January 4, 1908 



HORTICULTURE 



25 



modern plans and was equipped with 

 a proved refrigerating machinery; but 

 there was strong substantial evidence 

 offered, to establish some special care- 

 lessness and oversight on the part of 

 the storage company, during the 

 spring of the year in question. A suf- 

 ficient rise in temperature was indi- 

 cated to start the bulbs from their dor- 

 mant state, and it was proved by the 

 testimony of experts, that when once 

 the pips had sprouted, their growth 

 could not be stopped or retarded with- 

 out destroying them. This evidence 

 convinced the jury, which decided in 

 favor of Mr. Roehrs, and they brought 

 in a verdict for the full value of the 

 goods. The court ruled against the 

 storage company, on the point which 

 was made by its lawyers, that all of 

 the boxes of the goods should have 

 been opened and examined by the flor- 

 ist before the goods were placed on 

 stora!?e. The court sustained the con- 

 -tention that only a reasonable exami- 

 nation, in ordinary course of business, 

 is necessary. 



It is needless to say that the defen- 

 dant storage company, and other com- 

 panies in the same line, will take 

 special notice of this case, in the fu- 

 ture conduct of their business, and it 

 is also apparent that the decision will 

 attract much attention from florists, 

 who cannot fail to benefit largely by 

 the protection which this decision af- 

 fords them. 



THE POTATO. 



A paper read before the Southampton 



Hortloultur.Tl Society by 



Walter L.. Jagger. 



If in the presentation of this paper 

 the personal pronoun I is prominent- 

 ly presented I trust you will not think 

 it to be in a spirit of egotism. When 

 nine years old I was called upon to 

 assist in the planting and culture of 

 potatoes and have been at it every 

 year since, so that I may justly claim 

 to have been a grower of the Solanum 

 tuberosum for more than half a cen- 

 tury and yet at the present time feel 

 that I can only lay claim to a back 

 seat among the army of potato grow- 

 ers who are making a financial suc- 

 cess of the business. The tools used 

 for planting when I began consisted 

 of a plow and manure fork only, and 

 for tilling this same plow, a small 

 harrow and a hoe; this hoe was 

 usually manipulated by the boy and in 

 most cases was in* size all out of pro- 

 portion to his strength. Plowing 4 

 rows, 40 rods long, was considered 

 a fair day's work. The only recrea- 

 tion we could get was to exchange 

 work with the neighbor's boy over the 

 pond; you help me hoe two rows and 

 I'll help you hoe two; the work went 

 more easily when we had companion- 

 ship. My father was one of the very 

 first in this locality to purchase a 

 horse hoe cultivator and this tool at 

 that tjire did very efficient work. It 

 is still in existence in my tool house, 

 but its use has long since been super- 

 seded by better ones and it is only 

 kept as a reminder of the past. 



In the season of 1867 potatoes nearly 

 all rotted, and there were not enough 

 produced in the locality to supply 

 the demand. Many had to substitute 

 turnips and the cereals. My father, 

 who was something of an experi- 

 menter, had this year eight rows, 40 



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B. G. PRATT CO., Mfg. CbemisU, 

 H Broadway, New York City 



rods long, planted with seaweed in 

 the drill, and these produced enough 

 to supply the family with potatoes. 

 The balance of the field all rotted and 

 were not worth digging. I have often 

 wondered whether salt might not help 

 prevent rot in potatoes. The chemical 

 fertilizers of the present day had not 

 then come on the market. Peruvian 

 guano, ground bone, fish lime, wood 

 ashes, mock farm manure, were used 

 in dififerent combinations and propor- 

 tions, and the process of planting an 

 acre of potatoes was a laborious one. 



After coming into possession of a 

 farm of my own I spent a good deal 

 of time and money experimenting with 

 different varieties of potatoes. One 

 year I grew 13 varieties, some of 

 which were almost a total failure, en- 

 tailing on me quite a money loss. It 

 took me quite a number of years to 

 find out which was the most profitable 

 variety for me to grow, and after a 

 time I learned it was a great deal 

 cheaper to let the other fellow do 

 most of the experimenting and con- 

 fine myself to growing one variety 

 which yielded well and found a ready 

 market, which at the present time ap- 

 pears to be Carman No. 1. 



