940 
RURAL NEW-YORKER 
HOPE FARM NOTES 
AVau Work. TIip infliionfc of this 
war i.s boing foit in many strange and 
unlookod for j)laces. Who would think 
that the appearance of (Jerman subma¬ 
rines off the New Jersey coast could in- 
lluence our trade in api)les? I have often 
mentioned the old-fashioned sweet apple 
trees which we found growing back of 
the barn when Ave came here. All over 
this country are to be found these barn 
orchards. Our trees must he (iO to TO 
years old. They are mostly what I call 
“siiool grafted”—that is the stock has 
usually outgrown the scion. The old 
fanners evidently dug wild seedlings on 
■;he hills set them out around the barn 
and graft<‘(l with wood from some h(‘ar- 
ing tree. They have he('n trained high 
and the fruit now grows GO feet or more 
in the air. 
Maria' h'RriT.—For years T could not 
understand why these old-timers grafted 
these trees entirely to early varieties. 
They are mostly Porter. Nyack and Sum- 
niei- sweet. If they w(‘re Baldwin with 
the j)resent size and vigor the orchard 
near our barn would give .$000 or more 
every other jauir. As it is there has 
been little or no sale for the early vari¬ 
eties. W(‘ have sent many loads of these 
big sweets to market only to find that 
they hardly paid cost of picking and 
package. It did not pay to spray the 
trees as the fruit went to feed the hogs 
and the.v never ob.iect to worms. When 
I asked the old citizens why they 
grafted or planted these old sweets they 
always claimed that this fruit paid bet¬ 
ter than any other. In those days a 
banana was a luxury. There xvas no 
such sy.stem of transportation as Ave haA’C 
today and fruit was scarce in July and 
oarly August. These sweets came in an 
empty market and sold readily. Cold 
storage and rapid transportation killed 
this trade. The old-fashioned people 
jiassed away and these modern folks do 
not care for sweet apjiles. 
CoMi.XG Back.- —So the sweet apple 
))assed out of trade but the trees re¬ 
mained. This year I concluded it would 
not pay to spray them but finally as an 
experiment with the duster we went up 
and down the rows blowing the dust into 
1he.se big trees. It did not seem possible 
that the dust could do any good at the 
toils of these trees but it hung over the 
• irchard like a cloud and finally settled 
down. Then we found we had a good 
“set” of fruit and Thomas claimed he 
could sell tlnun but it did not seem likely 
to me. Finally we sent down a trial lot 
and to my astonishment the No. 1 size 
sold at .$5.50 per barrel with a call for 
more. We seem to have .iumped back to 
the market conditions of GO years ago. 
J'he submarines and lack of shipiiing 
have prevented the usual shiiiments of 
bananas and oranges and any sort of 
fruit is in demand. But when I think 
of selling these sweets at $5.50 per bai-- 
rel 1 wonder what McIntosh ought to be 
worth. 
Produce Prices.— Thus far prices are 
running high on all our farm produce. 
Potatoes started at $2 per bushel but 
ai’e now’ a little loAver. On most of our 
sales in small i)ackages we shall get 
that figure. The freight situation is 
heliiing many of us who live near oiir 
markets. It is not easy to carry and 
deliver perishable produce by rail. There 
is a shoi’tage of c.-irs and freight is so 
high that it will not pay to send second 
grade goods for any long di.stance. This 
is going to keep much inferior stuff out 
of the market and farmers who use 
wagons and trucks to deliver their pro¬ 
duce will have a great advantage. I 
understand that the great reason for the 
tJovernimmt’s rule that potatoes must be 
cleaned and graded is that this will saA’e 
transportation of great quantities of dirt 
and small tubers. While there is such 
a fierce demand for car .space it will not 
pay to carry trash. Here again this 
W’orks to the advantage of nearby far- 
nu'rs who have a truck or a good team. 
They can sell all the .second grade pro¬ 
duce they can carr.v because consumers 
Avill demand it and there’will be little 
competition from distant points. Here 
I think is a chance for farmers every¬ 
where to get hold of the local market 
and sell more stuff direct—proA’ided they 
have the time to attend to it. 
Ea’erytttixg S^eei.s.—W e have a heavy 
accumulation of lime and fertilizer bags 
on hand. Fp to last year there was 
little demand for them but noAV dealers 
are chasing after them and they Avill 
bring fair prices. People tell me of pay¬ 
ing -15 cents a gallon for cider vinegar. 
Tavo years ago I sold great piles of cider 
apples at 30 cents a barrel! We made 
some vinegar but this year these same 
small and marked apples would bring at 
least $1.50. As I have stated, much of 
this increase of price is due to loc.al de¬ 
mand and the inability of farmers to 
ship at a Ioav rate. Of course this con¬ 
dition cannot outlast the Avar .although I 
think that seA’eral years AA'ill he required 
to i)ut supply ui> to demand eA’en after 
j)eace comes. We have for the present 
gone back to the days Avhen the Eastern 
farmer could control his market. While 
))oi)ulation has been multiplied transpor¬ 
tation facilities have suddenly been cut 
doAvu and Ave have a chance to become 
masters of our markets. Here, I think, 
lies our opportunity as Eastern farmers, 
to get right into our local markets and 
control them before the SAving comes 
back and the old transportation condi¬ 
tions are resumed. J'his will have to be 
done through co-operative Avork by which 
AA’e can control the machinery of market¬ 
ing. With tunnels under the river be¬ 
tween NeAV York, Noav .lersey and Penn¬ 
sylvania through Avhich our Avagons and 
trucks can run aa’c can, by organized 
Avork, get into the city markets noAv and 
hold them. It has got to be both edu¬ 
cation and organization. For instance, 
as one small matter. I think the enforced 
blockade of bananas Avill lead many city 
people to realize the virtues of our SAveet 
ajiples and they Avill call for this fruit 
in the future. There is nothing much 
finer than baked SAA-eet apple and milk. 
