1892 
THE  RURAL  NEW-YORKER. 
2  83 
maximum  crops  until  they  have  learnt  by  experiment. 
Potatoes,  as  other  plants,  must  be  supplied  with  an 
abundance  of  suitable  food.  If  the  soil  is  deficient  in 
potash  and  rich  in  phosphate  and  nitrogen,  then  an 
ample  supply  of  potash  renders  the  soil  productive  to 
its  fullest  capacity.  If,  however,  this  farmer  buys  an 
“  ammoniated  superphosphate,”  and  finds  that  it  does 
not  increase  the  crop,  he  must  not  assume  that  all 
fertilizers  are  frauds,  as  many  farmers  do. 
Q.  You  emphasize  the  importance  of  a  sufficient 
supply  of  fertilizer.  What  amount  do  you  consider  a 
sufficient  quantity  ? 
A.  That  depends  wholly  upon  the  fertility  of  the 
soil.  Upon  our  experiment  land,  impoverished  by 
many  years  of  cropping  with  little  or  no  manure,  we 
have  found  that  1,750  pounds  to  the  acre  of  a  high- 
grade  potato  fertilizer  could  be  economically  used. 
Q.  What  size  of  potato  seed  have  you  found  it  ad¬ 
vantageous  to  use,  and  how  deep  should  the  seed  be 
placed  and  how  far  apart  ? 
A.  The  size  of  seed  depends  upon  the  size  of  the  tuber 
and  the  number  of  eyes.  The  fewer  the  eyes  to  a 
tuber,  the  larger  the  pieces  may  be.  We  use  from  two 
to  three  vigorous  eyes  with  all  the  flesh  possible.  In 
our  loamy  soil,  planting  in  trenches  four  to  five  inches 
is  about  the  right  depth.  The  distance  apart  also 
depends  upon  the  variety  used.  Theoretically,  pota¬ 
toes  should  be  planted  so  far  apart  as  to  admit  of  a  full 
natural  development  of  the  tops. 
Early  Ohios  may  therefore  be 
planted  closer  than  Beauties  of 
Hebron  or  White  Elephants. 
Q.  Have  your  experiments 
taught  you  how  to  produce  maxi¬ 
mum  crops  in  a  droughty  season? 
A.  No,  that  could  be  done  only 
by  irrigation.  But  we  have  found 
that  our  method  insures  protec¬ 
tion  against  drought  to  a  certain 
extent.  Our  experiments  have 
shown  again  and  again  that  the 
finest  tops,  as  a  rule,  give  the 
largest  yield  of  tubers.  Any 
system  of  treatment,  therefore, 
which  increases  the  growth  above 
ground  may  be  trusted  to  increase 
the  growth  beneath.  The  trench 
conserves  moisture  and  this  mois¬ 
ture  retains  the  fertilizer  or  food 
in  a  soluble  form  longer  than 
when  it  is  applied  in  the  usual 
way,  that  is,  “in  the  hill”  or  sown 
broadcast.  Vigorous  tops  mean 
a  vigorous  root  system,  and  vigorous  roots  penetrate 
the  soil  further  and  deeper  in  all  directions  than  the 
feebler  root  system  of  smaller  tops.  As  the  root  sys¬ 
tem  increases,  so  do  the  tuber-bearing  stems  increase. 
Our  Good  Friend,  the  Skunk  ! 
