1 
I 
how to separate each of these. It will be no¬ 
ticed that the base retains the same form 
throughout, and by sloping the knife each 
time, and cutting down to the apex of this 
inverted pyramid—which is the center of the 
tuber—each eye will be supported by an equal 
amount of the flesh which is to start It into a 
strong, healthy growth. With common varie¬ 
ties, where 6eed is cheap, many will think this 
manner of cutting too troublesome. But if 
every farmer should save one-half his seed, as 
he easily could do—for it will only require two 
barrels of sets for an acre, instead of four, aB 
are usually planted, the increase being equal- 
thousands of bushels would annually be saved, 
worth mauy thousands of dollars. But to 
those who wish to obtain a large increase 
from a small quantity of seed, as is necessary 
to those who buy the uew aud valuable varie¬ 
ties, this manner of cutting so that every eye 
is saved, will prove invaluable. 
HOW TO CUT TO A SINGLE EYE. 
Mr. B. K. Bliss furnishes us with the follow¬ 
ing plain directions for cutting potatoes to 
single eyes:— 
Take the potato with the stem end—the 
place where it was joined to the vine—down. 
It will then be noticed that the eyes are 
arranged around the tuber in regular ascend- 
oil in the above ratio, we have the following 
viz. 
is plowed rather deep soon after the winter 
rains are over. As the plowing proceeds,pieces 
of potato are dropped along every fourth fur¬ 
row ; the ground is afterwards thoroughly 
harrowed and. if still rough or lumpy, is rolled 
or “ clod-mashed.” A light harrowing as the 
vines are coming up, and one cultivating are 
usually about all the attention the crop re¬ 
ceives until digging time. 
The Digging, which is always done with a 
long-handled shovel, is mostly performed by 
Chinamen who go from field to field pitching 
their tents near-by, where they board and 
lodge themselves until the season is over. 
It is rather astouishing to sec the dexterity 
and economy of muscle with which “Johu” 
inserts the shovel under a hill, usually expos¬ 
ing the whole lot at the first scoop. As soon 
as dug, the potatoes are stored iu bulk in the 
field, or, more commonly, assorted and placed 
in gunny sacks and packed away iu ware¬ 
houses ready for shipment. 
The Varieties which do well here are not 
as numerous as they are east of the mountains. 
The “Bodega Red,” a hardy, strong-grow¬ 
ing kind, is the one almost universally planted 
for the main crop. It requires a longer sea¬ 
son thau auy other potato grown. Of it there 
is a sub-variety (sport) having a white skin ; 
the Red, however, is preferred by growers be¬ 
cause, if exposed to sun aud air, the injury is 
less apparent to the eye, although it is none 
the less apparent to the taste. 
In the old potato-growing sections, both 
these sorts seem to be failing ; perhaps from 
old age, but more probably from planting 
small ones from year to year aud a lack of 
potash in the soil, which is sure to occur when 
land is long cultivated to potatoes. Most 
growers have found that a load or two of ashes 
or a few loads of well rotted straw-stack per 
acre, will double the yield. Both these fertili¬ 
zers used to be thought worthless, but they are 
now carefully saved for this purpose. 
Most of the new varieties have been tried 
here, yet ouly a few of them have been found 
profitable. Each locality has its favoriie, the 
Indiana Pretnium and Late Rose are the best 
for dry land: Peerless, Snowflake, Jersey 
Peaehblow and Burbank yield heavily on moist 
laud. The potato beetle has not yet made its 
appearance in the State, or, if it has, no dam¬ 
age has been reported. 
The late spring showers of thi6 year gave an 
opportunity to plant later than usual; in mauy 
places fine fields may be seen grooving, which 
were planted after removing a crop of hay or 
grain. 
Early potatoes have been so low as hardly to 
pay for digging; prices are better now, but 
there is little prospect for any great improve¬ 
ment, for there is more land planted to potatoes 
here this year than ever before. 
Sonoma Co., Cal. 
ost per lb. for 
fat or starch 
DESCRIPTION OF ENGRAVINGS 
Burbank's Seedling. — White flesh, fine 
grain. Medium early. Large. Eyes not promi¬ 
nent. Very productive. 
Beauty of Hebron.— See “Everywhere” 
reports in Rural New-Yorker tor the past 
six weeks. 
Washington. —Origin unknown. Long and 
rather thin. Eyes shallow. Flesh-color. Very 
productive. Ripens after Early Rose. 
St. Patrick. —A cross between Garnet-Chili 
and Early Rose. White skin, few and shallow 
eyeB. Medium early. This was offered last 
spring for the first time. 
Late Snowflake. —A sport from the Early 
Snowflake and more productive. 
Manhattan. — Like Compton’s Surprise 
though more regular. Skin dark purple, with 
white splashes. Origin unknown. Flesh white. 
Very productive and a good keeper. 
Superior. — A cross between Brownell’s 
Beauty and White Peaehblow. Very produc¬ 
tive. Dark skin. Eyes small. Medium early. 
Centennial.— Same parentage as Superior. 
Eyes few—not prominent. Skin dark; flesh 
white. Second early. Productive. 
Improved Peacublow. —Cross between Jer¬ 
sey Peaehblow and Excelsior Said to be as 
good in quality as the Peaehblow and more 
productive. 
Ruby. — Parentage Early Rose and White 
Peaehblow. Flesh white, fine-grained aud of 
good flavor. Matures with the Early Rose and 
is said to be equally productive. Red skin. 
Alpha.— This is, no doubt, the earliest po¬ 
tato iu cultivation. Parentage, Early Rose and 
Sebec. White skin, slightly red about the 
eyes. * 
Snowflake. —Ripens about the same time as 
Early Rose. Eyes few aud flat. Skin, white. 
Flesh, white. Fine keeper. 
