648 
RURAL N E W-Y O R K E R 
May 4, 1913 
HOPE FARM NOTES 
Outlook. —The weather thus far has, 
I must say, favored the Kaiser. Cold, 
raw winds and rain have prevailed, and 
our heavy land is too wet to work prop¬ 
erly. Some plowing was done by April 
120, hut the rains harden the land, and 
there is no use planting potatoes or corn 
or .small garden seeds. It is great 
weather for transplanting strawberries, 
and the grain and cover crops are jump¬ 
ing. A wet April and May usually in¬ 
sures our apple crop, for the soil is filled 
with moisture, and by cutting the grass 
for a mulch or i)lowing and harrowing we 
can usually hold the moisture in the soil 
around the trees. So, while we are be¬ 
hind on our schedule, we make no com¬ 
plaint, for while the wet is bad for the 
jiotatoes it is good for the apides. The 
peach crop has evidently been wiped out. 
1 have not yet been able to find a single 
jieach bloom on the farm. 
I.IMK. —Every year we use eight tons 
or more of lime, usually after plowing 
under sod or cover crops. We think 
yearly aj'plications of about (MM) i)ounds 
per acre i)ay better than heavier use 
every three or four years. There seems to 
be no question about the value of lime 
on our tough and heavy land. The 
vlover, grass and grain gi-ow better each 
year, and I think the soil grows more 
open and friable. Most likely, to<j, these 
yearly applications of lime are helping to 
make some of the potash in our soil 
available On soils strong in phosi)horic 
acid 1 think the lime also has some 
])ower to set free small quantities of that 
element, but our own soil is lacking in 
phosphorus and we must supply it. At 
any rate, after a good many years’ use, I 
am convinced that the lime helps us, but 
it is easy to conclude that because it docn 
help we can get along with less manure 
or fertilizer. That is not true, and I 
would not regard lime as a i)lant food so 
much as a soil improver and a help to 
other forms of f(‘rtillty. For instance, 
w’e all know there is good fertility in a 
clover -.sod. A good dressing of lime will 
not add much that the crop needs, but it 
will make that sod give up more of its 
plant food. 
lllGir Pkicks.’ —Some years ago, when 
we began the regular use of lime, I 
bought a good grade of slaked lime at 
.$0 i)er ton in New York. 'Phe freight at 
that time as 1 ^ recall it was per 
ton. This year the same kind of lime, if 
anything not quite so good, cost $9.50 
per ton. The freight bill for carrying 
seven tons of this lime less than 25 miles 
was $2.‘1.()7, including 07 cents of “war 
tax,” which the carriers all dodge and 
plaster right on the consumer. Now I 
can see no earthly reason why this lime 
should have been jumped up nearly 00 
per cent in ]>rice. The cost of getting it 
out of the quarry and burning it has 
surely not increased in any such propor¬ 
tion. The price of the things I have to 
sell and which the lime helps to produce 
have not been jumped in any such way. 
Everything I buy has gone far up in 
price, while everything I sell has made 
only a moderate gain. As for those 
“war taxes,” the (carriers and manufac¬ 
turers shed them as a duck sheds water, 
while they are all .soaked into the (con¬ 
sumer. Every package by freight or ex¬ 
press must pay this tax, and every penny 
of it i.s put on the shipper or receiver. 
When T bought the motor truck they 
made me pay nearly $40 “war tax.” If 
you buy a ticket to a baseball game or 
a glass of soda water or a railroad ticket 
you pay the tax. You are always 
stamped with the tax, but you are unable 
to shift any taxes upon others when you 
do the selling. 
►Soaking It In. —For some years be¬ 
fore the war I bought a sj)ecial kind of 
shoe which cost $5 per pair. It was a stout, 
sensible shoe, and usually wore about four 
months before the sole got so thin that 
tapping was needed. It was so that all 
I had to do was to walk into the shoe 
store, sit down and hold up my foot, and 
they would fit me with another shoe of 
the same size and type. Finally I went 
through this performance and handed the 
clerk a $5 bill. He looked at it and then 
at me. “The price is now $G.95!” It 
certainly was striking liberality for him 
to knock off five cents and not make it 
an even .$7. I had to pay it or leave it. 
That shoe wore out in three months in¬ 
stead of four, as the old $5 shoe did. 
