554 
©6c RURAL. NEW-YORKER 
AprU 14, 1917. 
HOPE FARM NOTES 
Warming Up.—T he first of April came 
Tvith sunny skies and warm air. I am 
Boinewhat like my children—always look¬ 
ing for some “April fool” joke, and it 
seems likely that Spring is trying some¬ 
thing of the sort on ns this year. The 
mild day seemed too good to be true after 
the long and severe Winter. One of the 
neighbors came over saying he expected 
to start plowing in two days, but by that 
time we may be having another blizzard. 
I hope, however, that Spring has f.*ome, 
and is about to unpack her trunk. The 
children are ready to put in their seeds, 
but having had dealings with Spring be¬ 
fore now, we older folks will wait a while. 
Spraying. —At any rate these mild, 
still days are great for spraying. We 
began putting on the oil late in M.orch. 
We still continue to use the soluble oil on 
the ai)ple trees. Some of my lime-sulphur 
friends are about ready to fight when it 
comes to a discussion of what is best for 
the dormant si)ray. T do not feel that 
way—let every fruit grower suit hinuself, 
and he free to do so. The soluble oil .suits 
us i)articularly for the ajjple trees. Tt 
si)reads well, works into the rough bark, 
and has kept the scale in check for us. 
What more do Ave A\’ant? If my neighbor 
or anyone else Avould rather use lime- 
sulphur Avhy, in the v'ords of .Judge Ward, 
“Go to it” Avithout indulging in any of 
the language Avhich the judge knoAA'S .so 
well. I do not suppose we really nrcd to 
spray this Spring, as the scale is about 
Cleaned out. Yet it is an insurance 
which I think we should all Avillingly pay 
for. 
Handy OrTFiT,?.—Half the battle in 
spraying comes in doing it at ‘.iust the 
right time, doing it properly and having 
things handy. Tt does not make so much 
'dilTerence Avith the early or dormant 
spray, but it ought to be put on Avhen 
the trees Avill di’y quickly and thus put 
the oil or mixture right at work. Every 
part of the tree should be coated. I once 
had a man Avorking for me who Avould 
point the nozzle at a ti'ce. shake it a few 
times and then pass on. He said: “That 
stulY costs money and must not be 
Avasted.” As a i-esult one-third of the 
tree Avood aajis never touched and of 
course you cannot hope to kill the scale 
unless you can hit it squarely Avith the 
spray. IMany fruit growers seem to lose 
time because they haA'e no handy Avater 
supply. In our OAvn ca.se Ave haA-e throAvn 
a dam across our little brook and thus 
made a small pond. We can back the 
sprayer up to this, drop the tank tiller into 
the Avater and use the engine to iiuni)) tic:* 
tank full. When we get our neAv Avater 
system running Ave can do better than 
this. 
T’tii.izing Water.—O ur original sourec 
of water Avas a drilled AA^ell, 140 feet deej). 
A Avindmill stands OA’er this Avell and, 
wlu'ii the Avind bloAvs, can lift the A\-afer 
through a jiipe to the house. A tank at 
the top of the hou.se holds* enough of this 
water to give pressure for household ser¬ 
vice. Rut even Avhen the Avindmill was 
reinforced by a small engine there Avere 
times Avhen the Avater supply gave out. It 
is AA'onderful Iioav much AViiter a big family 
can use. When it mu.st all be pumped uy 
hand and carried in buckets to the hou.se 
H barrel per day Avill be a large allow¬ 
ance. Tap a spring or some unlimited 
supply and bring it to the hou.se and .500 
gallons per day Avill be too little for the 
family Avants. I think that in the coun¬ 
try pure Avater ought to be as free in tlu^ 
farmhouse as fresh air, So Ave Avent to 
the spring on our hillside, built uj) a 
tank around it and ran a pipe to the 
house. This giA'es a constant supjdy of 
the finest Avater. Noav Ave have a neAV 
scheme. We cannot use 10 per cent, of 
the spring floAV at the hou.sc so AA'e in¬ 
tend to connect the pipe from the spring 
Avith the old pipe running to the Avell in 
the barnyard. There AA’ill be a hydrant 
out there for AvaO'ring stock and by at¬ 
taching a hose to the hydrant Ave can run 
water over about an aCre of the riclu'st 
gaiden land avo have. In a very dry time 
Ave can add the Avell Avater to that from 
the .spring. 
►Saving Water.—I think that in the 
future one of the best jobs on the farm 
Avill consist in saving Avater. At this sea¬ 
son our brooks and streams are running 
bank-full to the river, and then on to the 
ocean—thus being of very little use to us. 
