424 
Jahe  RURAL  N  E  W-Y  O  R  K  E  R 
March  11,  1910. 
near  that  date  as  possible  whenever  the  ground  is 
in  a  condition  that  will  sprout  the  seed.  The  most 
common  mistake  of  farmers  is  in  lotting  their  or¬ 
chards  wait  until  the  other  Spring  work  is  done. 
Don't  do  it.  You  can’t  hold  your  moisture  if  you 
let  your  land  get  dried  out  before  you  start  to  work. 
Tackle  the  orchard  job  when  the  ground  is  just 
right  and  let  other  work  wait.  It  will  pay  you. 
FERTILIZER. — The  only  fertilizer  we  use  is  sta¬ 
ble  manure  and  this  we  spread  all  over  the  ground 
— not  just  around  the  trees — once  in  two  or  three 
years,  two  if  possible,  and  all  we  can  possibly  spare. 
I  never  saw  an  orchard  hurt  by  too  much  manure. 
This  applies  to  old  orchards.  If  young  orchards  are 
well  cultivated  and  growing  well,  they  need  very 
little  fertilizer. 
FIGHTING  DISEASE.— We  now  come  to  the  last 
requisite,  freedom  from  disease.  If  your  trees  are 
properly  trimmed  so  that  plenty  of  air  and  sunlight 
get  to  the  fruit,  follow  the  spray  schedule  and  be 
thorough ;  above  all,  make  the  calyx  spray  or  dust 
a  doubly  thorough  job.  Many  orchardists  think 
that  this  most  important  spray  is  the  only  one  that 
pays  commercially,  but,  for  prize-winners,  don’t  miss 
any  of  them.  We  dusted  last  year  and  shall  the 
coming  season.  I  feel  that  our  results  were  fully 
equal,  if  not  superior,  to  the  spray,  and  it  is  a 
big  labor  saver  as  well,  just  when  men  and  teams 
are  needed  most. 
THOROUGHNESS. — Let  me  emphasize  again  the 
necessity  of  being  thorough,  in  every  operation  and 
then  after  you  have  done  all  this  and  raised  the 
finest  fruit  you  can.  the  really  difficult,  the  really 
fine  job  remains — the  selection  of  the  specimens. 
Take  all  the  time  you  think  you  can  afford  to  spend, 
and  then  take  twice  as  much  more.  You  will  even 
llien  probably  fail  to  win  a  prize  at  your  first  ex¬ 
hibit, -but  you  will  learn  more  about  premium  fruit 
than  you  have  learned  in  all  your  life  before,  when 
you  study  the  fruit  that  won  from  you,  and  find 
out  why  you  lost.  Don't  get  discouraged.  Try  it 
again.  If  you  are  any  good  you  will  probably  win 
something  the  next  time.  o.  e.  snyder. 
Orleans  C'o.,  N.  Y. 
Shall  We  Pit  the  Manure  ? 
Wo  have  a  manure  pit  for  our  cow  barn  and  ono  for 
our  horse  barn;  have  a  herd  of  75  cattle  and  2:1  horses. 
IIow  much  of  the  good  of  our  manure  do  we  lose  by 
spreading  it  on  our  side  hills  as  we  take  it  from  the 
barns,  when  there  is  frost  in  the  ground  and  more  or 
less  snow?  How  much  do  we  lose  on  level  bottom  land? 
The  objection  to  holding  it  in  the  pits  is  that  it  makes 
that  much  more  work  in  the  Spring,  when  everything 
is  in  a  rush.  J-  F- 
Vermont. 
NY  answer,  to  this  question  is  more  or  less  of  a 
guess,  as  conditions  vary  greatly.  On  steep 
or  rolling  land  where  at  times  a  sheet  of  water  runs 
down  there  would  he  some  loss  from  spreading  the 
manure  daily.  II  would  also  depend  on  whether  the 
manure  was  spread  upon  thick  sod,  a  new  seeding, 
or  open  ground.  Taking  everything  into  considera¬ 
tion  in  a  rolling  country  we  should  estimate  this 
loss  at  about  15%  of  the  value  of  the  manure.  On 
level  land  in  sod  where  water  does  not  stand  or 
flow  the  loss  would  probably  he  not  over  5%.  These, 
however,  are  guesses,  and  it  is  doubtful  it  anyone 
could  give  accurate  figures  covering  the  matter. 
