VOL. XLIX. NO. 2o9o. NEW YORK, FEBRUARY i5, i89o. 
PRICE, FIVE CENTS. 
$ 2.00 PER YEAR. 
rEntered According to Act of Congress in the Year 1890 by the Rural New-Yorker, in the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, D. C.) 
An Oversight. 
The First Prize Awarded 
to the Second Prize-tak¬ 
twentieth of an acre. The land was a rol¬ 
ling yellow loam and moist muck. When 
plowed, it was back-furrowed up so that 
the land was quite rolling. The dead-fur¬ 
row was cleaned out with a shovel. The 
ground was used as a cow-yard three years 
ago and was covered with cow droppings. 
Next year potatoes were raised and the 
crop was good. Last year it was manured 
with horse manure at the rate of 100 loads 
per acre, and three barrels of ashes were 
put on it and it yielded at the rate of 750 
bushels of potatoes per acre. The plot was 
plowed last fall and again on April 20, and 
five good loads of horse manure were spread 
on it, together with three barrels of ashes. 
The manure was worth 75 cents per load ; 
except putting the dirt around the vines. 
The vines were 2% feet high and the stems 
were from a quarter to half an inch in 
diameter. The vines bloomed the last of 
June and commenced to die September 1, 
and were all dead when the crop was har¬ 
vested—on September 27. There were only 
a very few potato beetles on the vines and 
these were mostly on the outside rows, 
and I knocked them off into a pan. I 
raised on this plot 53 1-12 bushels—2,735 
pounds of marketable and 450 pounds of 
unmarketable potatoes—or at the rate of 
1,061% bushels to the acre. The potatoes 
averaged shapely and smooth. In another 
contest I would proceed in the same way, 
and feel sure I can improve on this record. 
er, the Second to the 
Third, Etc., Etc. 
1,061 2-3 Bushels to the 
Acre. Area, One-twen¬ 
tieth of an Acre. 
Probably the Largest Potato 
Yield on One-twentieth of 
an Acre on Record. 
How the Oversight Occurred, 
The R. N.-Y., of course, pays 
$200 in Cash instead 
of $ 1 00. 
XPLANATION.— 
There were so many 
entries to the Wo¬ 
men’s National Po¬ 
tato Contest that it 
was deemed by the 
judges expedient to 
make brief sum¬ 
maries of each re¬ 
port according to 
the yield. These 
summaries were 
pasted on long 
sheets of paper, and 
at length cut out 
and pasted on other 
sheets, in the order of yield, for publication. 
It so happened that the very first prize-tak¬ 
er slip was laid aside and forgotten until 
the It. N.-Y. was reminded by the prize- 
taker herself that the first prize was not 
fairly awarded. 
The R. N.-Y. is responsible for the error, 
and, in the place of removing back all the 
prize-takers one point, it is decided to award 
the premiums according to the announce¬ 
ments already made, aud to add $100 in 
payment of the first prize. 
MRS. SELINDA E. JONES’S REPORT. 
THE FIRST PRIZE-TAKER. 
The size of the plot was 2x4 rods or oue- 
Mrs. SELINDA E. JONES. Fig. 37. 
