1 889 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
665 
Jntntsfl SociclU's. 
CONNECTICUT STATE FAIR. 
(rural special report.) 
Very fine Orange exhibits; a good display 
of agricultural implements; a large cat¬ 
tle exhibit; on the whole it was the so¬ 
ciety's best fair. 
The 30th Annual Agricultural and Indus¬ 
trial exhibition of the Connecticut Agricul¬ 
tural Society was held in the Park and 
Town Hall in Meriden from the 17th to the 
30th of September. The exhibition was the 
best ever given by the society, and it merit¬ 
ed a much larger patronage, than it receiv¬ 
ed. As usual, the exhibition of the various 
Granges in the main building was one of the 
chief attractions. 
The following Granges made exhibits in 
the building and the adjoining tent: Meri¬ 
den, Cheshire, Mattabessett, (Middletown), 
Newington, Westfield, Berlin, North Hav¬ 
en, Middlefield, Wallingford, Percival and 
Northford. 
The exhibition of Meriden Grange, No. 
39, was made in the end of the implement 
tent. The feature of the display was a 
“ Train of Plenty.” It was a freight train 
with engine, cars and caboose complete. 
The cars, nine in number, were made of 
agricultural products. They were loaded 
with onions, beets, apples, watermelons, 
potatoes, etc. The locomotive was covered 
with seeds to give it the color of the original 
metal; the cab was made of corn-stalks and 
the tender was filled with ears of corn in imi¬ 
tation of fire-wood. The train was arranged 
on a semi-circular track 70 feet in length. 
In the center of this semi-circle were tables 
loaded with fruit and an arch of evergreens 
bearing the arms of the State designed of 
bunches of grapes and a column of flowers 
surmounted by a gray eagle. Altogether 
it was one of the most beautiful and strik¬ 
ing exhibitions of farm products I have evar 
seen. Wallingford Grange showed a life- 
size figure of a milkmaid carrying a pail 
and milking stool and a very life-like figure 
of a cow. The milkmaid was made of pump¬ 
kins and various kinds of fodder. The cow 
was covered with oats and had a big squash 
fora bell. These figures attracted more at¬ 
tention than any other single exhibit. 
North Haven Grange exhibited a wind¬ 
mill and clock made of flowers and seeds. 
Berlin Grange showed a model of a farm¬ 
house, barn and other outbuildings, with 
fields of grain, potatoes, etc. Westfield 
Grange had its table filled with 70 varieties 
of potatoes. Percival Grange showed a 
model of a plow about 10 feet long, made of 
fruits and vegetables. On the whole the 
Grange exhibits were highly creditable to 
the Granges of the State and were worth 
going many miles to see. 
The implement tent, adjoining the main 
building, was filled with a great variety of 
implements and carriages. Mr. Gale was 
on hand as usual and kept busy describing 
the various implements made by the Bel¬ 
cher & Taylor Company. Mr. W. A. Burr 
showed the Keystone implements and the 
E. W. Ross fodder cutters; also the Ideal 
feed mill and other kinds of farm machine¬ 
ry. The Shipman engine attracted much 
attention and favorable comment. The 
pomological exhibit in the hall in the upper 
part of the. main building was well filled 
with fruits and vegetables. Mr. T H. 
Loomis showed some very remarkable spec¬ 
imens of the Eaton Grape. Mr. P. M. Au¬ 
gur, T. S. Gold and other well known fruit 
growers were on hand. 
The cattle show was one of the best ever 
seen in New England. Between 500 and 000 
head were on exhibition. The sheep and 
swine exhibits were large and interesting. 
The poultry tent was well filled; over 150 
coops were shown. The industrial exhibi¬ 
tion in the Town Hall was liberally patron¬ 
ized. The lower part of the hall was filled 
with the products of the local manufac¬ 
turers, chiefly silverware and organs. The 
gallery was devoted to fancy-work, bed 
quilts, spreads, rugs and the like. The 
Pneumatic Symphony (self-playing) organs 
were the leading novelty in this depart¬ 
ment. These instruments would play a 
tune automatically, or the air could be 
played automatically, and an accompani¬ 
ment played on the keyboard ns on an or¬ 
dinary organ. As the result of good man¬ 
agement, the Connecticut State Fair grows 
better and better every year, but it needs 
the hearty support of the farmers of the 
State, and above all, it needs the hearty co¬ 
operation of the railroad company. The 
usual custom is for railroads to make the 
round trip to and from the fair grounds at 
the single fare rate. There is no good rea¬ 
son why the N. Y. N. H. & H. railroad 
should not do the same. J. H. G. 
fkUr Crops. 
