398 
THE  RURAL  NEW-YORKER. 
June  18 
Upright  or  Sprawling  Potatoes  P 
P.  W.  J.,  Pontiac,  Mich. — In  regard  to 
cultivating  potatoes  late  in  the  season, 
varieties  that  grow  upright,  like  the 
Rural  New-Yorker  No.  2,  are  certainly 
preferable,  while  varieties  that  grow 
sprawling  over  the  ground  will  keep 
down  many  weeds,  keep  the  ground  cool, 
and  consequently  more  moist,  and  require 
less  cultivation  than  upright  sorts;  and 
I  have  always  held  to  the  opinion  that 
shady,  cool  ground  produces  the  best 
flavored  potatoes,  so  I  rather  favor  the 
sprawling  varieties. 
J.  C.  G.,  Wolcottville,  Ind. — I  find  it 
an  advantage  to  have  the  potato  plants 
grow  straight  up,  as  they  can  be  culti¬ 
vated  closer  and  the  weeds  that  are  in  the 
hills  covered  up  better.  Yes,  they  can  be 
cultivated  longer  and  kept  cleaner  than 
the  others.  The  sprawling  varieties  do 
not  shade  the  ground  enough  to  smother 
the  weeds,  as  I  have  always  had  to  hand- 
pull  large  weeds  that  grew  up  through 
them  after  they  got  too  large  to  he  cul¬ 
tivated. 
“Pushing”  a  Corn  Crop. 
J.  M.,  Sterling,  III. — A  field  of  mine 
contained  13  4-5  measured  acres,  and  pro¬ 
duced  1,474  bushels  and  14  pounds  of 
shelled  corn.  The  field  had  been  in  clover 
for  three  years  with  some  Timothy,  but 
mostly  clover  (common  red.)  In  one 
of  those  years  it  produced  five  tons  per 
acre.  Some  manure  was  put  on  where 
needed,  and  in  the  fall  and  winter  of 
1891  cattle  and  horses  fed  on  it  when  not 
covered  with  snow.  Part  of  another  field 
was  almost  as  good.  My  farmer  is  a  Ger¬ 
man  who  understands  how  to  farm,  and 
he  pushes  his  work,  it  never  pushes  him, 
and  he  does  not  appear  to  work  his  men 
or  himself  as  hard  as  other  men  do,  but 
he  makes  the  work  count  when  in  the 
field. 
Crimson  Clover  in  New  York. 
E.  A.  W.,  SCHAALENBURGH,  N.  Y. — I 
have  read  with  great  interest  the  articles 
about  Crimson  Clover,  and  when  a  neigh¬ 
bor  sent  me  some  of  the  seed  last  fall  I 
was  very  doubtful  as  to  whether  it  would 
grow;  but  I  sowed  it  in  August  in  a  piece 
of  very  heavy  corn,  which  had  been  cul¬ 
tivated  level,  and  it  was  raked  in  by 
hand.  It  came  up  well,  but  about  April 
15,  it  was  not  over  two  inches  high  and 
a  part  of  it  was  plowed  under  for  oats. 
To-day  it  is  one  of  the  most  beautiful 
sights  I  have  ever  seen,  and  attracts  the 
attention  of  all  who  pass  my  place.  It 
grows  on  poor  land,  which  has  received 
nothing  in  the  shape  of  fertilizer  since 
the  corn  was  planted  a  year  ago. 
Later,  May  31. — On  examining  my 
Crimson  Clover,  I  find  it  was  more  nearly 
matured  than  I  supposed,  so  it  will  hardly 
stand  over  15  inches  at  best,  and  as  it  was 
hardly  to  be  seen  at  all  April  1,  I  think 
this  a  wonderful  result. 
More  Melon  Notes. 
F.  T.  White,  Fulton  County,  Ia. — 
I  have  never  practiced  pinching  off  the 
tips  of  melon  vines.  All  my  premium 
melons  have  been  growm  on  undisturbed 
vines.  I  have  manured  broadcast  and  in 
the  hill  to  good  advantage,  but  where 
land  is  rich  enough  to  produce  a  good 
crop  of  corn  or  potatoes,  a  shovelful  of 
good,  rich,  well-rotted  manure  in  the  hill 
will  be  all  that  is  needed.  It  should  be 
free  of  trash  and  well  covered  with  the 
surface  soil.  With  a  spade  I  dig  holes  12 
inches  deep  and  put  the  manure  in  them, 
and  draw  on  the  earth  several  inches 
above  the  level  of  the  land.  Good,  rich, 
black  sandy  land,  with  a  porous  clay  sub¬ 
soil  will  produce  the  best  quality  of 
melons.  A  light,  sandy  soil  will  yield 
earlier  melons,  but  they  will  be  inferior 
in  sweetness  and  the  crop  will  not  be 
so  large,  nor  will  the  vines  bear  so  late  in 
the  season.  Our  hazel  bush  timber  lands, 
having  been  cultivated  for  several  years, 
produce  the  best  melons.  On  new  or 
very  highly  manured  land,  the  melons 
grow  too  much  to  vine  and  too  rapidly, 
and  the  quality  is  not  so  good,  so  that 
very  rich  soil  is  not  desirable. 
