200 
THE  RURAL  NEW-YORKER 
March  26 
good  stable  manure  or  commercial  fertilizer,  to  till  it 
well  and  to  deliver  to  the  company  at  the  railroad 
station  one  half  the  crop  before  November  1,  1892. 
I  further  agree  not  to  sell  any  of  my  part  of  the  crop 
for  seed  for  the  first  season.  I  am  to  be  allowed  to  feed 
out  my  share,  or  to  plant  for  next  season’s  crop.  ’  ” 
“On  the  back  of  the  contract  is  an  offer  of  $100  for  the 
greatest  yield  from  half  an  acre  of  this  potato,  and 
smaller  offers  for  the  second  and  third  greatest  yields. 
Some  farmers  have  signed  the  contract.  The  agent 
said  the  company  proposed  to  sell  on  Long  Island  only 
this  year  to  secure  seed  enough  to  be  sold  in  the  West 
next  year.  lie  also  hinted  that  the  seed  company 
would  probably  want  all  the  seed  the  farmer  could 
spare  to  fill  their  orders  for  next  year,  etc.  He  thought 
that  50  barrels  would  be  a  good  yield  from  this  one 
barrel. 
“  ‘Then  you  want  me  to  give  you  25  barrels  for  this 
one  barrel  of  seed  and  I  am  not  to  sell  my  part  of  the 
crop,  but  can  plant  it  for  another  season  ?  ’  ” 
“  ‘Yes  that  is  about  it.”’ 
“  ‘That  looks  very  nice  for  you  ;  but  my  chance  of 
making  anything  is  very,  very  slim.  ” 
The  agent  thought  otherwise  and  we  parted.  The 
respectable  farmer  he  had  hired  to  take  him  around 
to  the  farmers  to  give  away  this  choice  seedling  po¬ 
tato,  helped  to  give  respectability  to  the  plan  of  op¬ 
erating.  I  told  a  farmer  whose  name  was  on  one  of 
the  contracts  that  ‘  he  would  feel  delighted  when  he 
was  taking  the  half  crop  of  potatoes,  say  25  barrels, 
to  the  depot  next  fall,  while  he  couldn’t  sell  a  potato 
himself.’  He  said  he  had  worried  over  the  matter  ever 
since  he  had  signed. 
If  a  countermand  of  the  order  is  sent  to  the  agent, 
and  also  to  the  main  office  of  the  company  and  the 
sender  has  witnesses  to  the  fact  that  such  counter¬ 
mand  letters  were  sent  several  days  before  shipment 
of  goods  was  made,  it  would  be  sufficient  to  clear  the 
signer  of  a  contract,  I  think.  At  least  few  or  none 
would  press  their  claim  and  contract  by  a  lawsuit.” 
R.  N.-Y. — We  do  not  know  whether  there  is  any  pen¬ 
alty  attached  to  the  contract.  If  it  contains  a  clause 
binding  the  farmer  to  pay  a  sum  of  money  in  case  he 
does  not  grow  the  potatoes,  he  would  probably  have 
to  carry  out  his  contract.  We  think,  though,  that  a 
simple  countermanding  of  the  agreement  in  time  to 
prevent  shipment,  would,  if  proved,  be  sufficient,  as 
the  company  would  surely  get  itself  into  bad  odor  by 
trying  to  force  a  man  to  grow  the  potatoes  when  he 
did  not  want  to  do  so. 
Scraps. 
A  Potato  Seed  Cutter.— Some  years  ago,  when  the 
potato  crop  was  grown  mostly  on  small  areas,  hand 
cutting  and  planting  were  satisfactory.  Not  many 
years  since  Mr.  L.  A.  Aspinwall,  when  working  on  a 
farm,  saw  the  great  need  of  a  potato  planter,  and  after 
years  of  experiment  per¬ 
fected  the  machine  that 
now  bears  his  name. 
