1500 
THE IVU KAL 
IM IS \V r - VO KKEK 
December 20, 
Hope Farm Notes 
R epeating stra wberr ies.—a 
new reader wants to know if it is 
true that we raised strawberries, 
grew potatoes and planted a new lot of 
berry plants on the same ground in one 
season. It is. and we see nothing re¬ 
markable about it. The strawberry field 
had been fruited five years. There' was a 
fair crop, but so many weeds had worked 
in that it did not seem profitable to clean 
it. So, after picking, the field was plow¬ 
ed, turning the great mass of weeds and 
vines under. The potatoes were planted 
by hand—putting the seed pieces right 
down into the mass of green stuff be¬ 
neath the surface. These potatoes gave 
us a fair crop. They were dug in early 
October. As soon as they were out the 
soil was dug up with the Cutaway har¬ 
row, fitted well, and strong layer plants 
were set out. They have rooted well 
and look now as if they would Winter 
and give us a small crop next year, and 
go on for three or four years more. There 
is nothing very remarkable about it. 
Some gardeners would have grown let¬ 
tuce between the rows of potatoes and 
then would have had spinach now grow¬ 
ing between the rows of strawberries. 
House ok Motor. — “I am about to 
purchase a small ■ farm, and as I must 
commute to and from the city, I need a 
conveyance to get to and from railroad 
station. The question is whether to buy 
an auto or a horse and rig. the initial 
cost of auto uot to exceed the prime cost 
of horse and rig. The main use of the 
farm is for poultry, so that the use of ;i 
horse on farm is limited. What is 
the proper thing to do in this case?” 
New York. M. L. 
I have never owned a car. Whenever 
the weather is lit I walk, as I need exer¬ 
cise more than being carried. I think it 
would depend on a number of things. 
Are your roads good? On bad roads the 
horse will get through better. On good 
roads the car will prove very satisfac¬ 
tory. Do you naturally love a horse? 
Some people do, and are most happy 
when driving or earing for him. If a 
man has real affection for a horse i! 
would be well for him to own one. From 
your statement I should judge that the 
car would be more satisfactory. It is a 
form of slavery to take care of a horse. 
He must be fed and watered and cleaned 
and watched, doctored, harnessed and un¬ 
harnessed. and this is a heavy tax upon 
a man who does not naturally care much 
for the beast. Of course, there are ob¬ 
jections to the car, and it would he easy 
to name them, but on the whole I think 
it would suit your conditions best. 
Belgian Emigrants, —I have read a 
great deal about how the American peo¬ 
ple were going to manage the affairs of 
the poor Belgians, and about the only 
sensible one. and the best I have so far 
run :kt* ss was the remarks of the Hope 
Farm man on page 1418; at least, it 
agrees with my ideas exactly. 1 would 
be glad to see a Belgian emigration I-' 
this section, but they are not coming. A 
people that will tight to a finish for their 
country are going back to it. I have 
seen it. The people here did not desert 
the South after the Civil War. when it 
was bankrupt and in a state of chaos; 
they wont to work to rebuild it and lived 
on husks and sweat. What they did or 
did without is known only to themselves, 
as they did not look for sympathy or ask 
charity. The Belgians are going to do 
the same thing, and few will leave, and 
they will do it quicker, for they will not 
have to contend with reconstruction and 
freed slaves, so they will have their job 
much simplified. What is left of them 
will have only the devastation of war to 
contend with, uncomplicated with other 
problems. I do not look on the Belgians 
as objects of charity at all. but as en¬ 
titled to the same assistance as the crew 
of a wrecked vessel ; they need their wants 
for necessities supplied simply because 
they cannot supply them under existing 
conditions, and I think you have hit the 
nail right square on the head. Belgium 
is their home and they have fought for it 
and are going to rebuild it and occupy 
it again. mausena a. pauker. 
Alabama. 
Needless to say that expresses my views 
on the subject. I have observed that 
some very good people seem to think 
charity gives them the right to boss 
those who are to bo helped. That takes 
the heart out of charity. Those who are 
unfortunate need help, but it should not 
be rubbed into them. This idea of bring¬ 
ing the Belgian children here, whether 
their people want them to come or not, 
does not suit me. I know much about 
separating children from their people— 
from personal experience and otherwise. 
