week for a month or six weeks before the 
field is cleared. It is almost useless to attempt 
a description of the peculiar appearance of 
the perfectly rip mod leaf; only by close per¬ 
sonal observation can this be learned, VV'c 
will walk along with the “ boss,” and as we 
listen to the cracking of the stalk, as the kuife 
splits it down, the call for “stick,” to the stick- 
holders, and occasionally the cry of “judg¬ 
ment,” as the cutter appeals to the “boss,” 
stick, Fig. 83, by the cutter until it is full (from 
six to ten plants), when it is carefully laid on 
the ground until enough is cut for a load. 
Then jt is hauled to the barn and hung up, 
care being taken not to expose it to the hot 
sun more than is necessary. Our barns are 
all built of logs. For this purpose we have 
abundance of “old field” pine. The usual size 
is 18 feet each way,and ns the walls are carried 
up tier poles are laid across four feet apart, a 
space of about three feet being left between 
the tiers. The distance apart with the diam¬ 
eter of the poles makes four spaces (rooms), 
and there are four tiers to the eaves, the up 
per or roof part being filled by means of poles 
attached to the rafters. An idea of the ar¬ 
rangement of the inside as well as outside may 
be gathered from the illustrations, Figs. 84 
and 85. Figures of two kiudsof fiuesaregiven 
which need but little explanation. The fur¬ 
naces are of brick or stone and mortar. These 
are of sheet-iron, from 10 to 14 inches in diam¬ 
eter. There is also another aud cheaper kind 
of flue. A ditch is dug in the ground in the 
same form as the two furnaces, covered with 
sheet-iron, weighted with rock, the joints and 
edges being well plastered with mud. This 
answers a good purpose, but soon gets out of 
order and there is more danger of accident 
from fire. A wire or small rod six foot long, 
oti which hangs the thermo meter, extends into 
the bam just above the door. Another is at¬ 
tached to the thermometer,and passes through 
a hole in the log over the door. By this ar¬ 
rangement the temperature can be noted with¬ 
out opening the door, Fig. 86. The average 
number of sticks to fill a barn is 450, and of 
good-sized plants to each stick there are six, 
making ,'2,700 plants to the barn, though some¬ 
times, when plants are small and frost Ls 
threatening, ns many as ten plants to the stick 
and 550 sticks are crowded in, but the results 
are unsatisfactory. 
I agree with him as to the merits of the Early 
Ohio Potato. It is a favorite in Douglas Co.. 
Kansas, because it is particularly well adapted 
to a rich soil, and because of its quick maturi¬ 
ty. We began digging for market in just, two 
months after planting. This fact should 
teach all planters who raise potatoes in a hot 
climate to seed with varieties which mature 
quickest. Then, by planting very early, the 
coolest and moistest part of the growing sea¬ 
son of the latitude is secured for the crop. 
We planted April 13, a little later than usual, 
and before July had shipped three car-loads 
to Denver. The potatoes were all Early Ohios, 
and yielded at the rat© of 160 bushels per acre. 
Later the rate went up to 180 bushels per acre. 
This yield was better than that at the College 
farm, for the reason, as I believe, that the 
tubers were planted earlier. Had the pota¬ 
toes in Iowa been planted earlier they would 
probably have out-yielded ours; for President 
Chamber tain states that those which ripened 
first “ making their growth while the mois¬ 
ture lasted,” were the best ylelders. He gives 
the best advice that can be given to the potato 
grower when he says that good manure well 
savpd and used, is “hig money” to potato 
growers in every year and particularly in a 
dry year. Let me add that, by tilling often 
and well and manuring liberally. I think the 
time of maturity can be hastened, often by a 
week ortwo, adding largely to the profit. 
Batavia, N. Y. w. ives. 
CORRESPONDENTS’ VIEWS. 
A Wide-awake Reader.—T he Rural is 
as good authority to me as law books are to a 
lawyer. I have a small place of 21 acres, and 
not half of that is suitable to plow, but I have 
for yeai-s kept from eight to 14 cows. My feed 
bill is quite an item. I always watch the re¬ 
ports from various sections to see what the 
Fig. 84. 
prospects are for good or poor crops. One 
year the Rural summed up about the first of 
August, and said feed of all kinds must go up. 
