726 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
oil-sketch by Mrs. Mary Wager-Fisher, who w'rites ; 
“ I send you drawings of the two varieties of salmon- 
berry and also of the blossom, which grow in great 
abundancfe on the northwest Pacific coast. I rather 
liked the berries, but most persons thought them 
“sickish” or insipid. The yellow and red berries 
tasted the same, and when stewed I should have been 
unable to tell them from stev/ed raspberries. The 
Indians make considerable use of them, as they grow 
wild. The berries look very luscious, but their beauty 
is hardly more than s in-deep, as, like the thimble- 
berry, they form a thin covering to a very sizable 
receptacle.” _ 
GETTING BLOOD INTO THE POTATO. 
HOW THE TRUE TYPE IS SEEECTED. 
The It. N.-Y. has adv'sed its readers to breed pure 
blood into their crops, and sell them to less pains¬ 
taking farmers for seed. I wish to tell how I grow 
pedigree potatoes on my farm. I have no potatoes 
for sale. 1 grow them for a seedsman who is desirous 
of having at least a part of his stock pedigreed and 
pure. From the time I receive the seed, until the crop 
is dug and in piles, I allow no one to help me unless 1 
can be right with him, and then 1 don’t want more 
than one to watch, and prefer, if possible, to do all 
the work myself. Sometimes, in planting, Avhen a 
shower is rising, I get my brother or my wife to help 
a little while. 
Varieties that I have grown for two or three years, 
which I know to be absolutely pure, need no extra at¬ 
tention till digging time ; but varieties planted for 
the first time, whether from the introducer or not, 
must be looked over every week after they begin to 
blossom, and if there are any plants that show a varia¬ 
tion from the type in either blossom or foliage, they 
are marked and the tubers thrown out at digging time, 
even though they may look all right. For marking 
the hills 1 use No. A wire cut about 15 inches long and 
bent over at one end in the form of a ring, but not 
closed up tight; these will then slip on a ring made 
of the same sized wire, and 50 or more may be con¬ 
veniently carried. If the variety is a late one, all 
hills that ripen prematurely are marked, and if it is 
an early variety, plants that are green when the 
others are ripe are marked. 
Great Care Needed; Few Farmers Careful Enough. 
To pedigree perfectly the first thing to do is to dig 
a number of hills and find about the number and 
weight they average per stalk. I then go on and 
select from the plants that give the greatest estimated 
weight of fair sized tubers per stalk, providing there 
are no ill-shaped tubers in the hill and the potatoes 
are otherwise up to the average of that variety. 
Some kinds that are good in all other respects, may 
have too deep eyes, and then I select seed that has eyes 
that are shallower than the average. Other kinds may 
have too many eyes, and then the seed must come 
from hills that have a less number of eyes per tuber 
than the average, and so on, aUvays selecting to a cer¬ 
tain type, but never selecting from a hill that is not 
above the average in commercial value. Nor will it 
do always to select from the hills having the greatest 
commercial value, for some varieties have a habit of 
setting more potatoes than they can grow to good size 
in a dry season, and in digging such varieties, I would 
not select seed from liills that gave more than five 
tubers per stalk. 
Whether it pays to pedigree potatoes or not, I will 
not say, but of this much I am sure, that it will not 
pay a man to invest heavily in pedigreed potatoes if 
he has to pay much extra for the pedigree, unless he 
knows that they will be pure, and have been carefully 
bred. The growing of seed potatoes is a business that 
but few farmers are adapted to, for the reason that 
they are not careful enough to keep the varieties 
separate. It is so easy to get them mixed that a great 
many believe that they mix in the hill. A hired man 
will often do more damage in a minute than his time 
is worth for a year, and has no business around a crop 
of seed potatoes. lie has no personal interest in keep¬ 
ing them pure, and doesn’t take interest enough in 
the work to keep his mind on what he is doing. A 
man must have his mind on his work while he is work¬ 
ing with seed potatoes. To be a successful seed 
potato grower one must have a jealous love for work¬ 
ing with the crop, lie must be what some people call 
a “ putterer”—that is, he must be content to farm a 
small area, for he can depend neither on hired help 
nor machinery to help him. 
Doings of the “ Blowhard ” Family. 
The great trouble with seed potatoes as they are 
now grown, is that they are grown just for the money 
that they will bring at the present time, and a new 
crop of “ suckers ” is depended upon for the next sea¬ 
son’s sales. A man gets a barrel of seed potatoes of 
some seedsman, and pays a big price only to find that 
there are two, three, or may be a dozen different va¬ 
rieties in the barrel ; the next spring, he will try some 
other firm wdth, perhaps, no better results. If he 
kicks, it ill do him no good, for if he gets any reply, 
it is often insulting. 
