782 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 1 
November 19 
POTATO EXPERIMENTS AT CORNELL 
UNIVERSITY. 
GOOD YIELDS WITHOUT FERTILIZER. 
Prof. Roberts has again demonstrated that tillage 
is the key which unlocks the plant food of the soil. 
For several years, the Cornell Experiment Station has 
been making a careful study of tillage and the plant 
food of the soil. Potatoes have been grown upon a 
soil which carries far less plant food than the average 
soils, yet without any commercial fertilizers or barn 
manures, crops have been grown which are far above 
the average of the State. The crop grown this year is 
the fifth one which has been removed from the land 
since any fertilizers of any kind were applied, yet the 
crop is a very satisfactory one. The potatoes are 
grown upon plots of one-twentieth acre each, and the 
yields calculated per acre. 
Ten plots of potatoes grown this year yielded at the 
rate of 205 to 394.6 bushels per acre, an 
average for all the plots of 294.5 bushels 
per acre. It can hardly be said that 
the yield this year is due to luck, for 
this is the fourth year in which the ex¬ 
periments have been continued and 
uniformly good results have been 
secured. The secret of success, if there 
is any secret, seems to lie in tillage. 
The soil, which is gravelly, is most 
thoroughly prepared before the pota¬ 
toes are planted. The seed is deeply 
covered, and then intensive culture is 
practiced. Bordeaux Mixture and Paris- 
green are freely used, and the foliage 
is preserved from attacks of the beetles 
and blight. 
What has been accomplished at the 
Cornell Experiment Station can be ac¬ 
complished and even exceeded by nearly 
every farmer if only proper care be given 
in the preparation of the land and in the 
care of the crop. If those farmers who are now devoting 
from five to ten acres to growing potatoes would lessen 
their acreage and give better care to the crop, it is be¬ 
lieved that more satisfactory results could be secured. 
The most important lesson which has been derived from 
the experiments so far is that complete and thorough 
preparation of the soil before planting the crop is of 
the utmost importance. No after tillage or spraying 
can make amends for a lack of proper preparation. 
What the Cornell Experiment Station has done can be 
done in actual farm practice. The experiments of 
previous years have been described in Bulletins 130 
and 140, which can be obtained free by addressing the 
Experiment Station at Ithaca, N. Y. The results this 
year have not yet been published in bulletin form, but 
will soon be so published. L. A. c. 
R. N.-Y.—Fig. 356 shows how a healthy potato plant 
should grow and how the tubers form in the soil 
when it is perfectly fitted. Fig. 355 shows how the 
potatoes were planted. Wide, deep furrows were 
made and the seed pieces were dropped by hand. 
Then the ridges were “ split ” by using a shovel plow 
as shown in the picture. 
WHAT THEY SAY. 
A Humbug Insecticide.— A correspondent in Indiana 
sends us a remarkable circular which is being given 
out in his part of the country by agents who are try¬ 
ing to sell farm rights. The circular starts off with 
an account of the San Jos6 scale, and then describes 
an insecticide which is said to be patented. Among 
the claims made for this stuff, are the following : 
PREVENTS fruit from rotting. 
PREVENTS the falling off of fruit. 
PREVENTS black knot and borer in root of peach tree. 
PREVENTS root-borer in any tree. 
PREVENTS curl leaf on peach tree. 
PREVENTS rotting of tomatoes. 
DESTROYS every known insect injurious to vine, shrub or tree. 
KILLS and destroys the cabbage, kale and potato bug without 
the least injury to vine, plant or fowl. 
IS a sure shot to all melon, pumpkin and cucumber bugs. 
RIDS the house of ants, cockroaches and bed-bugs. 
CLEANS horses, cattle, swine, dogs, and fowls from lice and 
fleas, at the same time a great tonic for chickens and pigs. 
NON-POISONOUS 
To either human being or stock of any kind, and is one of the 
greatest known Fungicides ever discovered, for trees and shrub¬ 
bery, making it more necessary, where it is even not needed 
against insects of any kind. 
Of course, we advise farmers to let this wonderful stuff 
entirely alone. There is no such thing as a cure-all 
for plant diseases and insects. There are all kinds of 
insects that injure plants. One kind has mouth parts 
fitted for eating the leaf or vine, while the other can¬ 
not eat at all, but simply pushes in its beak and pumps 
the juices from the inside of the leaf. These suckers 
can be killed only by something that affects them 
from the outside. The eaters are killed by putting 
poison on the outside of the leaf so that they eat the 
poison with the leaf. Nothing has yet been invented 
in the form of a wash or spray, that will kill both 
kinds of insects. This is one evidence of the foolish¬ 
ness of the claims made in this circular. It is not 
worth considering by practical farmers. 
Some Ohio Ideas. —A friend who is reading the 
letters from Ohio says that he is informed that, in 
Geauga County, there were in 1895, 33 school districts, 
in which the average attendance did not exceed five 
pupils. This is certainly an argument in favor of 
more consolidated schools. These schools save money, 
require fewer teachers, and certainly give a better 
course of instruction. It is hard, though, for the 
little folks to get to school in very cold weather. But 
why is it that those Ohio Yankees do not keep up the 
child crop ? Where are the old-fashioned New Eng¬ 
land families that used to crowd the New England 
school houses, so that the sides bulged out ? This 
same friend says that, where he lives, they have speci¬ 
mens of all nationalities. If planting the different 
varieties of fruits together is a benefit, as giving 
better chances for cross-fertilization, he wants to 
know why it is not an advantage to plant different 
varieties of people together. He believes in putting 
them together so that their blossoms of ideas, resolu¬ 
tions and industries may be properly pollenized by the 
ideas, practices and results of others. Thus he thinks 
we shall get a better harvest of perfect farming. 