the ashes, 10 cents per bushel and there 
were nine bushels. It was plowed again on 
May 15, 10 inches deep. The potatoes were 
planted on May 16, the rows having been 
marked out with a shovel plow, two feet 
apart or a little over. There were, in all, 
15 rows, four rods long. The variety was 
the White Elephant. The pieces were of 
good size with two eyes to a piece, and they 
were planted eight inches apart. The 
weight of the potatoes planted was 297 
pounds. They were planted iu trenches 
two to three inches deep. The weather 
was very wet and cool from planting time 
to July 1; after that date it was dry and 
warmer till September 1. Thu plot was 
mulched to the depth of two to three inches 
with woods “ dirt ” and some earth from 
the adjoining land. I commenced mulch¬ 
ing when the vines were three to four inches 
high. This was all the cultivating done 
I was born on January 1, 1851: My 
father was a farmer and one of the first 
settlers in the town of Charlotte, N. Y. I 
was married to Jacob Jones on April 21, 
1875. Then we moved to Mitchell County, 
Iowa. My husband bought a cheese fac¬ 
tory and I assisted him in making the 
cheese. We remained there till 1S80, when 
we sold the factory and moved to Bradford, 
Pa. My husband speculated in buying 
and selling butter and cheese and farm 
produce. In 1883 we bought a farm of 125 
acres in the town of Charlotte, N. Y. We 
keep a dairy of from 10 to 15 cows and 
raise about two colts a year. Raising colts 
we find profitable. We have taken the 
R. N.-Y. for two years and have profited by 
its teachings, especially in the way of rais¬ 
ing potatoes. I have four children—three 
girls and one boy. BELINDA E. JONES. 
Chautauqua County, N. Y. 
MRS. ELIZA DAY. 
[Mrs. Day’s report of her potato yield 
and how it was produced, appeared on 
page 835—December 21. It was then as¬ 
sumed that she was the first prize-taker.— 
Eds.] 
I WAS born on August 3, 1820, in Fayette 
County, Pa. I lived on a farm until I was 
16 years old. Then my mother died, leav¬ 
ing me, the oldest of five children, to keep 
house until father married again. Shortly 
afterwards we moved to Uniontown, Pa., 
where I worked at dressmaking. In the 
spring of 1842, we moved to Galena, Ill., 
going by steamboat from Brownsville, Pa., 
down the Ohio and up the Mississippi. 
That fall I was married to Isaac Day, and 
went to housekeeping on a farm seven 
miles east of Galena, and lived there until 
1854. Then we went to Chatfield, Minn., 
where we kept a hotel for three years, 
until we were burned out. Then we went 
on a farm for four years. After that we 
moved to town again, where I lived until 
my husband died. Soon after I went to 
Cheyenne, Wyo., to live with and keep 
house for my brother, W. J. Sturgis. There 
I lived for three years. We moved to near 
Buffalo, Johnson County, Wyoming, in 
October, 1880, where I am still living with 
my brother. I have been running a dairy 
of from 15 to 25 cows for the last eight 
years. I enjoy reading the Rural New- 
Yorker very much and think it is indis¬ 
pensable on a farm. 
Buffalo, Wyoming. 
EMMA HISSAM. 
(FOURTH PRIZE.) 
[Miss Hissam’s report of her yield and 
how it was raised appeared on page 836— 
December 21. Eds.] 
I was born in the town of Somerset, 
Steele County, Minnesota, on December 
23d, IS63. My parents lived on a farm, so 
most of my life has been spent on one. 
When I was 13 years old, father died, and 
mother was left alone to battle with the 
world. We were a family of seven, and 
the oldest were girls, so we had to take the 
lead in the work. I have plowed, dug 
potatoes, husked corn, bound grain and 
raked, loaded and stacked hay. I have 
done and can do almost any kind of work 
on a farm. I can also do all kinds of 
housework. I have taught four terms of 
school. I was left an orphan at the age of 
17, and have supported myself ever 
since. I am now 26 years old, and am 
single. I think women would be healthier 
if they did more outdoor work. I like to 
work out-of-doors, and one year I hired 
out to load grain for a dollar a day. I am 
healthy, weigh 165 pounds, and am five 
feet four and three-fourth inches in hight. 
I am not afraid of work, and will do any¬ 
thing that is honorable to make a living. 
I think farming is the most independent 
w*ay of doing so. I say to the boys : “ Stick 
to the farm.” 
- MRS. M. J. COVELL. 
FIFTH PRIZE. 
[Mrs. Covell’s report of her yield and 
how it was raised appeared on page 836— 
December 21, Eds.] 
I WAS born in Chatham (now Portland) 
Middlesex County, Connecticut, in the 
year 1822, aud lived there until 1829, when 
