1294 
October 30, 1915. 
HOPE FARM NOTES 
College Girls. —Just now we are try¬ 
ing to select the best of our Red pullets 
to send to the egg-laying contest at the 
Connecticut Agricultural College. It is 
difficult to decide which birds will be 
most likely to do us credit. We know 
their parents, but one can tell at a 
glance that there are wide differences hi 
shape and general character. I had them 
as I thought all selected one day, yet the 
next day several new ones looked more 
promising. And I find it will not do to 
submit it to a family vote or to a com¬ 
mittee. They never would agree. So I 
shall select the birds that appeal to my 
eye and take the full responsibility for it. 
Our own pullets are late hatched and not 
fully developed, and I do not expect thorn 
to start laying at once. When they do 
start they ought to keep at it, or else 
they will disgrace their parents. Yet 
have I not known young humans to do 
that at college? 
Hen Human Nature. —These college 
candidates are kept in the same house 
with their parents—our best breeding 
pen—with only a wire partition between 
them. As I stand studying these pullets 
I see their father, “Redman.” with his 
wise head on one side watching me. I 
imagine him talking to “Bronze Beauty,” 
the hen with a certified record of 180 
eggs last year. 
“Now this man may think he is some¬ 
body because he has a daughter at col¬ 
lege. Six of my daughters are now go¬ 
ing to college, and I will guarantee that 
any one of them will make a more cred¬ 
itable record than this man’s single 
daughter! I shall take him down a peg 
or two before this coming year is over.” 
“No doubt of it,” says Bronze Beauty, 
“provided he has sense enough to select 
my daughters for college. Some of these 
other characters in this pen are no credit 
to the farm. I ought not to associate 
with them. Now that lazy hen over there 
laid only 0,8 eggs last year. Suppose 
this man selects one of her daughters for 
college!” 
“Madame, I want you to understand 
that my daughters are always a credit 
to this farm. The lady to whom you 
refer, is, in my opinion, a very handsome 
hen—very deserving of attention. She 
would shine in the society of the show 
ring.” 
“Very likely, but handsome is as hand¬ 
some does. I may not be as well dressed, 
but I lay two eggs to her one. Whoever 
saw one of those handsome hens ever do 
anything at real housekeeping except in 
the frying-pan? This man’s daughter 
will stand far above her daughter at col¬ 
lege work, and you know it?” 
“Madame, as I have said before, my 
daughters will surely be a credit because 
they will resemble their grandmother. 
There was a great hen. She was ex¬ 
ceedingly handsome—as one may readily 
see by glancing at me, and as for house¬ 
keeping—your efforts seem puny beside 
her record of 248 eggs in .801 days! My 
mother, madame, was a great hen and 
my daughters will resemble her!” 
That ended it. Redman went to carry 
a fat worm to his handsome lady, while 
Bronze Beauty went to lay another egg! 
liens are more like humans than we 
think. I imagine Redman is about right, 
and if I were selecting a young rooster 
for the head of a breeding pen I would 
take a son of Bronze Beauty, while I 
should not be so sure of her daughter. 
A Mixed Pen. —I want to be careful 
and explain all about this contest pen, 
so there will be no “come-back” later on. 
Out of the “Favorite Hen” pen of Reds 
five hens have made good records. I feel 
therefore that it would be an interesting 
thing to enter this year nieces of these 
hens for another trial. So I have bought 
pullets from Mrs. Bliss, Mrs. Marlatt, 
Mrs. Travis, Mrs. Wilson and Mrs. Mer¬ 
rick, and will put five pullets in my pen. 
I paid full price for these birds, and the 
enterprise is entirely open and fair. 
These pullets are supposed to be daugh¬ 
ters of hens with the same breeding as 
those now in the contest. They were se¬ 
lected with care, and we shall see if they 
can equal their aunts in performance. 
There individual records will be given 
each week or month. The other six pul¬ 
lets in the pen will be of our own breed¬ 
THE RURAL N EC VV-YOR^feR 
ing. They are from the pen entered in 
the contest last year by I)r. .T. A. Frit- 
chie. They made a year’s record of 1617 
eggs—one laying 186 eggs and another 
only 98. They were mated with as good 
a utility cockerel as I could find, and 
their daughters, though small yet, look 
as though Redman is right in saying that 
they will win honors at college that will 
make our girls’ work hard to equal. Win 
or lose, good record or poor, Hope Farm 
puts up its Red pullets and will await 
the results. 
Farm Notes. —It is wonderful how 
the frost has held off this year. On Oc¬ 
tober 19 the tomato vines on the hill¬ 
side were still green. In the valley below 
us the tender flowers are all dead, while 
on our hills they are still in bloom. 
Sometimes in Spring when the valley 
folks on their light sand brag that peas 
are up before ours are planted, it seems 
hard, but after all it is better to hold 
on to Summer for 10 days longer as we 
do on our hills.Some weeks ago we 
told of the buckwheat crop on our straw¬ 
berry field. This story seems incredible 
to some of our people—so I repeat it. 