I.et us help the Belgian people in their 
bitter trouble, but encourage them to go 
back to their own country and rebuild it. 
I know that what Mr. Parker says about 
the South is true. After it is all over 1 
do not think any other class of people 
doulfl have done better work. 
About Feasting. —Here is a friend 
who sends me what he calls “a bit of 
profound wisdom” as a New Year’s sug¬ 
gestion : 
“Fools make feasts and wise men eat 
them.”—Franklin. 
) 
Not always. I have attended some 
feasts which were prepared by very wise 
men and women. They were eaten by 
more or less foolish people. The man 
of mature years does not show his wis¬ 
dom by eatiug his way through a feast. 
He would be wise if he nibbled a little 
of it and let the rest go. My judgment 
would be that 80 per ceut. of the people 
I know eat too much—more than they 
need and more than is good for them. Of 
course, I realize that it is not a very 
popular thing to tell a man he eats too 
much, and I do not expect many converts 
to this theory for 1015. If people would 
only suit their eating to their work or 
exercise they would be better off, but the 
habit once formed is hard to break off. 
For when you come right down to it, 
eating is a habit rather than the act of 
supplying a necessity. 
Mulching Raspberries; Coal Ashes. 
—"I put some well-rotted manure arouud 
my red raspberry bushes. An old far¬ 
mer told mo tnat it would kill them. Part 
of iny garden gets very bard in dry wea¬ 
ther. I was going to put sifted hard 
coal ashes on. and he told me I would 
make it harder by doing so. Is this true? 
New York. e. m. l. 
I do not like to put such manure up 
close around bushes or trees. In warm 
spells of Winter or Fall 1 have had some 
trouble with injuring the bark, and mice 
also work under it. I would put such 
manure out several inches away from 
the bush or tree. Coal ashes are good to 
pile close around the bush or tree trunk. 
Sifted coal ashes have helped some of our 
hard soils by opening or mellowing them. 
They are not as good as lime or wood 
ashes for this work, but they help us by 
opening the soil. 
Peacii Varieties. —A farmer who 
lives some six miles from us asked for 
a selection of peach varieties. After 
looking up the catalogues he names the 
following—to be cut down to eight varie¬ 
ties: Mayflower, Red Bird, Arp Beauty, 
Alton, Ililey, Bello of Georgia, Elrose, 
Champion, .T. II. Hale, Illinois, Niagara, 
Krummel’s October. Then he says: 
“You will notice that I did not include 
any such well-known varieties as Car¬ 
man. Crawford, Flberta, etc., standards 
in the neighborhood, because the cata¬ 
logues describe the varieties chosen in 
their place, as far superior in quality, 
size and hardiness. What is your opin¬ 
ion about it?” 
I stick to old friends. I have found 
nothing better than Carman for its sea¬ 
son. Mountain Rose does well with us, 
also Crawford and Sal way. Niagara is 
good, though not a heavy bearer, and 
Belle of Georgia is excellent, though you 
do not want too many white peaches. 
My personal opinion is that .T. II. Hale 
is to replace Flberta. As for buying va¬ 
rieties on the strength of what the cata¬ 
logues tell you—I thank you, no. It is 
well to experiment with a few of the new 
ones, but take my advice and stick to the 
old reliable varieties which business-like 
growers plant in your locality. If you 
were buying clothing, or hardware or 
anything else which you use in your reg¬ 
ular trade, would you take just what 
the sellers told you without question? 
h. w. c. 
A PROBLEM IN SWAMP DRAINAGE. 
C AN you tell me at what depth tiles 
should bo laid to drain muck land? 
