706 
THE RURAU NEW-YORKER 
HOPE FARM NOTES 
Alfalfa. —I am satisfied that the or¬ 
dinary culture of Alfalfa will not pay 
on Hope Farm. There are patches of 
the deeper soil where this crop will take 
root and do fairly well for a few years, 
but these represent but a small propor¬ 
tion of the farm. I can show you places 
now with scattering Alfalfa plants— 
where we seeded years ago. Most of our 
soil is too sour and thin. We can over¬ 
come the sourness by using lime freely, 
but the tap-rooted Alfalfa will not thrive 
permanently in our thin crust of soil. 
When that tap-root reaches down and 
touches the solid ledge it curls up and 
there is an end of it. The varieties of 
Alfalfa which we have all been talking 
about are not suited to our soil, and I 
think Alsike clover and Soy beans are 
more pi'ofitable for us. 
Transplanted Alfalfa. —Something 
of the same is true of apples. I was in¬ 
duced to plant a few Northern Spy trees 
on the top of our dry hills. Judged only 
by results in that situation Northern Spy 
is a fraud and failure. We know, how¬ 
ever, that on the richer soils in the val¬ 
ley this variety grows finely. It must 
have a soil to which its root system and 
habits are suited. Baldwin and McIn¬ 
tosh on the dry hilltop do well, while 
they ai’e much poorer on the rich low¬ 
er land. Shall we find something of this 
difference in Alfalfa? I think so. Sev¬ 
eral kinds are now coming into the mar¬ 
ket which I think are to help us. I have 
just obtained from Prof. N. E. Ilansen 
of South Dakota Experiment Station, 
1.000 plants each of Cossack and Semi- 
palatinisk. You will excuse me if I do 
not try to pronounce the last named! 
We shall transplant these just about as 
we do cabbage or tomatoes—three feet 
apart each way. 
Hardy Plants. —These varieties were 
found by Prof. Hansen in Siberia, and 
the seed was brought by him in 1913. 
The Cossack Alfalfa grows a thick up¬ 
right plant with a comparatively small, 
branching root. A plant set in South 
Dakota last May gave in October—five 
months labor—217 stems, 3% feet high, 
with a total green weight of top u 1 /^ 
pounds. The Semipalatinisk makes a re¬ 
markable root growth. It does not send 
down a single tap, but a great bunch of 
roots growing out more like the root sys¬ 
tem of a peach tree. A single plant 
transplanted in 1911 was dug September 
1, 1914. The first cutting weighed 
(green) 13 pounds and the second cut¬ 
ting 4% pounds. Prof. Hansen says this 
Alfalfa comes from a district where there 
are only eight inches of rainfall. Nature 
has designed it to play the part of camel 
among forage plants. What it will do 
in a humid climate remains to be seen. 
I can promise that July and August on 
our hot and sunburned hills will make 
it think it is back home. Prof. Hansen 
thinks this variety is the strongest grow¬ 
ing form of the species of yellow-flowered 
Siberian Alfalfa, and I am glad to try 
it on our hard New Jersey hills. 
New Alfalfa Growing. —This scheme 
of transplanting Alfalfa seedlings seems 
to be spreading throughout the North¬ 
west. Several different machines for 
transplanting are being used, and the 
plan is seriously advocated, especially in 
starting the newer varieties. Prof. Han¬ 
sen says an ounce of Alfalfa seed con¬ 
tains 14,500 seeds. It is seeded in good 
soil with a garden drill set to feed out 
celery seed. The little seedlings may 
be transplanted in Fall or Spring as 
desired. The' plants are usually set three 
feet apart each way—which means 4,860 
plants to the acre. In the course of 
time the heads grow' so large that they 
cover the ground. It may seem a ridicu¬ 
lous thing to many—this idea of trans¬ 
planting Alfalfa—yet we transplant cab¬ 
bage and tomatoes for a single crop, 
while the Alfalfa lives for years. At any 
rate w’e shall try it in various parts of 
the farm—on the hills and in the lower 
valleys. We plow and fit the ground as 
we would for potatoes and give a double 
dose of lime. Then with a trowel or 
spade the little plants are set in as cab¬ 
bage or strawberries would be. The rows 
are three feet apart and the plants three 
feet in the row. I shall hoe and culti¬ 
vate them until they are well started. 
The roots are a little smaller than a lead 
pencil. They came from South Dakota 
in a common pasteboard box. and arrived 
in good condition—all alive. Now re¬ 
member—this is all new to me. I do not 
advise this plan of starting Alfalfa. I 
merely tell you what we are doing, and 
I shall keep an exact record of cost and 
results. 
