i89o 
THE RURAL NFW-YORKER 
249 
work ; and nothing but good can come of his having some 
regular and useful labor to do, so long as it does not over¬ 
tax his strength, and so long as it does allow him time for 
play. No greater blessing can fall to the lot of a boy than 
to be “ brought up ” by a father who teaches him in the 
right way—that is, by example—the dignity aud necessity 
of labor both of hand and Irrain. Many people who 
would not allow a boy to be overworked physically, seem 
to think that mentally the boy is a man, and expect him 
never to make mistakes but to be always thoughtful and 
accurate in his judgments. Is it more reasonable to scold 
a boy because he has forgotten to do somethiug which an 
older person would have remembered than to expect him 
to do a man’s work ? The question “ Why do boys leave 
the farm ?” has been discussed for some years ; I suggest 
for discussion: “ Why do boys stay on the farm ?*’ Let 
us hear from the boys who are staying. 
Minnesota City, Minn. jas. m. drew. 
RASPBERRIES AND BLACKBERRIES ON LONG 
ISLAND. 
Raspberries.— Here, along the north shore of Long 
Island, the climate is moderately mild; six degrees below 
zero is our severest cold in winter; in fact, the temperature 
seldom falls below zero more than once or twice during a 
winter and then only for a night or two; and although we 
get some bitter north-west storms we are not subject to 
the severe wind storms common on the south side of the 
island. It will thus be seen that most varieties of raspber¬ 
ries, if sheltered from wind, are hardy here without being 
laid down or buried over winter. We grow our raspberries 
in rows four by five feet apart, and allow five to six fruit¬ 
ing canes to each stool. And we stake the plants. One 
plantation is staked with the fruiting canes tied upright 
to the stakes and the young canes allowed to arch over at 
freedom ; another has the fruiting canes tied into an arch 
and the young canes fastened upright but loosely. 
As soon after the raspberries have been picked as I can 
manage it, I cut out all the canes that bore fruit so as to 
give the young canes more room to ripen up, and I also cut 
out all slender, spindly stems. About the end of October 
I sort the vines; that is, gather together and tie them up, 
and shorten and thin them a little if needed; in fact, finish 
pruning and tying them. Then I make a 
temporary fence of red cedar and spruce 
branches on the north and northwest sides 
of them to save them from wind, and they 
winter well. In another plantation, while 
I tie them up a little for tidiness’ sake, I 
do not prune them till spring lest the win¬ 
ter should injure them and I would have 
to prune them again anyway. But rasp¬ 
berry vines that are allowed to hang around 
loose in winter are hardier than those that 
are tied up to stakes; and in the case of 
Brinckle’s Orange or other tender sorts, 
laying down the canes about the end of 
November and covering them over with 
earth is the only sure way of saving them. 
Vines that have been pruned and staked 
over winter need no further care in this 
way in spring ; vines that have been staked 
but not pruned should be headed down to 
four or five feet according to the vigor of 
the plants. Last October, with a sharp 
spade, I had a narrow strip between the 
rows dug over deep so as to get rid.of in¬ 
terlacing roots and suckers, and the rest of 
the ground was forked over lightly. Then, 
in December, I threw two good forkfuls of 
rough manure around each crown as a slight 
protection in winter, and a fertilizer anyway, to remain 
there as a mulch in summer. 
When the spring opens there is really very little to do in 
our raspberry patch till the first of May, when with sharp 
scuflle hoes we have to run over the surface of the grouud 
every few days to cut off suckers as well as mellow the 
soil and keep it clean. It is a common practice in summer 
to shorten back the young vines to two or three feet from 
the ground to cause them to branch out and in this way 
give a larger fruiting surface than they would have as 
long single canes. This is all right if done very early ; 
then the lateral branches have time to mature properly before 
winter, but if the operation is delayed till, say, the end of 
June, they do not ripen up sufficiently to be perfectly hardy 
over winter. 
Blackberries. —Our blackberry stools are about six feet 
apart each way, and we leave four to six vines to each hill. 
We use stout stakes and two strands of wire run along 
them fence-fashiou. The finer blackberries are more ten¬ 
der with us than are the raspberries, and are especially 
impatient of winter winds, and to save, them from these I 
run a temporary screen of evergreen brush on the north 
side of the plantation. Where the position is naturally 
well-sheltered, however, as by contiguous buildings or a 
fence, this screen is not needed. I prune and tie them up in 
late fall because it is so much work done, and dig and fork 
between them and mulch around the stools with manure 
as described under the heading of raspberries, so that in 
spring I have nothing more to do to them till I start the 
hoe among them. When the summer opens they grow 
very vigorously, and as soon as the vines have attained a 
length of four or five feet I shorten them back nearly half 
their length, to make them branch, but this must be done 
early else they will not ripen up well. 
