158 
“She RURAL NEW-YORKER 
February 3, 1917, 
HOPE FARM NOTES 
1 >IMK. —We are planning to get our sup¬ 
plies early, for there is no doubt about 
the car shortage and delay in delivering 
freight. We make annual applications of 
lime—say about 500 pounds to the acre 
when a cover crop is put under. Most 
farmers Avho run a regular rotation plan 
to use lime every four or five years on 
each field^usually selecting the grass or 
grain seeding as the best point for using 
the lime. As they use a ton or more at a 
time this means, in the long run, about 
what w'Q use. Our lime is used almost 
entirely in the orchards. As a rule I do 
not think apple trees need much lime. I 
think they prefer a rather acid soil, and 
that too much lime would do more harm 
than good. The cover crops and particu¬ 
larly the clover which we use in the or¬ 
chard need the lime not only to give them 
better growth, but to start their decay 
raj/idly. That is why we use small an 
nual apitlications—not for the trees, but 
for the cover crops. 
I.IMK Crusiikrs. —I have not been able 
to see why farmers who live in limestone 
sections do not make greater use of porta¬ 
ble crushers. There are so many engines 
now in use that power for running the 
crusher might readily be found. A group 
of farmers might get one of these ma¬ 
chines and, dunng the Winter, or when 
other work was slack, crush up the year’s 
supply of lime. This. I think, is one of 
the applications of farm power which 
would surely prove economical. I do not 
know whether the lime from such crush¬ 
ers could be profitably shipped any great 
distance, but for near-by use I do not see 
why the lime crusher should not prove as 
economical as the bu/.z-saw, the manure 
spreader or the community threshing ma¬ 
chine. I would like to hear from farmers 
in limestone regions about this. 
Bulk Li^rESTOXE.—And here is an¬ 
other. What will chunks or slabs of good 
limestone cost on board the cars? In our 
neighborhood, and in many others vre 
want lime. AVe figure to buy the cheap¬ 
est pound of actual lime we can get, 
fi-eight included. That means a compar¬ 
ison of limestone, marl, burned or hydrat¬ 
ed lime. Now would there be any money 
in our buying a lime crusher and smash¬ 
ing the chunks of lime as they come from 
the quarry? AATiat are these chunks 
worth per ton? Can we grind them with 
our own labor for less money than we 
must pay the lii.ie men to do it for us? 
I have not seen this plan suggested, and I 
would like to know what there is to it? 
AA’hat are the chunks of limestone w'orth 
per ton? I do not believe there is a 
farm in New .Tersey or Eastern New York 
that would not be helped by proper liming. 
Potatoes. —As with other farmers in 
this country the potato question looks 
complicated to the Hope Farm people. 
There is no doubt as to the shortage. It 
will be hard to produce anything like an 
ovei'supply before next September, at 
lea.st. I am told of heavy plantings in the 
South, but seed is very high and on 
most of the light early potato soils potash 
is necessary to produce full crops and 
there is little of it this year. I do not 
see how with the light supply of old po¬ 
tatoes. there can be any great over-pro- 
ductiOn of the early crop; yet no human 
being can safely lay dowm any sure thing 
on this. If, however, this view is cor¬ 
rect. it would seem at first thought, like a 
good plan to plant early vaineties at the 
North and get them into market before 
the late crop comes on. On the other 
hand, we have the high cost of seed and 
fertilizer, which will heavily increase the 
cost. Some peoeple will make the mis¬ 
take of using poor seed because it is 
cheap, and there are a dozen things which 
may upset all calculations. T conclude 
that the potato crop w'ill be more or less 
of a chance game this year. If a man 
has the capital to invest in good seed, fer¬ 
tilizer and other needs, I think he has 
more than an even chance to make a good 
thing with the earlier varieties. If he 
has to borrow the money or work on 
credit with the later sorts I think he will 
have a gamble on his hands. 
Oi'R Flax. —AVe are at present plan¬ 
ning to increase our potato acreage. ^A’e 
have some fine clover in several young 
orchards—a mixture of Alsike and Sweet. 
