920 
Oic RURAL NEW-YORKER 
-!n:y 28, lOlT. 
r HOPE FARM NOTES 
Ambitions. —Every man has his am¬ 
bitions—before he wakes np to find he is 
out of the running. As he sits by the 
side of the road with a tack or pebble in 
his shoe, and sees the young folks run¬ 
ning by, ambitions come back to look him 
over. Among other things I think every 
man wants to express what is in him in 
poetry, to get, in some position where he 
could have arbitrary power over others, 
and devise some great invention. Poetry, 
power and patent—I may put it that 
way. Most people try their handa (sel¬ 
dom their minds) at poetry and it be¬ 
comes a relief to them, if not to others! 
Most of us must be content to practice 
our power over wife and family or a lit¬ 
tle bunch of dependents to whom we give 
employment or protection or to whom we 
loan money. It looks like verV small 
business for most of us yet I always 
think that National power—the real 
strength of the country—is measured and 
determined by the way the plain men and 
women in ordinary walks of life rule or 
lead in their own little kingdoms. As 
for inventions they do more tlian change 
industrial life—for what a man does with 
his invention is a good index to his char¬ 
acter. A man may “originate” or dis¬ 
cover a new fruit or flower or he may put 
a few sticks or pieces of iron together in 
such a way as to increase convenience or 
increase power. He is an inventor and 
secures a patent or property privilege 
which will comiiel the public to pay him a 
tax. What does he do with that tax and 
how does he compel the public to pay it? 
Find out those things and you have the 
man. Find out the character of the men 
who are devising the material things and 
the legal schemes which compel the peo¬ 
ple to pay the invention tax and you can 
tell what the nation will come to. 
Invention.- —I never expected to come 
forward as an inventor! Serious inven¬ 
tion requires a peculiar mind and in most 
cases I have seen such a mind runs off 
into a collection of cogs and wheels which 
do little besides buzz. I think everyone, 
whether he be a farmer or a financier, 
should have some sort of an inventive 
mind so as to think out new and original 
ways of doing things. This should be 
true of a farmer anyway for no business 
on earth demands so many quick changes 
and new methods as the business that is 
right down in the earth. Napoleon was 
the world’s greatest general but he made 
little if any imp 'ovement in guns and 
cannon. One reason why farms and gar¬ 
dens are being abandoned is because men 
of middle age cannot do the work they for¬ 
merly did with ease. Tractors and en¬ 
gines and improved machinery all help 
but as the man grows older he hesitates 
to try and handle the big farm as he once 
did. If he has bpys they may take it or 
he may get a tenant or a good hired man 
to run the place for him. He will find, 
however, that there is great truth in the 
old “poetry” 
“He who by the farm would thrive 
Himself must hold the plow or drive.” 
The great majority of middle-aged men 
would be far better off if they could take 
some smaller place—a few acres if need 
be—and force this smaller place with 
what they call intense cultivation. If at 
middle age the average farmer were fixed 
so that he could quit the plow and be¬ 
come the man with the hoe he and the 
world would both be better off. 
The Back. —In studying the que.stion 
both personally and by observation, I find 
that the middle-aged man usually gives 
out first in the back and then in the 
knees. He does very well so long as he 
stands upright, but when he gets down to 
pull weeds he gets the concentrated fire 
of most of the years he has lived. The 
world does not readily grant pensions or 
sympathy to those who I'eceive the 
enemy’s fire in the back. So progress 
through invention should mean strength¬ 
ening the weak points. My invention 
will enable an elderly man to increase his 
capacity, lengthen his life and promote 
peace in the family! In these war times 
what more can you a.sk? Having tested 
my invention carefully I know it will 
work and I am prepared to guarantee it. 
How shall we put it before the public? 
I might follow a well-established plan 
and publish the following—for evei’y 
statement would be justified : 
A WONDERFTTE LabOB INVENTION! 
Itwrease The Efficiency of Elderly Men. 
By the use of a simple applianct'. which 
should be in every home, the middle-aged 
man is enabh'd to double his efficiency at 
gardening work, promote his health, for¬ 
get all grouches, and regain his place as 
Be.M)ing Member of The Household. 
