VOL. XL VIII. NO. 2081_ NEW YORK, DECEMBER 14, i889. 
PRICE, FIVE CENTS. 
$ 2.00 PER YEAR. 
Entered According to Act of Congress in the Year 1889 , by the Rural New-Yorker, in the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, D. C.j 
Cro])0. 
THE SUCCESS OF A FAILURE. 
ThcR. N.-Y. Vries to produce a large crop 
of potatoes on a measured acre; the un¬ 
favorable season cuts off the crop, but 
does not prevent a profit; neighboring 
farmers fail; restoring waste land by 
the use of chemical fertilizers ; the be¬ 
ginning of an interesting experiment. 
T HE failure refers to the season just clos¬ 
ing, which is regarded by the farmers 
of Bergen County, New Jersey, as the most 
unfavorable for the potato crop that they 
have ever known. It is doubtful if one 
farmer in 10 made any profit on the crop 
after paying for seed and fertilizer and al¬ 
lowing a fair sum for his own labor, and 
interest on the price of the land. It is safe 
to say that the majority of farmers barely 
paid for fertilizer and seed. Under these 
circumstances the R. N.-Y. takes peculiar 
pleasure in recording an experiment with a 
potato crop which at least paid a profit be¬ 
sides affording the chance for a most inter¬ 
esting study. In this year of general fail¬ 
ure, it may perhaps be considered worthy 
of the title we have selected for this narra¬ 
tive. 
The two seasons before this one were both 
wet, and farmers confidently expected a 
dry summer this year. Many potatoes were 
therefore planted on naturally moist soil. 
This had much to do with the general fail¬ 
ure of the crop. 
The R. N.-Y. was particularly anxious to 
produce a large crop this year, and at the 
same time it was interested in testing the 
claims made by some farmers that by 
means of very heavy dressings of chemical 
fertilizers, waste lands can be restored to 
fertility and be made to yield a profit dur¬ 
ing the period of restoration. By this 
period we mean the time that must elapse 
before a strong sod of clover and grass can 
be grown and plowed under. Old farmers 
frequently say that they can bring any soil 
into a productive condition if they can have 
manure enough to stait a strong clover 
sod. A later school of farmers claim to be 
able to take any well-located land, no mat¬ 
ter how poor or “ exhausted ” it may be, 
and bring it to the highest state of cultiva¬ 
tion, making it pay a profit from the very 
start. The process by means of which this 
is to be done was described in the R. N.-Y’s. 
account of the farms at Cranbury, N. J. 
In brief, it means a five-course rotation as 
follows: potatoes, grain, grass two years, 
corn. At least a ton per acre of a com¬ 
plete potato fertilizer is used the first year. 
In an average season this heavy dressing 
gives a profitable crop while it leaves suffi¬ 
cient fertility in the soil to mature a good 
crop of grain and produce a strong sod of 
clover and Timothy. A good dressing of 
stable manure is to be given the sod before 
plowing for the corn. The R. N.-Y. started 
to test this system, slightly modified, on a 
measured acre. 
The land is located at the top of a low, 
rather steep hill which faces the east. 
Like most of the farms about it, the R. 
N.-Y.’s New Jersey farm is long and nar¬ 
row—a single field wide and nearly half a 
mile long. The acre selected for this experi¬ 
ment is in the field farthest away from the 
house. So far as the R. N.-Y. knows, the 
acre has received nothing in the w T ay of 
manure or fertilizer since it was broken up 
about six years ago. When the R. N.-Y". 
bought this farm, early in 1888, a thin, light 
crop of rye was growing on the acre. This 
crop yielded considerably less than a ton of 
poor straw. We considered the soil very 
typical of the hundreds of acres of “ worn- 
out ” and practically abandoned laud in the 
immediate vicinity. If the Cranbury sys¬ 
tem of farming will profitably restore this 
soil, such restoration is possible to 99 per 
cent, of the “abandoned farms” of New 
Jersey. 
THE SEASON’S WORK. 
The acre was plowed April 17 and plant¬ 
ing was begun the next day. The R. N.-Y. 
has always advocated three strong points 
in potato culture: 
1. Thorough preparation of the soil. 
2. The trench system of planting, involv¬ 
ing a heavy dressing of chemical fertilizers 
placed so as to be available all through the 
season. 
3. A heavy “seeding” of varieties known 
to be vigorous and heavy yielders from a 
more northern latitude if possible. 
Owing to various causes, it was impos¬ 
sible to carry out the first part of the pro¬ 
gramme as carefully as was wished. The 
soil was simply plowed once, worked over 
with a Clark’s Cutaway harrow and 
smoothed with a wooden-toothed harrow. 
The next field we treat will be plowed in 
the fall, cross-plowed in the spring, worked 
for a long time with the Cutaway, and 
then with the Acme. In plowing and 
harrowing, the Sherwood Steel Harness 
was used. We regard this as one of the 
best labor-saving devices on the farm. 
After plowing, trenches were made three 
feet apart, by means of a trench or shovel 
plow made by the Syracuse Plow Company. 
Large pieces of potato, each one containing 
at least two strong eyes, were dropped in 
the trenches as nearly one foot apart as 
possible, the dropper kicking a small 
quantity of earth over each piece as he 
passed. A dressing at the rate of 1,600 
pounds per acre of Mapes Potato Manure 
was then scattered through the trenches. 
This fertilizer was not placed directly in 
the bottom of the trench, but was scattered 
all through it so as to fairly surround the 
seeO-pieces. The trenches were about half 
filled above the seed-pieces by hauling an 
old harrow lengthwise of the rows. As the 
plants appeared, the cultivator (a Higga- 
num Horse-hoe) was started through the 
rows. At each working this threw a 
little earth around the plants and helped 
to fill the trenches until, late in May. the 
surface of the field was perfectly level. 
Subsequent experience with Breed’s Uni¬ 
versal Weeder satisfies us as to the value of 
this implement, and with next year’s pota¬ 
to crop we shall start the weeder a week 
after the potatoes are planted and keep it 
going at intervals of a few days until the 
plants are four inches high. 
The crop was hoed twice and cultivated 
five times. At the last cultivation 1,000 
pounds more of the fertilizer were scattered 
broadcast, on the surface, between the 
rows, and worked in with the cultivator. 
The plants at the time were so strong and 
large that it was difficult for the horse to 
get through the rows. 
Eight barrels of seed potatoes were used, 
as follows; seven barrels of Brownell’s 
Winner, one of the most promising seed¬ 
lings, ever tried at the Rural Grounds ; not 
quite a barrel of State of Maine and a peck 
of Early Puritan. The latter were plant¬ 
ed on Decoration Day to fill in a few 
“ misses.” This potato did not have a fair 
showing, as the “blight” attacked the 
vines long before the potatoes were half- 
grown. 
THE SEASON AND THE CROP. 
As was previously stated, a dry season 
was expected, but instead of this the wet¬ 
test summer ever known was experienced. 
A succession of heavy rains, followed by 
hot, damp, “muggy,” weather, gave just 
the conditions considered most favorable 
for the development of rot or “blight.” 
Early in the season the flea-beetles attacked 
the vines and punctured them seriously. 
It is believed that this so weakened the 
vines that they proved easier victims to the 
“ blight;” in the latter part of July the 
vines began to turn yellow and die. In 10 
days the whole acre looked as though a fire 
had swept over it—a mass of scorched and 
blackened vines. The Brownell’s Winner 
DIGGING POTATOES ON THE R. N.-Y’S EXPERIMENT ACRE. 
From a Photograph. 
Fig. 296. 