Fruit Notes. —The apple bloom w'as 
at its best about May 1. Our crop will 
be a little smaller than I expected, as 
the bloom is light on some blocks where 
I expected a heavy setting. Some of the 
young Baldwins started last year, and I 
thought they w'ould repeat this season, 
but there are only a few flowers. The 
older Baldwins, the Greenings and the 
McIntosh are loaded. I shall have to 
take back some of the things I have said 
about Sutton Beauty. Our older trees 
this year are full of bloom and, unlike 
the Baldwins, they seem disposed to 
give us a fair crop this year. That close, 
upright top will come apart with the 
load of fruit, and we shall then have a 
better-shaped head. Sutton will help us 
out this year when the young Baldwins 
are shy.I figure on a dry May this 
year, and this changes our plan some¬ 
what. A w’et May drives along the cov¬ 
er crop and provides moisture enough for 
both this crop and the trees. We can 
let the rye or vetch or clover grow to 
its best before plowing under, since there 
is water enough for all. In a dry May, 
however, it is a great mistake to let the 
rye grow too long. It sucks out vast 
quantities of water while it is heading 
and forming grain, and this water is 
stolen from the trees. The cover crop 
should never become a thief, yet that 
is what it comes to if it stands too long 
in a dry May. Far better get it under 
ground before it steals water. So this 
year, instead of watering until late in 
May before plowing under the rye. we 
began early in the month, when the crop 
was knee high. Of course this means 
less organic matter to go in. but it saves 
moisture and will put the soil in better 
condition. This experience shows why 
it is impossible for anyone to lay down 
positive rules about cover crops and cul¬ 
tivation. You must w'atch your job and 
know by experience or instinct what to 
do and when to do it. J. II. Hale wrote 
me over a week ago that in Connecticut 
they were plowing under the vetch which 
grew so fast that the horses would have 
tanglefoot before they got it all under. 
“Happy Days.” —We must have all 
sorts of people in this world in order to 
have the sun and shade and the fun and 
the “grouch” of society. Here is a man 
for example: 
This Hope Farm man seems to have 
a very soft job. No troubles apparently, 
but always taking some light or easy 
vision of life. To hear him tell it. life 
is just one long parade of pleasant 
things. He must have a soft job! 
W. A. K. 
May 15, 1915. 
I wonder what this man would like to 
have me do. Somehow he makes me 
think of an old character who lived in the 
town where I was brought up. You 
could not make him admit that there 
was any happiness in the world. People 
used to test him. On a beautiful Spring 
morning, without a cloud in the sky, and 
all Nature afloat with joy, they would 
meet this man with the following eon- 
v ersa tion: 
“A nice day. Brother Benson.” 
“Nice enough right now, but the Lord 
only knows what it will be before night!” 
Of course if the Lord knew there was 
no use for mortals to worry about it, 
but this old fellow never could get over 
his “grouch.” Now the Hope Farm man 
has his troubles, like all others. He 
could put up a good argument to prove 
that they are worse than anyone else 
nearby can show. But life is W'hat we 
make it—not just what comes to us— 
and in the manufacturing of life I believe 
in rejecting as much of gloom as possible 
—just as a manufacturer would throw 
cut defective metal or wood. 
“Go bury thy sorrow—the world hath 
its share!" The Hope Farm man re¬ 
gards it as one of the strong tests of 
character to be able to rise above trouble 
and affliction and put out the best card 
of life that lies in the pack. h. w. r. 
Suppose We Pared 
This Tire 
Suppose this All-Weather tread—which is now 
double-thick—were pared to the thinness of the 
usual anti-skid. Do you think that the grips would 
endure and the tread endure as now? Or would 
it resist puncture like this matchless tread? 
Suppose we used—as some do—one less ply of 
fabric. Suppose the whole tire were made lighter. 
Could the tire stand use or misuse as Goodyear 
tires do now? 
Suppose we omitted our other exclusive features: 
Our No-Rim-Cut feature— 
Our “On-Air” cure to save blowouts— 
Our rubber rivets to combat loose treads— 
Our 126 -piano-wire base for security. 
All others do omit them. All of them are costly. 
One of them — our “On-Air” cure — costs us 
$450,000 yearly. 
But could Goodyear 
Fortified Tires retain top 
place if we did not give 
those extras? 
We’re Adding 
Betterments 
Instead of that, we are 
all the time adding better¬ 
ments. We spend on one 
department $100,000 yearly to seek out new im¬ 
provements. 
Our All-Weather tread—always double-thick 
—has been made still thicker on some sizes 
We have added an average of 14 per cent to 
the thickness of our Inner Tubes. 
And we are making our own laoric to secure 
an extra strength. 
Price Reductions 
Yet we have made big price reductions three 
times in two years. Our last—on February 1st 
—brought.the total to 45 per cent. That is largely 
due to multiplied output. 
Today you are getting in Goodyear Fortified 
Tires the best value ever known in tire making. 
It is due to yourself 
that you get these tires. 
They are saving millions of 
dollars and millions of 
troubles to motor car own¬ 
ers each year. And men 
know this. Last year they 
bought about one Goodyear 
tire for every car in use. 
Join these contented tire 
users. Any dealer will 
supply you. 
YEAR 
AKRON. OHIO 
Fortified Tires 
Fortified 
Against 
'Rim-Cuts— by our No-Rim-Cut feature. 
Blowouts —by our “On-Air” cure. 
Loose Treads— by many rubber rivets. 
Insecurity— by 126 braided piano wires. 
Punctures and Skidding— by our double¬ 
thick All-Weather tread. 
THE GOODYEAR TIRE & RUBBERCOMPANY, AKRON, OHIO 
Makers of Goodyear “Tire Saver” Accessories; also Goodyear “Wing” Carriage Tires and other Types 
(2408) 
