202 
MOORE’S RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
SEPT. 25 
officii (Kj[0p. 
THE PROFIT 
GROWING POTATOES. 
Takk Rensselaer, VV ashington and Sara¬ 
toga, the three great potato producing coun¬ 
ties of the State, and the profit is not so large 
as given recently in the article in the Rural 
from the Vermont Recorder and Farmer. 
The average yield of the above counties is 
not over 100 bushels per acre. Why ? There 
are so many acres planted that the farmer 
cannot keep his ground in as good state of 
cultivation as would produce 200 bushels per 
acre. One-half of the area planted and well 
manured would produce more than double 
the present yield iu this section. Potatoes 
take everything oif, and leave nothing for 
the farmer to make manure of. The profit, 
no doubt, is good from potatoes, better than 
from any other crop, as long as the land 
will produce 10'J bushels per acre, hut it will 
not be a great many years before the above 
counties will have to abandon raising po¬ 
tatoes. The yield will he so small that it will 
not pay. The cost of raising un uorc of po¬ 
tatoes with ns is #2 for plowing, $3 for plant¬ 
ing, ?l for seed, #•> for cultivating and hoe¬ 
ing, #5 for digging, *4 for marketing, inter¬ 
est #4,20 ($00 per acre), making #27.20 per 
acre of 100 bushels at Isle, per bushel, which 
leaves #22.80 and nothing to make manure of. 
There is no crop that will pay better to 
manure than potatoes, fifteen or twenty 
loads will more than double the yield of last 
year. 1 applied twenty loads of manure on 
an acre of corn stubble, and marketed 205 
bushels or Early Rose at 50 cents per bushel, 
and had left sixty bushels small ones for 
liog3 to feed early. Land that was as good 
adjoining, without the manure, did not yield 
over 125 bushels per acre. The present sys¬ 
tem os followed by farmers of 100 .acres or 
more is to break up about twelve acres, plant 
to Peach Blows, next year put on what ma¬ 
nure they have (which is not much from a 
few head of stock, ami plant ug lifi to Rose 
or Peerless, the third yen • sow to oats, and 
i.i the fall to rye (selling the St raw), next 
letting lie two years, and planting and sow¬ 
ing as before. The system is very exhaustive, 
and cannot be followed a great many years 
with profit. 
Can tile above mode of farming be fol¬ 
lowed, and the land kept good with clover 
and commercial fertilizers ! b. 
-- 
ROLLING WHEAT GROUND. 
Die a a Rural Would you please answer 
the following questions through the columns 
of your valuable paper f 
When do you think the best time to roll 
■wheat in the ground ? Soon after planting 
or sowing, late in the fall, or in the spring 
after the frost is out ? Do you think mulch¬ 
ing or scattering straw or coarse manure 
valuable on wheat in the ground, and the 
proper time to put it on ?—8. C. Koonce, 
Clark, Mercer Co., Pa., Avunst, 1875. 
Roll the wheat ground before sowing, and 
then drill in the seed, leaving the surface 
rough for winter. It is sometimes allowable 
to roll wheat after sowing if the ground Is 
dry and the seed in danger of not sprouting, 
bub this is nowhere necessary this season. 
In the spring drag your wheat field thor¬ 
oughly, sow the clover-seed, and then roll to 
leave the surface smooth. 
Mere straw is of liitle advantage as mulch 
for wheat. Where it has some manure, even 
a slight quantity, it is often valuable. AVheat 
often seems to be winter-killed by extreme 
cold, but generally poverty of the soil will 
be found to lie the cause of the trouble. 
Mulching without manure is a poor substi¬ 
tute for fertility. We know a place where 
straw on wheat was tried last winter with 
no benefit. Very coarse “ strawy” manure 
is different, and valuable. It should be ap¬ 
plied as soon as possible after getting in the 
seed. Mere straw is worth more to spread 
this fall on next yeai’s corn ground. 
from previous cultivation, and if the soil is 
rich enough a good crop is apt to result. 
With the complete pulverization of the 
soil, as hoeing, cultivating and digging, little 
after preparation is necessary to fit it for 
wheat. The old-fashioned way, both on com 
and potato ground, was to lightly cultivate, 
and sometimes only to drag t he surface, sow¬ 
ing the wheat broadcast and covering with 
Dio drag. This was reckoned a slipshod and 
lazy practice, and therefore abandoned, but 
we remember very well that some extra 
large crops were grown In this way. and it 
is quite certain that the deeper cultivation 
which has become fashionable has not been 
so generally successful. Wherein is the ad¬ 
vantage of plowing potato ground for wheat ? 
