1050 
July 5, 1919 
HOPE FARM NOTES 
On Juno 21 I remembered that we have 
reached the longest day of the year. Now 
we must expect to travel slowly but surely 
toward the short days of Fall. It is high 
time we stopped to figure where we stand 
and what we can do to catch up during 
tbb rest of the Summer. We were getting 
quite dry, but last night there came a 
sudden, violent storm from the north. 
There must have been nearly an inch of 
rain inside of an hour, and the wind 
ripped and tore its way down our valley. 
On the road below us a big apple tree 
was twisted and broken about as one 
would take a ragweed between his fingers 
and twist it off. It did very little dam¬ 
age with us, and the s aking rain came 
just right for our corn and fruit. So we 
started out into wet fields with a dozen 
things to do all at once. 
♦ * * * ♦ 
The first grass was cut for hay on June 
18. This was mostly Alsike clover follow¬ 
ing an old strawberry field, and the grass 
in two small orchards where we follow the 
mulch system. Hay is so high this year 
that we must save all we can. so we cut 
the grass in these orchards early and take 
it out as hay. Then as soon as possible 
we haul all available manure to these 
orchards and scatter around the trees. 
This takes the place of the grass, for 
there is nothing in fruit growing quite so 
ruinous as to expect your orchard to pro¬ 
duce both hay and apples without help. 
This hay was soaked by yesterday’s storm 
and cannot be put in the barn today. 8o 
we shake it up well to the sun and air 
and it will stay out over Sunday. Next 
week when we haul up that manure I will 
see that about. 40 lbs. of barium phosphate 
are mixed with each load. That combina¬ 
tion surely gave us good results last year 
in one of our back orchards. 
* 5jc ^ * 
The schoolboys have come to work to¬ 
day, and they get out their hoes to clean 
up the sweet corn on that lower field. 
Thomas takes one of them to haul home 
the rest of that chicken manure. A 
neighbor living something over a mile 
away had a great pile of stuff as it came 
from the chicken house, and we bought it 
in a lump. There were 10 big loads, and 
they were not only big but siroiifi. Stand¬ 
ing there beside the henhouse that stuff 
had formed a sort of cover or crust which 
held in the gases. When, however, we be¬ 
gan to dig into it we realized one differ¬ 
ence between agriculture and practical 
farming. I drove the first fork into this 
pile, and all I could think of was that 
poem by Coleridge on “Cologne.” 
“The River Rhine, it is w'dl known. 
Doth wash your city of Cologne, 
Rut tell me. nymphis, what power divine. 
Shall henceforth wash the River Rhine?” 
As Thomas and I drove along the road 
with these rich loads we had some strange 
experiences. Many a car of joy riders 
came singing find laughing along the way 
until they got in range of our load. Then 
you should have seen the excitement as 
the driver “slipped on the gas” and got 
away. Well, these young women would 
not make a shining success as farmers’ 
wives! Could they have known and nosed 
the origin of the very perfumery they 
carried in their clothing there would have 
been another story. When this load of 
ours is turned into McIntosh apples or 
roses there will be no running away. 
* * * * * 
At any rate, we got this stuff home as 
a regular part of a farmer’s job. A share 
of it was thrown around the McIntosh 
and Wealthv apple trees, which are load¬ 
ed with fruit. With phosphate added, I 
expect this stuff to increase, the size of 
this fruit by 20 per cent, while the phos¬ 
phate will start up strong fruit buds for 
next year. The rest of this chicken ma¬ 
nure went on a rye stubble where we are 
to plant cabbage early in July. This was 
where we had sweet corn last year, with 
rye seeded as a cover crop. This rye 
made a fine growth, and we cut it green 
for hay. Now comes this manure on the 
stubble. It will be plowed under, a little 
lime worked in and a good dose of phos¬ 
phate added. The plants are ready, and 
if this does not make them come, why we 
must consider them unworthy to carry 
the new patriotic name of “Liberty cab¬ 
bage.” That pile of chicken manure has 
helped us out greatly. 
