1116 
■Ghe RURAL NEW-YORKER 
HOPE FARM NOTES 
Our farmerettes are still working away, 
picking and packing and doing other 
light work. When they pack a load of 
apples or tomatoes they send along a 
printed card, as follows: 
T/i/s Farm Protlucc 
Was Prepared for Market hy 
The Woman's Land Army of America. 
Thus they take pride in their work, 
and, instead of trying to run away from 
it, they are willing to he known as the 
packers. This is on the itrinciple of the 
man I knew who said he took ^‘foy in his 
joh.” Ilis services were always in de¬ 
mand. I think those farmerettes are 
teaching all of ns good lessons in cheer¬ 
fulness and careful work. Not long ago 
I talked before a big audience of men. 
They were salesmen—strong and capable 
in their line. At the first mention of 
these farmerettes there was a smile. I 
told these men how the farmerettes were 
working not only for me but for Amer¬ 
ica. They gave the surplus of their earn¬ 
ings to the Tied Cross. “Now,” I said, 
“how many of you strong and capable 
men will give the best you have for a 
month and turn everything yon can earn 
—above your bare expenses—over to the 
Red Cross—.\ix rp!” Not a man got up, 
but the smile faded away. 
}jc ijC ^ * 
As I go about the country I find many 
fruit growers and gardeners who tell the 
same story about these farmerettes. They 
do good, clean work, cheerfully and with 
fine spirit. I am obliged to think that in 
the future this new labor element must 
be considered, and that it is to have a 
great influence upon farming, at least 
near the large town and cities. At the 
New York State Fair thei'e was a paimde 
of farmerettes in their working costume. 
Ten years ago these girls and women 
would hf've been laughed at, but this year 
they were watched by a very serious 
crowd of men and women who recognized 
the fact that this land army has a place 
in the war. These marchers were head¬ 
ed by a tractor di-iven by a young woman. 
She drove it well, but I stand by what I 
said two weeks ago, and think the.se 
girls will do well to keep off this heavy 
and jolting machinery. They will do 
better by sticking to the lighter work. 
()n(‘ thing about the new order impressed 
me. In the dairy building I saw a young 
man sitting on a bale of hay caring for a 
small b.aby, while the baby’s mother and 
grandmother were outside watching the 
farmerettes. Perhaps that is significant 
of w'hat is coming—with woman as a 
voter and worker. 
^ Hi :*< 
From some 500 peach trees we had 
about 20 rather poor jioaches this year. 
Usually our peoifle eat many crates dur¬ 
ing the. season, but in these Red Ci-oss 
and Liberty bond times we w’ent without 
and ate more ai)ptes. An old friend in 
South .Tersey sent us a crate of peaches 
by mail. The fruit carried in fine condi¬ 
tion. The peaches, of course, were in 
trays, and tin* crate was nailed and then 
bound securely with wire. It came 
promiitly and was delivered at once, and 
our folks took care that every peach was 
utilized. This is the first crate I ever 
saw mailed, hut I understand a large 
trade was done by parcel post this sea¬ 
son. 
Hi H; *2^ 
These peaches meant much to tis, but 
more to my .lersey friend—for this crop 
represented fr^aulom to him. Some years 
ago this man sold out his little bu.siness in 
a Westeim State and went “back to the 
land” in New .Jersey. I regarded it as a 
hazardmis venture, lie knew little about 
farming and had .sickness in the family. 
I can tell you there were dark days with 
the mortgage and de])ts and death all at 
the door, and for years my friend barely 
held his own. He planted an orchard and 
waited. All who have ever done that 
know what such waiting means. But this 
year made the clock strike. .Tack Frost 
kei)t away from South .Jersey, but laid 
his cold hand on most of the North. Tlu' 
result was that the trees loaded up with 
beautiful fruit, while prices jumpwl up in 
th(i air. My friend sold his crop for 
more than enough to pay his mortgage, 
and he is now free except for a few hun¬ 
dreds which he will use on improve¬ 
ments. 
