876 
XShe RURAL NEW-YORKER 
HOPE FARM NOTES 
New Farming. —Things are .surely 
moving in these days. The spirit of the 
war has come to many of us. and we are 
all doing things which would have seemed 
impossible a few years ago. The other 
night, while we were eating supper, there 
came a call on the ’phone. As usual one 
of the children answered it and quickly 
gave way to Mother—the business agent 
of the family I It was an old friend some 
seven miles south of us. lie had learned 
by accident of a bargain in corn ; a car¬ 
load of grain had been wrecked and 
turned back upon the railroad company. 
A chance had come for us to get a good 
bargain in combination with another 
farmer, and our friend was “i)utting us 
wii^e.” as he said. AVc need that corn, 
for we have just arranged for a good 
outfit of pigs and it looked like a chance. 
A Trip. —Mother had been canning 
peas and strawberries, and she was tired, 
but after supiier Thomas and I talked it 
over awhile, and then I approached the 
good lady where she was cooling off on 
lost one of her family for no apparent 
cause, though I think insects w'ere partly 
r( sponsible. The turkey seems to keep 
hei- brood freer from insects than the hen 
does. The difference between the two 
nurses becomes more evident. The hen 
stays on the lawn or close to the house. 
.\t night she squats in a corner by the 
porch. The turkey never comes near the 
house, but wanders away through the corn 
.and potatoes with her brood. At night 
she crawls into a bunch of thick, high 
weeds and sits like a wild bird—a jiicture 
of sus])icion. Every morning when I look 
out the hen has her family close to the 
front door waiting for us. while down by 
the weeds that watchful turkey head is 
peering from the hiding jilace. 
Wiiicir Is Fetter? —Thus the hen 
seems to be teaching her foster children 
t<» have confidence in man and trust to 
his generosity. The turkey is bringing up 
her children on the theory that they must 
view all humans with .suspicion. The 
hen looks upon man as a creature neces¬ 
sary to jirovide food, shelter and care— 
therefore submit to him and trust him. 
The turkey seems to consider that man 
of the cherries. I regard the robin as a 
robber. I think he does more harm than 
good, and when I say that of course I 
know what a great army of bird lovers 
will say about me. I have watched the 
robin for years, and I consider him a 
fraud—living a protected life made so by 
the sentiment of a lot of kind-hearted peo¬ 
ple who do not realize what a thief he is. 
If he eats any insects except earthworms 
I have yet to catch him in the act. He 
steals nearly all our cherries, walks along 
the rows and ruins our big strawberries, 
and then sits on the fence and says: “I 
dare you to touch me. The State of New 
.Tersey says I am a better citizen than 
you are. You go and. steal your neigh¬ 
bor’s food and you will get a charge of 
shot and the world will applaud. Shoot 
me after I steal your proiierty and it 
will cost your .$ 2.0 or jail / ilare i/oa to 
defend your property.” ii. w. c. 
The Old Stone Wall Tree 
The picture at Fig. 429 shows an old 
seedling tree at Hope Farm which gave 
us an idea of the possibilities of growing 
trees under a mulch. This picture is en¬ 
graved from a photograph loaned by 
the porch. 
‘Tome, Ma, put on your hat and we 
will all go down and see about that corn.” 
‘‘Oh, I don’t know !” 
‘‘Hut I do. It will do- j'ou good to 
take the air. and you can visit with 
Charlotte while we talk corn !” 
‘‘Will you take the children?” 
‘‘Take ’em all—and the neighbors, too, 
if you say so. The truck will carry two 
tons 1’’ 
So that was settled, and the children 
danced for joy. AA^e put seats and chairs 
on the truck with a short ladder for 
climbing in. Thomas drove. Mother sat 
with him in front, holding Rose, and the 
rest of us piled in behind. There were 
12 of us. The daughter stayed in order 
to dust insect powder on those beloved 
young turkeys, and hoeing sweet corn 
was about all the corn 1‘hilip wanted to 
know about. 
So with many a call and hand wave 
we went whirling through our neighbor¬ 
hood and down the valley. -Heople must 
have taken us for a Sunday-school picnic, 
but that never troubled us, and in 29 
minutes from the start the truck puffed 
and snorted into Charlotte’s yard. 
Qxmck AA’ork. —Inside of three minutes 
the women were in their chairs talking as 
only such ladies can. and the children had 
started a game of ball out back of the 
barns, while Thomas and I were looking 
over the crops to see if Hojie Farm could 
hold its own. Then came the corn man. 
and in less than five minutes it was agreed 
that Thomas should go down (he next 
morning and sainjde the grain. If it 
looked like a bargain we would take it. 
and very likely haul it home in the truck. 