If properly Cultivated during the summer 
there will be few or no weeds in potatoes at 
digging time, and a light cultivation, or even 
dragging to level the surface, Is nil that iB 
needed—much better, we suspect, than a 
deeper plowing, which turns the finely pul¬ 
verized surface soil to the bottom of the 
furrow. 
On laud not deficient in potash there is 
always a good clover catch with wheat after 
potatoes. 1 f tiie clover fails on potato ground 
the probability is that potash is wanting, and 
hard wood ashes should be sown, if these 
cannot he obtained the German potash salts 
are a good substitute, and may be profitably 
used on such laud. 
REMARKABLE RESULTS 
FEEDING. 
POTATOES AND POTATO BEETLES. 
Both are a good crop in this section. Each 
farmer seemed to thick that his neighbor 
would let the beetles destroy the crop, and 
ho alone could by care iu this direction make 
largo profits, and tiie consequence is more 
acres planted, better tillage, and larger crops 
than lor some time past. Early potatoes 
have sold lower in Syracuse than they have 
for years. An editorial in The Rural of 
July 17 intimates that the more a crop costs 
the more we shall receive for the same ; but 
with us consumers never ask what a crop 
costs and pay accordingly, but buy as cheap 
as possible, Perhaps it is different near New 
York City. 
My plan of operations with the beetles is to 
take a large tin pail and bend the viues over 
it, Mien with a stick knock the varmints into 
the pail, when a little kerosene oil or hot 
water soon ends their career. 
This has been done about every five days, 
and by this practice no perceptible damage 
lias beeu done to the potatoes. The crop of 
beetles does not seem to diminish in the lease, 
Going over (he vines yesterday for the 
seventh time, a larger crop was gathered 
than ever before, with plenty of eggs for 
another litter. Where the potatoes were 
ripening ami the leaves all dead, they were 
busy eating up the stalks. Whet they will 
do when the pot atoes are dug remains a mys¬ 
tery, unless they eat up the soil. Person* 
who write about two hatchings of beetles 
evidently have not my kind, as they lay and 
hatch continually. 
Many farmers are doing nothing to kill off 
these pests, aud will, in most cases, get a 
good crop of potatoes this year, and will 
winter over beetles enough to keep us all 
busy next season. If Uiis slovenly practice 
is continued, then will the prophecy in that 
editorial become a reality, 
fijrucuse, N. Y. Nelson Ritter. 
HOW THE CALIFORNIA 
PLOWED. 
FIELDS ARE 
WHEAT AFTER POTATOES. 
Where potatoes are grown extensively it 
has become a common and very good prac¬ 
tice to have a few acres of early potatoes 
ready to clear off and sow to wheat. This 
can readily be done with Early Rose, and 
sometimes with early planted later varieties. 
It is best, however, not to try to get out a 
large field of potatoes in time for w heat, as 
the labor is so great that it is apt to delay 
wheat sowing till late in the season. Wher¬ 
ever ground can lie fitted for sowing by the 
25th of September, a potato crop makes an 
excellent preparation for wheat. The ground 
is in the best possible mechanical condition 
Tub fields are plowed with wliat are called 
gang plows, which are simply four, six or 
eight plow shares fastened to a stout frame 
of wood. Gu the lighter soil, eight horses 
draw a seven gang plow, ami one such team 
is counted on to put 040 acres of wheat in the 
sowing season ; or from eight to ten acres 
per day. Captain Gray, near Merced, has 
put in this season 4,<100 acres with five such 
teams—his own land and his own teams. A 
seed sower is fastened in front of the plow'. 
The plow has no handles, and the plowman 
is, in fact, only n. driver ; he guides the team ; 
the plows do their own work. It is easy 
work, and a smart boy, if his legs are equal 
to the walk, is as good a plow man as any¬ 
body—for the team turns the corners, and 
the plow is not handled at all. On the heav¬ 
ier soil, the process is somewhat different. 
An eight horse team moves a four gang plow, 
and gets over about six acres per day. The 
seed is then sown by a machine which scat¬ 
ters it forty feet, and sows from seventy-five 
to one hundred acres in a day, aud the ground 
is then harrowed and cross harrow ed. 
, -- 
Sowed Corn for fodder-houid be cut be¬ 
fore severe frost, if possible, but not before 
it is iu blossom, as it is then sweeter and 
more nutritious. 
