638 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
SEPT. 5 
MAKING A POTATO SOIL OUT OF CLAY. 
How Much Can Tile Drainage Do? 
Is it possible, in your judgment, to make good potato 
ground out of soil that is naturally cold, wet and hard ? 
Can we by drain tiling so warm and lighten up such soils 
that it would be safe to use a rotation containing potatoes 
as one crop ? Can such soil ever be made to equal “natural 
potato soil” that is light, open and naturally well drained? 
Tile Drainage and Lime. 
I have no doubt it is possible to grow potatoes quite suc¬ 
cessfully on soil that is naturally cold, wet and hard, by 
thoroughly underdraining and a judicious use of lime. An 
application of the latter would, I think, tend to sweeten 
and lighten it, making it more porous. I have some acres 
of land of that description coming into potato culture in 
two fields, but there is so small a quantity in each that I 
am taking my chances of securing a crop. I do not usually 
anticipate so great a yield from this kind of soil, as from 
the more loamy portions of the field. Believing that a 
satisfactory potato crop on such land is an accident rather 
than anything else, I would not take very large chances in 
cultivating potatoes on heavy or clayey lands. I believe 
there are too many adverse contingencies in the seasons to 
warrant me In growing potatoes largely on soil of that 
character. D C LEWIS. 
Middlesex Co., N. J. 
Let Wet Lands go to Crass. 
I think it would be impossible to make very good 
potato ground out of soil that is naturally cold, wet 
and hard. If the soil contained a considerable amount of 
gravel and the trouble was that the lower strata would 
not let the water sink, it could be improved by draining 
be somewhat like making a whistle out of a pig’s tail. 
Even this can be done. A student in the Western Reserve 
College, jears ago, actually did accomplish the feat, after 
long trying. But it seems to me it would have been more 
practical to have made a whistle out of tin or willow, for 
a cent. The time was when a man could afford to go to 
great expense to grow a crop in a locality where the soil 
was not naturally suited to it; but that day has, as a rule, 
gone by. Transportation is cheap now, and the raising of 
special crops in localities naturally adapted to them has 
come to stay, and this practice will steadily increase in the 
future, because it is business, and our farmers are gradu¬ 
ally becoming more business-like. 
I have been writing of soil that was actually “cold, wet 
and hard.” There are some quite heavy soils that do 
fairly well for potatoes when drained and properly treated; 
but give me for potatoes a soil not heavier than what is 
called clay loam. 
Drainage Lengthened the Season One Month. 
I have had so little experience in tile draining that I 
hardly think I ought to give advice. I laid about 70 rods 
last fall, to drain a field which has usually been too wet to 
grow potatoes advantageously, as it has scarcely been 
practicable to plant much before the first of June. The 
soil is naturally very friable when dry enough. This year 
I found no trouble in working it in April, and now there 
is on it the finest growth of potatoes I have ever had. How 
much should be attributed to the draining I cannot say, as 
the season has been very favorable for potatoes. I think I 
may safely give the tiling credit for lengthening the season 
one month in spring, and that means a good deal. If the 
land to which the questions refer is so clayey that it will 
as clover, potatoes, corn, Timothy and other grasses. The 
finest potatoes I have ever seen were grown on such land 
after due preparation. It must be naturally or artificially 
well drained, and every second or third year copiously sup¬ 
plied with manure from the barn. Unless the latter is used 
in great abundance, it would be better to use it every year, 
and after a succession of crops sow to clover again. It 
will generally take several years to fit this land perfectly 
for potatoes ; but after it has been well drained, and the 
plentiful supplies of manure are thoroughly incorporated 
into the soil, the potatoes raised will beat “ all creation.” 
The case is just the same with the hard, cold, sour, yellow 
clay land. Like the other it has become soft, friable, loose, 
mellow, sweetened and light. I do not mean that every 
kind of potato will grow and thrive successfully on clay 
land, though it may be clovered, or manured or mixed with 
marl, muck or loam. Potatoes of the Ohio class will not 
do their best on any kind of clay soil. J w. baker. 
Bureau County, Ill. 
Good Potatoes Impossible on Wet Land. 
If the ground lies in such a way that it can be thoroughly 
underdrained and subsoiled it can be made fairly good 
potato soil, though not the best; but it would depend on 
the value of the land and its nearness to the market 
whether it would pay for the work or not. Potatoes 
raised on wet and hard ground, are very apt to be like the 
soil in which they grow even though the latter may have 
been well drained. The mechan'cal condi i >n of such 
ground cannot be made like that of land whi h is “ light, 
open and naturally well drained.” The soil is, in my 
opinion, a great factor in producing potatoes of fine flavor 
and good cooking qualities. A heavy yield of tubers may 
BIRD’S EYE VIEW OF THE POULTRY YARDS OF T. WILTON HILL. 