We had a field that had been picked for 
five years. It had become so foul with 
grass that cleaning once more would 
never pay. So as soon as picking was 
through we plowed vines, mulch and 
grass all under deep. Then we seeded on 
two bushels of buckwheat and two 
pounds of Cow-horn turnips to the acre, 
and worked the seed in. Oh ! how that 
buckwheat did grow ! By early Septem¬ 
ber it was nearly five feet high. There 
came a high wind and smashed most of it 
down. We wanted to plow it under, but 
the best plowmen in the neighborhood 
tried their hand at it and quit. So we 
cut it off with the mower, let it wilt a 
few days, and then plowed—sending men 
ahead of the plow to fork the vines into 
the furrow. Then the field was har¬ 
rowed and Marshall strawberry plants 
set out three feet apart each way. The 
season was wet, but I started to put the 
cultivators in when I found a new thick: 
seeding of buckwheat coming up. There 
was moisture enough for the berry plants, 
so we let the field alone. The buck¬ 
wheat is now about 18 inches high and 
will make a fair mulch for the plants 
which will keep on growing until the 
ground freezes. I never did that before, 
and could not do it again in a dry season. 
The Apple Crop. —It is better than 
we expected—the Baldwins in particu¬ 
lar. We figured on a fair crop from our 
lower orchard, but when we came to pick 
the trees shelled out the fruit in a re¬ 
markable way. Single trees gave over 
eight barrels of hand-picked fruit, beside 
many windfalls. These trees are prob¬ 
ably about 80 years old. They stand in 
a strip of sod around the edge of a straw¬ 
berry field. The grass has been cut and 
piled around the trees, and a good coat 
of manure was scattered around them 
last Spring. They were, of course, well 
sprayed and have been permitted to 
make a thick top. The wet season has 
helped by carrying the fruit to good size. 
The younger trees on the hilltop are 
mostly “resting” this year, though a few 
of them show their quality by carrying 
nearly three barrels each.The Mc¬ 
Intosh apples went like hot cakes during 
late September. This beautiful apple is 
in great demand by those who once taste 
it, and we have never had enough Mc¬ 
Intosh to go around. I have some HOO 
young trees of this variety coming along. 
At one time I was afraid we had over- 
planted McIntosh, but judging by the 
way people call for them we could hardly 
have too many.We have a fine sup¬ 
ply of the good old R. I. Greening. It 
seems to me unfortunate that the public 
refuse to see the value of this excellent 
apple. For a November and December 
fruit, especially for cooking, there is 
nothing better. It stands at the head for 
making sauce or apple pie, yet because it 
has a light green color people will not 
buy it. To my notion the R. I. Green¬ 
ing apple has the good homely fruit qual¬ 
ities which correspond with the hen qual¬ 
ities of the R. I. Red, and I cannot un¬ 
derstood why the public will pass up 
Greening as they do on account of its 
color. We also have a crop of North¬ 
western Greening. The trees stand on a 
piece of land which we bought a few 
years ago. I do not care particularly for 
the apple, though it seems to be a good 
keeper. We have a seedling of our own 
which is of fair quality and the most re¬ 
markable keeper. It. is a handsome apple, 
small in size, and with no great value ex¬ 
cept that it will “keep” like a brickbat. 
By the way, I think more and more of 
Sutton Beauty as the fruit continues to 
come. It is very handsome, better qual¬ 
ity than Baldwin and, with us, a yearly 
bearer. I found fault with Sutton until 
it proved itself in bearing. I found a 
good demand for Northern Spy, but it 
does not pay us. Our fruit is very fine 
in color and quality, but in this latitude 
Spy becomes an October apple—too early 
for the variety. It is a good variety for 
damp soil—one of the best for such a 
situation. Baldwin and McIntosh are 
the money-mak'ers and the satisfiers on 
our hills. Through these bright October 
days it becomes the crowning glory of the 
year, as this beautiful fruit, firm and 
clean and brilliant, comes off the trees. 
As one looks away off to the hills lying 
dreamily in the thin blue haze, it is 
pleasant to think back to the time when 
these strong trees were little sticks put 
into the ground with half fear and half 
faith. H. W. c. 
Top-Dressing Alfalfa. 
We have a fine piece of Alfalfa stand¬ 
ing on three acres, which we have cut 
three times this year. Is it necessary 
for me to top-dress, this Alfalfa in some 
way, as I wish it to continue for hay for 
a number of years, and if I top-dress it 
what would be preferable to use? The 
soil is a medium loam, is in fairly good 
condition, and has been pretty well 
limed. As it goes on, is it necessary to‘ 
lime again on top of the soil and let 
it weather down into the Alfalfa roots? 
Port Jefferson, N. Y. A. G. L. 
On strong soil it is not always neces¬ 
sary to top-dress Alfalfa, but it is usu¬ 
ally good practice to do so. Manure is 
often used, but we think this better on 
the corn or grass. A grass meadow 
needs large quantities of nitrogen t<> 
keep it in good condition, for there is a 
constant loss of nitrogen in the hay, with 
no addition except through manure or 
fertilizer. With Alfalfa there is an addi¬ 
tion of nitrogen if the soil contains the 
needed bacteria, and thus the chief needs 
are potash and phosphoric acid. A very 
good dressing for Alfalfa would be a mix¬ 
ture of three parts of fine bone and one 
part muriate of potash. In many cases 
acid phosphate is used in place of the 
bone. About 500 pounds of this mixture 
each year would prove a good feeding for 
the Alfalfa. We doubt the wisdom of 
putting lime on top of the Alfalfa soil. 
Far better make a heavy application of 
lime when seeding and let that answer. 
In some cases it pays to scratch over the 
Alfalfa field with a spring-tooth harrow 
with the teeth sharpened, and this would 
work the lime partly into the soil. Gen¬ 
erally speaking you can only obtain the 
full value of lime by working it thor¬ 
oughly into the soil. 
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