots. The boys came, driving Bob 
into the yard. Every berry and pea had 
been sold. They even had to pick five 
quarts more for supper. I suppose I 
might have joined the Italians at their 
knee service, but somehow of late years 
my petitions to Nature seem a little more 
heartfelt when delivered standing at the 
end of a hoe. So I started in to clear 
up our potted plant nursery. But a sort 
of monitor on my back told me I had 
worked enough. Off in the west a small 
cloud was forming. It was even larger 
than a man’s hand, and I confess that it 
formed a good excuse to see if supper was 
not nearly ready. It was, and in due 
time we lined up once more—as the 
Italians marched off with their share of 
the spoils. 
End of The Day. —The little girls 
were upstairs, pretending to be asleep if 
Mother came that way, but very much 
awake when I looked into the room. 
After a satisfying meal of baked beans 
and strawberries a man may w. ll walk 
about and give a last look to the farm 
situation. Another of these mean little 
showers was forming in the west. I es¬ 
timated the currant crop as nearly as 
possible—the fruit is red and picking 
will begin Monday. Then I found a 
dozen peach trees left from the last cul¬ 
tivating where the weeds have grown 
waist high. Twenty minutes with the 
scythe changed them from suckers to suc- 
corers. Then a spatter of rain drove us 
all to the front porch. There we sat and 
watched the belated automobiles rushing 
by on their way home. Of course they 
exceeded the speed limit, but one could 
forgive them on the homeward trip. It 
grew cooler as the damp darkness came 
upon us and the wind began moving the 
branches of the trees as night finally 
threw her blanket around the farm house. 
It was an untimely and unnecessary 
thing on a .Tune night, but a little blaze 
in the fireplace made the night a little 
more cheerful. The hay was still wet 
and the grass is growing in the corn¬ 
fields, and those berries in the wet, thick 
vines will be ruined if this keeps on. It 
was surely a patchwork day, but we did 
our best, and as the house grew still the 
Hope Farm man nodded off over his book 
before the fire. 
Poor Hay. —This is the worst season 
for haying I have ever known in this 
country. Usually by the Fourth of 
duly we have most of our hay in the 
barn or ready to house. This year only 
one load was under cover. There were 
three or four more on the ground waiting 
for one good hay day. The constant 
showers have prevented cutting and cur¬ 
ing and the grass is old and seedy. It 
looks like a crop of poor discolored hay 
for us. The second crop will be heavy 
and this is a good season for top-dressing 
the meadows after the first cutting is off. 
The soil is moist now and it seems as if 
the showers are to continue, so that solu¬ 
ble chemicals put right on after the hay 
is off the field will whip up another 
growth and give some good hay. This 
is also a good season for such crops as 
Japanese millet, corn fodder or sorghum, 
and there ought to be a good chance to 
grow substitutes even if the hay crop is 
poor. 
“Ornaments.” —Our experiment at 
landscape gardening is turning out very 
satisfactory. This moist season has given 
the shrubs and trees a great start and as 
they grow they change the entire appear¬ 
ance of the place. The picture at Fig. 
3S7 shows the eastern end of our old 
stone house. This house is jammed up 
close to the road and when this road was 
finally stoned, several feet were blasted 
out so that the house now stands on a 
rocky ledge. When we came here I 
planted Boston ivy at the end of this 
house and when Tiie R. N.-Y. sent out 
climbing roses to its readers we planted 
one of each and let them grow as they 
would. The great bush at the right is 
Crimson Rambler, about the largest one 
I have ever seen. At the left hand cor¬ 
ner is Ruby Queen. This runs for many 
feet around the side of the house. When 
these roses are in bloom they present a 
magnificent mass of color and attract 
more attention than anything else for 
miles along the road. This old house 
dates back to before the Revolution— 
one of the old timers in this section. It 
is only occupied now for sleeping but we 
lived in it for some years when we first 
came to the farm. 
Potatoes. —Our crop never looked 
better on July 4. It is all planted be¬ 
tween the rows of fruit except that last 
planting on the old strawberry sod. The 
best field is at the back of the farm on 
soil which, so far as I can tell, never 
grew potatoes before. We started a 
young apple orchard there and this 
Spring plowed under a heavy growth of 
rye. Crimson clover grew well last Fall 
but most of it was killed out this Spring. 
The rye was all tucked under and packed 
down by weighting the Cutaway and then 
the Acme. As far as possible the seed 
pieces were put right down into the 
rye without ripping it out and the fertil¬ 
izer was scattered along the furrows. 
There has been abundant moisture and as 
the result of this handling the plants of 
Irish Cobbler stood over two feet high 
by July 4 with a rich green and little po¬ 
tatoes as large as walnuts. Considering 
that these potatoes were not planted until 
late in May this suits us well. The 
field is very weedy. The potatoes were 
well cultivated and hoed—then a small 
plow was used to throw furrows from 
each side so as to smother out the next 
crop of weeds and grass. Not a bug has 
appeared in this field yet—in fact the 
bug crop is lighter this year than I have 
ever known before. 
