100 
THE RURAL NEW-VOfeKEk. 
EEB 15 
them better in these times of depression in 
the price of most farm products. J. w. H. 
Nebraska. 
Sweetwater, Buffalo County.—The crops 
of small grains last season were unusually 
light on account of dry, hot weather during 
the growing season, and extremely wet 
weather during harvest. Corn-cribs are 
full and running over. Prices range from 45 
to 50 cents for wheat, 13 cents for corn and 
oats, three cents per pound fo.r hogs, and 
from two to three cents for fat cattle. 
Farmers are anxiously asking: What shall 
we do when the railroads are taking half of 
what we raise, for hauling to market, and 
it costs the other half and a littJe more to 
pay for labor, taxes, etc.? The fault is surely 
not in the land or the climate. The land is 
a rich sandy loam. We usually have early 
springs and late falls, giving a wide range 
for a variety of crops. Small fruits do well 
if properly cared for. Apples have not been 
a success. I think we shall try mulching 
while the ground is frozen, thus holding 
them back until after late frosts in the 
spring. I think farmers in Nebraska try 
to hold too much land. Most of them came 
here with a small amount of capital, land 
•was easy to get, and they have made the 
mistake of tryiug to run large farms on the 
credit system. A large amount of money 
is invested in farm machinery. A great 
deal of it is bought on time and cut-throat 
notes are given. When due, they must be 
paid, and many of the farmers must bor¬ 
row money at from two to three per cent, a 
month, or lose what they have paid. It 
seems to me that the only way out is to re¬ 
duce the size of the farms, feed the products 
of the farm to improved stock, and pay 
more attention to the small items of profit 
about the farm. f. R. 
Pennsylvania. 
Mulberry, York County, January 27.— 
We have had an open winter and much 
rain; farmers can work nearly all the time. 
Much plowing has been done during win¬ 
ter so far. Winter grain looks fairly well 
on an average. Some very late-sowed 
doesn’t appear as well as it might. The 
crops for 1889 were: corn very good ; oats 
good; wheat medium; potatoes good, but 
there has been some rot. Hay was very 
good, but was not secured in good con¬ 
dition as we had too much rain. We have 
not been able to secure ice so far this 
winter; but we have hopes still. Last year 
we got it in February. Prices are: wheat, 
75 cents; corn, 37 cents; oats, 30 cents; 
bran, $15 per ton; hogs, net, five to 5)4 cents ; 
beef, two to 2)4 cents on hoof; eggs, 12 to 
13 cents per dozen; butter, 20 to 25 cents 
per pound; honey, in the comb, 18 to 25 
cents; extracted, 15 cents. L. w. L. 
ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS. 
(Every query must be accompanied by the 
name and address of the writer to insure atten¬ 
tion. Before asking a question, please see if it 
is not answered in our advertising columns. 
Ask only a few questions at one time. Put 
questions on a separate piece of paper.1 
HOW ARE THE POTATOES ? 
Several Subscribers!.—Are potatoes 
sprouting badly this winter ? What do 
growers do to prevent sprouting ? How 
often do farmers change their seed ? To 
what extent do large growers test the 
newer varieties each year ? 
Ans.—H ere are a few replies from differ¬ 
ent States. Our own potatoes are not 
sprouting to any extent except in the case 
of a few early varieties. 
FROM E. B. TRUE. 
I either pit out my seed potatoes or put 
them in an out-door cellar, which is built 
in a bank. At present I have about 400 
bushels of potatoes in it. I was in it last 
week and found the potatoes keeping finely. 
Only a very few at the door were chilled. I 
have 400 bushels or over buried in pits. I 
have found this a fine way to winter seed po¬ 
tatoes. If so buried they will not freeze, nor 
will water settle in the bottom of the pits. 
The seeds will not sprout and will be as 
sound and bright when taken out as when 
they were put in. They will indeed, I 
think, be in the very best condition for 
planting. 
