250 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
APRIL i9 
the worst cases no roots of value form, and the land is 
abandoned, that is, another crop is grown on it. 
The decay most conspicuous in the bin and barrel in 
early winter is the soft rot. This causes the affected roots 
rapidly to become soft and worthless. The attacking 
fungus is a kind of mold consisting of branching filaments 
which push through the tissues of the potato and come to 
the surface through any rupture, and develop a whitecoat 
which soon turns almost coal-black owing to the develop¬ 
ment of larg* 1 numbers of spore bearing capsules. This 
mold flourishes only wheu moisture and moderate heat are 
present. The time when the freshly stored potatoes are 
undergoing the sweating is the most favorable for the 
progress of the soft rot. After this is passed and the surface 
is dry there is little danger of the soft rot spreading. The 
fungus does not readily enter from one potato to another 
unless the skin is broken. On this account it is of much 
importance to handle the potatoes as little as possible and 
to keep the skin entire. If mice gnaw the potatoes the in¬ 
jury increases their likelihood of taking the soft rot. 
A third kind of decay, namely black rot, stands next to 
the ground rot in its importance in southern New' Jersey. 
It has long been known and shows itself on the roots in 
the form of small brown patches which sometimes grow 
larger until the whole surface is covered. While at first 
it is only skin-deep, it continually deepens until the whole 
interior of the tuber becomes one dry, brown and worth¬ 
less mass. The discolored substance of the potato is filled 
with a brown filamentous fungus abounding in small, 
ovate spores scattered among which are long-necked, 
flask-shaped black bodies, also bearing spores. There is 
no doubt therefore that the black rot is due to a parasitic 
fungus about the first entrance of which into the root 
nothing is as yet known. A study of this pest during the 
coming season may determine whether it starts in s mie 
form upon the skin or leaves of the plant, and then de¬ 
scends to the roots. 
The growers recognize a yellow or stem rot that attacks 
the vine, turning it black and causing the leaves to be¬ 
come yellow. It yet remains to be determined w'hether 
this is associated with the ground or black rot. A fifth 
form of rot differs from any that has been named. This 
produces white, almost chalky, depressed grooves bordered 
by tissue that turns of an olive color when cut. Exposed 
surfaces of the white rot have uniformly developed a mold 
differing from any previously mentioned. It will be seen 
that the investigation is a large one for the field and the 
laboratory, and it remains to be seen what the remedies 
shall be. 
New Jersey Experiment Station. 
HALF BUD GRAFTING. 
L. D. SNOOK. 
In some sections fruit-growers practice what they term 
“half bud grafting” and the process possesses value enough 
to be still more widely known. At the season of the year 
when the bark peels easily at the point where it is desired 
to bud, a slit about three-quarters of an inch in length is 
made there, parallel to the trunk or branch, as the case 
may be; as in Fig. 74 'a). In this slit a graft (b) is inserted 
Fig. 74. 
from one to two inches, the point inclining downward at 
an angle of about 30 degrees as indicated by the dotted 
lines shown at Fig. (a). When in position the whole is held in 
place by wrapping about the stem a strip of cloth or string, 
as in budding. The cion should be as small as possible and 
cut wedge-shape as in (b), or when it is very small it may 
be simply flattened on one side near the end, as in the fig¬ 
ure at the right. The flattened surface being put next to 
the tree. This manner of grafting is preferred to any 
other for semi-tropical fruits and I think it would answer 
well at the North, especially in taking the place of bud¬ 
ding. It is quickly done and is such a simple operation 
that any one can perform it with almost a certainty of 
success. 
Home-Made Ice.—A Run al correspondent speaks of mak¬ 
ing ice at home in pans. A friend of mine who lives a con¬ 
siderable distance from the river informs me that he has 
for years secured his supply of ice in a similar manner. He 
buys in the fall as many empty sugar and other barrels as 
he needs; in cold weather he Alls them with spring water ; 
as soon as this is frozen he puts the barrels In sawdust. 
When ice is needed he cuts barrel and ice in two. J. E. 
FOOD VALUE OF POTATOES. 
1. What causes any difference in potatoes- 
soil (sandy or clayey)-drainage? 
2. What is the difference, in food value, of pota¬ 
toes grown in moist and dry soils ? 
3. Why do potatoes grown in a light soil cook 
more “mealy” and in less time than those 
grown in moist soil? 
4. What difference in these respects is there 
between potatoes grown with fertilizers and 
with farm manures? 
FROM PROF. E. F. LADD. 
I do not now call to mind any experiments specially 
designed to throw light on these important questions. As 
a result of some preliminary work last year, some experi¬ 
ments have been planned for the coming season. A few 
suggestions, gathered from observation, may afford a hint 
as to probable causes of variations in potatoes. 
