MOORE’S RURAL NEW-YORKER 
of seed to the acre, whether scattered by 
drill or by hand, to be worse than wasted. 
Yours truly, W. B. Pratt, 
Prattsburg, Sept. 4,1875. 
President Hoffman said, 1 have touched 
this question of thick seeding in my remarks 
about the grass seeds. It has been my opin¬ 
ion, entertained for a long lime, that we use 
too touch seed. It often happens in our fields 
that there are so many plants that all can not 
mature. In such cases the weaker must suc¬ 
cumb to the stronger, and they are of course 
a loss in themselves, besides the damage they 
inflict upon those which remain, by their ap¬ 
propriation of plant food used only to be 
wasted. If we experimented more in the 
amount of seed required we should be doing 
valuable service, to agriculture. And if we 
used improved separators, we should secure 
for use the very best seeds and save the in¬ 
ferior for other uses. I regard this as a very 
important matter. 
A quick, vigorous growth of potatoes after 
planting is necessary to get the start of the 
first crop of potato beetles. Planting late in 
rich, warm soil with good, firm seed will do 
thin; but it requires some care and fore¬ 
thought to provide this good seed of early 
varieties for late planting. Now that farmers 
are gathering and preparing to store potatoes 
is the time to attend to this matter. 
COMPARATIVE PROFITS OF CROPS, 
GATHERING AND STORING POTATOES. 
The potato crop is an important one in 
many sections, and now that the price has 
opened so low and there is scarcely a market 
at any price, in some places farmers who 
have ten, twenty or thirty acres are puzzled 
what to do with them. Early digging Im¬ 
plies twice handling, while it seems to be 
necessary in order to get the bulk of the crop 
harvested beroro cold weather sets in. It is 
certain, however, that early potatoes should 
not be stored in hot weather unless fully 
ripe. Their skins are tender, and if pitted 
in the field in warm weather those unripe 
potatoes speedily heat and rot. VV e have 
known where potatoes covered in the field 
have become a total loss within two weeks 
after pitting. As the weather becomes cool¬ 
er this danger lessons, partly from the fact 
that tubers are generally riper. Even when 
piled in railroad cars these unripe potatoes 
are dangerous handling. Almost every year 
some dealers are badly bitten early in tne 
season from loss in shipping unripe and de¬ 
caying potatoes. It is this danger and fre¬ 
quent loss which generally “breaks" the 
potato market early in the season, from 
which it sometimes does not recover until 
late in the fall. It would be better for gro¬ 
cers, dealers and all parties if no potatoes 
could be marketed before the last of Septem¬ 
ber except to supply demands from day to 
day for immediate consumption. Any at¬ 
tempt to store a stock of these early potatoes 
is pretty certain to result in loss. 
Storiug potatoes for winter is in northern 
latitudes almost equally risky business. The 
experience of hundreds of farmers during 
the past two or three very severe winters 
has been disastrous. Frost penetrated open 
ground not covered by snow lust winter as 
deep as four feet. Of course most potato 
heaps were frozen into and their contents 
destroyed. But not all. It is possible with 
proper care to cover potatoes so that frost 
cannot get in. What is needed is one or two 
extra layers of straw or other material to 
hold confined air between the potatoes and 
the outer cold. This is the use of the straw 
or potato top covering over the heap before 
the earth is put on. This confined air is a 
much better non-conductor of heat than 
earth, and is the best reliance for protection. 
To make it more sure, after covering the 
heap with five or six inches more of earth 
add another covering of straw, and then 
earth this as before. This double wall of 
earth with spaces of confined air between is 
much more eilective than a solid body of 
earth to exclude frost. We know potatoes 
which were uninjured last winterwhen thus 
protected, while it would have been almost 
impossible to cover them deep enough to in¬ 
sure protection. 
It was difficult last winter to save pota¬ 
toes in many cellars. Frost penetrated where 
it never was known before. Aside from 
frost there is a further difficulty in storing 
potatoes in many cellurs which are too warm 
and dry towards spring, causing the shoots 
to start and the potatoes to shrivel and lose 
substance and flavor. This is especially true 
of potatoes of early varieties, or those kept 
late for seed. The long shoots broken off at 
planting time detract much from the vitality 
of the potato, and if not broken off they 
mostly shrivel and die after planting. In 
either case secondary eyes have to start, in¬ 
volving loss of time and greater loss in the 
vigor of the plant. We believe late planting 
of the main crop important as a protection 
against attacks of the potato beetle ; but to 
be effective the late planted seed must be 
perfect and ready to start ana grow vigor¬ 
ously. In this respect potatoes carefully 
pitted in the field generally excel, and at 
least enough for seed should be so saved 
every year, especially of early varieties most 
liable to sprout. If you are afraid to risk 
pitting in the field store the potatoes in the 
cellar, and cover the heaps with fresh sod. 