Mr. Seedsman Blowhard owns and controls a so- 
called agricultural paper ; he gets some new potato 
every year or two that no one else will buy, and sends 
some of them to his highly paid writers, and they must 
boom them or lose their fat little job. So they nurse 
them and pet them, and get a good yield, and then blow 
so much about them all winter that in the spring every 
subscriber who has three or four dollars to spare, buys 
a pound. Every good report that comes in is published, 
and the bad ones are never heard of. 
One of the latest wonders in potatoes was introduced 
by a seedsman of this family last spring, who claimed 
that it had outyielded the R. N.-Y. No. 2, two to one. 
I was furnished a barrel of seed and gave them the 
best soil I had in the field, and grew the meanest lot 
of potatoes I ever raised. I discovered when cutting 
them, that they were mixed, and rejected about a 
peck ; as soon as the vines reached a good size, I saw 
that there were plenty more that would have to come 
out. I marked all hills that showed much variation, 
but I am doubtful if they are near pure yet. The 
vines covered the ground in a short time, and I ex¬ 
pected a wonderful crop, but when I came to dig them, 
I found a host of potatoes of small size linked together 
by a stem—three and four being sometimes joined to¬ 
gether. If they ever beat the R. N.-Y. No. 2, it was 
in numbers per acre. The Sir William on poorer soil, 
but joining them on one side, gave double the yield of 
large potatoes, and the old Early Rose beat them on 
the other side. This is a sample of trouble a seed 
j)otato grower will often have to meet, and unless he 
can get his seed direct from the originator, he would 
better buy only a small amount. e. tui.i.y. 
Trumbull County, (). 
THE VALUE OF IMPROVED VARIETIES. 
I want to add a little more testimony in favor of 
The R. N.-Y. No. 2 potato. Leroy C. Beecher, of 
Woodbridge, Conn., has grown them at the rate of 800 
bushels per acre this sea*son. In fact, he has exceeded 
that rate, as he grew 5G bushels on one-sixteenth acre; 
but as the mice ate some of the potatoes in the outside 
rows, he threw out some six bushels that were injured 
and called it an even 50. As this was the poorest 
season for potatoes we have had here in 20 years, it is 
a good showing for the R. N.-Ys. New Queen and 
Beauty of Elberon, both favorite varieties here, grown 
in the same field, side by side with the R. N.-Ys., and 
the same treatment, yielded less than 150 bushels per 
acre. 
Isn’t there a point here that most farmers overlook? 
The difference in value of these crops, with the same 
labor and fertilizer, is S487.50, as the crops are worth 
here 75 cents per bushel. Of course, the cost of hand¬ 
ling the larger crop is proportionately greater, but 
they could be picked up and marketed for 20 cents per 
bushel, or ,*1130 for the extra 650 bushels. This esti¬ 
mate would leave $357.50 as an increased profit of one 
crop over the other, due entirely to the variety. I 
think that the whole cost of growing an acre of 
potatoes, should not exceed $40, and is often less than 
that; therefore this additional $357 is all profit. If 
we can reach this figure, or indeed, half of it, by 
selecting varieties that will give increased yields, it 
seems folly to go on planting varieties that are run 
out, or not suited to our soils, simply because they are 
of good quality. I am convinced that we should pay 
more attention to this matter of selecting varieties to 
plant for market. As to quality, the R. N.-Y. No. 2, 
like tlie paper from which it takes its name, is as 
good as the best. c. p. augur. 
Connecticut. 
R. N.-Y.—Now we want Mr. Augur to tell us how 
to grow an acre of potatoes for $40. 
VALUE OF THE THOROUGHBRED MALE. 
Some 10 years ago, a neighbor owned a vicious, run¬ 
away, kicking mare. After repeated attempts to sub¬ 
due her, she was given up as a hopeless case. She 
was bred to “ Raspail,” an imported Percheron, and 
turned to pasture. The foal was of the Percheron 
type in form, color and disposition, but retained the 
dam’s quickness and endurance. It won first pre¬ 
mium at the county fair as a yearling. I have owned 
her eight years, and a better horse for farm work I 
never saw. The Percheron cross gave weight, form, 
and subdued the temper of the dam, but she retains 
enough “ vitality ” to resent a whip and make her a 
hard one to pass on the road. The hired man de¬ 
scribed her correctly : “ You can talk her into doing 
anything, but cannot whip her into nothing.” 
“The use of a Shropshire ram added one-third to 
the value of this year’s fiock of lambs,” said Mr. Hill, 
as we stood looking at 75 black-faced half-bloods. 
Standing at one side of a five-acre field, every one 
could be distinguished by its extra size. Every buyer 
within 20 miles %vas bound to have them, and a con¬ 
siderable advance was offered for them as the result 
of the competition. We not only receive added weight 
or value, but also make a market by producing some¬ 
thing a little better than the average. 
