pleased to find Mr. Dibble’s favorite resembles it very 
much. The Mammoth Eight-Rowed flint corn was 
of that class, and the specimen ears were the longest I 
ever saw. Eleven acres yielded 130 bushels of assorted 
ears, 10 or more inches in length, some 15 inches. It 
has been selected until practically every ear is com¬ 
pletely filled out at the end. I shall plant this variety 
in preference to Pride of the North this season for en¬ 
silage. Judging from the orders received, the White 
Maine oats are the most popular ; the sales last season 
were 2,000 bushels, and Mr. Dibble returned $500 on or¬ 
ders which he could not fill. This is a branch oat; 
short, stiff straw, and two oats grow in each chaff, 
giving a large yield. Au average of two seasons, with 
31 acres, gave 83 bushels per acre. 
The culture of beans is more profitable than wheat, 
and has extended until three or four counties of west¬ 
ern New York grow more beans than all the rest of 
the United States. The Medium, Pea and White Mar¬ 
row are the standard sorts. The Red Kidney is a great 
yielder on strong land, when given good care, and 
brings the highest price. A new bean, the Red Mar¬ 
row, came from Germany, three years ago, In 1893 it 
yielded 45 bushels, and in 1893 41 bushels per acre. 
Red beans are used on ships, as they will not mold as 
will the white ones. A few are used in coloring silk. 
Western New York grows barley of excellent 
quality, but brewers claim that Canada barley 
is better for malting, as the colder season is 
more favorable for producing a plump berry. 
Canada Six-rowed is the leading variety. The 
land is well adapted for this grain here, and 
533^ bushels per acre were grown on 35 acres.' 
“What are your favorite varieties of wheat?” 
I inquired as we came back from the granary. 
“ Red Clawson and Pulcaster, with Jones 
Winter Fife a good third. Two new promising 
varieties are Early Genesee Giant, which gave 
a yield of 643^ bushels on an acre, and is a 
good red milling wheat. The White Leader, 
we think, will do well, and wa shall give it 
a more extended trial next season.” 
While Mr. Dibble was looking over a large 
pile of letters which came in the morning 
mail, I was invited to help, and was much 
surprised to find so many naming The R. 
N.-Y. as the reason for writing. Many were 
from former custonaers, which speaks well 
for the seed of this section, c. B. chapman. 
about the time the peach trees are through bearing. 
The two can be grown at the same time without much 
extra labor, with the aid of a little extra fertilizer. The 
trees will be put in between every two peach trees in 
every other row. From another orchard of 100 trees 
I have got as high as 250 barrels of hand picked apples 
in the bearing year. 
I grow about 10 acres of potatoes yearly with good 
success. I use the Aspinwall planter. So far the crop 
has been grown with the aid of commercial fertilizers 
exclusively for want of clover sod ; hereafter I shall 
grow a part of it on clover sod and thus reduce the 
expense. By using ensilage I have been enabled to 
double the amount of stock usually kept on the farm, 
and by the careful saving of the manure, both liquid 
and solid, in a manure cellar, have fully three times as 
much fertilizer as formerly at my disposal. Though 
most of the farmers in my section, Sussex County, are 
engaged in shipping milk to New York, there are not 
half a dozen silos in the county. We adjoin Orange 
County, N. Y., once famous for its butter, but now 
noted for buying about all of that article that it uses. 
Paterson, N. J. f. e. p. 
FEEDING PEDIGREED POTATO SEED. ^ 
about the right ki 
A SUGGESTION DIBBLED IN: ITS DEVELOPMENT! ,, j 
From General Farming to Seed Growing. ^,y plowing under 
Honeoye Falls, N. Y., is situated in Monroe County, yard manure ; thi 
16 miles from Rochester, in the famous Genesee Val- filled with humus, 
ley. This country is admirably adapted by location 
and soil for the growing of extra fine farm seeds of 
superior quality and vigor. The county, according to 
the census reports, is exceeded by only one other in 
the United States in the value of its agricultural pro¬ 
ducts. Potato'growiug is the leading industry, 
but is nearly equaled by the nursery inter- 
est. The seed farms of Edward F. Dibble are * 
located in this vicinity, and many other grow¬ 
ers are growing stock for him. I was kindly 
welcomed by him and give a few items of Jl_ 
interest, as many of The R N -Y. readers are (A 
among his customers. The R N.-Y. being (as 1 
stated by Mr. Dibble) his best advertising 
medium. These farms were used for general 
farming until 1889, when Mr. Dibble became 
tired of village life, comparative ease and the 
ordinary profits received from the “ share 
system” and determined to get out of the 
ruts and create a new business. lie had a 
liking for the scientific side of farming, and 
after a day spent in company with the manag- 
ingecitor of The R. N.-Y., concluded to accept 
bis advice and engage in the growing and sell- * 
ing of farm seeds. Mr. Dibble regards the ' 
editor and The R. N.-Y. as the foundation of 
his success. How well he has succeeded may 
be inferred from the fact that in 1894 he will 
have over 100 acres devoted to the growing 
of seed potatoes, 80 acres of oats. 20 acres 
of corn and 40 acres of winter wheat. His 
sales for the season of 1894 have now reached 
about 10,000 bushels of these products in addi¬ 
tion to his large trade in garden seeds. 
“ Do all potatoes do equally well here ? ” I asked. 
“No, our fields are selected for their adaptability to 
the variety, which gives a peculiar vigor.” 
