Addres 
UARANTEED SEEDS. 
G wet beyond everything ever known 
» to stand it without 
f Maule’s Four Leaf Clove 
« Last Spring I selected a piece of about 3 acres of what I consider good 
© potato soil. 
‘orl 
Page 63.—Annual Catalogue f 

ATALOGUE descriptions are very often more or less alike. 
give Mr. Terry’s three years’ experience with this variety, 
which paper Mr. 
have a personal acquaintance with Mr. Terry, from having met 
him, [will say that Mr. Terry has been considered an authority 
What ir. Terry had to say about The 
Freeman Potato in 18091. 
Taken from the September 19th 1891, issue of the P. F. 
“Some readers of The Practical Farmer will remember our planting 
a barrel of the Freeman Potatoes last Spring. We cut the seed up pretty | 
fine for field culture and spread it over ground enough to give them a 
fair chance. The barrel contained 165 pounds of tubers when it came 
last Fall. The Freeman has but few eyes, and many of the potatoes 
were too large to spread well for seed. We planted them about the Ist 
of May by hand. No manure or fertilizer of any kind was used except 
clover and a small patch of old June grass sod. There was actually no 
forcing whatever except in the line of tillage. In that respect we did 
our best. The surface was kept mellow by means of cultivator and 
pronged hoes, without any regard to time spent. They were planted 4 
inches deep on half the ground and 3on the rest. They were never hilled 
up at all, except just as the vines began to die we went through with a 
hoe and covered some tubers that had raised up out of the ground, be- 
cause there was no longer room for them to expand in it. Right here 
we made a mistake. We covered the seed all at once. These little pieces 
would have done better if planted in holes 4 inches deep and the dirt | 
but half put back at planting time. After the plants got up and started | 
the rest could have been gradually worked in round them. As it was, 
although they were covered with the finest earth, they were a long time 
getting up to daylight where planted and covered 4 inches deep. 
Well, now, what was the result? An experienced potato grower who | 
was over here yesterday, after looking over the potatoes, said to me: 
“Terry, don’t you ever tell of this, because not one man in a hundred | 
will believe it.’ Perhaps he is right, but I shall tell all thesame. We) 
have 305 bushels of Freeman Potatoes in our cellar, the product of that | 
barrel of seed. The potatoes were all picked up in bushel boxes and 
counted and emptied after each day’s digging, so there can be no mis- | 
take. Of course there were many hills that were not very good from 
such fine cut seed; but many of them, where they gota good start, were 
wonderful. The ground was bulged up about like half a pumpkin. 
Some of the potatoes were very large. Twenty of the largest filled a half 
bushel basket. I do not think I have had such a basket of potatoes on 
my farm since the Early Rose first came. They were fully as large the 
first year we grew them (ina small way), but were heavily manured. 
These were fed on clover only. The June grass patch was not as good. 
Of course the splitting of eyes could have been carried much further, as 
some experts know. 
Some will wonder, perhaps, 
whether I could have done as well with 
= any of our many varieties of potatoes as I did with the Freeman. I 
@ think not. 
@ necessary to establish this point. 
It seems to be a wonderful potato. But further trial will be 
We dug out Freemans by hand, as they were in small patches, and it 
was hardly worth while to turn around so many times with our big 
four-horse digger. 
What [ir. Terry had to say about The 
Freeman Potato in 1892. 
Taken from the October 8th, 1892, issue of the P. F. 
Last year the writer tried to see how many he could grow of these 
from a barrel of seed. The result was 305 bushels. Of course the seed 
was split up very fine, and each little piece given plenty of room. The 
yield per acre was not large; that was not what we were after. This 
year I measured off an exact half acre and planted one eye pieces, such 
As we ordinarily use, the common distance apart, to see what this noted 
potato would do in the way of yield per acre. The half acre was all 
good land. Our land is not all good for potatoes. This was selected so 
it should be. I intended to give them every care that a good farmer 
should. But, alas! Everything was against me. May and June were 
here, and my land not sandy enough 
serious injury. Owing to constant rain, the seed, 
which was unsprouted the first of May when we intended to plant, laid 
around until it was sadly injured. Thecrop was planted hastily, in drills 
32 inches apart and a piece every foot in the drills. It was too wet when 
we planted, but wetter in a very short time. Nearly all the early part 
of the season we were unable to do our best in caring for the crop. 
Well, we dug the crop yesterday, such as it was. We got 157 bushels 
from the half acre, or at the rate of 314 bushels peracre. Quite a few of 
the small ones were not picked up. With such a season as last I should 
have expected to put just another hundred bushels on the same ground. 
Ilike the Freeman even better than I did last year. They are almost per- 