An  Overwhelming  Demand  Not  Sup¬ 
plied  by  an  Abundant  Supply. 
The  sufferings  and  deprivations  of  the 
poor  little  girls  and  boys  and  men  and 
women  of  our  cities  are  well  set  forth  in 
the  religious  and  lay  papers  and  maga¬ 
zines  of  the  day.  Filthy,  ill  fed,  breath¬ 
ing  vile  air,  sleeping  upon  the  floor  or 
upon  cots  alive  with  vermin,  will  tell  the 
story  of  their  lives  as  nearly  as  a  few 
words  may  suffice.  All  sorts  of  charities 
have  been  organized  for  these  wretched 
poor  people  by  the  benevolence  of  those 
who  would  gladly  better  their  condition. 
Among  them — and  not  the  least  among 
them — is  the  “  Fresh  Air  Fund”  that  en¬ 
ables  these  poor  creatures  to  see  the 
bright  country  for  a  day  or  maybe  a 
week  during  an  entire  summer.  For  the 
poor  sewing  girl  there  seems  little  relief 
of  any  kind.  She  must  sew  from  morn¬ 
ing  until  midnight.  The  pale  face  and  the 
wan  form,  growing  paler  and  thinner  as 
the  months  pass  on,  might  soon  be 
changed  by  a  few  months  of  wholesome 
country  life. 
On  a  bench  beside  a  drug  store  on  one 
of  the  cross  streets  of  New  York,  sits, 
for  a  part  of  every  day,  a  middle-aged, 
pleasant-faced  woman,  offering  pencils 
to  passers  by.  The  writer,  not  caring 
for  the  pencils,  which  are  of  poor  quality, 
has  often  given  her  a  few  pennies  as  he 
has  met  the  upturned,  pleading  face  on 
his  way  home  from  The  Rural  office. 
“  This  is  a  worthy,  poor  woman,”  he  has 
often  thought,  as  with  almost  tearful 
eyes  she  has  received  the  pittance 
offered. 
Question:  “Are  you  married?”  was 
asked  of  her  a  few  days  sincei 
Answer :  “  No,  good  sir,  I  am  not  mar¬ 
ried.” 
Q.  “  Have  you  children  ?  ” 
A.  “  No,  but  I  am  very,  very  poor.” 
Q.  “I  live  in  a  pleasant  though  lonely 
country  home,  where  you  may  live,  if 
you  are  willing  to  do  light  work,  without 
selling  pencils.  You  would  have  a  nice, 
clean  room,  healthful  food  and  plenty  of 
it,  and,  if  industrious,  a  considerable  part 
of  every  day  to  yourself,  and  $14  a  month 
as  pay  for  your  services.  Would  you  not 
prefer  such  a  life  ?  ” 
A.  “Oh,  no,  dear  sir,  it  would  be  too 
lonely.  1  could  not  part  from  my  friends 
here  !  ” 
And  so  it  is.  Good  country  families 
who  have  the  comforts  of  life  and  health¬ 
ful  environments  to  offer,  find  it  difficult 
to  procure  assistance,  while  thousands  in 
the  cities  choose  to  live  as  best  they  may 
from  hand  to  mouth,  generally  in  filth 
and  squalor.  Such  facts  incline  charitable 
people  to  care  less  for  “  Fresh  Air 
Funds,”  and  more  for  the  benevolence 
that  begins  at  home. 
Short  Stories. 