I would like to spread just a little ma¬ 
nure over this clover and plow it under 
early Then I would buy good seed and 
plant it right, using about 1,060 pounds 
to the acre of a fertilizer containing a 
little potash, but mostly soluble nitrogen 
and super-phosphate I would plant 
mostly Irish Cobblers; give them good 
culture and spray several times. The 
Cobbler is not a high quality potato with 
u.s, but it yields well and pleases our cus¬ 
tomers. If we do this w'e shall cut out 
some other crops and not greatly in¬ 
crease our labor bill. I think well of 
seeding several acres to oats and peas, 
rape or sorghum, and turning in pigs with 
self-feeders and plenty of water. Count¬ 
ing the labor cost I think such a crop 
would pay and go well with the potatoes. 
As the apples have come on we have cut 
down on peaches and strawberries, and I 
feel inclined to make our push on pigs, 
potatoes and apples this year. You un¬ 
derstand this is' not given as advice to 
guide your plans. It is only what seems 
to me desir.able for this year on our farm. 
Do not follow the same plan, and then, 
if it should work wrong, blame me for 
advhsing you. I am doing nothing of the 
sort. 
The Great Thing. —To turn from 
lime and potatoes for a moment, several 
men have asked me lately what I think 
is the matter with this w'orld, I think 
the world is a better place than many 
people try to make it out. About all the 
force of public advertising is devoted to 
exposing the bad men or the bad things 
.so that the good ones do not have a fair 
show at publicity. If the papers would 
devote as much space to discovering 
worthy things as they do to exposing the 
bad ones we would soon change our esti¬ 
mate of the world, and the good in it 
would prevail. To answer the question 
more ^directly, I think one great trouble is 
that too many men of middle years grow 
.sour and disappointed or morally lazy as 
they get to be 50 or over. Here it is in a 
letter which came last week: 
I am ashamed to say that sometimes I 
get lazy and begin to think that I have 
done more than my share. Then some¬ 
thing comes up, like seeing a drunken 
vagrant, who was a young man with as 
good a chance as myself, go staggering up 
the road to sleep in a neighbor’s barn, 
and I thank God that I have had the 
strength and the will to do the little that 
I have. Even if there should be nothing 
afterwards, it is better to stand up and 
take what comes to us to the end. j. G. Ji. 
There is the greater part of your an¬ 
swer, I think. Alen who ought to have 
the tried experience and wisdom which 
life should supply, gi'ow sour and indif¬ 
ferent so that the best of their life is lost 
to the world. They practically abandon I 
society to untried and over-confident I 
youth, and then growl because young peo¬ 
ple are not old men and women. Such 
people acquire life’s knowledge and then 
proceed to pack it down in diw salt or 
some bitter pickle when it should be out ' 
sweetening and tempering the world. 
AA’hen this life’s knowledge is locked up 
or concentrated in this way it becomes 
more dangerous than concentrated wealth. 
That is my idea of an answer to the 
question. H. W. C. 
Figuring a Fertilizer 
How many pounds of each of the fol¬ 
lowing shall I use with neutral filler to 
make one ton of 4-8-10 fertilizer? Please 
show method of calculation: Nitrate of 
soda testing 15.5 per cent.; acid phos¬ 
phate testing 16 per cent.; su'phate of 
potash testing 50 per cent, e. j. l. 
New York. 
There is not much use figuring on sul¬ 
phate of potash this yeai% but the prob- i 
lem would be worked out as follows: You 
want a 4-8-10 fertilizer. That means in 
one ton of 2.000 pounds, 80 pounds of 
nitrogen, 160 of phosphoric acid and 200 
of potash. In 100 pounds of nitrate of 
soda you have 15% pounds of nitrogen ; 
therefore to obtain 80 pounds you must 
use 520 pounds of the nitrate. In each 
100 pounds of acid phosphate you have 
16 pounds of phosphoric acid—1,000 
pounds are required for your needed 160 
pounds. In each 100 of sulphate you have 
50 pounds of potash—thus you need 400 
pounds of sulphate. You can, therefore, 
obtain the plant food you need in 520 
pounds nitrate, 1,000 acid phosphate and 
IfK) of sulphate of potash. AYe .should add 
20 pounds of each iii Oi-der to make an 
even ton and give a little extra plant 
food. 
Flour 
Facts 
Unusual weather conditions during 
the Icist growing season have produced 
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making it necessary for flour millers to 
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lection cind in milling. 
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As a result, Pillsbury’s Best flour is 
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You who already know and use 
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The Flour Question Settled 
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