332 
^he RURAL NEW-YORKER 
March 2, 1918 
HOPE FARM NOTES 
Spring Coming. —The almanac says 
S(», and we must believe it, but as I write 
we must mix a bigh proportion of faith 
in with facts and figures in order to see 
iinytiiing of Si)ring. We had a few days 
of thaw which ruined our sleighing, but 
tln-n came the cold wind once more, and 
turned the slush into ice. The days are 
growing longer, .'’iid memory and habit 
tell us it is time to jmejiare for gardening 
and fiirming. but who knows when to 
start in this situation? The hotbeds 
should be going, the seeds should be on 
liand, and a fair plan of oi)erution made 
out. F/ven a poor plan is better than 
none at all, and most of us, through lack 
of labor, will be obliged to shake out our 
old plans and dust them. 
CuK Situation. —With 
of a few small fields our 
covered with a grass sod, 
or rye alone. Some of the rye was put 
in late and is rather backward, but it will 
<ome on when the soil warms up. The 
imddem with us is to try to decide how 
much of this grain to jilow under, or how 
much of it to leave for a grain crop. It 
was seeded as a cover crop, but if we let 
it go there will be considerable grain. We 
might plow it alU under as usual, and 
plant corn, pot-toes or cabbage, 'fhat 
will mean much work at hoeing, cultivat¬ 
ing and harvesting. Or we may sow 
clover over this grain, and cut the crop 
for fodder or straw, or pile it around the 
of th(‘se corn crojts are 
the exception 
entire farm is 
rye and vetch 
trees. Nearly all 
in the orchards. 
Hand Wokk. 
pensive than ever 
shall try to luit 
hoeing into crops 
For example, our 
a loss to us. 'J'he high 
the work of clearing our 
This will be more ex- 
before this year, and I 
every didlar spmit for 
which promise returns, 
potato croj) in V,)^7 was 
cost of seed and 
weedy land made 
about enough to pay for labor and have 
a fine berry field in order. 
I’OTATOK.s. —What we do rai.se this year 
will have extra care. A peach orchard 
near the house has failed. It was fi'cble 
last year and the terrible Winter finished 
it. The soil is good and well located. So 
we shall rip out the trees, fit the ground 
as w'ell as we know how, and plant early 
potatoes. They will be put in rows three 
feet apart—one foot In the row. The 
seed will be treated for scab and sul- 
jihured and siirayed for blight. Then in 
August, we shall have a siipjily of cab¬ 
bage plants ready. This means that they 
will be trnasiilanted several tinu's so as 
to bobl them back until they are ready, 
^fhen as the potatoes are dug in late 
August one of these belated cabbage 
plants will be juit at each potato hill. If 
need be chicken manure or fertilizer can 
be used with then;, and with fair culture 
these iilants will come through. Fven if 
they do not all harden up fully they will 
make good fecal. That sort of culture 
will pay this year better than trying to 
spread out over larger area.s and giving 
lialf culture. 
Ai’PI.ks. —'’I’liis promises to be our bear¬ 
ing year —with a great crop in prosjiect. 
'I'he orchard on the hill, with about 
1,(KK) trees, is in sod—a mixture of grass, 
Alsike and Sweet cdover. '^Fherc* is where 
I exjiect Tom and Ilroker to pay for the 
barnful of hay and grain they have (‘aten 
through this hard Winter. Our jilan is 
to plow this sod under—beginning as soon 
as wc? can, and keep tbe harrows working 
up to .Tilly. Them we plan to seed buck¬ 
wheat with a mixture of Sweet and Alsike 
clover, and let the soil alone for at least 
two years, except for clijiidiig such growth 
as we can get, and leave it on the ground. 
I am figuring for a dusting mac-bine, 
as the labor situation is such that the 
licjuid spraying would hardly permit of 
more than two ar jilications. I think four 
would pa.v, and the dust will enable us to 
work it out. T have had my doubts about 
the real value of this dust, but experience 
by some of the best fruit growers I know 
gives us great confidence in it. I do not 
think it will handle the scale, but I think 
it will make wonns and scab bite the 
dust! Most of our younger orcdiards wdll 
probably not be jilowed. We shall sc'C'd 
Alsike clover, c-ut the rye and put most 
of it around the trees. I think that after 
this snowy Winter the soil will be well 
filh'd with moisture, and that a mulch 
jmt early around the trc>es will hedd much 
of this moisture in. 
Fio.s.—.Teremiah .Jersey and his friends 
have jcaid us wc'll. They made cheap pork 
out of cabbage, apjdes, pumpkins, soft 
c-orn and some bran and tankage*. For 
the next few years the jiig will prove a 
great asset on a fruit farm. We shall 
keep more of them this year and let them 
harvest some of tbe cover crops. On two 
or three small fields tncre is a thick stand 
of rye and vetch. In a normal year our 
Ilian would be to plow this growth under 
and pliiiit potatoes. T have- no thought 
that we could c-are for them properly this 
sc'a.son, and it seems better busines.s to 
put a temiiorary fence around these fic*lds 
and turn in a drove of jiigs well .supplied 
with waiter, ashes, charcoal and grain in 
a self-feeder. They will harvest the crop 
and pay for it, besides leaving the soil in 
better condition. 
