418 
RURAL NEW-YORKER 
March 17, 1917 
HOPE FARM NOTES 
A Long Wintkij. —Our folk.M never were 
so eager for Si)ring to come us tliey are 
this year. I suppose we have said that 
‘20 times before, but this season the long¬ 
ing for Spring seems keened than ever. 
It has been a hard Winter—one long suc¬ 
cession of storms, “cold spells,” and snow. 
Of cour.se. I know it is human natui-e to 
say that our i)resent evils are worse than 
anything that has gone before, but I 
think Hope Farm will vote unanimously 
to hang this Winter in the most promi¬ 
nent i)lace. T'herefore the bluebirds and 
robins and the first showing of the pus.sy 
willows are mighty welcome. In other 
days, when our big family was crowded 
into the poorly-heated old stone house, 
we thought our Winters were Winters 
indeed, but they now seem mild and gen¬ 
tle compaT-ed with this lust one. How¬ 
ever, no Hope Farnler has made any com¬ 
plaint or lost any of the enduring faith 
that Spring is coming, bringing better 
days with it. And it is also true that 
thousands of other country homes have 
had darker and harder days than we 
have. So as I look out of the window I 
do not think of the new snowstorm now 
driving down upon us, but I look ahead 
to i)each and ai)ple bloom—which surely 
will come. The boys are out in the storm 
building a snow fort on the lawn, while 
the little girls sit in front of my fire, cut¬ 
ting pictures for a scrap book. The 
healthy child adapts itself to all condi¬ 
tions if it be well fed and warm. One 
way for the man to remain healthy—in 
thought at least—is to do the same. 
Sickness. —I have frequently spoken, 
in perhaps a somewhat boa.sting way.'of 
our modest doctor’s bills and our freedom 
from sickness! You know what happens 
to pride when it ignores the command 
“watch your step!” We have actually 
had more sickne.s.s at Hone Farm since 
.Tanuary 1 than in all of !.'> years before. 
It was a gi'cat shock to all when Louise 
passed away, and oftentimes such things 
are just the last straw needed to break 
down the slender wall between health 
and sickness. At any rate trouble went 
tlu’ough our household with a sharp 
scythe. The daughter came home from 
college, .saw how things were, and 
promptly decided to remain with her 
mother. It was hard to drop out with 
graduation only six months away, but the 
girl made her own decision without com- 
idaint. It was better for her to do it, 
as she was not strong. That. I take it, 
is what education is for. Th.at education 
which trains the student to figure on his 
own selfish int<*rests first and iivoid moral * 
responsibility is a fraud and a nuisance, 
not worth the whiie paper which the 
“degree” is printed. Is the spirit of the 
woman’s college superior, or is the daugh¬ 
ter naturally siiperior to the son in such 
things? My answer to both questions 
would be—“Yes!” At any rate the 
daughter came home and started cheer¬ 
fully at the family work. She was part 
cook, part nurse, and general family har- 
monizer. Then in walked an unwelcome 
visitor—the grippe ! Strange to say the 
first victim to feed those hot and aching 
fingers was the Hope Farm man ! 
A Rtege. —Never but once before in my 
life had I b'‘en s’ck for three days at a 
time. I tried to fight it olT this time, but 
it got me. I fear I was not a very 
patient p.atient. “Soft food and bed!” 
said the doctor. Roiled cere.als and baked 
apples are not .so bad—but bed becomes .a 
nuisance after the first 12 hours. I had 
good companions. The boys would come 
and sit on the bed and tell about what we 
are to do with the orchard as it develops. 
The little girls brought my food and sat 
nearby for hours learning to knit. 
Cherry-top brought in a couple of mu.sk- 
rats just out of the trap—fo be promptly 
hustled out by IMother. I got olit of it 
at last, but as everyone knows, for two 
weeks following I felt more like fighting 
grandfather’s memoi-y than saying “good 
morning” to anyone. Then one by one 
the othei-s, or most of them, came down 
with that gripT)e—Mother, the daughter 
and most of the others. At one time 
there were four patients “enjoying bad 
health” together. One of our patients 
lay for more than a month in a critical' 
condition, but is now slowly gaining. 
Recovery. —So you see, we have had 
.something of a Winter, and as day fol¬ 
lows day with poor samples of weather 
you can imagine how we look forward to 
Spring. I know well enough that there 
are other country homes where sickness 
and death have walked with the family 
all through these dreary days. I do not 
tell of our troubles in order to obtain 
sympathy, but in order^that we may ex¬ 
tend it to you, whose lot in life may be 
harder than ours. Our troubles have 
brought our big family closer together 
and, I think, taught us all a little of the 
need of patience and sacrifice. I think 
we shall all be a little less selfish than 
we were before, and a little more thought¬ 
ful. I can go into any big family as it 
passes through sorrow and trouble and 
show you how members of it have de¬ 
veloped character and bad some of their 
pride and selfishness burned away. These 
qualities are only good for fuel, and I 
admit that some of them are so hard and 
tough that it will require fierce heat to 
burn them up. One of our little girls, 
naturally timid, offered to sleep alone off 
in a large room, amid all the noises of 
the night, in order that the other little 
girl might act as a sort of “assistant 
nurse.” I think our children are all bet¬ 
ter off for the siege we have had this 
Winter. While I should be the last one 
to wish sickness into any farm home, it 
will not prove a disaster if, in the end, 
it can leave the family closer together 
and each one with a better idea of his 
duty toward the others. But won't 
Spring be welcome in our valley? 