RURAL POTATO REPORTS. 
I received my Rural New-Yorker Potato 
No. 3 about the middle of April. It was 
about the size of an English walnut and 
weighed just 1ounce. Now the question 
was to get the largest return from 
the small amount of seed for seed next 
year. I carefully cut each eye out and laid 
them on a dish; then I cut all of the larg¬ 
est eyes in halves, making, in all, 13 sets. 
Some of them were no larger than a grain 
of wheat. I now took a piece of old onion 
ground very rich from former manurings, 
dug a trench 14 feet long six inches deep and 
13 inches wide on the bottom according to 
the Rural New-Yorker’s trench system. 
In the bottom of the trench I placed two 
inches of well rotted stable manure and 
incorporated it well with the soil. 
On this I planted the sets and covered 
them two inches with soil. I then sowed 
over the surface of the trench at the rate of 
500 pounds to the acre of fish guano and 
worked it well in with a rake. When the 
young plants made their appearance the 
leaves were about the size of a radish in 
the seed leaf. They looked as if they would 
be a failure for the want of nourishment 
from the small sets. I kept the soil stirred 
around them and watered them every few 
days until they got a start. After that 
they took care of themselves as well as any 
potato I ever planted with two to four 
ounce sets. The season being dry, they 
were thoroughly soaked with water twice 
during the growing season. On August 37 
they were dug in the presence of three wit¬ 
nesses. The stalks were over 2}% feet tall 
and from one to 1V 4 inch in diameter. The 
yield was (57 pounds of good marketable po¬ 
tatoes. The largest hill from one set was 
eight pounds nine ounces. In this hill grew 
the two largest potatoes. The yield per 
acre, allowing the rows to have been three 
feet apart, the usual distance of planting, 
and the sets one foot apart in the rows, 
would have been 1,320 bushels to the acre! 
When we take into consideration the size 
of the sets and the amount of stock seed— 
1 \ ounce—I think it safe to say the yield has 
never been beaten in field culture. 
H. a. march. 
Skaggit County, Washington. 
R. N.-Y.— This correspondent wrote us 
last spring just after receiving his little po¬ 
tato, that he had always supposed “ the 
Rural had more sense than to send out 
such a little potato by mail.” 
Last spring I planted 10 pounds of Rural 
New-Yorker No. 2 Potatoes, cut to one eye, 
on 63 linear feet of land. No fertilizer of 
any kind was used and they were hoed but 
once. Last week I harvested from the plot 
five bushels and 59 pounds of the handsom¬ 
est tubers I ever saw. There were but 9 l + 
pounds too small for market, and I offer a 
prize of $100 to any man who can find a de¬ 
formed potato in the lot. One perfect tuber 
weighs 18 ounces. 1 showed one peck last 
week at t he Wisconsin State Fair and the 
Rural No. 2 took the first premium for 
“Best Late Potatoes” against nearly 50 ex¬ 
hibitors of other varieties. Why should 
not the Rural raise 700 bushels when mine 
yield at the rate of nearly 1,100 bushels per 
acre? p. B. H. 
Delavan, Wis. 
I PURCHASED last spring one pound of 
Rural No. 2 Potato and sprouted them in a 
hot-bed, setting the plants in a furrow on 
the edge of a field from which green rye 
had just been cut. They grew pretty well 
from the first; the bugs seemed to have no 
chance with them. They were dug about 
August 20, and carefully weighed. There 
were 182j.u pounds of them, about 12 pounds 
of which were unmarketable. The heaviest 
hill weighed four pounds 4.1.j ounces. They 
are showing signs of rot. Potatoes in this 
section have rotted badly. c. M. t. 
Stelton, N. J. 
