1184 
Ttx RURAL. NEW-YORKER 
August 9, 1919 
HOPE FARM NOTES 
The ruins descended and the floods 
came!” 
They did, and they stayed by us as they 
did with others. Sunday, July 20, reached 
the climax with us, aud we looked out 
upon a water-eoaked farm. There had 
been day after day of it, and no prospect 
of letting up. Fortunately our hay was 
all in the barn, but all around us were 
farms where hay stood or lay in ponds or 
puddles, and where rye was sprouting in 
the shock. Our trouble was with corn 
and apples. Our lower soil is naturally 
wet, and after this long continued rain 
the low places in these fields were deep 
seas of mud. The corn stood still and be¬ 
gan to turn a little yellow, while the 
quack grass and weeds were coming along 
like race horses. The apples which gave 
us worry were the sweets and Xyacks 
and Porters-.on the old trees near the barn. 
They fruit .10 feet more or less from the 
ground, and there is no hope for theiu 
when they let go and fall. 
* * * * * 
The rain was awful, but we made the 
best of it. The smaller children even put 
on their bathing suits and went out to roll 
on the wet lawn and sit in the puddles! 
A bathing suit, was a good outfit for pick¬ 
ing peas! How it did drive the straw¬ 
berry plants along, and nothing could be 
finer for those late apples in the mulched 
orchards. We sent a delegation to church 
through the rain. Dinner was a good off¬ 
set for a discouraging day. We had two 
big hens, potatoes, beet.s. tomatoes, snap 
beans, bread aud butter and all the apple 
pie you could eat. This was the first ap¬ 
ple pie from the new crop. The last of 
the old crop went on June 10. These 
were Delaware Red Winter. With this 
variety and Black Ben. we can, with As- 
trachan and Transparent, have fresh ap¬ 
ples every day in the year. After dinner 
the rain seemed to pause for breath, and 
I put old Bob in the buggy and drove to 
the back orchard with two of the little 
girls. As we entered the woods a swarm 
of flies like the plague of Egypt descend¬ 
ed upon us. They swarmed chiefly at 
Bob's head and ears, and we decorated 
him with green boughs like the plumes on 
an Indian’s head dress! The trees were 
soaked with water, and as we drove 
through they struck at the buggy top and 
drenched us. We found that distant or¬ 
chard in fine shape. This is where we 
cut the Alsike clover and piled it around 
the trees and used phosphate. This wet 
weather is ideal for such culture, and the 
Wealthies over there are the largest I 
have seen. We can pick and ship them 
the first week in August It did us all 
good to learn that something was getting 
good from this flood when it meant so 
much loss and trouble to most of us. 
$ $ * ss tr 
That is just what it meant. Thousands 
of tons of hay were soaked for days. It 
finally went into the barn dark colored 
and with the “life" washed out of it. In¬ 
stead of smelling like tea. as it should, 
this stuff was more like sawdust. The 
flavor aud some of the soluble nutriment 
has been washed out of it. but I know 
that stock will eat it and do well on it. 
But no one will buy it at a full price. 
The grain in shock and on the ground has 
suffered badly. A good many of the ker¬ 
nels have sprouted, and of course that 
puts them out of the running for high- 
grade flouring grain. They are still good 
for feeding, and I think poultry men w ill 
gladly buy such grain if fhev can learn 
where to get it. We have had letters and 
telegrams from people who want to know 
what to do with sprouted grain. < )ne 
man telegraphed that his wheat was 
sprouting. He wanted to know if it 
would pay to cut this wet and sprouting 
wheat Into a silo with green oats. We 
advised him not ro do it. I think the 
soggy, partly rotting straw would spoil 
the silage. Many of our people were des¬ 
perate over the situation, and I under¬ 
stand that more clover and green oats aud 
millet than ever before have been cut into 
the 'silo. When the sun finally 1 broke 
through on Tuesday it seemed to be a 
melancholy face that was turned to the 
land as it realized the frightful job be¬ 
fore it of drying up the flood! 
