1240 
Tahe RURAL. NEW-YORKER 
November 2, 1018 
HOPE FARM NOTES 
JS 
The 
will 
•Tack Frost has been unusually kind this 
year. On Oct. 21 we .still <>ad beans and 
tomatoes and peppers, untouched, grow- 
ing. This is unusiral, as the average 
killing frost with us'.come.s about Oct. .I. 
.Ml around us on the 'lower .valley 'land 
garden crops were destroyed on the 4th. 
.\s it hapj)ened this and other frosty 
nights were still, and the cooled air fol¬ 
lowed its inclination to run down hill and 
gather in the low places. Had the night 
be.'-ui windy I think our hills would have 
suffered, too. As it is, we shall have at 
l(‘ast three weeks of growth after the 
surrounding regions have been ordered 
out of the game. It is a debatable qxies- 
tion as to whether you would prefer this 
extra time at the beginning or at the end 
of the season. AVe take Ours when it 
comes to us, and rest content. I hope this 
mild, late Fall means a mild AVinter. t)ur 
country is dry and the springs are run¬ 
ning low. 
AA'e finished picking apples Oct. 20. 
I.ast of all came Black Ben. AA'e have a 
good lot of Bens this year. They are 
beautiful in color, and they bring $4.50 to 
$5 per barrel for No. 1. There I stop 
talking about them, and most people 
would say—isn’t that enough? AVhat 
more do you want? 1 shall never ])lant 
any more Bens, although if we tell the 
entire stoi’y we must admit that this 
hardy and handsome fellow has served 
us well. There are people who want this 
poor qualify api)le. I do not find it pos¬ 
sible to “educate” them or change the se¬ 
lective power of their tongues, and >so I 
give up trying. I saw a man once go to 
a fruit stand and buy three Kieffer pears 
of inferior quality, lie sat down and ate 
them right o>it of the hand as you would 
a Spy or Alclntosh. AA’hat is more, he 
said they xvere tine. “Fvery man to his 
taste' I” There have been times years ago 
when I would have reasoned with him and 
told him Kieffer is no good. Now I know 
better. I was cured by a Berman who 
told me once that he could not see how 
any self-re.sieecting jjerson could eat two 
l)late.s of New England baked beans. I 
was just at the j)oint of telling him the 
same thing about sauerkraut. So we 
wore about even. At any rate, if a cus¬ 
tomer wants Be?! Davis I let him have 
them and reserve all remarks. 
work which farming demands. Mother 
capable, but she is no longer young, 
daughter is at normal .school and 
probably teach before the year is out. 
One boy is already in France. The other 
younger boy, a fine, steady fellow, works 
on the farm. He is a natural farmer, 
big and sti-ong and capable, and likes the 
work. This boy was put in Class 2, but 
it has galled him to remain at home—a 
plain farmer—while other men of his age 
are at the front. He is needed at home, 
for they have a fine farm. Father de¬ 
veloped it from small and poor beginnings 
and now its future depends on this boy. 
lie has wanted to enlist several times, 
but refrained because he knew he wa.s 
needed at home. lie has put his savings 
into AVar Stamj)s and Liberty Bonds, 
but while the hands of this boy are at the 
plow the soul of him is in France. 
Now, what shall we .say to such a boy? 
AA'e older men ought to have cooler blood, 
so that we may see the necessity of the 
farm woi-k, yet I confess that my sym¬ 
pathies are with that boy. I know just 
how he feels about it. I know what peo¬ 
ple say, and I know how the proud spirit 
of that boy rebels at the thought of spend¬ 
ing his days with cattle -and grain and 
fruit when other boys that he knows are 
facing the enemy “out in the limelight.” 
I know just how he feels, ajid if I were in 
his place and at his fighting age I .should 
feel the same way. That is a part of life, 
and _Tinless_ a man has something of that 
spirit he is not a full man. And also 
this boy wants to .see the world. In after 
years he wants to be able to say, “7 ic'o,? 
in the ortnij.” Those of us who were boy.s 
and girls after the Civil AA'ar know just 
what that means. 
