2 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
January 6 
all other conditions being equal. With an early, small 
variety, like Hebron, Freeman or Rose, the one eye 
would give a better size. Hence, “Cut seed according 
to inherited tendencies of the variety planted.” Early 
Snowflake and Crane’s Potentate could not be dis¬ 
tinguished from Rural New-Yorker and are not its 
equal. The Frankfort is slightly flattened, oval, red, 
and resembles the old Albany Seedling. Ironclad also 
resembles Rural New-Yorker, but is slightly redder. 
The Mpggie Mu/pby either imitates or is imitated by 
half a dozen other kinds. They are all red, large, 
late, and, in markets where red potatoes sell well, are 
good varieties. As an example cf superior vigor or 
power to perpetuate characteristics, the Rose leads all 
other types, there being 352 exhibits of red varieties 
against 205 of the white. 
The snowflake type were of good quality and re¬ 
quire careful treatment to give good yields. The 
largest potato was a Green Mountain, but the heaviest 
was a Dutton Seedling. The former is liable to rot, 
the latter is poor in quality, but a very profitable 
potato to grow upon poor land fora wholesale market. 
Among the novelties was a plate of the old Jersey 
Peachb’ow, which brought a smile to many an old 
man as he told of digging a “ bushel from four hills.” 
One plate of Cowhorn attracted the attention of a 
lady from Texas. “Just like my father raised,” was 
her comment. They are about an inch in diameter, 
shaped like a cows horn, and so smooth that a little 
rubbing fits them for baking without washing. The 
Irish Cup, which is a brilliant red, and two exhibits of 
sweet potatoes were in that corner, also. 
About 100 seedlings were shown. None as yet named. 
The white, with round bodies, predominated. The 
first year, from seed, the largest are not usually larger 
than the end of one’s little finger, but a few of these 
were as large as a small hen’s egg. One marked No. 
131 which is older, yielded at the rate of 495 bushels 
per acre. Probably this will be an extra good one 
later. 
The scab showed on a good many exhibits and is 
doing much greater damage than most people are 
aware of. Every potato grower should carefully dis¬ 
card all affected tubers. Rot will work on cool and 
damp surfaces. All tubers should be thoroughly sun- 
dried before storing. c. e. c. 
A GRANGE POTATO EXPERIMENT. 
I send an account of a potato experiment made by a 
member of Jefferson Grange. We have had a very 
successful year in our Grange. Last spring I gave 
some of the members potatoes which I brought from 
Tennessee; they were Rural No. 2, a potato called 
Michigan Pink Eye and June Red. Mr. George Del- 
mar reported Pink Eye as one of the best late pota¬ 
toes he ever tried ; he planted the last of May. The 
Rural No. 2 never has done well for me, but I shall 
test it another year. We expect to try the experi¬ 
ments another year on different crops and will en¬ 
deavor to give reports. f. r. fincit. 
Ohio. 
Trial of potatoes, made by C. B. Chapman, of Indian Hill, Ohio. 
Planted April 3, 1893, In good, mellow soil, well fertilized, one con¬ 
tinuous row belnz used,ground, conditions and treatment belnjr 
exactly alike, and all belnt; duff the same day, September 29. 1893: 
Kesui.t 
Total. 
Inc. 
QO O 
0) "O 
h ^ a> 
c.Sf 5 
^ a> c3 
» ^ D 
r* c CD 
Name. 
No. of Tubers, 
Weight, oz. 
® . 
a> Q) 
gl 
o a 
O V( 
♦3 o 
.N'o. Of market¬ 
able tubers. 
o 
o 
OS 
a 
■=q: 
A 
b 
No. of Tubers. 
Weight, oz. 
No. of Tubers. 
Increase. 
N 
«s 
O 
Rank. 
MlchlKSn Pink 
Eye.... _ 
2 
19 
33 
0 
’2 
42 
21 
48 
33 
4 
7 
3-5 
R. N.-Y. No. 2. 
2 
8^^ 
17 
24 
64 
15 
9 
39 
54 
22 
45J^ 
7 
Polaris. 
2 
7 
20 
2.') 
39 
49 
32 
74 
71 
23 
32 
5 4-7 
2 
Early Rose ... 
2 
18 
30 
25 
56 
48 
48 
73 
104 
23 
38 
3 2-9 
6 
White Star... 
2 
70 
25 
36 
96 
22 
17 
.58 
113 
34 
4 4-5 
4 
Early Ohio.... 
2 
11 
19 
16 
38 
27 
18 
43 
56 
14 
27 
3 5-11 
5 
June Red. 
1 
.8H 
6 
9 
17 
24 
8 
33 
25 
8 
13H 
4 6-7 
3 
HOW TO STERILIZE MILK. 
