OCT.48 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
frequent, and where drought seldom occurs. 
Showers seem, as we all know, to follow the 
water-courses, so that a strip two or three 
miles wide along the margin of lake or river, 
is often well watered when severe drought ex¬ 
ists through the rest of the neighboring re¬ 
gions. Such favored localities are those men¬ 
tioned above. and here the potato crop is al¬ 
most sure. For even excessive rains in a wet 
season on the soil found there, do not rot 
the potatoes as iu heavier soil. In these local¬ 
ities. therefore, potato culture is, wisely we 
think, made a speciality, many farmers rais¬ 
ing twenty or thirty acres a year, or even 
more. And lu fall and spring hundreds of car¬ 
loads are shipped from the various railroad 
stations here to points all over the country. 
Of course, when the cultivation is on so large 
a scale, the most convenient tools and imple¬ 
ments are used. 
The Best Soil Tor the Potato, 
as intimated, is considered to be a rich, sandy 
loam, sufficiently up from the bed of lake or 
river, if possible, to make it clear from early 
autumn frosts. On the lake shore, how¬ 
ever, the large body of water, cooling more 
slowly at night than the land, is of itself con¬ 
siderable protection against frost. This mat¬ 
ter is of great importance iu case of the Peach- 
blows and other late varieties; for, on low 
ground, they are often cut off by frost before 
maturity. 
Manuring 
in the hill is always obiectionable. It is too 
much work, for one thing ; but the main point 
is that it injures the quality of tbe potatoes to 
have rnauure directly in contact with them 
while they' arc growing. Broadcast manuring 
is not so bad, but even then the manure will get 
in contact with the tubers, more or less, as 
they form. A better way is to have the ground 
sufficiently enriched with a previous crop. 
A common and much approved practice here 
is to turn under a rich clover sod late in May, 
and plant about the first of June. There is 
by that time a heavy growth of clover, but if 
it be rolled with a heavy roller in the direction 
it is to be plowed, and then plowed with a good 
jointer plow, such as the “ Oliver” or “Syra¬ 
cuse" or “Gale,” with a heavy chain from 
end of evener to plow beam, iu case of a very 
heavy crop, the clover will disappear entirely, 
and never interfere with the planting or cul¬ 
tivation of the crop, but will remain beneath 
the surface, a constant source of fertility and 
moisture through the entire season. Potatoes 
on such ground will stand quite a severe 
drought. Late 
Planting 
has come much into vogue here, especially 
since the advent of the Colorado beetles. It 
saves the fighting of one crop of bugs, which 
is quite an item on a forty-acre field. Late va¬ 
rieties, especially Peachblows, do not form 
much until the cool nights come, in late August 
and September, so that it is found that when 
planted late, they mature about as soon as 
when planted a month or even six weeks ear¬ 
lier. They come np more quickly and grow 
far more rapidly at first ; the ground remains 
more mellow, aud six weeks’ extra cultivation 
of the ground and fightiug of weeds are 
avoided. I have known Peachblows planted 
as late as June 15, on high ground, to mature a 
splendid crop before frost. Another advan¬ 
tage in iate planting is that it permits the 
planting and sowing of oats, com, barley and 
other spring crops to be entirely finished aud 
out of the way before we begin on the pota¬ 
toes. 
But if the work is deferred so long, it must 
be done promptly and rapidly when once be¬ 
gun. The cultivator and harrow must follow 
closely dpoti tbe plow, aud the marker closely 
upon the harrow, so that almost as soon as 
the last furrow is turned, the marking is doue 
one way. Then the marker is started cross¬ 
wise aud tlie planting at once begins. The 
horse-power dropper and eoverer is not used 
because it does not do the work with sufficient 
accuracy for hill culture. The marker most 
approved here is a home-made oue on wheels, 
which makes three, four,or even five deep, plain 
marks. It is arranged somewhat like the two 
old-fashioned, stand-up, steel-tooth dump- 
rake. 
Fig. 1 represents such a marker made to 
draw five marks at once. The thillsare joined 
to the axle by two long, strong, wrought- 
iron hinges, playiug vertically, (b, b, Fig. l. 
A platform, a, about a foot wide is bolted 
firmly cross-wise to the thills Justin front of the 
hinges for the driver's left foot to jest on. and 
two standards, m, n, rise vertically from this, 
well-braced aud with a cross-bar, o, for the 
driver’s left baud to rest on, to steady him. 
Back of the axle is another long board, c, 
bolted firmly to the axle by the strong slats, s, 
s. This serves to keep the teeth in position, 
and is for ihe driver’s right foot to rest on. 