While formerly they charged $1.25 for 
tapping the old shoes, now they charged 
me $2.50. On hunting up the prices of 
hides I found that farmers get but little 
more for them than one year ago. My 
friend the salesman gets but little more 
.and the boss has a long lease on the build¬ 
ing, so that his rent is no higher. Yet 
I must pay 40 per cent increase for an 
inferior shoe! The only reason I can get 
for it is (hat the government has, through 
contracts, made a piace on shoos which 
insures the maker and dealer a large 
profit after counting in all expen.ses. 
Thus I am held up through a form of 
robbery when I buy but growled at and 
uni)rotect<'d when I sell. ^ 
WiiAT Anoirr It.—I f this thing keeps 
on much longer “daylight” will be about 
the only thing our farmers can .save. We 
have simply permitted this immense army 
of middlciuen to organize and get control 
of us. I can see no independence except 
through co-operation—getting together to 
do for ourselves much that these middle¬ 
men now “stamp” us for doing. Ibu-e 
i.s a letter from a 12-year-old boy who 
lives in Connecticut. This boy has the 
right idea in his mind. We must all, as 
farmers, begin right at home and save 
some of tin; money we have been pouring 
out to elhers for servme which we might 
easily dcf ourselves. The thing to begin 
on is food. Our farms can .supply 70 per 
(•(‘lit and more of wheat we need if we 
will only think so, and saving food is the 
most practical way we have for .starting a 
crusade to cut out some of tlu; useless 
middh'uien : 
I wish to say that the article under 
llojie Farm Notes in the April 0 issue 
of Tiik It. N.-Y. interested me very much, 
and as to food economizing I have noticed 
farmers buying substitutes for what they 
raise and paying twice as much as they 
sold the substitute for. In one case I 
found a farmer buying canned soups at a 
stoi’e, and he could make far better soup 
himself, for he was a fair cook, but he 
said that he didn’t want to take the 
troubl(\ One thing was that' his wife 
was not living, and many of you farmers 
will say that you don’t have enough time, 
but that is not so in this case, for he only 
own less than 20 acres. In another 
place I was going around with “Hoover” 
cards and the farmers would say: “Why 
have we got to economize? All we don’t 
eat we give to the pigs.” Why .shoulil 
the farnr-ers give to their pigs such valu¬ 
able food as vegetables, bread, etc.? I 
don’t believe that it will hurt anybody 
to eat what they need, such as eggs, milk, 
cheese, vegetables and fruit. Over in 
France, England, etc., they are glad to 
eat such food as we do not deign to eat. 
They over there are learning a les.son that 
we hav(* not yet learned. 
RONALi) F. )>ONU. 
Cjik.st.nut Hj.ight.^— This is an old 
story to thos(‘ who live in the Hud.son 
Valley. 'I'liis hati'ful disease has cleaned 
out our ch(‘stuuts and is slowly sjireading 
east and west. Here is a report which 
shows it has reachc'd Lake Ontario: 
(’he.stnut blight has arrived. Last Sum¬ 
mer the nurserymen found a blighted tree 
in some pines'they are watching for blis¬ 
ter rusr. Later I found it on a few oth¬ 
ers, and now we know of a dozen or more 
tree.s which are affected, and it is prob¬ 
ably iiresent on many others. Wb are 
planning how to u.se a lot of chestnut 
wood in th(‘ next few vear.s. A. c. w. 
Way.Ge C’o., N. Y. 
When we came to ihis farm we found 
nearly .”0 acri's of line ch(‘stnut timber. 
It looked like an a.sset for the futurii—a 
good life insurance, so we did not cut the 
timber. The blight got in and ruined 
every tree—swept through like a. tire. 
There is not a living clu'stnut left. The 
loss was nearly half wdiat w^e jiaid for the 
entire farm. Last Winter we sold 120 
of tho.se dead trees to the government for 
timber used in building an army camp, 
and there is some demand for fence jiosts. 
bu*^ the blight has mad(* our beautiful 
woods a distressing sight. Chestnut is 
not very good for fuel. It is too light ] 
and burns up too fast. AVe have 12 to 15 
co’-ds of it cut up with the buzz saw and 
safely packed in a dry shed, but there is 
little sale for it as fuel. My advice to 
anyone owning a chestnut grove anywhere 
in the path of this blight disease would 
be to cut the timber and dispose of it 
“while the going is good !” There is no 
use trying to fight the disease except with 
the ax and saw. h. w. c. 