* * * * 
The boys started in hoeing the to¬ 
matoes. We have 2,000 plants this year 
on a steep hillside facing the east. This 
is plowed in ridges so as to prevent heavy 
washing. There was a good growth of 
rye on this hill. This was plowed under, 
packed firmly and then lime was harrowed 
in. The plants have been fertilized with 
potato manure and they were surely fine 
on this longest day of the year. Some of 
the plants of Bonny Best carried green 
tomatoes as large as walnuts, and there 
are all the indications of a heavy crop. 
These will be hoed and cultivated at least 
three times before the vines fall and run. 
Then rve and clover will go in as cover 
crops. Then we have 1,000 peppers and 
eggplants which are handled much the 
same as the tomatoes. - Last year we had 
some trouble in making our eggplants lay. 
They made big vines, but produced little 
fruit. Something like a couple of the pul¬ 
lets in our pen at the egg-laying contest. 
The RURAL NEW-YORKER 
This year, by using more phosphate, we 
hope to make these plants shell out. With 
the way food prices look now it would 
seem as* if 10 good eggplants ought to give 
about asYnueh income as one good hen. 
***** 
We started this Spring with the hope 
of growing 100.000 ears of sweet corn. 
Well, all I c»n say is that far better peo¬ 
ple than we are have been forced to 
change their plans. They have also seen 
their hopes fade away. A combination of 
wet weather and labor troubles prevented 
us from planting all the sweet corn we 
intended. As soon as w T e found that .we 
were far behind we changed our plans. I 
see no sense in trying to dog the original 
plans through regardless of cost in nerve, 
labor or money, when it becomes evident 
that you are hopelessly behind. So we 
cut down our estimate of sweet corn crop 
and put the land into other things. One 
field goes into millet for cow feed. An¬ 
other has been planted to our flint corn 
for feeding or seed. This was planted 
June 14, after cutting a crop of rye for 
horse hay. It will come through. An¬ 
other field originally intended for sweet 
corn has been planted in drills for fod¬ 
der. For this we used some of that Luce's 
Favorite seed from Long Island. It came 
with a blue label marked “certified,” with 
big. uniform kernels. It has made- a re¬ 
markable start—every kernel seems to 
have come up and the plants are wonder¬ 
fully strong and green. We expect a 
great crop of fodder from this field—just 
right for feeding our big horses through 
the Winter. It is remarkable how things 
have changed. When we first came to 
this farm hay was about £15 per ton. and 
corn around 50c a bushel. At that time 
a fruit grower or gardener could afford 
to buy hay and grain and raise other 
crops. Now hay is $45 and corn over $2, 
and we are forced to come back and raise 
as much of our own feed as possible. An¬ 
other field we had planned for corn goes 
into buckwheat. In part of the cover 
crop this year I shall use about half a 
bushel of barley per acre. This barley 
makes a better Fall growth than any 
other grain I kno\v of. It will come up 
far ahead of the rye and may be cut for 
hay in September, after which the rye 
comes on. Our oats are heading out and 
will be cut for hay just before July 4. 
***** 
I put a go< d share of my spare time in 
the strawberries. Our crop is closer to a 
failure this year than we have ever known 
before. For once Marshall fails to mar¬ 
shal those famous big ones. It is not the 1 
fault of the variety, but of that belated 
blizzard that tagged us in April. It 
caught our berries in bloom. Some of 
the flowers turned black at once, while 
others limped along to fruiting and finally 
produced a few misshapen berries of in¬ 
ferior quality. At this season in former 
years it has been easy to pick crates 
whenever they were needed, while today I 
could barely find three quarts which my 
daughter wanted for a shortcake. And 
the fewer we have the more the robins 
seeem to steal them. There is nothing 
to do but start right for another year. . 
We did that by planting about 1.200 good 
layer plants in early May. They are two 
feet apart each way. The soil is inclined 
to be heavy. We spread coal ashes and 
plowed them in with a light coat of ma¬ 
nure. There will a'so be a light applica-' 
tion of one part sulphate of ammonia and 
four parts barium phosphate, used ns an 
experiment. These plants have made a 
strong growth. We have already hoed 
them three times. In the alternate rows 
we planted two kernels of Golden Ban¬ 
tam sweet corn between each two plants. 