This appliance fully solves the labor 
problem indoors and out. If kept in re- 
j)air and used with judgment, it will 
prove the greatest blessing ever inti-o- 
(luced into your household. Absolutely 
guaranteed to do you more good than any 
barrel of medicine, any legacy or any 
political office you are fit to absorb. 
The Gre.\t Invention. —That ought 
to attract attention for it is all true. 
What shall I do with my great discovery. 
Shall I try and tax the public or make it 
free to all? We could use the money to 
good advantage, but tbei-e are many who 
need the “appliance” and I have learned 
that when you introduce much thought of 
money into this thing there is very little 
room for anything else. The “appliance” 
I advise is a little child. The invention 
consists in having the man so gain the 
confidence and love of the child that it 
will work along with him. He can use 
the hoe or hand cultivator to clean out 
between the plants, and he can stand up 
to do it. The little child can nin or crawl 
along and finger out the weeds clo.se to 
the plants! Now and then the child will 
run off to play, but it will come back to 
pull weeds and the man goes on with his 
work feeling that at least one member of 
the family con.siders him a great man 
still. After all that feeling may be the 
oil w’hich rises through the v,^ick of life to 
provide the light of contentment. Then 
when dinner is ready or the day’s work 
is done, the child gets bold of the man's 
finger and under this convoy he makes a 
safe voyage. There ought to be an “ap¬ 
pliance” of this sm-t in every home where 
people are asking what they shall do now 
that the harder work is passing away 
from them. I make my “invention” free 
to all. There are thousands of prosper¬ 
ous country homes where the aging father 
and mother have “everything but child 
life.” There are thousands of little chil¬ 
dren who might well serve as the “appli¬ 
ance” of my invention. This war will 
make many more of them. I served my 
time as such an “appliance.” I shall al¬ 
ways think that the finest thing which 
followed our Civil War was the way peo¬ 
ple of the poorer and middle classes’cared 
for the “war orphans.” These classes of 
Americans seemed to feel that children of 
the dead soldiers constituted a legacy 
which the war had left to them. I doubt 
if history can show any finer pages than 
those which record these fine and loyal 
people who cared for such children and 
gave them homos. 
Inoculation. —This year we have 
tried some experiments with the com¬ 
mercial bacteria for Canada peas, cow 
peas and Soy beans. Of course, most of 
yon know what these bacteria are. The 
po<l-bearing plants are able to take nitro¬ 
gen from the air and this work is done by 
tiny bacteria or forms of life which live 
and work upon the roots. Unless these 
bacteria are on hand the plants will not 
take and use this air nitrogen, but must 
be fed like grain or potatoes. Thus if 
these bacteria are not in the soil they 
must be put there—like yeast in the 
bi-ead flour, so they may spread all 
through. You can take .soil from a field 
where these bacteria are known to be 
and spread It over the new field—some¬ 
thing like taking buttermilk from one 
successful churning to use as a “starter” 
in another batch of cream. In a case 
like ours where we were seeding peas and 
Soy beans, we could not get any of such 
soil as there was none to be had. So we 
tried the “commercial” bacteria. To get 
these the chemist takes the true bacteria 
from the plant and “cultivates” or breeds 
it in the laboratory. They breed so rap¬ 
idly that in a short time millions are 
ready, and they are put in bottles, sealed 
tight and are ready for distribution. 
Using Them. —You might say, in a 
way, that the bacteria in the soil repre¬ 
sent chicks hatched and brooded by a hen 
while the “commercial” are more like the 
chicks from incubator and brooder. At 
any rate we bought the bacteria and 
handled them according to directions. A 
little sugar was put in and some warm 
water. This stood for a while and then 
the liquid was poured over the seed. We 
tried to slightly moisten all the seed and 
I found that with the large seed, like 
peas and beans, this moistening was all 
that was needed. As for results there 
can be no question about the superiority 
of the seed treated in this way. The 
plants are of a darker green and larger 
than where nothing was used and on the 
roots the little warts or nodules where 
the bacteria live may be plainly seen. 
The Canada peas are the best we ever 
had and I should say that the Soy beans 
are particularly responsive to this treat¬ 
ment. I cull it a success, but we must 
all undei-stand that these bacteria will 
not entirely take the place of manure and 
fertilizer. Some people try to make us 
think that, but they are wrong. All the 
bacteria can do is to provide some nitro¬ 
gen and give the plant a better chance to 
utilize potash and phosphorus if we will 
supply these elements. I think these bac¬ 
teria will pay if we are willing to feed 
the crop. 