Were  potatoes  so  badly  grub-eaten  25  years  ago  as 
they  are  at  the  present  time  ?  According  to  my  mem¬ 
ory  they  were  not.  Neither  was  a  bounty  offered  on 
woodchucks  in  those  days,  nor  was  there  in  those  days 
one  rabbit  where  there  are  10  now.  In  my  opinion,  if 
these  were  not  killed  off  with  shot-guns,  hounds  and 
ferrets,  they  would  in  five  years  become  about  as  great 
a  pest  in  Michigan  as  they  are  at  present  in  Austra¬ 
lia  ?  Why  ?  Because  their  natural  enemies  are  so 
few.  The  skunk  is  nearly  exterminated  for  his  fur, 
while  there  are  literally  no  hawks,  owls,  minks,  wea¬ 
sels,  etc.  I  remember  counting  22  skunk  tracks  that 
crossed  the  road  one  night  after  a  light  fall  of  snow 
in  going  about  half  a  mile  to  school.  The  skunk  enters 
the  holes  of  ’chucks  and  kills  and  eats  the  young,  and, 
in  his  nocturnal  wanderings,  finds  the  nests  of  young 
rabbits,  destroys  them,  and  also  any  amount  of  bum¬ 
ble-bee  nests  for  the  honey.  The  white  grub  is,  I 
think,  the  worst  of  all  pests  at  present,  and  is  gradu¬ 
ally  increasing  in  numbers  on  sandy  and  loamy  soils, 
and  works  on  nearly  everything  the  farmer  raises. 
Some  wheat  fields  have  been  entirely  destroyed  by  the 
pests,  but  their  worst  havoc  is  in  potatoes,  corn,  and  all 
kinds  of  roots,  strawberries,  raspberries  and  the 
grasses.  Out  of  500  bushels  of  my  own  potatoes  last 
season,  at  least  one-third  have  been  rendered  unmar¬ 
ketable  on  account  of  the  grub-worms,  and  about  the 
same  proportion  of  my  corn,  and,  in  1890,  five  acres  of 
corn  were  destroyed  by  their  eating  off  the  roots — 
hundreds  of  hills  not  reaching  a  height  of  18  inches. 
By  digging  into  these  hills  I  could  get  from  one  to 
half  a  dozen  grubs  to  the  hill.  Besides,  I  Lave  lost 
hundreds  of  raspberry  and  blackberry  plants  by  their 
eating  the  bark  from  the  roots.  The  damage  done  by 
these  pests  every  year  amounts  to  millions  of  dollars 
in  Michigan  alone,  and  it  has  long  been  known  that 
the  skunk  is  the  most  common  enemy  of  the  nuisances 
by  digging  them  out  of  the  ground  during  its  noc¬ 
turnal  wanderings.  Now  are  we  to  allow  this  little 
animal — one  of  the  best  of  our  friends — to  become 
'exterminated,  just  because  he  happens  to  have  some 
soft  fur  that  the  ladies  want  to  wear?  Better  extermi¬ 
nate  the  cats. 
I  hope  I  have  said  enough  to  start  Rural  read¬ 
ers  thinking.  Woodchucks  arj  terrible  pests  in 
all  sandy  or  hilly  portions  of  the  country.  Even  my 
hired  men  and  almost  every  boy  around  here  seem  to 
know  that  the  skunk  ought  to  live  for  the  good  he 
can  do  in  the  above  ways,  and  that  he  ought  to  be 
protected  by  the  imposition  of  a  $5  or  $10  fine  for  the 
killing  of  each  one.  The  skunk  goes  into  the  wood¬ 
chuck  hole,  or  stays  there  through  the  day,  and  goes 
forth  in  the  night  and  destroys  insect  life,  digs  all 
over  the  sand  knolls  and  everywhere  for  grubs,  etc. 
He  works  all  night,  and  is  entirely  harmless,  except 
that  he  will  sometimes  get  a  chicken  or  two  from  the 
shiftless  farmer  ;  but  this  loss  can  be  avoided,  p.  vv.  J. 
Proposed  New  Spraying  Machine. 