Whether  if  pays  to  put  the  manure  into  a  pit  and 
hold  it  there  until  Spring  comes  down  depends  on  the 
value  of  time.  In  the  North  with  our  short  season 
for  preparing  the  land,  time  is  of  great  value  on  the 
farm,  and  if  the  manure  is  out  of  the  way  a  farmer 
can  prepare  more  land  and  prepare  it  better  for 
seeding  than  he  ever  can  if  he  were  obliged  to  stop 
when  the  season  opens  to  haul  out  the  manure.  We 
figure  it  upon  that  basis,  and  generally  it  pays  to 
get  the  manure  out  promptly  when  there  is  a  large 
quantity  of  it. 
One  thing  is  sure,  however,  that  mauure  never 
contains  more  plant  food  and  is  never  better  than 
when  it  comes  out  of  the  stable-  There  is  always 
more  or  less  loss  of  plant  food,  no  matter  how  care¬ 
fully  it  may  he  kept  in  the  yard  or  pit,  and  the 
quicker  it  is  put  on  the  ground,  all  things  consid¬ 
ered,  the  more  you  are  likely  to  get  out  of  it.  The 
advantage  of  putting  it  into  the  pit  is  the  fact  that 
more  of  the  liquids  will  be  saved  in  this  way.  Not 
only  so,  but  the  manure  is  finer  and  in  better  con¬ 
dition  for  spreading  when  it  comes  out  of  the  pit. 
It  is  therefore  a  question  of  time.  On  the  average 
farm,  where  there  are  only  two  teams  or  three 
horses,  and  the  season  is  shorter,  it  would  be  better 
economy,  if  possible,  to  haul  the  manure  out  during 
the  Winter,  and  have  the  job  done.  In  that  event, 
as  soon  as  the  ground  is  fit.  work  at  plowing  and 
feeding  may  lie  begun  at  once,  while  if  the  manure 
is  put  into  a  pit  it.  is  necessary  to  haul  it  all  out, 
and  tliis  takes  time  away  from  the  necessary  work 
of  putting  the  ground  in  order. 
Effect  of  Lime  on  Potatoes 
A  seemingly  curious  tiling  occurred  with  me  this 
past  season  in  the  matter  of  growing  potatoes,  and  I 
should  be  interested  to  learn  the  cause.  On  an  acre 
of  land,  which  had  been  prepared  for  another  purpose 
and  heavily  limed  with  oystersbell  dust  in  1014,  I 
planted  three-quarters  acre  of  Green  Mountain  and  one- 
quarter  acre  Sir  Walter  Raleigh  potatoes.  All  the  seed 
was  treated  with  formaldehyde,  blit  that,  did  ..ot  stop 
the  scab  in  that  patch.  When  I  came  to  dig  the  crop 
I  found  the  scabbiest  lot  of  potatoes  1  ever  saw,  and 
the  men  left  over  half  the  crop  on  the  ground.  I  picked 
up  about  125  bushels,  and  what  1  was  ashamed  to  send 
to  market  I  put  in  the  cellar.  And  now  comes  the  in¬ 
teresting  part  of  the  performance;  a  liner-flavored,  bet¬ 
ter  Irish  potato  can’t  be  found  in  New  England  than 
that  scabby  lot  I  put  in  my  cellar.  And  although  rot 
was  very  bad  in  this  section  last  Fall  hardly  a  rotten 
potato  was  found  in  the  field,  and  none  in  tile  cellar. 
What’s  the  answer?  A.  A.  YOUNG. 
Connecticut. 
E  give  the  following — some  one  may  present 
a  better  one.  The  scab  disease  is  spread 
through  a  germ.  This  is  found  not  only  on  the  seed 
potatoes,  but  also  in  I  he  soil,  where  it  may  live  and 
thrive  for  some  years.  When  you  soaked  the  seed 
potatoes  in  a  solution  of  formaldehyde  you  prob¬ 
ably  destroyed  the  germs  on  this  seed,  hut  most 
likely  there  were  other  germs  in  the  soil.  These 
258' 
Connecticut  Potato  Field,  with  Indian  Hearths.  Fig.  144 
germs,  like  tlie  bacteria  on  clover  and  Alfalfa  roots, 
are  most  active  in  an  alkaline  soil.  When  you  made 
that  heavy  use  of  shell  dust  you  evidently  made  the 
soil  sweet,  and  germs  developed  and  spread  rapidly. 
The  tubers  in  the  ground  were  attacked  and  badly 
scabbed.  If  you  had  used  sulphur  on  the  seed  or 
scattered  in  the  bill  or  drill  there  would  have  been 
less  scab  because  the  sulphur  would  have  had  some 
effect  at  producing  an  acid  condition. 