Fuel. —Sickness in the farm home is 
bad enough, but it becomes worse when 
there is sickness in the woodpile. I 
have known farm women, full of house¬ 
hold cares, who were forced to go out 
and pick up wet chips, or green wood, in 
order to keep the kitchen fire going. At 
times they miist take an ax and cut green 
wood off a log before they can get any 
hot water. I call that “sickness of the 
woodpile,” and it is a more disgraceful 
farm disease than many which the local 
health officer would get after. Not so 
long ago Mr. Cosgrove said that a look 
into a farmer’s wood shed would tell a 
banker whether that farm was entitled 
to bank credit! I am glad to say that 
the Hope Farm woodshed is healthy and 
strong. We have just finished sawing 
our year’s supi)ly. We have a saw and 
in former years have taken the little 
engine off the i)(>wer sprayer and put it 
at work on the saw. There is not power 
enough to run at full speed, and I am 
convinced that it is better to keep the 
engine right on the sprayer. Spraying is 
its special job. It is not a success as a 
jack of all tr.ades. So this year we let 
the spray engine alone and hired a trac¬ 
tor to run the saw. 
Surplus Poaver. —I have told about 
this tractor. It is the only one in this 
neighborhoo<l, and has done efficient work 
at plowing, harrowing and hauling. Dur¬ 
ing the Winter it was used to haul ice. 
Two big wagons would be loaded full and 
fastened together. Then the tractor 
would be hitdied on and would go walk¬ 
ing off with the load, along the road, like 
a steam tug pulling a big vessel! This 
tractor came rolling into our yard, stood 
up in front of the saw, put on the belt 
and started. Ther was a buzz and scream 
and then the saw put its teeth into a big 
apple limb and quickly chewed it up into 
firewood. With this surplus power we 
cut our wood in about one-third of the 
time the little engine would have spent, 
and then the tractor went walking- off to 
another job. I think it always desirable, 
whenever you can, to get a team or an 
engine with greater capacity than you 
will need for the average job. There are 
always times when you must rush and 
put on extra nower, and the light team 
and small engine will fall down at this 
test. I found that out in other ye.ers 
when wo tried to do our f.-irni work with 
light and inferior horses. Tom and 
Broker, the big grays, cost more than 
Bob and .Terry, and the old veterans, but 
in our short seasons the extra power 
these big ones can exert pays groat in¬ 
terest on the investment. 
Breakfast Foods. —T might include 
dinner and supper as well. Not long ago 
I went to a farmhouse and at breakfast 
the women offered a choice of seven dif¬ 
ferent breakfast foods! The question of 
the .S.’i-cent dollar came up and we fell to 
figuring on the cost of these foods. Tlr'.s 
farmer had wheat, oats and corn in his 
barn. He was paying about 1!5 cents for 
wheat which brought him not far from 
cents. The oat and corn foods were 
just about the same. Now that farmer 
can buy a small mill, .somewhat like a 
coffee mill, run the clenne<l wheat'through 
it, and have a finer bi*eakfast food than 
anything now on the market. It must be 
fully cooked—I would leave it on the 
stove 24 hours—but when fully done it is 
the most delicious cereal on earth—not 
only for breakfast but for any other meal. 
Oats and corn can be handled in the s.ame 
way—well sifted—and then fully cooked. 
All the manufacturing on earth will fail 
to give anything equal in flavor or food 
A'alnes to these homemade “cereals.” 
They can be used in this way or made 
into bread and will save half or more of 
the money now spent for “breakfast 
food.s.” Not only so, but I think a care¬ 
ful man or woman could develop a nice 
little trade in pr<‘paring and selling such 
homemade cereals. AVho is responsible 
for the fact that this generation will pay 
four to five times as much for food groxvn 
on their own farm because some manu¬ 
facturer puts it up in a pretty package? 
An.swer that before you growl at tlu's(‘ 
awful prices for food ! 
“Ftu{ Farming.” —■\\’'ell, sii‘, now and 
then something turns out to wind ‘the 
works of memory when you least expect 
it. The boy caught a muskrat last week 
and was able to keep him alive. So he 
jmt Mr. Muskrat in a pen by the barn 
and started at “fur farming,” which he 
has read about lately. The boy also has 
his eye on a couple of skunks whicli 
range down by the brook. The boy in¬ 
sisted that I nuLst go out and .see his 
miLskriit, so on Sunday afternoon I 
plo<lded out through the storm to see this 
wonderful pioneer of a new labor depart¬ 
ment on Hope Farm. The muskrat paid 
little attention to the boy, but stood up 
in the corner, cocked his head on one side 
and actually winked at me. And I un¬ 
derstood ! lie was just reaching out a 
finger of history to nudge" me in the- ribs! 