# :Jt if Jje * 
Prothero. in his "English Farming. 
Past and Present.” says that for hundreds 
of years the literature of agriculture was 
confined to saying or proverbs. These 
“sayings” summed up in a few words the 
conclusions which farmers arrived at from 
observation. For example. "Muck is the 
mother of manure.” A good share of the 
advance in farming science has been made 
in testing these old sayings The one 
about St. Swithiu and his 40 days of 
rain appeals to us this year : 
“If it rains on St. Switbin's day it 
will rain for 40 days after.” 
To show how this modern generation 
has grown away from these old sayings, a 
New York paper gives this dialogue, over¬ 
heard on the street: 
"Who is this guv who says it will rain 
40 days?” 
"Oh. that’s Saint Sweeney !” 
At any rate, the weather started in to 
prove the old saying right. Then there 
came four clear days, and our folks hus¬ 
tled to get the early apples off those big 
trees. It was well they did. for on Satur¬ 
day night there came a tremendous thun¬ 
derstorm with a deluge of rain. I never 
before saw such a continuous flash or 
flare of lightning. In the morning we 
found some of our trees smashed or up¬ 
rooted. The big walnut tree up in the 
barnyard is broken off at a height of 20 
feet. The apple tree sheltering the bee¬ 
hives is uprooted, and big branches are 
ripped off here and there. There seems to 
have been a narrow funnel of wind slash¬ 
ing through the farm and biting out pieces 
where it struck. And this flood of rain 
wfll surely help out the average for July! 
The late apples on the low-headed trees 
have not been badly thrown, but the taller 
trees suffered badly. 
* * * sje :Jc 
It was well we got those early apples 
off. They were not fully grown, but word 
came that prices were high, and I never 
feel safe about fruit on an old-fashioned 
high-head. The first shipment brought 
$6.75 per barrel for “A” grade, and $3 
for "B." In former years this fruit could 
hardly be given away! Within 10 days 
the price fell to $4.50 and $2.40, for every¬ 
one with those old-fashioned apple or¬ 
chards rushed in to get the big prices. The 
windfalls under the lower trees will bring 
something, but when fruit falls from these 
high trees it is badly bruised and useful 
only for sauce. With the present high- 
priced labor it hardly pays to play with 
these windfalls. I confess that at first 
thought such prices seem like highway 
robbery, at least to consumers. Yet the 
package in which we sell costs 20 cents, 
against an old price of eight cents. Fer¬ 
tilizer costs nearly $00. against $32. 
When I planted the orchard, labor cost 
12 2 ,4 cents an hour. Now it is 30 and 35 
cents, while the yield of crops has not 
greatly increased. Our taxes are nearly 
four times what they were when we 
bought this place. Including income taxes 
I am sure we are made to contribute 10 
times ns much toward public support as 
we did 10 years ago. 
* *Se * 
The earliest tomatoes iu our section 
sold at $4 per basket. One of our neigh-, 
bors. a fine farmer with soil well adapted 
to early crops, is said to have sold 300 
baskets at this price. He has a truck cap¬ 
able of carrying 150 baskets at one load. 
He took one load over, learned the price, 
'phoned home for all hands to pick an¬ 
other load, and with his truck was able 
to get the second load in before the price 
fell. < )ur tomatoes were later, and the 
first small shipment we sent brought $2.25 
per basket. < >f course the price will now 
fall rapidly, yet I understand the crop 
south of us is rather short. The advan¬ 
tage of having a good-sized truck for quick 
and prompt shipment becomes more and 
more evident. It often happens that the 
ability to get a shipment right into mar¬ 
ket on time will pay 20 per cent of the 
cost of the truck. I think this will be 
more apparent than ever in the near fu¬ 
ture. It will be particularly true on the 
west side of New York when the big tun¬ 
nels are bored under the river. As it is 
now we can. in the early morning, call 
uu four or five different markets to learn 
what they want. Almost any day you 
can find someone who will pay an extra 
price if the goods can be delivered nl 
mice. With horses to do the hauling you 
could not hope to get there on time, but 
with the truck you have only to feed in 
the gasoline and in an hour or less- you 
are blown into market. This is only a be¬ 
ginning. for farm transportation is to be 
greatly developed before long. 