The  North  Carolina  / 
Agricultural  Experiment  station,  > 
RALEIGH.  N.  C..  May  2(1,  1892.  \ 
Eds.  Rural  New-Yorker: 
I  certainly  owe  an  apology  to  Mr.  Baur  for  charg¬ 
ing  him  with  comment  in  his  circulars,  and  also  to  the 
readers  of  The  R.  N.-Y.  for  having  Imposed  upon 
them  a  letter  not  Intended  for  publication.  But  it  Is 
a  hard  matter  to  fight  an  editor  In  his  own  paper,  for, 
like  the  Irishman's  flea,  he  is  never  where  you  put 
your  finger.  I  cannot  see  that  there  Is  any  similarity 
between  the  present  case  and  McCarthy's.  The 
Rural  New-Yorker  criticized  the  necessity  for 
doing  In  the  stations  a  certain  kind  of  work  which  Mr. 
McCarthy  had  been  doing.  I  fully  agreed  with  it  and 
have  not  changed  my  views.  But  this  was  no  attack 
upon  Mr.  McCarthy,  and  I  never  would  have  joined 
the  paper  in  a  personal  attack  upon  him.  I  have  long 
been  convinced  that  seed  testing,  so  far  as  vegetable 
garden  seeds  are  concerned,  is  needless  and  that 
there  Is,  in  case  of  these  seeds  at  least,  no  necessity 
for  government  control.  I  have  Insisted  that  no  lab¬ 
oratory  test  of  garden  seeds,  whether  conducted  by 
Mr.  McCarthy  or  any  one  else,  was  of  any  great  value 
as  compared  with  a  test  in  a  greenhouse  and  culture 
test,  and  that  the  stock  or  ancestry  of  these  seeds  Is 
of  vastly  more  Importance  than  the  mere  percentages 
of  germination.  In  all  this  I  have  attacked  no  man’s 
methods  of  work  or  diligence  in  doing  It,  which  is  a 
very  different  matter  from  the  editor’s  criticism  in 
my  case. 
Agafn  asking  the  readers’  pardon,  I  promise  to  stop 
this  discussion  if  the  editor  will.  w.  f.  massey. 
R.  N.-Y. — -Yes,  certainly.  We  would 
only  ask  that  Prof.  Massey  do  not  again 
assume,  without  substantial  evidence, 
that  we  are  or  ever  have  been  antagonis¬ 
tic  to  the  stations  or  their  officers.  It  is 
one  of  the  manifest  duties  of  farm  jour¬ 
nals  to  criticize,  adversely  as  well  as  fav¬ 
orably,  the  work  of  the  stations,  as  blame 
or  praise  may  be  deserved.  It  is  only 
journals  that  fail  to  do  this  that  may 
justly  be  characterized  as  enemies. — Eds. 
*  *  * 
The  following  is  a  reply  to  a  question 
of  The  R.  N.-Y.,  and  explains  itself: 
U.  S.  Department  of  agriculture,  l 
Division  of  Entomology.  >■ 
Washington,  d.  C.,  may  25, 1892.  \ 
Eds.  Rural  New-Yorker: 
Sulphate  of  copper  Is  reported  as  having  been  suc¬ 
cessfully  used  alone  as  a  preventive,  by  soaking  the 
seed  potatoes  for24  hours  In  a  solution  of  four  ounces 
of  the  sulphate  in  enough  water  to  cover  a  bushel  of 
potatoes.  Before  they  are  planted,  the  potatoes 
should  be  dried  somewhat  to  get  rid  of  the  super¬ 
abundant  moisture.  « 
We  have  no  record  of  the  use  on  the  potato  of  the 
sulphate  alone  as  a  remedial  measure.  It  is,  however, 
the  base  of,  and  an  important  element  in,  the  fungi¬ 
cides  commonly  and  successfully  employed,  viz.. 
Eau  Celeste,  Bordeaux  mixture,  sulphatine,  etc.,  and 
its  pure  solution  would  probably  be  nearly,  if  not 
quite,  as  effective  as  when  in  combination  with  am¬ 
monia  (Eau  Celeste),  lime  (Bordeaux  mixture)  or 
sulphur  (sulphatine  or  blight  powder).  On  other 
plants  the  pure  solution  of  the  sulphate  has  been 
found  to  burn  or  scald  the  tender  foliage  and  it 
might  have  a  similar  action  on  young  potato  vines. 
The  lime  mixture  is  the  best,  since  the  lime  holds 
the  sulphate  on  the  foliage  and  prevents  all  scalding 
even  on  the  tenderest  foliage.  The  ammonlacal 
compound  also  is  not  liable  to  scald  but  does  not  re¬ 
main  on  the  leaves  so  well.  It  is.  however,  less  ex¬ 
pensive  and  easier  of  application.  C.  v.  RILEY. 