The earth over the potatoes will keep moist¬ 
ure from evaporating, will protect from ex¬ 
cessive cold in winter, and from too warm 
an atmosphere in spring. If t he sod becomes 
too dry, sprinkle it occasionally through the 
winter with water. We learned this hint 
from finding Early Rose potatoes which had 
lain on the bare ground in a cellar to the 1st 
of Juno firm and in excellent condition for 
eating or planting, while the same variety 
not in contact with the soil had sprouts a 
foot long, and were soft and poor. As it 
is the dry, warm air which causes the po¬ 
tatoes to sprout, a layer of sods over th 
Through portions of western New' York, 
where years agone wheat was not only the 
staple but almost exclusive crop, other grains 
and staples have largely superceded it. This 
is especially true of potatoes, which, though 
they involve greater labor, have, for a series 
of years, yielded much larger profits than 
wheat did in its palmiest days. Whether 
this will prove to be at the expense of prem¬ 
ature exhaustion of the soil remains to be 
seen. A year or two ago it was supposed 
that the potato beetle would check excess¬ 
ive planting, and hence, potato growers 
planted recklessly and more heavily for one 
or two crops than they would deem advisa¬ 
ble for a steady practice. It seems now that 
the beetle will prove less formidable than 
was at fl rst feared. The planting will prob¬ 
ably be diminished somewhat, for a time, at 
least, but if the crop be really as exhaustive 
as supposed, other means of maintaining fer¬ 
tility by the use of commercial fertilizers, 
clover and platter must be resorted to. 
Profitable as the potato crop has recently 
been, and i» likely to be, this can well be af¬ 
forded, and the growing of this crop go on 
nearly as extensively as ever. Instead of 
planting ten to thirty acres per year, farmers 
will plant half as much, and try, by thorough 
cultivation and manuring, to double the crop. 
This will leave more land for other grains, 
and more for clover, which may be plowed 
under, thus still further enriching the soil. 
It is remarkable how largely potatoes 
have superseded wheat as a main crop in 
New York State. Nearly live year: ngo the 
U. S. census showed a production ut in.i l< en 
millions of bushels of wheat and fifteen mil¬ 
lions of bushels of potatoes. In I860 the 
wheat had decreased to 8,681,105 bushels, 
while the potatoes had increased to 26,447,394 
bushels. In 1870 the wheat showed an in¬ 
crease to 12,178,462 bushels, and potatoes to 
28,547,543 bushels. The cash value of wheat 
per acre, in 1870, was £19.65,. while of pota¬ 
toes it was £03.70, a difference far greater 
than the cost of production, particularly as 
wheat often takes two seusons to produce a 
crop, while potatoes need but one. 
W ith regard to the effect of each crop in 
exhausting the soil, the potato crop has the 
important advantage that its profit, where 
price and crop are good, is sufficient to pay 
for liberal fertilizing material. The exclu¬ 
sive growing of wheat before the midge de¬ 
stroyed it, was rapidly injuring western 
New' York farms. We believe the moderate 
growing of potatoes In connection with other 
crops, and paying a liberal profit will enable 
farmers to make their farms richer than if 
potatoes were dispensed with. 
The seven counties, which in 1870 produced 
thu largest amount of potatoes, are the fol¬ 
lowing in the order named. Washington, 
2,141,468 bushels ; Rensselaer, 1,504,209; Sar¬ 
atoga, 1,230,831 ; St. Lawrence, 1.217,809; 
Franklin, 1,068,083; Monroe, 990,998; Clin¬ 
ton, 844,703. in wheat, Monroe County leads 
the list, introducing 1,051,530 bushels; Ni¬ 
agara, 961,308 ; Livingston, 947,489 ; Ontario, 
863,558 ; Geuesse, 722,874 ; Cayuga, 623,287 ; 
Onondaga, 573,1S3 ; Orleans, 550,000 ; Wayne, 
476,348, The census taken this year will 
probably show a much smaller production 
of wheat, and in the western counties a large 
increase in potatoes. 
