THE RURAL, NEW-YORKER 
©72 
August 1, 
Hope Farm Notes 
T HE Sun Shines. —When the sun 
finally chased the rain clouds and 
fog away it found one field with hay that 
had been on the ground 10 days. There 
had been one or more showers each day. 
We shook out this hay again and again 
only to have it soaked over and over. 
When the sun did come it brought a good 
breeze to help, and we finally tumbled 
that hay into the barn. The color was 
poor, but the stock all eat it well. It 
seems remarkable how much rain hay 
will stand and still make good feed. 
After this long experience with wet hay 
I begin to question whether it is better 
to leave it in cocks in rainy weather. 
That seems the general practice, but most 
of ours was spread out during the rains. 
I think it dried out quicker and was less 
inclined to ferment and sour than where 
it was kept in wet cocks. It looks now- 
like clear weather for a while. No doubt 
in August we shall be complaining about 
dry w-eather. There will now come a 
great rush to finish haying, save the rye 
and clean up the weedy crops. 
Cattle Beets and Corn. —Our three 
acres of beets look better than I expected. 
On last year’s potato field rye was seeded 
last Fall. This Spring, when the rye was 
shoulder high, it was turned under, and 
1,000 pounds to the acre of slaked lime 
worked in. The potato crop last year 
was light, and I figured that the fertil¬ 
izer we used on potatoes would help the 
beets. The crop started slowly, but is 
now making good progress. It has been 
cultivated twice, and now the slow job of 
hoeing and weeding has begun. In a 
country like ours where there are many 
small farms or backyard gardens, hun¬ 
dreds of people keep small flocks of hens 
and do not provide Winter green feed. 
Mangels are excellent for this, and there 
is a good demand for the roots at nearly 
the price of potatoes. 
Price of Beef. — I got just $19 for 
that combative heifer. The local butcher 
could not handle her, but finally there 
came a trader and after much argument 
I let the heifer go. The only other thing 
to do was to keep her until Fall, fatten 
her, and then slaughter her at home and 
sell the meat as best we could. All things 
considered I decided to let her go. In 
talking with others I conclude that this 
price was up to the average. In the dairy 
districts where many cows are turned off, 
buyers can handle them in droves, and a 
good fat cow will bring a fair price. In 
ordinary farming or fruit districts a sin¬ 
gle cow can rarely be handled to advan¬ 
tage, for the butchers deal in dressed 
beef and rarely slaughter an animal. A 
man may kill such a cow and distribute 
the meat among his neighbors or peddle 
it out, but that is about all there is to 
it. You cannot raise a two-year-old heif¬ 
er or steer in this country for less than 
$50. Yet some of these fool Congress¬ 
men would, if they could, compel us to 
raise at least two beef animals each year, 
and then give them away. 
Oiled Roads. —Our township or bor¬ 
ough has for the past few years used oil 
on the roads. I have had a number of 
questions from people who ask the cost 
of such oiling. Our people used the oil on 
about five miles of road in a track 12 
to 14 feet wide. This required 6,900 gal¬ 
lons of petroleum road oil No. 5, which 
cost $2.96 per 100 gallons f. o. b. at our 
station. The cost of application by 
sprinkler was about $42. This makes a 
cost of about $63 per mile for the oiling. 
Our roads are well made and smooth, of 
stone. The chief object of the oiling is 
to prevent dust. The oil also, I think, 
prevents some wear by automobiles. Dur¬ 
ing the driest part of Summer there is 
practically no dust, and the v-ater runs 
off freely in wet times. In this section 
a part of the high land values depends 
on our roads and the convenience they 
give to motor parties. It is surprising 
how these people know the condition of 
the roads all over this country, and a 
smooth oiled road becomes the best ad¬ 
vertisement for a town or neighborhood. 
Much the same thing is true of attrac¬ 
tive lawns and grounds. With so much 
/ » 
travel on our roads neatness pays, for an 
attractive front yard is sure to hold at¬ 
tention. 
Late Planted Potatoes.—I have re¬ 
ceived a good many notes from people 
who have tried late planting. I had no 
idea there was so much of it done. 
I notice your remarks in “Hope Farm 
Notes” about your late potato planting. 