Yet, within 60 or 75 days the fields 
through which this Avater is running Avill 
be parched and dried, with crops sulTer- 
ing. For many years the Chinese have 
been saving this escaping water by catch¬ 
ing it in canals and ponds. Then, when 
the dry Aveather comes, they pump or 
even dip it out and use it to water their 
crops. I*rof. King tells of seeing men 
toiling at pumps Avhich run by foot power 
—working hour after hour to piimp this 
water out of the canals or basins in AA'hich 
it Avas caught. It is only through such 
economies that the Chinese are able to sup¬ 
port their immense population. Thus far 
our own scientists have spent most of 
their time in studying plant food and 
.showing how it is Avasted. In truth Avater 
is as nece.ssary as plant food. You might 
put .50 loads of manure on an acre of the 
desert, and get nothing of a crop unless 
you could add Avater, The time is surely 
coming Avhen the problem of saving the 
surplus Avater Avill be considered just as 
important as that of saving plant food. 
I have no doubt that my boys will live to 
see a network of canals and ponds in 
which the water noAV running down our 
hills Avill be stored up for use in time of 
drought. 
Coat. Ashes.—W e have a big pile of 
them out under a tree back of the house. 
That is true of most farmyards in our 
country. Pure coal ashes have very little 
value as fertilizer, but in farm fires much 
Avood is used for kindling. In many fam¬ 
ilies the kitchen fire is run perhaps one- 
third of the time on Avood. We burn 10 
to 12 cords of Avood each year, and of 
cour.se that means considerable potash in 
the ashes. I haA'^e often told how the ash 
pile can be made into a fertilizer factory 
by scooping the toj) out to a dish shape 
and pouring chamber slops and liquids 
from the manure pile over it. The ashes 
will absorb these liquids and hold the 
plant food for di.stribution later. We 
shall haul these ashes to the orchard and 
give each apple tree about 40 ])ounds, 
Avell scattered around the trunk. This 
Avill give them a little potash, kill out the 
grass close around the roots, and keep the 
soil moist and cool. As we are situated 
this is the best use we know for the ash 
heap. 
Asparagu.s.—E very year we bob up 
with the advice to start an a.sparagus bed. 
It is the first and finest vegetable of the 
Spring. As a rule the talk about any 
medicinal effect in A’egetables is more or 
less guff, but I think asparagus, coming 
as it does with the first warm weather, fs 
more or less of a pleasant medicine. In 
our family Ave make many a:* ntire meal 
of asparagus and bread and butter. Then 
asparagus is the easiest vegetable to raise, 
if you want to consider that side of it. 
You can hardly kill it out after it once 
starts properly. It is easy to plant and 
ea.sy to keep clean, and Avill Ha'C and yield 
crops for years. What more could any 
farmer ask in the way of a vegetable? I 
have talked this thing for years, and now 
I Avant to put it to a test. We have a 
small block of roots of Reading Giant, 
which we Avant to dig up for a garden 
spot. I would like to distribute these 
roots to readers, so that they c.an have a 
little reminder of Hope Parra every time 
Spring enters their neighborhoocl. There 
may be .5,000 to 6,000 of these roots. Now 
as far as they will go the Cherry-tops and 
I AAoll dig and mail these roots in lots of 
75 to farmers who will agree to plant 
them on a piece of good land and give 
them reasonable care. It Avill cost some¬ 
thing for postage and packing and dig¬ 
ging and sorting, and the children will do 
most of the work. I think .50 cents would 
be fair for this. We can easily sell the 
roots for thi*ee times that amount, but I 
would much rather have them distributed 
as a little mes.sage from Hope Farm. If 
anyone Avants those roots let me know 
early—for it Avill be a case of first come, 
first served, ii. w. c. 
“And what did the sleight-of-hand man 
do at the entertainment, Robbie?” asked 
the father. “AVhy, he brought two rab¬ 
bits out of a man's hat,” ansAvered Rob¬ 
bie. “Weren’t they hares he brought out 
of the hat?” “O, no; the man who 
OAvned the hat didn’t have any hair.”— 
Yonkers Statesman. 
No More Singing Spindles 
Mica Axle Grease ends squeaking, 
friction-bound axles and hot-boxes. 
Makes it easier for the horse and 
less expensive for the owner. The 
finely ground mica fills spindle 
crevices and makes a perfect bear¬ 
ing surface. 
MICA 
AXLE GREASE 
Eareka Harness OH prevents cracking and 
breaking, makes leather soft and pliable. 
STANDARD OIL CO. of NEW YORK 
Principal Offices 
New York Bolfalo Albany Boston 
GARDEN TOOLS 
Answer the farmer’sbigqueBtions; 
How can I have a good garden with 
loa.st expense? How can the wife 
have plenty of fresh vegetables for 
the home table with least labor ? 
solves the garden labor problem. 
Takes the place of many tools— 
stored in small space. Sows, cov¬ 
ers, cultivates, weeds, ridges, 
etc. .better than old-tim e tools. 
A woman, boy or girl can 
pnsh it and do a day’s hand¬ 
work in 60 
minutes. 38 
combina¬ 
tions, $3.26 
to $15.00. 
Write for 
_ booklet. 
BatemanMTgCo.,Box 2C.,Grenloch,N.J. 
BOOKS on all subjects of farming by leading 
authorities are for sale by The Rural New- 
Yorker, 333 West Thirtieth Street, New York 
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