I know of a man who, 10 years ago, was making only 
125 pounds of butter per cow, who now gets very 
nearly 300 pounds. From natives to high-grade .J er- 
seys is the ladder which led to success. At the Cor¬ 
nell Experiment Station, are cows which have given 
$150 worth of milk in a year; yet I believe a thorough¬ 
bred female of this stock has never been owned there. 
My brother-in-law had a lot of hens that never paid 
for their feed. He purchased some White Leghorn 
cockerels, and raised a fine lot of pullets. They were 
hard to distinguish from full bloods, began laying in 
November, and gave a profit of $2 each the first year. 
As a rule, I do not believe in grade hens, but this ven¬ 
ture \vas of the “ hundredfold ” order. 
For a sure, decided eye-opener in visible improve¬ 
ment. I think that the use of a Cheshire boar takes 
precedence. No matter what form, color, size or dis¬ 
position the sow may be, the litter will be white, long 
bodied, easy keepers, early maturing, fine-haired, quiet 
pigs. I have yet to find a person who ever saw a half- 
blood, or high-grade that was not white. My first ven¬ 
tures in the use of good males were so profitable that 
I long ago decided that I could not afford to use any 
other. For 15 years 1 have used nothing but full blood 
males, either owned or rented. c. c. 
FACTS ABOUT ALFALFA. 
“ Is Alfalfa adapted to southern Ohio and can 1 seed 
it as I can Red clover ?” 
Lucern (Alfalfa) is adapted to a very wide range of 
latitude, it thrives everywhere in suitable soil, from 
Canada to the equator. So it is never necessary to 
ask, “ Have 1 a climate that will gi*ow Alfalfa?” but 
confine yourself to the point, “Are my soil and way of 
farming adapted to Alfalfa ?” 
From my knowledge of southern Ohio, I would say 
that one-fourth of the land is naturally perfectly 
adapted to Alfalfa—one-half more may readily be 
made to grow it, while perhaps the remaining fourth 
may be too cold and have too poor a subsoil to justify 
the sowing. It delights in a deep, strong soil, rich in 
potash and phosphoric acid. Its nitrogen it will find 
largely in the soil—carried there by the air—and made 
available by the wonderful bacteria that until so 
lately we have overlooked. Thus it is plain that the 
soil needs to be well drained to let in the air and re¬ 
move surplus water that would, perhaps, drown the 
bacteria. Alfalfa aLso revels in heat, and drained 
soils are always warmer, as we all know. Given a 
warm, drained, fairly fertile soil, good American 
grown seed, and a little common sense in the sowing and 
after treatment, and 1 do not believe that there is any 
crop sown that is more certain to be a success. Sandy 
soils if not poor, loams and well-drained limestone 
clay soils, are the best for this crop. I do not think 
that it will fiourish well in black, mucky soils. 
It does not start out very vigorously when young, 
so I sow it alone, although 1 have sown it with oats 
with fair success. Let the soil be well and deeply 
prejiared, as for corn or potatoes, and sow 15 to 20 
pounds per acre in April. Cover lightly with a brush 
harrow, or, if the conditions are right, by i*olling. 
Then watch the young plant. It will start vigorously 
and grow some six inches high, w’hen it will hesitate, 
the leaves turn yellow, 'weeds gain on it, and it needs 
help. With the mower, cut it as close to the ground 
as possible. Rake’ this mowing, if there is enough to 
make a raking, as it does not need mulching. It w'ill 
then start much more vigorously than before. It will 
need mowdng again after a few w’eeks. Watch it 
closely, and as soon as there is the first appearance 
of a check in its growth, mow it down closely as be¬ 
fore. This keeps the annual weeds in check. Per¬ 
haps the second and third mowings may give enough 
hay to pay for the trouble. Do not jiasture it the 
first summer. Afterward it may be pastured with 
safety and great profit, if managed wisely. 
During the second summer, it may be mown four 
times, and so each succeeding year for probably about 
12 years in this latitude. When the crop begins to 
fail slightly, one may safely conclude that it lacks 
potash and phosifiioric acid, and may apply them 
with every expectation of profit. An average annual 
yield of dry hay should be from five to seven tons per 
acre. It should be mow'ed before getting’ fully into 
bloom, and one month is about the proper interval 
between mowings. 
For pasturing, I would advise division fences enough 
so that one plot might be fed off at a time, rather than 
to let the stock roam on the whole field. When taking 
from one pasture to turn on a fresh one, I would run 
the mower over the pasture just vacated, making into 
hay the rank spots untouched, as it will make a better 
growth to be cut down. 