Terry writes exclusively. Mr, T. B. Verry, 
of, if not the most practical, experienced potato grower in America. 

fect in shape, smooth and nice. They are strong growers. In one re- 
Mr. J. M. Smith, of Green Bay, Wisconsin, is probably the best known market gardener in 
one man in the business who raises and sells as much truck as he does in a twelve-months. 
In describing the Freeman Potato I cannot do better than to 
as published in the columns of “The Practical Farmer,’ for 
of Hudson, Ohio, has had the reputation for years of being one 
There are tens of thousands who read this catalogue who 
him at Farmers’ Institutes, etc. To those who may not know 
on Potato culture for years. 
spect they this year beat any variety I ever grew. In July we hada fear- 
fully hou week. his perhaps did as much to injure the early potato 
crop as the excess of rain. There was a little gravelly spot on the half 
acre, with a southern exposure. The Freemans died down on this spot 
during the hot week considerably. They were just burned up. On the 
heavier cooler soil, they were not affected much. The result was that 
these last grew on steadily and died down naturally. The injured ones 
on the gravelly soil come on when rain and cooler weather came, and 
grew all up green again. Now potato men know what this means—little 
potatoes swelling out here and there on the big ones. This with all other 
troubles made me entirely disgusted. Why, only last week some visitors 
wanted to see some of the Freemans and I took a fork and went to where 
they had grown all right and dug some fine tubers, which indicated 
a yield of about two bushels to the square rod. I was careful not to dig 
any of those second growth ones. We all do naturally want to put our 
best foot forward you know. 
Now I will not surprise you as much as I was surprised when I say 
there were only nice smooth potatoes where the second growth was 
nade. The energy of the vines was spent in increasing the size of the 
little potatoes, instead of growing little ones on the big ones. I got my 
finest potatoes where I expected almost worthless ones.” 
What Mr. Terry has. to say about The 
Freeman Potato in 1893. 
Taken from September 23d, 1893, issue of the P. F. 
“The last day of August, we dug and put into the barn 305 bushels of 
Freeman Potatoes. There was some work about this. Our four horses, 
on the Hoover digger, turned them out easily and nicely, but to engineer 
the matter so the men were never out of boxes or potatoes, and to see 
that everything was done just right in the field and barn was no small 