There is a great difference in varieties in 
regard to early sprouting. Early sorts 
will start unless kept in a very cold cellar 
or buried. The nearer to the freezing 
point all potatoes are kept the better. I 
shall not buy much seed the coming 
spring. I made my arrangements last fall; 
anticipating that seed would be high this 
spring. I usually buy some grown 
on different soils and so change 
my seed. I have tried a good many 
of the new varieties; but only to 
improve my crop. I have never done this 
for speculation, and when I have found a 
variety suited to our locality I have fur¬ 
nished my neighbors with some at prices 
that have enabled them to use them. I 
would try more new varieties if they were 
sold at a reasonable price. I raise the 
Beauty of Hebron, or something that re¬ 
sembles it, as this .variety sells the best. 
I raise the Early Queen for early and the 
White Elephant for late. 
Newport, Vt. 
FROM C. II. EVERETT. 
My potatoes do not show any signs of 
sprouting yet. If they did I would try to 
keep them as cool as possible without freez¬ 
ing, and the air dry. I believe in the old 
saying that an ounce of prevention is worth 
a pound of cure, so I endeavor to keep the 
tubers cool and dry. All of the cellars 
that have been built within a few years 
around here have been built with two ob¬ 
jects uppermost in the minds of the build¬ 
ers : first, to keep out frost and, second, to 
afford perfect ventilation. Of course some 
varieties will sprout more readily than 
others, yet I think the temperature has 
more to do with the sprouting than any¬ 
thing else. I shall plant seed that I have 
raised myself entirely, unless I should find 
in some seedsman’s catalogue some promis¬ 
ing variety, after making large allowance 
for exaggeration. The reports of the trials 
of the R. N.-Y. have had quite an influ¬ 
ence with me in investing in new varieties; 
but my expectations based upon these 
trials have been far from realized. I have 
had more failures than successes with new 
varieties ; but as I enjoy testing them and 
have thus obtained a few very choice varie¬ 
ties of vegetables, I shall keep on trying 
new kinds; but I have come to the conclu¬ 
sion that it is best to start in a small way 
and not expect too much because some one 
has reported a phenomenal yield. 
Avoca, N. Y. 
FROM E. H. COLLIN’S. 
I have not adopted the advice to dig the 
isolated best hills of potatoes for.seed. The 
finest vines often cover hills of many medi¬ 
um-sized potatoes ; while the small-look¬ 
ing hills usually contain a few quite large 
tubers. Practically selecting “seed” po¬ 
tatoes has been much like selecting wheat 
seed. One can use coarse screens and save 
about one-fifth of his wheat for seed, and 
the grains will be fine and large; but in ex¬ 
amining the heads he will find that these 
finest grains are in short heads containing 
but a few kernels; while medium-sized 
grains are found in prolific heads. It is 
also very tedious work and seems a waste 
ot fine weather to potter about hunting 
seed, and if one had to plant 100 bushels it 
would be expensive. It is too much like 
picking beetles off of potato vines. I often 
put up potatoes from a thrifty plot from 
which to save seed by pitting some of them 
18 inches deep in a dry knoll beside 
a drive-way and covering them with 
straw, shingle-fashion; then after cool 
weather begins I cover them with earth, 
say, six inches on top and deeper at the 
sides. After the ground has frozen about 
through, I cover them well with chaff, pre¬ 
ferring to bury as much snow as possible 
under the chaff. Potatoes will remain in 
this condition under the protection from 
sun and wind afforded by timber till very 
late, and I have sometimes found frozen 
earth in places when uncovering them to 
cut them for planting. Yet the tubers in 
the upper foot of the pile have usually 
sprouted to some extent, probably on ac¬ 
count of warm weather in the fall. The 
sprouts have, however, seen no light, and 
seem to be mostly water. I do not think 
them harmful; while a large, rank sprout 
in an open cellar would ruin a potato for 
seed. I now select potatoes of the size of a 
hen’s egg and larger, especially avoiding 
wasp-waisted and tapering ones, and cut to 
one eye where the eyes are large and to 
two or more where they are smaller. Tem¬ 
perature and variety certainly control 
sprouting. I endeavor to make the stor¬ 
age control temperature. The Burbanks 
will bear a considerably higher tempera¬ 
ture without sprouting than the early va¬ 
rieties. I and a few friends have bought 
potatoes from New York and Michigan ; 
but I have not had satisfactory results; 
but I fear the seed was chilled at least in 
two cases. I have not been “ trying ” new 
varieties of late till some of my well-to-do, 
restless neighbors have proved them suc¬ 
cessful here. I used to try them ; but a 
patch is irksome and I do not like to allow 
any small side business to cause friction in 
my busy mouths. I bought one bag (two 
bushels) of Beauty of Hebron seed from 
Ferry last fall for this spring’s planting. 