Food-produ(%rs that meet 
the demands of the hour 
“Food will win the war.’’ Plant larger acreage and 
produce the food! Use Planet Jr implements to take 
care of the increased acreagfe. 
No. 25 With Planet Jr implements you can do 
the work of 3 to 6 men using ordinary^ 
tools. They lighten labor, save time, 
and cultivate so thoroughly you can raise 
bigger crops than ever before. Built 
strong, yet light enough for woman 
or boy to use. They last a life¬ 
time. Fully guaranteed. 
No. 25 Planet Jr Combined Hill and 
Drill Seeder, Double and Single 
.'b I Wheel-Hoe, Cultivator and Plow 
sows all garden seeds 
from smallest up to peas 
and beans, in hills or in 
drills, rolls dowm an<^ 
marks next row at one passage, andj 
enables jmu to cultivate up to two acres a day all through the 
season. A double and 
single wheel-hoe in one. 
Straddles crops till 20 
inches high, then works 
between them. Steel frame and 14-inch steel wheels. A 
splendid combination for the family garden, onion-grower, 
or large gardener. 
No. 17 Planet Jr is the highest type of single-wheel 
hoe made. It is a hand-machine whose light dura- 
ble construction enables a man, woman, or boy to 
do the cultivation in a garden in the easiest. No. r 
quickest and best way. We 
make 24 styles—various prices. 
; ci udy an ixic / 
Planet Jr. 
New 72-page 
Catalog, free! 
Illustrates Planet Jrs in action and describes over 55 tools, including 
Seeders, Wheel-Hoes, Horse-Hoes, Harrows, Orchard-, Beet- and Pivot- 
Wheel Biding Cultivators. Write for it today/ 
S L ALLEN & CO Box 1107V Philadelphia 
For Potato Bugs 
And Blight use 
y SULFOCIDE 
and 
CAL-ARSENATE 
—a new combination which bids fair 
to replace the old Lime Sul hur-Arse- 
nate of Lead and Bordeaux-Leadm ix- 
tures.in both orchard and garden. 
It is more powerful and much less ex¬ 
pensive. 1 gallon and AVz lbs. makes 
150 gallons of spray. 
For Your Empty Bags 
Don't throw away asm; 
they're worth money to you. Prices are 
'way up now. Cash in on all you have. 
But be Bure you get our prices before 
f ^ou sell a single ono.We guarantee most 
iberal gra^ng. Over 20 years in busi¬ 
ness is your assurance of a square deal 
every time. We buy any quantity* 
Freight paid on all shipments to 
Werthan. Find out what real satisfao* 
tion is. Write quick, stating what yoa 
have. Address i 
WERTHAN BAG CO. J 
66 Dock St. St. Loui., Mo. " 
«/en£#r 
EMPtv 
Sags 
Send for circular 
B. G. PRATT CO,, Mfd. Chemists 
50 Church St. Dept. N New York 
EXPERT 
KHOWLEDGE 
FREELY 
GIVEN 
Hydraulic Cide 
Press Profits 
EXTRA 
HEAVY “ipr 
PRESSURE GETS RESULTS 
E. B. VAN ATTA & CO., 108 Penn Awe., Olean, N. Y. 
INOCULATE 
ALL LEGUMES and DOUBLE theCROP 
Prepared for soy beans, field peas, alfalfa, sweet 
and'other clovers, garden peas and beans, navy 
beans, vetch, etc. 1-Acre 50c; 2-Acre 95c; 6-j\cre 
Postpaid on receipt of price. 30-page 
legume book, free on request, 
THE EGQERT CHEMICAL COMPANY. CANTON. OHIO 
Books Worth Reading 
Animal Breeding, Shaw. 1.50 
Breeding Farm Animals, Marshall.. 1.60 
Principles of Breeding, Davenport.. 2.50 
Cheese Making, Van Slyke.. 1,75 
Business of Dairying, Dane. 1.25 
Clean Milk, Winslow.3.25 
Dairy Chemistry, Snyder. 1.00 
Dairy Farming, Michels. 1.00 
Handbook for Dairymen. Woll. 1.60 
Milk and Its Products, Wing. 1.50 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
333 WEST 30th ST., NEW YORK. 
^Tood Will Win the War” 
LAND L,Me 
results for War Crops 
Order Now on Account of Car Shortage 
ROCKLAND & ROCKPORT LIME CO. 
New York, 101 Park Ave. Rockland, Me. Boston, 45 Milk St. 
R-RI 
Immediate 