By picking time they generally are a fierce thicket and I 
usually have to use the hedge shears to open a pathway 
among them, and I always do this in the fall at pruning 
time. In pruning I shorten the canes to about five feet in 
the case of those trained erect to stakes, aud six feet in 
the case of those tieil down in arch-form, and cut in the 
laterals from four to seven inches accordingto the strength 
of the vines and the goodness of the buds. During the 
summer time I go in among the vines and tie up to the 
stakes or wires any that are very heavy and likely to break 
down or be broken by trampling among them. I never 
cut out the old wood till the final pruning in November. 
The very best blackberry plantation in this neighborhood 
is on a strip of ground along a fence bordering a close 
timber belt, and nothing whatever Is done to this planta¬ 
tion except to cut out the dead wood every April. The 
land is a hazel loam and the inclosure a well tilled vege¬ 
table patch and young orchard. We are very much 
troubled here with the blackberry rust; it is not only de¬ 
structive to our garden plants, but it abounds everywhere 
in the vicinity among the wild blackberries. I have found 
neither prevention nor cure for it. Just as soon as I notice 
it among our cultivated plants I root out the diseased ones 
and burn them up. wm. falconer. 
WAITING FOR DINNER. 
A VIEW ON ANDERSON RANCH DAIRY, KERN COUNTY, 
CALIFORNIA. 
The Anderson Ranch is one of the famous cattle farms 
and dairies in California. It comprises 970 acres, about 
three miles west of Bakersfield, and is abundantly sup¬ 
plied with water. Three hundred cows are kept here, and 
about 200 are milked. Twelve men are employed, nine of 
them milkers. The calves are taken from the cows when 
one day old, and fed warm new milk from the creamery. 
They are soon assorted according to age on each side of a 
long shed, each calf being in a separate stall, with a rack 
in front for its milk basin. There were 210 calves in this 
shed when the photograph, see Figure 72, was taken. When 
four or five months old the calves go to the Alfalfa fields 
and the grass pastures. The stock is partly Short-horn, 
partly Holstein-Friesian. The daily yield of milk is about 
400 gallons, and the batter shipments are about 1,800 two- 
pound rolls per month. Another great Kern County dairy 
is Mountain View, comprising 5,280acres, situated about 14 
miles from Bakersfield. About 600 cows belong to this 
dairy. Most of the milk is made into cheese, of which the 
product is about 436 pounds daily. Two hundred acres 
are seeded to Alfalfa. Orchards, vineyards and grain- 
fields occupy a large part of the ranch. c. H. s. 
SWEET POTATO SOIL-ROT AND OTHER FORMS. 
PROFESSOR BYRON D. HALSTED. 
Little yet known of the five kinds of rot; investigations 
made and in prospect; first appearance of the dis¬ 
ease; susceptibility of varieties; effects of manure 
and fertiltzeis; the weather as a cause; the disease 
transmissible; storage; all that is known of the five 
different kinds of rot. 
The Rural’s editorial note upon the “soil-rot” of the 
sweet potato in a late issue, was particularly interesting 
to me, as it came to my sight upon returning from a visit 
to Gloucester County, N. J. t where about 50 growers of 
sweet potatoes in the county had just assembled to discuss 
the special subject of the rots of the sweet potato. It is 
also a pleasure to learn that the Rural considers this sub¬ 
ject one of sufficient importance to merit the attention of 
“the experiment stations in New Jersey, Delaware anc 
Maryland.” It may be in place here to state that the New 
Jersey Experiment Station has for some time had this ob¬ 
scure and destructive subject under consideration, and up 
to the present time some little progress has been made to¬ 
ward the solution of the matter. Thus far the energies 
have been largely turned toward finding out the various 
kinds of decays to which the sweet potato is subject. 
During the present year it is hoped to conduct field experi¬ 
ments which may result in the discovery of some remedy 
for the trouble. In order to get possession of the facts in 
the case now known, a special bulletin containing 10 ques¬ 
tions was sent out to the leading growers of sweet pota¬ 
toes in the State. From the nearly 300 replies the follow¬ 
ing important facts were obtained. In answer to a 
question as to the extent of the ravages of the rots it was 
evident at the outset that the trouble was a very serious 
one, causing the loss sometimes of a half or even two-thirds 
of the crop. It was also seen that the decay is no new 
thing ; for those who have cultivated the crop for 50 years 
reported having had more or less of it for all that time. 
It is therefore a difficult if not impossible matter to estab¬ 
lish the time and place of the origin of the trouble. 
