654 
Ibc RURAL NEW-YORKER 
.April 12, 1013 
HOPE FARM NOTES 
Most of us thought the war was over, 
and that Winter had been permanently 
laid up with sore throat and sciatica. 
When a human as sick comparatively as 
Winter is comes to be afflicted with these 
troubles he goes off to Florida or Cuba— 
often to the great relief of his family. 
We thought Winter had surely taken the 
Southern trip, so we got out the plows 
and started our Spring work. You never 
can tell about these sturdy old fellows. I 
knew' an old fellow once who had gout 
and asthma, heart trouble and several 
other things, including a very deep thirst. 
Late one Winter all these things came 
upon him at once, and after telling his 
family individually and collectively what 
he thought about his condition he started 
for Florida. The family thought it an 
excellent time to relax a little, so the 
women begau Spring cleaning, and the 
men tore things up outside. Right when 
they were all eating cold meals off the 
kitchen shelf and the men were constant 
reminders of lime-sulphur and phosphate 
—back comes the boss—madder than ever 
because Winter had gone with him to 
Florida. 
* * * * * 
1 Know how that, family felt when they 
saw him looking through the door. It 
was much like our own “mental attitude” 
when we woke up to find the blizzard ot 
March 28 in full blast. Winter had come 
back from the South, and in spite of his 
sore throat and sciatica lie shook the hills 
with his roaring. The first thing I saw 
through the window was the crab apple 
tree near the house—its leaves starting 
out and just the first faint touch of pink 
showing in the buds.- Could they ever 
stand the roaring freeze which surrounded 
them? And those peach buds! They had 
certainly begun to swell in the absence of 
Winter. Here he had come back and 
caught them at it. Through two days 
and nights the storm roared on. The 
weather observer says that at times the 
wind blew at the rate of 92 miles per 
hour. I believe him when 1 see several 
of our big apple trees ripped out by the 
roots. There is one Fall Pippin tree in 
particular. The trunk is at least 20 
inches in diameter, yet the wind tipped 
it over as you would blow out a candle. 
I do not yet know what destruction we 
shall find in the hill orchard, or what has 
happened to the peach buds. No man has 
any business to get into the fruit business 
unless he is a “good sport ’ and can take 
such incidents as this blizzard with a 
smile. The protecting cover around an 
opening peach bud is about as trail as 
anything you can think of, and the bite 
of a blizzard like this is about as cruel 
as they make them. You cannot put a 
wool blanket on the peach bud or light 
off the blizzard. So if you have done 
your best—why worry? If you get into 
the fruit business you must take both 
money and medicine as they are presented. 
* $ * * # 
That is the way we feel tonight. Out¬ 
side the wind is still roaring. The 
children were a little rough in their play 
and broke a pane of glass. We have 
pasted thick paper over it. but some ot 
the wind finds its way through. You 
may scold or whip the children—or you 
may remind yourself that fresh air is 
after all the cheapest and finest tonic in 
the world. A peach grower, on a night 
like this, needs all the tonic he can safely 
absorb. We have built up a roaring fire 
in the open fireplace as first aid to 
wounded prospects. The boys undertook 
to build it of big logs and sticks alone, 
but they would not blaze. 1 took a 
hatchet and split several of these sticks 
into kindling, and with these we had a 
roaring blaze in three minutes. Fire is 
something like education. You must chop 
your fuel ami your facts up fine if you 
ever expect the blaze or the mind to take 
hold of them. We have a blaze now 
which is driving all hands back to the 
center of the room. Two of the small 
girls are reading. 9 lie chances are that 
dozens of gray-haired women who read 
this can guess the names of the old-fash¬ 
ioned books these little folks are absorb¬ 
ing. Some of these old classics will be 
handed on through five generations. 