With  this  in  successful 
operation  potato  grow¬ 
ing  changed,  and  it  be¬ 
came  possible  to  plant 
and  grow  large  areas  to 
this  crop,  fields  60  to  100 
acres  being  now  not  un¬ 
common.  Then  there 
came  a  demand  for  some 
method  of  cutting  seed 
by  machinery.  Think 
of  cutting  the  seed 
needed  on  75  acres  by 
hand  !  Naturally  there 
came  a  demand  for  po¬ 
tato  cutters  and  many 
patents  have  been  issued 
Fig.  106.  during  the  past  few 
years.  One  of  the  most 
successful  is  that  shown  at  Fig.  106.  It  is  the  “Aspin- 
wall”  and  is  to  accompany  the  planter  of  that  name. 
The  potatoes  are  simply  sliced  by  pushing  down  on 
them  with  the  little  plunger.  There  is  no  telling  how 
many  eyes  to  a  piece  this  slicer  will  leave,  but  the 
chances  are  that  it  will  leave  at  least  one,  and  for 
those  who  plant  largely  it  seems  to  answer  fairly  well. 
An  Honest  Barnyard. — In  The  Rural’s  quotation 
from  my  recent  letter,  page  130,  is  the  query  :  “Is  the 
barnyard  always  honest?  ”  Yes,  the  barnyard  is  just 
as  honest  as  the  vault  of  any  other  bank.  If  the 
cashier  of  a  savings  bank  leaves  the  door  of  his  safe  or 
vault  unlocked  and  thieves  walk  in  and  steal,  or  if  he 
uses  bad  judgment  in  investing  the  funds  deposited 
with  him,  his  patrons  are  robbed  of  their  money.  If 
the  farmer  cashier  leaves  his  barnyard  open  and  the 
elements  run  in  and  steal  the  fertility  deposited  there¬ 
in  by  the  farmer  and  waste  it  in  the  brook  or  roadside, 
or  if  he  applies  it  at  the  wrong  season  or  to  the  wrong 
crop  in  the  rotation  the  farmer  is  robbed  of  its  nourish¬ 
ment  and  consequent  ability  to  produce  maximum 
crops.  The  cashier  suffers  the  disgrace  alike  in  either 
case  for  his  negligence  or  dishonesty.  In  the  first  case 
he  robs  his  patrons ;  in  the  other,  he  robs  himself. 
When  the  conditions  are  suitable,  as  to  nearness  to 
market,  quality  of  soil,  etc.,  it  seems  evident  that  our 
farmer  cashier  had  better  quit  the  banking  business 
and  become  a  broker.  He  would  find  it  less  hazardous 
and  more  pleasant,  the  farm  would  be  better  pleased 
to  buy  its  seed  and  fertility,  and  sell  its  crop  through 
him  and  would  pay  him  a  liberal  commission,  while  he 
would  consult  his  own  interests  by  making  liberal 
advances  of  fertilizers  which  would  be  a  lien  on  the 
crops.  He  could  do  an  equally  profitable  business 
with  less  capital,  have  shorter  business  hours  and 
longer  vacations  to  visit  with  his  family  and  become 
better  acquainted  with  his  neighbors,  r.  h.  munroe. 
Old  Remedies  for  Potato  Rot. — In  an  old  volume 
of  the  Monthly  Journal  of  Agriculture  for  1846,  is  a 
long  article  on  the  causes  and  cure  of  potato  rot.  It 
makes  curious  reading  now  that  the  Bordeaux  mixture 
is  being  so  generally  tried.  The  two  chief  “ remedies” 
of  that  date  were  fall  planting  and  salt.  It  was  ad¬ 
vised  to  plant  the  seed  in  the  fall,  making  the  hills  or 
drills  very  deep,  and  covering  with  horse  manure. 
When  wintered  in  this  way,  the  tubers  made  an  early 
start  in  the  spring,  and  seemed  “  to  make  growth 
enough  to  resist  rot  better  than  spring-planted  seed.” 