* a $ * * 
Every Year Sees 
An Increased Demand 
for Postum, from coffee 
drinkers who realize a 
change in habit will 
bring better health. 
The Original 
Postum Cereal 
is rich and satisfying as 
a table drink for both 
370 ung and old. 
At Grocers. 
Two sizes, usually sold at 15 c and 25 c. 
H 
J 
BARIUM-PHOSPHATE 
AN IDEAL FERTILIZER FOR FALL SEEDING 
ANALYSING 
16% Phosphoric Acid 7% Barium Sulphide 
Every farmer knows that so Ion* as he can grow Clover he can grow anything else, ami 
that; where clover refuses to grow, owing to acit! soil conditions, other crops must st rdily 
deteriorate. 
Barium-Phosphate, in addition to supplying Phosphorus 
SWEETENS THE SOIL 
AND INSURES A LUXURIANT GROWTH OF CLOVER 
WITHOUT THE USE OF LIME 
Begin now. preparing for next year's crops, by planting cover crops of Clover and llye to 
be turned under iu the spring with Barium-Phosphate and just enough manure to stippiy the 
necessary bacteria. 
We will deliver Barium-Phosphate anywhere in >'ew York. New Jersey and must New 
England points at the following prices: 
CARLOADS. 20 TONS OR MORE $21.50 A TON 
LESS CARLOADS, 1 TON OR MORE 23.50 A TON 
It will pay yon to write for our book, 
“BARIUM-PHOSPHATE FOR FALL SEEDING” 
Witherbee, Sherman & Company, Inc. 
2 Rector Street, New York City 
—Put Your Farm On a Cash Basis—i 
But who. pays for all tliis high-priced 
food? The other day I saw a woman or¬ 
der salad. They gave her two leaves of 
lettuce and nue small tomato, sliced. The 
price was 40 emits. The man next me 
ordered apple pie. They brought him a 
piece.about two-thirds the size of what 
our folks serve aud charged 20 cents! 
So we tire not the "profiteers” in apples 
and tomatoes at least. If we were to 
give our produce away, the consumer who 
buys it finally would pay just as much. 
There was a dairyman up the State who 
felt good because his milk was netting 
five cents a quart, lie told ma they ought 
to go to the city and spend a little of their 
wealth. They .started. The railroad fare 
for both of them cost three cans of milk. 
A decent room at a hotel took over a can 
more each day. A meal for the two of 
them at a plain restaurant meant half a 
can more. Every time they rode on a 
street car—two quarts more! Ma’s new 
dress represented 10 cans of milk, and 
father's hat stood him for two cans. They 
could hardly breathe or take a glass of 
water without paying out two quarts of 
milk. Their cousin in New York is a 
plumber. He gets $S per day. His daugh¬ 
ter gets $80 per month for rather inferior 
work with a typewriter. I took this man 
out and showed him notices on Seventh 
Avenue where employment agencies called 
for “help.” A dishwasher was wanted 
for $00 and board. A man and his wife 
on an estate for $130 per month. At 
least 30 cooks were needed at an aver¬ 
age of $75 to $00; waiters. $00 and 
board; a "bus boy” tune who picks up the 
dirty dishes in an eating house), $50. 
and so on. M.v friend figured awhile, and 
found that if he and ma and Mary, at 
home, were to pay themselves such wages 
they would be bankrupt—and he thought 
they were making money! And why 
should not a farmer and his wife be paid 
as well as "bus boys” and dishwashers? 
H. w. c. 
Whether you rent or own, it’s good business to take advantage of cash 
discounts and other money-saving opportunities. Let us help you. 
WE LOAN MONEY 
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Write for full particulars. 
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