The  RURAL  NEW-YORKER 
931 
Letters  of  An  Indiana  Farmer 
It  is  the  first  Sunday  in  June,  and  a 
day  to  justify  Lowell’s  description.  The 
huge  locust  tree  that  grandfather  planted 
is  a  mass  of  bloom.  How  old  it  is  I  do 
not  know,  but  it  was  already  higher  than 
a  2%-story  house  in  the  sixties,  as  a  pho¬ 
tograph  shows.  Next  to  the  locust  tree 
is  a  Philadelphus,  also  loaded ;  we  do 
know  its  name,  but  we  follow  common 
usage  and  call  it  syringa,  ordinarily. 
And  then,  covering  two  south  windows, 
the  great  Empress  of  China  rose,  about  a 
quarter  century  old,  earliest  of  our  roses, 
a  mass  of  fragrant  pink.  It  seems  to  me 
that  it  never  was  so  beautiful,  but  I  may, 
as  a  returned  native,  view  it  with  partial 
eyes.  I  cannot  understand  why  the  cat¬ 
alogues  dismiss  it  with  a  line  or  two, 
merely  mentioning  its  color,  when  it  is  a 
marvel  of  hardiness  and  freedom  from 
disease,  and  blooms  again  in  the  Fall.  1 
would  not  exchange  it  for  a  dozen  of 
the  Rambler  type,  though  'I  find  place  for 
those  also,  when  they  come  to  my  door, 
as  three  “Dorothy”  did  this  Spring. 
The  family  departed  early  this  morn¬ 
ing,  in  “Grandpa’s  beele,”  to  view  a  farm 
about  10  miles  away,  as  Earl  has  an  at¬ 
tack  of  wanting  to  be  his  own  boss — as 
if  one  ever  is  1  Even  a  man  is  subject  to 
weather  and  markets;  a  woman  owner 
can  run  her  hous'fe,  but  unless  she  is  of 
Amazon  build,  and  can  manage  horses 
and  a  scythe,  she  is  more  or  less  de¬ 
pendent  on  the  help  she  can  find  to  mow 
her  weeds  and  get  ground  in  order. 
We  have  been  having  tractor  troubles. 
I  bought  a  small  garden  tractor  last  vear, 
and  it  has  never  been  really  tamed.  Be¬ 
cause  it  is  put  out  by  a  reputable  com¬ 
pany.  and  I  feel  sure  the  difficulties  wi.l 
yet  be  adjusted,  I  am  not  mentioning  the 
make.  Anyway,  we  called  it  “Maud”  on 
its  arrival,  and  the  name  proved  unhap¬ 
pily  pat!  However,  the  men  have  been 
working  on  it,  and  we  had  it  out  for  ex¬ 
ercise  on  the  big  garden  last  evening, 
'and  it  did  better  than  it  ever  had  done. 
(The  “exercise”  was  partly  for  the  trac¬ 
tor  and  partly  for  the  person  who  had  to 
keep  it  from  turning  turtle.)  I  am  a 
member  in  good  standing  of  the  Incurable 
Optimists — as  a  farmer  needs  to  be — and 
hope  to  report,  before  another  letter,  that 
“Maud”  is  thoroughly  well  broken. 
There  is  music  from  the  little  church 
embowered  in  locust  trees,  probably  de¬ 
scendants  of  my  great  patriarch.  I  am 
not  at  church  because  my  face  is  a  sight, 
and  I  get  tired  explaining  to  people  that 
I  think  it  is  poisoned,  but  the  doctor 
calls  it  some  long-named  skin  disease.  I 
don’t  care  particularly  what  be  calls  it, 
so  he  cures  me ;  and  I  wouldn’t  burden 
one  of  these  letters  with  physical  ills,  if 
it  were  not  that  I  wonder  whether  any 
of  the  professional  potato  grower  have 
had  a  similar  experience.  I  was  using 
sulphur  dust  in  potato  furrows,  and  it 
blew  into  my  face;  my  eyes  became  ter¬ 
ribly  inflamed,  and  didn’t  get  over  it  for 
a  day  or  two,  and  the  eruption  started 
those  same  days.  I  never  heard  of  sul¬ 
phur  poisoning,  but  it  might  have  con¬ 
tained  impurities. 
We  are  using  certified  seed,  and  also 
formalin  dip  ;  I  wouldn’t  consider  plant¬ 
ing  without  it,  and  it  was  just  as  easy  to 
do  enough  for  both  families.  It  is  sur¬ 
prising  how  many  men  don’t  mind  having 
scabby  potatoes.  (Wives  not  heard 
from.)  The  sulphur  was  an  experiment, 
and  only  part  of  the  row’s  got  in,  so 
there  will  be  a  good  basis  for  comparison. 
The  men  who  are  taking  care  of  the 
apple  trees  reported  last  week  that  “there 
will  be  a  hundred  bushels  if  they  all 
stayed  on.”  The  are  too  thick,  but  wre 
are  waiting  for  the  expected  “June  drop” 
before  thinning  any.  There  are  only  10 
or  12  mature  trees,  so  the  estimate  is 
quite  beyond  probability.  The  trees  look 
uncommonly  healthy,  even  some  that 
barely  escaped  the  ax.  It  hardly  seems 
possible  that  just  one  year  of  correct 
pruning  and  spraying  would  put  them 
into  such  good  shape.  The  young  fruit 
trees  set  this  Spring  all  have  started  off 
well,  except  the  French  Paradise  seed¬ 
lings  for  budding,  of  which  only  about  40 
per  cent  show  signs  of  life.  They  were 
very  late  starting,  however,  so  a  few’  more 
may  pull  through. 