The  result  of  an  experiment  is  given  where  a  man  took 
five  rows  through  his  field  ;  “  manure  from  the  pig  sty 
was  laid  over  the  sets.”  In  two  rows  soot  was  sprinkled 
over  the  sets  just  before  the  manure  was  put  in,  and 
in  three  others  salt  was  similarly  applied.  When  the 
potatoes  were  dug  “  only  two  or  three  were  found  dis¬ 
eased  where  the  soot  had  been  applied,  and  none  at 
all  where  the  salt  had  been  used.  Those  to  which 
nothing  had  been  applied  except  the  manure  con¬ 
tained  a  large  proportion  of  diseased  tubers.”  In  the 
same  issue  is  the  following  note  called  “  A  Curious 
Fact  in  Agriculture.” 
A  gentleman  In  the  month  of  May  conceived  the  Idea  that  It  was 
necessary  to  cut  one  or  more  branches  from  his  grape  vine,  and  he 
accordingly  lopped  off  the  branches,  which  caused  them  to  bleed;  and 
to  remedy  this  he  split  a  potato  Into  two  pieces,  one  of  which  he  stuck 
on  the  end  of  the  bleeding  branch.  He  then  tied  a  rag  fast  to  the 
branch,  so  as  to  cover  the  potato  and  keep  It  from  falling  off,  and  then 
left  It.  The  rag  was  not  disturbed  until  a  day  or  two  since,  when  It 
was  removed  and  found  to  contain  a  crop  of  four  small  potatoes, 
which  had  grown  from  the  piece  stuck  on  the  end  of  the  branch.” 
Manure  for  Potatoes. — I  think  there  is  some 
mistake  about  coarse  manure  not  being  good  for 
potatoes.  I  get  the  best  results  from  putting  coarse 
manure  on  land  after  the  potatoes  have  been  planted. 
There  is  some  objection  on  account  of  cultivating,  but 
by  using  a  No.  2  shovel  cultivator  we  can  do  good 
work,  and  get  good  potatoes  and  no  scab.  G.  w.  d. 
R.  N.-Y. — We  presume  the  manure  used  in  that  way 
is  less  harmful  than  when  plowed  in  close  to  the  seed. 
It  is  also  probably  less  useful. 
Potato  Medicines  That  Stick. — In  1890  the  French 
potato  crop  suffered  greatly  from  wet  weather,  which 
induced  much  blight  and  rot.  Efforts  were  made  to 
stay  the  disease  by  the  use  of  the  Bordeaux  mixture  ; 
but  the  heavy  rains  washed  it  off  as  fast  as  it  was  ap¬ 
plied.  This  led  M.  Aim6  Girard  to  make  experiments 
with  substances  which,  added  to  the  Bordeaux  mixture, 
would  make  it  stick  to  the  leaves  and  vines  so  that  the 
rain  would  not  wash  it  off.  Among  substances  tried 
were  quick-lime,  sulphate  of  alumina,  soda  and  molas¬ 
ses.  The  Bordeaux  mixture  alone  was  readily  washed 
off,  50  per  cent  being  lost  in  a  violent  storm  of  half  an 
hour,  and  35  per  cent  in  a  heavy  rain  of  six  hours. 
When  the  soda  was  added  the  losses  were  20  and  16  per 
cent,  respectively.  With  two  parts  of  molasses  only  11 
per  cent  was  lost  in  the  violent  storm  and  none  in  the 
heavy  rain.  The  molasses  mixture  was  considered  a 
great  success.  It  is  not  at  all  impossible  that 
the  cheap  refuse  molasses  of  Southern  sugar  mills 
would  make  a  valuable  addition  to  insecticides  that 
are  wanted  to  “  stick.” 
How  to  Cut  Potatoes. — Every  year  there  is  the  old 
discussion  among  growers  as  to  the  best  way  of  cutting 
seed  potatoes.  Six  years  ago  The  R.  N.-Y.  printed  the 
opinions  of  many  well-known  growers.  The  following 
is  a  brief  synopsis  of  their  views  on  this  matter  : 
Dr.  T.  H.  Hoskins  takes  well  ripened,  medium-sized  tubers,  cuts  them 
In  pieces  of  two  eyes  each.  Peter  Henderson  favored  using  more  seed 
—cutting  less.  Prof.  E.  S.  Goff  believes  In  selecting  seed  from  the 
most  productive  hills  and  that  It  pays  to  plant  whole  potatoes.  Prof. 