*  *  * 
The  potato  patches  in  the  vicinity  of 
the  Rural  Grounds  are  thus  early  alive 
with  the  flea  beetle.  It  is  hard  to  esti¬ 
mate  the  damage  which  these  indestruc¬ 
tible  insects  may  do.  We  know  that  they 
puncture  the  leaves  and  riddle  them  with 
holes,  and  that  finally  the  leaves  wither 
and  die.  This,  however,  by  many  farm¬ 
ers  is  attributed  to  blight  and  not  as  a  re¬ 
sult  of  the  flea  beetles’  depredations.  To 
what  extent  this  injury  to  the  foliage  in¬ 
duces  rot  and  blight,  no  one  knows  pre¬ 
cisely.  The  R.  N.-Y.  fancies  there  is  a 
close  connection . 
( Cont  inued  oil  next  paye. ) 
$Uj0c?niW*0Ui* 
If  you  name  The  R.  N.-Y.  to  our  advertisers  you 
may  be  pretty  sure  of  prompt  replies  and  rigb 
treatment. 
True  Economy 
It  is  true  economy  to  buy  Hood’s  Sarsaparilla, 
for  “  100  Doses  One  Dollar  ”  is  original  with  and 
true  only  of  this  popular  medicine.  If  you  wish 
to  prove  this,  buy  a  bottle  of  Hood’s  Sarsaparilla 
and  measure  its  contents.  You  will  find  it  to  hold 
100  teaspoonfuls.  Now  read  the  directions,  and 
you  will  find  that  the  average  dose  for  persons  of 
different  ages  is  less  than  a  teaspoonful.  Hood’s 
Sarsaparilla  is  the  best  and  cheapest  medicine. 
“  I  todk  Hood’s  Sarsaparilla  for  loss  of  appetite, 
dyspepsia,  and  general  languor.  It  did  me  a  vast 
amount  oif good.”  J.  W.  Willkford,  Quincy, Ill. 
Hood’s  Sarsaparilla 
Sold  by  all  druggists.  $1 ;  six  for  #5.  Prepared  only 
by  C.  I.  HOOD  &  CO.,  Apothecaries,  Lowell,  Mass. 
IOO  Doses  One  Dollar 
Stops  Pain,  Cramps,  Inflammation  in  body  or  limb, 
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Elm  Stket,  DALLAS,  TEXAS.  f  Brumoh 
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TOWERS,  80,  40,  50  A  60-ft, 
Mills  with  or  without  graphite 
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STOVER  MFC.  CO.. 
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New  In  Principle.  Beautiful  In  Appearance. 
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Write  for  circulars. 
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Best  Hand-Cul¬ 
tivator  known 
Price,  #2.00 
Express  Paid, 
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3,  Express  Paid,  #6. 
•7^^  Except  Pacific  States. 
Cqual  to  five  hoes,  saves  two-thirds  finger- weeding 
onions,  etc.  Unequaled  for  strawberry-runners, 
ts  seven  inches  wide,  any  depth;  adjustable  in 
ight;  light  and  strong.  _ 
tEAD.— Pays  for  itself  every  day.— RURAL  New- 
ikkkh.  Lightest  and  best  we  know  of.— L  B.  I  aft, 
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Surrounding’  Spokane  is  the  richest 
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general  farming.  Land  purchased  at 
the  present  prices  will  double  in  value 
within  three  years.  Excellent  markets. 
We  want  intelligent  young  men  with 
some  capital.  Only  six  to  eight  weeks  of 
winter ;  no  blizzards,  no  cyclones,  no 
floods.  You  can  reach  Spokane  from  the 
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Pacific,  Union  Pacific,  or  the  Canadian 
Pacific  railroad. 
For  further  information  address 
CHAMBER  OF  COMMERCE, 
SPOKANE,  WASHINGTON. 
SAM’L  B.  WOODS, 
Mavor  City  of  Charlottes¬ 
ville.  Va.  Commissioner 
of  Virginia.  VIRGINIA, 
LEWI8  D.  AYLETT 
Formerly  Treasurer 
Georgia  Pacific  R.R. 
ALBEMARLE  COUNTY. 
The  great  fruit,  grain  and  stock  raising  section  of 
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Health  fine.  Near  the  great  markets.  Educational 
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Land  Good  !  Prices  Cheap  !  Taxes  Low! 
Farms  and  City  property  for  sale.  Write  to 
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CLAREMONT  Land  Association,  g^lVcSf.v'a 
Offers  600  choice  farms;  3,000  handsome  town 
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