MAXIMUM CROPS OF CORN 
Notwithstanding the enormous amount 
of corn grown in the United States, it is still 
doubtful whether a majority of farmers 
understand the best methods of growing it. 
The average yield per acre is very low, and 
in many places expensive methods of culti¬ 
vation are employed, giving no increase to 
the crop, and largely increasing the cost. 
The St. Louis Republican has been investi¬ 
gating this subject, and finds that the aver¬ 
age crop for the United States is 24 bushels 
per acre, and in some of the best States 
ranges as follows :—Ohio, 37 bushels ; Penn¬ 
sylvania, 32 bushels; Kansas, 30 ; while in 
Maryland it is only 23, and in Virginia 23 
bushels per acre. To show what possibilities 
he in the corn crop, the following well- 
authenticated statistics are given : 
In 1875 the Carroll County (Md.) Agricul¬ 
tural Society offered a premium of £100 for 
the largest amount of corn raised on an acre, 
and It was taken by Mr. J. Brown of Balti¬ 
more County, who produced 120% bushels of 
shelled grain, and 9,880 pounds of good fod¬ 
der on the limited area. The ground was a 
timothy meadow, broken deep, subsoiled 
and lightly spread with stable manure ; it 
was then treatsd to an application of 500 
pounds of bone-dust sown broadcast, and 
afterward rolled. It was marked off in 
furrows three and a half feet apart, and a 
compost of hog manure, salt and gypsum 
sprinkled in the furrows ; the grain was 
planted six inches apart on the 19th of May. 
After coming up it was carefully harrowed 
several times and afterward plowed with a 
The result was as we have 
HORSES SUFFER BY BAD ROADS, 
We are are all grumbling about our road3 
and our surveyors. The roads are miserable, 
and our system of makiDg ami repairing 
them is miserable too, but we do not realize 
how much we are losing by continuing to 
use them in their present condition. The an¬ 
nual expense for wear and tear of horses, 
carriages and harness is enormous, but the 
loss from carrying only half the load we 
might on smooth, hard and level roads is 
very much greater. Supposing a horse can 
pull on a level road 1,000 pounds, on a road 
rising one foot to the hundred ho could pull 
but 900 pounds. If it rises two feet in a 
hundred 810 pounds, two and a half feet 720 
pounds, four feet 520 pounds, five feet 400 
pounds, and if the rise were ton feet in a 
hundred he could pull but 250 pounds, or only 
one-quarter the load he coulddraw on a level 
road. Then, again, the condition of a road, 
whether hard and smooth, or soft and un¬ 
even, has much to do with the amount a 
team can draw over it. Experiments made 
by Morin show that a load of 9,000 pounds 
will require a tractive force of 1,000 pounds 
to move it over a firm, gravel road, newiy 
repaired. On best kind of gravel road 315 
pounds. On broken stone road in good con¬ 
dition 166% pounds; on a good pavement 
138% pounds. According to the above cal¬ 
culations, in the first case it would require 
eight horses to do the work which oue could 
do in the latter case. So If both roads were 
level, and we have 200 bushels of potatoes to 
carry to market, we could draw them on the 
best paved road with one horse, while on the 
newly repaired gravel road wo should need 
eight horses, and if the rise were ten feet in 
a hundred we should require thirty-two 
horses to draw the same load.— N. E. Fanner. 
shovel plow, 
stated. 
In 1873 a Mr. Budson raised on one acre of 
ground on the Oakridge Farm, in Amherst 
County, Va,, 170 bushels of white corn, the 
fact being attested by Mr. Fortune, a notary 
of the county. A copy of the Virginia 
Farmers’ Register, printed by Edmund Ruf¬ 
fin, at Petersburg, thirty-five years ago, lias 
this statement“ Mr. Mcggison of Albe¬ 
marle County was reported by the county 
society t.o have raised 110 bushels of sound 
shelled corn on one measured acre of ground, 
being river bottom and thoroughly culti¬ 
vated ; a large, white sort of corn.’* In the 
Department of Agriculture report for 1868 
there is au authenticated statement that 
Joseph Goodrich and Luther Page, of Wor¬ 
cester, Mass., each raised 111 bushels of 
shelled corn on one acre of ground ; and the 
same report gives instances in Ohio where 99 
and 101 bushels per acre w ere raised, The 
Rockbridge County (Va.) Society, at its meet¬ 
ing in 1871, gave a detailed statement of the 
results of competition for the premium for 
the largest yield of coin : J. D. IL Ross 
raised on one acre 76 bushels, and on five 
acres 252 bushels; A. L. Nelson raised 91 
bushels on one acre, and 310 bushels on five 
acres ; and G. W. Pettigrew raised 97 bush¬ 
els on one acre, and 400 bushels on five acres. 
