1256 
‘Ihe RURAL. NEW-YORKER 
August 23, 1919 
The Thoughts of a Plain Farm Woman 
A Busy Season. —This is certainly 
one of the busiest Summers I have ever 
known. Life has been just one thing 
after another, as the saying goes, and 
not a dull or empty moment in the lot. 
In July .1 finished weeding beets and 
mangels and thankful I was when the 
hard, back-breaking job was finally done. 
The beet field is always situated at the 
far end of the farm, because the soil is 
exactly right up there, but the distance 
to and fro seems like the last straw many 
times when feet and body are absolutely 
“all in.” July was unusually hot and 
humid in our section, even outdoing its 
well-known reputation for sweltering 
weather, and beet fields by choice would 
never be mine in which to spend such 
days. As I have remarked before, here's 
hoping the Ilolsteins next Winter will 
do themselves proud at the pail in return 
for their favorite “salad.” Personally, I 
doubt if the cows would find them so 
palatable if they had to tend them. Such 
things are apt to be taken into considera¬ 
tion where one’s own tastes are concerned. 
The Flower Garden.—A kind farm 
woman from Colorado, a subscriber to 
Tiie R. N.-Y., sent me woodbine and 
trumpet-vine seeds after reading that our 
yard had visions of being “polka-dotted” 
with flowers and shrubbery. These have 
been duly planted, and this Fall a horde 
of other things will be set out also—and 
another year watch our farm smile with 
all kinds and varieties of blooms and 
find them delicious and good the succeed¬ 
ing Winter. As for rhubarb, what a good, 
ever-present servant it is to the home 
cook. Not only for pies and sauce, but 
to “eke out” the canned berries and fruits 
of all kinds. Half and half is our rule 
now, and consequently the conserves, 
marmalades and “sauce” are greatly in¬ 
creased and even improved by a liberal 
use of the friendly pieplant. A garden 
isn’t a garden without it. 
Apple Scarcity. —We may possibly 
harvest a bushel of apples this Fall, but 
I rather doubt it. We must set out a 
new orchard, and that is all there is to 
it—but no one seems to be doing it. My 
grandfather in his day had a fine orchard 
of grafted fruit in every delicious and 
wanted variety, but practically nothing 
remains. A small hurricane several years 
ago did terrible damage, and the rest died 
naturally or were winter-killed. Our 
farm is not naturally well adapted to 
apples. I think. 
IIigh-priced Cottons.— The other day 
I went into a big drygoods store in pur¬ 
suit of common chambray—that well- 
known cotton material which every mother 
buys for the children’s rompers or hus¬ 
band’s shirts. This cloth was marked at 
35 cents a yard—just such as I paid 10 
cents for about three years ago. “We 
farmers certainly will have to get good 
prices for milk and meat and the like.” 
I remarked to the clerk, “if we pay 35 
cents a yard for the commonest and 
cheapest cotton goods to be bought.” 
“Oh, I should worry about the farmers!” 
replied Mr. Clerk sneeringly. “If you 
can’t stand 35 cents a yard for cloth. I 
should like to know who can!” There 
was no opportunity for a retort on my 
part, as this was the 15th, and many 
farmers’ wives were spending their hard- 
earned dollars over the counter for neces¬ 
sities not to be disregarded ; but I went 
out without purchasing any chambray 
and imagined the look of contempt cast 
after me by the well-informed (?) sales¬ 
man. If by chance he ever comes out 
a-shopping at the farm and I chance to 
charge him .$3 a bushel for row potatoes, 
can’t you hear the loud protestations he 
will make at the price? And instead of 
reasoning that farmers have got to get a 
fair profit on potatoes and everything else 
in order to keep abreast of ehambrays 
and shoes and sugar and all the rest, lie 
will call me a profiteer—and reluctantly 
take a peck of my Early Michigans. It’s 
a queer world. 
