726 
HOPE FARM NOTES 
“Stepping Stones” 
Tart TI. 
That was too much oven for tho min¬ 
ister. He forgot the poetry he had (pioted 
and could not grasp the fact that here 
was a man trying to put his slipping feet 
upon his dead self that he might climb 
up. Tho.se clean, whole-souled fanners 
recedled at the thought of marching away 
in step w’ith such a character as ‘Jo.sh 
Duck.’ Of course they could not under¬ 
stand that he was offering far more than 
they ever could. The recruiting sergeant 
could not see it either. He was after 
men. Their social standing did not con¬ 
cern him, and he formed his recruits in 
line and marched them away, ‘Josh Duck’ 
shuffling at the rear—a queer looking sol¬ 
dier of. freedom in his blue overalls and 
dirty shirt. He never did jjresent a sol¬ 
dier-like appearance, even with his new 
uniform and rifle. Discipline and pride 
held up the heads and shoulders of the 
rest hnd put spring in their knees, but 
‘Josh Duck’ still slouched and .skulked— 
a pauper in spirit as well as in thrift. 
So he slouched and skulked with pale 
face and thumping heart when his regi¬ 
ment was marched up to the front line of 
a great battle. It had been going on all 
day and the Union troops had been stead¬ 
ily pushed back—back to a river, which 
they could not cross. The fight was going 
against them and these New England 
troops knew it, but thej’^ marched up to 
the line bravely—almost happily—all ex¬ 
cept ‘Josh Duck.’ He was by nature a 
coward and a pauper, and as he marched 
he glanced about for a chance to run. 
The minister, leading the company, 
glanced back and read the cowardly pur¬ 
pose on the white, cringing face and he 
stepped back to caution him. 
" 'For God’s .sake, 'Josh Duck,’ don’t 
disgrace the.company and this old town!’ 
Hut as he spoke a shell screamed 
closely over their heads. It exploded di¬ 
rectly behind them and .smashed a tree 
into fragments. With a scream ‘Josh 
I>uck’ threw down his gun and ran from 
the ranks into the woods. He did not get 
far. There was no escape, for the woods 
were full of men. With genuine pauper 
luck Jo.sh ran right upon the general and 
his staff. 
“ ‘Bhoot him I’ ” 
There was a volley and Jo.sh felt a 
sting in his arm and he .stoi)ped. They 
caught him and brought him before the 
old general, who with the battle going 
against him, looked like a lion at bay. 
“‘A deserter! March him out in front 
of the army, in view of the enemy, and 
shoot him as an example!’ ” 
They marched him right through the 
old company—the coward, the shame of 
the old town. The line was forming for 
one last desperate charge to fight back 
from the river. Out in front stood the 
color bearer, waiting for the signal. 
These stern, determined men with guns in 
band had climbed to higher things—all 
but poor ‘Jo.sh Duck.’ His poor selfish 
self was not a stepping stone, but a grave¬ 
stone. He seemed indeed as he marched 
up to his doom the most useless, most 
ignoble thing on earth. Then of a sudden 
there came to him the memory of that 
sunny day in the old town when he had 
enlisted—Avhen for the moment the pau- 
I)er found himself a prince in national 
jiride. And again those two stern old 
characters, Joshua and Drake, stepped 
out of the past and touched him with 
their swords. And in that instant the 
old self died and ‘.Tosh Duck’ sprang to 
higher things. The color bearer of a sud¬ 
den threw up his hands and fell dead Avith 
a bullet through his heart. The flag fell 
with him, but before it reached the 
ground a man sprang forward, caught it 
up and waved it before the army. Then 
with a hoarse yell he ran..*out toward the 
enemy and the whole army followed him 
—that New England regiment in advance. 
The officers were not ready for the charge. 
They had meant to delay it, but they 
Avere SAvept on in that mad, irresistable 
rush. On, on, the army moved, that flag 
still waving in advance. They smashed 
into the enemy and broke his line and 
turned defeat into victory, and then the 
flag went down. When the men Horn the 
old toAvn reached the place they found a 
well-knoAvn form lying where it fell, .still 
Oic RURAL N 
protecting the flag. They turned him over 
in wonder. 
“ ‘.Tosh Duck,’ ” said the man who had 
kept the poorhouse. 
“Rut the minister held up his hand. 
