1580 
The RURAL NEW-YORKER 
HOPE FARM NOTES 
Most of us have read about “blight- 
proof” potatoes, and 1 imagiue that some 
who read this have tried out various 
kinds. I have, but I never found any¬ 
thing that came within pistol shot of a 
right to the title until this season. I 
have tried varieties which stood up 
against blight a week or 10 days longer 
than others, but sooner or later they all 
went down. Our climate is a sort of 
blight nursery if there ever was one. 
Even with full spraying it is rare to find 
really healthy potato plants after the 
first week in September. Most of our 
potato vines are dead by August 20. 
This year we have a variety which re¬ 
tained its life until October 1. You may 
remember that last Spring we ran out of 
potato “seed.” The railroad strike made 
it impossible to ship, and the price for 
good seed went soaring above even the 
clouds of imagination. I mentioned our 
trouble, and friends all over the country 
sent us samples of their stock. In this 
way we received over 25 different samples 
—mostly by parcel post—'all the way 
fi’om a few pounds to half a bushel. It 
has been one of the most interesting 
things connected with the Summer’s work 
to watch the growth of these potatoes. 
The big outstanding thing about it all is 
that genuine “certified” seed is worth 
three or four times as much as seed from 
a mixed lot of ordinary potatoes. As a 
result of this year’s trials I would rather 
pay $10 a barrel for true “certified” stock 
than $3 for seed that has no guarantee 
behind it. 
* * * * * 
Among other samples came a small 
quantity of a dark-colored long potato. The 
sender did not know its trade name, but 
he said it gave good yield and in all his 
experience had never gone down with 
blight—though other varieties near it had 
given up to the disease. We planted this 
variety in the garden, and I confess that 
we had little faith in its power to resist 
blight. For, in our climate, that disease 
represents the champion, and most of the 
“hopes” that go up against it are whipped 
before they get into the ring—or ground. 
This variety had just the same care as 
the others. We learned one thing about 
cutting seed. The scarcity and price of 
seed led us to cut closer than ever before 
—to one-eye pieces. With strong, certi¬ 
fied seed these smaller pieces have given 
us a full stand—except in one case, where 
I think part of the seed was frosted. I 
meant to make this new variety fight for 
its life with “no help from science,” but 
bv mistake the vines got one dusting with 
sulphur and dry arsenate when the bugs 
appeared. The other varieties had the 
same. We plant mostly early varieties, 
and by the first week in September every¬ 
thing' was dead or dying except this 
“blight-proof” variety. The vines kept 
green and thriftly, and as I write this 
still have their natural color. They seem 
to have passed through the blight, and 
are dying a natural death. I never saw 
that happen in Bergen County before. 
Most of our potato vines “die with their 
boots on”—shot to death by blight dis¬ 
ease. We have not yet dug into the 
patch, but it looks like a heavy yield. 
***** 
It seems as if we had struck some- 
thiug worth while in this. The variety 
may not be entirely “blight-proof,’ but 
at ieast it is far more resistant than any¬ 
thing we ever tried before. But why 
should one variety stand up and laugh 
at the disease, while another falls down 
at the first germ which comes floating 
through the air? I must pass that on 
to the scientists. Right in our own fam¬ 
ily we have had people who can work 
right among a tangle of poison ivy and 
even rub it on their hands without any 
injury. We have also had people who 
can hardly pass within a rod of an ivy 
vine without suffering terribly. These 
sufferers are, as a rule, as strong and 
sturdy as those who reject the disease. 
There seems to be much the same differ¬ 
ence in the power ’of certain humans or 
animals to hold off disease. I notice 
that the vines of this “blight-proof” va¬ 
riety are very yank and heavy. They 
covered the ground with a perfect tan¬ 
gle. The vines seem to be very long 
and hard, and the leaves are rather small. 
The vines do not stand up like the Rural 
varieties, but fall down upon the ground 
early. I notice that the flesh of the 
tuber is very firm and fine-grained. At 
any rate, this variety is nearest “blight- 
proof” of anything we have ever tried. 
We cannot yet speak of the quality and 
yield, hut it looks like a good one. I 
think that with reasonable spraying it 
could be brought through to maturity. 
The scientific men with whom I have 
talked do not seem to think there is much 
in this idea of disease-resisting varieties. 
I think they feel that as you work into 
this quality you are likely to work away 
from other desirable traits. Yet our 
Reading Giant asparagus rarely, if ever, 
shows any rust, and is of the finest qual¬ 
ity. 
***** 
No frost yet. We had a white sug¬ 
gestion of it on September 20, when Jack 
S’rost just touched the lower places with 
the tip of his little finger, but no damage 
was done. We accept it as a warning 
that the time has come to cut corn fod¬ 
der. Most of the sweet corn has been 
picked. There may be a few more small 
ears, but the fodder will now be cut and 
shocked. It will be used to feed the 
horses this Winter, and we plan to feed 
it early—as soon as it is dry enough. 
We can pick tomatoes and eggplant up 
to a hard frost. The tomatoes have given 
a great crop, but the price has run too 
low to give any profit. The eggplants 
have not done their full duty. Now that 
dry weather has come, these plants are 
rushing out their blooms like a flower 
garden, but they never can make fruit 
new. On the lower field by the brook 
we have a good yield of our Hope Farm 
flint corn. It looks well. For a num¬ 
ber of years now we have been trying to 
develop a strain of corn that will give 
two good ears low down on a slender 
stalk, and do it in less than 100 days. 
