384 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
June 6 
the inquirer that the market will never be glutted on 
account of the amount of such stock thrown on it by 
myself. Some years ago, we had such an abundance 
of fruit, etc., that our fruit jars (several hundred of 
them) proved thoroughly inadequate in capacity. We 
canned, preserved, evaporated, pickled, and did every¬ 
thing we could to provide against a season of a less 
bountiful crop of the good things that delight the 
wife’s heart and her family’s stomach, and still some 
had to go to waste. With tomatoes, we made as free 
as with water, but my family was not equal to the 
crop, so we tried our evaporator with some of them. 
I soon realized that a very small i*eceptacle would 
hold a bushel after it had passed through the evapor¬ 
ator, and then what little film of a slice was left was 
far inferior to tomatoes put up in other and different 
ways. We wisely concluded that it was more profit¬ 
able to throw the surplus to the hogs and poultry. 
With strawberries, we were more successful. We, 
at least, got an excellent product. During winter, 
we ate them out of hand as you might raisins and the 
like. We considered them quite delicious, the taste 
resembling that of a fig, only the flavor, to my palate, 
was more delicate and agreeable. People with plenty 
of money might be willing to pay a fancy price for 
evaporated strawberries when they might not even 
care to buy evaporated tomatoes at any price. 
Virginia. _ j. c. senger. 
HORSE SHOE FARM NOTES. 
SOME NEW THINGS IN POTATO CULTURE. 
Last year, I mowed some Timothy meadows, June 
20, and immediately plowed and planted them to corn. 
I not only got a good crop of corn, but found the 
fields in fine condition for planting to potatoes. The 
hay crop will be the lightest for years, and I shall re¬ 
peat the experiment. I find the sod well rotted, and 
the plowing and harrowing have mixed it well through 
the soil. This humus-filled soil will retain moisture 
and potash ; in fact, I find, by removing a few inches 
of top soil, that it is moist all of these drying days. 
A good coating of horse manure spread over the sur¬ 
face during winter, and 200 pounds per acre of home- 
mixed fertilizer, will give a good crop. 
I am not planting as deep as usual, for the reason 
that the digger did not seem to do as good work where 
level culture was practiced. One must hill up some, 
so as to let the wheels into the trenches, or it will not 
run deep enough. Although the average results of 
our experiment stations do not show any practical 
difference between the yields of trench and ridge sys¬ 
tems, the deeper planting has given me best results. 
I did not like to change, and shall do my hilling early 
in the season before the roots get too long so as not 
to cut them ; then cultivate shallow later in the season. 
We have an Aspinwall cutter for cutting seed. A 
boy, 12 years old, cut a bushel in four minutes. If 
one is too particular, or seed is very high in price, 
some would not like its work. If one cuts slower and 
places the tuber in right each time, he can halve, 
quarter and cut into eighths. The only ojection I can 
see is that there are some thin slices, small pieces, 
and a very few pieces without eyes. These are not 
used, but are thrown out by the droppers. It saves a 
good deal of hand labor, and I am pleased with it. 
At first glance, one would say that the pieces are too 
small, but the long, white varieties show two to three 
eyes for each. I took out the long knife which halves 
them, when cutting R. N.-Y. No. 2’s, as they have 
fewer eyes. 
I have been in the habit of trenching with a two- 
horse plow ; but as that runs too deep, I wrapped a 
chain around the runners of the forward bob-sled, 
and found that it made a good mark. As the bob has 
a tongue in it to guide it, a very straight row can be 
made, and one can ride. This makes a good marker 
without expense. 
I have planted 30 by 14 inches. I could not find 
any increase in tubers when three feet apart, and 
concluded to plant fewer acres for the same number 
of bushels. Owing to the shallow mark, we could not 
cover with a harrow. I am using a one-horse, revers¬ 
ible, Syracuse plow, and find it a perfect tool for cov¬ 
ering, turning a good furrow on to the tubers. A 
neighbor covered with a one-horse cultivator, but had 
to have a man follow with a hoe to cover the “skips.” 
The plow will put on earth enough so that we can 
harrow down. I have a new lever-set, Osborn peg- 
tooth harrow. With this, we kill all weeds before 
the corn and potatoes come up. I would not, after 
using a lever-set implement, buy any other. 