A Potato Experiment. —One of my neighbors tried 
a potato experiment this season. I was in his field 
one day in June, and he called my attention to his 
A HEALTHY POTATO PLANT. Fig. 356. 
potatoes. Two rows were very far advanced. Some 
near them not so far, and the rest of the field away 
behind. This is a cold country, and the ground freezes 
quite deep, but the first named rows were planted 
with potatoes plowed out in the Spring in preparing 
the ground for crops, and which had escaped notice in 
digging. These had grown rank, and had been cut 
down by frost when three or four inches high, yet 
were apparently weeks ahead. The second lot was 
of potatoes taken from the cellar with very long 
sprouts upon them, but handled so carefully as not to 
break them. These looked very well, too, while the 
rest of the piece showed only ordinary promise when 
the seed was cut as planted. All were planted under 
the same conditions as to time, ground and fertility. 
To-day I inquired as to the yield, and the reply was 
that the yield corresponded with the appearance of 
the plots in June; the two which looked best then, 
turned out best in September. g. s. paine. 
Maine. 
Potatoes and Home Missions. —One of our readers 
in Pennsylvania sends us an account of a scheme 
which, he says, is respectfully submitted to clerical 
readers of The R. N.-Y. who wish to raise money for 
church purposes among their farmer friends. The 
pastor of a rural church in Pennsylvania was also 
superintendent of an orphan school. He was not sat¬ 
isfied with the quality of the potatoes brought to 
him, and made up his mind to introduce a new potato 
among his people, and incidentally to increase the 
yearly collection for home missions. He bought 4% 
bushels of Carman No. 1 potatoes, divided the lot into 
18 pecks, and distributed them among the farmers of 
his church. They agreed to cultivate and take care 
of the lot, and devote the yields or 
their values to the cause of missions. 
It was understood that, if any of them 
wished to retain the seed, they could 
substitute a like quantity of another 
variety. Prizes were offered for the 
largest yields, consisting of one year’s 
subscription to The Rural N e w- 
Yorker, The Ladies’Home Journal and 
Farm Journal. At digging time, the 
pastor sent his wagon around and col¬ 
lected in all 70 bushels of marketable 
potatoes. Without exception, the farm¬ 
ers kept the Carman potatoes, and sub¬ 
stituted another kind. The first prize 
was won by a yield of bushels from 
one peck of seed, while the second larg¬ 
est yield was eight bushels. The aver¬ 
age yield was a little under four bush¬ 
els. No effort was made in the way of 
extra tillage or fertilizing. The Carmans 
were planted in the field beside other 
rows of potatoes in order to test them against other 
varieties. The result of this little scheme was that the 
cause of home missions received 830, less the original 
cost of seed ; farmers got started with a new variety 
of potatoes ; the minister will hereafter get a better 
potato for his institution’s use, and everybody had a 
good time and was well satisfied with the result. 
Fertilizer for Cabbage. —A reader in Pennsylvania 
reports great success this year with early cabbage. 
His crop enabled him to pay off 8150 of his debt, as 
well as other expenses. He wants to haul manure all 
Winter, plow it under in the Spring, and raise a larger 
crop than ever of cabbage. He asks what fertilizer 
he can use to advantage, in connection with the 
manure. The stable manure is low in phosphoric 
acid and potash, and a fertilizer should be used that 
will supply these elements. We would suggest one 
part by weight of muriate of potash ; three parts of 
dissolved phosphate rock, and one of nitrate of soda. 
Use from 600 to 800 pounds per acre, scattered along 
in the drill, where the plants are to be set out. 
This should give good results in connection with the 
manure. 
Killing Witch Grass. —Referring to the question 
on page 766, I would, by all means, cultivate the land 
at least two years before planting with any of the 
fruit trees or plants. My plan would be to smother 
out the Witch grass with a heavy crop of peas and 
oats, 1% bushel of seed of each, in the Spring, to be 
plowed under in July, and then a crop of peas and bar¬ 
ley to be plowed under in the Fall, or better, to lie on 
the ground during the Winter, and be plowed under in 
April. Manure or fertilizer sufficient for the produc¬ 
tion of a heavy crop should be applied before the first 
crop is sown, and a light dressing for the second crop. 
By this treatment, the Witch grass becomes so weak¬ 
ened as to be kept under easily by cultivation, but may 
not be wholly exterminated. s. t. maynard. 
Massachusetts Agricultural College. 
A Road Improvement Scheme. —Mr. John Dawes, 
of Hunterdon County, N. J., read the note on page 
740, of The R. N.-Y., about the cost of improving the 
roads, and sends us his ideas, which were formerly 
printed in the Country Gentleman. He thinks that 
most good roads are too costly and unwieldy to prove 
satisfactory. He would have the town fix wages of 
man and team per day, and let each farmer work the 
road along his land. A State law should give the 
township committee entire charge of the roads in the 
township. Let each farmer work his road, keep his 
account, return it to the committee under oath, and 
take it out of his tax. Where two farmers join a 
piece of road, they could divide it as they would a 
line fence. If there were cases where neither would 
work it, the committee could have it done by contract. 
He thinks, under this plan, there would soon be a 
rivalry between neighbors as to who should have the 
best road. If a farmer undertook to keep the road in 
PLANTING POTATOES AT CORNELL UNIVERSITY. Fig. 355. 
