57o 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
July 30, 
stick, is at hand just the length as the line is high above 
the grade. It is then an easy matter to get the proper 
depth at any point, and have a uniform grade. Just 
before laying the tile, a tile hoe of peculiar shape is 
used to make a groove in the bottom to receive the 
tile. It is a great help in laying the tile quickly and 
CARRYING THE BERRIES OVER WINTER. Fig. 248. 
evenly. It can then be done from the surface of the 
ground with a tile hook. 
LAYING THE TILE.—Laying should begin at the 
outlet or lowest point. The tile should be put in with 
care, so that the joint shall be as close as possible to 
keep dirt from getting in. Tile that have been warped 
in baking may be used to advantage in laying the 
curves; where the laterals join the mains T-shaped sec¬ 
tions of the proper size. If the work of laying is left 
at any time over night, or when there is danger of 
rain, the opening of the last tile should be closed; other¬ 
wise rain might bring dirt in and ruin the 
work already done. The upper end of 
the drain should be closed permanently 
with a flat stone to keep sediment from 
working in. If at any point the line of 
tile should come so near the surface as to 
be in danger of freezing, those places 
should be laid with vitrified or glazed 
tile, as the ordinary tile will crumble un¬ 
der the action of frost, and a little neglect 
of this kind may make unserviceable a 
long line of drain. In clay soils of close 
texture it is of great benefit to cover the 
tile with small field stones to the depth of 
about a foot. It greatly increases the 
“drawing power,” and, if the stones are 
at hand, it will pay to put them in this 
kind of ground. The first filling should 
be done with enough dirt packed around 
the joints to keep the tile in line and then 
the dirt may be thrown in any way that is 
convenient. If there is much ditching 
being done, it will pay to make a scraper 
and fill the ditches by horse power. Two 
planks eight feet long are set on edge 
and fastened firmly by cross pieces, so 
that the rear end shall be one foot apart 
and the front end six feet apart. A long 
cvcner is used, one horse walking on one side of the 
ditch and one on the other. For this device to work 
well the ground must be somewhat dry and crumbly, 
and thrown about equally on both sides of the ditch. 
FIXING THE OUTLET.—A drain will first get out 
of order at the outlet unless some special pains are 
taken to protect it. The tile freeze and crumble, dirt 
washes away, and they get out of place, and some ob¬ 
struction will stop the flow such as dirt, driftwood or 
“varmints” entering the drain. After going to the ex¬ 
pense of such a costly improvement it will pay to be¬ 
stow some special attention on the outlet. A retaining 
wall of brick or stone laid in cement should be con¬ 
structed around the orifice of discharge and bedded in 
the cement, and over the opening should be a galvan¬ 
ized screen to keep out all vermin. grant davis. 
THE VALUE OF LIQUID MANURE. 
In one of my hay fields, pastured with cattle last Fall, 
there were spots where the grass (Timothy) grew very lux¬ 
uriantly, while remainder of field was quite thin and short. 
The spots were not caused by the droppings from the cattle, 
which were in evidence and caused no special growth. Do 
you suppose that the urine from the cattle caused this extra 
growth? If so, what would it indicate in the way of fer¬ 
tilizers that the land required? t. .t. 
Somerset Co., N. J. 
No doubt the liquids from the cattle caused the 
growth you mention. This is often noticed—the con¬ 
trast being greatest on poor soil where the natural 
growth of the grass is not heavy. The liquids contain 
the richest and most soluble parts of the manure, the 
only parts, in fact, that are completely digested. Com¬ 
paring a ton of the solid dung of cattle with a ton of 
liquid we have the following : 
Nitrogen. Plios. Acid. Potash. 
Solid dung. « ^ 
Liquid manure.i- v 1U 
The solid droppings do not cause any quick growth 
because they are not only low in nitrogen, but what 
they do contain of this element is not soluble, and thus 
cannot force the grass at once. As we have often ex¬ 
plained, nitrogen is found in our fertilizing materials 
in three forms, nitrate, ammonia and organic. The 
first is the soluble form, in which plants use this ele¬ 
ment. The others are changed more or less slowly into 
the nitrate or soluble form. 
Nitrate of soda is often used for forcing crops be¬ 
cause it is available at once. In a ton of liquids from 
a cow there are 12 pounds of nitrogen. As nitrate of 
soda contains 16 per cent ot nitrogen, the liquid manure 
is as strong as a solution of 75 pounds of nitrate in 
1925 pounds of water. If we consider the potash in the 
liquid manure—a barrel of water of 40 gallons, weigh¬ 
ing 325 pounds, if made equal in strength to the liquid, 
would contain about 12 pounds nitrate of soda and seven 
pounds of muriate of potash. While this would force 
crops if sprinkled evenly no one would think of pour¬ 
ing out by. the pailful. The first indication of this 
rank growth is that soluble nitrogen is needed by the 
grass. We have known cases where the liquids from 
sheep or horses gave a stronger growth than that from 
cattle. This would be an indication that potash was 
also needed, for we see from the following table that 
the amount of potash voided in this way varies: 
POUNDS IN ONE TON OF FRESH URINE. 