The smoothing harrow takes a wide sweep, and a 
good deal of ground can be gone over in a day, at a 
minimum expense. Until the corn and potatoes are 
too large, not only more, but better work can be done 
than with a cultivator. The soil is stirred in the hill 
around the plants, and the small weeds killed, some¬ 
thing a cultivator can not do. After this stirring, the 
crops fairly jump. It’s a mistake to wait till the 
weeds get large before cultivating. One should not 
cultivate for the purpose of killing weeds, but for 
the beneficial effect on soil and plant. If the soil is 
not fine, mellow and deep, put the cultivator down to 
the bottom, the first time used, and let that be before 
the tops are more than two inches high. After that, 
very shallow cultivation should be the rule, as the 
roots soon meet between the rows. A lever-set culti¬ 
vator is very handy, and can be set to run on a wheel in 
front and a shoe behind, so as to regulate the depth. 
In buying new tools, we must change our methods 
and adopt those suitable for our use. I am wonder¬ 
ing if my yield will be decreased, c. e. chapman. 
LATE SOWING OF CLOVER. 
SHALL WE WAIT TILL THE GRA'IN IS UP? 
Why might it not be well, instead of sowing the clover seed at 
the same time with the grain (oats especially), to wait until the 
grain is up and nearly covering the ground, and then to sow 
the clover seed and use the roller ? It seems to me that just about 
that time,it would be an advantage to the grain itself to run through 
it with the Breed’s weeder, which would kill a good many weeds 
just starting, without materially hurting the grain, and would, of 
course, also bury the clover seed. My idea is that the clover seed 
would remain dormant till the grain was cut, when it would, after 
the first rain, quickly germinate. w. o. E. 
Ontario, Canada. 
Clover Must Have Moisture. 
Clover starts best when the ground is continuously 
moist for a considerable period of time. The seeds 
contain a large amount of oil, hence require continu¬ 
ous cool and moist weather for best germination. It 
is probable that all the seeds would not remain dor¬ 
mant until the oats are cut, though much would de¬ 
pend on the weather; those that did start would have 
a hard struggle for existence in the soil robbed of its 
moisture and fertility by the vigorous older oat roots, 
and by the dense shade. Frequently the trouble is, 
that when the clover is sown early in the spring, it 
burns up or dies after the grain has been cut; having 
grown in the shade and been weakened, it is not 
able to withstand the hot, dry weather which usually 
comes at the close of harvest. Without doubt, Breed's 
weeder, on certain classes of land, would be beneficial 
to the oat crop, if the use of it were not put off too 
long. I. P. ROBERTS. 
The Chances Are Against Success . 
The best farm practice is that which affords the 
greatest likelihood of success. Some method may 
give desirable results in an extraordinary season, 
while it would bring partial failure four years out of 
five. We should adopt those methods that are safest 
in a series of years. To this class, 1 do not think 
that the proposed late seeding of clover belongs. 
The seed, sown at the time suggested, would not lie 
dormant; moisture and heat would cause it to ger¬ 
minate. But if it should lie dormant until the oats 
were cut, it would begin life under unfavorable con¬ 
ditions. An oat stubble is deficient in soil moisture 
in an ordinary season, the oats having drawn heavily 
upon it. Ordinary rainfall does not last in such 
ground, and the clover plant is handicapped by a very 
late start in the year, and by a dry soil. Red clover, 
sown in midsummer, has often done well, but usually 
only when the soil was moist and rich. Ordinarily, 
Red clover needs all the root growth it can make be¬ 
fore summer drought sets in. 
I have sown clover late in the spring in wheat, 
using the slant-tooth harrow to make a seed bed. 
The harrowing is not injurious to the wheat, unless 
it has been badly heaved by frost, and the idea is to 
give the clover an immediate start so that it can 
become well rooted before the time when it must be 
exposed to the direct rays of the sun. Clover, sown 
early in the spring by itself, often does better than 
when sown with a cover crop. I have some such 
clover this year, and it is very promising—much 
better than the clover in one rank wheat field. But 
this clover started when there was plenty of moisture 
in the soil, and before the long, hot days came. W. 
O. E. might sow clover very late in the oats, and get 
a fine stand ; but this would be due to a most favor¬ 
able season or some peculiar local circumstance. The 
chances are against success, and it is bad farming to 
take any unnecessary chances. A thin seeding of the 
oats and early seeding to clover, furnish fairly favor¬ 
able conditions for a stand. Where a big crop of oats 
is the first desideratum, I would not invest any money 
in a seeding to clover. alva agee. 
Ohio. 
Sow with the Oats. 
There can be no better time to sow the clover seed 
than at the time of sowing the oats. If the oats are 
drilled in, let the clover be sown at once, and the 
roller will cover the seed sufficiently. If the ground 
is quite dry at seedtime, both clover and oats will ger¬ 
minate much better for the rolling. There is no 
necessity for using Breed’s weeder, as oats will, gen¬ 
erally, get the start of any weeds that the weeder 
would destroy. The idea that clover seed sown in 
late spring, would lie dormant till the grain is cut, is 
quite a mistake; the groixnd is in better condition for 
clover to start at the time of sowing the oats than at 
any time later, and the rains which are more frequent, 
usually, in the early spring, favor its growth. Clover 
seed sown in April, on oat ground, ought to grow 
from six to eight inches in height before oat harvest. 