B rownell’s Beauty.— Eyes few and small; 
flesh white. Very productive. 
Extra Early Vermont.— One of the earliest 
of potatoes. Mr. Bliss mentions one of these 
CUTTING TO A SINGLE EYE. 
ing rotation from the bottom to the top, simi. 
lar to the thread of a corkscrew, each eye 
being a little above and further around the 
side thau the one next below it. Now take 
the potato in the left hand, with the stem 
end dowu. keoping it in a perpendicular posi¬ 
tion throughout the entire cuttiug. Take a 
sharp, thin-bladed knife and remove the first 
eye, by placing the kuife about equally distant 
between it and the eye next in rotation above 
it, sloping it to the indenture left by the stem— 
sec dotted lines in center cut—removing the 
flesh with it. When the first eye is removed, 
turn the potato around in the hand until the 
next eye above appears. Remove this one in 
the same manner, and keep on turning the 
potato, removing each eye as it appears in 
exact rotation, always sloping the knife to the 
stem. After three or four eyes arc thus re¬ 
moved, the bottom part of the tuber will have 
a somewhat pyramidal form—see cut. It will 
FACTS ABOUT POTATOES 
HENRY STEWART 
Rotting. 
The most frequent cause of rotting of pota¬ 
toes in pits or cellars is putting them away 
before they arc thoroughly dry aud well ripen¬ 
ed. The safest way to rnauage them is to 
cover them from the sun while digging, as the 
heating is injurious. Then when well dried in 
the field, remove them to a dry, airy barn 
floor aud scatter them on a straw bed a few 
inches thick aud air them thoroughly. If the 
doors are opened for this purpose, the tubers 
must be kept f rom the light by a covering of 
straw. Whcu it is dangerous to keep them 
longer in this way, they may be removed to 
the cellar and kept in barrels or bins with 
ventilating holes or spaces made in them. 
Potatoes thus cured will not sprout readily 
until the spring arrives. 
The Feeding Value of Potatoes. 
The actual money value of nitrogeu and 
starch for feeding purposes has not been 
determined so accurately as that of the con¬ 
stituents of fertilizers. Now if wc had such 
a guide, we could fix the price wc could afford 
to give or take for any of our products. Un¬ 
fortunately we arc in the dark greatly in this 
respect. But from many actual tests and com¬ 
parisons it is pretty well eertaiu that a bushel 
of potatoes is worth 25 cents to feed, either 
to horses, cows or pigs. The 15 or 16 per cent 
of starch they contain is not the only valua¬ 
ble constituent; they have some albuminoids 
which are to he considered: 2jj pounds, of starch 
are worth one pound of fat or oil for feeding. 
Potatoes are then worth nearly as much per 
LAYERING POTATO TOPS 
As a ready aud simple means of increasing 
the yield of potatoes, we may mention the lay¬ 
ering of the tops. This is practiced in Europe 
by nearly all gardeners aud by many farmers, 
aud it is a wonder that it is not more com¬ 
monly resorted to iu this country, especially 
when it is desired to augment the yield of new 
and valuable varieties. 
About the time when the first new tubers are 
large enough to be used at the table, the patch 
should be gone over for this operation. With 
a hoe remove the earth near the first hill in 
the row almost as deep as the roots of the 
plant, then bend ihe stems into the hole thus 
formed aud cover them up with earth, giving 
the tips an upward turn, and let them reach 
four or five iuches above ground. Proceed with 
the next hill in like manner, bending it over 
the first, aud so on until they have all been 
layered. The stems thus buried will send out 
roots aud set tubers the same as the original 
roots of the plant. We have seen a potato 
patch thus treated, give at least a one-half 
greater crop than a similar patch close by on 
which the tops were not layered. 
RURAL. 
THE 
| 
Fat. 
Cotton seed meal dry 
10 per ct. 
Potatoes dry 
24 per ct. 
(equal to 6U per 
ct.Btaroh.) 
pound for the starch as any substance having 
six per cent of fat. The following comparison 
may not please a chemist but may be near 
enough for a farmer who uses the materials. 
Cotton seed cake meal contains 10 per cent of 
oil, at least that is all I have ever been able 
to get from several different samples by 
treating it with ether, and I have fed up some 
tons of it and tested every lot. But it has 
very little water, while potatoes have 75 per 
cent. If we equalize the two, then, as regards 
water and also equalize the starch with the 
Lastly, the feeding of diseased potatoes is in¬ 
jurious, because the starch has been destroyed 
with the cells, and the substance of the tuber is 
at tho best watery aud innutritious. But so far 
as we know, all ntngi spores are to be avoided 
as suspicious if not dangerous, and we cannot 
tell what seeds of disease may lurk in dis¬ 
eased food. It is always best to be safe. 
-- 
The “ Rural ” potato, Mr. Marvin's Seed¬ 
ling, is shown above. We thank Mr. Marvin 
for the name and hope it may prosper. 
be noticed that each eye removed has a simi¬ 
lar form to that represented by the cut on the 
left, and has its proportionate share of the 
flesh attached. 
After the first two eyes are removed, nc fur¬ 
ther trouble will be found until the seed end 
is reached, and only a little extra care will be 
required to remove these closely-clustered 
eyes. The cut on the right represents what 
remains ol the potato after all but the small 
eyes are removed, while the dotted lines show 
“ Mr. Henderson will be glad to bear me 
say that I saw Pea 1 -! Millet, raised from his 
seed, from 10 to IS feet high,and having astern 
as thick as a lady’s finger. To judge from what 
I saw of it, I should say half an acre of ever¬ 
green sweet corn would bo worth, as green 
food for milch cows, and for stock generally, 
more than a whole acre of this exaggerated 
grass plant.” The above is what “ B. F. J." 
6ays in the Country Gentleman. 