1 have in taking up tile at a little 
over three feet found living grass roots 
in them, but this might have been caused 
by channels made by surface water enter¬ 
ing the points from the top soils. In 
one instance I have found tiles nearly 
choked by grass roots at a depth of 18 
inches. This was a six-inch tile with 
constantly flowing water. Can you tell 
me of a plan for draining muck land 
where the bottom of the trenches to re¬ 
ceive the tile is so soft h.v the time the 
earth is removed that the soil is puddled, 
making the tile uneven when laid? Such 
soils usually have so little incline that 
tile is of questionable utility when com¬ 
plete. 1 have thought of a plan of lay¬ 
ing tiles in open trenches uncovered for 
a year, or until a time when the perma¬ 
nent trenches could be prepared along¬ 
side with a reasonable certainty of se¬ 
curing a bottom sufficiently hard to get 
a perfectly smooth surface, solid enough 
to hold the tiles from tilting up and 
down. Again, the contour of my land is 
such that in places the main line of six 
or eight-inch tile would have to be shal¬ 
low. I have thought of the plan of plac¬ 
ing stones over and around the tile to 
prevent grass roots from getting a start, 
but am not sure of the success of the 
plan, or the tile could be covered with 
a raised ridge, but as water, sufficient to 
run a sawmill, courses through during the 
time of melting snow thus plan might 
not work, as the surplus water might 
wear away the soil. Is there danger of 
getting the joints so close, especially in 
puddled soils, as to prevent the water 
from entering the joints? I fear this is 
the case with some of mine, as water 
stands in holes I have dug as close as 
three feet to the tiles, and within eight 
inches of the top. ITow can I remedy 
this without relaying the tiles? Is there 
any advantage in using vitrified sewer 
pipe over one foot lengths of land tile? 
I have used sewer pipe in puddled muck 
land to some extent, so as to insure con¬ 
tinuous joints. In exposed situations 
with little covering is land tile hard 
enough to prevent breaking and crum¬ 
bling by frost? i. l. w. 
Gardiner, Me. 
In all such cases boards should he used 
in the bottom to lay the tiles on. The 
longer these boards are the better, as 
there are less joints. The drain tile 
length of 12 inches is preferable to any 
other. A joint between two tiles should 
never come at a point where the ends of 
the boards meet. For six and eight-inch 
tiles a six-incli width of board should be 
used. An eight-inch would be better. 
Narrower strips of boards will answer 
for the smaller sizes of tiles in the lat¬ 
erals. Boards in that character of soil 
will last almost indefinitely. Never put 
stones, clay, sand or muck over the top 
of the tiles, but rather use cinders, damp 
coal ashes or loam (gravelly loam pre¬ 
ferred) to a depth of six or eight inches. 
A uniform grade should bo established 
where the percentage of grade is low. 
Three inches fall to the hundred feet will 
answer, hut more is better. As to root 
growths entering and obstructing the 
tiles, this sometimes occurs where there 
is constantly running water in the line, 
hut seldom where the work is properly 
done and the land is under cultivation. 
In draining such lands there must nec¬ 
essarily be places wh^re the depth of the 
drain will be more than in others; IS 
inches in a low spot ought to work all 
right, but in such places after filling in 
around and over the tiles a hoard should 
be placed on the top of the tile to prevent 
the displacement when the ground is soft. 
Now as to the erosion caused by the cur¬ 
rent of the Spring run-off. If this occurs 
near the outlet, as it often does, a dam 
or ridge of rocks and stones placed at 
such a point will allow the water to flow 
through and over, but will hold back the 
soil that washes down with the current, 
until it will fill in and level up that shal¬ 
low area, thereby giving the drain the 
proper depth. If this occur along the 
line farther back in the field a temporary 
obstruction can be placed at the lower 
side of the shallow place. This can be 
made with fine brush, cornstalks or even 
straw, with a few rocks or large stones 
to hold it in place, aud perhaps some 
stakes. If the current can be turned 
aside and around such a spot it is better 
than to have it following the line of the 
drain. There is no danger of tile crum¬ 
bling by frost action where the hard- 
burned Ohio shale tiles are used. They 
are hectagonal as to outer surface, and 
are nou-porous. If you cannot get this 
tile, a hard-burned thin-walTed clay tile 
will answer, but it must be free from 
lime and impurities, which cause the 
crumbling where freezing aud thawing 
occurs. Laying the tiles in open tempo¬ 
rary trenches would. I believe, be a waste 
of time. In laying tiles in any soil. I al¬ 
ways place the joints as close together 
as possible. You cannot keep the water 
out of a tile drain. There are little leaks 
in the roof every 12 i..olios, and the water 
is bound to enter unless clay has boon 
placed over the joints to seal them up. 
