1*95 
201 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
machine does not cost much, the work can be done 
more rapidly than by hand, and I would rather use 
the machine than to cut by hand. How much seed 
one should cut to make it profitable, depends on how 
much each man values his time. The machine, with 
proper care, will last many years. I shall plant 12 to 
15 acres this spring-, and shall cut all potatoes with the 
machine. ,j. K . jager. 
New Jersey. 
4 Few Seed Pieces. 
1. Six to eight bushels per hour. 2. Medium-sized, 
long. 3. Not over one per cent. 4. No, he would 
not. Seed cut with the machine works much better 
in the potato planter than hand-cut. 5. It saves the 
time of four men at a busy season. It cuts uniform 
pieces. There is no waste to the seed. One should 
cut from 60 to 75 bushels. K. f. t. 
Long Island. 
1. It will cut about six bushels an hour. 2. On long, 
from medium to large potatoes of the White Star 
family, or any that require light seeding. In cutting 
11. N.-Y. No. 2, it is worth less. 3. The percentage of 
missing hills is very small ; I cannot tell exactly. 4. 
Yes, he would do better. 5. One of the greatest advan¬ 
tages of the cutter is that one need not cut ahead of 
the planter, for one good man will cut as fast as the 
machine will plant, with one to two eyes on a piece. 
Lamsons, N. Y. F. p. w. 
1. 1 used the Aspinwall potato cutter last season. A 
man can cut with this machine, of large and medium 
potatoes, from six to eight bushels an hour. 2. It does 
the best work on large and medium-sized potatoes 
which have the eyes evenly distributed. It does better 
work generally on long potatoes. 3. I could not tell 
what percentage of hills were missed, but I think 
more than where we planted hand-cut seed. 4. I think 
an average hired man will do as good work with the 
machine as he would with a knife, unless you make 
him take so much pains with the knife that it would 
not be profitable. 5. Such a machine is desirable be¬ 
cause one man will cut seed as fast as four or five by 
hand ; and where one uses a planter, he can keep it 
running steadily, without extra help or without cut¬ 
ting potatoes ahead, which I have found to be risky 
business. Where potatoes are drilled with an Aspin¬ 
wall planter, I don’t think the loss from missing hills 
amounts to much. E. o. h. 
[Every query must be accompanied by the name and address of 
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Early Ohio and New Queen Potatoes. 
E. B. S., Middlesex County , Mass. —1. I would like information 
regarding Early Ohio and R. N.-Y. No. 2 potatoes—any special 
points as to cultivation, best size for seed pieces, soil best adapted, 
and individual peculiarities. 2. As between Early Ohio and New 
Queen, which would Tele R. N.-Y. recommend as best early for 
market for this locality ? Soil gravelly loam. I purpose to plant 
on clover sod plowed last fall. Are any other of the well tested 
varieties better than these ? 
Ans.— 1. The Early Ohio is probably as early as any 
other variety known to-day. It seems to prefer a 
warm, sandy soil. At the Rural Grounds, it is as 
close to worthless as any potato we have ever tried. 
The vines are comparatively small, so that the seed 
may be placed closer than that of most other sorts. 
We would use halves of medium-sized tubers for seed, 
while two or three eyes of The R. N.-Y. No. 2 would 
be sufficient. 2. We would prefer New Queen for 
yield and quality, but it is not so early. 
Starting Cantaloupes in Hotbeds. 
B. G., Jeffersonville, Ind. —1. I wish all the information possible 
in regard to starting cantaloupes in hotbeds. My object is to have 
them as early as possible. Can it be successfully practiced on a 
large scale ? 2. Where can I obtain a book treating on the sub¬ 
ject ? 3. How can I keep potato seed until June, that is, keep it 
from sprouting and shrinking until that time? I had very poor 
success last season on account of that difficulty. 
Ans.— - 1 . In The R. N.-Y. of February 13, 1892, the 
late Joseph Harris gave explicit directions for per¬ 
forming this work, and we reproduce the main points 
of the article here : For starting the melons in the 
hotbed, select a good piece of grass such as you would 
use for sodding a lawn. Cut it about a foot wide, and 
roll it up as though it were to be used for sodding ; but 
it should be cut a little deeper, say, two or three inches 
thick. Bring these rolls of sod to the hotbeds. Cut 
them into four-inch squares, and place them in the 
hotbed, grass down. Press them tightly against each 
other on all sides. Put a handful of soil on each sod, 
and plant in it five or six melon seeds. It is better to 
do this work all at once ; otherwise when the sods are 
covered with soil, you cannot tell just where they 
are, and may set seed so near the edge that when you 
come to take up the sods, the roots of the plants will 
be disturbed. In my own practice, I use half sandy, 
garden soil and half sifted moss, and the mixture is 
placed at least an inch deep on each sod. We cover 
the seeds by pressing them into the soil, sitting a little 
moss over them. 