The treatment in each case consisted of deep 
ploughing from ten to fourteen inches, and 
the application of home-made compost, a 
handful to every three ears of corn. At the 
meeting of the South Carolina Agricultural 
and Mechanical Society in 1869 the results of 
t wo interesting experiments made by J. W. 
Parker were reported. He took a piece of 
swamp grounil, two acres in extent, and 
raised corn on it two years in succession ; it 
was thoroughly drained, subsoiled, heavily 
manured from the cow-yard, and the hills 
additionally fertilized with guano, salt and 
plaster at the rate of 200 pounds to the acre ; 
the grain was planted in drills, ten inches 
apart, and thoroughly cultivated, one feature 
being the irrigation of the field by turning 
on it a stream of water so as to flow between 
the furrows. The first year the yield was 
147 bushels per acre, and the next it was 200 
bushels per acre. 
It w'ifi be said, perhaps, that this is scien¬ 
tific farming ; but, in reply, it may be asked 
whether it is wise to sneer at any fanning as 
scientific that fields two or three average 
erops of corn from an acre of ground, in one 
season. Experience demonstrates that the 
difference in a crop of corn between care¬ 
less aud thorough cultivation is one half, the 
same piece of ground yielding twice as much 
under good treatment as under careless 
treatment ; and there ia little doubt that the 
66,000,000 busliels of corn annually grown in 
Missouri could be raised on half the area and 
with less cost if a more effective method of j 
cultivation were practiced. 
CARE AND USE OF HEN MANURE 
A writer in the New England Farmer 
thus gives his experience in the management 
and use of hen manure ; I would say that, In 
1868, I took four bushels of dry hen manure, 
turned it on tile burn floor, took a commou 
flail and threshed it to a powder; then took 
25 bushels of muck, that had been dug 18 
months, spread it on the barn floor, and thor¬ 
oughly mixed it With hen manure. A single 
handful of this compost was put in the hill, 
and the corn droppedupun it. I had a splen¬ 
did field of coru. Planted one row with¬ 
out the compost. That row could be dis¬ 
tinguished all through the season, being a- 
bout two weeks behind the rest of the field, 
and finally it never did catch up. 
I believe if farmers that keep from twenty 
to thirty hens would save all the droppings 
and compost in the way above, or in some 
better way, insteod of buying fertilizers, as 
many at the present day do, it would be very 
much more to their advantage. 
EXPERIENCE WITH THIN SEEDING, 
At a recent meeting of the Elmira Farm¬ 
er’s Club, the following letter was read. 
“Early in September, a year ago, I sowed 
with a drill twelve struck bushels of Diehl 
wheat on sixteen acres of fallowed ground, 
just three pecks to the acre, When it first 
came up it looked thin on the ground, as 
compared with neighbors* fields, but before 
winter set in was the best looking wheat on 
the street. It was a growing autumn, the 
plants tillered splendidly and showed health 
and vigor. Several excellent farmers ex¬ 
amined it, and the uniform expression was ; 
“ There is wheat enough for a crop," Win¬ 
tered fairly, but the severe April frosts, 
followed by the May drouth, were 
too much for it and it shared the 
fate of wheat generally in this section. 
Instead of the 500 bushels promised at 
the opening of the spring, there may be 
150 bushels. Tlie failure was not because of 
thin seeding, nor could I desire a more prom¬ 
ising prospect than the field presented when 
the winter closed in. 1 have sowed broad¬ 
cast at the rate of a bushel to the acre with 
satisfactory results, and think two bushels 
MOWING FIELDS 
A Massachusetts farmer in a report read 
before the Agricultural Society said : “ I do 
not mean to mow later than the first of Sep¬ 
tember ; that gives time for another crop to 
come up sufficient to protect the life of the 
grass through a freezing winter. It is well 
known by observing men that the tops of 
plants cannot make much growth unless the 
roots grow also, aud that the roots cannot 
increase without a corresponding growtn of 
the tops. Now, when a heavy field of grass 
is cut in midsummer, the plapts receive a 
shock, but with favorable weather for a few 
days they are enabled to recover and put on 
a new growth ; but when cattle are turned 
on to such a field, they keep the tops eaten 
so closely that the roots cannot make a 
strong healthy growth, such as will carry 
them safely through a severe winter. 