I find, too, that m.any consumers have 
formed the habit of closer buying—direct 
from the producer. This is another thing 
that Avill develop if Ave can all get to¬ 
gether and put it OA’er. Another thing— 
there could not have been a harder test 
for the dust as a Avorm-killer than we 
found on these big apple trees. The fruit 
is high in the air and years of half 
spraying h.ad given the worms an unusual 
chance. Yet it is well nigh impossible 
to find a Avormy apple as w’e pick the 
fruit. 
Rapid Trax.sit.—O ur truck Avorks 
Avell thus far and has proved a good in¬ 
vestment. This is one of the AA’ays in 
Avhich the coming farmer is to be free to 
handle the market. I think I have told 
before hoAv, Avhen A\'e first came to this 
farm. Avith our dirt roads and one good 
horse. Ave Avere Avithin a day’s trip of 
about 150.000 people. Then Avith im- 
lu’oved roads and the big horses Ave found 
ouiAselves Avithin reach of 1.000,000 peo¬ 
ple. Noav. Avith our truck Ave can reach 
inside of tAvo hours, the heart of the 
markets of G.OOO.OOO jieople and if need 
be. deliver three loads there inside of 24 
hours. I find, too, that Avhen a man gets 
a truck he stumps himself to raise 
enough to keep it going. I think this 
farm truck service has only begun. When 
these river tunnels are completed. I 
think the zone of truck service Avill be 
extended to 150 miles or beyond from 
NeAA’ York and that all other large toAvns 
and cities Avill be served in this Avay. 
After the Avar I think thousands of army 
trucks AA’ill be for sale at a bargain and 
I exjiect to see many of them at Avork 
hauling farm produce. I remember hoAv, 
after the Civil War, many of our far¬ 
mers bought guns, clothing, horses and 
supplies of the army at good bargains. 
You Avill say I take a hopeful view of 
the future. I do; there are big oppor¬ 
tunities coming for our farmers and I 
believe they Avill get together and take 
advantage of them. But Avhen you can 
sell SAveet ai)))les at $5.50 does it not 
shoAV you and others, farmers are getting 
.\ugnst .'k 1918 
rich? You certainly could not prove it 
from my hooks. For nearly 20 years 
that old orchard has given little or no 
income Avhile I had to pay taxes on it. 
There are not enough of the sweets to 
make any fortune and everything I buy 
is from 50 to 75 per cent liigher than 
tAvo years ago. This promises to be a 
good year Avith us but it Avill have to be 
divided uj) Avith several poor ones to 
make an average. 
Farm Work. —We have simply done 
AA’hat Ave could and Avhat seemed most 
important and let the rest go. You 
could find many things to criticise and 
Ave knoAv it. For outside labor Ave have 
thus far depended on high school stu¬ 
dents. Tliey AA’ork by the day and have 
given good service. They get $10 a 
Aveek Avith Saturday afternoon off. Our 
three boys have come to the front and 
are Avorking reasonably. They .are lO. 
13 and 12, and they put in eight hours 
or more per day. I pay them eA’ery 
AA’eek exactly as I do the other AA’ork- 
men. The older one is getting so that 
he can AVork the team and cultivate ; the 
other two ai'e better at AA’eeding, hoeing 
and picking^ fruit. These boys are earn¬ 
ing and saving money with Avhich to buy 
Liberty Bonds this Fall Avhen the neAv 
issue is juit on the market. Everybody 
at Hope F.arm except the smaller chil¬ 
dren haA’e invested some money in the 
OoA’ernment .iu.st as AA’e haA’e sent .some 
of our folks into the army! 
Irrigatiox.- —A drought has struck us 
at last as Ave kncAV it Avould even Avhen 
the rain Avas chasing us out of the fields. 
We have had scA’eral respectahle shoAv- 
ers so Ave are not suffering hut it is dnj. 
We feel this mo.st on the neAv straAvberry 
beds Avhere Ave are trying to start neAv 
plants for pots and runners. There is 
more Avater in a young straAvberry plant 
than there is in milk and the runner 
must use the old plant for a nursing bot¬ 
tle. so Ave rigged up a long hose from the 
point Avhere the spring AV’ater enters the 
house and ran it out on the berries. I 
mea.sured the Acaa’ and found it ran six 
quarts a minute. This means .3G0 quarts 
an hour or 2,1G0 gallons each 24 hours. 
We keep the Hoav going night and day. 
At this rate it Avould require over 12 
days to cover an acre of land one inch 
deep Avith Avater even if you could regu¬ 
late the floAv so as to jint it on eA’enly. 
For our berry plants and for the garden 
our Avater supply Avill ansAver and it is 
a great help. A comhination of dry hot 
sunshine and Avater in abundance makes 
crops jiimi) up. I think Mr. Ilartman 
proves his point about the influence of 
hot soils uiion jdant groAvth. By irri¬ 
gating with cool Avater w’e can overcome 
that trouble in hot Aveather. After the 
Avar I plan to throAv a dam across our 
brook and back up the Avater for irri¬ 
gating about four acres ii. w. c. 
^'SlNfEas,DEOOORlZ^K 
''^^udleson 
York 
BIB 
Your Barn May Endanger 
Your Home 
"p'VERY barn or stable is a breeding place for disease 
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Ask your dealer for ACME. It’s the 
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The Mendleson Corporation 
11 Broadway, New York; Factories, Albany, N. Y. 
Established 1870 
