64o 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
SEPT 28 
FROM V. A. SHANKLAND. 
This county (Berrien,) pours into South 
Water Street, Chicago, a continuous stream 
of fruit, vegetables, etc., from the opening 
to the closing of navigation. In all the 
region about Benton Harbor and St. Joseph 
farm husbandry is “mixed.” Grain, hay, 
stock, large and small fruits, garden truck 
etc., can be found, in almost endless variety, 
on nearly every large farm. For my own 
part I have 130 acres under this mixture: 
but make a specialty of seed wheat, pota¬ 
toes and grade Jersey cows; and I would 
feel mortified should any neighbor—even a 
“Rural” reader (or editor)—beat me badly 
on either of these specialties. This year I 
can report a potato field of 3)4 acres, that 
will yield about 300 bushels of marketable 
potatoes to the acre. It was cultivated, 
but not hoed, and has not been manured 
for 10 years except that one-fourth of an 
acre of the present crop received one quart 
of mixed ashes and hen manure on each hill 
before the potatoes were up—an experiment 
that promises a good lesson. Success was 
mainly due to marking out. 
My barnyard manure is permitted to rot, 
and is applied mostly about the fruit ti’ees, 
and strawberry beds, and also to help the 
wheat, potatoes, tomatoes, etc. I spread it 
upon the surface after plowing and work it 
in with a spring-tooth harrow or a cultiva¬ 
tor. I stick closely to a three-year rotation, 
as follows: 1. Grain—wheat, oats, buck¬ 
wheat, seeded every time with Mammoth 
Clover and Timothy. 2. Hay—one cutting. 
All aftergrowth is plowed under in the fall. 
3. Hoed crops—com, potatoes, beans, toma¬ 
toes, etc., and then I go back to grain and 
clover. Under this system, in seven years 
my land has come up from a renting value 
of one dollar per acre to a renting value of 
seven dollars per acre. It is but fair to say 
that the Rural has been a great help to 
me, not only in regard to my specialties, 
but in the whole field of my farm life and 
work. 
Berrien County, Michigan. 
FROM M. MORSE. 
I have no regular crop rotation nor do I 
think I can have one without often deviat¬ 
ing from it. Most of my crops are grown 
for the canning factories and I keep a large 
pox-tion (nearly half) of my arable land 
under cultivation. I have been on my farm 
only nine yeai’s, and when I took it the to¬ 
tal product was only five to six tons of poor 
hay. I had to depend wholly on commer¬ 
cial fertilizers at first, and even now more 
than half my crops are grown with them. 
I have used from $400 to $700 worth of thenx 
each year since 1 have been on the farm. I 
generally dress the land when I seed to 
grass, with stable manure, believing it may 
have a xnoi-e lasting quality than fertilizei-s 
and the weed seeds in it will trouble me less. 
Much of my grass land has been seeded 
with fertilizer, about half a ton per aci-e, 
and annually dx-essed afterwards with 400 
to 500 pounds per acre. The result has been 
as good as where stable manure has been 
used. When I have more manure than I need 
to seed down with, I spread it upon land in¬ 
tended for corn, but I do not use manure 
on potato land. I think the quality of po¬ 
tatoes grown upon green manure is not as 
good as when they are grown with fertilizer 
—I only think; I do not know. My first 
crop after grass is corn, and as corn occu¬ 
pies more than half the cultivated land, it 
is corn after corn, sometimes for two or 
thx-ee yeax-s. I grow no small grain, except 
winter rye, which I sometimes sow after the 
corn is harvested, and usually cut for green 
fodder or hay the next season and plant 
again to corn or some other crop, as cab¬ 
bage or tomatoes or squash; in fact, what¬ 
ever cx op the land and market promise to 
give the best returns for. I am not very 
systematic, and my practice would not be 
good for many to follow. I am, and have 
been, for several years, giving considerable 
attention to fruit culture, as it suits my 
taste best. 
Medway, Mass. 
FROM J. TALCOTT. 
I put my stable manure on sod ground in 
fall and winter for corn and potatoes, 
spreading as put on. We plow-it under for 
corn and potatoes just before planting. 
Why? Because we think it the best way. 
The com or potato crop gets the most bene¬ 
fit from it, when it is most needed, when 
the corn is filling out its ears and when the 
potatoes are setting their tubers. We plow 
a little deeper for the oat crop, thus getting 
the manure and inverted sod finely nxixed 
for the crop and for seeding, because seed- 
iixg with oats is generally practiced here. 