This year we seem to come nearer to it 
than ever before. We never had a larger 
proportion of two-eared plants. I shall 
have to go through the field now at once 
and mark the stalks wanted for seed. 
***** 
I have seen so many extravagant stories 
about new breeds or vareties that I have 
often wondered what I would do if we 
ever had occasion to tell the truth about 
one of these wonders. Now the chance 
seems to have come to us in describing 
the Black Jersey Giant poultry. What 
is the truth about such things, anyway? 
Who can tell until fate forces it into a 
human life? The plain, simple truth 
as fate presents it is only a clear, cold 
outline in black. The colors are slapped 
in by love, imagination or prejudice, and 
that is why truth varies to our eyes, as 
does a girl with a dozen different bright 
dresses and half a dozen ways of doing up 
her hair. For instance, I suppose most 
people who think of Daniel Webster pic¬ 
ture him as a giant, a man of remarkable 
size. Senator Geo. F. Hoar in his re¬ 
markable autobiography tells how he saw 
Webster at his home ou July 4, 1844: 
“It is said, I truly suppose, that he 
was but a trifle over five feet niue inches 
high, and weighed 154 pounds. But then, 
as on all other occasions that I saw him, 
I should have been prepared to affirm that 
he was over six feet high and weighed 
at least 200 pounds. The same glamor 
is said to have attended Louis XIY, 
whose majesty of bearing was such that 
it was never discovered that he was a 
man of short statue until he was meas¬ 
ured for his coffin.” 
That is true, not only of men, but of 
many things and thoughts. This “glamor” 
which both good and bad men succeed in 
wrapping around their shoulders, is what 
I call slapping the brilliant colors upon 
the cold and unattractive truth. Years 
ago James G. Blaine had much of that 
quality. It induced thousands of good 
men to folloiv him without giving much 
consideration to some of the things he 
stood for. The same is true of many 
questionable things which promotel's try 
to “put over.” 
***** 
But what has all this to do with the 
Black Jersey Giants? Do I lank them 
with Daniel Webster? Hardly, yet when 
Black Beauty, the head of our pen, opens 
October 0, 1020 
hie throat and lets his voice be known, 
you listen to chicken oratory. These 
Giants have many good qualities, hut 
they are not feathered angels, as some 
of the breeders would have us believe. 
I think fair specimens of the Giants will 
outweigh any other chickens of equal 
age. I consider them very beautiful, 
with their black, shiuy feathers. Wo 
have found them hardy and easy keepers 
for such large birds. They lay large, 
brown eggs. Our Giants compare well 
with our Reds as layers. They are less 
likely to become broody. They have far 
more life and energy than any other large 
breeds—like Brahmas or Cochins. The 
carcass is excellent in shape and fine in 
quality—the disadvantage being in the 
black legs and pin feathers. This is the 
best breed we have seen for producing 
large roasting fowls, though the Giants 
arc slow to mature. With us the eggs 
are not high in fertility. That may bo 
because we used pullets which were slow 
to mature. The breed is not yet fully 
“fixed”; some of our chickens show a few 
white or brown feathers. I have seen 
nothing to warrant the claim that the 
Giants arc very superior layers. They 
hold their own with our Reds, but are 
certainly not world-beaters. They arc 
to be entered in the next egg-laying con¬ 
test. I expect to see them start slowly, 
but make a good record later. They are 
active and good hunters. I think their 
best place will be on large farms, where 
they can run at large and pick up insects 
and scattered grain. For that work I 
think they will have no superior. I do 
not think they can produce eggs as cheap¬ 
ly as Leghorns, or do quite as well as 
Reds in close confinement, but for a range 
fowl, where big size, easy keeping and 
fair laying are wanted, I would nomi¬ 
nate the Giants for first place. They 
are comers, and will be greatly improved 
during the next few years—just as the 
fi IO' 1 
Hauling vs. Plowing 
'V^OU can’t haul your crops to 
town and plow at the same time 
without extra help. And if you 
let your hauling go and put in all 
your time plowing and doing other 
fall work on the farm, you may 
lose out on the top market for your 
crops—or you are likely to find 
yourself hauling under the handicap 
of bad weather later on. 
The logical solution of this 
problem is to do your hauling with 
an International Motor Truck. In 
this way you can haul heavy loads 
over rough roads at a speed of from 
io to 15 miles an hour and make 
the return trip back to the farm 
in record time. You save valuable 
time for farm work and incidentally 
you are not tuckering out your work 
horses on road hauling. 
The powerful, heavy-duty engine 
and sturdy International-built final 
drive are the two predominant 
reasons why International Motor 
Trucks outcarry and outlast trucks 
that are built and sold on “price. ” 
International Motor Trucks are 
designed and built by an organiza¬ 
tion that is familiar with farming and 
farm conditions, which, no doubt, 
accounts for the great satisfaction 
these trucks give in farm service. 
There is a style of body and size 
of truck for every hauling require¬ 
ment— f-ton to 3^-tons capacity. 
Ask us about them. 
International Harvester Company 
OF AMERICA i.c a 
CHICAGO (incorporates) W w A 
