9-78 DR. CHASE'S RECIPES. 



perimenters go from one extreme to the other ; then, as it used to be the cus. 

 torn to put 3 or 3 pieces of the seed-end of potatoes into a hill which would 

 have from, perhaps, 4 to 6 eyes to a piece, they now come down to two pieces 

 only, with only one eye to a piece. Now let common sense come in and make 

 it 3 to 5 eyes, or stalks, to stand in each hill, and 1 will guarantee, all things 

 being equal, as to richness of soil, proper cultivation, etc., the best results will 

 be obtained. I have seen the statement of a writer, that one stalk of corn only 

 to a hill, would give more corn to the acre than a larger number ; but I say 

 tbat soil that will not nourish three or four stalks to the hill is not as rich as it 

 c ight to be, and can be made. The same will hold good also, with potatoes. 



2. " HillinET," or Level Cultivation, Which ?— It is equally a 

 cc needed fact, of late years, that land which is fit for potatoes, at all, that is, 

 dr ^, rich soil, it is best to cultivate without hilling, which allows the rainfall 

 tc settle about the roots and ensures also, larger and better potatoes than when 

 " \iilled up," which certainly turns the water away ; as water has always run 

 <*' wn hill, and no doubt, will still continue to do the same. 



Remarks. — The " successful farmer" that we started this department with, 

 o!\ly needs to see a point, when his common sense at once adopts it. The fore- 

 fusing condensed facts are all he needs upon the subject referred to. 



L Potato Bugs Beaten.— A farmer of Goguac Prairie, near Battle 

 Creek, Mich., gives to the Inter-Ocean, his plan of not only beating the potato 

 bugs, but also getting remarkably fine and large potatoes, 1st by harrowing 

 his ground to make the surface very loose and fine, then 2d, marking off, and 

 dropping his potatoes on the surface, putting no dirt over them, but covering 

 rrith straw, to the depth of a foot, which retains the moisture in the soil, and 

 so far beats the bugs, that what few may get on to them above the straw, have 

 tsever iniured them, and the next best thing is, he gets large and clean potatoes 

 by[simply pitching over the straw and picking up the crop, besides saving the 

 t^me otherwise spent in cultivation. Those having straw will do well to try it. 



2. Bugs Kept Entirely from Potatoes. Another man, of Janes- 

 ville, Wis., who had ten years' exi)erience in Colorado, from which the " bug " 

 started, claims entire success over them, by simply planting two or three flax, 

 soeds in each hill, the bugs not attacking his potatoes at all, while his neigh- 

 bors without the flax, were overrun with them. If as simple a thing as this 

 will "beat the bugs." 'tis better than Paris green or hand-gathering. Certainly 

 ten years was long enough to test it. 



Seed Com, Melons, Cucumbers, etc.— Selecting and Saving 

 to Have the Best Results. — To have the best seed com, go through the 

 field and select and mark with red chalk the long, well-filled ears, and as soon 

 as the husks begin to turn, gather them, and braid into traces and hang in a dry 

 cool place. When to be planted break off the tip one-fourth the length of the 

 ear, and throw among the corn for feed; the same with two or three rows of 

 the ill-shaped kernels at the butt; for it is a weU established fact that the corn 

 ttom the butt ripens earlier than from the tip-end of the ear. What has bee:: 