“ ‘Yon are Avrong. No longer ‘Josh 
Duck,’ for this day has made him the 
Hon. Joshua Drake. God gave him ncAV 
life and Avith it he has paid his debt!’ 
.Vnd so the old toAvn rai.sed the money, 
brought the body home and laid the pau¬ 
per beside the flower of their OAvn man¬ 
hood. 
“‘// oh . -Jofthua Drnlcc! God f/ave him 
now life!' The story Is as old as the 
hills—Avhich means older than human en¬ 
deavor. Yon may call it a miracle or 
anything else you please, but the new 
life is alAA'ays a gift from God and must 
come, as such gifts do, through the death 
of some selfi.sh and ignoble part of living. 
There is no escape from that for the in¬ 
dividual or for the Nation. Service and 
sacrifice lie at the base of all sacred 
things. .'Vnd I think more and more that 
this great Nation through the awful sacri¬ 
fice Avhich (his war will entail must and 
Avill rise up to higher things by putting 
under its feet much of the meanness and 
moral imverty which many years of lux¬ 
urious ease fastened upon many of our 
people. 
“//oh. Jo.'ihiia Brake! God f/are him 
new life!" 
Most of us are paupers in .some way. 
We h,ave not paid our full debt. We 
have received more from the strange, mys¬ 
terious thing Ave call “country” than we 
haA’c ever paid back. We cannot pay it 
through the perfume and pleasure of ease. 
We cannot settle our debt Avith the mere 
payment of money. If that were po.ssible 
the millionaires would be the only pat¬ 
riotic people, and even they will not claim 
that. In .some Avay the old story of 
.Joshua Drake must be worked out in 
every life. Service and sacrifice. Each 
in his OAA-n Avay. The old selfish life sac¬ 
rificed on the altar of the neAv. 
.lust let me end as I began: 
"Men may rise on slepping stones of 
their dead selves to hiyher things." 
and let me add these lines from the same 
poem : 
“Thou wilt not leave us in the dust, 
Thou madest man—he knoAvs not Avhy ; 
He thinks he was not made to die. 
And Thou hast made him. Thou art just.” 
II. AV. c. 
A Breezy Letter from Idaho 
Perhaps it is not necessary for a farmer 
living Avest, in sunny southern Idaho, to 
apologize for taking your paper. Cer¬ 
tainly most of our farm problems are 
((uite different from those of the New 
Y'ork farmer. Borne of yours look odd. 
That school problem, for example. I‘er- 
haps there is more to your “kick” than 
Ave can see at this distance. Out here Ave 
have the combination district. My home 
—10 years ago sage brush—is 100 rods 
from such a school, and I happen to be 
clerk. Cost? Of course it co.sts more 
than the “old red schoolhouse.” It costs 
a mint of money, over .$10,000 last year, 
and it Avill be over .$11,(X)0 this year. 
Seven Avagons, seven teachers, 11 grades. 
Pay? Of course it pays. Even the bach¬ 
elors say “Keep up the school, boys!” 
They Avatch alumni taking first in agri¬ 
cultural college, first in State normal, 
fir.st in university ; kids Ave’re pi’oud of, 
that add to our wealth by making those 
“two blades of grass” groAV. Seven years 
ago “the man from Missouri” could get 
the floor to argue for six-grade school 
buildings. He could not noAv get either 
“the floor” or a hearing. Our “kid” took 
first as “stock judge” in a recent contest. 
It cost me about .$12..'50 to help that 
“kid.” He has easily added to my own 
herd $200. Of course, this has to be con¬ 
sidered. New York, like all old States, 
has many old people, Avhose families are 
groAvn, Avhile the West has fcAv old peo¬ 
ple and most families are at the age of 
“kids.” 
As to that 3,5-cent-dollar, you are right, 
or about right. One of your correspond¬ 
ents complains of $24 per bushel for clover 
seed. I have little doubt that some clover 
seed greAV on an adjoining farm and sold 
at thrashing time for $10.80 per bushel. 