***** 
And there is a fine thing about this 
.small remaining debt. The man who 
holds the notes came and made a visit, 
and one day he said something like this: 
*T am glad to see you working out so 
well. These notes I hold are nearly ma¬ 
tured, hut you need not worry about 
them. The doctors tell me I may i>ass on 
at any time, and these notes might go to 
someone who does not feel just as we do 
about it. So I think you had better make 
new notes, due 10, 15 or 20 years hence, 
and let me have them. Then you can 
merely keep up the iutere.st and they will 
not ho likely to trouble you while you 
live!” 
I often wish that more of otir people 
who belong to the creditor class could 
feel and act like that. At any rate, no 
one but a man who has paid out can tell 
how my friend feels as he walks about his 
farm and says: 
"This piece of land is mine." 
And you Avould not be dispose<l to laugh 
at him if he took off his hat and i)a.ssed 
bareheaded through the peach orchanl. 
For have not these trees saved him? 
ic H* Jo jJs 
I know of some other cases where this 
same thing has happened. A combination 
of good crops and high prices has given 
the farm a large income. It is a pretty 
good te.st. of character to see what is done 
with this money. In the case of my .Jer¬ 
sey friend he could do one of two things. 
Me might put water in the house.* l)uy a 
car and invest in things which mean com¬ 
fort or pleasure, and leave the mortgage 
unpaid. Or he could i)ay tlu' mortgage 
first, make sure of his home and tlnui put 
in the improvements. My friend did the 
latter thing, and I think he was wise. It 
requires self-deni:il and character to do 
that, as I know full well. The young 
people do not always realize just what 
the mortgage means, and should there he 
.any extra income they would be quite 
likely to favor spending it for the pleas¬ 
ant things of life. 
* * * * * 
I often hear people say that a mortgage 
on a farm is oft('n an indication of good 
busine.ss management. Suppose a man 
owes .$2,.5()0 on his farm. lie gets .$L.500 
ahead and has the money. Will it not 
pay him better to invest that in tools or 
fertilizer or drainage or in child education 
rather than reducing the mortgage? Is 
not a living and working capital better 
than a free farm without ca!)ital? I 
should say it depended much on the farm¬ 
er and his family. Some men are natural 
fin.anciers in a small way and know how 
to handle capital. The great majority of 
us are not so capable of making money 
work, and as a rule I would advise a 
man to pay off or reduce his mortgage if 
he gets .a chance to do so. These war 
times will bring a little extra money to 
.sonu' fa loners, ^fy advice is to u.se a good 
part of it in reducing or wiping out the 
debt. 
* * * * * 
Hope Farm will come in on the new 
issue of Liberty bonds up to our limit. 
The boys will put their Summer’s earn¬ 
ings into bonds. They are also beginning 
to pay for some of their own nec(>ssities. 
One of them bought a pair of shoes the 
other day and figured that they «M»st him 
the income from about 50 hours of labor! 
No one will be likely to .squander money 
when it is measured by hours of sweat 
and toil. We feel that all of us must get 
behind this bond issue and put it over. 
Quite frequently some of the hoys we 
know in the Army and Navy come here 
and tell us what they are doing. One 
sailor w’as here the other day who has 
fought off several submarines. What 
these young men are doing is enough to 
thrill anyone, no matter how hard and 
tough he may be. They art* battering 
down the walls of Qermany, and the small 
things we can do here seem puny and 
feeble enough when we consider their 
work. I would not advise a farnuo’ to 
put needed li<pnd capital into the.se bonds, 
but a good share of your savings ought 
to be invested that way. -\t any rate, 
cut out all the “easy money” or “big in¬ 
terest” promises and lend such money to 
Uncle Ram. Back up the boys with 
bonds and we shall have to do mon^ than 
that. We shall all have to keej) cbeto ful 
and quit growling about small things. I 
grant that we have many hardships and 
some things which come close to injus¬ 
tice, but we shall only make them harder 
by growling about them. A few men .and 
women in every community must do a lot 
of extra work. J>et us all get up and at 
it! 
.* IS * * * 
Now we stand waiting for .Tack Frost. 