“ Please state some of the differences ? ” 
“ We have Rose land, a sandy loam, which gives 150 
to 300 bushels, while on gravel land the yield would 
be only one-half. The Snowflake type like Rural No. 
2 and Champion do best on gravelly loam with clay 
subsoil. The long white varieties like Troy Seedling, 
American Wonder, Late Puritan, White Star and the 
Burbank class do well on all soils.” 
SOME VARIETIES OF POTATOES. 
Three years’ experience with the American 
Wonder potato, grown by the side of other 
K' varieties, satisfies me that it is the best long 
white potato for sandy land. The merits of 
such a valuable variety should be brought to 
the notice of the readers of The R. N.-Y. Its 
season is medium late, and it produces a heavy 
growth of tops which have never yet been 
killed by the blight. The leaves turned yellow 
and ripened naturally last season, while po¬ 
tatoes of other varieties planted in the same 
field were struck by the blight. The crop in 
ordinary field cultivation has been 200 to 300 bushels of 
merchantable tubers per acre, and this without any 
extra care or fertilizing on ordinarily fertile land ; an 
excellent record for three years in succession. The 
tubers are long, white with a yellowish tinge, eyes 
rather deep, and of the best quality. This variety is 
supplanting the White Star and Monroe Seedling here. 
I was interested in reading what O. T. P., of Halls- 
port, N. Y., wrote in regard to the R. N.-Y. No. 2 po¬ 
tato. We have had the same trouble with this variety 
when grown on rich land, especially when there is au 
excess of moisture during the season when the tubers 
are growing. The variety is a strong feeder, and is 
particularly valuable to plant on clay soils. Its one 
fault is that it sets too few tubers; if the soil be 
reasonably fertile, all the tubers will grow to mer¬ 
chantable size, and a very rich soil is liable to grow 
them so large that buyers object to them. We also 
find many of these large potatoes hollow. A variety 
called Vick’s Champion, which I have grown three sea¬ 
sons, combines all the good points of the Rural, and 
has the added advantage of setting many more pota¬ 
toes to the hill. This variety, I find, produces as many 
bushels of merchantable potatoes as the R. N.-Y. No. 
2 , all of which will be solid to the center and of salable 
size. There are some second-size potatoes of this va¬ 
riety, but not enough to be objectionable. The shape 
of the Vick’s Champion is nearly round, like that of 
R, N.-Y. No. 2, and the skin is white without the yel¬ 
low tinge of the latter. Vick’s Champion has a large, 
bushy top, and is as satisfactory to the grower when 
planted on heavy soil as is R. N.-Y. No. 2. Both of 
these varieties are of excellent eating quality aad are 
long keepers. They sell on the market for the same 
price as the White Star. Neither is troubled very 
much by blight or rot. 
Sizing Potatoes by Machineky. Fig. 37, 
“Do you think the use of commercial fertilizers 
adds to appearance and quality ? ” 
“The potatoes are of better quality, smoother, and, 
from increased vigor, resist diseases successfully.” 
“ Are you troubled with blight ? ” 
“ Very little ; none last summer ?” 
“ D3 you use Bordeaux Mixture ? ” 
“No; we ‘down’ that with fertility, variety and 
soil.” 
“ Are you troubled with the potato scab ? ” 
“We had some fields on which the tubers were 
scabby, and thought it best to use them for something 
else.” 
“ What has the date of maturity to do with yielding 
capacity ? ” 
“ Our uniformly large yields are from late varie¬ 
ties; sometimes a second early gives a fair crop, while 
an early is seldom a large yielder. The early varie¬ 
ties are forming tubers during the warm weather, 
and suffer from lack of moisture.” 
“ You spoke of conserving moisture; how is it done?” 
“By shallow and constant cultivation. If potatoes 
stop growing for want of water, the new growth, 
which begins after fall rains, will form in knots and 
the crop will be unsalable.” 
A walk among the eight storage cellars revealed 
many bins of exceedingly fine tubers. I noticed that 
the tubers were free from cuts and bruises, which is 
an item in favor of the Hoover digger. The Pease 
potato sorter, shown at Pig. 37, saves lots of work. 
Mr. Dibble uses the best machinery, and while the 
cost in 1891 with hand labor was $26 per acre, it was 
only $14.80 in 1893, when everything except picking 
was done withvmachinery.” 
I was always a great friend of the eight-rowed, big- 
kerneled Dutton corn of “ father’s day,”audiil was 
A Talk About Varieties. 
“ Do you think a man would make money by study¬ 
ing varieties ? ” 
“ CertTinly, there is as much difference in the yield¬ 
ing capacity of the different varieties of potatoes as 
there is in cows.” 
“ What are the causes that make the difference ?” 
“ New vigor, new variety, rank growth and date of 
maturity.” 
“ Speaking of vigor, would it be wise for a farmer 
to depend on the kinds he now has and extra care in 
selection to keep up a maximum yield ? ” 
“ No, all kinds will deteriorate and become enfeebled 
by attacks of disease. Specialists are constantly 
studying the characteristics of each variety, and cross¬ 
ing those sorts which have the most desirable quali¬ 
ties. Every farmer should read the results of these 
tests.” 
“ What are the best three new varieties that you 
would advise farmers to test ? ” 
“ The Clay Rose, a late potato, round to oblong in 
shape, quality good, with a rank foliage. This'gave 
twice the yield of the White Star on heavy clay loam 
for which it is particularly well suited. The Victor 
