53o 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
August 3 
THE OTHER SIDE OF MULCHING 
POTATOES. 
WIIAT THE MULCH REALLY DOES. 
Years ago, I was an ardent advocate of 
natural methods in farming, and was 
loud in praise of the perfect way in which 
Nature performs her work ; hut closer 
observation has taught me to distrust 
the correctness of my first conclusions. 
When I go abroad into the fields or wood¬ 
lands, I find that by far the larger part 
of Nature’s productions are not such very 
superior things. In favored locations, 
where there is depth of soil and a good 
natural water supply, trees grow luxuri¬ 
antly ; but in many places, they present 
a dwarfed, stunted appearance, and in 
many others, they refuse to grow at all. 
There is no lack of mulch or leaf mold 
in these barren places ; indeed, there is 
more of it than in the woodlands, for a 
growth of golden rod, sweet fern and 
other plants of similar habits, covers the 
ground and annually deposits a heavy 
coat of mulch upon it. It is simply so 
situated that for a portion of the year, 
it lacks moisture and, therefore, nothing 
but cedars and white birches attempt to 
grow. 
I think that The R. N.-Y. is entirely 
right in saying that mulch is “ simply 
to conserve moisture ” ; for while a mulch 
of slowly decaying leaves is no doubt 
assimilated in time by the fibrous roots 
of the trees, the amount of fertility so 
taken up is so little compared with the 
total amount used by a growing tree, 
that I am safe in repeating in substance 
the assertion, that the principal use of 
mulch is to conserve moisture and assist 
nitrification. 
I am led to doubt the value of leaves 
as a source of fertility, from the fact that 
I know of several tracts of woodland 
where the leaves are annually gathered, 
and the ground left clean and bare with¬ 
out perceptibly diminishing their yearly 
growth. Though 1 admit that the feed¬ 
ing roots are always found abundant 
near the surface, yet I am sure that these 
take up only a small proportion of the 
plant food that builds up the tree. Some 
trees are more given to surface feeding 
than others, notably the maple ; yet I 
have seen the finest specimens of this 
tree, growing where the ground was an¬ 
nually plowed about them. 
I believe in thorough, deep cultivation 
of the soil where the orchard is to be 
planted, and in thorough, shallow culti¬ 
vation after it is once well established. 
If an orchard has been starved and neg¬ 
lected for a term of years, or until its 
feeders have been forced to seek the sur¬ 
face for sustenance, then I think Mr. 
Strong's method of mulching would be 
the best plan to adopt. In regard to an¬ 
nual plants, I am even less inclined to 
accept his theories. I cannot, at present, 
recall to mind any plant that is not 
vastly improved by cultivation, and I 
believe that one of the chief benefits de¬ 
rived from working the soil thoroughly, 
is the admission of air. In a soil un¬ 
worked, and covered with a mulch deep 
enough to keep down the weeds, this 
benefit is lost. I have tried Mr. Strong’s 
plan on corn, potatoes, onions, beets, car¬ 
rots, and small fruits, until I convinced 
myself that a mulch of two or three inches 
of fine, dry soil was the best and cheap¬ 
est medium I could employ. Stable ma¬ 
nure used on potatoes in sufficient quan¬ 
tity to keep down weeds, is objectionable 
for several reasons that are good here, 
but might not operate in New Jersey : 
First, we can seldom obtain it free from 
the seeds of grass or weeds, and weeds 
growing from the mulch I find just as 
troublesome as those that grow through 
it. Second, the amount applied would 
furnish nitrogen far in excess of the 
needs of the crop, and to the injury of 
its quality. We plant our potatoes here 
in April or May, and dig in July or 
August, and I have never succeeded in 
restoring the balance of plant food, by 
applications after the crop was large 
enough to indicate by its appearance 
what element was lacking, except when 
nitrogen was needed ; that I can usually 
supply by an application of nitrate of 
soda. Straw is too valuable here to use 
as a mulch, and so is swale or swamp 
hay, and leaves are not readily secured 
in sufficient quantity to be used largely. 
