THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
the following varieties—all seedlings of the 
R. N.-Y. : 
No. 2..S3 pieces—one trench. 
No. 3.66 “ —two trenches. 
No. 4.66 “ — “ “ 
making, in all, 165 pieces, which, being placed 
one by three feet apart, made just one-eighty- 
eighth of an acre. 
NOTES OF PROGRESS. 
May 15.—Up to this time the rainfall had 
been all that was needed. No. 3 was the first 
to appear above ground; No. 4 next, and No. 
2 last. Frost occurred the 17th, and cold, con¬ 
stant rains followed up to May 30. The soil 
was drenched. Lima beans and melon seeds 
rotted in the soil. There was a perfect stand 
of potatoes in the “ Contest” plot. Our note- 
bookof Junelstsays: “(Sifted Paris-green and 
plaster—one pound of t he poison to 200 pounds 
of the plaster. Soil compacted from incessant 
rains; frost this morning.” June 3: “Pleasant 
weather. The plot cannot be cultivated be¬ 
tween the plants because the tops met and 
covered the soil before weeds appeared. Very 
cool.” 
JuneS.—“No. 2 was the last to push its 
shoots above the soil, and the plants were for 
some time smaller than those of the 3 and 4. 
At this time they have outgrown No. 3. All 
are growing thriftily.” 
THE FIRST INTIMATION OF SOMETHING WRONG. 
June 17.—“ The vines are now meeting, so 
that further cultivation is impossible without 
injury to them. No. 3 vines are less thrifty 
than those of 2 or 4, and show signs of some 
weakness.” 
June 25.—“ The No. 3 vines seem to be dying 
from some cause which we cannot even guess 
at. One says ‘ it is a mole that has gone 
through the trenches; ’ another says ‘ it is a 
scald, owing to the terrible heat which follows 
upon a long term of cold, wet weather.’ An¬ 
other says ‘it is the sulphur. You have given 
them too much.’ The stems are weakly, the 
leaves yellowish. Some of the stems are turn¬ 
ing black, and withering within an inch of the 
soil.” 
July 3.—“Gave another application of Paris- 
green and plaster.” 
After the above date, all hope was lost of 
winning the contest. It was evident that No. 
3 would be nearly a failure. The cause was 
discovered to be the 
FLEA-BEETLE, 
known entoraologically as Haltica cucumeris. 
The first suggestion came from our foreman, 
who said his own potato tops were dying, and 
that they were alive with fleas that were eat¬ 
ing the leaves. “ There are so many,” said 
he, “that you can hear the noise they make 
when disturbed as I pass along the rows 1 
The writer had noticed while sifting plaster 
and Paris-green that these insects existed in un¬ 
usual numbers, but it did not occur to him that 
they were the cause of the mischief. An ex¬ 
amination of neighboring fields was made, and 
all were found to be injured more or less. 
Later, as the Rural published the facts, ac¬ 
counts from many parts of the country were 
received showing that the pest was not confin¬ 
ed to any limited section. Many who previ¬ 
ously attributed the destruction of their pota¬ 
to vines to “blight,” found that the Flea- 
beetle was really the culprit. 
Soon after the No. 3 was hurt beyond recov¬ 
ery the No. 4 was attacked, and finally the No. 
2. We sprayed the vines with Buhach-water, 
hellebore, Gishurst Compound and Paris- 
green, but without the slightest helpful effect. 
PREVIOUS TREATMENT OF THE CONTEST PLOT. 
Potatoes have been raised on the piece of 
ground of which the “ Contest ” plot was a 
part, for 12 consecutive years. It has never 
received much manure. The applications of 
fertilizers each year have averaged, no doubt, 
at the rate of 1,200 pounds to the acre—for the 
most part “ Mapes’s Potato,” with which, as 
with other brands, the Rural, as our readers 
well know, has been carrying on experiments 
of various kinds during the entire period, upon 
considerable areas as well as upon small plots. 
Besides the potato fertilizer, the plot has 
received, at various times, small dressings of 
lime, wood ashes (leached and unleached), 
kainit and raw-bone flour. 
HOW THE “ CONTEST ” CAME ABOUT. 
The editor of the R. N.-Y. last winter made 
the statement that if he could not raise at the 
rate of over 700 bushels of potatoes to the acre 
on a given plot in his experiment grounds by 
what is known as the Rural Trench System 
of cultivation, let the season be favorable or 
unfavorable , he would forfeit $50, if any one 
would pay the same amount in case of his 
success—the money in either event to be donat¬ 
ed to some charitable purpose. The challenge 
was accepted by Mr. Wilmer Atkinson, the 
editor of the Farm Journal. 
THE RESULT. 
Friday,the 28th of September,every member 
of the committee appointed to determine the 
destroyed by the Flea-beetle. The yield was 
only at the rate of 276 bushels to the acre. As 
this potato occupied two-fifths of the entire plot 
the yield was thus reduced to below 700 bushels 
to the acre. Here is the 
REPORT OF THE JUDGES: 
“ We, the undersigned Committee, having 
been appointed for the purpose of calculating 
the j'ield of potatoes grown upon the ‘ Con¬ 
test Plot’ of the Rural New-Yorker, at 
River Edge, Bergen Co., N. J., do hereby cer¬ 
tify that we saw the potatoes dug and mea¬ 
sured the yield thereof. We found it to be at 
the rate of 583 bushels per acre.” 
f PETER COLLIER, 
| W. A. STILES, 
Signed. -J J. C. HAVILAND, 
J L. C BENEDICT, 
l P. T. QUINN, 
Committee. 