That  answers  the  scab  part  of  the  question.  Aside 
from  its  effect  in  increasing  scab  lime  seems  to  in¬ 
crease  the  yield  and  improve  the  quality  of  potatoes. 
Pioneers  in  a  wooded  country  often  chop  down  the 
trees  and  burn  the  entire  mass  to  ashes.  Then  with 
a  little  plowing  and  harrowing  they  plant  potatoes 
and  get  a  good  yield  of  the  finest  appearance  and 
quality.  On  our  older  soils,  the  use  of  asfies  in  this 
Colorado  Potato-Cutting  Rack.  Fig.  145 
way  would  produce  a  crop  too  scabby  to  put  on  the 
market.  Some  years  ago  one  of  these  pioneer 
farmers  in  Michigan  told  of  doing  this  and  we  had 
samples  of  his  soil  carefully  examined.  It  was  im¬ 
possible  to  find  any  scab  germs  in  it.  Potatoes  had 
not  been  grown  there  before,  and  the  action  of  the 
hot  fire  had  purified  the  soil.  These  things  indicate 
that  lime  might  be,  on  these  clean  soils,  an  aid  to 
the  potato  plant,  hut  just  as  soon  as  the  scab  germs 
work  in,  the  lime  will  cause  great  damage  from  the 
disease.  It  is  also  understood  that  lime  acts  to 
check  or  prevent  rot.  Some  farmers  scatter  lime 
over  potatoes  when  the  crop  is  put  into  storage — • 
as  they  believe  such  treatment  will  prevent  rot 
from  spreading.  We  learn  of  one  farmer  who  pur¬ 
posely  uses  ground  limestone  in  the  hill  or  drill, 
after  soaking  the  seed.  He  thinks  this  checks  both 
rot  and  blight.  We  think  there  is  something  in 
this,  but  the  danger  from  scab  is  so  great  that  we 
would  not  advise  lime  on  potatoes. 
I  am  much  interested  in  what  you  say  of  the  potato 
scab.  Now  I  will  give  you  the  history  of  the  field 
which  may  interest  you  still  more.  The  acre  piece 
where  I  planted  the  potatoes  was  in  the  middle  of  a 
lot  which  had  been  pastured  for  many  years.  Some 
five  or  six  years  ago  L  began  preparing  the  piece  for 
use  in  the  greenhouse.  I  manured  it  fairly  well,  and 
plowed  under  tun  heavy  crops  of  green  manure  each 
year,  and  added  about  500  pounds  oystersbell  dust.  The 
part  at  left  was  stripped  of  six  inches  of  the  top 
soil  about  four  years  ago.  After  stripping  the  top  soil 
I  plowed  the  subsoil  to  plant  rye.  and  in  this  plowing 
I  uncovered  a  dozen  nr  more  cobblestone  hearths,  such 
as  the  Indians  used  to  use.  Some  of  (lie  hearths  bad 
well  preserved  charcoal.  1  know  that  the  Indians  were 
on  that  land  about  100  years  ago.  but  do  not  know 
if  it  was  ever  plowed  till  1  did  it.  On  the  lower  side 
of  the  acre,  proportioned  about  as  shown  in  the  sketch, 
Fig.  144.  1  grew  a  few  potatoes  about  four  years  ago. 
After  the  potatoes  green  manuring  crops  were  grown 
the  same  as  on  the  rest  of  the  piece.  It  may  be  that 
the  whole  piece  was  inoculated  with  scab  bacteria 
through  the  processes  of  disking,  bushing  and  the  like. 
If  we  could  only  inoculate  our  Alfalfa  fields  as  easily 
what  a  cinch  farming  would  bo! 
The  part  of  your  note,  relating  to  the  use  of  sul¬ 
phur  to  counteract  the  effect  of  lime,  suggests  thought 
in  the  matter  of  using  land  plaster  as  was  done  years 
ago.  When  1  was  a  hoy.  practically  before  the  advent 
of  commercial  fertilizers,  the  farmers  used  to  raise 
bumper  crops  of  fine  potatoes  with  land  plaster  alone 
in  the  drill  after  the  manure  had  been  plowed  under. 
Why  the  use  of  plaster  was  discontinued  I  have  never 
learned,  but  there  was  contained  the  lime  and  the  sul¬ 
phur  in  a  strongly  fixed  compound  which  the  roots  of 
the  potato  might-  have  broken  up  so  as  to  use  the  lime, 
leaving  the  sulphur  in  the  land. 
A  very  interesting  feature,  geologically,  was  the 
depth  location  of  the  old  wigwam  hearths.  They  were 
uniformly  about  seven  inches  below  the  surface,  and 
practically  even  with  the  top  of  the  yellow  subsoil. 