The  first  ripe  strawberry  appeared 
.Tune  1;  they  were  ripening  about  two 
weeks  earlier  last  year.  The  patch  needs 
rain.  The  _  blackcaps  are  loaded  with 
bloom,  promising  a  much  larger  crop  than 
last  year,  barring  the  same  accidents  of 
drought  and  birds.  As  we  almost  al¬ 
ways  have  both  I  am  planting  no  more 
blackcaps — until  I  change  my  mind  !  I 
had  a  present  of  white  blackberry  plants 
the  other  day.  They  always  sounded  like 
a  joke,  but  are  pronounced  really  good. 
Five  Franco-German  currant  bushes  are 
w’orrying  me ;  they  were  set  in  April. 
1921,  and  are  of  luxuriaht  growth,  but 
without  a  sign  of  blossom,  while  Wilder, 
of  same  age,  not  nearly  so  thrifty,  bore  a 
little  fruit  even  last  year,  and  again  this 
year. 
I  mentioned,  in  an  earlier  letter,  plans 
to  start  Lilium  regale  from  seed.  They 
are  up  now,  and  very  promising,  writh  a 
100  per  cent  germination.  As  three  dozen 
seeds  cost  about  half  the  price  of  one 
bulb,  it  seems  to  be  the  economical  wray 
to  establish  a  big  plantation,  such  as 
this  big  place  needs.  Now7  I  shall  ask 
some  friends  to  save  the  seed  of  Madonna 
lilies,  and  perhaps  some  others.  I  am 
trying  Amaryllis  seed,  also. 
The  folks  came  back  laughing  from 
their  farm  hunt.  Lula  says,  “For  a  mil¬ 
lion  dollars  I’d  not  live  there.”  They  re¬ 
ported  a  lot  of  land  lying  idle,  as  hands 
had  gone  to  the  Dayton  factories.  We 
have  heard  much  of  the  abandoned  farms 
of  New  England  and  the  Middle  States, 
but  it  wras  a  shock  to  find  them  so  close 
as  Ohio.  E.  M.  c. 
Splint  Brooms  Again 
The  writer  has  been  much  interested 
in  The  R.  N.-Y.’s  directions  for  making 
splint  brooms,  having  seen  these  brooms 
for  the  first  time  during  a  recent  visit 
at  the  foot  of  the  Blue  Ridge  Mountains. 
They  are  made  by  the  mountaineers  of 
the  region  (the  men),  and  are  very  prac¬ 
tical  and  effective  as  “scrub  brooms,”  and 
also,  in  smaller  sizes,  as  hearth  brooms ; 
in  fact,  the  various  branches  of  my  fam¬ 
ily  are  now  pretty  well  supplied  with  im¬ 
portations  by  parcel  post.  A  hickory 
hearth  broom  is  as  quaint  and  old-timey 
The  Rural  Patterns 
In  ordering  alwayi  give  number  of  pattern 
and  size  desired,  sending  price  with  order 
2170.  Dress  tor  21C5.  Coat  dress, 
misses  and  small 
women,  16,  18  and  36  to  42  bust.  The 
20  years.  The  18- 
year  size  will  re-  medium  size  will  re¬ 
quire  3%  yds.  of 
material  40  in.  quire  4%  yds.  of 
wide,  3(<j  yds.  44, 
3(4  yds.  54.  20  eents.  material  36  or  40 
in.  wide,  3K  yds. 
afjSeiz’p'  .74.  20  cents. 
2155.  Blouse  with 
2174.  Girl’s  dress  bust.  The  medium 
with  raglan  sleeves, 
8  to  14  years.  The  size  will  require  2% 
12-year  size  will  re¬ 
quire  3%  yds.  of  yds.  of  material  36 
material  36  or  40 
in.  wide,  3  yds.  44,  in.  wide,  2 V2  yds. 
with  %  of  a  yd.  ex¬ 
tra,  either  width,  40,  2%  yds,  44.  20 
for  the  facing.  20 
cents.  cents. 
as  a  braided  rug,  as  primitive  as  a  rush- 
bottomed  stool,  and  ‘I  btdieve  a  handy 
New  England  boy  could  work  up  a  nice 
little  broom  business  among  the  Summer 
cottagers.  They  sell  in  Virginia  for 
about  a  quarter  apiece,  but  Northerners 
are  glad  to  pay  from  twice  to  four  times 
that  price. 
The  mountaineers  are  very  skillful  in 
making  splint  baskets,  and  I  have  even 
seen  a  man’s  hat  handsomely  woven  of 
very  fine  splint.  r.  f.  p. 
Chili  Con  Carne 
Seeing  the  request  of  E.  E.  S.  for  a 
recipe  for  chili  con  carne,  I  am  sending 
mine,  which  I  would  like  very  much  to 
have  her  try  :  1  lb.  boiling  beef,  1  lb. 
chili  or  red  kidney  beans,  three  medium 
sized  onions, '  1  qt.  stewed  tomatoes,  1 
tablespoon  chili  pepper.  Salt  to  suit  the 
taste.  Boil  the  beef  until  done,  remove 
from  kettle  and  chop  quite  fine.  I  put 
mine  through  the  food  grinder.  Soak  the 
beans  about  an  hour,  then  put  them  on  to 
cook  in  the  water  in  which  the  meat  was 
boiled.  When  beans  are  done  put  drip¬ 
pings  or  butter  in  pan  or  kettle  to  heat, 
chop  onions  and  let  simmer  in  the  hot  fat 
a  few  minutes.  Add  the  tomatoes,  meat, 
beans,  chili  pepper  and  salt.  A  little 
black  pepper  may  be  added  if  one  cares 
for  it.  .  This  may  seem  "like  a  lot  of  work, 
but  it  is  well  worth  every  bit  of  it. 
MBS.  L.  L.  TWINING. 
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