WINTER MEETING. 23& 



THE POTATO. 



The potato can be raised on a large scale in very many localities, and it is the 

 king of the vegetable kingdom and one of the staple articles of food. It is easily 

 cultivated, and often yields very large crops, which are easily and readily sold in 

 either a near-by or foreign market at prices that bring you a handsome revenue. 

 The potato- vine also furnishes the young orchard with the best and most cooling- 

 and moistening mulch that is possible to obtain, and just at a time of year when 

 it is most needed. To show you the vast importance of selecting good varieties, 

 it is only necessary to relate some of my experience this year : 



The Early Ohio yielded 130 bushels per acre, which I sold for 50 to 68 cents per 

 bushel. Lee's Favorite and New Qaeen each yielded at the rate of 250 bushels 

 per acre, all of which I sold at 60 cents per bushel in the field. The Burbank seed- 

 ling ( which is always quoted higher than any other potato in the markets and in 

 some localities, especially in the north, produces the largest crops ) only yielded 

 50 bnshels per acre. And the tubers are small and knotty, and hard to sell at 35 

 cents per bushel. 



THE WATERMELON. 



I will only mention one more vegetable which has proven a profitable adjunct 

 to my orchad, and that is the melon crop. " O dat water millon !" Mr. Chairman 

 hundreds of acres are planted in many parts of this fair land of ours. It is one of 

 the luxuries we can little afford to be without. But alas, the high rates of trans- 

 portation, the elements and the striped bug often seem to conspire to defeat our 

 best-directed efforts and to rob us of our profits. 



The last of these enemies, the bug, is easily combated and conquered by the 

 use of flour of sulphur, sprinkled at the roots of the melon vines. But the soulless 

 corporation and the elements are the things over which we have no control, and 

 to which we must submit with as much meekness and grace as possible. 



yet we have known a person to get a net income of $60 per acre, besides a. 

 splendid growth of wood on his young apple-trees, by raising the watermelon . 

 But I will not trespass longer on your valuable time, for I think I have already 

 shown conclusively that, as an adjunct to the orchard, truck farming is a profitable 

 adjunct to fruit growing, and I will only add the following conclusions : You will 

 notice the crops I have mentioned require the cultivation most suited to the young 

 orchard, furnish the most and best and cheapest mulches, and at the season of the 

 year when the mulch is most needed. Then, Mr. Chairman, if the crops we raise 

 were not profitable in a cash point of view, we are amply repaid for our labor by 

 securing the best possible cultivation for our young orchard. 



"Then take my advice ; it is good and it is true ; 

 Bat lest there be some of you doubt it, 

 I'll whisper the secret, now, seeing it is you, 

 I've tried it, and know all about it " 



GARDEN VEGETABLES. 



In these busy days of scientific research, when so many knotty problems are 

 presenting themselves to the horticulturist, and when each year sees so much to 

 be done toward the solution of these problems, have we still a little time to con- 

 sider that simple adjunct to the rural home— the kitchen garden ? 



It may seem that enough has already been said and written upon this subject, 

 urging every one to have a garden. Almost every class of healthy-minded indi- 

 vidual has tried gardening, and a great many of them have given their methods. 