The teeth, h, i, and c, are wide, V-shaped cul¬ 
tivator teeth bolted to strong irou rods, f, g, 
and c, that run back horizontally from the 
axle beyond the range of the wheels, and then 
vertically to the ground. The teeth caa play 
tip and down slightly to adapt themselves to 
depressions in the ground, but are held from 
dropping far by the staples, * d, e. When 
the driver bears his weight on the rear plat¬ 
form, c, the teeth are pressed into the ground. 
When he bears it entirely on the front one, a, 
in front of the hinges, the concern •' jacks ” and 
lifts the teeth all from the ground, ready to 
turn at the cud of the rows. A five-toothed 
marker will mark 25 or 30 acres in a day, one 
way. 
As soon as the cross-marking begins, four 
men begin the dropping, aud one man be¬ 
gins to cover with a horse. F.ach dropper 
carries about half a bushel of potatoes iu a 
bag, tied corner to corner, slung ever the right 
shoulder and under the left arm, with its open 
cud towards tbe dropper’s right hand. A 
wagon, loaded with seed, stands at the middle 
of the l-ows, aud is drawn slowly across the 
field as the planting progresses, so that its rear 
end shall always be near the rows that are 
being dropped. A good, narrow scoop-shovel 
fills the bags readily. Each dropper drops a 
potato or large piece—never two—at the inter¬ 
section of the marks and presses it firmly into 
the ground.with his foot as he passes on. This 
tramping has two objects : first, to “ firm" the 
ground around the seed; second, to prevent 
the seed from being knocked aside by the 
horse in covering, or by the harrow in after 
culture. A man covers with a horse as fast as 
t hree or four men drop. Two broad cultivator 
teeth are set a foot apart in their own frame, 
or one made on purpose, and turned so as to 
throw the dirt in. The horse walks on the 
mark, and a neat ridge of dirt is piled up all 
along the row. If it is desired to “ firm ” the 
ground above the seed, it is done with a roller 
afterwards. A fast-walking horse will cover 
eight or ten acres a day, as .the draft is light 
and there is no stoppage or hindrance. The 
horse soon learns to follow the mark. 
The After Cultivation 
is done entirely by horse, and not at all by 
hand. As soon as weeds begin to appear, the 
Thomas smoothing harrow should bo run over 
the field, demolishing all small weeds and nice¬ 
ly mellowing the surface. This hairowlng 
should be repeated at least once a week till the 
potatoes are eight or ten inches high. The 
Thomas harrow is the only one I know that 
will do the work well and without damage to 
the plants. It passes through the hill among 
the plants, killiug all small weeds, mellowing 
the earth in the hill, and entirely dispensing 
with hand hoeing. As soon as the potatoes are 
up enough to show the rows, the cultivator is 
used iu connection with the harrow to secure 
deeper and more thorough culture between the 
rows, and to start the hilling. The final hilling, 
just before tbe plautB begin to “lop’ 1 and 
spread, is done with a good winged shovel- 
plow. The wings are so adjusted as to throw 
and hold the dirt close around the vines aud 
make a nice, square hill. Hill culture Is 
preferred to drill culture for two reasons;— 
it gives a better chance for cultivation 
with the horse, and it makes the digging 
far easier. Flat culture, whether in hill or 
drill, is entirely avoided here, though much 
advocated in some places. It makes the pota¬ 
toes hard to dig, and more liable to rot iu wet 
seasons. 
The Digging 
is chiefly done by hand with a flat-tined fork 
or hook. With the former a live man can 
throw oat from 50 to 100 bushels, in a day, of 
Peerless or Early Rose, when the yield is good. 
These varieties grow in a compact mass and 
can be thrown out clean at a single forkful, and 
a sudden flirt of the fork clears them of dirt us 
they strike the ground. PeachDiows spread 
more in growing and are Blower digging ; but 
in the small, high hills they cannot spread very 
far. The rows are made narrow, usually from 
80 to 34 inches apart both ways, and, as many 
sets per acre are thus planted as the ground 
can “ carry." The vines, when thrifty, com¬ 
pletely cover the ground. 
The Varieties of Potatoes 
most raised here are those best known every¬ 
where, namely. Early Rose, Early Vermont, 
Snowflake, Peerless, Brownell’s Beauty and 
Peach blow. The Victor is in high favor with 
producers, but not with dealers or consumers. 
And it is found necessary, in raising large 
quantities of potatoes to use mainly the kinds 
that sell by the car-lot on regnlar quotations, 
either to shippers at the carring stations, or to 
dealers through commission-men on consign¬ 
ment in the large cities. The Peachblow, the 
great stand-by for more than 20 years as a late 
potato, seems to be running out; it blights and 
does not mature. No new variety seems as 
yet exactly to take its place. 