As you will spray to guard against blight, 
I predict the success of your experiment. 
Many years ago—before I knew The R. 
N.-Y.—an old neighbor, w r ho was doing 
some work for me, said he w-as going to 
take the Fourth of July for his own gar¬ 
den, among other things, plant some po¬ 
tatoes, a regular practice on his “swamp” 
garden. Last year I planted about 500 
hills on wet land June 21. The seed 
was whole small potatoes that had been 
spread in a sunny window since the 
Spring planting, May 1. They grew and 
yielded fairly and kept perfectly. July 
7, 1914, I planted 200 or more hills, the 
same way. 
I do no spraying except with Paris 
green for bugs with powder gun. E. L. s. 
Massachusetts. 
Our late potatoes, planted June 2S and 
30, were from six inches to a foot high 
by July 17. The color is good, but the 
vines are not very stocky. I have no 
prediction to make yet. This wet, “mug¬ 
gy” season is supposed to be about the 
worst thing that can happen to potatoes, 
but our crop is the best we have ever 
had thus far. 
College Farm Helpers. —Here is a 
little contribution to the farm help prob¬ 
lem which starts a line of thought: 
Since then I have had experi nee which 
might interest you in regard to city help. 
I had an engineering school vacationer 
here who wasn’t worth half his salt; now 
have a Harvard junior, who is the finest 
hired man I could ask for. 
I have had various experiences with 
college boys, both as hired man and em¬ 
ployer. It all goes past the college or 
the training to the man himself. On gen¬ 
eral principles you would think an engi¬ 
neer ought to make a better farm helper 
than a literary student, but it doesn’t 
follow. The engineer may be a drone, or 
so trained that the most, he is looking for 
is “a good time.” The boy with a classi¬ 
cal training may have ambition and nat¬ 
ural industry to carry him through. It 
is in the man and his bringing up—not 
in his education. 
The Hen Contest.—I have had a 
number of letters somewhat like the fol¬ 
lowing : 
What has become of John II. Robinson 
and his proposed hen contest? 
Mr. Robinson seems to be doing busi¬ 
ness at the same stand, but I have heard 
nothing more about the contest. I had a 
very pleasant letter from Mr. Robinson 
in which he said that he would not care 
to enter any of the official contests unless 
he knew that his hens would be fed and 
cared for just as he desired. In his pa¬ 
per Mr. Robinson gets after the Hope 
Farm man with a sharp stick. lie seems 
to think we are slandering the fanciers 
and the American Poultry Association. 
Then he says as The It. N.-Y. is printed 
every week we can sow four rows of er¬ 
rors to one row of his facts. Now Mr. 
Robinson need not worry about all these 
troubles. We are not going to give him 
or anyone else a lot of free advertising by 
spreading a bushel of words all around a 
subject without touching it. There is 
only one thing to do. We printed the 
picture of an “ideal” Wyandotte. I don’t 
believe there ever was any such bird, but 
it is what the “standard” calls for. I 
claim that a hen shaped like this “ideal” 
will not excel as an egg layer. Now, if 
Brother Robinson thinks otherwise let 
him put a pen of these dumplings into 
one of the egg-laying contests, and show 
us. All this baby talk about “slandering” 
people and “sowing rows of errors” may 
cause the fanciers to straighten up their 
tail feathers, but it will never prove that 
the dumpling Wyandotte is a heavy layer. 
Brother Robinson may liave all the word 
contests to himself. If he wants to prove 
anything let him come up to the rack 
with a pen of his dumplings. 
I know that rye is your great hobby as 
a cover crop. I wonder what you would 
do with the following two-year-old apple 
orchard? It contains about five acres. I 
have kept it well harrowed up to Ibis 
writing. Next year I wish to plant one- 
half of it in potatoes and the other half 
in corn. What cover crop shall I put in 
now? The laud is inclined to be a little 
sour. II. M. E. 
Connecticut. 
