VOL. LIII. No. 2293. 
NEW YORK JANUARY 6, 1894. 
PRICE, THREE CENTS. 
$ 1.00 PER YEAR. 
NEW YORK POTATOES “DO THEMSELVES 
PROUD.” 
AN OIUP;CT I.E8H0N TO TIIK REST OF THE WORLD 
Possibilities of Our Potato Crop. 
“ Potato time for New York at the Columbian Ex¬ 
position was from September 5 to 25. A photograph 
of the exhibit is shown at Pig. 1. This represents 
about one-twentieth of the whole. There were 1,100 
samples of shelled grain in the double row of boxes, 
on top of the cases in each aisle, and under the glass 
shown in the picture were samples of nuts, maple 
syrup and sugar, flax seed, flber and cloth, teasles, 
tobacco, hops, etc ; yet the (580 exhibits including 
about 250 varieties, aggregating over 200 bushels, com¬ 
pletely “snowed 
under ” for the 
time the rest of 
the State exhibit. 
“Doesn’t New 
York grow any¬ 
thing but pota¬ 
toes?” was a 
stock question. 
The superintend¬ 
ent was obliged 
to have a card 
printed, “ Special 
State Exhibit,” 
or leave the rest 
of the exhibits 
“ out in the wet.” 
A nobleman from 
Italy attracted 
my attention. He 
had a big Dutton 
seedling nearly a 
foot long, which 
he was waving in 
the air. ‘ Wonder¬ 
ful, marvelous,” 
were the only 
words I could dis¬ 
tinguish, but his 
interpreter said, 
“In Italy the 
largest tubers are 
like hens’ eggs.” 
This gentleman 
made arrange¬ 
ments to have a 
quantity of seed 
potatoes shipped 
to him. which he 
will distribute 
among the farm¬ 
ers of his country. 
That his country 
men may be benefited is the only reward he wishes, 
and he hopes that our varieties will take kindly to 
their climate. 
The answer to the question, “ What varieties do you 
grow ? ” was, if by a western man, “ Oh ! Early Rose or 
Hebron.” I do not b<“lieve there is a State in the Union 
that has so large an interest and so many good kinds 
as the Empire State. Only a few States made any at¬ 
tempt to show potatoes, and New Jersey was the onJy 
one that came within a stone’s throw of our own. 
The benefit of this exhibit to the growers and seeds¬ 
men of our State, if they follow up the impetus given 
by judicious advertising and fair dealing, cannot be 
too highly estimated. The whole exhibit was easily 
sold at the close of the show for seed, experiment 
stations, and foreign representatives being purchasers. 
How the Show Was Worked Up. 
Ccnsumers were particularly anxious to know, 
“ ^Vhat kind shall I plant for my own eaticg ? ” “I 
do not get any ?ood ones at the store ; what are the 
real good ones?” These questions were asked a 
thousand times by the city people. I did not have a 
potato of good quality to eat while in Chicago, except 
some I took with me from the exhibit. The chestnut, 
hillside soil of New York, aided by deep culture and 
special fertilizers which give smoother tubers, is un¬ 
equaled by any other section. This great ex’aibit has 
turned the eyes of both growers and consumers to¬ 
ward New York, and although necessarily expensive, 
will give the State more prestige and the farmers a 
larger return than any other part of the State exhibit. 
This exhibit is the result of the wisdom of James 
Wood, director-in-chief and the energy of Supt. M. P. 
I’ierson, of Seneca Castle. Mr. Wood decided that ex 
hibitors should be paid for growing the stock, and 
thus their best efforts were secured, as each one knew 
last spring what was expected of him. 
In order to keep the show within bounds it was de¬ 
cided to accept contracts from those counties only 
which have an annual yield of 1,000,000 bushels each, 
and Mr. Pierson made contracts with one representa¬ 
tive grower from each of 22 counties. The most of 
these were secured in answer to his advertisement in 
The R. N.-Y. Nearly all sent exhibits, and demon¬ 
strated the fact that a good crop can be grown in 
spite of dry weather, by the aid of constant culture 
and commercial fertilizers. The tests were confined 
to the best four hills of each grower, and a keg from 
the field test. Some of the growers failed to fill out 
all data as requested, but an impartial study of the 
exhibit gave the following facts : 
The amount of seed used was quite uniformly two 
to three eyes to the hill. Hills and drills were about 
even in numbers. Nearly all planted early in May, 
and all used commercial fertilizers, with the excepticn 
of two, who used compost. Of the 17 that used fer¬ 
tilizers alone, five used Mapes potato manure. The 
others were pretty equally divided among the other 
leading fertilizer firms Two loads of compost 
and 100 pounds of fertilizer gave in one case four 
hiUs, which yielded at the rate of 700 bushels per 
acre. 
The largest amount of fertilizer applied was 1,500 
pounds ; the smallest 300 pounds. The average was 
735 pounds, and the average yield of the be-t four 
hills was at the rate of 720 bushels. The lowest 
average of the poorest four hills was 222 bushels. 
When we consider that the average yield in this S‘ate 
is said to be only 75 bushels, this makes a good show¬ 
ing, even in an 
olf jear, for the 
fertilizers. The 
fact that the late 
potatoes had to 
be dug before 
they were fully 
ripe, should be 
taken into con¬ 
sideration. In 
my own case, 
had it not been 
for the fertilizer, 
my tubers would 
not have been 
large enough to 
dig, and the yield 
was smaller in 
many instances 
than it would 
have been had 
they been dug a 
month later. One 
notable yield was 
a hill of 14 pounds 
of the Early 
Maine. This is 
the more surpris¬ 
ing, as this va¬ 
riety is n o t a 
large y i e 1 d e r. 
One field test of 
Blue Victor, at 
the rate of 1,120 
bushels, makes 
one wish that 
this variety were 
of a popular 
color. The pres¬ 
ent color kills it. 
The Rural New- 
Yorker No. 2 was 
included in near¬ 
ly all exhibits, and came to the front as the heaviest 
yielder five times. Blue Victor was heaviest yielder 
three times, and no other kind more than once. In 
the lowest there was not a representative late potato, 
while but three early ones were found among the 
large yielders. I think it is well proven that for uni¬ 
formly large yields we should plant late potatoes. 
A Talk About Varieties, etc. 
An interesting experiment, showing the effect of 
different amounts of seed in the hill with different 
varieties, attracted much attention. One eye gave the 
largest tubers; two eyes gave more and smaller, 
while three eyes gave twice as many in number. The 
result for three kinds follows : 
One eye. Two eyes. Three eyes. 
RuBhels. Baiiheli). liuahelH. 
Rural New-Yorker No. 2. (ifsO 770 063 
Blue Victor. 770 880 1,020 
Maggie Murphy. (iOO 000 843 
A difference of 293.bushels is a matter worlh studying, 
A Section of the New York State Potato Exhibit at the World’s Fair. Fig. 