Will he come e.arly or late? Is he a 
friend or an enemy of the Kais<'i‘? As a 
rule we do not have a killing frost on 
these hills until about October .5. Rome 
years it is later, and these are golden 
years for us, because the late tomatoes 
jump in price after the valley ci'op is 
killed. Our vines are still loaded, and a 
late fi'OSt will be worth money. The 
sweet corn will be all picked and cut nj) 
before October J. The farmerettes are 
good at that work. The field corn is late, 
but as it is far at tin* top of a hill it will 
get through and give us a fair crojx 
Crowded in with other work comes rye 
seeding, for I mean to have the entire 
fartn covered with rye if i»ossible. There 
is work enough and more for all. 
* * * * * 
At the New York Rt.ate Fair the apples 
seemed nearly a month behind ours in de¬ 
velopment. The Northern Rpy was about 
half size, while our wei'e nearly all picked 
and .sold by the middle of Reptember. 
Around Geneva they were just picking 
McIntosh, while ours were practically all 
sold by Reptember 1. It is. of cour.se, a 
question as to when fruit should be 
picked. This year we hit a trade which 
seems to prefer the fruit a little green, 
and we are here to please our trade. Un¬ 
less one has good storage it pays best to 
rush the fimit away if the price is fair. 
I try to have a fair idea of what it costs 
us to produce a barrel of fruit, though it 
is hard to make any exact estimate. Witli 
.such a figure in mind, my i)lan is to get 
rid of the fruit whenever a i»rice is of- 
fere<l which leaves a fair margin of profit. 
No mse holding it as a speculation unless 
you have first-class storage. ii. w. c. 
Bees on Shares 
What would be the right plan for both 
parties under the following agreement: 
I have in mind .a young man of IS years, 
who is not strong, but honest and indus¬ 
trious, and intellectually normal, the son 
of our farm tenant. The boy is not able 
to do any hard work. Me would like to 
handle bees, but cannot afford to get the 
start. If I furnish the bees, hives, etc., 
how many .should I furnish before the 
honey is expected to pay expenses? My 
husband and I were talking it over, and I 
thought one-half should be the division. He 
thought I expected too much and wanted 
to giv(‘ him the start and expect only 
honey for our use of two in the family; 
but I think that rather expensive honey. 
We are not financially well enough off 
to do that thing, and I think sometimes 
those things tend to pauperize instead of 
helping. MBS. E. A. R. 
Virginia. 
From two to four colonies, with neces¬ 
sary equipment, should give anyone a 
good start in bee keeping and they 
.should pay operating expenses and a part 
of their first cost their first .season, pro¬ 
vided that they wer(^ obtaim'd early 
enough in the season to take advantage 
of the honey flows. It is difficult to see 
how any share arrangement could be 
made that would not be likely to prove 
unsati.sfactory to one or both contracting 
parties. Except with such crops as long | 
established custom has determined a ; 
proper division of labor and profits, rais- i 
ing things “on .shares” is an unsatis¬ 
factory procedure; neither party can 
know enough about what the propor¬ 
tionate expense in labor and investment 
will be to fix a just division of profits 
or losses. I woiild suggest that you fur¬ 
nish the equipment and take the young 
man’s note, payable in two or three years, 
for it. As security, you can have the 
note drawn to hold the original equip¬ 
ment and a equivalent number of colonies 
of bees as your property until fully paid 
for. If the young man then makes a fail¬ 
ure of the business, you will at least get 
your equipment back for your own use. 
If he succeed!?, he can pay you from the 
profits and there will be no misunder¬ 
standings with regard to a fair division; 
furthermore, you will have to pay only 
market iirice for what honey you use in 
your family M. B. D. 
Reward for Killing Dog 
A large bulldog that appeared to be 
mad, iiltiicked a neighbor’s cow last week 
and badly tore her nose. I shot the dog. 
I understand the Rtate pays a reward of 
.$10 each for the killing of dogs molesting 
sheep. Does this a])ply to dogs mole.sting 
cattle? If so, how should I go about it 
to collect the rewiird? Dog’s head was 
sent to Cornell, hut they reported that 
brain was entirely shot out and they 
could not tell whether or not he was 
mad. A. M. 
Orleans Co., N. Y. 
We can find nothing in the law which 
provides for any such reward. There is 
probably some mistake about this. The 
law is enforced by the Commissioner of 
.\gricultun> iit .\lbany. 
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