I at once bargained with our miller to supply 
me with 1(1 tons of feed, to he delivered one 
ton at a time. One month afterwards he 
offered me $100 to release him; but I wanted 
the feed, and he let me have it. 1 credit the 
Rural with that $100. The next season grain 
was high in price; but Rural reports show¬ 
ed that the prospect for corn had seldom 
been bettor. I held off and bought in small 
quantities uutil themiddleof December, when 
I saw by the Rural that speculators had 
forced the prices of grain down, but it could 
not be held there, as there was not grain 
enough in the country to hold it down, I se¬ 
cured 10 tons at nuee, and made a nice saving, 
for which the Rural deserves the credit. I 
came home one night and found my two little 
boys driving a cow around the yard under 
the direction of the local cow doctor, who said 
she must die. She was badly bloated. I sent 
one of the boys to his mother to look up an 
article on hoven or bloat, which hud appeared 
in the Rural. It was to tie a stick in her 
mouth. We fixed her in a few minutes, and 
went in to supper, taking the cow doctor with 
us. After supper we found the cow relieved- 
I have seen this treatment tried many times— 
always with success. One year the Rural 
stated that the hay crop was short, except in 
Western New York and Eastern Pennsylva¬ 
nia. It was good here, and I secured enough 
at $8, which I sold for #13, to clear #150, to the 
Rural's credit. I could give many other in¬ 
stances where the Rural’s advice has paid 
me iu less amounts, or where I might have 
made money hail I heeded its advice. I have 
More Light ox the Wire-worm Wanted. 
—I am disappointed that farm papers and far¬ 
mers’ clubs do not tell us more about the wire- 
worm. It seemed to me, last fall, that half 
the potatoes in this market were more or leas 
rough or unsightly. Very likely hundreds of 
bushels of badly marked tubers remained at 
home. Rough potatoes are beginniug to be the 
rule and not the exception. I believe that when 
ripe while others arc'-green; still another has a 
few leaves nicely yellowish for half their 
length, while the remainder is yet green. 
Now we come to a perfect specimen, well 
grown, leaves 18 Inches long by 12 wide, thin, 
yet having ‘body’—a bright, greenish-yellow 
lemon, in color, on the hill. The boss savs. 
A'ZW-YoAKf 
POTATO CULTURE. 
I was interested in the recent article by 
President Chamberlain on Manure versus 
Drought. I spent the past season in Douglas 
Co., Kansas, where the conditions were simi¬ 
lar as regards heat, drought, aud hot winds, 
to those experienced in Iowa. I was inclined 
to give to tillage, which Is, perhaps, my hobby, 
the credit of bringing our crop of 80 acres 
through such a trying season. President Cham¬ 
berlain's article makes me remember that our 
l>est yield, 180 bushels per aere, was taken 
from an 18-acre lot that had been manured 
and fall-plowed about like the lot on the Town 
College farm. This ran about 5ft bushels bet¬ 
ter than other fall-plowed land receiving 
about the same tillage, but no manure. Still 
I look upon tillage us the sovereign remedy in 
ease of a drought. Manure should be applied 
the year before for the potato crop, as Presi¬ 
dent Chamberlain suggests; but when a severe 
drought overtakes a half-grown potato crop, 
the manure remedy is not practical. It is just 
the time, though, for the tillage remedy, 
which, if given at the right time, is almost, 
sure to produce good results. If given with a 
flue-toothed, light working tool, the surface 
will be kept -stirred and all weeds will be de¬ 
stroyed. The stirred portion will act as a 
mulch to help retain the moisture for the 
the skin of a tuber is broken, it takes up mois¬ 
ture from the ground to its injury, and many 
a little fiber connecting the root or stalk with 
the potato is cut, thus interfering with growth, 
lhis worm is getting to bo ns great a plague 
to the potato grower as the Hessian fly is to 
the wheat grower, or as cattle diseases are to 
stockmen; and methods of destroying it 
should be discussed. T hoar of a remedy which 
is said to work well at the West. This is to 
plow up the ground just before winter sets in 
and again just before frost ceases in the 
spring, the theory being that freezing destroys 
the egg or germ form of the pest. I have 
plowed up my plot according to directions, 
and intend plowing it again in February if I 
can. I will report results in good time. Set. 
t his subject going and let us hoar from others. 
1 lie subject is well worth discussing for it vi¬ 
tally affects potato growers. It seems to me 
that petroleum might be combined with fer¬ 
tilizers in some way so that it would be a pre¬ 
ventive. farmer. 
Middletown, N. Y. 
culture for potatoes. [That was a correspond¬ 
ent's advice, not the Rural's.— Eds.] The 
Rural’s experiments help us. They cost 
mouev, and where a man has nothing to back 
him, and needs every dollar to use for present 
wants that come faster than the dollars, he had 
better watch the experiments of others than to 
spend much money at it himself. 
Chautauqua Co., N. Y. a. l. hkrrick. 
R. N.-Y.—Our friend lias learned how to 
“Give me a whole barn like that, and I will 
turn out a load that will bring big money.” 
A two-edged knife is used for cutting, Fig. 
81, first splitting the stalk part way down, 
then cutting below the leaves, Fig. 83. Each 
cutter or two is attended by a stick holder. 
1 he sticks are 4’ £ feet long, about the size of 
ordinary laths, and are conveniently scattered 
about the field. The plants are hung on the 