The Department of Agriculture sends out a circular 
giving information as to sterilizing milk. The pictures 
at Fig. 1 are taken from the circular which reads as 
follows: 
“The vessel containing the milk, which may be the 
bottle from which it is to be used or any other suit¬ 
able vessel, is placed inside of a larger vessel of metal, 
which contains the water. If a bottle, it is plugged 
with absorbent cotton, if this be at hand, or, in its ab¬ 
sence, other clean cotton will answer. A small fruit 
jar, loosely covered, may be used instead of a bottle. 
The requirements are simply that the interior vessel 
shall be raised about half an inch above the 
bottom of the other, and that the water shall 
reach nearly or quite as high as the milk. The ap¬ 
paratus is then heated on a range or stove until the 
water reaches a temperature of 155 degrees Fahren¬ 
heit, when it is removed from the heat and kept 
tightly covered for half an hour. The milk bottles 
are then taken out and kept in a cool place. The milk 
may be used at any time within 24 hours. A tempera¬ 
ture of 150 degrees maintained for half an hour is 
sufficient to destroy any germs likely to be nresent in 
the milk, and it is found in practice that raising the 
temperature to 155 degrees and then allowing it to 
stand in the heated water for half an hour insures the 
proper temperature for the required time. The tem¬ 
perature should not be raised above 155 degrees, other¬ 
wise the taste and quality of the milk will be im¬ 
paired. 
“The simplest plan is to take a tin pail and invert a 
perforated tin pie-plate in the bottom, or have made 
for it a removable false bottom perforated with holes 
and having legs half an inch high, to allow circulation 
of the water. The milk-bottle is set on this false bot¬ 
tom, and sufficient water is put into the pail to reach 
the level of the surface of the milk in the bottle. A 
hole may be punched in the cover of the pail, a cork 
inserted, and a chemical thermometer put through the 
cork, so that the bulb dips into the water. The tem¬ 
perature can thus be watched without removing 
the cover. If preferred, an ordinary dairy ther¬ 
mometer may be used and the temperature tested from 
time to time by removing the lid. This is very easily 
arranged, and is just as satisfactory as the patented 
apparatus sold for the same purpose.” 
FERTILIZERS AND FRUIT. 
AMONG THE HUDSON RIVER FRUIT GROWERS. 
Part VIII. 
(Concluded.) 
How the Cows Fed the Orchard. 
Last week I started to tell how Mr. Hart planned to 
have his 70 acres of grass and corn feed 90 acres of 
apple orchard. I visited the farm last June purposely 
to watch the feeding of prickly comfrey. It has often 
been said that cows will not eat this plant, and that 
even if they are starved to it, they will never thrive 
on it. I went into the patch myself and cut some of 
the comfrey and carried it to the cows. Did they eat 
Device for Sterilizing Mii.k Fig. 2. 
it ? Certainly they did, as readily as a boy would eat 
a piece of pumpkin pie. 
Mr. Hart says that he has never known a cow to eat 
the comfrey at first of her own free will. Starve them 
into it ? Oh, no—coaxing beats starving for profit. 
The comfrey is run through a fodder cutter and the 
grain is sprinkled over it. In order to get the grain, 
the cows eat up the comfrey, and, after a few meals, 
acquire such a liking for it that they will eat it as 
readily as any other soiling crop. This I can well be¬ 
lieve from the way they started at a big ox-load of it 
that had just been hauled in. Mr. Hart said that cows 
would often leave good pasture to eat in the comfrey 
patch. He has two acres set in comfrey within short 
hauling distance of the barn. Two men with scythes 
can soon cut down and load enough to feed the cows, 
which do not leave the stable while given this food. 
As stated last week, the comfrey is fed during June. 
Then the meadows are cut and the cattle turned on 
them till corn is large enough to cut, and this keeps 
them in rough fodder until the silos are opened, so 
that, as stated, the corn plant provides cow food from 
the last of July until the last of May. Of course, some 
hay is fed with the ensilage, but the latter provides 
most of the ration. Up to this year strongly nitrogen¬ 
ous foods like bran and cotton-seed meal were bought 
and fed heavily, making a good ration with the ensi¬ 
lage. The cows are Jerseys of good breeding. The 
cream only is sold, delivered at the door. The cows 
stand over iron gratings with a cement floor beneath 
them, so that the rich manure is all saved in good con¬ 
dition. 
This system of dairying gave a good profit, but the 
chief object of it was to provide manure for the great 
apple orchard. It did this and did it fairly well, but 
the dairy farm fed the orchard at the expense of 
itself. You will notice there was no clover in the 
rotation—in fact hardly any rotation at all. The only 
fertility brought to the farm under this system was in 
the form of grain fed to the cows and the great crops 
of apples sent away each year more than balanced 
that. If the 90 acres of orchard were fed properly 
there would be little manure left for the dairy land. 