Sometimes the oat stxibble is plowed under 
for winter wheat, and in that case a little 
fine manure is usually spread on the sux-- 
face and dragged in for the benefit of the 
wheat cx’op, and also for grass seeding. I 
have known a fine crop of wheat grown on 
oat stubble where the manure was plowed 
in; in fact, the best crop of the season in 
this vicinity one year was grown in this way. 
Rome, N. Y. 
FROM A. B. SAUNDERS. 
I use no crop rotation whatever. My 
main and sole object the year around is to 
gain and maintain a grass crop for grazing. 
If any crop is raised it is preparatory to 
seeding to grass, and it is not considered 
the highest object to which I am trying to 
attain. The main part of the stable manure 
is spi-ead upon the young grass crop. This 
process is improving my upland, and as 
most stock is in good demand it is giving 
fair returns to the land in the form of ma¬ 
nure as well as to the purse. 
Guysville, Ohio. 
FROM W. M. BENNINGER. 
I have no regular rotation on my farm. I 
turn the poorer grass fields and put in corn, 
and potatoes, manuring heavily with good 
stable manure. I get the best results fi-om 
good stable manure. I raise very little win¬ 
ter grain and oats. Such crops don’t pay 
manure left has been plenty for the oat 
crop following. I have had a good xnany 
scabby potatoes, however, every year, and 
charge the mishap to the manure, so I shall 
change the programme a little, using my 
stable manure hereafter as a top-dx’essing 
for grass; then I' shall mow one year, 
and then plant to potatoes. 
Ei-ie County, N. Y. 
FROM CllAS. CHAPMAN. 
Believing that the rotation of crops on 
any farm shoxxld have for its object an in¬ 
crease of income each succeeding year for 
the farmer as well as the improvement of 
the soil and be also influenced by the nat¬ 
ure of the soil and the climatic conditions 
peculiar to the section, I have practiced 
the following plan for years, and as yet have 
no reason for abandoning it: 
All the barn-yard manure possible is 
drawn during the winter on a clover sod 
from one to three years old. It is drawn 
and spi-ead during the winter because ex¬ 
perience has pi-oved that we get better re¬ 
sults from treating it iix this way, and the 
cost of drawing it is less during the winter. 
The field is plowed and planted to corn in 
the spring. The following spring it is sown 
to barley and in the fall to rye or wheat. If 
rye is sown, four quarts of Timothy seed 
are sown in the fall per acre, and in the 
spring four quarts of Red Clover and one 
quart of Alsike. 
With wheat no grass seed is sown until 
spi’ing. All stable mamxre left in the sta¬ 
bles and what has accumxxlated during the 
summer is xxsed as a top-dressing on the 
wheat and rye in the fall. These fields are 
xxiown for one or two years and pastured 
one year, when the rotation is repeated. 
This year it was necessary to mow the 
fields on which rye and wheat were grown. 
All straw and hay are fed on the farm ex¬ 
cepting rye straw. The only change of late 
years has been the addition of more bran to 
the stock feed. The result of this system 
of rotation has been an increase iix the 
amount of stock kept (mostly sheep), thus 
returning to the soil all the plant food 
taken from it and making an increase in 
the yield of the crops per aci-e. I have never 
i-aised potatoes largely, but from frequent 
trials I have found more decayed and scab¬ 
by potatoes where stable manure was used. 
Schuyler Coxinty, N. Y. 
fit III €r.0p0. 
II 
DOES MANURE INDUCE ROT? 
Fig. 242. See page 641. 
here. All I sell from my farm is milk, 
cream, butter, potatoes (mostly for seed) 
fruit, gax-den vegetables and stock. I have 
made it a rule not to sow or plant any crop 
unless I can manure it well with good stable 
manure, and I use stable manure on all 
crops. I make and treat my manure as fol¬ 
lows: to bed my cows and all horned cattle, 
11 uy dry sawdust at 15 cents a load from 
the school-slate-frame factoi-ies. The gutters 
in my stable are vei-y tight so that the dry 
sawdust aborbs and retains all the liquid 
manure. This manure I put oix the land 
as often during the season as I can. After- 
wards the land is plowed and harrowed 
with a spring-tooth harrow and smoothed 
with a Thomas smoothing harrow. For 
potatoes I manure the land well in the fall 
on top and turn it under, and manure again 
in the spring on the top with the above de¬ 
scribed cow manure. I used some lime and 
wood ashes in the trenches when I planted 
my potatoes this spring, and on some I used 
commercial fertilizers. I can see no differ¬ 
ence. The tubei’s are all about half rotten; 
otherwise the crop would be very heavy. 
In a favoi’able season I raise about 300 bush¬ 
els to the acre. 
Walnutport, Pa. 
FROM F. W. BALL. 