Now, Avhy does not Mr. New York Farm¬ 
er send to your Idaho farmer for his 
seed? Simply because both mistrust each 
other. Each fears the “kick back.” Seed 
E W-YO R K E R 
today here is 26% cents per pound. The 
same seed three weeks from today will 
doubtless sell over the same scales for 3.5 
cents per pound. Carlyle said the people 
of England were “twelve million—mostly 
fools.” So we can say the farmers of 
these United States are “eight millions— 
mostly fools.” Fooli.shness, however, is 
waning. Farmers now begin to show 
backbone. Mr. Hoover’s representative 
of the sugar divi.sion w,as just here. After 
he explained that he was the government 
regarding sugar, that he had the power 
of arrest, etc., he told us in a very nice 
way how the price of sugar was set, $7, 
$7.15, then $7.25, and in deference to the 
cane men it was finally placed at $7.,37% 
ca.sh. “At every factory in the United 
States,” he .said, “the price is now 
.$7.37%.” Some fool farmers, before go¬ 
ing to the Hoover meeting Avent to the 
farmers’ store and got the last invoice of 
•sugar. This was read to the Hoover rep¬ 
resentative ; $8.06 at factory. Ilis power 
of arrest vanished, although one of the 
stockholders of the Amalgamated Sugar* 
Company was a part of his traveling com¬ 
pany, and could have been “nabbed” on 
the spot. Do you think if one of that 
company of farmers had robbed another 
of a “fiA'e spot” in that room he would 
haA'e failed of arrest? He would have 
at once used his poAver of arrest, or the 
sheriff AA’ould have been called. Some 
day such a scene Avill end in other than a 
laugh. 
If that man who Avrites “Hope Farm 
Notes” ever comes west, one who has 
often been cheered by his homey, cheery, 
careful oA^erlook of farm conditions, will 
be glad to share a chicken log with him; 
Ave’ll show him the truth of what one of 
your own good men, .Tosiah Strong, .says 
of us: “The West is so large that it takes 
a dozen good-sized Eastern men to be¬ 
lieve one of their stories.” D. .t. t. 
Minidoka Co., Idaho. 
Hill or Level Cultivation 
On page 641 is a letter strongly advo¬ 
cating level cultivation for corn and po¬ 
tatoes instead of the system of raised hills 
more often practiced. I just Avant to say 
that level cultivation is greatly to be pre¬ 
ferred when the soil is light and dry and 
exceedingly sandy, and the rainfall is a 
little scanty. Rut in a heavy clay soil, 
and Avith an abundant rainfall, the .system 
is entirely Avrong. A a rule, hoAvever, both 
crops are so nearly cosmopolitan in their 
habits that upon .4oil that is ordinarily 
classed as good corn or potato ground, 
there will be no appreciable difference in 
the results, taking one year Avith another, 
and for a term of years, no matter which 
system is folloAved. The apparent differ¬ 
ence often noticed, one Avay or the other, 
is caused, .not by the preference of the 
crop for one system or the other, but 
by the difference in the dmount of water 
that the soil receives, or by the difference 
in the ability of the different .soils to re¬ 
tain and assimilate the rainfall. 
All plants require a certain amount of 
moisture, and more than the required 
amount is detrimental. Bo, if a soil is of 
such a nature that the rainfall will readily 
leach aAvay and be lost, it is evident that 
it Avill leach away even more rapidly from 
a ridge or hill than from a level, or flat 
surface. Hence, level cultivation Avill cer¬ 
tainly give the best results, except possi¬ 
bly during a season in Avhich there is an 
abundant rainfall, and at frequent inter- 
v.als. On the contrary, if a soil is of 
such a nature that it Avill absorb and re¬ 
tain moisture to fJuch an extent as to be 
detrimental to the plants, it is equally 
evident that, in thi.‘4 cause, hill cultivation 
will give the best results. 
We find that these statements are true 
in practice as avcII as in theory. I have 
gardened in soils so light that it Avas 
necessary to plant all seeds in trenches, 
and to step upon the seeds in oi-der to se¬ 
cure a satisfactory crop. And I have 
gardened on soils so heavy Avith clay that 
even beets and carrots could scarcely be 
groAvn except by .soAving the seeds on the 
top of a ridge. And between these tevo 
extremes there i.‘j every gradation. No 
single rule is applicable to soils of differ¬ 
ent natures, and the planter must .study 
his soils and act accordingly. Moreover, 
treatment that Avill give the best results 
in an extremely Avet season may work 
disastrously in a very dry sea.son, and 
May 2.'5, 1918 
the reverffe is true. The planter must 
assume certain risks in this respect. 