Subscribed and sworn to this 28tli of Septem¬ 
ber, 1888, before me, 
JOHN G. WEBB, 
Justice of the Peace. 
yield was present, together with some 40 
others from various parts of the country. 
The ground was carefully measured and found 
to be one-elghty-eighth of an acre. The No. 4 
yielded at the rate of 644 bushels per acre. The 
No. 2 yielded at the astounding rate of 1,076 
bushels to the acre. The No. 3 was a compara¬ 
tive failure, owing to the vines having been 
ANOTHER CHALLENGE. 
According to all previous yields, the No. 4 
seedling will yield more than the No. 3; the 
the No. 3 will yield more than the No. 2. The 
R. N.-Y. is therefore by no means satisfied to 
accept this defeat as final. We shall again 
next year, should life ana health be spared, 
attempt to raise at the rate of over 700 
bushels to the acre—this time upon one- 
fortieth of an acre or more, instead of upon 
one-eighty-eigbth, let the season and condi¬ 
tions be what they may. 
We agree to pay, in case of failure, from $50 
to $100 to any charity, if any other person 
will pay the like amount in case of our suc¬ 
cess. We shall not confine ourselves to the 
Rural seedlings,but,besides them,plant other 
varieties so that all may have an equal 
chance. The above offer is unconditional. 
If more than one individual should accept it, 
so much the better for the charity. 
If, e. g., 20 should accept it and the R. N.- 
Y. should be victorious, then there would be 
a fund of $2,000 for charitable purposes. 
THE FIFTY DOLLARS. 
“Eds. R. N.-Y.: Oct. 5. 1888. 
“I am in receipt of yours of yesterday in¬ 
closing check for $50., being the amount for¬ 
feited by you in the potato contest. I have 
sent the check by mail to the Martha Scho¬ 
field School at Aiken, S. C. 
WILMER ATKINSON. 
IS THE R. N.-Y’s TRENCH METHOD PRACTICABLE 
ON EXTENDED AREAS? 
If by usual methods a farmer can raise 200 
bushels of potatoes on an acre, how much ad¬ 
ditional time and expense can he afford to 
raise 500 bushels? 
The principle of the trench method is very 
easily applied to the field, let it be small or 
large. We use a common shovel plow to form 
the trenches, which will give tne depth and 
width required. The soil may be returned to 
the trench either by a drag or by running the 
same plow between the trenches. The appli¬ 
cation of fertilizers and cultivation thereafter 
are as simple as those employed in ordinary 
practice. 
Depth of planting , a mellow soil, ample 
plant food and level cultivation are the re¬ 
quisites essential to success. 
SUPPOSED ADVANTAGES OF THE R. N.-Y. 
TRENCH METHOD. 
The enemies to large yields of potatoes are, 
first, a deficient supply of suitable soluble 
food; second, drought; third, a compact me¬ 
dium in which to develon. Solubility of food 
can be secured only by moisture. The potato 
plant before the tubers begin to form needs 
no more moisture than most plants with suc¬ 
culent stems and leaves. The tubers are 80 
per cent, water and they develop and mature 
in a comparatively short period. When they 
are developing, a full supply of moisture must 
be supplied or the potatoes are checked. Suc¬ 
ceeding favorable weather can then induce 
only a second growth which, though it may 
add to the bulk of the crop, can not increase 
its value. 
Trenches, if of ample size, supply a mellow, 
congenial medium for the potato’s growth^ 
The roots freely extend whithersoever they 
will. In this unresisting soil the tubers form, 
grow and mature. The roots readily find their 
food, while the mellow, deep soil conserves 
moisture. It is well known that surface culti¬ 
vation in times of drought tends to hold the 
moisture underneath. The soil of the trenches 
—if properly made—acts, throughout , upon 
the same principle as the surface cultivation. 
The tubers and roots have nothing to overcome 
except the comparatively gentle resistance of 
a yielding soil. The moisture is conserved by 
porosity. The gentlest rains or even dews 
readily penetrate and permeate the loose soil; 
while evaporation is retarded by the foliage 
which soon covers the entire trench. Only 
shallow, level cultivation is given. By the 
old method, the plow or cultivator is run both 
ways, throwing furrows towards the plants. 
The fibrous roots are severed while the plants 
are, in a measure, deprived of the means of 
gathering moisture, the severed roots being 
exposed to the direct action of air and sun, and 
the heaped-up soil acting as a shed which 
carries the rain from where it is most need¬ 
ed to where it is least needed. 
Finally. When potatoes are planted but 
two or three inches deep in furrows,the grow * 
ing tubers are necessarily crowded in a very 
limited space. When planted six inches deep 
—provided always that the soil above is mel¬ 
low—tuber-bearing stems issue, as it were, 
from several different planes or stories. 
There are several tiers of tubers fairly sep¬ 
arated from one another, instead of being, as 
in the old way, crowded all together. The 
tubers formed in trenches are of better shape 
than those in hills and it is rarely the case 
that they grow out of the soil, thus becoming 
sun-burnt and worthless. 
THE RURAL TRENCH METHOD. 
LETTERS FROM SUBSCRIBERS. 
“ It is effective in droughts ' 1 '; “It is all that 
is claimed for it"; Premium tubers ; Iowa 
does well; letters from several different 
States. 
FROM OSWEGO, N. Y. 
Henderson’s Early Puritan by the R. N.- 
Fig. 369.—See “ Ruralisms.” 
Y. Trench System produced 165 pounds, or 
as I figured, 297 bushels per acre. The trench 
was eight inches deep: manure half a bushel 
each of well-rotted home and hen manure, and 
five pounds of Mapes’s Potato Manure. Along¬ 
side of the above were planted fourjqu arts of 
