drought  almost  from  the  very  start.  To  avoid  both 
of  these  conditions  we  decided  to  use  manure,  but 
put  it  in  in  the  Fall  instead  of  late  Spring,  as  was 
the  custom. 
We  grow  sweet  potatoes  in  drills.  That  is,  rows 
are  2 y2  feet  apart  and  plants  IS  inches  in  the  row. 
On  this  particular  occasion  we  marked  out  the  field 
in  November,  distributed  manure  in  the  row,  then 
covered  it  with  a  ridger  that  made  a  ridge  about 
the  same  as  that  left  by  a  white  potato  planter. 
We  called  this  ridge  a  half-hill.  The  Fall.  Winter 
and  Spring  rains  moistened  that  manure  thoroughly. 
In  the  Spring  all  we  had  to  do  was  to  go  in  a 
week  or  so  before  planting  time  and  make  up  the 
regular-sized  hills  with  the  sweet  potato  ridger,  and 
set  the  plants.  It  certainly  saved  labor  in  the 
Spring,  and  that  plot  of  sweets  was  far  less  costly 
than  those  put  in  under  our  regular  system.  The 
percentage  of  stem  rot  in  this  plot  was  somewhat 
less  than  in  the  other  plots  put  in  with  fertilizer, 
but  the  contrast  was  not  so  marked  as  we  expected. 
When  yields  were  compared  we  were  agreeably  sur¬ 
prised  to  find  that  the  potatoes  produced  fully  as 
well  as  where  the  more  expensive  plan  of  fertilizing 
was  used.  What  is  more,  they  matured  earlier. 
In  the  Fall  of  1013  another  larger  block  was  put 
in  the  same  way.  Results  were  again  very  good, 
and  compared  favorably  with  results  the  year  be¬ 
fore. 
Last  Fall,  1014,  we  were  just  beginning  to  feel  the 
effects  of  the  war  on  the  potash  prices.  With  the 
experience  of  the  two  previous  years  to  encourage 
us,  and  rather  than  pay  out  too  much  for  a  fertil¬ 
izer  low  in  potash,  we  decided  to  put  In  a  still  larger 
block  of  sweets  with  manure  alone.  One  block  we 
manured  and  made  up  half  hills  before  freezing 
weather.  Another  block  we  did  not  finish  until  just 
before  planting  time.  Roth  of  these  blocks  did  bet¬ 
ter  than  where  fertilizer  was  used.  The  one  ma¬ 
nured  last  Fall  was  far  better  than  the  one  ma¬ 
nured  in  late  Spring.  In  fact,  with  the  exception 
of  one  block  in  an  old  asparagus  bed,  this  block 
manured  in  the  Fall  gave  the  earliest  potatoes  and 
the  largest  yield  of  any  we  had. 
TBUCKEB,  JB. 
Big  Drifts  Beside  the  Rail  Fence.  Fig.  95 
priation  for  the  purchase  of  wire  and  paid  a  total 
of  $7, 33  for  snow  fighting  during  the  same  length 
of  time — the  Winter  of  1014-’] 5.  This  is  at  the 
rate  of  $4.14  per  mile,  an  increase  over  the  rate 
where  money  was  appropriated  for  wire  of  $1.05. 
If  all  the  roads  had  been  cleared  at  this  rate  it 
would  have  resulted  in  an  increased  cost  of  ap¬ 
proximately  $3,250  for  the  whole  number  reporting- 
Of  cottr.se  the  above  figures  do  not  prove  anything, 
for  it  is  hardly  possible  that  an  average  allowance 
of  less  than  50  cents  per  mile  for  the  purchase  of 
wire  would  result  in  a  saving  of  more  than  twice 
that  sum  in  the  cost  of  snow  fighting.  They  do, 
nevertheless,  point  to  the  probable  reason  for  the 
lower  cost  of  keeping  these  roads  open  during  the 
Snow  and  the  Country  Road 
HE  first  snowfall  is  hailed  with  joy  by  the  farm¬ 
er  with  hauling  to  do.  Snow  means  sleighing, 
and  sleighing  means  huger  loads,  easier  loaded  be¬ 
cause  lower  down,  and  quicker  trips.  All  roads  be¬ 
come  good  roads  as  long  as  the  snow  is  at  the  proper 
depth  to  make  a  good  surface  when  packed,  and 
is  not.  driven  into  drifts  by  the  wind.  When  once 
a  good  road-bed  is  established,  however,  any  further 
snowfall  acts  as  an  obstacle  to  traffic,  and  owing 
to  its  drifting  nature  may  stop  travel  altogether  for 
a  time,  if  conditions  happen  to  be  right.  Where  the 
snowfall  is  only  moderate  in  quantity  the  road  can 
he  broken  by  packing,  but  where  drifts  are  formed, 
lull’d  packed  by  the  wind,  they  have  to  he  opened 
by  hand  shoveling  before  a  team  can  get  through 
them.  This  is  the  most  expensive  method  and  im¬ 
mense  sums  of  money  are  spent  yearly  for  this 
purpose. 
