1884.] 
AMEEIOAI^ AGEIOULTUEIbT. 
155 
they start will push other shoots, and are found at 
the angle where leaf-stalk and stem join. As soon 
as roots, even small ones, appear on the cuttings, 
they should be potted out in good, fine soil. 
Potato and Seed Tubes. 
r. GRUNDT. 
To enable one to drop potatoes in planting just 
•where they are wanted without having to stoop 
down, the writer devised the simple apparatus 
Fig. 1.— POTATO TUBE. 
shown in figure 1. It is merely a tin tube to hang 
upon the edge of a pail. The hooks go well down 
into it to give a good grip. It is an excellent aid in 
sowing chemical fertiliz¬ 
ers along the row.—Some 
potato planters carry the 
sets in a sack, over the 
shoulder and under the 
arm, with an opening in 
' front, as in sowing small 
grain. In this case the 
pail is not used but a 
handle is attached to the 
tube. Carry it in one 
hand and drop the sets 
• through it with the other. 
—Figure 3 is a similar 
but smaller tube perma¬ 
nently fastened to a two- 
quart tin cup, for sowing 
small seeds, the sower 
standing nearly erect and 
dropping the seed where 
w^anted, regardless of 
wind or weather. It is a 
simple and cheap aflfair, but the gardener who once 
uses it will ever after consider it indispensable. 
Fig. 3.— A SEED TUBE. 
Strawberries on the Farm. 
Farmers and their families should have an abund¬ 
ance of the best the earth produces, but they too 
often content themselves with meagre fare, and re¬ 
gard as luxuries those things which others, far less 
jable to have them, look upon as matters of course. 
Generally if there are strawberries on the farmer’s 
table, children have hunted them in the fields (and 
there can be none better as to quality) ; they are so 
hard to find and slow to pick that their visits are 
not repeated many times during the season. These 
many years we have insisted that the farmer’s 
family should have strawberries and plenty of 
them; not a few times in the season, but three 
times a day every day, and so many that the sau¬ 
cers can be refilled again and again, until each one 
has had enough. This is easily possible if one 
really wishes to accomplish it. We have in former 
years shown how a patch may be planted and cared 
for with little trouble. If one has an abundance 
of plants the rest is very easy. Still, however de¬ 
sirable it may be to have a large strawberry patch, 
it may not be convenient to expend the few dol¬ 
lars needed to buy plants to fill it. If plants can 
not well be purchased to set out a large bed now, 
they can be raised for setting a bed next fall or 
spring, and it is the object of this present article to 
show how this may be done. Of course there 
must be strawberry plants to start with, and unless 
a neighbor who has an established bed can afford a 
few, they must be bought. The outlay need not 
be large; the leading dealers vary in their prices, 
but the average charge is thirty cents a dozen for 
standard varieties, delivered by mail. A dozen 
plants, properly treated, will during the season fur- 
tjish enough young plants to stock a large bed. If 
there is no nursery in the vicinity order the plants, 
if only a dozen, at once, to be sent by mall. 
The catalogues are confusing with their many 
varieties, old and new. For home use, no new or 
untried kinds are worth taking as a gift; what we 
want is fruit and plenty of it. Charles Downing, 
BidweU, and Sharpless are among the reliable kinds 
that have been tested and may be planted with 
confidence. Having ordered the plants, prepare a 
place for them. The size of the bed will of course 
depend upon the number of plants, which are to 
be two feet apart each way from one another, and 
two feet from the margins of the bed. Make the 
soil rich with old, decomposed manure and ashes, 
to be worked in as deep as possible by spading. 
When the plants come, their roots should be short¬ 
ened or cut back to two-thirds or one-half their 
former length, and all the dead leaves removed. 
In planting, open a wide hole with the hand, and 
spreading the roots in all directions, separating 
those that are matted, carefully work the earth in 
among them, and having covered them with earth 
press it firmly over them. The plants will soon 
start into growth, and new leaves open. It is prob¬ 
able that clusters of flower buds will appear in the 
center of some of the plants ; if so, pinch them off 
as soon as they are seen, as we now wish to raise 
plants and not frait. As the season advances, run¬ 
ners will be formed, and at length a bud will appear 
upon the end of each and finally take root. If the 
runners do not become fixed readily—as they are 
often blown about by the winds—place a clod of 
earth upon them to hold them fast. After the 
plant from the first bud has grown to some size, 
that will throw out runners, and so on, all the sea¬ 
son. The object being to raise as many plants as 
possible, the runners should be watched, and not 
allowed to interfere with one another, but distrib¬ 
uted evenly over the bed. If necessary water the 
bed, and pull up by hand all weeds that appear. 