The larger boy io drawing. When 
one is “art editor” of the school maga¬ 
zine he recognizes the fact that ‘time is 
fleeting” and ait must be well drawn 
out. Cherry-top is in the kitchen making 
a batch of * his celebrated fudge. Little 
Rose sits on my knee eating an apple 
and generally bossing the rest of us. Oh, 
yes, we have a few apples left, though I 
might lose something in reputation if I 
named the variety! As for me, I am 
reading, or tiding to read, "Russia s 
Agony,” by Robert Wilton. This tells 
as clearly as anything I have yet found 
what has really happened to Russia and 
just what Bolshevism means. Evidently 
this roaring blizzard would willingly work 
much, of the same thing in our orchards. 
It will not succeed, for we shall continue 
to have faith in the fundamental laws of 
nature—and human nature as well. Some 
day I want to review this book. I have 
thought that France lias the most inter¬ 
esting history of any nation, because tin* 
French people are quirk to express their 
feelings. It looks as if we can learn even 
more from Russian history. 
But what has all that to do with farm¬ 
ing? More than you think. American 
farmers are just beginning to write a 
history of their own. Up to this time 
no one has seemed to regard farming as 
a distinct fundamental business. It has 
been associated in history with other in¬ 
dustries. Definite histories of manufac¬ 
turing, banking or transportation have 
been written, and thus these industries 
have both the facts and the philosophy of 
their history to guide in any time of 
trouble. The remedy may be ‘tariff, new 
machinery, cheaper power, skilled labor 
or change of location. History stores up 
remedies for political or industrial trou¬ 
bles about as the development of the 
science of medicine establishes remedies 
for disease. Thus in their way these 
other industries are like a group of men 
under the care of skilled doctors and 
nurses, while farming is more like a family 
still depending .on roots and herbs and a 
cold water bandage! Put it another way. 
When manufacturing or transportation 
show a decline they are treated like a 
well-to-do man with a sore throat. Doc¬ 
tors come with the serums, absorbents 
and germicides. When farming declines 
the case is more like the man back among 
the hills who swallows catnip tea and 
ties his stocking around his throat. The 
fact that this man recovers is no argu¬ 
ment to show why he should not have the 
best treatment science can offer him. The 
French Revolution and this later revo¬ 
lution in Russia were forced upon the 
world because the plain common people 
were so placed and so circumscribed that 
they could not write their history in any 
w-ay. 
* $ * * * 
But it is, happily, a long distance from 
this light, warm room in New Jersey to 
the Peace Congress in Paris or the Red 
Congress in Moscow. We have eaten our 
full share of that fudge. The little girls 
have gone to bed. and Rose has gone to 
have her bath. Pile up that fire—we have 
plenty of wood. I think this blizzard 
outside is more a bluff than anything else. 
I am one of the veterans caught out in 
that famous storm of 1888. We lived and 
prospered through that, and after seeing 
the real thing I think we can size this 
one up as a blow-hard and little, more. 
Before this comfortable fire I am inclined 
to bet on the peach buds until they ac¬ 
tually fail to bloom. We shall know in¬ 
side of 10 days now and we will make 
it. 10 days of hope instead of 10 days of 
gloom. The seed of tomatoes, peppers 
and eggplant are all growing in a neigh¬ 
bor's greenhouse. We have the sunny 
side of the big hill waiting for the plants. 
Then we have the fertilizer and the seed 
with which we intend to grow at least 
100,000 ears of sweet corn this year. The 
buds ou the apple trees look right, the 
heus are laying as we did not expect to 
see them lay, the geese are coming, and 
within a month we shall have to open 
the doors and windows and put out the 
fire. 8o we will uot be bluffed by any 
belated blizzard. I am going to finish 
this chapter of “Russia’s Agony” and 
then enjoy the delights of sound slumber. 
The following Quotation may give us 
something to sleep ou. Wilton says that 
the Russian peasants lacked education 
ami had no thought of the history of their 
business. After the war with Japan pros¬ 
perity came to Russia—that is, trade and | 
manufacturing grew, but the peasants 
had not been taught or trained to know 
how to use prosperity. They had no 
“background” for it. 
'‘‘Brought into sudden eonUiet with in¬ 
dustrialism, they lost their /trim Hire vir¬ 
tues, honesty and godliness, without 
acquiring the birthright of free men, lore 
of •honor and of country .” 