Much  of  the  shoveling  could  he  done  away  with 
by  proper  treatment  of  the  roadside-  Snow  is  car¬ 
ried  along  by  the  wind  in  much  the  same  manner 
that  silt  or  sand  is  carried  by  the  water  of  a  stream. 
The  higher  the  velocity  the  greater  the  quantity 
carried.  In  the  case  of  the  stream  a  sand-bar  is 
deposited  or  built  up,  when  from  some  cause  the 
velocity  is  lessened  and  the  current  is  unable  to 
carry  the  material  farther.  In  a  similar  way  les¬ 
soning  (lie  velocity  of  the  wind  results  in  the  forma¬ 
tion  of  a  snowdrift.  Any  obstruction  is  likely  to 
lessen  the  wind’s  velocity,  but  the  principal  ones 
tound  by  the  country  road-side  are  rail-fences,  stone 
walls  and  hushes. 
The  improved  roads  are  making  away  with  many 
of  the  stone  walls,  and  in  most  sections  it  is  made 
compulsory  to  cut  the  bushes  inside  (lie  right  of 
way,  but  the|rail  fence  is  left  undisturbed  along  the 
east  and  west  roads  at  least.  It  is  seldom  that  we 
get  a  fall  of  snow  greater  than  12  Inches  in  depth. 
This  amount  would  not  prove  a  great  obstacle  to 
teaming,  packing  readily,  if  it  were  not  for  drifting. 
As  suggested  above  drifting  could  be  greatly  les¬ 
sened  if  all  causes  possible  were  removed. 
Becoming  interested  in  this  matter  of  snow  fight¬ 
ing  an  inquiry  was  started,  with  the  result  that  data 
were  obtained  from  32  towns  in  one  of  the  northern 
tier  of  counties.  Inquiry  was  made  regarding  the 
total  mileage,  the  maintenance  cost  during  the  Sum¬ 
mer  months,  the  cos(  of  fighting  snow  and  the 
amount  of  money  apportioned  for  the  purchase  of 
Hard  Gelling  Around.  Fig.  96 
Winter.  It  is  altogether  likely  that  the  towns  now 
appropriating  money  for  fencing  are  towns  that 
have  set  aside  money  in  former  years  for  the  same 
purpose  and  after  proving  its  value  -are  continuing 
the  same  policy,  the  saving  being  the  combined  re¬ 
sults  of  a  number  of  years  rather  than  the  result 
of  any  oue. 
The  plan,  to  be  sure,  has  its  drawbacks,  the  wire 
not  always  going  where  it  would  do  the  most  good. 
The  fact,  remains,  however,  that  the  easiest  and  best 
way  to  combat  snow  is  by  removing  every  object 
possible  that  could  in  any  way  cause  drifting.  If 
this  precaution  is  taken  it  will  he  an  easy  matter 
to  keep  the  road  open  and  effort  should  he  directed 
along  this  line  rather  than  in  fighting  it  after  it 
conies.  ROBERT  II.  SMITH. 
Qualities  Needed  in  Seed  Potatoes 
Part  I. 
T'YPE  OF  SEED. — My  ideal  shape  for  a  seed  po¬ 
tato  is  one  which  will  do  two  things — first, 
help  to  bring  the  highest  price  from  a  buyer,  and 
second,  will  lie  a  reliable  indication  of  a  large  yield. 
The  first  is  the  easier  to  find.  We  know'  that  buy¬ 
ers  prefer  and  will  pay  more  for  the  roi.rd  fiat 
oval  and  oblong  shapes  of  the  Cobbler.  Rural  and 
Green  Mountain  types.  I  like  to  see  a  Rural  which 
is  about  one  and  one-half  times  as  long  rs  wide 
and  one  and  one-half  times  as  wide  as  thick, 
with  smooth  and  shallow  eyes.  This  is  just 
what  city  people  like  to  buy,  and  is  the  type  which 
I  have  usually  found  to  yield  best  in  my  selection 
of  the  best  hills  for  seed  for  12  years.  This  is  the 
normal  shape  of  the  Rural  variety  and  others  of 
the  same  type. 
VARIATIONS  T’NDER  DIFFERENT  CONDI¬ 
TIONS. — The  shape  of  any  variety  will  vary  greatly 
with  the  conditions  of  soil  and  climate  under  which 
it  is  grown.  For  example  I  have  planted  Rurals 
from  another  section  of  New  York  that  were  as 
round  as  oranges,  and  some  from  the  Red  River 
section  of  Minnesota  that  were  coarse,  bloeky  and 
oblong  in  shape  side  by  side# with  my  own  that  were 
normal  in  shape.  At  planting  most  people  would 
have  thought  them  three  different  varieties.  At 
digging  no  one  could  have  told  them  apart.  An¬ 
other  season  I  had  the  same  result  with  very  long 
and  cracked  seed  from  a  sandy  soil  in  Wisconsin. 