I understood and remembered! About 
2.5 years ago we printecFan article on 
“Skunk Farming” in The R. N.-Y. It 
described a skunk farm and pictured 
(Cont'hnicd on page 4.S7) 
The Farmer’s Year 
Record Prices for Farm Products 
Every Likelihood of Their Continuing 
Farms should be run to capacity and big factor 
of proper Fertilizers not overlooked 
USE MAPES 
MANURES 
Their Standard Absolutely Maintained in 
Field and State Experiment Stations 
The Alapes Manures for 1916 and 1917 were made, 
and are being made precisely as in the past, under 
pledge to supply the Phosphoric Acid from Animal 
Bone and Guano, made available without acidity, no 
Rock or Acid Phosphates used. While they do not con¬ 
tain as much Potash as formerly, they do hold enough 
to greatly aid the present crop to more perfect growth 
and development and thus insure the balance of its 
necessary Potash being taken from latent soil supplies. 
We give below all the station analyses which we have 
received of our prominent brands for 1916. 
1916 ANALYSES 
MAPES POTATO PUGS. ACID 
STATION 
AMMONIA AVAILAHI.E 
. 4.74 9..22 
TOTAL 
10.58 
POTASH 
1.12 
Couuecticut . . 
I’eunsylvaiiia . 
New Jersey .. 
. 4.92 
. 4.88 
. 4.00 
. 5.23 
8.38 
9.30 
8.20 
8.81 
lO.GC. 
10.28 
lOliO 
9.82 
1.06 
1.18 
1..32 
.97 
Ma.ssacbusetts 
. 5.51 
. 4.50 
, 8.96 
8. 
10.20 
8. 
1.18 
1. 
GENERAL SPECIAL 
Connecticut '. . 
. 7.79 
6..37 
7.97 
7 89 
9.21 
9.67 
9 09 
1.35 
1.45 
1.77 
New .lersey . . 
. 8.17 
. 8.28 
5.48 
7.06 
'S.72 
8.88 
1.85 
1.47 
Massachusetts 
. 8.10 
. 7. 
7.09 
6. 
9.34 
8. 
1.20 
1. 
TOBACCO STARTER, 
IMPROVED 
Connecticut .. 
('onnecticut . . 
Pennsylvania . 
New York . . . 
New York . . . 
Massachusetts 
Cuarautee ... 
. 5.62 
. 5.64 
. 5.61 
... 5.33 
. 5.36 
. 5.54 
. 5. 
6.41 
6.11 
6.. 52 
6.15 
6.. 57 
8.18 
6. 
8.87 
9.58 
9.20 
9.21 
9..39 
9,67 
8. 
1.16 
1.07 
1.50 
1.23 
1.14 
1.26 
1. 
CORN MANURE 
Connecticut . . 
reiinsylvauia . 
New Yo)-k . . . 
New .lersey . . 
Massachusetts 
Guarantee . . . 
3.-35 
. 3.26 
. 3.07 
. 3.24 
. 3.28 
. 3. 
8.28 
10.37 
9.24 
7..59 
9.71 
8. . 
11..58 • 
11.97 
11.40 
11.35 
11.74 
10. 
.85 
1.50 
1.00 
1.08 
1.16 
1. 
TOP DRESSER, FULL 
STRENGTH 
6.38 
8.84 
1.84 
Peunsylvauia . 
New .Tersev .. 
. 11.90 
. 11.82 
7.27 
5.11 
8.‘20 
8.60 
1.55 
1.52 
8 28 
8.88 
8. 
1.35 
1. 
Guarantee .. . 
. 12. 
5. 
TOBACCO MANURE 
TOTAL 
Conncctioit . . 
Couneeti<-ut . 
Pennsylvania 
Massachu.setts 
Guarantee .. . 
AMMONIA 
. 9.48 
. 10.07 
. 10.08 
. 10.99 
. 10. 
PHOSPHORIC ACID 
9.94 
8.99 
8.85 
8.65 
8. 
POTASH 
1.20 
1.44 
1.59 
1.57 
1. 
We are 
equally proud of the results 
ill the 
field. 
They have been most excellent, fully substantiating our 
theory as to the advisability of supplying at least limited 
Potash to aid the crop to make a start, and so enable it 
to avail itself to the utmost of the latent supplies of 
Potash in the soil. 
Order early and so avoid all possible delay. 
The Mapes Formula and Peruvian Guano Co. 
Central Building, 143 Liberty Street, New York 
Branch—239 State Street, Hartford, Conn. 