! > Prof. AY. O. Atwater of Wesleyan TJni- 
' versity, Middletown, ConD., is writing a 
11 series of highly interesting articles on “Sci- 
* ence Applied to Farming.” The Professor 
k always suggests valuable thoughts on the 
!l subjects under discussion, ami it is probably 
in this rather than in an unhesitating aecept- 
11 anee of his conclusions that the chief value 
!1 of his essays will be found. This, however, 
' is a general truth which applies to pretty 
* much everything that is written about farm- 
r ing, whether from a scientific source or 
otherwise. In fact science, so-called, seems 
1 to lie unusually unscientific in its treatment 
8 of problems which puzzle the farmer. Col- 
1 lege professors generalize from isolated facts 
rather more hastily and crudely than farm- 
e ere themselves. The use of a few scientific 
terms and chemical analyses has a bowildcr- 
8 itig effect, and it seems to be taken for 
r granted that conclusions, so reached Iiy sci¬ 
entific men must be accepted as final. 
In the September number of the American 
0 Agriculturist Prof. Atwater relates two ex- 
8 periments, and from these draws tiie re- 
P markable conclusion that non - nitrogenous 
foods decrease the capacity of animals to 
digest, while nitrogenous foods increase this 
power. This is the abstract expression of 
^ the Professor’s conclusion, Stated concrete¬ 
ly it is this : Pot atoes, which abound in car- 
r 
I bo hydrates, chiefly starch, prevent Die di¬ 
gestion of clover hay aud are hurtful in auy 
1 quantity. The figures giving this remarka- 
L ble result, are published in full in Prof. At¬ 
water’s article, but as we. do not propose to 
* controvert the conclusion, it is not necessary' 
j for us to copy them. For aught wo know, 
the conclusion so dearly laid down may be 
* the true one ; but if so, the Professor lias 
certainly made an extremely lucky guess. 
’ Most surely the two or three examples on 
J which he relies are entirely insufficient to 
prove liis position, and it cannot be the ex¬ 
pression of a scientific, fact. Tiie question is 
’ not exclusively one of chemical analysis, but 
r of anatomy aud physiology as well, and is 
1 varied widely in its relations to different 
species of animals, and to some extent in 
different breeds of the same species. 
The Professor is probably mistaken. Farm • 
ers have been using potatoes as food for 
stock u good many years with varying, but, 
generally satisfactory results. AVe have 
sometimes found potatoes very valuable feed, 
especially for milch cows aud growing stock, 
A few potatoes daily, with other food, are 
generally believed to improve digestion and 
| keep the bowels in proper condition. We 
doubt whether any farmer ever thought a 
moderate supply' of potatoes hurtful. Occa¬ 
sionally, iu excessive quantities, or with ani¬ 
mals exceptionally liable to laxativeness, po¬ 
tatoes may have proved injurious, but he 
must be an extremely ignorant farmer who 
would promulgate a general rule from these 
exceptional eases that potatoes always im¬ 
pair digestion. It. takes a college professor, 
with unbounded faith in one or two sciem 
title analyse* and in sharp pursuit of a uni¬ 
versal law, to fall into this absurdity. 
It needs a great many experiments with 
different animals, and with the same animals 
under dilicrent conditions, to warrant the 
conclusion which Prof. Atwater has drawn 
from two or three. The fact that a large 
majority of farmers feed potatoes to stock 
and suppose it pays, is presumptive evidence 
that he is wrong. Potatoes given to an uui- 
mal heretofore unused to such food might 
well cause it to "scour,” and thus pass other 
food imperfectly digested. Borne animals of 
laxative habit may never be able to eat po¬ 
tatoes without injury. This is all that Prof. 
Atwater’s experiments prove. His general 
law would rule out all root crops and most 
kinds of green or succulent food as useless or 
positively hurtful, for very few contain much 
nitrogenous substance. It. is very easy to 
cany the Professor’s law' to a reductio ad 
absurdum. The wonder is that he did not 
carry it there himself. 
In the general importance of feeding con¬ 
centrated food rich in nitrogenous materials 
all are agreed. This necessity is confirmed 
by the universal experience, of farmers, AVe 
not only believe in feeding rich food, but 
think altogether too much of that practice 
to base it on such an unsubstantial theory as 
Prof. Atwater’s new'ly discovered “law” 
that noil-nitrogenous foods are injurious. 
-»♦» ■ ■ ■ 
INJURY TO COWS TEATS. 