Fig. 230. 
so as to produce a fair crop, but, most assuredly, not one 
equal to that on natural potato soil; but If it contained 
much clay the work would be lost. I would not think of 
draining cold and wet land more than enongh to make it 
good grass land, which would not be enough for clover 
and potatoes. Clover is the fertilizer mostly used here ; the 
crops on a great many fields have been cut and left on the 
ground this season as a preparation for potatoes next year. 
Steuben Co., N. Y. c. H. everett. 
Mr. Terry’s Respect for Tiles. 
I have some land that was naturally cold, wet and hard. 
From long experience I find that tile draining, good til 
lage, rotation with clover and light manuring will make 
such land bring good crops of wheat and clover. In fact, 
on what was once the poorest, hardest clay spot on the 
farm, I had last year as fine wheat as I ever grew; but 
these places will not produce large crops of potatoes. If 
my land were all of that character 1 would never plant 
any. It would be wiser to grow what the land is better 
fitted for. I have reduced these hard places to such a con¬ 
dition that they are not eyesores when the field is in pota¬ 
toes, as they once were. In riding by they would not 
particularly attract one’s attention; but the digger would 
perhaps find 300 bushels per acre on the natural potato 
soil, whereas when it struck these spots there would be 
only 100 or less. 
Now, the above is the practical part of it. The question 
is, whether “it is possible.” I would hardly want to say 
no to that, as man can do almost anything. With tile 
draining and an unlimited supply of manure, and clover 
grown and plowed under, it is possible that the natural 
condition of the soil could be so changed In time that great 
crops even of potatoes could be grown on it; but it woul i 
never be friable, I should not expect ever to make it good 
potato land ; but draining would dry it in spring, and 
allow the warmth to penetrate it. Perhaps plowing In a 
good crop of clover might render it light and friable, even 
if there were more clay in its composition than would be 
desirable. M - M - 
Norfolk Co., Mass. 
Drainage and Manure Will Cure any Soil. 
Plenty of good barn manure, drain tiling and clover will 
make “ good potato soil” out of any kind of land I know 
anything about. We have four kinds of soil that may be 
called “ old, wet and hard.” The first is a stiff, yellow 
clay too poor to raise “ beansthe second a black, swampy, 
mucky land that one would think, after draining, would 
grow vegetation to perfection; but the draining doesn’t 
seem to do any good, for in cultivation it becomes hard, 
lumpy and unproductive. Then there is the black, prairie, 
doughy, sticky low land soil that utterly refuses to recog¬ 
nize the plant conditions of utility, until it is liberally sup¬ 
plied with fertilizer from the barn, when it becomes a 
wonder in productiveness. Another kind of soil is a cold, 
wet, sour clay land. You may drain it and undertake cul¬ 
tivation, but the soil bakes and hardens, and it is not 
infrequently the case that you will plow up hard lumps 
as large as a half-bushel basket. The panacea for this con¬ 
dition Is a liberal supply of barn manure. I don’t mean 
just a sprinkling over the land, but a dressings foot thick 
if possible, and it should be allowed to remain until it par¬ 
tially rots and decomposes, and permeates the soil; then it 
should be plowed under, the land be fallow plowed during 
the season, and the next year it will be a wonder in pro¬ 
ductiveness. After fallow-plowing the first season I think 
it will be in good condition for a succession of crops such 
be grown, that have a fine appearance, but are deficient in 
eating qualities. Soil that cannot be sufficiently lightened 
and aerated by cultivation will never be equal to “natural 
potato soil.” Some ground that is anything but hard will 
not produce good potatoes. I know of bottom land that is 
full of vegetable matter that will produce enormous crops 
of potatoes which are almost worthless for cooking. 
Dansville, N. Y._L. H. 
SOME HOT BLASTS FOR THE BIRDS. 
Crude Sentiment vs. Common Sense. 
When I read Mr. Powell’s criticism on killing fruit¬ 
eating birds, I thought I would make no answer; but as I 
have been again annihilated by a Massachusetts man in 
the next issue, perhaps The Rural will give me space to 
define and defend my position. I hold that each one should 
be allowed to work out this question to meet his own 
peculiar case—or if the birds belong to Uncle Sam, let the 
United States pay the damage when they trespass. Must 
the poultryman forbear when the skunks and minks are 
ravaging his roosts because a scientific man has found 
remains of mice in their stomachs ? 
I read Prof. Forbes’s statement long ago, and I well re¬ 
member that the orchard referred to was said to be stripped 
“as if by fire” (I quote from memory). Nobody doubts 
that most of our birds eat insects, but did they save this 
orchard ? I asked : “ Did they ever destroy a scourge of 
insects ?” No doubt they modify such plagues, but not in 
a perceptible degree. We have to fight the insects our¬ 
selves; even now Prof. Forbes is hunting among the 
poisons and bacteria for the remedies. 
Why does not Mr. Putnam hold an inquest over Mr. 
Travelot, who “is obliged in self-defence to kill the birds,” 