I planted the R. N.-Y. No. 2 Potato 
about April 1. It was a diminutive, dried- 
up, wilted thing about the size of a hulled 
walnut and had a hole the size of a small 
peanut eaten in it by a grub worm. I cut 
it into nine pieces, one eye to the piece, and 
planted them in the garden in a trench, us¬ 
ing dissolved bone phosphate at the rate of 
200 pounds to the acre, as a fertilizer. The 
soil is a clay loam. The pieces were planted 
about 12 inches apart and only four of 
them grew. They had two hoeings and 
were dug August 10, and the four hills 
weighed nine pounds seven ounces, nearly 
all of a marketable size: one hill weighed 
two pounds 13 ounces, six potatoes being 
in the hill, the smallest one the size of a 
large hen’s egg. The largest potato 
weighed 13J^ounces. They are a fine lot of 
potatoes and I am well pleased with them 
and shall plant all of them next season. 
Charlestown, Ind. J. D. K. 
The No. 2 Potato received last spring was 
about the size of a hulled walnut and from 
it I cut five eyes and planted them across 
the end of a beet bed in my garden, giving 
them about the ordinary attention. Ow¬ 
ing to the cold spring they were very late 
in starting, but finally grew into fine, 
thrifty vines. About three weeks ago I 
dug them and got 64 tubers, weighing 11 
pounds. There were several small ones and 
some as fine as I ever saw. They are beau¬ 
tiful potatoes and in every way a success. 
Franklin, Ind. t. w. w. 
The Rural No. 2 Potato received was a 
little off shape. There were only four eyes. 
I planted them in good ground and dug 
them last week. I had 25 marketable po¬ 
tatoes; the largest one weighs 14)^ ounces 
and the next largest 12^ ounces. I experi¬ 
mented with three other kinds of potatoes 
alongside of the Rural No. 2 and they are 
called first-class. They yielded well, but 
were over half rotten when I dug them and 
what I put away sound after I had dug 
them have rotted badly, but Rural No. 2 
did not rot in the hill alongside of them 
and have not rotted since, and I am well 
pleased with them. I. s. P. 
Stuyvesant, N. Y. 
I CUT my Rural No. 2 Potatoes (I had 
two; a subscriber gave me his) into very 
small pieces. Most of the eyes were cut in 
two pieces, making 33 pieces in all. I 
planted them in a box and covered them 
about two inches deep, and placed them in 
a work-shop till they were up about three 
inches. I then dumped them out on the 
ground and picked out the sets. I planted 
them with a garden troweV in a single row, 
in good garden soil, which had received no 
manure for years. I hoed them a little. 
Two of the sets refused to grow, which left 
me 31 hills. From these I have 51 pounds 
of potatoes. The largest one weighs 14 
ounces, but is not smooth. The next 
largest 13 ounces, and the next 12 ounces. 
The last two are smooth. The largest 10 
weigh six pounds and 14 ounces. With the 
exception of four or five hills, the potatoes 
are very fine. I would not sell the lot 
for $5. s. J. E. 
Canton, Ill. 
My Rural No. 2 potato I planted about 
April 15 in a clay soil where a strawberry bed 
had been several years. No fertilizers were 
used. The potato was cut into nine pieces 
with one eye each, eight of which grew. The 
vines were very small all summer and did 
not seem to thrive very well, but I dug 
them September 6 and found 40 nice, 
smooth potatoes, which weighed 13 pounds; 
31 were of good marketable size, nine being 
smaller than a lien's egg and weighing half 
a pound. 
Potatoes are a good crop here, and are 
worth only 25 cents per bushel now. Late 
ones are not yielding quite as well as ex¬ 
pected. Have not heard of their rotting 
any yet. d. w. 
Wolcott ville. Ind. 
I planted the Rural New-Yorker No. 2 
about April 15th. It was not as big as an 
ordinary sized hen's egg, and only had six 
eyes. I cut it into six pieces and planted 
them 10 inches apart in a drill three 
inches deep. I did not use any fer¬ 
tilizer; but the ground was watered three 
times with liquid manure. They were dug 
the first week in September and yielded 12 
pounds. There were 25 potatoes; two were 
about the size of marbles and the rest were 
of good size, the largest weighing one 
pound; while three or four would go about 
three-quarters of a pound. The largest po¬ 
tato is a little coarse, but is not knobby. 
Taking the size of the sets into considera¬ 
tion, it is the heaviest yield I ever saw. 