There is some spice in overcoming diffi¬ 
culties. and these are often encountered 
in drainage work. henry e. cox. 
When you write advertisers mention Tub 
R. N.-Y. ami you'll get a quick reply ana a 
“square deal.” See guarantee editorial page. 
My New Low Down No. 8 Spreader 
with cut under front wheels and trussed 
channel steel frame is positively the best 
spreader in the world. Light draft, end¬ 
less apron, positive force feed, double 
chain drive. Just ask for my book, “A ! 
Stroak of Gold," FREE, and I will tell 
you the truth about manure spreaders 
and how to get the greatest profit out 
of your manure products. 
‘mi 
Hew 
Sanitary Cream] 
Separator 
I will send It anywhere I 
in the United States I 
without an expert to [ 
set it up to any inex-1 
perienced cream separ-1 
ator user 
1 $42.50 
{IO-year 
Guar* 
’ an too* 
800 
Lbs. 
Cap. 
Spreaders $84' 7 ° 
for a 90-day free trial, to test thoroughly 
against any make of separator that even 
sells for twice as much and will let 
you be the judge. Built up to a high 
standard and not down to a 
price. 20,000 miles of travel 
would prove it the most mod¬ 
ern, the most sanitary, the most' 
scientific, the cleanest skimmer, 
most beautiful in design of any ci 
separator made today and I have 
seen them all. A postal gets oun 
big free Separator Catalog and 
Cow book. 
Galloway Masterpiece Big j 
OJ ..Positively supreme in power, sim- 
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of engine building are built into it. A 
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to-#1 - fore you buy an en¬ 
gine at any price. 
Wm. Galloway, 
President, 
The Wm. Gal* 
loway Go., 
277 Galloway 
Station 
Waterloo, Iowa 
Owing to tho war, wo aro disposing I 
of our big stock of engines built for foroignl 
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eludes all sizes of high grade, guaranteed I 
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60S Boston ,St. f Detroit, Mich.I 
NEW 
BARGAIN 
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w namo on postal and get our book and 
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| saving catalog and free sample. 
THE BROWN FENCE & WIRE CO. 
Dept. 69 Cleveland, Ohio 
GALVANIZED ffigg 
Write for Cat. “C” and price del. your station. 
GRIFFIN LUMBER CO., Box 99. Hudson Falls. New York 
HORSE HEAD 
INCREASE THE VALUE OF YOUR FARM with Pulverized 
Rock Phosphate, HORSE HEAD brand. Mix 2 lbs. per 
head per day ami increase the value of your manure 
75V Write us lor delivered car load prico. 
HASEROT LIME S PHOSPHATE CO., - CLEVELAND, 0. 
GUARANTEED 
Bolster Springs 
make any wagon a spring wagon. Prevent^ 
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^save cost—produce brings more—wagon lasts longer. 
MADE LIKE FINEST AUTO SPRINGS 
Very resilient and durable. The standard springs_ 
America since 1889. 40 sizes—fit any wagon— ~~ 
sustain load up to 5 tons. If not at dealer’s, 
write us. Catalog and fistful of proof free. 
HARVEY SPRING CO., 716 - 17th St.. RACINE, W1S. 
100 Acres 
Two barns, poor house, 
laud good. Got no use 
l or it To a quick buyer, 
$1,100; $100 cash. Hall's Farm Aoeucy.Owego, Tioga Ca ,N.Y. 
Frme ,t~| F)p| — grp AH sizes, productive 
rarnib m Delaware soilj KPnia i c u nii i l0t 
close to markets, fair prices, freo booklet. Address 
STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE, - DOVER, DELAWARE 
BOOKS WORTH READING 
II How Crops Grow, Johnson. 1.50 fl 
|| Celery Culture, Beattie.50 || 
li Greenhouse Construction. Taft.... 1.50 || 
The Rural New-Yorker. 333 W. 30th St., N. Y. 
Use NATCO Drain Tile—-Last Forever 
Pai nt drainage needs durable tile. Our drain tile are made of 
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NATIONAL FIRE PROOFING COMPANY, Fulton Building, PITTSBURGH, PA. 