Strawberries. —On the Fourth of 
July we picked about eight quarts of 
Marshalls. This was 35 days from the 
first picking and it looked like five days 
more. This is, of course, an unusual 
season but I doubt if any other variety 
can equal Marshall for long continued 
fruiting. If it were only a heavier yield- 
er it would stand at the head for rich 
heavy soil. It is a flat failure on the 
lighter soils or with poor culture. Our 
Spring set beds are looking well. Run¬ 
ners are starting and we are putting in 
the pots quite freely. I notice some large 
stories in the papers about yields from 
potted plants. I think they are largely 
guff, for the man who expects to grow 
a full crop next Spring from a potted 
plant set this Summer will be sadly dis¬ 
appointed. One case is reported to us 
where 200 potted Marshalls planted last 
August gave nearly a crate this year. 
These plants had the finest of care and 
the season was favorable. I would not 
guarantee the average purchaser of 200 
plants 10 quarts, but he would have a bed 
well established and get a good outfit of 
plants. We have had a little experiment 
with lime and strawberries. In the mid¬ 
dle of one of our plantings our folks 
burned a big brush pile and scattered the 
ashes. The field was all manured and 
plowed alike. Now a man with but one 
inferior eye could see the difference. 
Where the ashes were scattered the 
plants are dwarfed and some of them 
have already died. Outside of this space 
the plants are large and fine. There may 
have been something beside the lime in 
the ashes to cause this but I am satis¬ 
fied that wood ashes and lime should 
never be put on berries. n. w. c. 
Get All Your Potatoes 
The Farquhar Elevator Potato Digger 
does the work ot a crew of men. It 
frees all the potatoes from the soil and 
puts them on top ready for sacking. If 
you raise potatoes for profit, it will pay 
you to send immediately for new illus¬ 
trated catalogue explaining^ i 
all about the different jv 
Farquhar Diggers. 
A. B. FARQUHAR CO., Ltd. j 
Box 230t 
gines, Saw-mills, 
Threshers, Drills 
and Cider Presses. 
DIRIGO SILOS 
Are GOOD Silos. It lias been^ 
our persistent purpose for four¬ 
teen years to make a perfect 
Silo. Every DIRIGO SILO is 
sold by mail. We want to mail 
a catalog and price list to every 
farmer who keeps stock. A 
postal card will bring our Special 
Early Order Prices delivered at 
your nearest station. Prompt 
shipments. 
STEVENS TANK & TOWER CO. 
AUBURN, MAINE 
( - 
E. Frank Coe Fertilizers 
10C7 THE BUSINESS FARMERS’ STANDARD IQI^ 
lOO / FOR OVER FIFTY-FIVE YEARS 1 V 1 ** 
Plan Now For 
Midsummer Seeding to Alfalfa 
Fall Seeding to Wheat, Rye and Grass 
ive your Alfalfa the abundance of Phosphoric Acid and Potash 
1 t that it needs, but remember also that while Alfalfa takes its 
^ Nitrogen from the air, after it is well established a moderate 
quantity of quickly available nitrogen is necessary to give the young 
plants a vigorous start before the root nodules develop. 
In E. Frank Coe Fertilizers you get the right proportions and right 
kinds of plant food for your Alfalfa. 
When seeding down to Wheat or Rye with grass, remember that 
you must supply sufficient plant food for two crops; otherwise your 
Wheat or Rye may be a success but your grass crop may be a failure. 
Be sure therefore, to use fertilizers containing sufficient plant food 
to give Wheat or Rye and grass a vigorous start this Fall and also con¬ 
taining plant food that will become available next Spring and Summer, 
thus insuring profitable results from both crops. 
Seeding to permanent mowings is best done late in August or early 
in September, without either Wheat or Rye. In this case use a heavier 
application of seed and a generous application of E. Frank Coe 
Fertilizers. 
We have many different grades and kinds of E. Frank Coe Fertil¬ 
izers adapted to every variation of soil and local conditions. If you 
will advise us about your soil and crops we will give you our honest 
opinion as to which fertilizers will give you best results. 
You ought to read our booklet “Seeding to Grass and Clover.” A 
copy is yours for the asking, without charge, of course. 
THE C0E-M0RTIMER COMPANY, 51 Chambers St., New York City 
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A 
$2.25 WORTH OF ROCK 
PHOSPHATE PRODUCED 
25 BUSHELS OF WHEAT 
At these figures an Illinois Farmer 
secured increased wheat yields at a 
cost of less than 10c per bushel, and 
three-fourths of the Phosphorus re¬ 
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Write us for prices on Daybreak 
Finely Ground Rock Phosphate, and 
learn how other farmers are building 
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FEDERAL CHEMICAL COMPANY 
(Ground Rock Department) 
Ne. 30 W. Main St., Columbia, Tenn. 
VINES AT TIIE END OF TIIE HOPE FARM HOUSE. Fig. 387. 