The  Mark  Lane  Express  proposes  the  device  shown 
at  Fig.  143,  for  spraying  potato  vines  with  the  Bor¬ 
deaux  mixture.  Present  machines,  it  says,  are  not 
entirely  successful  because  the  spray  is  not  protected 
from  the  wind,  which  blows  it  to  one  side,  so  that  fre¬ 
quently  some  vines  are  not  touched  at  all,  while  others 
are  completely  drenched.  Again,  but  one  side  of  the 
vine  is  sprayed,  the  other  being  neglected  because  it 
rests  on  or  near  the  ground.  For  these  reasons  a  ma¬ 
chine  is  wanted  that  will  deliver  the  spray  under  emier 
The  Lancaster  County  Vaccine  Farms.  Fig.  142. 
so  that  the  wind  will  not  disturb  it,  and  also  one  that 
will  raise  up  the  vines,  and  thus  permit  the  spray  to 
reach  all  sides.  The  results  are  thought  to  be  reached 
in  the  machine  illustrated  at  Fig.  143.  A  is  a  hood 
or  roof  which  passes  over  the  row.  The  spray  is  driven 
out  through  B  B  B,  inside  this  roof,  so  that  it  must  fall 
upon  the  vines.  C  C  C  are  nozzles.  I)  is  an  air-cham¬ 
ber  for  regulating  the  stream,  making  a  force  pump. 
E  is  the  pump,  with  F  a  chain  for  driving  it.  G  is  the 
tank  for  carrying  the  mixture.  II  II  are  curved  rods 
Machine  for  Spraying  Bordeaux  Mixture.  Fig.  143. 
of  iron  or  wood  for  elevating  and  holding  up  all 
“down”  vines  under  the  roof  until  the  spray  has 
reached  them.  These  rods  reach  under  and  lift  up  the 
vines  which  otherwise  would  have  only  their  upper 
sides  wet  with  the  mixture. 
“Working  the  Roads.” 
About  this  season  of  the  year  the  roads  throughout 
the  country  receive  their  annual  “  working,”  as  the 
application  of  the  usual  plaster  of  earth  is  commonly 
called. 
In  New  York  and  most  Eastern  States  the  methods 
are  something  as  follows  :  The  towns  are  divided  into 
districts  or  beats,  and  a  path-master  is  appointed  to 
each  district  by  the  supervisor  or  town  commissioner, 
to  superintend  the  work.  The  people  are  given  the 
option  of  paying  a  road  tax  or  working  it  out.  The 
latter  is  usually  done.  After  the  spring  mud  has  fairly 
dried  up,  the  path-master  warns  out  his  district  and 
the  farmers  turn  out  with  their  teams,  plows,  hoes, 
shovels,  etc.,  and  proceed,  with  no  definite  plan  and 
very  little  system,  to  work  out  their  time  by  digging 
from  the  side  ditches  the  soft  earth  that  has  accumu¬ 
lated  during  the  year,  and  with  shovel  and  scrapers 
placing  it  back  in  the  road-way  to  become  a  supply  for 
summer’s  dust  and  winter’s  mud. 
In  some  localities  this  practice  has  been  somewhat 
modified  by  the  introduction  of  wheeled  scrapers  or 
road  machines.  These  with  proper  use  afford  good 
results  and  a  great  saving  of  labor,  but  to  use  them 
successfully  requires  both  skill  and  experience  which 
the  average  path-master  does  not  possess. 
A  striking  illustration  of  this  came  under  my  notice 
last  summer  in  Cayuga  County,  N.  Y.  Four  adjoining 
districts  had  clubbed  together  and  purchased  a  new 
road  machine.  In  one  district  was  a  stretch  of  straight 
and  nearly  level  road.  The  path-master  (who  was  a 
good  carpenter  but  not  so  good  a  road  builder)  plowed 
up  several  furrows  of  the  strong,  rich  soil  on  either 
side,  then  with  the  new  machine  scraped  the  loosened 
sod  and  loam  to  a  ridge  in  the  center  of  the  roadway 
and  smoothed  it  with  a  spring-toothed  harrow.  The 
appearance  was  so  suggestive  of  a  well  tilled  field  that 
two  mischievous  boys  from  a  neighboring  farm  went 
at  night  and  sowed  it  to  buckwheat,  which  grew  and 
gave  promise  of  an  excellent  crop,  to  the  amusement 
of  the  passers-by  and  discomfort  of  the  path-master. 
