New varieties of potatoes are produced, as 
is well known, by growing the seed under the 
best possible known couditions, and by select¬ 
ing from the many new types thus produced 
those having the desired qualities. But few 
of the many types produced possess desirable 
characteristics. Is it strauge that these new 
types, produced by careful cultivation aud se¬ 
lection, should under adverse cultivation and 
without proper selection, deteriorate? Varia¬ 
tions will not take place as rapidly as in the 
animal, for the potato plant iu ordinary cul¬ 
ture, being reproduced by a bud, is the off¬ 
spring of a single parent. The bud,placed in the 
ground aud supplied with the necessary food 
by the tuber, under proper conditions begins 
to grow. As soon as greeu leaves are formed 
the plant starts on a separate aud independent 
existence, and is as truly the offspring of the 
preceding potato plant as the calf is the off¬ 
spring of the cow that gave it birth. 
It is not surprising that varieties of pota¬ 
toes, forced, as it were, to a high degree of 
excellence by proper selection and cultiva¬ 
tion, should deteriorate when receiving 
neither. Neither is there any reason why a 
given variety of potato may not be improved 
by selection and cultivation. No variation, 
when the reproduction is by buds, cau take 
place, except that due to its conditions of life, 
because it descends from a single individual. 
But bud variation does take place iu many 
cultivated plants, as in the uectariue, for in¬ 
stance, and undoubtedly takes place in the 
potato. Every potato in the field differs from 
every other potato, and each will have a ten¬ 
dency to reproduce after its kind. By con¬ 
stant selection of those possessing the requisite 
qualities in stem, leaf and tuber, together 
with proper cultivation, a potato of the re¬ 
quired standard may be produced. 
The selection must be made in the proper 
way, as has, heretofore, been pointed out by 
others. It is not sufficient to select large 
tubers. Neither is it necessarily unwise to 
select small ones. We must select from the 
individual plant, viz., the hill. A small 
tuber from a hill containing a suitable num¬ 
ber of desirable tubers will, undoubtedly, be 
better for planting thau a large potato from 
a hill containing, otherwise, small potatoes. 
Having selected properly, place the tuber 
under conditions as good for its development 
as those, its parent had, or better, aud the result 
will be an improvement of the variety. Iu 
other words, apply the well-known laws of 
breeding and feeding iu the rearing of our 
domestic animals and of selection and culti¬ 
vation in the production of our ordinary cul¬ 
tivated crops to the production of potatoes, 
and no fear need be entertained in regard to 
their deterioration. T. f. hunt. 
University of Illinois. 
. »»« — 
STORING POTATOES. 
I was much pleased with the views of the 
Rural’s correspondents on the different 
methods of storing seed potatoes as given in 
the issue of Dee. 3. The following is my plan, 
which has proved to be very good and is at¬ 
tended with very little expense. At digging 
time I usually put my potatoes on the barn 
floor (baviug darkened the windows), where I 
allow them to remain until the weather be¬ 
comes cool. I then remove them to a con¬ 
venient place to bury them, simply leveling 
the ground, and placing the tubers on it. I 
then cover them with a good coat of straw; 
then with about six inches of dirt, placing in 
the top for ventilation a tile filled with straw 
to keep out the rain. I leave them in this 
condition until the six inches of dirt become 
frozen. I then cover with coarse horse man¬ 
ure to the depth of three or four inches, and 
the work is done. Always allow the ground 
to freeze before applying the manure, thus 
securing a more equal temperature. The 
frost will not penetrate through the manure, 
nor will the earth beneath become thawed by 
the warm days in winter. I have often, on 
taking out my potatues the last of April or the 
first of May, found the ground so frozen that 
the pit would not fall iu after all the potatoes 
were removed. This last spring I opened my 
pits the last week in April and my seed pota¬ 
toes were just as solid and free from sprouts 
as on the day they were buried, w. h. m. 
Palmyra, Mich. 
MR. TERRY’S NEW BARN. 
PLAN OF SECOND STORY. 
Fig. 489 gives the plan of second story of the 
main barn. The posts are about 20 feet. All 
posts, sills, beams aud plates are 8 x 8 inches. 
To avoid the extra expense of very long tim¬ 
ber, the sills, beams, and plates are spliced. 
The girts are 4x4 inches; rafters 2x6, and pur¬ 
lin plates and posts 6 x 6 . This is a light frame, 
THE 
but heavy enough when the weights of hay 
and grain are thrown on the earth, directly. 