It is not easy to get the hotbed too hot for melons. 
At first they will require very little water, but after 
they commence to grow, they must be watered regu¬ 
larly, and ventilation must not be neglected. The 
plants will stand a great heat, but it is not desirable 
to force them too much, or they will be leggy rather 
than stocky. Should they be drawn up too much, put 
a little sifted moss around and among them, and check 
the too-rapid growth by opening the sash. As they 
get nearly as large as you wish, remove the sash dur¬ 
ing the heat of the day altogether; and for several days 
before setting out the plants in the field or garden, 
the sash should be kept oil all day amd during warm 
nights. 
When the soil in the field is warm enough to set out 
the melons, after the land has been plowed, mark it 
off in rows six feet apart one way and four feet apart 
the other way. This gives 1,815 hills to the acre. On 
my own farm, I use a mixture of equal parts of nitrate 
of soda and superphosphate, scattering two small hand¬ 
fuls in a circle of at least three feet where the hill is 
to be. This should be well worked into the soil, and 
see yourself that the work is thoroughly done, so that 
the fertilizer will not come in direct contact with the 
seed or roots of the melon plants. 
Two or three days before the melons are set out, they 
should be well watered in the bed. Give them a com¬ 
plete soaking till the soil and sod are saturated. If 
this seems to chill the plants, put on the sash and give 
them a warming up till they begin to look vigorous 
and full of sap. 
In mixing the fertilizers in the hill, the land should 
be made ready for the plants. The soil must be worked 
till it is fine and mellow, and the sooner it is exposed 
SOUTHERN “HEEL SCRAPE AND SCOOTER.” Fig. 62. 
to the sun so as to warm it, the better. Do not select 
a cold, damp day for setting out the plants. We have 
more to fear from cold than from evaporation. 
When everything is ready, we take a stoneboat to 
the hotbed. A careful man takes up a sod on which 
from three to five melon plants are growing, and hands 
it to an assistant who places it on the boat without 
breaking the sod or disturbing the roots. When the 
boat is full, drive to the field. One man takes up a 
sod with plants growing on it and hands it to the man 
who sets it out in the hill, and then drives to the next 
hill. In this way, it is not much work to set out an 
acre of melons, and care should be taken to see that 
every detail of the work is carefully attended to. 
Place the sod in the hill, straighten up the plants with 
one hand and with the other carefully put some fine, 
mellow soil all around the sod and plants, and if some 
of them are an inch or two distant from the others, 
put a little soil around them to hold them upright. 
They may be lightly covered with fine soil up to the 
first leaves. If dry, the soil should be pressed down 
about the sod. This is all there is to be done. But as 
a measure of precaution, I deem it very important to 
plant some seeds of the same variety in each hill at the 
time of setting out the plants. The cost of seed and 
the expense of planting are very little, and it gives a 
double chance of getting a crop. If the transplanted 
melons are injured, we still have a lot of young plants 
from seed in each hill. If things go well and you do 
not need these plants, hoe them out. 
2. Henderson’s Gardening for Profit describes start¬ 
ing plants under glass, as well as detailing methods 
for outdoor culture. Postpaid for $2, from this office. 
Burpee’s Melons, How to Grow, paper 30 cents, post¬ 
paid from this office, is good. 3. See page 197. The 
work must be begun the fall before. They must be 
kept as cool as possible. 
Potatoes and Knapsack Sprayers. 
■T. L. W., Goodhue County. Minn. —1. Is there any potato as pood 
and as early, and that will outyield the Early Ohio ? 2. What 
knapsack sprayer would you recommend for three or four acres 
of potatoes, taking price and work into consideration ? 3. How 
much water do they require to an acre of potatoes in drills? 4 . 
Are the Carman Nos. 1 and 3, early or late potatoes ? I have never 
seen any report of their doings in The R. N.-Y. 
Ans. — 1. The Early Ohio potato is generally con¬ 
sidered a light yielder, its chief merit being exceeding 
earliness. We would call our friend’s attention to the 
potato report from the Rural Grounds in the last 
issu3 of The R. N.-Y. 2. Those manufactured by 
the Field Force Pump Co., Lockport, N. Y., and 
Morrill & Morley, Benton Harbor, Michigan, are 
probably as satisfactory as any. Get their catalogues. 