Vakiktiks. —I do not know of anything 
more dangerous to the man just starting 
an orchard than the easy advic*e on va¬ 
rieties which so many pc*ople put out. 1 
had my dose of tiiis when 1 started plant¬ 
ing, and the ore-hard is .something of a 
monument to mixed advic-e I I have a 
dozen or more; differc'iit varieties all 
planted on the advice of some c-xpc'rt. 
More than half of them are not well 
adapted to our situation or market. I 
never would plant them now after thes*! 
year.s of experience. I have learnc-d that 
the .soil and location, the market and the 
habits of the owner, nave much to do 
example, all the experts I 
: “Never plant NortHern 
.Jersey! You are too far 
When I bought my first 
the nurseryman put in about a 
Spy trees. I planted two of them 
with it. For 
went to said 
Spy ill New 
south for it.” 
trees 
dozen 
on a sandy hill and the others in a damp 
place on the lower ground. The trees 
on the hill have not paid, while those on 
lower ground are among the most profit¬ 
able I have. Every other year they aver¬ 
age five to six barrels of wonderful fruit 
—but with us tbe Spy is a September 
apple. Itahhvin and McIntosh are our 
best varieties, though many experts say 
w'e are too far south for Haldwin. I like 
Sutton better the more we fruit it, but I 
w'ould not care to advise others to plant 
it. As a commercial proposition it would 
be better for us to plant just two varie¬ 
ties—Haldwin and Mclntosb—with a few 
Sp.v on the lower ground. Yet this w’ould 
not be sound advi(-e for a beginner. .\s 
for peaches, I will still .say that Carman, 
by reason of its high color and time of 
ripening, will pay us better than any 
other single variety—yet it would be non¬ 
sense to tell others to plant nothing but 
f’arrnan. I think .J. 11. Hale is a comer, 
and that it will prove superior to Elbeida 
on many or most farms; that is, for a 
peach of its season. Wc- are working out 
of peaches as the apples come on, though 
we shall plant perhaps "JOO trees this year. 
'Phis will mean a siu-i-ession of peaches, 
including Cr(*ensboro, Carman. Hellc of 
Ceorgia, Champion, .J. II. Hale, Niagara, 
Crosby, Mountain Rose, Crawford, Iron 
Mountain. You see J stand by the old 
timers, becau.se they have stood by me. 
H. W. C. 
it inijiossible to pay any jirotit. While 
seed is somewhat cheajier this year, the 
prolib-ni of liand labor is so lianl that I 
shall cut out most of the jiotatoi's. Of 
course, many fari'iers will say they can 
handle great fields of potatoes by ma 
chinery—with hardly any work with a 
liand hoe. ] know it; but they do not real 
ize that our potat.oi-s must be. for a large 
jiart, grown bi-tween rows of fruit trees 
and on rock.v gr-iund where the big fools 
cannot be iisi-d. As this soil is kept in 
sod more than half the time-, of (-ourse, the 
soil is full of gra.ss and weeds, .so that 
much hand work is neces.sary. About the 
only hand-worked crop T have found 
profitable in this situation is our small 
flint (-orn. 'Phat doe.<? well on sod and 
if it can be cultivated until it gets up 
above the weeds, 't will make a fair <-rop. 
Last yi-ar we i-ut the big wi-eds out with 
a scythe and thr<*w them around tin* trees 
—jiut in a cover crop and had good corn. 
Faying Chops. - It .seems to me that if 
we are to use hand work at all it shouh' 
be put on the intensive croiis that is. the 
ones which in former year.s have brought 
us best returns. Looking at it that way, 
the strawberry i-rop with jiotatoes in be¬ 
tween will iiay best for the use of tin- hoc 
We expect to give the land a good coat 
of manure, plow under, pick u]) stones 
and make the surface as fine as possible, 
Then the strawberry jilants are set out 
two feet apart ea<-h way. Cn the east 
and we.st rows we will plant a seed piece 
of potato between ea(-h two strawberry 
rows will be worked 
a band cultivator for 
ind (-arefill man) and 
way we have grown 
IKS 
plants. '^Phen the 
east and west wiCi 
with a small hoi-se 
hi'.nd-hoi'd. Jn this 
made 
The 
vines 
grow- 
a good crop of early jiotatoes and 
good growth on the berry plants, 
potatoes are dug in .-Vugust and tin 
pib*d around the peach trei-s—all 
ing in this lield. 'Phen a strong runner 
from a st rawb(--iy plant is put down 
wher«* tin* potatoc-s weri- dug, and we have 
the field well set in hilled strawberries. 
M’e are also abt* to sf-11 at h-ast five big 
potted or layi-r plants from each original 
plant. This can In* done and give good 
returns for hand labor, but J warn you 
never to start it unless you are dead sure 
of a full supply of hand labor, and i-an 
use care and rare judgment in handling 
the (-rojis. It looks ea.sy as you tell 
alniiit it, but woe unto the scribes who do 
not give you the hard and sweaty side of 
it before you begin. You cannot expect 
to get a full crop of potatoes in this way, 
but if you hand]-- them right you will get 
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