His seed came from Maine last spring. 
Mattsville, Ind. 
FROM C. E. CHAPMAN. 
I have just returned from the potato cel¬ 
lar, and will give a few notes. It is an or¬ 
dinary house cellar, with walls of masonry, 
but there are no cracks and the windows 
are double-glazed and covered to exclude 
light. It is very tight, being but little af¬ 
fected by outside changes of temperature. 
It is on the principle of a liot-water incuba¬ 
tor : “ Heat and cold can be confined and 
retained.” When the cellar is becoming 
warm, the door is opened and the tempera¬ 
ture is lowered to 36 degrees; and, if the air 
is warm outside, the cellar is shut up tight¬ 
ly and heat is kept out. The bins are 
wooden, with floors two inches from the 
cellar bottom, and the sides are kept at a 
short distance from the walls, so as to al¬ 
low a free circulation of air. A well in one 
corner receives the water from a spring. 
This probably adds moisture to the air. I 
do not know whether this is of any benefit, 
but I do know that we have never lost any 
tubers by rot, and I could not find the least 
sign of sprouting in even the earliest variet y. 
We are not troubled by sprouting until the 
middle of April or first of May. I cut my 
seed, at this time, into crates, using a lib¬ 
eral amount of land plaster, which dries up 
the potato juice so that the pieces will not 
stick together. It also keeps them from 
heating, and by its coolness and exclusion 
of air, keeps them from sprouting. Last 
year I planted on May 20. At that time, on 
the seed so treated, the buds were swelled 
enough for good growth, but not enough 
to break off. 
I can not imagine a worse “fix” than 
for one to open a pit, when ready to plant, 
and find himself out of seed. One can bury 
seed potatoes to keep them from sprouting, 
but it is hard work and the loss is often 
great by rotting or heating. It is not con¬ 
venient to fill shipping orders from a pit, 
and opening it exposes the contents to a 
change of temperature. The annual loss 
and extra expense of labor will pay in a few 
years for a good potato cellar. From re¬ 
peated experiments for 10 years, I have 
come to the conclusion that no method of 
care or selection known to me will overcome 
the enervating effect of disease and bugs, 
or the lack of a full growth and maturity, 
which an impoverished soil causes. The 
following sentence should be framed and 
hung up where the farmer will see it every 
morning from now until seeding time : 
“ Some varieties of all classes of vegeta¬ 
bles, yield, invariably, more than others; 
a small per cent, of added cost for seed 
which has this characteristic, pays a large 
profit.” 
I received an extra yield of 60 bushels 
this season, per acre, by changing the va¬ 
riety, all other conditions being alike. 
This was more than the cost of production. 
I shall not need to change again for two or 
three years, but I shall try to have suffi¬ 
cient seed of some newer variety ready to 
take the place of the kinds I am now using 
when they begin to fail. I do not invest 
largely in any new variety that is offered, 
but I have never lost money by buying 
good-yielding kinds that have been tested. 
Tompkins County, N. Y. 
FROM D. C. LEWIS. 
My potatoes show some sprouts that are 
due to the moderate weather. If they 
should sprout freely. I would shovel them 
over and change their position—that would 
stop their sprouting. If they should not 
sprout I should attribute it to the temper¬ 
ature or the variety. My Elephants do not 
sprout; neither do the Monroe Seedlings; 
the Queens, Roses, and Crown Jewels do. 
Indeed all the earlier varieties do. I never 
try more than one new kind in a season, 
preferring to depend on such as have proved 
satisfactory. I shall plant 11 acres of pota¬ 
toes, and shall purchase enough new seed 
for two to 2)4 acres. 
Cranbury, N. J. 
FROM R. BRODIE. 