O. O. ORM.SBEE. 
Late Sowing of Sweet Clover 
What time of the year do you soav 
Bokhara clover (also known as Sweet 
clover) ? I cleaned up a rocky piece of 
land in my bee yard and I was thinking 
of planting to bunch beans of the snap 
sort, to get the ground free from AV’eeds, 
and as soon as the beans are done bear¬ 
ing to pull up the vines and sow buck¬ 
wheat and Bokhara clover. I want it 
mo.stly for my bees, but I thought it 
might be too late for Bokhara clover when 
I sow buckAAffieat. c. B. B. 
Rush Run, W. Ya. 
The so-called Sweet clover, Melilotus 
alba, is a biennial and should have the 
full season for its first year’s growth. If 
the buckwheat and Melilotus are soAvn 
for the bees rather than for the buck¬ 
wheat grain, you can sow the buckAvheat 
early in order to get the start for the 
SAA'eet clover. The Melilotus will not fur- 
ni.sh any nectar for the bees till the sec¬ 
ond year. Y'ears ago, when I was inter¬ 
ested in feeding bees, I sowed buckwheat 
in early Spring, and after the blooming 
of this crop turned it under and sowed 
again for later bloom. The Melilotus 
alba, if left to groAv to maturity, will re¬ 
seed the land. Here it grows rankly on 
roadsides and ditch borders, and is sim¬ 
ply regarded as a Aveed. From the fact 
that it reseeds the ground where it grows 
wild it Avould seem that the late Summer 
sowing may be all right. We do not 
grow it here, as we can do better in the 
improvement of the soil from the use of 
cow peas and Soy beans in Summer, and 
Crimson clover in Winter, all of which 
are better feeds than Melilotus. Melilotus 
is valuable where the annual legumes do 
not thrive as they do here. If you wish to 
make grain of the buckwheat it will not 
cost a great deal to try the late soAving 
of the Melilotus. For the bees alone, the 
early .sown buckwheat is as good as the 
late. W. F. MASSEY. 
Starting an Alfalfa Field 
Four years ago I sent to the Agricul¬ 
tural College, Amherst, Mass., for advice 
and bulletins on groAving Alfalfa. I also 
went to the State Experiment Station, 
Concord, Mass., and received quite a lot 
of information there. We used a field 
sloping toward the .south; early in the 
Spring Ave ploAved the ground, which pre- 
viou.sly had been, planted to different crops 
and was in very good condition. We in- 
oculate<l peas Avith bacteria and soAved 
them Avith oats. .-Vfter cutting the crop 
Ave ploAved the ground again and harroAved 
it .several times until the 1st of August; 
Ave then spread lime over it, one ton to the 
acre, h.TTOAving it in Avell. In a Aveek Ave 
spread on the fertilizer, consisting of 200 
pounds sulphate of potash, 400 pounds 
ba.sic .slag, 100 pounds nitrate soda to the 
acre, harroAving it in thoroughly with a 
spike-tooth harrow, making it as smooth 
as possible. We chose a cloudy day for 
preparing and soAving the seed. We had 
.sent to Amherst College Agricultural Ex- 
))eriment Station for the bacteria or cul¬ 
ture to inoculate the seed, and I mixed the 
culture thoroughly with the .seed, then 
si)read it on papers to dry so it Avould 
not stick to the hands. We sowed it to- 
Avard evening (as light and sun will de¬ 
stroy the germs), using a drag to cover 
in as it Avas soAvn. We AA'ere fortunate in 
having a very suitable day, as shortly 
after it Avas covered in it rained quite a 
little. In the third day it began to 
come up; the fourth day the field Avas 
covered evenly all over Avith the little 
green plants. In about a Aveek’s time Ave 
had another heavy rain. We then had 
continued dry Aveather for 41 days. It 
Avas very dry that Bummer and Fall; 
nearly everything dried up, but the Al¬ 
falfa grew fine, shoAving that it does stand 
dry Aveather better than any other crop. 
Ry the time frost came it Avas .six inches 
high ; the second and third years we cut 
three g(jod crops each year, but Ave made 
the mistake of not fertilizing it and some 
of it Avinter-killed the fourth yeai’, so we 
are going to plow it up this Pall and re- 
ueAV it. AVe think it splendid feed for both 
horses and cattle. All weeds and grass 
should be kept cleaned out, as they will 
choke out the Alfalfa. s. i.. 
Massachusetts. 
