1898 



GIvEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



363 



SCABEV POTATOES, ONCE MORE. 



E. C. Green, in a late number of the Rural 

 New-Yorker, suggests that putting your po- 

 tatoes in the light and letting them stay sev- 

 eral weeks, or a month or two (spread out to 

 the strong light of day, but not to the direct 

 rays of the sun), kills scab fungus as well as 

 toughens the sprouts. He says that last sea- 

 son he planted one bushel of scabby potatoes 

 without having them thus exposed to the 

 light, and the product was badly affected. 

 The rest of the lot were spread out on his 

 barn floor, one deep, and turned occasionally 

 by his little girl so as to let the light strike all 

 sides of the potato. They were spread out as 

 soon as danger from freezing was past, and 

 Icept there on the barn-floor till about July 1st. 

 When they were then planted the sprouts 

 were stubby, tough, and dark green. The 

 p itatoes were, also, green all over. He cut 

 them to one or two eyes, without breaking off 

 the sprouts, and they started to grow with 

 amazing quickness. He secured a good crop, 

 with not a scabby potato in the lot. While at 

 the experiment station he has also tested po- 

 tatoes thus treated beside those kept entirely 

 from sprouting in cold storage; but the latter 

 •were away behind. As this is substantially 

 the plan pursued for keeping seed potatoes in 

 the island of Jersey, it is not exactly new; but 

 the suggestion that it curesi seat is new to me, 

 although I have been aware for some time 

 that potatoes planted in July, or even the last 

 of June, were practically free from scab. 



This matter is one well worthy of considera- 

 tion ; and if you have some potatoes that you 

 expect to plant a month or two later, I wish 

 yuu would try the new way mentioned above, 

 and get right about it. If you have not floor 

 space, put some fal.se bottoms in the potato- 

 hoxes, half way up, then put a layer of pota- 

 toes on the bottom, another on this false bot- 

 tom, and pile your boxes up one on top of 

 another, where it is as light as it can be with- 

 out letting the sun strike directly on the po- 

 tatoes. 



cow PEAS AND THEIR CULTURE. 



We extract the following sensible article in 

 regard to the matter, from the Straivberry Cul- 

 turist of April 1 : 



The cow pea is a decidedly warm- weather plant, re- 

 quiring about the same temperature as tomato plants 

 or corn. Its chief value is to furnish humus and nitro- 

 gen for plant-food. They should he sown in June, in 

 Maryland, in order to mature in .September. They 

 are generally .sown broadcast about two bushels to the 

 acre. It is a mistake, however, to seed in this man- 

 ner. They should be sown in drills two and a half or 

 three feet apart, using about one bushel to the acre, 

 care being taken to put the land in good condition. 

 They should be cultivated two or three times between 

 the row.s, with cultivator or harrow. If this method is 

 pursued they rarely ever suffer from drouth. 



But few people have undertaken to grow the crop in 

 drills, and for that reason have not made the success 

 of it that they looked for. The method usually pur- 

 sued has been to sow them broadcast and to turn them 

 under with plow, thereby cutting off all source of 



moisture by capillary attraction; as a result, they get 

 but little growth. We do not think there is any thing 

 in the crop as a mulch. If allowed to remain on the 

 land till they mature there is but little left. If cut 

 green thev make a most excellent provender. When 

 used for this purpose the crop should be cut when the 

 pods are forming, and treated like clover. 



There is a difference of opinion as to the time the 

 crop should be turned under, if it i.s grown to improve 

 the soil. Many eminent agriculturists maintain that 

 the ammonia is manufactured and stored at the root 

 of the plant, and the process continues .so long as 

 there is circulation in the .stalk and the leaves continue 

 to breathe the air. The generally accepted theory-, 

 however, is that you .save all when you plow under 

 the plant as the pod is forming, and in this case you 

 should treat your land with lime. ' 



The use of these crops — cow peas and scarlet clover 

 — gives promise of greatly improving our agricultural 

 lands, and cheapening products. Nothing has suc- 

 ceeded so well as the cow pea. The great advantage 

 this crop has over crim.son clover is that it never fails, 

 if seeded and cultivated in drills. The clover crop is 

 uncertain. 



The writer suggests sowing in June. Our 

 experiment station has had good success in 

 drilling in about corn-planting time. By all 

 means put them in drills, and give them some 

 cultivation. The saving in seed will pay for 

 the extra trouble. My experience is that the 

 above statements are all correct, and that their 

 value has not in anyway been overdrawn. 



SWEET-POT.'\TO CULTURE. — HARVESTING THE CROP. 



Concluded from last issue. 



This is easily done by plowing them out. I wait till 

 the frost has killed the leaves I never bother cutting 

 the vines after a fro.st; but I find that, if the potatoes 

 are left in tl e ground too long, they will not keep so 

 well, and an occasional fro.sty one spoils the selling 

 qualities. I do not like to wait too long either, on ac- 

 count of rain; the rain does not particularly hurt 

 the keeping qualities, but it cau.ses the potatoes to be 

 muddv, and it is quite a task to wash and prepare 

 them for market. I run between the rows fir.st with a 

 two-horse plow, turning it over on the share so it will 

 cut and pull the vines; then straddle the ridge and 

 turn them out. Follow at once and pull the potatoes 

 out and lay them on the ridge to dry. If a rain should 

 come up before picking up, it will not injure them to 

 leave over night, if there is no indication of fro.st; but 

 if there is, they must be picked up and covered, then 

 spread out again before storing. Never put them in 

 damp: have them dry every time. Handle carefully. 

 I prefer picking and putting into bushel-boxes, and 

 hauling them to the cellar and carefully emptying 

 into bins. Storing the crop is quite different from any 

 other of the farm products, and this has led many to 

 believe it is quite a secret. I prefer a cellar because 

 it is le-s liable to change in temperattire suddenly, 

 and, being under the dwelling, it is handy to reach. 

 If a store-room is above ground ii would be well to 

 make it double walled, and pack between with saw- 

 du.st. Such a room should be kept at a temperature of 

 ■15 to 55 degrees; a cellar should be ten degrees higher, 

 and a thermometer kept on the bottom of the cellar. 



I make the bins in the cellar a foot from the floor 

 and a foot from the walls, making the bottom and 

 sides tight. On hauling the potatoes from the field 

 the3' are carefully placed in the bins, and piled up to 

 the ceilings, and the temperature ran up to 90. The 

 potatoes go through a sweating process; and it is nec- 

 es.=ary to give ventilation for the first two weeks; after 

 that the temperature may be reduced to (50 or 70°, and 

 kept there; but if water'should get into the cellar it 

 would be well to run the temperature up to 80°. I 

 have had water standing on my cellar-floor for two 

 winters, and yet the potatoes winter perfectly — even 

 these that happen to fall on the floor. 



I prefer a dry cellar; but we can not always control 

 our circimistances, and I mention it here so that one 

 need not be alarmed if water should happen to get 

 into his cellar. However, it would not do for the 

 water to touch the bottom of the bins. 



Never ventilate in winter unless > ou notice moisture 

 gathering on the windows, and never handle the pota- 

 toes when going through the sweat. 



SELLING THE CROP. 



This is not a difficult task, but I deem it best to wait 

 till about the holidays, for two reasons. 1. Quite a 