My seed potatoes have not showed any 
sign of sprouting, except under the cellar 
window, where I emptied the loads into 
the cellar. The clay that was on the tubers 
(on account of the wet season) accumulated 
there and caused them to begin to sprout 
early in the winter; but I set to work im¬ 
mediately with my potato separator and 
sorted them all and removed the sprouts 
and clay. In no other part of the cellar 
have the potatoes begun to sprout. I keep 
my cellar dark and at a low temperature; 
in fact, it got too low during the cold snap 
and high wind we had a few days ago, and 
a few bushels of small potatoes near the 
door got frozen. It is not good to open the 
root cellar when spring weather comes, for 
what will keep out the cold will keep out 
the heat, and keep the potatoes in good 
condition for seed time. About every two 
years I buy a part of my seed potatoes, 
choosing them frorti stiff clay soil to be 
planted on my lighter soils. On my own 
place I have different varieties of soils— 
gravelly, black sandy loam, clay-loam and 
black muck, (celery soil) giving me oppor¬ 
tunities of change of soil without going off 
my own farm. I never buy seed potatoes 
off the ships or cars; for they are apt to 
get badly mixed ; but it pays better to get 
them from some reliable grower. I do not 
make it a rule to try the new varieties each 
year, but occasionally I get those that are 
highly recommended. The early potatoes 
1 grow are the Early Gem, Lee’s Favorite, 
and Beauty of Hebron and Early Maine 
for the general crop. I had the It. N.-Y. 
No. 2, Crown Jewel and Puritan under 
trial last year: but hope to have a more 
favorable season free from blight this year. 
In nearly every seedsman’s catalogue I 
see new varieties of potatoes highly boomed 
as being better than anything that has yet 
been introduced. I would rather trust the 
experience of reliable potato growers from 
different sections of the country, published 
in the R. N.-Y. Varieties that are profit¬ 
able in the South and on the rich Western 
prairie soil, might not do well in our “ Cold 
North.” During the past few years it has 
been those varieties (like those I mentioned 
above) that have ripened their crops before 
the blight has come that have been most 
profitable. 
St. Henry of Montreal, Canada. 
MILLET FOR FEEDING. 
L. G ., McKeen County, Pa .—What is 
the R. N.-Y.’s experience in growing and 
feeding millet ? 1. What is its feeding 
value as compared with that of other 
grains ? 2. Is there danger of ill results 
to stock fed on it ? 3. What variety gives 
the best yield of grain ? The growth of 
corn here for the past few years has been 
almost a total failure on account of the 
ravages of the wire-worms and the question 
has naturally arisen : What crop shall we 
grow as a substitute as far as possible for 
coru? My experience with millet has been 
quite satisfactory, and I would like to have 
some of the readers of the R. N.-Y. give 
their experience in growing and feeding it. 
Ans.—T he R. N.-Y has not had experi¬ 
ence with feeding millet Prof. H. H. Wing 
writes as follows concerning the matter : 
1. I am not aware that millet or Hungar. 
ian is ordinarily grown for the grain in this 
country. It is much the more common 
practice to cut and cure the whole plant 
for hay. The only analysis that I have been 
able to find is reported from the Agricul¬ 
tural Experiment Station at Middletown. 
Conn, in 1877-8. The analyses were made 
at three different stages of growth viz: 
when the heads were partly filled ; when 
the heads were well filled but the seeds soft, 
and when the heads were ripe and the seeds 
hard. It was found that the proportion of 
albuminoids decreased as ripening progress¬ 
ed, the nutritive ratio for the three periods 
being as one is to 6.4, 9.1, and 13.2 respective¬ 
ly, or to make comparison with other fod¬ 
ders, the composition of the Hungarian hay 
at the first period was not greatly different 
from that of clover hay of good quality ; 
while at the last period it was somewhat 
poorer in albuminoids than Timothy hay. 
The yield of dry hay per acre was greatest 
at the time of the second cutting in the 
pr< portion of 5.9, 6.1 and 4 for the differ¬ 
ent periods. The cuttings were made on 
July 17, August 3 and August 18,1876. I 
have mentioned, this in detail because it is 
in direct opposition to what has been found 
true of fodder-corn by several of the experi¬ 
ment stations. 2. There is no danger in 
feeding millet or Hungarian hay to almost 
any kind of live stock if fed in moderation 
and the millet is not allowed to become too 
ripe before cutting. If the seed has become 
too hard before the crop is cut it has a 
powerful irritating effect upon the kidneys, 
especially of horses. Well-cured millet hay 
is greedily eaten by all classes of live stock. 
3. The most common varieties are com- 