I grew one year on a measured 

 acre 396 bushels of marketable pota- 

 toes and 10 1-2 bushels of culls, mak- 

 ing a total yield of 406 1-2 bushels on 

 the acre. The variety was the Early 

 Norther. I never had any such yield 

 before nor since. I made no special 

 effort to grow this acre of potatoes, 

 but like Topsv they "just growed." 



For the years 1897, '98, '99. 1900, I 

 had charge of three acres under the 

 direction of Dr. Jordan, director of the 

 New York Agricultural Experiment 

 Station, at Geneva. These three 

 acres were divided into ten parts each, 

 making 30 plats in all, and the objects 

 were: First, a comparison of differ- 

 ent amounts of complete fertilizer 

 from 500 to 2,000 pounds; second, -a 

 test of the relative efficiency of the 

 common Long Island formula 4-8-10 

 mixture and a fertilizer based on the 

 composition of the potatoes, a 7-4-10 

 mixture; third, the use side by side 

 of sulphate and muriate as a source 

 of potash; fourth, a comparison of for- 

 mula containing 10 per cent potash 

 with the same mixture in which the 

 potash ■was reduced to two-thirds, one- 

 third ard nothing. The materials 

 used in compounding all the fertilizers 

 were citrate of soda, dried blood, acid 

 phosphate, sulphate or muriate of 

 potash and land plaster. 



I will not at this time enter into de- 

 tails as to results; suffice it to say that 

 the experiments appeared to prove that 

 1,500 pounds was the limit of profitable 

 application. The 4-8-10 mixture gave 

 better results than the formula based 

 on the supposed draft of the potatoes 



on the soil. The tests of muriatic and 

 sulphate were not conclusive and the 

 surprising thing was, notwithstanding 

 the large quantity of potash taken 

 from the soil by the potato tubers, 30- 

 pounds in 100 bushels, the crops iu 

 these tests seemed to find a sufficient 

 supply of this element in the natural 

 soil, for the plats receiving only nitro- 

 gen and phosphoric acid averaged 

 slightly more tan those receiving one- 

 third or two-thirds of the full amount 

 of potash per acre, and only a fraction 

 of a bushel less than that receiving the 

 entire amount. 



The composition of the tubers evi- 

 dently varies according to seasons and 

 soils and fertiliers, the variety grown, 

 etc. 1 suppose you all have noticed that 

 some seasons potatoes cook better and 

 have a better flavor than at others. It 

 is claimed that sulphate of potash pro- 

 duces a finer quality of starch than 

 muriate, but from my observation and 

 experience 1 am inclined to think that 

 soil, season and variety have fully as 

 much to do with the composition of the 

 potatoes as the kind of fertilizers used. 

 Albert Carman, former editor of the 

 Rural New Yorker, the originator of 

 several varieties of potatoes, has to my 

 mind done as much or more for the 

 benefit of the people of this country 

 than Luther Burbank with all the 

 plants and flowers which he has ori- 

 ginated, though if my memory serves 

 me right, the Burbank potato was one 

 of those used by iWr. Carman in cross- 

 ing to produce the ones he did. Un- 

 derstand me, I do not intend in the 

 least to disparage the work of Mr. Bur- 

 bank; he has wrought wonders and a 

 history of his creations in plant life- 

 is as fascinating as a novel. 



Send other business direct to Waihingloa. 

 Saves time and insures better service. 

 Personal attention guaianteed. 

 Twenty-five years' active service, 

 SPECIALTY: "Working on the Failure 

 of Others." 



SIGGERS & SIGGERS 



PATENT LAWYERS 



Box 9, National Union BuUdIng 

 Washington, D, C. 



Holds Class 

 Firmly 



■•• the Point 4V 

 PEERi£S8 



Glftslnff Polnto »r« lb*fc« 



Wo rlghu oz laftl. B«s tt 



* 1.000 polou T6«la. ^MIp^A. 



_ HENBT A. DBECR, 



3 114 CkaMnt ■l^rul>.,rb 



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