There is no mulch so cheap as the soil 
itself ; and when I say cheap, I take 
into consideration the possible increase 
of crop and saving of labor that may be 
credited to other materials. 
I tried Mr. Strong’s method 30 years 
ago and discarded it as of little value 
here, for any crop but small fruits. If 
mulch could be obtained readily and 
cheaply, I would use it on potatoes, 
solely because it conserves moisture and 
assists nitrification. I doubt whether 
much of the elements of fertility con¬ 
tained in a straw or leaf mulch, becomes 
soluble soon enough to be of use to a 
crop of early potatoes. If I could obtain 
sea or rock weed, I would mulch my 
potatoes every year. I think it the ideal 
mulch for potatoes or onions. 
There are other objections to Mr. 
Strong’s plan. I think he plants too close, 
making it difficult to apply Bordeaux 
Mixture or poison, and also making the 
digging a task of no little magnitude. I 
intend to try one more plan of mulching, 
and I expect to make it a success. The 
thing to be greatly desired here, in our 
potato crop, is earliness. Potatoes dug 
in the first week of July, sold for .25 
per bushel; a week later they sold for 
$1, and now they go slow at 80 cents. 
Two weeks gained, therefore, meant 40 
or 50 cents per bushel in favor of the 
grower. I have growing in my field, 
potatoes that are self-planted, and have 
remained in the soil for three years. 
Last winter was unusually cold, yet they 
remained in the ground unharmed with¬ 
out protection, and came up vigorously 
this spring. I notice that when potatoes 
remain in the soil over winter safely, 
they always are earlier *and more vigor¬ 
ous and productive than any I can plant. 
Now I purpose to plant a field with pota¬ 
toes this fall, putting them in rather 
deep, and covering with mulch before 
the ground freezes. 1 would like rock 
weed for this purpose, but will probably 
use swale hay. I expect to get a fine 
crop of extra early potatoes next season. 
Connecticut. Charles p. augur. 
AGRICULTURAL INDUSTRIAL 
SCHOOLS. 
The country is the great storehouse 
from which the city draws its supplies of 
brain and muscle, its intellect and 
energy. It is said that the population 
of the cities would die out in from two 
to three generations were it not for the 
continued influx of pure, fresh blood 
from the country. Yet why should this 
stream of life thus continually flow in 
one direction without any returning 
current ? The cities are becoming over¬ 
crowded and congested; people live in 
great hives of brick and stone, story 
above story, shut out from sunshine and 
fresh air, and crowd and jostle each 
other in their mad struggle for the 
means of existence. Life, to the great 
mass of laborers in our great cities, has 
most of its beauty and wholesomeness 
crushed out of it. The green fields, the 
majestic trees and the beautiful flowers 
of the country, with their health-giving 
and inspiring influences, are forgotton 
amid the desert of brick and stone. 
Life for the little ones who have never 
known the real bounties of Nature, is 
still more hopeless and cruel. The 
gloomy brick walls and crowded pave¬ 
ment reveal nothing of the beauty and 
inspiration of Nature. 
Our great cities are continually devour¬ 
ing the flower of our civilization, and 
producing in return those destructive 
elements which threaten the existence 
of society. What, then, should be done 
to stem this tide, to turn this current of 
destruction the other way, to transplant 
the child of the city among the healthful 
surroundings of the country ? The life 
of the country must be made attractive. 
The disagreeable features of isolated, 
cheerless homes must be replaced by the 
advantages of association and coopera¬ 
tive living. 
Agricultural and horticultural indus¬ 
trial schools should be inaugurated 
where children from the cities may be 
taught in a thorough and careful man¬ 
ner the best methods of scientific agri¬ 
culture and horticulture. By thus learn¬ 
ing the great possibilities of these occu¬ 
pations, and realizing the beauties of 
rural life amid pleasant social surround¬ 
ings, the child of the city may be com¬ 
pletely weaned from the home of his 
childhood, and may develop a strong 
attachment for the ideal rural life. The 
scientific training possible in schools of 
the kind mentioned, would render the 
pupils thoroughly competent to become 
successful tillers of the soil, and would 
supply to the arts of agriculture and 
horticulture, what has been applied to 
almost every other art—true scientific 
training, and a thorough knowledge of 
methods and details learned by experi¬ 
ence under competent supervision. 