I made an examination of some potatoes from plots of 
like soils, but on one plot the soil was kept wet; while in 
the other it was in an ordinary condition. The potatoes 
from the wet plot were found to contain considerably more 
water than the others. I suspect further investigation 
would have revealed a difference in the relation of the 
starch to the albuminoids and that the two conditions— 
excess of water and narrowed ratio of starch to albumi¬ 
noids—will produce a watery, soggy potato when cooked. 
Potatoes grown in a muck or peat soil, that has not been 
drained, are usually of poor quality. Potatoes grown on 
sandy or well drained light soil are, when cooked, gen¬ 
erally “mealy,” pi-obably because they contain less water 
and less nitrogenous matter, while the porous soil permits 
of a better circulation of air and consequently a more 
highly organized development of starch, which is all¬ 
essential to the production of “ mealy ” potatoes. 
Barn manures containing considerable nitrogen produce 
a potato with a maximum per cent, of albuminoids, and 
if the soil where such manure is applied is wet and heavy, 
then we have the probable conditions for growing soggy 
and watery potatoes. I am well aware that potatoes 
grown with barn manures are of necessity inferior in 
quality to those grown with fertilizers, unless the state of 
the soil and the manure is such as to give the unfavorable 
conditions named. 
FROM DR. T. H. HOSKINS. 
1. The ascertaining of causes, since discovery by guess¬ 
ing has become discredited, is very difficult. In my ex¬ 
perience, as good potatoes have been and are grown on well 
drained and well tilled heavy soils as on lighter ones; but 
the tubers do not look so nice because the soil clings to 
them. If the drainage is imperfect, or the culture bad, it 
is easy to see that whatever evils arise from these causes 
are wrongly charged to the soil. Wet seasons will natur¬ 
ally injure potatoes most on the retentive soils. Here are 
reasons enough why, as a rule, we get the best potatoes 
from the lighter soils, and also why the heavy soils, when 
in as good condition as possible, w'ill in some years produce 
inferior potatoes. 
2. The difference in food value between potatoes grown 
on different soils is due to the greater or less vigorous 
action of those functions of the plant which are concerned 
in organizing the starch, etc., which make up the sub¬ 
stance of the tuber. But just why there is a less perfect 
development of these elements of the tuber in one case 
than the other it is hard to say. The temperature of the 
soil is different in the different cases, and here is probably 
one cause. There may be others. 
3. Just simply because the starchy element of the tuber 
is more perfectly developed. The richer in starch, the more 
mealy the potato. I doubt the fact of their cooking in 
less time. The cooking may be continued longer in the 
vain hope of making them more mealy in that way. 
4. The fertilizer makers would, no doubt, be glad to 
have it said that potatoes grown on their manure are bet¬ 
ter in quality. The fact is that fertilizers are mostly used 
on the soils best suited to the potato crop. The objection I 
find to using stable manure is, not that the tubers are in¬ 
ferior in quality; for, other things being equal, I do not 
think they are; but stable manure greatly fa vors the in¬ 
crease of soil insects, some of which attack the potatoes 
and make them unsightly. Their work also, I think, to 
some extent may weaken the plant, and thus lessen the 
crop at the same time impairing the quality of the tubers. 
But where we can use manure without immediately at¬ 
tracting insects, we get as good a crop, and one of as good 
a quality, as from the use of an equal manuring with 
chemical fertilizers. 
FROM PROF. I. P. ROBERTS. 
Potatoes grown on wet soil ripen later and contain more 
water and less starch than those raised on dry, drained 
and sandy soils. Potatoes grown on light soils cook more 
mealy probably because they contain less water and more 
starch and the starch is in a more perfect form. Ferti¬ 
lizers feed the plants early in the season and cause them 
to mature quickly. Within proper bounds, the early-ma¬ 
tured plaut is more perfect in its construction and contains 
less water than an unripe plant. Farm manures, espec¬ 
ially If they are not very well rotted, tend to prolong 
growth and to produce plants containing a large amount 
of water. 
FROM PROF. E. 8. GOFF. 
My study of this subject leads me to the opinion that 
the difference in the quality of potatoes grown in different 
soils is due chiefly to the comparative amounts of water 
present in such soils during the growth of the tubers. If 
the supply of water is excessive, from any cause, the dry 
matter of the tuber is proportionately less, and the food 
value of the tuber is diminished in the same degree. 
Potatoes grown on light soil contain more starch than 
those grown on heavy or wet soil, and consequently are 
more “ mealy ” when cooked, the “ mealy ” property being, 
as I have found by experiment, proportional to the starch 
content. I should expect that farm manures would tend 
to increase the water content of the soil, and so in wet sea¬ 
sons, might reduce the starch content of the tubers. 
FROM HENRY STEWART. 
