726 Teansactjons of the American Institvte. 



Pears $42 50 



Sweet potatoes and pvuupkins 202 91 



Poultry S3 50 



Stock 61 Of 



Total $10,010 72 



:t freight and commissions 1 > 764 18 



Net receipts $8,246 54 



Mr. J. B. Lyman. — I see that Mr. Stephen B. Conover is here, 

 who has been Mr. Leonard's market-man for many years, and knows 

 how his farm is managed and his expenses. We would like to know 

 about his annual outlay for manures and labor, and his net proceeds 

 on other years. 



Mr. S. B. Conover. — Mr. Leonard usually pays about $1,000 a year 

 for his manures. He keeps but few animals, and buys horse stable 

 manure and street scrapings from New York. It cost him about four 

 dollars a two-horse load by the time he gets it on the land. He has 

 found that any rank fertilizer wastes by being left on the top of the 

 ground, and he plows it in with a shallow furrow just as soon as it is 

 spread. His farm help consists of one man and two boys beside him- 

 self. He is to be counted a full hand at all times of the year. The 

 labor bill is not over that of three men from April to October at thirty 

 dollars, say $450. By subtracting this and $1,000 from the $8,000, 

 given as gross proceeds, you get at his profits. Last year his sales 

 were over $12,000, yet his crops were larger this year than last. 



Choice Sei;d fob Choice Ckops. 

 Mr. Sylvester Knapp, Sayville, L. I. — My theory is that large 

 whole potatoes are best for planting, for the reason that there is more 

 moisture and richness to give the new potatoes a start, and that the- 

 rule with grain will hold with potatoes ; better the seed the better 

 the crop, and althougli by planting small seed you may not see the 

 difference the first year, but by successive planting they will go back 

 so that there will soon be a very marked difference between them and 

 those raised from large and fair seed. As theory is not of so much 

 importance as practice, I will state that season before last I planted 

 a row of peachblow potatoes, putting the largest and fairest potatoes 

 in whole, and alongside I planted a row, taking those about tlie size 

 of black walnuts, cuttiiig them once in two, and the row of large ones 