New York. t. g. yeomans. 
SOUTHERN VEGETABLE GROWING. 
SALT ON asparagus; peas, potatoes. 
I wish to sow some salt on asparagus, along the row, say, 12 
inches wide. How much would be sufficient? How would it do 
to sow a wide row of Black-eye peas between each two rows 
after the cultivator has gone through twice? The rows are 36 
inches apart, and two-year plants, just planted. If the rows of 
potatoes are 32 inches apart, is it necessary to throw the earth 
to them with a plow, to keep the sun from scalding the potatoes 
in sandy loam soil ? h. h. 
Ware's Wharf, Ya. 
What Do You Want Salt For ? 
Why do you wish to sow the salt on the asparagus ? 
Can you give any reason for it except old custom ? 
You ask how much is sufficient. So far as any good 
that the salt will do is concerned, I suppose that a 
teaspoonful to the acre is enough. The only possible 
good would come from an amount of salt that would 
kill the weeds, and which the asparagus might 
endure, though not being at all benefited by it. The 
only way in which I would apply salt to asparagus, 
would be in the shape of potash salts or kainit, and 
this application should be made in the late autumn, 
so that the salt in the kainit may have time to leach 
away during the dormant season. The row of peas 
would do no harm, if they be allowed to die on the 
land ; but I would prefer to keep the asparagus clean 
of all growth. Potash, in the shape of kainit in the 
fall, and plenty of nitrogenous fertilizer in the spring, 
will make asparagus, and the salt in the kainit will 
do less harm in the late fall than at any other time. 
My experience has taught me that it is far better to 
set one-year-old plants, and I would not allow any man 
to give me two-year roots if I could buy the one-year 
ones at a fair price, unless jthe two-year roots had 
been taken up and separated and transplanted at one 
year old. We always earth up the early crop of 
potatoes, which here grows during the cooler part of 
the season (that is, it usually does, though this season 
it is the hottest), as the ridge of earth warms up bet¬ 
ter than the flat surface ; but we always trench the 
late or second crop, and grow them perfectly flat. If 
the potatoes were properly planted, on well-prepared 
land, there is no need for hilling as a preventive to 
scalding of the tubers. w. f. massey. 
Too Late to Salt Now. 
Use salt, 200 pounds per acre; but it is now too late for 
this application the current jmar ; it should be applied 
early in the spring. I consider kainit a much better 
application than salt, as it furnishes the sodium 
chloride, and also potash. If you use it, apply in the 
autumn or early spring, at the rate of 1,000 pounds per 
acre. I find it best to cultivate asparagus very thor¬ 
oughly, and do not permit anything to grow between 
the rows. Thirty-six inches apart are entirely too 
narrow ; asparagus needs five feet to do well, and 
then the rows must be kept cultivated and perfectly 
clean to secure a good crop. In my work, I top-dress 
the asparagus twice a year with stable manure, and 
use the kainit in addition. In regard to potatoes, I 
consider it advisable to earth them up at the last 
working. This is especially important if the tubers 
are to remain in the soil for any length of time after 
the tops are dead. If the crop be dug at once as soon 
as mature, before the vines are dry, I do not think 
this of much importance. [prof.] w. b. alwood. 
Keep the Peas Out. 
Personally, I have never used salt for asparagus, 
for the reason that, in my opinion, the supposed 
benefit is more imaginary than real. If I wanted to 
do anything of the sort, I would, instead, use kainit, 
as this would, at least, add fertility to the soil, besides 
possessing the weed-destroying chlorine of the salt, 
which is simply chlorine combined with sodium. 
Three to four bushels per acre broadcast would be 
sufficient. H. H. would find it quite a task to sow a 
row of salt 12 inches wide in anything like a uniform 
manner. Before he undertakes it in the field, let him 
try it on the floor where he can sweep up the salt 
again, and I think that he will find that he has set 
himself quite a task. If his soil is as it should be, 
very rich, moist and sandy, the Black-eye peas would 
pretty well smother his asparagus. Absolutely clean 
culture, allowing not a single sprig of grass to take 
firm hold, would give him much thriftier plants, and 
a mulch applied in the fall would serve him a doubly 
good purpose. Parties near Loudon having as much 
as 100 acres of asparagus under culture, find it to their 
interest to mulch in the fall. My own potato soil is, 
likewise, a sandy loam ; but by planting the potatoes 
deep enough, I have no trouble with sun-scalding. 
The plow is such a root slayer that I would not think 