Potatoes vary considerably in quality according to the 
soil in which they are grown. The tubers grown upon 
gravelly or sandy soils contain more starch and less water 
than those grown on clay soil which is apt to be wetter and 
colder. A peaty soil, that is, a swamp after it has been 
drained, produces the very best kind of potatoes,—dry, 
mealy, and containing a maximum yield of starch, which is 
18 to 25 per cent. Wet soil produces watery, “ soggy ” 
potatoes containing sometimes as low as nine to 11 percent, 
of starch, and consequently possessing only half the 
feeding value of the best kind. The more Btarch in the 
potatoes the more mealy they cook. The starch in the 
potato exists in granules of a shape much like that of a 
clam shell with concentric lines upon it; and these are 
crowded together in the cells which are irregularly hexa¬ 
gonal in form and contain fluid, or sap, in which the 
granules float ; when the potato is of good quality the 
starch granules fill the cells, but otherwise they appear 
quite loosely in the watery fluid. When a potato is sub¬ 
jected to heat the starch granules burst, just as pop-corn 
does, but form a dry fine meal, which in the best potatoes 
scarcely holds together, because they rupture the cell walls 
by their expansion; and when broken up with a fork 
it makes a very light floury mass. In inferior potatoes 
there is too much water and too little starch to make this 
dry meal, but instead of it there is a soft, sticky, pulpy 
mass which has a poor flavor, due to the crude undigested 
matter in the sap. This difference is due to the soil, or 
rather to the excess of water in the soil. 
Again the quality of potatoes is affected by the kind of 
plant food used for the crop. Manure, especially when it 
is fresh, requires a large quantity of water to dissolve the 
nutriment required by the plants, and this water makes 
a weak sap, which tends to form in the tuber a few starch 
cells floating in a large quantity of sap, making watery 
potatoes deficient in starch, unless the season should be 
dry, wheu the potatoes will be of better quality, but in¬ 
ferior in yield because of the deficiency of nutriment for 
the crop on account of the small supply of water and the 
insoluble character of the manure. But fertilizers and 
well decomposed manure are extremely soluble, and a min¬ 
imum quantity of water is able to dissolve all the plant 
food required for a large yield ; thus a maximum quantity 
of starch is stored in the cells in a minimum quantity of 
water, and the abundance of nutriment produces a large 
crop. This is the reason why fertilizers, or old decayed 
manure from a previously manured crop, produce a maxi¬ 
mum yield and the largest quantity of starch with the 
least quantity of water, and hence the best quality of 
tubers. At the same time, as the fungus which produces 
the so-called potato rot grows most luxuriantly in abun¬ 
dant moisture, a wet soil, and fresh manure which requires 
much water to dissolve it, and which makes very watery 
sap, both tend to favor this growth and encourage this 
disease. To sum up : the largest yield and the best quality 
of potatoes are secured on light, well-drained, warm soils 
containing much thoroughly decomposed or mineralized 
plant food, or with soluble fertilizers ; while the smallest 
yield and the worst quality are grown on heavy, wet, cold 
soils, which are deficient in suitable plant food, or upon 
land which is fertilized by fresh barn manure. 
HEAVE-PROOF CLOVER. 
Yesterday upon looking over a field of clover which 
was badly heaved out by the past open winter, an occa¬ 
sional plant was seen, even in the worst heaved spots, 
which had not been lifted from its place and which re¬ 
mained green and thrifty. Examination showed these to 
be either one-year-old plants which had not yet formed 
fully developed tap-roots, or else plants whose tap-roots 
had been eaten off by some insect or burrowing animal, 
and which had formed a mass of fibrous roots near the 
surface of the ground. Further examination of the plants 
which were heaved out showed clearly that those with the 
best-developed tap-roots were heaved the most, some of 
them standing with the crowns six Inches above the ground 
and others being thrown out entirely. 
Now, for clay soils in which clover is liable to heave out, 
the question arises, are we paying too dearly for the tap¬ 
root? Would it be worth while to try to produce a clover 
in which the tap-root is less developed? Something can be 
done in this direction without question if it is sufficiently 
desirable. Probably cultivation for a few generations 
on rich, heavy, damp soil would diminish the tendency to 
tap-root, as it does in the parsnip and some other tap- 
rooted plants. The selection of seed from individual 
plants which have resisted heaving in badly heaved spots 
would accomplish the result more rapidly, but would be a 
costly process. Natural selection has little chance to 
operate in this direction, for scattering plants which re¬ 
main in fields which are badly winter killed, are not likely 
to have their seed saved in ordinary practice. 
Probably for general cultivation the advantages of a 
tap-root in drawing fertility and moisture from the sub¬ 
soil will always out-w'eigli the loss from heaving, but for 
persons who have soils in which clover heaves badly, it 
may prove worth while to make an effort to reduce the 
tap-root by using seed grown for a series of years on a 
damp, heavy soil rather than that grown on soil which is 
light and sandy. PROF. A. A. crozier, 