It required some diplomacy and more time 
to get our folks away from the game and 
the convei'sation. but at last they mounted 
.In Aiiptv Tree Mulehed hif a Stone Wntl. Fig. .'i29 
rhe truck and with a shake of its big 
shoulders, like a strong man buckling to 
his load, the truck took the road for home. 
AA’e had a great visit, and on the way 
home, while the others laughed and sang, 
I was thinking of what the telephone and 
tlie gas engine have done for the world. 
AA’hen we first came to the farm it would 
have taken three days at least to get that 
corn message to us and any sort of a 
quick answer back. AA’ith the horses busy 
as they are at this season it would have 
taken the best part of a month to get 
that grain home. Noxv the truck will, if 
pushed to it, haul six tons inside of 24 
hours and travel 150 miles to do it. A 
gre.at Avorld. surely. Things are rushing 
us. Is all this big development to go to 
those who can raise the capital or credit 
to handle these things? Is the small man 
to be left out unless he can combine with 
others and combine his credit? It seems 
so, but it’s too big a problem for me. 
There is another side to it. In looking 
ttver some of my old figures I find that 
IS years ago I had a chance to exchange 
with a miller rye straw at .$15 per ton 
for wheat bran at .$20 ! In those days it 
seems we did not need the truck and the 
telephone to find a bargain in grain. Per¬ 
haps that is what this “development” is 
coming to. Rye straw is noxv about .$‘20, 
wheat bran nearly .$60. 
Turkey Talk. —There are .still 11 of 
these young poults left. The Red hen 
always carries an ax ready to strike for 
a Thanksgiving dinner. Her children can 
only save their -white meat by taking a 
dark view of man’s intentions and keep¬ 
ing away from him. It must be said that 
the turkey is devidoping more active (-hil- 
dren than the hen. Applying the prin¬ 
ciple to human tra.ining—do you want 
your children brought up to trust every 
stranger or do you want them suspicious 
enough to be on their guard? .Another 
thing about the turkey. She leads her 
brood up and down (hrough the jiotato 
field. The girls insist that .she eats po¬ 
tato bugs all day long I .see her niijping 
at something as she goes on, and I think 
she is eating these bugs. I cannot prove 
it exa(-tly yet. The scientific men would 
not accept the sta'^ement until we killed 
the turkey and found bugs in her crop. 
I have great resjiect for science, but 
gri'ater respt'ct for the turkey, and wdll 
not attempt the killing test. I think, how¬ 
ever, she is e.-iting the potato bugs. 
Fruit. —AA’e startl'd eating strawber¬ 
ries May 26. The ’ast picking went into 
a shortcake .Tune .'-tO. No doubt if we 
had Handy we coubl run a week more, 
but 10.5 meals in succession and as many 
more in the jars, is not bad. Now comes 
the slow, dull grind of cleaning up the 
beds for another fruiting. The weeds 
have come in like an army and they must 
be fought back. rurrants were fairly 
good this year, but the robins got most 
('oiiiilry Life in Amerieo. The old tree 
stands in the middle of a stone wall. It 
evidently grew up as a seedling, and the 
stones were piled or thrown around it as 
they were cleared from the field. The 
fruit on this tree is of little value, being 
sweet and of a jioor color, like most of the 
hundreds of seedlings scattereil over the 
farm. It has made a remarkable growth, 
however, and every other year iirodtices 
12 barrels or more of this fruit. It keeps 
in good vigor, the foliage is fresh even 
through the drie.st time, and although it 
receives little care the tree continues to 
make steady growth. So far as xve can 
tell, it has never been cultivated, but the 
stones piled around it evidently keep the 
ground cool and moist. Now and then 
we dig the stones away for an examina¬ 
tion, and always find some moisture undei- 
them. This damp soil is always full of 
insects which seem to congregate there, 
and as they die evidently leave an amount 
of plant food for the tree. A study of 
this old tree convinced us that on at least 
a iiart of the farm, where the ground was 
naturally moist, certain varieties of a])ples 
<-an be grown sucessfully without cultiva¬ 
tion. These locations are generally on the 
damper soils, which with ns is found in 
the hillside below' a series of underground 
springs. AA’'o jilanted trees right in the 
sod on this place about 16 years ago. 
The land has never been jilowed or culti¬ 
vated. but annually w’eeds. old straw, 
manure, or anything of the kind that we 
could obtain has been piled around the 
trees. They have made a strong and 
steady growth, and are now' producing 
vigorously, perhaps the most prolific trees 
on the farm. On other parts of the farm 
where the soil is not so moist, and is not 
naturally grass land, this method of sod 
(-ulture would not jiay, for on these drier 
sfdls we find that a certain amount of 
July 13, 191S 
cultivation is, if not a necessity, profit¬ 
able, but the old tree in the stone wall, 
and the other trees on the damp soil, 
prove that it is possible to make good treijs 
and produce good fruit by keeping the 
ground protected so that it w'ill remain 
moist and cool. 
