ONE HUNDRED THOUSAND FACTS FOR THE PEOPLE. 547 



■"I fitted the ground as for planting in the 

 ■old way, three feet apart, and dropped 

 the potatoes on the mark, from eighteen 

 inches to two feet apart, covering them 

 slightly with soil. I then covered to 

 about the depth of ten inches with old 

 straw, and did nothing more with them. 

 When the crop was ripe I raked off the 

 straw, and raked out the potatoes, which 

 were mostly on the surface, looking very 

 nice, fresh and large. The result was, I 

 had at the rate of one hundred and 

 •eighty-six bushels per acre; while the 

 yield from those planted in the old way 

 in drills, and cultivated on the ground 

 beside of them, was only seventy-five 

 bushels per acre, which was rather small 

 for this section, owing to the dry season. 

 The soil is a sandy loam. 



POTATOES, SWEET, Culture of.— The 

 •cultivation is very simple; good stable 

 manure is distributed along the surface of 

 the ground in a line about a foot wide, 

 as long as the ridge is to be, and as thick 

 as the supply will warrant. A ridge is 

 then formed over the manure by throwing 

 a furrow toward it from each side. The 

 ridge is then finished by the use of a 

 spade and hoe, and should be about ten 

 inches high, a foot across at the bottom, 

 and while the sides are as steep as 

 possible, the top should be a little flat- 

 tened. Set the plants fifteen inches 

 apart, putting them down so that the 

 junction of the stem with the first leaf 

 will be covered, and if the soil is not 

 moist at the time of planting, water the 

 holes. Keep the sides of the ridge clean 

 until the vines cover them, and afterwards 

 move the vines once a week to prevent 

 them from taking root at the joints. 

 Plants may be obtained from most seed- 

 dealers and florists. 



POTATO ROT, Barnet's Certain Pre- 

 ventive for the. — Sow unleached ashes 

 over the field once a week for six or seven 

 weeks, commencing soon after the second 

 hoeing. Apply two or three bushels to 

 the acre, using care to dust the tops well. 



POTATO, Disease, Preventive. — A 

 French farmer has discovered that the 

 use of tan is an efficient preventive 

 against potato disease. For three years 

 he has introduced a small quantity of the 

 residue of the bark used in tanning into 

 each hole on planting his potato crop, 

 and each time he has been completely 



successful in preserving his fields from 

 the annoying disease. 



PLOWS (Rusty), to Clean.— Take a 

 quart of water and pour slowly into it a 

 half a pint of sulphuric acid. (The 

 mixture willl become quite warm from 

 chemical action, and this is the reason 

 why the acid should be poured slowly 

 into water, rather than the water into the 

 acid.) Wash the mould-board (or any 

 other iron that is rusty) with this weak 

 acid, and let it remain on the iron until 

 it evaporates. Then wash it once more. 

 The object is to give time for the acid to 

 dissolve the rust. Then wash with water, 

 and you will see where the worst rusty 

 spots are. Apply some more acid, and 

 rub those spots with a brick. The acid 

 and the scouring will remove most of the 

 rust. Then wash the mould-board thor- 

 oughly with water, to remove all the 

 acid, and rub it dry. Brush it over with 

 petroleum or other oil, and let it be until 

 spring. When you go to plowing, take a 

 bottle of the acid water to the field, and 

 apply it frequently to any spots of rust 

 that may remain. The acid and the 

 scouring of the earth will soon make it 

 very bright and smooth. 



PUMPKINS Amongst Corn.— Almost 

 all " old - fashioned farmers" take a 

 crop of pumpkins off their corn fields, 

 much to the annoyance of the theorist 

 who demonstrates to his entire satisfac- 

 tion that the one crop must detract from 

 the full force of the other. But the most 

 careful experiments show no loss to the 

 corn. The very same weights result from 

 an acre, with or without pumpkins. 



RADISHES. — It is said that, when 

 radishes cannot be grown on account of 

 worms or unsuitable soil, if common 

 wheat bran be strewed one inch thick on 

 any good soil, well hoed in, and the seed 

 is then planted, perfect radishes will 

 result. 



RENNET, Mode of Use.— The way to 

 use rennet is to cut off a bit of suitable 

 size (a piece an inch square is large 

 enough to coagulate several gallons of 

 milk) and soak it for some hours in water; 

 then add the whole to the milk, a little 

 warmed. The mixture is now very 

 gradually heated to something above 

 blood-heat, or about 120 degrees. Very 

 soon it undergoes a great change, and a 