As to the time of year when the rot first appears, there 
were many diverse replies, but the greatest number report 
that from August to November more decayed potatoes are 
to be found than at any other season: this is natural for dur¬ 
ing this time the potatoes are dug and stored. It is, how¬ 
ever, a fact that the disease can be found at all times of 
the year. Beginning in the hot-bed in April, it appears in 
the field soon after the plants are set and so on through 
the seasons of growth and of storing. Very many con¬ 
sider that when a plant is diseased all the potatoes at¬ 
tached to it will be affected ; while others think that each 
tuber stands or falls by itself. A large majority of corres¬ 
pondents are of the belief that the rot can be detected 
in the growing plant, the vines of affected plants turning 
brown and the leaves yellow. Some, however, contend 
that there are no signs above ground of the decay that is 
going on below. 
To the question: “Are all varieties equally susceptible? ” 
nearly all answered in the affirmative. A few favored the 
yellow sorts and an equal number the reds. The answers 
to the question as to the influence of soil—sandy or clayey 
—stable manure or commercial fertilizers, were very full 
but widely variable. In fact, it is almost impossible to 
condense the statements to a form available for the space 
that can be allowed for a communication of this character. 
In a general way, it may be said that a dry, sandy soil is 
well suited for the production of healthy potatoes; while 
a clayey and damp soil is unsuited to the industry. A 
large number considered well rotted stable manure the 
best for enriching sweet potato ground. A few favored 
fertilizers, but none were emphatic that manure increased 
the decay or that fertilizers checked it. It is very likely 
that but little satisfactory testing has been made on this 
line. One large grower reported that he had lost largely 
upon that part of his field to which potash had been ap¬ 
plied. The reason for a great diversity of belief upon the 
question of manure may become apparent when farther 
facts are obtained. 
There was an almost universal agreement that the 
weather has a great deal to do with the amount of rot. 
There is much less in a dry year and there¬ 
fore the past season has been remarkable 
for the large amount of decay : while in 
Gloucester County, it was the opinion of 
the meeting that one kind of rot is worst 
in a dry season—namely the soil or ground 
rot. It is a generally accepted fact that the 
troubles of the sweet potato are transmit¬ 
ted from the tuber to the plants that may 
be propagated from it in the hot bed. It 
is therefore a standing rule, or ought to 
be, that the first essential is healthy 
plants, and in order to get these sound 
tubers only should be used for producing 
the sets. 
As to conditions of storage, there was 
a general consensus of opinion to the fol¬ 
lowing effect—that the tubers should be 
dug as soon as fully ripe, during a dry 
spell, and left in the field to dry off thor¬ 
oughly; that they should be packed in 
small bins or, better, well ventilated bar¬ 
rels and stored in a dry, well aired room 
which ought to be kept uniformly heated 
for several weeks after the storage of the 
potatoes. The opposite conditions, namely: 
a cool, damp close room filled with large 
quantities of closely packed potatoes, will 
be quite sure to engender decay. 
In addition to the questions, a request was made for 
any further information and this drew out a good many 
facts of value. Some of these may be mentioned in a con¬ 
cise form. Only good sized tubers should be used for 
propagation. The young plants should not be allowed 
to get chilled in the hot-bed. The plants should not 
be set in a cold spell or too early. Some advocate 
the pulling out of all diseased and worthless plants. 
Hot air is probably better than manure for heating 
the hot-bed. 
We now come to the consideration of the kinds of rot. 
The first in importance and obscurity is the ground rot. 
As before stated, this fixes itself in the soil and after a few 
years it is almost impossible to grow sweet potatoes there. 
That this is not due to the lack of any particular element 
in the soil seems evident from various facts. Other crops 
requiring the same elements as the sweet potato, and in 
similar proportions, can be grown there. This disease is 
something like the so-called “clover sickness,” which 
sometimes prevents clover from growing upon a soil that 
has long produced this crop. As a rule, the healthiest 
method is to rotate the crops, one acting as a corrective for 
the other. Any crop that is subject to any trouble, whether 
due to rust, smut, mold, mildew or even insects, is much 
more subject to attack if it has been grown successively 
upon the same soil for a long time. Thus smutty corn 
will be followed by much more smut in the succeeding 
crop on the same land. If the sweet potato grower felt 
willing to grow four or five other crops in a rotation, he 
would probably, after a time at least, restore his land. 
But sweet potato land is not found everywhere, and having 
it, he is anxious to crop it as frequently as possible with 
“sweets.” Such being the state of things, he should be 
willing to expend something to counteract the results of 
the somewhat unnatural limitation of the land to one 
kind of plant. The first manifestat ion of the presence of 
ground rot is the arrest of growth in the plant while it is 
quite small. Soon it turns yellow and the roots develop 
depressions of an unhealthy substance; that is, the sound 
parts continue growing beyond the diseased portions. In 
