1901 
599 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
HOPE FARM NOTES 
Stkawberkies.— This season has been 
a hard one for most farm crops, but 
there riever was a season jet that did 
not suit something. Our strawberries 
have made a fine growth. When at last 
we had a few weed-killing days in suc¬ 
cession I told the boys to let the corn 
go and clean up the yellow turnips and 
strawberries. It was too late in the sea¬ 
son to clean up everything, so we will 
take the things that have xhe most 
promise. Our Marshall strawberries are 
fine, great stocky plants with thick 
green leaves, and not a trace of blight. 
They have been cultivated five times 
and hoed three times. We got down on 
our knees to them the last time and 
pulled out the weeds by hand. They will 
respond to that sort of a prayer. We 
are leaving only two or three runners to 
each plant. 'Small families for pedi¬ 
greed plants or pigs! I want big rich 
berries, for most of our local growers 
seem to have the pins set up for smallei- 
sized fruit. Better four good, stocky 
plants to the square yard than a dozen! 
We shall put on more fertilizer the last 
of August, and let them go. 
Si'KEAUiNU Out.—W e set 2,000 plants 
last Spring. We plan to leave about 
7,000 good ones and to transplant 4,000 
more. These transplants will be set be¬ 
tween the late cabbage, and in or after 
the early sweet corn. They will be the 
best plants we can find. If the soil is 
moist or wet we shall cut around the 
plant, and with the fingers squeeze a 
good-sized ball of dirt around the roots. 
If the soil becomes dry the Richards 
transplanter will be used. This cuts 
down into the ground and brings up the 
plant with a bunch of dirt around the 
roots about as large as a tomato can. 
When this is set out in a new place the 
plant never stops to wink. The point 
is to keep the roots from the air if pos¬ 
sible. It is, of course, nonsense to ex¬ 
pect a full crop from these transplants 
next year. They will give some good 
fruit, however, and the following year 
they will be ready for a full job. As 
they grow between the cabbage their 
bill for rent of land will not amount to 
much before coming into bearing. 
h'EUTii.izi.xo IN Pale. —I oelieve in 
feeding the strawberry heavily in late 
Summer and Fall. The fruit Duds which 
are to produce next year’s crop are 
started and formed usually during Sep¬ 
tember or October. Some growers be¬ 
lieve that the crop is completed—from 
bud to berry—in the short Spring sea¬ 
son. That is an error, I am sure. The 
fruit buds will be formed in the next 
60 days, and the plant must truly “work 
like sixty’’ to produce them. It will 
need potash and phosphoric acid in 
particular. I shall use corn fertilizer 
on all the small fruits. Last Spring, we 
found, on one of our back fields, a smaT 
patch of early wild strawberries. They 
were unusually large, and far ahead of 
anything around us in ripening. Wheth¬ 
er some bird dropped the original seed, 
or whether this patch ran away from 
cultivation, I do not know. I think, 
however, that there is something in that 
lonely patch that may mend a hole in 
the strawberry supply, and I shall try 
to sew it on. \Ve are digging up good 
plants and setting them in the rich soil 
at the lower end of the farm, where they 
will be fed and tended. Perhaps civil¬ 
ized food will give more power to their 
fruit buds. What other plants should 
be fertilized in the Fall? The Fall g ain 
should be fed. Where one is using 
chemicals I think most of the potash 
and phosphoric acid might well be 
spread 'in Fan or Winter provided some 
green crop is left to grow. On our hilly 
farm it would be folly to use much ni¬ 
trogen in the Fall. If I were to use 
stable manui'e in the Fall I should plow 
it in and not leave it on top of the 
ground. On level land, or that with a 
gentle slope, this advice would not be 
entirely sound. 
Potato Notes.— The potatoes are 
slowly gaining. The tops have been 
satisfactory all Summer, but the tubers 
would not set and grow. They are now 
gaining, and may make a small crop yet. 