II.  E.  Alvord,  as  the  result  of  some  detailed  experiments  at  Houghton 
Farm,  Orange  County,  N.  Y.,  found  that  the  crop  decreased  with  the 
size  of  the  piece  of  seed  In  each  hill.  W.  I.  Chamberlain  believes  that 
pedigree  and  selection  pay  in  potato  seed  as  well  as  in  any  other.  He 
prefers  fair,  well  shaped,  medium-sized  potatoes.  In  rich  soil  he 
would  cut  them  to  one  eye,  If  a  proportionate  amount  of  the  potato 
was  left  with  it.  On  the  eye  end,  he  would  have  only  one  eye  and  all 
meat.  B.  F.  Johnson  cuts  the  seed  to  one  or  two  eyes.  T.  B.  Terry 
cuts  to  one  eye,  not  that  he  gets  more  potatoes  by  so  doing,  but  more 
dollars.  Alfred  Rose  cut  to  single  eyes  with  a  concave  knife  four  or 
five  weeks  before  planting.  When  planting  time  came  he  rejected  all 
of  the  pieces  that  had  not  sprouted.  Waldo  F.  Brown  always  cuts 
seed  of  medium  size  Into  from  four  to  six  pieces  with  not  less  than  two 
eyes  to  a  piece  and  plants  one  In  a  place.  T.  V.  Munson,  of  Texas, 
would  cut  seed  potatoes  into  four  slips,  lengthwise,  and  plant  one  piece 
n  a  hill.  Chas.  A.  Green  prefers  as  much  of  the  potato  as  possible  with 
not  less  than  two  eyes  to  a  piece.  O.  H.  Alexander  cuts  the  largest 
potatoes  into  four  pieces  and  plants  one  In  a  hill.  Small  and  medium 
he  plants  uncut. 
Breed’s  Hand  Weeder. — A  few  years  ago  Breed’s 
horse  weeder  came  before  the  public,  and  at  once  at¬ 
tracted  attention  because  of  its  simplicity  and  effec¬ 
tiveness.  It  is  no  longer  necessary  to  describe  it — most 
progressive  farmers  know  what  it  is.  With  its  32  long, 
slender,  steel  fingers,  it  scratches  over  the  surface  of 
the  field,  uprooting  weeds  and  breaking  up  the  crust 
as  fast  as  a  smart  horse  and  man  can  walk.  Mr.  Breed 
has  told  The  R.  N.-Y.  readers  how  his  weeder  “came 
to  be.”  Being  an  old  man,  he  grew  weary  of  pulling 
up  weeds  with  his  fingers.  After  much  thought,  he 
took  a  4x4  joist  six  feet  long,  and  stuck  in  the  under 
side  of  it  dead  hemlock  limbs  three  feet  long  and  three- 
fourths  of  an  inch  thick.  Handles  and  shafts  were 
bolted  to  it,  and  the  old  mare  was  hitched  up.  The 
rattle  and  bang  got 
more  speed  out  of  the 
old  mare  than  a 
bushel  of  oats  would 
have  contained.  In¬ 
stead  of  the  joist  and 
hemlock  sticks,  we 
now  have  the  board 
and  steel  teeth.  Ever 
since  farmers  have 
seen  the  workings  of 
the  horse  weeder, 
many  of  them  have 
demanded  a  hand 
weeder  that  would  work  on  the  same  principle.  Quite 
a  considerable  number  of  farmers  use  a  short-handled 
iron  rake  among  the  potatoes  and  corn,  the  only  objec¬ 
tion  being  that  now  and  then  they  come  to  a  tough 
weed  that  needs  cutting  out  or  to  a  plant  that  needs 
covering.  The  following  note  from  Mr.  Breed,  whose 
picture  is  shown  at  Fig.  107,  tells  what  is  coming  next, 
Isend  The  R.  N.-Y.  to-day  a  little  Implement  one  feature  of  which 
is  just  like  my  Universal  weeder— a  scratcher.  The  other  side  is  the 
digger.  It  is  mainly  Intended  to  do  the  scratching,  and  to  dig  only 
when  digging  is  positively  needed.  I  was  four  years  getting  up  the 
horse  weeder.  I  have  worked  three  on  this,  and  now  consider  It  per¬ 
fect.  Give  It  a  thorough  trial— on  a  strawberry  bed,  around  grape 
vines,  In  currant  bushes,  over  peas,  beans,  potatoes,  cucumbers,  corn, 
and  especially  on  gravel  walks,  not  forgetting  the  lawn;  and  If  you 
want  to  try  it  In  your  stable,  to  rake  back  the  manure  and  shake  out 
the  bedding,  do  so.  I  call  It  a  nice  potato  digger.  These  sug¬ 
gestions  come  up  from  my  actual  employment  of  the  tool,  not 
forgetting  the  rak¬ 
ing  up  of  leaves. 