This year’s ajiple season has changed 
some of our plans and opinions. AA'e used 
to say that we never would plant any 
more early varieties. This year the early 
fruit paid well, and next Spring will see 
us planting Astrachiin, Twenty Ounce 
and \ellow Transparent. These varieties 
come at a good time for us, and I think 
they will pay if handled cari'fully and 
jiromptly. The large citii's handle them 
to better ^ advantage than the smaller 
towns. AA'e never could make, this early 
fruit pay until we got the truck, and thus 
were able to d('liver quickly and inde¬ 
pendently just where the early apples 
were wanted. This is one side of the 
truck service which all farmers who have 
tried it will recognizt'. A'ou b<'come mas¬ 
ter of transportation. You can put yoin 
produce where you want it without wait¬ 
ing for railroad or express. In every case 
we have investigated we have found that 
when a farmer gets a truck he plans to 
j)roduce more in order to keep that truck 
going, and he changes his crops and meth¬ 
ods to suit the market. 
****!): 
Our local schools have been closed for 
three weeks on account of the inliuenza. 
The children have been at home picking 
apples and digging potatoes, and we have 
not been able to obtain any other labor. 
Yet, in some way, most of the necessary 
work has been done after a fashion. I 
am thankful now that vre took our fruit 
off and sold it carly. By most of the rules 
of fruit growing we might well have de¬ 
layed picking, yet, had we done .so, we 
would now be swamped. The mild, open 
Fall has helped, but it is true that the 
average man in town or city cannot seem 
to understand what our farmers are strug¬ 
gling with this year. I have given Tip 
trying to explain. It takes too much 
time. I think that, in a way, this situa¬ 
tion has been a good thing for our chil¬ 
dren and for many 'other children I know. 
They have been forced to feel something 
of responsibility and the serious aspect of 
life. It is the beginning of great moral 
and business change which is absolutely 
sure to come in the life of the American 
people. Life can never be quite the .same 
to any of us after this war. It will be 
far more serious, and men and women 
will be forced to face and fight issues 
which in peaceful days many of us dodged 
or ran away from. Some of us who lost 
our parents or friends in the Civil AA'ar 
know something of what this means. 
AA’'e know that the troubles and worries 
which now confront us are but the begin¬ 
ning of very much larger things. And 
we know that we must stand up and face 
them like grown-up people—not complain 
and whimper like children. 
This makes . us think of a problem 
which some young men" must face right 
now. One ca.se that I know will illu.s- 
trate it. Father is over (JO. That is not 
old, but this farmer has worked hard all 
his life and cannot now do the heavy 
I know all that, and it gives me in¬ 
creased respect for that boy. for in stay¬ 
ing at home where he is so badly needed 
he»i.s following the plain, hard line of 
duty, and in all the world there is nothing 
finer than that. I knew of one family 
during the Civil AA'ar where there were 
five elder boys. Four of them felt just as 
this boy does, and they volunterred and 
went to the front. The remaining boy 
was by nature the strouge.st ])atriot of all. 
and no one ever knew what it meant for 
him to remain at home and do the plain, 
hard, home duties while his brothers w’ere 
in camp and on the battlefield. lie did 
it uncomplainingly, because he saw his 
duty and made himself face it. lie grew 
up to be one of those strong, solid charac¬ 
ters which the world has always admired ; 
he was far more of a man than either of 
his soldier brothers. They followed their 
inclination and rushed into the army. lie 
restrained his inclination, fought it down 
and took up the plainer, humble lines of 
duty which opened for him at home. That 
is why I take oft’ my hat, not only to the 
.soldiers, but to tho.se men who harness 
the soul and stay at home to do their 
home duty when every fiber of youth and 
majihood calls them to the army. I just 
want to ))ublish my deei) respect for the 
young meir who stifle the heart hunger 
for a uniform and a rifle, and substitute 
the.' overalls and the sjTade from ,a sense 
Of duty. There are hundreds of them. I 
know several per-sonally. They do not 
march in parades and get their names 
info the paper.s, but they are heroes none 
the less. u, w. c. 