Wet  or  heavy  soils  may  force  tubers  into  irregular 
shapes,  as  in  1915.  Ou  the  other  hand  there  may 
be  great  differences  in  the  shapes  of  potatoes  from 
bills  of  the  same  variety  maturing  at  different 
times  in  some  seasons.  The  Summer  of  1909  was 
very  cool  and  dry.  Fall  rains  came  later  than  usual, 
and  with  very  late  frost  a  heavy  crop  was  made. 
The  hills  which  died  before  the  rains  had  tubers 
varying  from  a  round  shape  to  the  normal  Rural 
type.  A  neighbor  with  a  rich  market  garden  soil 
had  a  heavy  crop  which  grew  with  many  knots  or 
prongs  of  second  growth.  My  own  potatoes  had 
been  hill-selected  in  the  field  for  years,  and  all  hills 
with  knots  thrown  out.  Instead  of  making  knots 
they  lengthened  out  in  that  Fall  after  the  rains 
until  they  were  as  long  as  Green  Mountains.  When 
planted  next  year  they  produced  a  crop  of  normal 
shape.  The  same  thing  happened  in  1912  on  an 
early-planted  field.  It  should  he  noted  that  these 
oblong  tubers  were  flat  like  the  Rural  and  Green 
Mountain,  not  cylindrical  like  the  Burbank. 
CHANGES  IN  SHAPE. — I  have  tested  a  number 
of  unusual  shapes  to  find  if  any  were  reliable  in¬ 
dications  of  good  or  poor  yield.  As  a  general  rule 
it  is  best  not  to  use  potatoes  which  differ  from  the 
normal  shape  of  the  variety,  unless  some  good  rea¬ 
son  is  known  for  the  change.  If  a  tuber  has  a  long 
shape  for  its  variety,  and  comes  to  a  point  at  the 
seed  end,  with  eyes  clustered  close  around  it  and 
with  a  drawn  appearance  to  the  "eye-brows,”  it  is 
believed  to  be  a  sign  of  '•running  out.”  Out  of  four 
such  tests  this  was  found  once.  In  1912  I  found 
enough  tubers  of  this  type  out  of  about  200  bushels 
planted  to  plant  about  100  hills.  Part  of  these 
raised  a  good  crop,  but  the  rest  made  a  yield  of 
only  70  bushels  per  acre  against  350  for  the  ad¬ 
joining  rows  and  330  for  the  whole  field-  The  great 
lesson  that  I  have  learned  from  my  experience  with 
such  run-out  seed  is  that  it  never  “comes  back.” 
Seed  from  these  planted  in  1913  made  only  130 
bushels  per  acre,  against  290  for  the  adjoining  rows, 
and  in  addition  the  latter  were  killed  by  an  early 
frost  Sept.  14th.  when  the  poor  yielders  were  al¬ 
ready  dead  and  the  others  growing  fast.  In  1915 
ihe  respective  yields  were  74  and  334  bushels  per  acre. 
SMALL  SEED. — The  danger  in  planting  small  po¬ 
tatoes  is  that  these  run-out  hills  will  furnish  more 
than  their  share  of  the  seed.  The  low-yielding  hills 
are  mainly  composed  of  culls,  while  the  good  hills 
have  but  few.  As  was  found  by  Prof.  F.  C.  Stewart 
at  tlie  Geneva  Station  the  small  tubers  from  healthy 
hills  are  good  for  seed.  When  a  farmer  uses  some 
method  of  field  seed  selection  of  the  best  hills  for- a 
seed  plot  the  small  potatoes  from  this  seed  plot 
and  probably  their  descendants  for  at  least  a  year 
or  two  will  be  safe  to  plant.  My  own  experience 
is  that  12  years  of  hill  selection  has  so  reduced  the 
proportion  of  small  culls  in  my  crop  that  in  good 
years  like  1909,  1910,  1912  and  1914  there  were  less 
than  two  per  cent-,  or  not  nearly  enough  to  plant 
(he  next  crop.  It  is  well  known  that  the  Rural  type 
tubers  when  small  are  nearly  round  and  do  not 
lengthen  out  much  till  they  get  some  size.  If  a 
cull  is  much  longer  than  its  diameter,  and  particu¬ 
larly  if  it  is  pointed,  wasp-waisted,  and  with  eyes 
having  a  drawn  appearance  I  would  never  plant 
it.  DANIEL  DEAN. 
