1S83.J 



THE LANCASTER FARMER- 



137 



gains ([uite as inucli in flcsli of tlic cows. It 

 also keeps them in liner general condition, 

 and it enables them to better digest their 

 food. In addition there is the gain of the 

 quart of milk per day. So small a ration of 

 cotton-seed meal does not ell'ect the taste of 

 tlie Imtter at all ; if it did, my iieighbm' could 

 not get the families he supplies to take it, for 

 they are very fastidious as to the taste and 

 aroma of their bHlter. Cotton-seed meal may 

 be safely fed to dairy cows, from a half a i)int 

 to a (juart night and morning, according to 

 their size and the other food given them. 

 But more than this I would not recommend, 

 as it might affect their becoming pregnant. 

 Steeis might be fed twice this (juantity with- 

 out danger of injuring the taste of their beef. 

 — Cm\ 'National Live Stock Journal. 



RAISING LARGE CROPS OF POTA- 

 TOES. 



Until the present year, I have never suc- 

 ceeded in raising more than two bushels of 

 potatoes to the square rod, or 320 bushels per 

 acre, and that yield has only been reached on 

 small portions of the field, the average for the 

 whole lot never having exceeded 250 bushels 

 per acre. I will confess I could hardly be- 

 lieve reports, which have been published, of 

 yields of four, five and even six hundred 

 bushels per acre. But I shall be more ready 

 to believe such reports in the future, as I have 

 just measured the ground and picked up and 

 measured the potatoes, where they yielded 

 over three bushels of large potatoes to the 

 square rod, or 500 bushels per acre. The 

 small ones, from the size of a hen's egg down, 

 were not picked up. We tried it on several 

 square rods, and in the presence of reliable 

 witnesses, so that we can prove it. This was 

 the very best portion of the field, so far as we 

 could judge from the vines. A measured 

 quarter of an acre, not all of it the best, filled 

 102 bushels boxes with large potatoes. The 

 secret of the great yield is found in the adjec- 

 tive "large." twice used in connection with 

 potatoes. When there are several potatoes \z 

 a hill weighing from half a pound to a pound 

 each, and the hills are as close together as 

 they will bear to be put, one does not have to 

 go over much ground to get a bushel. There 

 are two things that can be done this fall, 

 which will help to make potatoes, and conse- 

 quently a large yield next year. I will speak 

 of these in particular this time, and other 

 points in due season. 



The first thing is to select for seed good 

 sized, perfect shaped, well matured tubers, 

 with large, strong eyes. I know there is a 

 great dillerence of opinion on this iioint. A 

 single experiment may not show any decided 

 results in favor of the large, choice seed, par- 

 ticularly if it is a very favorable sea.soii, or the 

 trial is made on very rich ground ,■ but any one 

 who will select such seed as I have described, 

 and follow it up for ten years, taking as good 

 care of the crop in every other respect as he 

 does in the selection of seed, will <ret his re- 

 ward. Five hundred dollars i.s a good deal 

 of money for a farmer to get in a lump, but 

 so sure am I that I am right on this point 

 that I would not take that sum in addition to 

 the market price for my seed potatoes this 

 fall, after they are selected, and run the risk 

 of buying new seed. Every one has nrobably 



noticed, when digging potatoes, that some 

 hills, without any apparent cause, perhaps, 

 will have several large, fine potatoes in them, 

 while their neighbors will not yield half as 

 well. My way of selecting seed is to walk 

 along after the diggers with a small Ijasket 

 and pick up the choice potatoes, of perfect 

 shape and with large eyes, from thos(^ hills. 

 When the basket is full, it is carefully emptied 

 into a bushel box, and the boxes are kept 

 covennl if the sun shines. As soon as a few 

 are filled they are taken to the cellar and set 

 away till the tubers are through sweating, 

 when they are laid (not poured) in barrels and 

 covered up from the air, not to be moved 

 again till planting time. 



Thih is too much trouble, some one may 

 say. Well, my friend, if you are satisfied 

 with an average crop of say SO or 100 bushels 

 per acre of rather- inferior potatoes, do not 

 read any further. If you want to raise a big 

 crop, and have fine potatoes, you will have to 

 go to a good deal of trouble, but if you manage 

 rightly you will get well paid for it. Tlie 

 progressive successful potatoe raiser makes 

 money. The "average" one will have to 

 figure closely to show any profit. Whether 

 the tubers for seed are kept in pits in the 

 field, or in the cellar, the point is to keep 

 them at a low even temperature, so they will 

 be sound in the spring, and the eyes just be- 

 ginning to start when you want to plant. We 

 take pains to get them from the cellar into 

 the ground without warming them up any 

 more thaii we can possibly help. They are 

 brought from the cellar, cut and planted, 

 usually, the same da,y.— Country Gentkmtm. 