Praise For the Cat 
AA^hy does not S. M. C., Rhode Island, 
wlm in(iuires about Airedales on page 
.1170, try cats? Cats are the natural ene¬ 
mies of rats and mice, do not have to be 
trained for their business, and are much 
cheaimr to keep than dogs. AA'e came on 
to this farm—a small one, mostly i)oultry 
—five years ago. The first year we were 
greatly troubled by rafts. They chewed 
up bushels of apples in the cellar, grain 
in the barn and granary, and in early 
■.Spring turned their attention to eggs and 
young chicks. AA'e, like S. AA’’. G., tried 
trai)s and poisons, but had no success. 
Then we procured two or three cats. 
They went right to work, and for some 
three years we have not seen a rat, with 
the exception of dead ones, brought up 
for our inspection by the pussies. In ad¬ 
dition to rats and mice they killed snake.s, 
squirrels, ground mole.s, occasionally a 
rabbit, and this Summer one of them, 
after a bloody encounter, brought in a 
dead weasel. On a farm near by—a large 
one—they have rid themselves of rats in 
the same way. The animals were so bold 
they gnawed holes in the floors and par¬ 
titions and helped themselves to whatever 
was not tightly covered. At another farm 
th('y could raise no chickens on account of 
the pests. AA'e gave them a couple of kit¬ 
tens, which shortly did the same good 
work for them that our cats have done for 
TTS. Every farm in this vicinity keeps 
one or more cats. It is true that cats 
will sometimes kill chickens. Such should 
be quickly disposed of. But that is one 
sin that eats can be trained to avoid. 
Our cats take naps under brooder hovers, 
with a hundred or more baby chicks about 
them ; no fear, and no harm done. Cats 
are considered indispensable in restau¬ 
rants. markets and groceries, and why 
should they not do as good work on farms? 
AA'e have a dog that we are fond of, but if 
we were obliged to choose between the 
dog and the cats, we should let the dog 
go in preference. Cats have been much 
maligned of late, with talk of belling, tax¬ 
ing and even killing them, and I am glad 
to speak a word in their favor. 
Mits. F. DAY. 
Don’t Send a 
V These Len-Mort work and outdoor shoes are such wonderful value 
^ that we gladly send them, no money down. You will find them so well-, 
made and so stylish and such a big money saving 
bargain that you will eurely keep them. So don’t hepitate.. 
Just fill out and mail the coupon. We will eend a pair of f 
your Bize. No need for you to pay higher prices when 
you can buy direct from us—and know what you are get¬ 
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and $6.00 for shoes not near BO good? Act now. Mail 
the coupon today while this epecial offer holds good. 
Send 
GreattShoe.Offer 
We can’t tell yoa enough about these ehoea' 
here. This shoe is built to meet the demand of 
an outdoor city workers’ shoe aa well as for 
the modern farmer. Send and see for 
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lace Blucher last. The special tanning 
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acid in milk, manure, soil, gasoline, etc. They 
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Pay SOnfi for shoes on 
only arrival. If, 
aftercareful examination,, 
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you expect, send them 
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your money. Noobliga¬ 
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our risk, not yours. 
Leonard- 
Morton &, Co. 
Dept. XI327, Chicago 
Send the Len-Mort Shoes 
No. X1E012. 1 will pay $3.86 for 
shoes on arri val, and examine them 
carefully. If 1 am not satisfied, will send 
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Size. .Width. 
^ Only tbe coupon—no money. That brings 
these splendid shoes to you. You are to 
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Keep them only if satisfactory in every 
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the coupon now. Order by No. N15012. 
Leonard-Morton & Co. 
Dept* X1327 Chicago 
Name. 
Age...Married or single. 
^ Address.. 
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MAIL THIS COUPON THAT'S ALL 
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Signed. 
P. O. Address 
Shipping: Station 
Reference. 
Further full descn'xition on request 
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