This makes the corn rows four feet anart 
and the hills or en>m plants two feet in 
the row. We could if desired run a tow 
of lettuce between the rows of strawber¬ 
ries. From each of these original plants 
I plan to take five potted plants. These 
will be taken out and then three strong 
layer plants put down around each pa- v 
rent. This will leave a “hill” of four 
plants for next year—all others being cut 
off. Of course this involves much hand 
work, and may not pay, tliopgh the sweet 
corn and potted plants give us an income 
this year. Last year I was unable to sup¬ 
ply plants to many who wanted them. 
This year we hope to have about 5.000, 
and can probably ]j;t about that number 
go. I am not in the nursery busimss. 
and do not compete with those who are in 
it. All there is about it is that we have a 
special strain of this one variety, Mar¬ 
shall. It makes a good garden berry, and 
many of the regular nurserymen do not 
handle it. We can supply a few to our 
friends. 
***** 
Two years ago we had a distribution 
of Reading Giant asparagus roots. Our 
boys dug and shipped something over 17.- 
000. We get reports from them now and 
then, and most of these lots seem to have 
made good and permanent beds. Our own 
asparagus is in good shape. We cut and 
ate the first on April 10. Tomorrow, 
June 22. there will be a good cutting— 
very likely the last for this season. Sure¬ 
ly this bed deserves a good making tip— 
which it will get. It will be hoed out 
clean and well fertilized. In between the 
rows we have peas growing. Here at the 
lend of June we may have strawberries, 
jCurrants or sour cherries, peas, spinach, 
,asparagus, turnips, lettuce, onions, beets 
and rhubarb, with string beans about 
ready. We shall be fully justified in say¬ 
ing that with a good garden, a flock of 
hens and a cow, the average family will 
l 
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Delicious and healthful, 
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with its refreshing good¬ 
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At Grocers. 
Two sizes, usually sold at 15c and 25c < 
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Entire house evenly heated by one register—no 
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Write us direct for name of nearest dealer. 
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GENEVA. N .Y. 
Every Farmer should have a copy 
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2878 Locust St., St. Louis. U. S. A. 
THE SELF-OIUNG WINDMILL 
haa become so popular in its first four years that 
thousands have been called for to replace, on their 
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The oil supply is renewed once a year. , 
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119 Acres of dair y ,arm ,aHd 
I ww delightful section of Chau¬ 
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where condensary is located. This hill farm 
is a wonderful hay producer, with ample pastur¬ 
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The rougher tillable lands are set out to fruit, both 
trees and vineyards. This farm has been in the prt s- 
ent family for 07 years and has always contained a 
large herd of cattle. There is absolutely no waste of 
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Send for further particulars at once. HARRISON 
REAL ESTATE CORPORATION, Harri¬ 
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HAY CAPS 
plain and 
waterproof, 
made from 
light duck and canvas. All size-. 
Write for prices. Eight oz. plain 
WAGON COVERS, 7x10 feet. $5. 
WATERPROOF CANVAS, $5.95 each. 
CORN 
of II or water. 
IIADUrClTD One man, on© horse, on© row. 
nMnlbOlbll golf Gathorinjr. Kqual to a Corn 
Binder. Sold direct to Farmero for 22 yra. Only $25 
with fodder binder. Free Catalog showing pictures 
PROCESS CORN HARVESTER CO. ( Saline. Kona. 
Binder Twine 
Get our low 1919 prices. Farm- 
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THEO. BURT & SONS, Melrose. Ohio 
Mnloooae Richest Feed. Low Ton Cost 
IVIO1 dSScs Write today for lowest price 
NEW YORK MOLASSES COMPANY, 30 Church St., New York City 
nn lo. Mason sold 18 Sprayers and Autowashers out 
unlo, Saturday. Profits, $2.60 each. Square Deal. 
i-t.lnuiaravitKK ltllsLER COMPANY. Johnstown, Ohio 
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RURAL NEW YORKER. 333 W. 30th St., N. Y. 