As  near  as  I  can  determine  they  were  in  use  about  150 
years  ago.  The  location  is  such  that  they  were  not 
covered  by  wash,  and  it  seems  remarkable  that  seven 
inches  of  soil  should  form  above  them  in  150  years. 
A.  A.  YOUNG. 
How  (lid  those  Indian  hearths  come  to  be  so  far 
beneath  the  surface,  and  why  are  they  level  with  the 
subsoil?  They  were  evidently  put  originally  at  the 
surface  of  the  top  soil.  Mr.  Young  lias  thought  that 
tlie  grass  growing  and  decaying  all  through  these 
years  may  have  taken  the  humus  out  and  deposited 
it  on  top  as  new  soil,  so  that  what  was  originally 
the  top  soil  is  now  known  as  subsoil.  As  for  land 
plaster,  it  is  now  generally  considered  that  in 
former  years  its  chief  value  in  the  field  was  in 
making  certain  forms  of  potash  available  by  means 
of  a  chemical  action.  It  finally  failed  to  give  profit¬ 
able  results  in  this  way  on  most  soils,  and  was  given 
up  when  chemical  fertilizers  became  common.  It 
would  probably  now  pay  once  more,  since  the  soil 
has  again  stored  up  potash  in  the  form  which  plas¬ 
ter  could  break  up.  Its  use  for  the  past  20  years 
has  been  chiefly  confined  to  stables  and  manure 
piles.  Without,  question  some  soils  are  deficient  in 
sulphur,  and  in  such  cases  plaster  would  supply  it. 
Farmers  and  Road  Damage 
I  WOULD  like  the  relations  of  the  farmer  to  roads 
discussed,  that  is.  has  the  individual  farmer  to 
bear  all  the  damage  that  is  imposed  upon  him  in  the 
working  of  the  road  through  liis  lands?  In  blasting 
rock,  stumps,  etc.,  and  throwing  them  outside  the 
road  limits,  should  he  or  the  road  supervisor  be  at 
the  labor  or  expense  of  removing  such  rock,  and 
stumps?  In  estimating  said  damage  what  would 
be  a  correct  basis  for  such  estimation?  I  was  re¬ 
cently  one  of  two  appraisers  in  a  damage  suit  of  this 
kind,  and  we  estimated  the  damage  on  the  amount 
of  labor  which  we  thought  it  would  take  to  remove 
the  blasted  rocks  and  stumps  off  the  plaintiff’s  land. 
The  judge  decided  that  the  damage  should  be  the 
value  of  the  land  before  the  damage  was  done 
minus  the  value  after,  and  the  plaintiff  was  non¬ 
suited  because  on  that  basis  Hie  value  was  less  than 
$50  and  suit  cannot  be  brought  in  our  circuit  court 
where  the  value  is  less  than  $50.  I  would  like  tlie 
opinion  of  The  R.  N.-Y.  on  tliis  question. 
West  Virginia.  f.  t.  hurley'. 
R.  N.-Y. — We  think  a  fair  basis  for  estimating 
such  damage  would  be  the  cost  of  putting  the  land 
in  the  condition  it  was  before  the  damage  was  done. 
In  one  way  this  would  be  much  like  figuring  the 
value  before  and  after  the  damage  but  tlie  land 
should  be  put  back  where  it  was  before.  It  will 
cost  a  certain  sum  to  do  tin's  and  that  cost  ought 
to  represent  the  damage.  We  should  like  an  ex¬ 
pression  of  opinion  from  farmers  on  this  point. 
Now  the  housewife  who  “put  up”  potatoes  in  cheaper 
times  has  her  innings.  The  tubers  were  peeled,  quar¬ 
tered,  “French  fried”  in  fat  and  kept  in  grease  until 
wanted  for  frying. 
We  find  a  number  of  farmers  turning  to  wood  ashes 
as  a  source  of  potash.  We  would  not  try  to  mix  the 
line,  powdery  ashes  with  chemicals  but  broadcast  the 
ashes  alone. 
On  page  454  there  is  a  question  about  rhubarb  leaves 
as  greens  for  poultry.  Some  time  ago  English  gar¬ 
dening  papers  discussed  the  use  of  rhubarb  leaves  as  a 
substitute  lor  spinach,  and  several  correspondents  ad¬ 
vised  care,  owing  to  the  acid  contained,  which  in  some 
cases  caused  serious  digestive  trouble.  Others  found 
the  leaves  agreeable  and  digestible  when  properly 
boiled. 
