914 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Nov. 15 



are " no g-ood." I wonder if it can be that 

 the season here is not long enough for the 

 Craig. In both tests the potatoes looked as 

 if they were onl_y half grown, yet both were 

 planted near the first of May. I thinlc I 

 will try again next year, planting tliem in 

 April, or just as soon as they can be planted. 



Now for the Russet. Frank says the 

 yield was small, and the potatoes were 

 "prongjs" in Medina. I think this was 

 due largely to severe drouth that almost 

 stopped their growth, but that they after- 

 ward started a new growth with our abun- 

 dant rains in August. Well, there was 

 something of the same conditions here; but, 

 listen to my story. 



A few days ago my help was all missing. 

 I soon found the farmers were getting anx- 

 ious about their potatoes, and were offering 

 4 cts. a bushel for digging and picking up. 

 One of the boys whom I had been hiring for 

 Si. 00 a daj" was making $2.00 in the potato- 

 field. Another boy, only 14 years old, was 

 sure he could do the same (dig and picl< up 

 SO bushels a day), and he did it. Then 

 came a report that Holly Hilbert, aged 19, 

 and his sister Erna, aged 15, had (the two 

 together) dug and picked up 125 bushels in 

 a da3^ Mr. Hilbert sent word I must come 

 over at once and bring my kodak. Let me 

 go back a little. 



Last fall I sent friend Hilbert a copy of 

 the book entitled " Farming with Green Ma- 

 nures,"* and he has become quite taken up 

 with it. Some time in the fall he plowed 

 under a fine field of clover, and sowed rye. 

 This spring, just after the rj'e was out of 

 bloom, he turned it under and planted Rus- 

 set potatoes. His neighbors thought it a 

 great waste; but to-day he has been getting 

 three hundred bushels per acre, during this 

 poor season, of the handsomest Russets Ruy 

 one ever saw. The potatoes are all large 

 or very large, and they are almost as hand- 

 some and smo3th as the Carmans, only of 

 dift'erent shape. It was these beautiful 

 Russets that Miss Erna and Holly got out 125 

 bushels of in a day. Their mother told me 

 the}' did not commence till after 7, and they 

 stopped at night before 6 o'clock. 



I noticed Holly pulled out his potatoes 

 with a light hook, such as is in general use 

 about here; but he told me he preferred a 

 fork, as a rule; but on this crop the rye 

 straw, that was not fully decayed, interfer- 

 ed with the fork more than it did with the 

 hook. Both forks and hooks are made much 

 lighter for use in this localit}' than in Ohio. 



I find, by conversing with experts, tliat 

 there is a difference of opinion as to wiiich 

 is best. Holly says he could have dug 150 

 bushels or more, had he been able to use 

 the fork. I find, in the country about here, 

 that most of the schools have a vacation 

 during potato-digging time. Buyers are 

 now offering about 50 cts. per busliel. Per- 

 haps I might here mention that the Russet 



* This is the book that Alice, when she hastilj" read 

 the title, called ■ Farmers with Green Manners." 

 Never mind Alice picked np H7 bushels the ,same day 

 her sister did 125, and Alice is only 12 years old. 



is about the whitest, inside, of any potato 

 known, and it now commands as high a 

 price as any other potato in the market. A 

 scabby Russet is something I have never 

 seen in this locality, although they have 

 had trouble with scab with almost all other 

 kinds — that is, when potatoes have been 

 grown on the same grotind j^ear after year. 

 My kodak pictures of the potatoes and the 

 Hilbert family I expect to show j^ou in due 

 time. 



Potatoes are kept over winter right in the 

 field where they are dug, all over this re- 

 gion. Just dig an oblong pit, say from 3 to 

 6 feet across, 2 or 3 feet deep, and liave the 

 top of the potatoes about level with tlie sur- 

 face of the ground. Put on an armful of 

 straw, then a foot or two of dirt; and if you 

 are in a depression where the snow will 

 drift over the heap, and not blow off, your 

 potatoes are safe. Scattering the potato- 

 tops over tlie heap will help to keep the 

 snow from blowing oft'. If your pit is in 

 the sand, say in soil sandy enough to dig 

 easily, there is never any need of making 

 any provision for drainage. 



Since tlie above was written Mr. Hilbert 

 tells me he dug a square rod, carefully 

 measvired, and it showed at the rate of 354 

 bushels to the acre. Mr. Martin Olsen, of 

 Keswick (the carpenter who built our "cab- 

 in"), has also succeeded in getting this sea- 

 son 300 bushels of Empire State potatoes to 

 tlie acre on a part of one of his fields. On 

 the same field he has, on former seasons, 

 taken 200 btishels of corn from an acre, and 

 this is not considered a corn country. Now, 

 botli Mr. Olsen and Mr. Hilbert are "high- 

 pressure " farmers. I might tell you of 

 seven acres of potatoes near here that gave 

 only a little over 100 bushels all together. 



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