job. Of course, with a large crop this would be a moderate day’s work, 
but with a light crop, the result of this excessively dry season, it took 
some push to get out 305 bushels in good shape. But, we began work at 
7 A. M. and quit at6 P. M., with a full hour out for dinner. But, now my 
friend who was spoken of last week will say this was notan ‘every-day’ 
job. Well, he is right, because the next day we dug and put in the barn 
340 bushels, and there would have been 20 or 30 moreif we had not broken 
a bolt in the digger, that hindered us some. But truly we do not work 
like this often. 
Now, I suppose you would like to know how these potatoes turned 
out? Well, during the entire season of their growth, we had but one 
rain that wet them down. There were places nearby where it rained 
more, but our Showers were mere sprinkles that did little more than 
check evaporation for a few hours. The price of potatoes shows what 
the season was. Wecould have drawn these to Cleveland, after they 
were fit to eat, and got a dollar a bushel for almostall of them. It takes 
work to grow a good crop in such aseason. One must know how, and 
then never once fail to do it. As I look back I cannot see where we 
made a single mistake on this piece just dug. In addition tothe drought, 
we had that terrible 60 hour rain, after they were planted, which put the 
ground in the worst shape, notwithstanding drought. But we mellowed 
it up all we could, and saved every bit of needless evaporation by keep- 
ing the surface lightly stirred. Until the middle of the season, the out- 
look was grand. I never had a more perfect stand on this field, ora 
more beautiful show. Neighbor Croy said to me, ‘That is equal to the 
most showy picture I ever saw in a catalogue.” It was. It could not be 
made more fine. The dry weather began to tell. The exposure was 
mostly a Southern one, and we had some very hot days. Then for weeks 
we had to see them fight for life. They seemed sometimes as if they 
could not hold out another day, but they did, yielding only inch by inch. 
Meanwhile we often watched the threatening clouds in vain; but that 
was not all. When they had about covered the ground, we quit cultivat- 
ing for awhile. But as they began to shrink and dry up, we 
kept the surface stirred not more than an inch deep. Not 
a single armful of weeds were allowed to pump up moisture in 
the entire field. The result is 912 bushels of these wonderful potatoes, 
from 54-10 acres. This is good enough considering the price, 
but with timely rains, I would have had something grand to 
report. The fine seed from my old friend, J. M. Smith, grown in 
Wisconsin, did no better than our own. We had to _ plant 
quite a good many bushels of our small potatoes, from lack of 
anything larger. We cut off seed end and then split them into two or 
three pieces, and itisa fact that we could see no particular difference in 
the yield, dry as the season has been, so much vitality has this new 
potato. By mistake, our folks cooked a mess of them, and the moment 
{ sat down to the table I asked them where they got those Freemans. 
They are so nice and white I knew them at a glance. Wish we could 
eat them all the time, but can hardly afford to yet.” 
America. I doubt if there is any 
For years he has been considered an 
authority on anything pertaining to market gardening, and his articles in the ‘‘Rural New Yorker,’”’ “Ohio Farmer,” ‘‘Practical 
Farmer’ and other papers, are eagerly sought after, 
1892 was avery poor year for potatoes, 
and emphasizes my claim that WITHOUT EXCEPTION THE 
Strictly speaking, two and ninety-eight-one-hundredths 
acres. It isa black, sandy loam, has been heavily manured and as well 
cultivated as I knew how to cultivate for 12 or 15 years past, andall the 
crops taken off and no green crops plowed under during that time. 
We planted two and seven-tenths acres of this plat with the Freeman 
potatoes, using six bushels and fifty-five pounds of large, nice-sized 
smooth potatoes, and ten bushels of the largest of the small ones. They 
were planted in drills 30 inches apart, one piece in a place as near 12 
inches apart as we could plant with an Aspinwall planter. It was set to 
plant them 3 inches deep. The land was manured with unleached wood 
ashes, put on after plowing and harrowed in. They were harrowed 
twice before they were large enough to have the cultivator used among 
them. They were cultivated three times, and the last time the shovel 
tooth was left in the cultivator and made a light furrow between the 
rows, and threw a little earth toward the rows but not much against 
the plants. The weeds in the rows were destroyed by hand. We have 

lately dug and weighed them, and put them into Winter quarters. We 
find that the weight. is 47, 
432 pounds; at the rate of two hundred and | 
and read by all progressive men in the profession. 
especially in Wisconsin; this makes his report of the Freeman all the more interesting 
FREEMAN IS THE GREATEST POTATO since the EARLY ROSE. 
ninety-two and seven-tenths bushels per acre of sound potatoes. Those 
that were rotted or partially so, were thrown aside and not gathered. 
There were but few of them; still it is safe to say that the yield was not 
less than 300 bushels per acre. There was also quite a difference in the 
yields between the large and small ones. The larger ones yield- 
ing at the rate of from 20 to 25 bushels per acre more than the small 
ones. In size they area little larger than last season. In form they 
are about perfect. In quality equal to any I have ever tasted, and I be- 
lieve that my entire family agree with me on this point, although such 
things are a mere matter of taste. Considering the yields of other pieces 
planted and the almost universal complaint of poor yields almostall over 
the country, I cannot but regard this as a remarkably good showing. In 
order to make the test still more satisfactory to myself at least, 1 plant- 
ed the balance of the plat above named with Rural New Yorker, No. 2. 
This is as is well-known a tremendous yielder. They were planted at 
the same time and in all respects treated the same manner as the Free- 
man. The entire yield of this plat was at the rate of 800 bushel per acre; 
but nearly ten per cent. of them were either rotten or partially so, and 
are worthless. This makes the showing still more valuable. 

rices of the Freemans for 1894: ¥ryé. 
ww 
. Ib., 50 cents; 3 Ibs., $1.00, post 
peck, 
barrels, $12.50; 10 barrels, $55.00. 110 pound sack, free on board cars at Greeley, 
paid. By express or freight, *, pevtk., 
bushel, $2.50; bushel, $4.00; IL barrel, $7.505 
$1.50; % 
Colorado, $6.00; 10 sacks, $50.00, 
63 