I think that the chance for a large crop 
has passed. Still, prices this year are 
such that a yield of 100 bushels p;r acie 
would give as much clear money as 200 
bushels in a year of plenty. ... As 
to future prices I am satisfied that most 
estimates are wild guesses and little 
else. The early crop is short, and many 
people who often hold until September 
have dug too early—tempted by the tre¬ 
mendous price. On the other hand, good 
reports of late potatoes are often based 
on the appearance of the vines which, 
this year, is the poorest possible guide. 
Again, people will eat turnips, cabbage 
and boiled rice in place of potatoes 
when the price goes to about $3.50 or $1 
per barrel. It is true, on the other hand, 
that thousands of barrels which in an 
average season would be made into 
starch will this year be sold as food. 
With all these conditions who can tell? 
I expect to sell all I can spare this Fall 
as soon after digging as possible. . . 
. The most promising potatoes I have 
to-day are those planted in a natura.ly 
wet field which was covered with stable 
manure. They were planted very late 
in June, and while the field has been 
flooded again and again the vines are 
strong and vigorous. That is a little 
rough on the theories of a man who has 
said as much as I have about stable 
manui’e and potatoes. However, diggmg 
time is a good way off yet. The actual 
tubers may oe so smooth and large that 
they will stamp on every corn on the 
feet of my theories—or they may be so 
small and scabby that they will pat it 
on the back. It is not safe, though, to 
turn a theory loose without putting 
some sort of hobble or halter on it. 
Naturae vs. Trained.- I have never 
cared much for fast horses, but the 
speed locked up in the legs and lungs 
of our lively colt has started a new in¬ 
terest in trotting records. Last week 
a horse trotted a mile in 2:03yt. 'Ihe 
point of interest to me is how much of 
that speevi is natural and how much is 
due to training and perfect conditions. 
lAke the same horse on a farm. Let 
him earn his living like any other farm¬ 
er—with a turn at the cultivator or 
plow, or hauling a good-sized vehicle 
over rough country roads. As a farmer 
—without race-horse training, what 
would be his natural speed? Charlie 
spent several years in caring for such 
horses, and he says that under these 
natural conditions The Abbot and the 
other flyers could barely squeeze the 
mile inside of three minutes. From all 
I can learn that is a fair statement of 
what human skill can do to hasten the 
passage of 5,280 feet through a watch. 
Much the same thing probably holds 
true of a cow, a hog, a tree or a field of 
corn. There are forces at work in all of 
them which are capable of doing a cer¬ 
tain amount of work when left to do it 
in a natural w’ay. They will do better 
when given the care and training which 
is common among men, but their high¬ 
est excellence is not natural, but a hu¬ 
man attribute grafted or budded into 
them by a trained and patient mind. 
No, I don’t imagine that 1 am capable 
of trimming 4U seconds or so off Maria’s 
natural record. I am not going to try 
it, for I teel sure that the mortgage 
would fatten at the race track. 1 shall, 
however, try to work out the same i<lea 
in the apple and peach orchards. 
Faieu Gaol'S.—The wet weather con¬ 
tinues. August is crowding full of dark 
and cheerless days, with a deluge of 
rain at intervals, which keeps the 
ground well soaked. What a growth of 
weeds we have! We have mowed them 
down on the stubble fields, but still they 
come. It will make a fine lot of “hn- 
mus’’ to plow in, but I am not quite in 
the humor to enjoy the appearance of 
the farm plate when cleaned up with 
ragweed. I call this a poor year for the 
Clark system of grass seeding, for with 
these cloudy days and constant showers 
it is next to impossible to kui out the 
weeds. . . I realize how hard it is 
to clean ordinary land of weeds oefore 
seeding. Last year we worked one field 
again and again, until it seemed as 
though every separate grain had been 
exposed to the sun and air. Yet, with 
the second growth of grass the ragweeds 
are coming in as if all that culture was 
a mere scratch on the back. 