3. Much depends upon the size of the tops. 4. The 
Carman No. 1 grows so rapidly that the tubers grow 
to a marketable size among the earliest varieties. The 
tubers mature, however, among the intermediate. 
The No. 3 is late. 
Agricultural Value of Marl. 
1). •/., Freehold. N. •/.—Can you furnish me with the station 
valuation of a ton of Squankum marl ? The question is, does it 
pay to cart marl, or to depend upon buying stable manure and 
commercial fertilizers ? 
ANSWERED BY PROF. E. B. VOORIIEES. 
Marl, as a rule, varies considerably in composition, 
though the Squankum marl is probably as uniform 
and as good as any. We have never placed a valuation 
upon the constituents in marl, because the forms of 
the phosphoric acid and potash are not such as to make 
it possible to express the full value. 
A sample of Squankum marl, air dry (that is, thrown 
out of pits, and allowed to dry), according to analyses 
published by the State Geological Survey, contains on 
the average : 
Per cent. 
Phosphoric acid. 314 
Potash. 314 
Lime. 314 
The potash is all insoluble in water, though doubt¬ 
less it is as available to plants as that contained in 
good soils. The phosphoric acid, which is combined 
chiefly with iron and alumina, is also less available 
than that contained in superphosphates ; hence it can¬ 
not be classed with any form that is regularly valued 
by the station, though probably quite as good as that 
classed as “ insoluble ” in mixed goods, which is valued 
at two cents per pound. The lime, of course, is quite 
as good as that from any other source. Placing a valu¬ 
ation of two cents per pound upon the phosphoric 
acid, and disregarding the potash and lime, the value 
per ton would be about $1.50. 
Now, of course, it is not to be understood that the 
whole value of the marl is represented by the $1.50, 
simply because, in addition to the value here fixed, 
you have the potash as well as the lime. These add 
to the stores of plant food in the soil to be drawn upon 
at a future time, in other words, increasing natui’al 
fertility, and possess a value which it is impossible to 
fix, particularly in comparison with products contain¬ 
ing forms the commercial value of which is fixed by 
definite trade conditions. Marl, too, frequently exerts 
a very favorable mechanical or physica 1 effect upon 
soils, increasing their ci'op-pi’oducing power far in 
excess of what could be expected from the fertilizer 
constituents contained in it. This value is, therefore, 
in addition to that furnished by the constituents 
themselves. This valixe, however, is not a fixed one, 
but varies with the character of the soil upon which 
it has been applied. Soils of poor physical character, 
which are in particular need of amendment, are im¬ 
proved to a greater extent than those that already 
possess good physical properties; hence the value of a 
marl to the farmer, though uniform in composition in 
respect to fertilizer constituents, vai-ies with the 
conditions under which it is used, and must be deter¬ 
mined very largely by the farmer himself. 
It would seem a good practice from these considera¬ 
tions, to use marl, provided, first, it can be secured at 
a very reasonable outlay of money and labor ; second, 
that the physical and mechanical properties of soils 
are unfavorable ; third, that the gradual improvement 
of soil in chemical properties is an important consid¬ 
eration. Where farmers have facilities for carting 
and spreading, and by this means can keep their teams 
and men occupied, it is very desirable, and may prove 
a profitable thing to do. But where it has to be 
handled, or shipped, at considerable expense, it is 
doubtful whether it would pay better than to buy 
other materials, now upon the max-ket, which furnish 
the constituents in a more “ available ” form at a very 
low cost. 
Drain for Waste Water. 
E. S. K., Strykersville, JV. Y. —I have a driven well in my kitchen 
18 feet deep; the water rises to within four feet of the surface; the 
soil is gravel. How can I construct a drain for waste water so 
that it will not contaminate the well water ? This water comes 
out in numerous springs 80 rods to the west, the same direction the 
drain will go. 
Ans. —To effect the desired purpose, the drain must 
be cemented tightly so that there will be no leakage 
from the pipes, and the discharge must be below the 
level of the water source. But it seems there is no 
risk to fear in this case, for, if the source of the water 
is above the outlet of the drain, as it must be, the 
drain cannot possibly discharge into the springs from 
which the well is supplied. So if it is the other way 
and the springs are below the well and are not the 
source of its supply, but its outlet, it will be impossible 
that the well can be contaminated if the drain should 
discharge into the springs; because water will not run 
up hill. H . s. 