The  use  of  it  will 
never  call  for  a 
plaster  on  the 
back. 
The  handle  of  the  tool  is  about  the  lpngth  of  that  of 
a  hoe.  On  one  side  are  10  teeth  seven  inches  long 
about  the  size  of  those  on  the  horse  weeder.  They  are 
in  two  rows  and  curved  to  about  the  angle  of  the 
human  fingers  when  scratching  in  the  dirt.  On  the 
other  side  is  a  curved  hoe  six  inches  wide.  It  is  not 
flat  like  the  ordinary  hoe,  but  curved  outward.  By  a 
simple  twist  of  the  hand  either  a  hoe  or  scratchers  are 
brought  into  use.  The  whole  thing  weighs  about  three 
pounds.  Of  course,  we  have  not  been  able  to  use  it  in 
actual  soil  work,  but  we  believe  it  will  prove  a  useful 
and  popular  tool.  It  will  be  thoroughly  tested  before 
it  is  placed  on  the  market  for  sale. 
ANSWER  TO  CORRESPONDENTS. 
[Every  query  must  be  accompanied  by  the  name  and  address  of  the 
writer  to  Insure  attention.  Before  asking  a  question,  please  see  If  It  Is 
not  answered  In  our  advertising  columns.  Ask  only  a  few  questions 
at  one  time.  Put  questions  on  a  separate  piece  of  paper.] 
Fertilizers  for  Clover. 
J.  M.  V.  N.,  (No  address). — What  is  a  good  fertilizer 
for  clover  ?  What  is  its  price,  and  where  can  it  be 
obtained  ?  What  I  want  is  information  as  to  the 
cheapest  way  to  grow  a  good  crop  of  clover.  I  have 
made  some  experiments  with  various  fertilizers ;  but 
with  our  crops  and  markets  they  have  not  been  suc¬ 
cessful. 
Ans. — It  is  assumed  that  the  field  is  now  rich  enough 
to  insure  a  clover  catch.  We  should  use  potash  and 
phosphate  or  superphosphate.  Bone-black  superphos¬ 
phate  or  dissolved  bone-black  contains  about  16  per 
cent  of  soluble  phosphoric  acid  ;  the  mineral  super¬ 
phosphates  about  15  per  cent.  Bone  superphosphate 
contains  about  12  per  cent  of  soluble  phosphoric  acid 
and  about  two  per  cent  of  nitrogen.  Raw  ground 
bones  should  contain  not  less  than  20  per  cent  of  phos¬ 
phoric  acid  which  is  nut  immediately  soluble,  and 
about  three  per  cent  of  nitrogen.  This  would  be  worth 
not  less  than  $30  per  ton.  Potash  is  now  cheapest  in 
the  form  of  muriate,  which  contains  about  50  per  cent 
of  potash,  worth  about  four  cents  a  pound.  It  is  pos¬ 
sible  that  our  inquirer  may  be  able  to  buy  unleached 
ashes  at  a  low  price.  These  should  contain  about  two 
Fig.  107. 