“ The Coal Dealer’s Dollar ” 
On page S06, “The Coal Dealer’s Dol¬ 
lar.” R. L. (}. asks what the ,$9.60 is for. 
I w-ould refer him to the following, taken 
from Daily Press, AA'ashington, D. C., 
.Tune 21. Records of incomes and excess 
jirofits of American business during 1917 
were supplied by the Treasury Depart¬ 
ment to the House AA’ays and Aleans Com¬ 
mittee. drafting the new revenue bill, 
.Tune 28. This data, compiled by Collec¬ 
tor of Internal Revenue Roper in levying 
income and excess profits taxes, contained 
many revelations to the committee. The 
fact that the law requires the Treasury 
Department to keep such information se¬ 
cret prevented disclosures of the most 
startling facts placed before the commit¬ 
tee. It was learned, however, that many 
businesses showed enormous profits dur¬ 
ing the first nine months of the war. The 
coal business, for instance, showed prof¬ 
its ranging up to 2,000 per cent. I think 
the above will, in a large measure, answer 
R. L. G.’s question. If we can draft the 
young manhood of the best country on 
earth into service to “make the world 
•safe for democracy,” w'hy can’t we draft 
the excess profits of big business for the 
•same puriiose? Are the dollars of the 
rich so much more sacred than the lives of 
our boys? A. c. M. 
New York. 
R. Y.-Y.—AA’e think it can be done, and 
we think it will be done. It is easier to 
draft the men, since they are out in the 
open, while the big incomes have long been 
covered U]'. 
Your “Indiana friend,” page 806. 
starts _ w’rong with his figures. The 
“miner” is simply the man who takes his 
drills, dynamite and helper into the mine 
and blasts off as much coal as can be 
taken out of the hole in a day’s work. 
He leaves the coal on the floor of the 
mine. The “operator” is the man who 
digs the mine, timbers it, pumps out the 
water, buys the mules, builds the mine 
railroads, runs the breakers, pays the 
wages, and is owner of the business. The 
United States Government fixes the prices 
for coal at the mines. The average price 
at the mines this year is $4.50, W'ith 15 
cents added if the coal is bought through 
the brokers. This is a very high price, 
but no higher than four-cent milk and 
.$2.‘2.5 wheat in .Tune . 
The freight to jioints in Central New 
ATork is .$2.1.5, with 7 cents war tax to be 
added, making the price to the local dealer 
.$6.87 on the cars, and he charges about 
.$2 a ton for putting the coal into the cel¬ 
lars and collecting his money. All of 
these prices are fixed by the Government, 
and we can grin au<l bear it. or bear it 
w'ithout grinning. i r. 
New A’ork. 
_In your discussion of the consumer’s 
85-cent dollar in relation to his supply of 
coal, it looks to me as if you had omitted 
many obviously neces.sary itenm of expense 
puri)os<‘Iy to provoke discus.sion. I am 
not a coal man nor a direct purchaser of 
coal: but I hope to connect w'ith somebody 
who has coal to burn the coming AA’inter. 
No doubt I shall have to ‘‘pay through the 
nose” for the privilege, but we must keep 
warm, you know. If you can fill all the 
blanks in the following list w'ith reason¬ 
able accuracy, you can come pretty near 
locating the man who is responsible for 
the high price of coal. 
The cost per ton delivered to the 
consumer is.$10.60 
The driver get for delivering and 
putting in.25 
Miner gets for digging.75 
W'lIO PAYS THESE? 
AA'ear and tear on the team. 
Keej) and depreciation of two horses .... 
Interest and taxes on investment in 
them. 
Interest, taxes and insurance on 
local plant. 
Interest, taxes and insurance on 
the coal in storage. 
I.oading and weighing team. 
Accounting and office expenses. 
Dealer’s jirofit. 
Broker’s commission. 
Freight from the mine. 
Breaking, cleaning and sorting to 
size . 
Interest and taxes on mine invest¬ 
ment . 
Interest, taxes and insurance on 
mining machinery and plant. 
Dej)reciation on same. 
Loss through labor strikes and dis¬ 
turbances . 
Liability insurance. 
Handling empty cars. 
Loading and shipiiing. 
Accounting e.xpenses. 
Management expenses. 
1‘roducer’s profit. 
Total. 
There are three profits provided for. 
The local dealer is entitled to a profit, 
otherwise he would do better to lend his 
money at simple interest. The broker is 
entitled to his commission for finding- a 
buyer for the seller, or vice versa, and 
the producer is entitled to a profit above 
the simple interest his money w'ould earn 
if loaned. All the other items are labor 
aud simply carrying charges that must be 
incurred. F. R.M. 
New York. 