BERMUDA ONIONS AND POTATOES. 



It has been about twenty years since the 

 first shipment of onions (from Bermuda) in 

 quantities to the United States, and from 

 that time to the present the trade from year 

 to year has increased till the shipment now 

 reaches 300,000 to 400,000 boxes of fifty 

 pounds each per annum. The seed used is 

 grown in the Canary Islands and is imported 

 in the months of August and September, 

 costing then from sixty cents to ,6ne dollar 

 per pound. It is the only seed found to an- 

 swer the purpose, as it matures earlier and 

 produces a mild onion. Italian, Portugal 

 and Madeira seed has been repeatedly tried 

 and found not to answer, being too. late to 

 command a remunerative price in the Ameri- 

 can market. The seed is sown in the montlis 

 of September, October and November, thick- 

 ly in beds, the ground having been heavily 

 manured with stable manure tvjfo or three 

 months before sowing. The white seed is 

 sown first, and produces the earliest crop, the 

 shiiimeut of which commences in March. 

 When the jilants are sufficiently large — about 

 six or eight inches high — they are transplant- 

 ed into beds four feet wide, the plants being 

 set about seven inches each way. The plants 

 from the white seed can be transplanted 

 as early as they are large enough, and the 

 ground can be made very rich. Those from 

 the red .seed should not be transplanted before 

 the 1st of January, and the ground requires 

 to be only moderately manured. If trans- 

 planted too early, and the soil is too rich, the 

 bulb is likely to split into several pieces, and 

 is worthless. After transplanting, the soil re- 



tpiires to be liglitened once or twice, and the 

 weeds removed before they mature. As soon 

 as the top begins to fall, they can be pulled, 

 and should lie on tlie ground two or three 

 days, or until the tojis are wilted, when they 

 Mre cut and packed in boxes of fifty pounds 

 each, and sent to market, and sold or deliver- 

 ed to an agent, who shii)s them on the pro- 

 ducers account. The earliest usually com- 

 mand the best prices, and they are fre<inently 

 pulled before they are ripe, cut, packed, and 

 sent lo market the same day. 



Such unions, if care is taken in packing, as 

 it usually is, are deceptive in appearance, 

 and after a few days they become .slack in the 

 boxes, with long sprouts, and when opened 

 are unsatisfactory. When the crop is large 

 and the market good, a large profit on the 

 outlay is realized — an acre of ground .some- 

 times returning $600 to $S00, but the business 

 is to a great degree hazardous, particularly 

 when the crop is a large one, as the only 

 market is the United States. Potatoes are 

 more (certain of finding a remunerative market 

 than onions, but require more of labor and 

 outlay to produce them. The seed was foi- 

 merly nearly all imported from the United 

 States, but of late years has come largely 

 from New Brunswick. Nova Scotia and 

 Prince Edward Island, as it can be obtained 

 cheaper from those places, and is found to 

 answer as well. The first crop of Early Eose, 

 which is usually a small one, not averaging 

 over lour barrels from one of seed, is planted 

 in October, and is taken off in time for the 

 second or principal crop, which is planted in 

 Janqary or early in Februaiy. The seed for 

 this crop is almost wholly the red garnet, and 

 ten from one is considered a good return, al- 

 though much more is sometimes obtained. 

 The potato requires a deei)Soil, well manured 

 and sheltered from the high winds, and as a 

 large portion of the ground susceptible of cul- 

 tivation is too much exposed to the winter 

 gales, and manure in sufficient quantities is 

 too expensive, most of the plantenj prefer 

 raising onions. The ground for potatoes is 

 usually plowed or spaded and raked, the seed 

 cut in pieces with one or two eyes, and plant- 

 ed by forcing into the ground with the fingers 

 to the depth of about four inches in rows 

 about twenty inches apart and about 

 eight inches in the rows. From six 

 to eight barrels of seed are used to the 

 acre. When the plants are a little above 

 the iirouud the soil is lightened between the 

 rows with a fork, and when about six inches 

 high the earth from between the rows is hoed 

 around the plants. Only one hoeing is re- 

 quired. The potatoes grown here, if left in 

 the ground until fully ripe, are of a superior 

 (piality ; but as a few days oftentimes make a 

 great reduction in the market value, there is 

 an incentive to get them to market as early 

 as po.ssiblc, and a large jiortion of the croj) is 

 shipped before it is ripe, not only injuring the 

 market value, but the reputation as well. — 

 United States Conmd Allen. 



SORGHUM FOR FEED. 

 The following statement is from the first 

 quarterly report of the Kansas State Board of 

 Agriculture. The writer, Mr. G. E. Hub- 

 bard, of Pawnee county, has been growing 

 sorghum for seed, annually, during the past ' 