Fences Across Freshet Streams. 
When fences extend across brooks subject to 
freshets that bring down brushwood or other ma¬ 
terial liable to lodge, a section or two may be con¬ 
structed to swing down stream, as in the engrav¬ 
ing and to be ordinarily held in place by stakes, or 
by tying at one or both ends. The width, strength 
and size of the bases supporting the side posts, and 
of the braces, will depend upon the width and 
depth of the channel. The base pieces can be 
firmly anchored by stakes driven slanting over the 
ends and outsides, or by stones piled on. For 
wide, shallow streams, three or even more braced 
uprights can be anchored eight or ten feet apart in 
the bed with heavy stones, with two or more 
swinging sections. If small trees or long timbers 
are likely to float down, the swinging gate may be 
twelve or fifteen feet wide. For smaller streams, 
with strong high banks, five or six feet will suffice. 
An Improved Wagon Jack. 
Mr. D. E. Stevens, Hedgewood, Kans., referring 
to the two jacks in American Agriculturist for Au¬ 
gust last, sends us a description of one he has used 
with great satisfaction. It is home-made, requir¬ 
ing only an iron clevis to be quickly formed by a 
blacksmith. As seen in the engraving, by turning 
the lever over to the right or to the left, it is adapt¬ 
ed to fore or hind axle, or those of different hights. 
The following convenient dimensions will enable 
any one to construct it. The upright m is a two by 
four scantling twenty-two inches long, spiked on a 
base of plank, 6, sixteen inches long and four 
inches wide, with side braces of inch boards, or 
iron rods, if at hand. Half-inch holes are bored 
through one at r, two inches from the top, and one 
at t, twelve inches below u. A slot one and a half 
inch wide, is cut down from the top through the 
middle, fifteen inches deep, in which the lever I 
moves and turns its larger end.—This lever is 
cut from a hard-wood plank one and a quarter inch 
thick, four feet long, and seven inches wide at the 
upright, and tapering out to three inches or so 
wide. At seven inches from its large end and two 
A 'WAGON JACK. 
and a half inches from one side, a hole is made 
through it for the insertion of the bolt at r, which 
is to be headed down flat so as to allow the clevis 
to turn over and past it. A slot, s, is cut through 
it, three-quarters of an inch wide and nine inches 
long, beginning two inches from the hole at r. The 
larger end is hollowed out a little at w, w, to catch 
on to the axle.—The clevis c is a half-inch iron 
rod bent to four and a half inches in the elc 'ir, with 
holes for the insertion of bolt at t. This is fifteen 
inches long; one end is slipped through the slot s, 
and the two ends brought round and bolted at^, to 
turn on the bolt, which may have a head and nut 
or key to hold it in. At the end of the slot, s, one 
or more notches can be cut for the bow end of the 
clevis to drop into and lock the lever when the 
wheel is raised. 
Getting Out of the Ruts. 
There is some foundation for the reputation far¬ 
mers have of running their business in ruts. Rou¬ 
tine is a good thing in its place,but divergence has its 
advantages. All improvements are made by those 
who get out of the beaten track, and try new crops, 
new fertilizers, new stock and tools, and new meth¬ 
ods. Every farmer should study the new things set 
forth in the agricultural papers, and at the farmers’ 
clubs, and other agricultural gatherings. He will 
find chaff among the wheat no doubt, but the sift¬ 
ing process cultivates a habit of thinking, and adds 
to his knowledge every year. It is important to 
have half an acre or more devoted to experiments 
in fertilizers, in new vegetables and fruits, in drain¬ 
ing and subsoiling, in shallow and deep manuring. 
A hint in your paper is one thing; a test in the soil, 
under your own supervision, is quite another. It 
is barren upon the printed page ; but when com¬ 
mitted to the soil it may fructify and bear fruit, 
some thirty, some sixty, and some an hundred fold. 