If properly equipped and economically 
managed, these agricultural and horti¬ 
cultural schools could be made almost 
wholly self-sustaining, and at the same 
time furnish a good English education, 
board and clothing to the pupils in at¬ 
tendance. These schools would be ideal 
preventives of crime and pauperism. 
The otherwise idle hands and minds 
would become busy, and be healthfully 
and cheerfully employed. Wholesome 
surroundings and the independence ac¬ 
quired in earning by labor the benefits 
conferred, would completely destroy all 
tendency toward helplessness or pauper¬ 
ism. No other life so completely fits a 
girl or boy to take care of himself under 
all circumstances, as the. rightly lived 
rural life. There is a breadth and eclec¬ 
ticism found in it that cannot be found 
in any other mode of living. 
Let us, then, turn the tide of young 
life from those maelstroms of destruc¬ 
tion, the great cities, and by building 
thoroughly equipped agricultural and 
horticultural schools and attractive 
school homes in the country, redeem the 
city waifs and young victims of adverse 
social conditions, by bringing them in 
contact with, and introducing them to, 
their long-neglected mother, Nature, 
who will insure them a healthful, normal 
life. c. L. s. 
Oakton, Va. 
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A little pirl protected from the rain with a sheet 
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Neponset Black Building Paper 
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£3T Look for this ad. every other week. 
CHEMICAL ANALYSIS 
and a careful micro¬ 
scopical examina¬ 
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a valuable aid in 
determining the 
nature of many 
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particularly those 
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bladder. These 
aids make it pos¬ 
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diseases success¬ 
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nation of the patient. Thus Bright’s Dis¬ 
ease of the Kidneys, Inflammation of the 
Bladder, Gravel, and other Diseases of the 
Urinary Organs, “Liver Complaint,” Dys¬ 
pepsia, or Indigestion, Dropsy and many 
other maladies are successfully treated and 
cured without personal consultation with 
the physician. 
Nervous Debility, whether resulting from 
over-study, worry, disappointment, or from 
exhausting drains upon the system caused 
by prenieious secret habits contracted in 
youth, through ignorance of their ruinous 
consequences, is successfully managed, 
through correspondence, the necessary 
medicines being sent by mail or express. 
Write for question blanks, or describe your 
case, send sample of urine for analysis and 
enclose io cents for postage on treatise, 
which contains reproduced photographs 
and full names and addresses of vast num¬ 
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way. Address, World’s Dispensary Medi¬ 
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Dr. PIERCE’S 
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cure sick headache, biliousness, constipa¬ 
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Can be applied by 
any one on steep or 
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If you are going to 
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38 Dev Street. N. Y 
WE FOUND IT AT LAST. 
DO YOU WANT IT ? 
We have seen other papers offering cheap 
watches to their subscribers, and often looked 
them up to see if we too could not offer them to 
our readers; but in every case, we found the 
watches to he so worthless that we would have 
nothing to do with them. We had about given up 
the idea of finding a satisfactory cheap watch. 
We mentioned our experience in this direction to 
the representative of a large American watch 
company, and through his help we are now able 
to offer a real good watch at a very low price. It 
is guaranteed to keep accurate time, has seven 
jewels, expansion balance, cut pinions, porcelain 
dial, stem wind and set in solid nickel silver open 
face. You see this is not a cheap clock move¬ 
ment put into a tin oval case. It is a watch that 
you can rely upon. If not satisfactory, return it 
and get your money hack. Price delivered, $3.75. 
We will send it free for a club of seven new sub¬ 
scriptions. Or, it and one new subscription for 
rest of this year for $4. 