As this land is sour T should sow rye 
and Dwarf Essex rape as the surest thing 
I know of. I doubt if Hairy vetch would 
amount to much the first season of sow¬ 
ing. Rye does better on a sour soil than 
any crop I have tried. I should sow a 
bushel of rye and three pounds of rape 
to the acre. It will be necessary to make 
two seedings—the rye first and then the 
rape—cover with a harrow or brush 
drag. The rape will mostly kill out in 
Winter. Plow the rye in early for the 
potatoes. For the corn let the rye grow 
till it heads, then plow under and use 
about 500 pounds of lime per acre. Now 
do not say that the Hope Farm man ad¬ 
vises rye and rape for all situations. I 
do not. Each case requires some special 
study. There is no single combination for 
all. In this particular case I think rye 
and rape will pay. h. w. c. 
Apple Pomace Around Trees. 
I PUT a heavy coat of apple pomace 
under apple trees, with the immedi¬ 
ate effect of apparently killing the 
grass and weeds, which is what I hoped 
for. But in two or three years a rank 
growth of Orchard grass came in. so that 
I knew that while the trees were helped 
for a time, the soil was not injured for 
other crops. g. s. r. 
Maine. 
We have explained how these vegetable 
acids in pomace or forest leaves act. Be¬ 
fore decay they act to kill out most 
growing plants. Many of them, as decay 
proceeds, pass off as gases, and the leaves 
contain so much lime that after these 
acids disappear the soil actually becomes 
sweeter. The seeds of the Orchard grass 
were probably in the soil, and they 
sprouted and grew as the condition be¬ 
came favorable. Fresh sawdust would 
in time act much the same way, but it 
decays so slowly that the soil would be 
injured for some years. 
When you write advertisers mention The 
R. N.-Y. and you'll get a quick reply and a 
“square deal.” See guarantee editorial page. 
there are fascinating subjects 
for your Kodak—the harvest 
scene, old “Shep” driving 
home the cows, the calf but¬ 
ting his pail of milk, the in¬ 
timate home scenes of every¬ 
day life and the good times 
with the children and even 
home portraits—all of these 
have a value that cannot be 
estimated. Every picture 
tells a story that you will 
always be glad to recall. 
Kodaks $6.00 and up. 
Brownies $1.00 to $12.00. 
Ask your dealer for illustrated catalogue, 
or we will mail it free. 
Opening a bazaar in Devonshire, Mrs. 
Dale-Doolette told a significant anecdote: 
“Last year I asked a man whom I mot 
what he felt chiefly interested in. He 
answered, ‘I am throwing my whole soul 
into pigs.’ ”—Woman’s Journal. 
Willis (in the cemetery) : “This can’t 
be Hardupp’s grave. The inseripton 
reads ‘Mrs. Ilardupp.’ ” Gillis: “l r es, 
but you see he had his tombstone, like 
his other things, put in his wife’s name.” 
—Puck. 
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387 State Street, Rochester, N. Y. 
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E. Frank Coe Fertilizers 
1QC7 THE BUSINESS FARMERS’ STANDARD 1Q1/I 
loO « FOR OVER FIFTY-FIVE YEARS ljH 
Are You Planning to 
Increase or Cut Down 
Your Success? 
W ITH the present prospect of bountiful 
harvests this fall should come a full 
realization of the enormous stores of plant 
food consumed by crops in their growing. 
Successful Crops Can Be Maintained Only 
By the Same Forces or Elements That Have 
Been Growing Your Good Crops in the Past 
To insure better crops in the future and to guard against so-called 
“ soil-exhaustion ” you should use an abundance of the right kinds 
of plant foods for late summer and fall seeding. 
No doubt your chief interest is in profits from your farm and the 
experience of fifty-seven years has shown thousands of farmers that 
E. FRANK COE FERTILIZERS are real profit makers. Are you not 
willing to have these superior fertilizers prove this on your farm ? 
It will pay you handsomely to give especial 
attention to your grass seeding which should be 
done not later than September 1st, in order to 
get the best results. 
When actual figures show a net gain of $33.33 per 
acre, per year as the result of proper fertilization of 
hay fields, do you not think it is well worth while? 
You ought to have a copy of our booklet, “Seed¬ 
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greatest farm workers in the country. The illus¬ 
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A copy of this booklet is yours for the asking if you will 
mention the name of your farm paper when you write. 
THE C0E-M0RTIMER COMPANY, 51 Chambers St., New York 
Business Established 18S7 
