872 



(JLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Nov. 1.5. 



nor projections; almost always of large size. 

 Outside it is a little on the reddish line; but 

 when cooked it is alnio'^t white — a little yellow- 

 ish whitH, perhap-:. While the quality is not 

 equal to the Freeman, it is fully as good as any 

 of the large strong-growing potatoes. I have 

 never myself seen any of them where the vines 

 died before they were k'illed by frost; conse- 

 quently none of ours, very liknly. gave us as 

 tine a quality of potatoes as where they ripened 

 up of their own accord. Possibly our plan of 

 heavy mulching with coarse manure has much 

 to do with keeping them growing a> they do: 

 but I shall, at least so long as I have such good 

 success, hold fast to the mulching plan. Just 

 think of ill the )nost of ihc work is doin' before 

 your potatde.- ai'e planted. Before ilicy are 

 quite out of the firoiind wt^ go over tlicrn \vith 

 the smoothing harrow, and we use this harrow 

 again after ihey arc u|^ just a little. If the 

 weathir is f;>vnrahlc. then wr use the Breed's 

 weeder; and by th^ ijmi^ they h;ive been culti- 

 vated, say two or ihn-e times with tho Planet 

 or Iron Age cultivators having a good ninny 

 fin<^ tperh, thi- fops begin to cover the m- und 

 so they are ready for the mulch. We have 

 them planted such a distance apart that the 

 horses and wagon straddle the rows. One man 

 pitches ofif the coarse manure while another 

 pitches it under the foliage or between the 

 hills. If you have a pretty good soaking rain 

 after yon get this mulch in place, your potatoes 

 are pretty sure to be safe so far as drotith is 

 concerned. If rank weeds push through the 

 mulching, pull them out bv hand. Our experi- 

 ence is. however, that, with the Craig potato, 

 the vines soon cover the ground so thoroughly 

 but little care nr tending is required after von 

 put on the nuilchiiig. 



Several who have reported speak of the miss- 

 ing hills: and I am forced to conclude tliis may 

 be a fault with the potato. Next spring, how- 

 ever, we are going to try to have every eye 

 started b'^f^re it is planted; that is. we will 

 plant no pieces until the eyes have started suf- 

 ficiently to make it pretty certain, and then we 

 shall have a full stand. Here is a report from 

 away down in Missouri: 



FORTY-SIX POUNDS OF POTATOKS FKOM ONE 

 POUND Pr.ANTED. 



The two pounds of Craig potatoes \ bought of 

 you last spring wi ro cut to one eye pieces; 

 planted when I plantid earlv potatoes; vines 

 very rank, but dead hefori" frost. Yield. 92 lbs. 

 of fine large potatoes, rhe be-;t I rai-ed this 

 year. My Freemans did not come up to my 

 expectations. John GEAiiiiAKT. 



Princeton, Mo., Nov. 6. 



Yes. friend-;, we know the Freeman o'dinarily 

 does not give the great yield that manv other 

 potatoes do; but for the present, in our family, 

 the Fn-eman leads them all in quality. We 

 had some baked for breakfast this morning. 

 Several other kinds were put in so as to com- 

 pare them with the Freeman. Ifvouwanta 

 baked potato to be nice, you must be on hand 

 when they are just ready to come out of the 

 oven. The Freemans would break open with 

 the contents so drv and floury they would al- 

 most shake out of the peeling. " 



AT THE R.VTE OF 120 POUNDS FROM 1 POUND 

 PLANTED. 



Last spring I received by mail from you one- 

 fourth pound of Craig potatoes. Tliey w.re 

 cut to single eve«. making 14 which were 

 planted one in a hill, in moderately strong gar- 

 den soil. The tfips died down two or three 

 weeks before frost, and I dug 30 pounds of 

 them. I don't know much about how potatoes 



ought to yield, but it strikes me that raising- 

 potatoes at the rate of 120 pounds to 1 planted 

 is doing pretty well. They were nearly all of 

 good size, hutonly one of them weighed a pound. 



Orlin, Mo., Oct. 28. I). B. Thomas. 



Well, well, friend T., your report, it seems to 

 me. beats every thing heretofore; at the rate 

 of 120 lbs., from one pound planted, it is away 

 ahead of even Maule's Thoroughbred. Rut 

 yours had a whole season to grow in. or nearly 

 the whole, as it is a late potato; and probably 

 you took a little more pains than the ordinary 

 fipld culture given the Thoroughbreds by 

 friend Terry. 



I bought one pound of Craigs of you last 

 spring. I cut them one eye on a piece, and put 

 two pieces in a hill, making IS hills all tnld. 

 Only about half of them started. I think they 

 had been frosted, as they were black, mo^e or 

 less on the inside. Have you had any c-ora- 

 plaint on that score? I dug them a few days 

 ago— just 40 lbs. of old whoppers. I tell you— no 

 small ones at all. only in one hill, where there 

 was a dozen or more from the size of a pea to 

 that of a hickorynnt. The bugs ate them some, 

 and they blighted, but not as bad as other va- 

 rieties all around them. Maggie Murphy is 

 verv similar in color and shape, but earlier, and 

 blighted the worst, of any. and is not quite 

 as large. There was no sign of any scab on 

 th" Craigs. E. Manning. 



Jacksonville. N. Y.. Oct. 2L 



ANACER 



The Sir Willijira potato, advertised in this issue, is 

 a very nice talile potato, in addition to its manj- 

 other good quaUties. T hud ii bite of a large nice 

 one this morning-, so that I know wlu-reof I speak. 



In giving the price of granola. in our last issue, it 

 was, by mistake, put at 20cts., when it slH)uld have 

 Ijeen 10 cts. in liulk or 12 cts. in 1-11). cartons, and 

 whole-wlieat wafers should be 12 cts. per H)., instead 

 of 20 cts. 



EARLY OHIO POTATOES.— ANOTHKR LOT. 



For several weeks we liave lieon sold out of Early 

 Ohios. but have just now secured a tine lot of aliout 

 200 bushels. We can now furnisli lliem, l)ol!i firsts 

 and seconds, as lieretofore advertised; namely, $1.50 

 per barrel of 11 jieelvS for firsts; 7.5 cts. per barrel 

 for seconds, so long as the seconds liold out. 



MAULE S new EAHLY THOROUGHBRED POTATO 

 UNDER OLASS. 



On page 819 T told you we bad received a pound of 

 the above by mail The pound consisted of three 

 medium-sized iiotatoes. Ab;ilf of one of them was 

 cooked as a sample. The rest wei-e cut to one eye, 

 and planted 7 iiiclK^s apart in our best lettuce-green- 

 house across the way. Exiiaust sieam was turned 

 under the bed so as to give bottom heat; and to-day, 

 just 20 days after they were put in tbe ground, we 

 are deliffhted to find they are sprouting nicely. Two 

 of them have alreadj' hurst through the ground. 

 The2i4 potatoes made just 28 eyes. Now. then, we 

 are going to see what ean be done in the way of 

 raising potaioes under glass, started the latter part 

 of October. We propose to move them further 

 apart as fast as they get crowded. 



1 am very sorry tliat quite a few have understood 

 thatwe give a pound of these potatoes for renewing 

 your subscription instead of sending us a new sub- 

 scri' tion. My object in making this big offer was 

 to get Gleanings into families or localities where 

 it has not been before; and our five barrels of po- 

 tatoes that cost us so much money would be gone in 

 no time if we gave a dollar's worth of potatoes to 

 every one who renews for 1896. We stand quite 