The  foregoing  is  but  an  example  of  what  happens  to 
a  greater  or  less  extent  through¬ 
out  the  entire  State,  and  much 
of  the  time  and  labor  spent  is 
thrown  away.  No  argument  is 
needed  to  prove  the  inefficiency 
and  wastefulness  of  the  present 
road  system.  The  deplorable 
condition  of  the  roads  shows  it 
beyond  question. 
In  Massachusetts  each  town,  at 
its  annual  meeting,  appropriates 
a  certain  sum  to  be  expended  by 
the  selectmen  in  maintenance  of 
highways.  The  average  expen¬ 
diture  is  not  greater  than  in  New 
York,  yet  the  roads  in  Massachu¬ 
setts,  though  far  from  perfect, 
are  vastly  superior.  The  differ¬ 
ence  is  due  mainly  to  the  fact 
that  the  roads  are  under  one 
central  authority,  the  selectmen, 
who  are  responsible  for  their  con¬ 
dition  and  must  watch  and  repair 
them  at  all  times  of  the  year 
and  spend  the  limited  sum  at  their 
disposal  where  it  will  do  the  most  good. 
Nearly  all  who  have  studied  the  question  of  highway 
improvement  agree  that  the  roads,  a  portion  of  them 
at  least,  should  be  under  State  supervision  and  con¬ 
trol,  with  competent  engineers  to  make  surveys,  plans 
of  draining,  construction  and  repairs,  as  well  as  esti¬ 
mates  of  cost  of  material  and  labor,  and  who  shall  use 
such  appliances  and  methods  as  study  and  experience 
show  to  give  the  best  results  for  a  given  expenditure. 
Various  sections  of  the  roads  would  be  put  under  the 
constant  care  of  a  foreman,  whose  business  would  be 
to  keep  the  road  in  repair,  much  the  same  as  the  track- 
master  of  a  well-managed  railway  cares  for  his  road-bed. 
It  is  firmly  believed  that  under  some  such  system  as 
this,  the  roads  would  greatly  improve  at  no  greater 
expenditure  than  is  now  annually  wasted  in  the  so- 
called  “  workings.”  The  roads  would  be  kept  better 
drained  both  at  the  surface  and  subsoil.  The  side 
ditches  would  be  kept  open  and  free  from  grass  and 
weeds,  and  by  frequent  use  of  the  scraper  and  roller, 
the  surface  would  be  kept  hard  and  smooth,  the  ruts 
which  form  in  wet  weather  be  filled  and  leveled  before 
they  have  become  deep  and  filled  with  water  and  rap¬ 
idly  destroy  the  road  ;  in  short,  the  road  would  be 
kept  in  repair  instead  of,  as  at  present,  wretchedly 
remade  every  spring,  and  then  left  to  itself  to  im¬ 
prove  for  a  while,  then  deteriorate  till  it  is  wretched 
once  more.  The  superb  highways  of  France  are  ex¬ 
amples  of  what  can  be  accomplished  by  long-continued, 
scientific  and  efficient  national  and  provincial  manage¬ 
ment. 
The  need  of  better  roads  is  being  felt  more  and  more 
throughout  the  entire  country.  In  many  localities 
active  and  vigorous  measures  have  already  been  taken 
to  secure  them.  Many  miles  of  broken  stone,  macadam 
and  Telford  roads  will  doubtless  be  built  during  the 
next  10  years.  Such  roads  are  the  cheapest  and  best 
.in  the  end  ;  but,  owing  to  the  cost  of  construction  and 
the  enormous  extent  of  the  country  roads,  the  greater 
part  of  them  must  necessarily  remain  dirt  roads  for 
many  years  to  come.  Great  is  the  need  of  newly  built 
roads,  but  greater  still  the  need  of  better  methods  of 
maintaining  our  present  ones.  j.  g.  siiillinger. 
*  *  * 
We  want  to  hear  from  all  who  have  ever  tried  td  keep 
pea  pods,  sweet  corn  husks  and  other  wastes  of  canning 
factories  in  silos.  What  results  ?  Did  it  pay  ? 