Little Rose lias lived most of her life 
among people who express their thoughts 
in short words. If >he could understand 
the above quotation she would say: 
“Ain’t it the truth?” h. w. c. 
Feeding Turnips to Cattle 
Every ouce in a while I see something 
about feeding turnips. Here is my ex¬ 
perience : This last W inter 1 fed out all 
the turnips we raised, 300 to 400 baskets. 
I bought besides that, nearly 200 baskets 
( five-eiglitlis bushel) at nine cents per 
basket. I fed a basket chopped up to 
each cow right after milking in the morn¬ 
ing. They were greatly relished. About 
two weeks ago we were all out, and 1 
tried to buy more, but could not get them 
at a satisfactory price, so I quit feeding 
them. The cows, three high-grade Jerseys 
and one high-grade milking Shorthorn, 
were given about 3U> quarts of bran and 
about two quarts of eornmeal per day 
and all the good clover bay they would 
eat. When 1 stopped feeding turnips 1 
expected the cattle to dry up nearly a 
quart of milk apiece, if not fully that 
amount. Well, 1 was astonished. I left 
off the roots gradually and the total 
shrinkage of the four was less than a 
quart. As a matter of fact, they ate a 
little more hay, but not much. I think 
the turnips did a lot of good by keeping 
the cattle in good heart and healthy, but 
as a milk producer themselves 1 found 
them expensive. However, 1 shall feed 
turnips next Winter and would advise 
their use. The natives said five-eighths 
bushel of turnips would kill my cattle, 
but since I have been in the State I have 
not seen four cows that are as pretty tun- 
look so well as the four in my stable. 
And don’t forget the bull—a registered 
Shorthorn. He looks equally its well as 
the cattle. J. K. way. 
1 tela ware. 
Thorobreds 
T HE modern farmer appreci¬ 
ates a thorobred. You talk 
nowadays in terms of pure-blood 
Jerseys, Holsteins, Durocs and 
Poland Chinas. 
But did you ever stop to think 
that there are different breeds 
of boots? 
There are boots that do well enough for 
a while, but soon go to pieces. That’s 
scrub stock. 
But there’s another boot that will wear 
and wear almost indefinitely. Won’t leak 
—lasts long over the first season. That’s 
Goodrich “Hi-Press”—a thorobred. 
The reputation of the footwear man¬ 
ufacturer means just as much as the ped¬ 
igree behind your prize Jersey. 
You can tell Goodrich by the Red Line 
’Round the Top. 40,000 dealers. 
THE 1?. F. GOODRICH RUBBER CO. 
AKRON, OHIO 
GOODRICH 
HI - 
Rubber Footwear 
Guaranteed Tires 
firsts — a 3500-mile guarantee — serial 
number on casing—service-giving or the 
: narantse wouldn’t be there. We know 
the tires—want you to know them—and 
tell you they’re the very best value on 
the market. 
Non-skid 
Price 
0 roy Tube 
30x3 
$12.50 
$3.(X> 
30x3% 
15.50 
3.50 
32x8% 
18.00 
3.75 
31 x4 
25.00 
4.50 
32x4 
25.50 
4.75 
38x4 
20.50 
5.00 
34x4 
27.00 
5.25 
34x4% 
35.50 
0.00 
35x4% 
37.50 
0.25 
30x4 % 
38.00 
0.50 
S5x5 
43.00 
7.00 
37x5 
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7.50 
Take 2 per cent, off for cash with 
order. 10 per cent, deposit required 
on all C. O. I>. orders. 
R. K. TIRE CO. 
837 N. Broad St, Philadelphia, Pa. 
Tom 
Thrift 
. Says , 
“You can work 
easier and feel 
better if you wear ‘Wear- 
Resisting’ Work Shoes.” 
See Page 262 of “Your Bargain 
Book.” There is one pair of stout 
work shoes there at the ridiculously 
low price of $2.55. There are dress 
shoes in great variety, too. 
If you haven’t a book just drop 
up a line. It’s FREE. 
Ike Charles William Stores. 
250 Ston* Buildup NwYwkW, 