,\ l » li 
AVrat is your opinion about a cow that 
has lost one or two of her teats. Do they 
give the 'same amount of milk out of those 
remaining as if she had not lost any * I 
think they do, but am not certain. Yours— 
S. C. Koonce. 
TrrE loss of one or more teats almost neces¬ 
sarily implies injury to the bag and especial¬ 
ly to the milk veins, which will not secrete as 
much as they would if the bag were perfect. 
Unless valuable for otber uses such a cow 
bad better be fattened as soon as possible. 
--- 
WHY POOR STOCK DOES NOT PAY. 
Tins following dialogue, which we find in 
the National Live Stock Journal, illustrates 
the subject of stock growing, in its relations 
to profit or loss, in a way which no farmer 
can fail to comprehend : 
Stranger.—What are farms worth in this 
part of th© country ? 
Farmer.—Well, about #50 per acre. AVas 
offered that for mine a few days ago. 
Stranger.—I saw a statement in the Na¬ 
tional Live Stock .T unial, from Messrs. Jas. 
N. Brown’s Sons, that on (he grass plain— 
that is where cattle run to grass the whole 
year around—it takes four acres to carry a 
steer through a year. Is that about right ? 
Farmer.—I do not take tiie paper you 
speak of—times are too hard to permit a 
farmer to take papers—but the estimate of 
the Messrs. Brown is just what I allow on 
this farm. 
Stranger.—What kind of stock do you 
graze ? 
Farmer.—I have the common stock of the 
country—that’s good enough for me. I 
don’t want any of the newfangled cattle on 
my farm. 
Stranger.—Well, this is my first visit to 
these paits. I don’t know anything about 
what kind of stock your native cattle are, or 
how profitably they can be bandied. Am 
looking for a locat ion hereabouts, and shall 
be glad to get your idea about handling 
stock here to the best advantage. At what 
age do you market your steers l 
Farmer.—1 keep them until they are four 
years old past. 
Stranger.—Aud what do they weigh at 
that age ? 
Farmer.—Well, they vary, you see, con¬ 
siderably. Some of them will go 1,200, and 
others not quite so much. Handling steers 
ou grass is not as favorable to extra heavy 
weights ns grain feeding : but then, you see, 
less labor is required, and, on the whole, I 
am of the opinion that it pays as well or bet¬ 
ter than feeding grain. 
St auger.—You sell in Chicago, I presume i 
How do prices average { 
Farmer.—Well, we have to take prices as 
we eau catch them—they are up and down. 
If I have a good lot, 1 sometimes get live and 
a half cents per pound for them. 
Stranger.—AYhat interest can be secured 
ou money loaned here on mortgages ? 
Farmer.—Well, ten per cent, is the going 
rate. 
Stranger.—Then I guess I will not invest 
in a farm, if 1 have got to handle these native 
steers you speak of. That business will 
never do for me. 
Farmer.—Well, how so l 
Stranger.—You call your land worth #50 
an acre. It takes four acres, or #200 worth 
of laud to keep u steer a year. Money com¬ 
mands ten per cent, and over ; and so you 
should have $20 per year for interest on 
your $200 worth of of land. You keep your 
steers until four years old and over ; and 
they, therefore, cost you $80 ac tiie lowest 
calculation. They weigh 1,200 pounds, a id 
you sell them at five and a hail' cents, after 
paying freight to Chicago, commissions, 
exeiiange, etc., wdfich, according to my 
arithmetic, makes $00—a plump loss of #14, 
und the freight to Chicago ou every steer 
you raise. If I was iu your place, 1 would 
iiuut up some newfangled stock, if there is 
any to be found anywhere. You would look 
a long way, I think, before you found any¬ 
thing else that would do as poorly as the 
kind you have. 1 am not surprised that 
times are too hard to lake a newspaper, if 
you were to raise a steer or two less you 
might have a little money to spend. 
Farmer.—Well, I never just figured it out 
before ; but it does seem to me that this 
thing of grazing these steers is not quite as 
good as it ought to be. But, could I do any 
better on any other kind ? 
Stranger.—Why, of course you could. 
Good grade Short-Horns will mature a year 
younger ; and, at $20 per j'ear Interest on 
your four acres of ground, would cost you 
at three years old but #60 ; and even if they 
weighed no more at that age thau your 
scrubs do at four, and even if they sold for 
no more per pound, they would sell for $66, 
leaving #6 profit, when the scrubs make #14 
loss—a difference of $20. Now, this is not 
-_3s 