Wet Weather.— It still continues day 
after day. By the middle of July only 
one hay field had been cut, and a drench¬ 
ing rain continues. The lower corn fields 
are afloat with water and grass and 
weeds are swarming everywhere. A great 
plague of plant lice has come upon us 
and on many fields the potatoes have 
been ruined. They are also working on 
the ti’ees. We can kill them with to¬ 
bacco exti-act in v/ater, but these con¬ 
stant rains wash the spray off as fast as 
we cau put it on. The weather situation 
in Northern New Jersey is the most se¬ 
rious I have ever known. The redeem¬ 
ing features are the fine growth which 
the trees ai-e making and the excellent 
opportunity for starting cover crops. The 
less we talk about the weather the better 
off we shall be! h. w. c. 
Hen Manure and Club Root 
On page 857, late tomatoes and cab¬ 
bages are hui-ried along by nitrate of 
soda. Is hen manure good for cabbages? 
Is it known wlmt causes club or stumj)- 
foot? Is hen manure ever considered a 
cause for this trouble. I have a quantity 
of hen manure which I wish to use on 
cabbages if it will be good for them. 
L. A. R. 
Nitrate of soda is the most soluble 
form of nitrogen. Thus it is a stimulant 
and will force quick growth. Hen ma¬ 
nure is the strongest and most active of 
all farm manures. It is good for cab¬ 
bage, but not so stimulating as nitrate. 
“Club-foot” in cabbage is a disease. 
Hen manure will not cause it, but will 
help the plant by forcing a quick growth. 
IJme is very useful in club-foot, but the 
most necessary thing is to get plants free 
from the disease. These are grown in 
“stentized” soil. This means .soil treated 
by heat or chemicals so as to kill the dis¬ 
ease genus. Many farmers start cabbage 
and tobacco plants on ground where a 
brush pile has been burned, as such 
burning sterilizes the soil. 
Renewing an Old Strawberry Bed 
What is the be.st method of tr^'oting an 
old strawberry juitch that I wish to use 
another year? When is the best time to 
apply commercial fertilizer, and what is 
the best kind to use? c. s. 
Richmond, Ind. 
It will depend on the condition of the 
patch—age, variety of plants, size, ancf 
whether it is clean or full of Aveeds. If 
very weedy we should plow or spade it 
up and start anew. First dig out a good 
supply of young plants or runners and 
“heel” them in—that is, put in trenches 
close together with the roots well covered. 
Then plow or spade the old bed—turning 
plants and weeds all undei*. Fit the 
ground smooth and fine, and then trans¬ 
plant the plants you have dug from the 
bed. We should put them two feet apart 
each way and give them thorough cul¬ 
ture during the season—cutting off the 
runners as they start. Another plan is 
to plow or spade out the middles of the 
old matted rows. This will turn under 
the older plants at the center of the rows, 
and leave new rows of younger plants on 
the outside. Then with a hoe you can 
clean out enough of these younger plants 
to leave straight rows. In this way the 
center of year-old matted row of last year 
becomes the middle or alloy for tire next 
crop, with the fruiting rows for next 
year growing in what was the path or 
alley this year. This process can be re¬ 
versed each year by taking out the old 
plants after fi-uiting and starting the 
new rows with the younger plants or 
runnel’s. 
tiasigncd with hiddificdCurves 
to prevent^ Cuttindpf the Shirt 
. over the Shdii/ders. ' 
Hall.Harfweli&Co-rtakersrTrQy.N.Y. 
APPLY LIME THIS FALL 
Orders must be placed at once to prevent 
disappointment. The extraordinary car 
shortage makes this imperative. 
Caledonia Marl Lime, the most soluble 
calcium carbonate, provesmosteconom- 
ical. Write for prices, facts, analysis, etc. 
CALEDONIA MARL BRANCH 
International Agricultural Corporation 
812 Marine Bank Bldg., Buffalo, N.Y. 
BEFORE YOU BUY WRITE FOR 
NEW CATALOG DESCRIBING THR 
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