After potatoes I seed down with oats, 
then mow or pasture from one to three 
years. There is going to be a change. The 
rotation has been corn first; then potatoes, 
followed by wheat or oats—mostly wheat. 
I used stable manure on the potato crop. 
As it is our main money crop I wished to 
get as large a yield as possible and the 
VIEWS OF FARMERS. 
“ Some of our correspondents claim that 
in a season like the one fust jxast, sta hie 
manure will induce rot in potatoes. That 
is, on soils at all incl ined to he damp, the 
rot will he worst where there is most stable 
manure. Have you noticed this?” 
FROM C. M. LUSK. 
I have noticed the same thing. Several 
years ago potatoes rotted very badly here, 
and most of my potato ground ha been 
manured with coarse horse manure lowed 
under and the rot was worse there than 
where I did not manure. Still I ob¬ 
tained more sound potatoes per acre there 
than where there was no manure. My land 
is a sandy loam. 
Broome County, N. Y. 
FROM E. G. WALLIS. 
My experience has been that potatoes 
have rotted worst where most manure was 
plowed under; and that the white potato 
rotted worse than the Blush, but the past 
season I think the white potato stands ahead. 
The Blush are very small. 
Onondaga County, N. Y. 
FROM J. H. TIBBETT. 
I do not consider manure the direct cause 
of the potato rot; but I think it presents 
the conditions most favorable for its devel¬ 
opment. In this section we do not consider 
it safe to manure potato ground in a wet 
season like the past. From my observation 
I think the disease attacks the vines first 
and is carried through them to the tubers. 
Saratoga County, N. Y. 
FROM J. H. LAMPMAN. 
I find a few more rotten potatoes where 
I put stable manure than where none was 
xised; but it is clay ground and the variety 
is the Rural Blush; so I think the Blush 
would be more apt to rot than my Beauty 
of Hebron which are on sand. I will con¬ 
tinue to use good old stable manure if I 
have it, well woi-ked into the ground before 
planting, and then some special Potato Fer¬ 
tilizer in the hill or drill. My Rural Blush 
are a good crop with such treatment, al¬ 
though many rotted. 
Greene County, N. Y. 
FROM HENRY IVES. 
A liberal application of manure before 
planting, has seemed to cause rot in years 
when the malady prevailed. But this may 
be only a secondary cause, for the rankest 
growth and yield, induced by such manur 
ing, are sure to be the worst affected. 
This is moi-e noticeable too when the ma¬ 
nure is freshly applied, and before its 
strength is distributed equally through 
the soil. To remedy this, I find it is 
safer either to apply it to the corn crop of 
the year before, or at least to put it on the 
ground the fall before, so that its strength 
may get well incorpoi-ated with the soil. 
Genesee County, N. Y. 
FROM J. W. WICKHAM. 
I have always used fertilizers with stable 
manure for potatoes; so I could not say if 
stable manure alone used heavily would 
cause rot. My experience is that the more 
heavily potatoes are manured, the more 
liable they are to rot. I believe that the 
rot in my potatoes this season came from 
the destruction of the vines by the Flea- 
beetle more than from the manure used. 
Suffolk County, N. Y. 
FROM BENJAMIN WEED. 
I put about 20 loads of barn-yard manure 
to the acre on my potato ground this year. 
The tops died when the tubex-s were about 
half grown. I have discovered very little 
rot so far and the manure has not had any f 
tendency to cause them to rot. 
Wayne County, N. Y. ^ 
FROM C. H. EVERETT. V. 
I do not think the Rural’s corx-espondent 
has got to the bottom of the matter when 
he says that stable manure will induce rot 
in potatoes on soil inclined to be wet. Some 
think, because their potatoes have rotted 
the worst where the manure was, that the 
manure was the cause of the rdt. When¬ 
ever there is an unnaturally rapid growth 
of vine or tuber, whether it be due to the 
application of manure or to the condition 
of the soil or a favoi’able climate, rot is 
very likely to occur. In such a case some¬ 
thing seems to be lacking in the potato. 
Some claim that the starch does not fox-xn 
as fast as the potato grows. I am much in¬ 
clined to agree with them that the trouble 
is due to something of this sort. Give me 
the manure and I will take the chances of 
rot. 
Steuben County, N. Y. 
FROM E. G. BRICK. 
I have never noticed that stable manure 
Fig. 243. See page 641. 
induced rot in white potatoes, and so can¬ 
not say anything positively. 
Salem County, New Jersey. 
FROM ELIAS I’. JOHNSON. 
On inquiry I do not find any potatoes 
planted directly on stable manure as was 
formerly done, the scab having put an en¬ 
tire stop to the practice. The worst rotted 
field about here was fitted for tobacco. A 