We covered the barn with shingles instead of 
slates, partly because they do uot draw the 
heat so much, aud hence are cooler to mow 
away grain under, and partly because they 
were cheaper. The difference in cost (includ¬ 
ing the heavier roof, etc.,) put at interest, 
would briug iu mouey enough to shingle the 
roof over by the time the present one gives out. 
We have slates ou our house because the cis¬ 
tern water from them is so much nicer and 
cleaner, and then they look better. The baru 
floor is of two-inch Norway pine, matched. 
There are two trap-doors, 0, down which we 
can empty grain, potatoes, bran, or other 
feed. A car-load of bran can be Stored here 
T1 
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Fig. 489. 
very handily when the price is low. Ten tons 
put in a month ago .would have cost enough 
less than at the present price to pay more than 
20 per cent, interest on the cost of the granary. 
Many a time have T paid this 20 per cent, to 
dealers, because I had uo handy place to store 
feed before thrashing. The barn floor of course 
goes clear through to the back of the baru—45 
feet. When drawing in hay and grain, we 
cau get in two loads at once, iu case of storm 
coming, or at night, to be mowed away while 
the dew is on in the morning. 
The five hay and straw chutes are marked 
n. These are built up ns high as hay and 
straw ever go. The chute marked P has a 
door-way into it from that side, and a ladder 
so one can go from the baru floor to the feed¬ 
ing alley in the cow stable below. One of the 
big doors in front of the barn floor has a 
small door, 2 feet by OV 9 , built iu it. The big 
doors are 14 feet high, and too large to open 
when one only wants to go through. All the 
doors except one from the tool house to the 
horse stable are hung with T hinges. 
The writer interviewed quite a number of 
farmers who were using slide doors, last win¬ 
ter, in different parts of the country, and al¬ 
most without exception they said they 
wouldn’t use them again where they came out¬ 
side. They do not shut so tightly as a hinged 
door, and are liable to stick or cause trouble 
in some way. I have a 1 Much iron rod, some 
four feet long, attached with an eye-bolt to 
the inside of each big door. At the other end 
the rod is made into a hook, aud a hole bored 
into the plank bridge makes a place for it to 
hook into. When the door is open, this rod 
will hold it firmly. When not in use, it is 
laid up on a hook on the inside of the door. 
These cost only 25 cents each. 
The straw slide shown in Fig. 489 is made of 
two-inch planks, surfaced, aud the surfaced 
sides up. These planks are fastened 
on top of the beams, 10 feet above 
the barn floor. There should be a plank 
on each side also. When thrashing the 
straw-carrier delivers the straw upon this 
slide. Being smooth, two men can push it 
off at the ends. It takes but little, if any, 
more help to take care of straw iu the baru 
than to stack it out-of-doors. We had 84 
large loads of wheat ou top of the hay (40 
loads) in the bays this year. The straw is all 
in the space over the stables, and there is some 
room to spare. The bays would have held 
about 16 more loads or 90 in all, and by loads 
I mean at least a ton, green weight, of bay, 
and 2,500 to 8,000 pounds of wheat. The bays 
being so deep, the contents settle and settle 
until one begins to think they never will get 
full. We are feeding clover hay now that was 
under the wheat and pressed until it was 
about as solid as timber, and it is beautiful. 
When we were through thrasbiug one man 
jumped down from the straw slide ou to the 
hay, without stopping to think of the enor¬ 
mous pressure it had been under. He might 
almost as well have jumped on to the barn 
floor. He will not be iu a hurry to try it 
again. 
A $1,500 Cottage. Side. Fig. 491. 
' Around under the eaves, and in the end, 
there are eight doors to open for air when 
mowiug away hay and grain, or thrashing. 
These are not shown m the picture or plan. 
They are 3x5 each. Two more put iu at the 
rear end of the barn floor and lower down 
would he nice, I find by experience. These 
doors, as well as all others, are made of 
matched flooring. The large ventilator ou 
top of the barn has four pairs of blinds. These 
eau all be throwu open when thrashing. 
They are open in the picture. But they 
should be kept closed nights, while the hay is 
sweating. 
Thereof of the covered yard, page 801, is held 
up by 12-inch beams, 30 feet Jong. There are 
three of these. Two of the three posts under 
the outside ends can be seen in the picture, 
aud also one po 9 t under the middle of the back 
beam. The other beams have no support in 
the middle, ns iL would be iu the way. 