ITay and Cabbage. —When we finally 
got to haying this year the heavens out¬ 
did themselves in showers and long rains 
and the crop was harvested along in 
August with delay after delay. The cab¬ 
bages are also outdoing themselves this 
year, perhaps because they know they are 
“showing off” beside the State road—an 
opportunity not to be overlooked. I am 
looking for moderate prices for cabbages 
this Fall, but hope our nice fiehl will at 
least pay. Only once in a lifetime, it 
seems to me. do cabbages take a sudden 
ride into the skies, and a few fortunate 
farmers pay off the mortgage and buy a 
big car from the resulting toll. After 
such luck the cabbage market is usually 
clogged for years to come, as we all swear 
that we won’t be caught napping again. 
Consequently cabbage stays at normal un¬ 
til a sufficient number get sick of putter¬ 
ing with them ; then look out for soaring 
prices again. I am not worried about 
picking out the kind of car to buy with 
them this Fall! 
Country Pleasures. —We entertained 
a guest from the city during the first of 
August, and how she did revel in the 
filings of the farm! She lived on vege¬ 
tables and simple farm food, and although 
a weak, sickly invalid, she seemed made 
over when her seven days were up. She 
slept in the big, airy guest chamber in 
the old family four-poster, and was not 
waked up by city clatter at daybreak. 
She went to bed at nine o’clock, as we do; 
sat on the porch all day long, and saw 
and heard and thought nothing but whole¬ 
some farm business. It was a complete 
change, and probably did her more good 
than it would me to go to the city with 
a full pocketbook and there enjoy myself 
to my heart’s content for seven days, as 
I have often dreamed of doing. A change 
is good for everyone, we are told, but city 
people prove that the. farm is the right 
change, while we who visit the white 
lights for awhile are entirely done up 
and thankful to be back in a couple of 
nights. “Home-keeping hearts are hap¬ 
piest—to stay at home is best.” Poets 
never said a truer thing than that, so one 
might conclude that the cramped, artificial 
quarters our friends live in in the cities 
are not “home” in the best sense of the 
word, as given a chance at them. Nature 
quickly proves that farm-keeping hearts 
are the healthiest and should be happiest 
of all. I’d rather be a contented, tired, 
plain farm woman any day than the 
bored, idle, critical women I know who 
fool themselves into believing that a city 
has compensations which outclass those of 
the country. Perhaps they succeed in 
fooling themselves, but they can’t fool 
me. and I only hope my children will be 
wise enough to stick to the old farm. 
They might do a whole lot worse. 
H. S. K. W. 
A very unpopular drill sergeant was 
putting a party of soldiers through the 
funeral set vice. Opening the ranks to 
admit the passage of the supposed cor¬ 
tege, he passed slowly down the lane. 
“Now, imag.ne I’m the corpse,” he said. 
Having reacued the end of the lane he 
turned Round, regarded the soldiers 
steadily for a moment or two. then ex-, 
claimed: “Your hands are right, and 
your heads are right, but you haven’t 
got that sad look of regret you ought to 
have!”—London Farm and Home. 
greenery ! I greatly enjoyed the practical 
articles on farm landscaping by Mr. 
Weaver in recent numbers, and have cut 
them out for careful perusal a bit later, 
when the time comes to put such hints 
into operation. This weekly is certainly 
doing its bit in carrying a “flowers in 
every yard” message to the women, and 
I. for one, do appreciate it. I firmly be¬ 
lieve that a well-kept, short-cropped 
lawn, with fine trees, plenty of flowers 
for every month of the year, and all look¬ 
ing as if Nature felt perfectly at home 
there, adds a good thousand dollars up 
to any country place. Our grounds fall 
far short of this standard at present, but 
I intend to keep pegging away until the 
old house is surrounded by “bowers and 
flowers.” It does take time, and time is 
money, but pretty lawns and gardens pay. 
I shall see that this phase of farming is 
not longer neglected at our place, and 
while the desert cannot “bloom like a 
rose” over night, in due time the trans¬ 
formation will take place, and it v ill be 
well worth waiting for. 