The corn which was sown broadcast late 
in July is making a heavy growth on 
the field; where the Crimson clover was 
plowed in it is already nearly shoulder 
high, and of a dark green color. That 
will give us good horse feed this Winter. 
At the top of the hill we planted Ever¬ 
green sweet corn on August 6. It is 
growing well, and should the frost hang 
off as long as last year it will make 
ears. . . . The Crimson clover and 
Cowhorn turnips are up and doing. No, 
I do not expect Cowhorn turnips so long 
that a yard will not hold them. • Half 
that length will satisfy me, though of 
course I shall want to know why other 
folks can grow longer ones. .... 
Our pear crop is fair, and picking has 
begun. Two years ago I put a heavy 
coat of hog manure on the pear orchard. 
Experts predicted blight, but there has 
been little of it, but rather a very fine 
growth of new wood. I must say that 
last year we had cultivated crops and 
this year rye in that orchard. These 
other crops must have taken the curse 
out of that hog manure, so that What 
was left proved a blessing to the pear 
trees.__ ir. w. c. 
THE SHORT POTATO CROP. 
The following statement, taken from the 
New York Sun, will interest potato grow¬ 
ers. The views of the consumers have 
much to do with the demand for food; 
“If the reports from various parts of the 
United States, notably from New England 
and the South, are trustworthy, the peo¬ 
ple of this country may soon have to 
economize in the use of potatoes or pay 
extravagant prices for them. It is alleged 
that the southern potato crop this year 
is a failure, that the western yield Is 
poor, and that throughout the Middle 
West and in all the States north of Mary¬ 
land the crop is much below the average. 
Indeed, of all the States prominent as 
potato growers, Maryland appears to be 
ihe only one expected to maintain its 
average of former years. It has been 
estimated that the total potato crop of the 
country for 1901 will not yield over m- 
000,000 bushels, or about one-half the 
quantity of other year’s. Of course, those 
tigures represent all the domestic pota¬ 
toes that will be available for export and 
home consumption. Persons who in the 
past have heard reports similar to these 
regarding a scarcity of potatoes may be 
• _.1 4.-. «■ nni*/ /’•iivrPTit* 
heat and not enough rain when needed 
seem to have put the crop in a bad way; 
and, strangely enough, no blame what¬ 
ever has fallen on the Potato bug, despite 
the fact that for several weeks past that 
little fellow has been extremely active. 
It is possible, therefoi’e, that, instead of 
exporting large quantities of potatoes, as 
in former years, we shall be forced to 
seek foreign markets for enough of the 
article to supply our own tables.’’_ 
inclined to discredit those now current, 
but the prices quoted for the staple in 
several cities of the Union tend to show 
that the foregoing statements are, at 
least, approximately correct. In a single 
day of last week the price of potatoes in 
Providence jumped from $3 to $3.75 per 
barrel as the result of a large purchase 
by dealers in Massachusetts, where the 
price per barrel has reached $6. On the 
day following this deal potatoes sold in 
Rhode Island at $4.50 a barrel and $1.60 a 
bushel. The market for this vegetable 
has advanced no less strikingly in other 
places. In New York the wholesale price 
Iier barrel for Long Island potatoes ranges 
from $3 to $4, with a strong tendency up¬ 
ward; in Chicago and Cleveland it is from 
.$3.50 to $4; in I’ittsburg from $1.50 to $4.75, 
while the prevailing quotations just now 
in and about Puffalo are such as almost 
to incline intending visitors at the Expo¬ 
sition to carry a limited supply of pota¬ 
toes with them for personal u.se. The only 
explanation of the shortage given thus 
far is that the weather conditions through¬ 
out the regions wheie the yield is most 
affeetetl have been unfavorable to a good 
croi). These adverse conditions appear to 
have extended over a vast area, which in¬ 
cludes not only a large section of the 
United States, but also parts of Canada 
which, h therto, have produced this vege¬ 
table in abundance. Briefly, excessive 
Big Sheaves 
result from the use of fertilizers con¬ 
taining liberal percentages of 
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