In other words, the strength of the dairy land was all 
going to the orchard while by rights, in order to main¬ 
tain the cows properly all of the manure should have 
gone back to the grass and corn. 
More fertility of some sort was evidently needed, 
the farm could not improve so long as nothing but 
grain was brought to it, and Mr. Hart began seriously 
to consider the use of fertilizers. Where should they 
be used ? On the orchard directly and thus leave the 
manure for the grass and corn, or on the latter crops 
and thus provide heavier crops and more manure for 
the orchard ? Either plan was feasible, but after ex¬ 
periments Mr. Hart decided to put the fertilizers 
directly on the orchard. This has given the best of 
satisfaction—producing fruit of fine flavor and high 
color. He uses about 400 pounds per acre of bone and 
potash broadcasted in spring and harrowed in. Here¬ 
after, Mr. Hart says that he will use no more manure 
on the orchards, but will crowd it all on the corn and 
grass lands. The change to fertilizers, too, has 
brought in another change, viz., the growing of clover 
in the young orchards. In fact, Mr. Hart said that he 
doubted if he should fill his silos at all as the work 
came just at his busiest time in apple picking. With 
the clover hay now grown, he expects to feed the 
cows as cheaply as before. With the use of the clover, 
too, it will not be necessary to buy so much of the 
nitrogenous grains. Thus on this famous fruit farm 
fertilizers have solved the problem of fertility without 
interfering with the dairy. The dairy farm paid well, 
but it could not maintain its own fertility and still 
have all the manure taken away. With all the manure 
returned to its fields it will pay better than ever while 
the fertilizer gives cheaper and better plant food for 
the orchards than the manure ever did. 
Mr. Hart’s orchard is not on rich land. In fact it 
was only a rough and broken hillside which, left to 
itself, would not grow corn enough to pay for the 
labor. Yet in a bearing year it will fill the great cool¬ 
ing rooms of 8,000 to 10,000 barrels’ capacity. The 
chief varieties are Greening, Baldwin, Ben Davis, Spy, 
Peck’s Pleasant, Russet, etc. In 1892 Mr. W. F. Taber 
visited the orchard and found the Baldwins fairly 
loaded to the ground. The apples, as he said, “hung 
in ropes,” he counted 17 in the space of two feet. 
These trees are liberally fed every year. Not only is 
the orchard fed but it is plowed and cultivated for the 
trees—not for the purpose of taking another crop away. 
Speaking of the use of fertilizers Mr. Hart said he be¬ 
lieved farm manure tended to produce growth of wood, 
loose texture and light color in the fruit, while fer¬ 
tilizers gave the reverse, viz , higher color and firmer 
texture. 
A Review of the Matter. 
From the experiences of the men who have given 
testimony in these articles it seems safe to say that 
certain things about feeding vines and trees are settled. 
As a rule, the best fruit growing sections are not 
the best for stock growing. There are situations where 
the two may be profitably combined so that a good 
supply of manure can be obtained. Fruit growing is, 
however, a business of itself and should not be mixed 
with stock keeping. It has been proved beyond ques¬ 
tion that successful fruit growing does not depend on 
manure or stock feeding since fertilizers alone will 
supply all the plant food needed by the crop of fruit. 
Several of our large nurserymen have stock farms in 
connection with their nurseries. This is a wise plan 
as we understand, from what all have said about the 
tendency of manure to promote the growth of wood. 
On young trees, manure is a good thing to apply. Mr. 
Hart’s experience shows that with the crop of apples, 
fertilizers made the better plant food, and that it is 
better to use the manure from the dairy to grow better 
and heavier crops of dairy food. No dairy farm can 
feed an orchard and support itself. No fruit farmer 
need fear for success because he cannot obtain stable 
manure. 
As to quality of fruit, there is no doubt about the 
superiority of a well balanced fertilizer. The testi¬ 
mony of Mr. Williams on this point seems to me con¬ 
clusive. Not only is the quality improved, but there is 
a firmer texture and a higher color where fertilizers 
are used. To recall Mr. Wygant’s analogy, the peach 
tree responds to different forms of fertility, about as 
the cow gives butter of varying quality and appear¬ 
ance as she is fed sour brewers’ grains or sweet corn 
meal and clover hay. 
As to the relative cost jof fertility in fertilizers and 
manure, if any fair estimate is to be given for the cost 
of handling the latter, the cheaper price of nitrogen, 
potash and phosphoric acid in the former will be easily 
seen. A ton of manure containing 10 pounds of nitro¬ 
gen, 6 pounds of phosphoric acid and 12 pounds of pot¬ 
ash, costing §3 a ton, means 21 cents for nitrogen, 8 for 
potash and 14 for phosphoric acid—altogether too much 
as compared with the fertilizer. At the same time 
stable manure is the cheapest mulching material and 
the best source of humus these farmers can obtain. 
Of course, where one has land enough to grow crops 