A Garden Creed. —While on the sub¬ 
ject of nature’s decorations around the 
house, it might not be amiss to give my 
garden creed, which I think should be in¬ 
cluded with the vegetable garden as pep¬ 
per is with salt. This consists of five 
things: a strawberry bed, an asparagus 
bed. half a dozen bearing Columbian rasp¬ 
berry bushes, a knowledge and apprecia¬ 
tion of the mushroom, which grows wild 
on every farm, and plenty of rhubarb. 
Of course this list should include a few 
cherry trees, pear trees, currant bushes, 
gooseberries and innumerable varieties of 
apples. But most farms boast some oi 
a few of the latter as a matter of course, 
while not half enough women insist on 
the first lot. There is nothing so good 
to eat on earth, I think, as asparagus 
and fresh bread and butter; that is, ex¬ 
cept the dark-colored, meaty strawberries 
which thrive so on saudy loam. We have 
leveled this Summer in the big purple 
Columbian, and how the little bushes 
do bear! As for the mushrooms, they j 
are one of Nature’s most choice gifts, 
but few people really seem to care for 
them. We know all the spots on our 
farm where the mushroom hides and 
none escape us. Around the stumps 
of old apple trees and several other 
tree varieties the “fairy ring” mush¬ 
room grows. Then the large, brown, 
spongy-looking one known locally as the 
“beefsteak.” Then there are several— 
several hundred so far as that goes— 
different kinds with which we here are 
familiar and can confidently eat without 
a doubt as to their relationship to toad¬ 
stools. It pays to learn mushroom lore | 
and cultivate a taste for them, as nothing 
is so good for supper, or as an accompani¬ 
ment to the home-grown steak and the 
like. We can quantities every year, and i 
Don’t Forget 
Good plowing is what you 
are after when you operate 
your tractor plowing outfit, 
and good plowing depends 
upon the plow. That’s 
why it pays—always—to 
get the best plow you can 
buy. No matter what 
standard tractor you buy 
and no matter what type 
of soil you have to con¬ 
tend with, you can get a 
John Deere Plow, suited 
to your tractor and your 
soil, and thus make sure 
of good plowing year after 
year. 
Sizes 
Two-Bottom 
Three-Bottom 
Four-Bottom 
F OR many years farmers everywhere have associated the name “John 
Deere Plow” with special plow quality—with better and longer plow 
service. Getting this quality is especially important when you buy a tractor 
plow. A tractor plow does work on a big scale—the quality of the work 
counts in proportion. A tractor plow must stand heavy strains—its ability 
to keep on doing good work year after year counts strongly in making 
plow profits. Remember, you get this special quality when you buy a 
TRACTOR PLOW 
Equipped With Genuine John Deere Bot¬ 
toms —The kind that have an established 
world-wide reputation for long wear, good 
scouring and thorough seed-bed making. 
You can get the shape and type suited to 
your soil. 
Holds to Its Work at Uniform Depth —It is 
locked into the ground at plowing depth 
through the action of the power lift. The 
land wheel is set back, balancing the weight 
of the plow over all three wheels, just as on 
your sulky or gang plow. Makes plow run 
steady and assures plowing at uniform 
depth in uneven ground. 
Quick Detachable Shares —Strong and close- 
fitting. Loosen one nut to remove the 
share. Tighten the same nut and the share 
is on tight. It stays tight. 
Extra Strong Construction —Extra heavy 
beams of special John Deere steel. We 
guarantee them not to bend or break. Heavy 
beam braces, long, lapped and securely joined 
to beam with heavy bolts and lock washers. 
High and Level Power Lift —Lifting rnech* 
anism is simple, strong and positive. Parts 
move only when plow is being lifted or low¬ 
ered—practically no wear. 
Three Sizes—Two-bottom, three-bottom 
and four-bottom. One of the sizes suits 
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Farmers Everywhere are making sure of 
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tractor by getting John Deere Tractor Plows. 
Your John Deere dealer is ready to furnish 
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a folder describing the John Deere Tractor 
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today for full information. 
JOHN 
GET QUALITY 
AND SERVICE 
*THf TRADt MAM Of QUALITY 
HMI rAMCM wr COOO I fl Min 
Moline, Illinois 
JOHN DEERE 
DEALERS GIVE BOTH 