W. MC A. 
Port Hammond, British Columbia. 
The Rural New-Yorker No. 3 sent me 
hist fall weighed just ounce. On May 
7, I cut ) itiuto scycu parts, planting them— 
one eye to a piece—in a trench and covering 
them four inches deep, each eye abi lit 12 
inches apart. The condition of the land 
was no more than an average of the whole 
field, which was fairly good. I used two 
pounds of Bradley’s fertilizer and two 
ounces of sulphur and no other dressing for 
this potato. I harvested the tubers Septem¬ 
ber 7, and got 47 potatoes, all weighing 10>£ 
pounds, or 168 ounces. The largest weighed 
13 ounces; 40 of them were of good size 
suitable for table use; seven others were 
smaller; all were white and clean. There 
was no rot or scab. I have tried some of 
them boiled and baked and find them fully 
equal to the Snowflake or Early Mayflower 
the two finest varieties ever raised in New 
Hampshire. s. S. L. 
Meredith, N. H. 
The potato I received last spring was 
about the size of a very small hen’s egg. I 
cut it into 12 pieces, one eye to a piece, and 
planted them in new prairie soil about one 
foot apart. All the working they got was 
a little forking of earth to them with a 
manure fork twice. I dug them September 
11 and got for my labor 48 tubers free from 
rot, weighing 10 pounds; six were small, 42 
of fair size, the largest weighing one pound. 
Thanks for the potato. g. k. 
Bradshaw, Neb. 
Woman's Work. 
CONDUCTED BT EMILT LOUISE TAPLIN. 
CHAT BY THE WAY. 
S YDNEY SMITH says: “Never teach 
false morality. How exquisitely ab 
surd to teach a girl that beauty is of no 
value, dress of no use! Beauty is of value, 
her whole prospects and happiness in life 
may depend upon a new gown or a becom¬ 
ing bonnet; if she has five grains of com¬ 
mon sense she will find this out. The 
great thing is to teach her their prop¬ 
er value, and that there must be some¬ 
thing better under her bonnet than 
a pretty face, for real happiness in 
life.” The wise prebend spoke with his 
usual common sense when he made this 
declaration. There is no doubt that we 
women are always first judged by our looks, 
and we strongly influence others by these 
external qualities. But not only mere 
prettiness must be taken into account. 
Good temper, good sense, and social tact, 
combined with a talent for tasteful clothes, 
will cause a plain girl to outshine a pretty 
one, if the latter possesses no striking qual¬ 
ities beyond her prettiness. Very often the 
most attractive girls we know possess little 
actual prettiness, but somehow they give 
the impression of beauty. Personal beauty 
is God given, and we must recognize its 
powerful influence, while remembering the 
less evanescent graces that should accom¬ 
pany it. 
* * 
* 
Talking of prettiness, we recently read 
an interview with a so-called beauty doctor, 
a woman whose, business it is to preserve 
or improve the good looks of her patrons. 
Judging from her words, we all ought to 
be good looking; of course, she does not' 
promise to make irregular features straight, 
or alter radical defects, but she gives many 
suggestions for improvement. Her three 
essentials are fresh air, exercise, and abun¬ 
dant soap and water. Many women do not 
believe in the use of soap upon the face, 1 
but eminent medical authorities say that, 
skin disorders are often caused by impuri¬ 
ties which the use of soap would prevent. 
Once a day the face should be washed wit h 
abundance of good soap. It is a good plan 
to wash the face first with warm water— 
then rinse with cold; this hardens the skin, 
and lessens the risk of roughening on ex¬ 
posure to cold. This “beauty doctor” 
speaks iu terms of reprobation of those 
women who boast that water is never used 
to cleanse their faces, and rightly too. Sur¬ 
face dirt may be removed by such unguents 
as glycerine, vaseline, or the like, but we 
certainly cannot consider such people clean. 
* * 
* 
We have often spoken of cleanly women 
whose cleanliness does not extend to their 
hair, aud this is a very frequent fault. Un¬ 
questionably, the hair should be properly 
washed every 10 days or two weeks at the 
farthest, although it is a tedious and troub¬ 
lesome process. When allowed to go with¬ 
out washing for any length of time it is not 
only unclean: it loses its natural gloss, 
which can never be replaced by the greasy 