Nitrogen. Phos. Acid. Potash 
Horse . 31 0 30 
Cattle . 12 0 10 
Sheep . 40 0 43 
Swine . 9 2 16 
These figures also show that the great value of stable 
manure lies in the liquid parts. Practically all the 
potash is passed in the liquid form, and the most useful 
part of the nitrogen. We see from this what a loss 
occurs when the liquids are permitted to drain away 
A MODEL FARM KITCHEN. Fig. 249. 
from the manure piles and barnyards. 
It will be noticed that stock at pasture rarely eat the 
rank growth which starts around the pasture droppings. 
Such grass is rank and has little flavor. By adding a 
small amount of phosphoric acid the grass would be 
improved so that stock will eat most of it. If we cut 
the rank growth with a scythe or mowing machine and 
let it wilt on the ground, cattle will usually eat it all. 
seed and to prevent it from sprouting too early. About 
November or December the seed is picked up and 
sprouts, if any, taken out. Then it is placed by hand, 
sprouting end up, in shallow open boxes 30 inches long, 
15 wide and five high. The boxes were piled up in rooms 
kept all Winter above freezing point, and aerated when 
weather permits. Potatoes so treated give strong short 
sprouts that farmers take great care not to break when 
they plant, about the end oT February or the beginning 
of March. Almost all the work for potatoes, from 
planting to digging, is done by hand. At planting time 
about 800 pounds of complete potato chemical fertilizer 
are spread in the rows. The distance between the 
plants is one foot in the row and the rows are 18 to 
20 inches apart. 
QUICK MATURITY.—You can guess how fast grow 
potatoes in such condition. In fact, potatoes planted 
by the end of February are fit to ship about the middle 
of May, though our climate is not warm at that time. 
Potatoes are far from being ripe, and the weight pro¬ 
duced per acre is only three to four tons; but the price 
is usually so high that it pays well to dig them early, 
besides having the ground ready in good time for a 
second crop. Later on the weight per acre increases 
to eight and even 10 tons, but the price as a rule de¬ 
creases accordingly. 
PROFITS OF THE CROP.—As to the profits of that 
culture, good farmers reckon that expenses run from 
$80 to $100 an acre, while the receipts can be estimated 
at $160 on an average. But some growers have often 
realized $300 per acre gross receipts. Last year was 
particularly favorable to growers, but this season prices 
have been low from the beginning, and it will be a 
very bad year for them, from the end of May the 
price fell to $20 a ton, and about the middle of June, 
for a whole week, with one thousand tons 
on the market every day, the price was $12 
to $14 per ton only. Nobody had seen po¬ 
tatoes so cheap at the same date. Since 
then the market has improved a little, and 
at the end of June the price was $18 to $20 
per ton. In a couple of weeks the season 
will be over. All potatoes are packed in 
hundredweight baskets or in barrels of 
about three bushels and shipped by steamer 
to England. Last year, from May 19 to 
July 14, 30,000 tons of potatoes were 
shipped from St. Malo, and I suppose 
40,000 tons will be shipped before the 
close of this season. 
VARIETIES GROWN.—As to the va¬ 
rieties of potatoes grown, the bulk is sup¬ 
plied by the Reading Giant. Some earlier 
varieties are grown in small quantities, 
such as Myatt’s Prolific, International, 
Prince of Wales, Duke of Albany, etc., 
but they are neither hardy nor prolific 
enough to give satisfaction to the growers, 
who plant more Giants every year. The 
Reading Giant is a fine flattish, kidney¬ 
shaped potato, white skin, full eyes, large 
size, very heavy cropper, hardy, good 
quality, and early. No variety is so pop¬ 
ular here, and it deserves its good favor. As soon as 
the potatoes are dug out the ground is plowed and an¬ 
other crop planted, cauliflower, cabbages, carrots, man- 
P0TAT0 GROWING IN FRANCE 
With Hand Work Entirely. 
NO POTATO BEETLES.—The Colorado Potato 
beetle is completely unknown in this part of the coun¬ 
try, and I think it is the same everywhere in France. 
At least 1 have never heard any complaints against it, 
and I have never seen that kind of insect but in scien¬ 
tific books. I was some time ago in Algeria, where 
potatoes are grown rather extensively, and shipped in 
barrels to the French markets in the months of Febru¬ 
ary, March and April, and the Colorado beetle is also 
quite unknown there. The district where I am living, 
neighborhood of St. Malo, is very likely the part ot 
France where early potatoes are the most extensively 
grown for shipment to England. The whole country is 
divided into small holdings ranging from five to 40 
acres, more or less, but there are no large farms. Nearly 
all the land is suitable for potato growing, and the rent 
runs from $15 to $20 an acre, according to quality and 
situation. 
PREPARATION AND PLANTING.—Land de¬ 
signed to be planted with potatoes is plowed three or 
four times during Winter, and manured with farmyard 
manure at the rate of 10 to 15 two-horse loads per 
acre. Potatoes selected for seed are spread on floors 
as thin as possible and windows are left open until 
frost is to be feared. This is done to harden up the 
WHERE THE CORN GROWS. Fig. 250. 
gels, turnips, French beans, etc., so that farmers gather 
two crops from the same fields every year. 
Le Vivier-SurMer, France. Raphael barbe. 
Last year there were 11,133 prisoners in the peniten¬ 
tiaries of New York State. Of this number 250 claimed to be 
farmers, 218 carpenters, 250 fishermen, 320 painters, 361 
sailors. 