The Profits 
of successful potato-raising are large—some¬ 
times immense. I have known a large crop iu 
the “ off year,” when prices were high, to bring 
about $150 'per acre of gross receipts. But 
tbe Colorado beetle and the arraj’-bng, together 
with the limited area thoroughly suited, in soil, 
climate and surroundings, for successful potato- 
raising, have combined to preventsuch general 
over-production as to bring prices down to 
ruinous rates. 
EXPERIMENTS WITH POTATOES. 
PROFESSOR. W. J. REAL. 
For the past twelve years or more, many varie¬ 
ties of potatoes Lave been raised iu the garden 
of the Michigan Ag’l. College. The. potatoes 
have been studied more particularly for the 
past five years. For a considerable portion of 
of this time, about 250 of the most promiuent 
named varieties have been grown. The soil is 
somewhat variable, though it has always been 
sandy aud generally of rather poor quality 
brought up to good fertility by horse manure 
well composted. For most of the time the po¬ 
tatoes have beeu grown on what is called “ old 
land,” that is. there was no sod turned uuder. 
For the past three years they have been on 
sod grouud, sometimes twenty hills ol a varie¬ 
ty, and from this down to one, two, or three 
hills. 
In 1868, thehighest ten iu yield j'anked in order 
as follows: 1, Cbenery; 2, Cuzco; 3, Cascoe; 
4, Forfarshire Red; 5, Harrison; 6, Shaker's 
Fancy; 7, Strawberry ; 8, Orono; 9, Chili No. 
II.; 10, Dana’s Seedling. 
In 1874, the highest ten in yield ranked iu 
order as follows : 1, Climax ; 2, Lady Finger; 
3. Jersey Peachblow; 4, Early Favorite; 5, 
Peerless; 6, Breesee s King of the Earlies; 7, 
Kearsarge; 8, British Queen; 9, Snowflake; 
10, Tyrrell. The following varieties were not 
compared with the above list, viz.; Compton’s 
Surprise, Early Vermont. Probably the latter 
on that year excelled all those named above. 
In 1875, the highest ten rauked as follows; 1, 
Early White ; 2, Early York ; 3, Early Favor¬ 
ite ; 4, Carpenter’s Seedling; 5, Pond’s Seed¬ 
ling; 6, Early Goodrich; 7, White Rose; 8, 
Red Jacket; 9, Seedling Mercer ; 10, Ice Cream. 
The Climax was watery and of poor quality 
This was tiue of Borne of the others, but they 
were not all tested in this particular. 
In 1876, the highest ten in yield were: 1, 
Loug Pond (probably Pond’s Seedling); 2, 
Missouri Round; 3, Breesee’s Prolific; 4, 
Snowflake; 5, New Kidney: 0, Early Don; 7, 
Ohio; 8, Early Violet; 9, Early Juue; 10, 
Whipple’s 8ecdling. 
Iu 1877, they ranked as follows: 1, Pond’s 
Seedling; 2, Bulkeley’s; 3, Climax; 4, Galva; 
5, Worcester’s Seedling; 6, Early Russet; 7, 
White Rock; 8, Early Mowhawk : 9, Bulkeley’s 
Seedling; 10, Dyright. 
By these figures, of the yield of potatoes 
planted in small quantities, we may learn 
something:—We see that they vary in rank; 
that they should be raised in large quantities 
on even soil for several years in succession. 
Then, the quality is a matter that cannot be 
measured in the half bushel. Some experi¬ 
ments were made iu trimming the tops. This, 
on a fair trial, proved to diminish the yield of 
the tubers. 
Will Potatoes Khu Out I 
An article on this subject by the present 
writer was printed in the Rural some time ago. 
Further tests since then have resulted tbe same 
as those then reported. Those sorts which 
have beeu long kept here, have all decreased 
in yield and most of them have deteriorated in 
quality. The cultivation has beeu good iD 
every respect, so far as I can judge, except 
that for most of the time they were not planted 
on 6od ground, or on new grouud. Quite a 
large number ot those first raised have run out. 
We have loBt the seed, as the plants dwindled 
and failed to set a single tuber. We do not 
claim that they would run out if treated in 
every respect first-rate; but, as ordinarily 
treated, they often, if not always, run out or 
nearly out. 
In some portions of the South, seed is im¬ 
ported from the North every year. The seed 
POTATO MARKER. 
ALPHA. 
BROWNELL’S BEAUTY. 