The baru is covered with boards 12 inches 
wide and ship-lapped and coved. This looks 
nice. The tool house is battened, us I wanted 
a very tight job of that. This lumber cost, 
surfaced and coved, $19 per m. The matched 
flooring, of which the doors were made, cost 
$15 per m, and they are tighter aud stronger. 
If going to build again, I think I would cover 
the entire building with flooring about five 
inches wide. It would make a strong, tight 
job, and that is what we want. Our barn is 
painted with two coats already and will have 
a third. We used simply Venetian red aud 
oil; aud trimmed with old gold color, which 
cau be bought ready mixed. The buildings 
have a nice heavy cornice and brown mould¬ 
ing. I want them to look neat and finished, 
if they are only barns. I always feel sorry 
for a man who only considers a barn or a 
house as something to turn wind and water 
without any regard whatever for wlmt de¬ 
lights the eye I forgot to say that scaffolds 
could be built over the baru floor, that would 
hold some 10 loads more of grain, if the room 
was needed, thus making the storage capacity 
100 loads. After thrashing, second-crop hay, 
or roweu, can l»e put in on the hay, or clover 
for seed; but I prefer stacking that aud cov¬ 
ering it with straw. We have just built three 
stacks in this way. I cannot stand the dust iu 
mowing it away or iu pitching it out of a 
barn. When drawing in the hay (first crop) 
we put two or three loads in the place for straw 
to feed the horses until after we thrash, so we 
can get at what is in the bays. This finishes 
the description, unless 1 have overlooked 
something thatsomo friend would like to know 
about. 
A farmer once showed me around a new 
barn and said; “It is all right but one thing; 
it isn’t paid for ” It may not be quite proper 
to say that this barn is all paid for. Within 
four years I have paid $4,500 for new farm 
buildings and the money has been dug out of 
a little 55-acre farm, only 86 acres of which 
are eultivatable. I want the reader to take 
note that this barn is for a 55-acre farmer, 
and there isn't a bit of room to spare, one 
3 r ear with another. Farming pays ou this 
farm. 
Summit Co., Ohio. 
A $1,500 COTTAGE. 
The plans shown at Figs. 490-493, are re-en¬ 
graved from the Manufacturer aud Builder. 
That publication claims that this cottage eau 
actually be built for $1,500. The plans show 
the dimensions aud all arrangements. 
HOMEWARD BOUND. 
T. T. LYON. 
Mr. Gibb's locality; excellently adapted for 
fruit culture; large orchards; a local ex¬ 
hibit; the Fameuse reproduced from seed; 
modifications of type; Siawassee; Mr. 
Gibb's commercial and experimental tree 
plantings. 
The location of Mr. Charles Gibb is upon a 
moderate slope which is yet considerably ele¬ 
vated above the geueral level of the country 
in all directions except southward. The lo¬ 
cality is thickly strewn with immense bould¬ 
ers, some of them well upon the surface, aud 
others nearly or quite embedded in the earth, 
and too numerous and large to be removed at 
any reasonable cost. These boulders, together 
with the gravelly soil in which they are im¬ 
bedded, are obviously the debris of au adja¬ 
cent mountain—probably the terminus iu this 
direction of the Vermont or New Hampshire 
raugc—said to be some 1,800 feet in bight, 
upon the top of which aud in full view from 
this place, is a tower, 30 feet in bight, from 
the top of which, as we are told, the Adiron¬ 
dack Mountains of Northeastern New York 
are visible on a clear day, while in the oppo¬ 
site direction may be seen the hills aud moun¬ 
tains of Maiue. 
Even upou this lower gentle slope, from a 
rustic tower on the grounds of Mr. Gibb, only 
high enough to afford a view above the or¬ 
chard trees, 1 understand that on a clear day 
some five or six villages are visible; but while 
there I found the atmosphere too smoky for a 
satisfactory observation. 
From the facts already stated, may be 
naturally aud correctly inferred that the 
soil is abundantly supplied with the requisite 
elements of tree growth, and also that the 
natural drainage is perfect. So successful 
has fruit culture, aud applo culture especially, 
proved, in this locality, that the entire vicin¬ 
ity seems to lie, to a very unusual extent, 
given up to this pursuit. So extensive and 
general is this interest, in this immediate re¬ 
gion, thut it has originated ami effectually 
maintains a horticultural society, which was 
to hold its autumn exhibition during the week 
of my visit; but, very greatly to my regret, 
the necessity to be at the Michigan State fair 
that week, rendered an attendance imprac¬ 
ticable. 
That the influence aud example of Mr. Gibb 
logic al. 
