1909. 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
301 
A SHORT POTATO TALK. 
I have been a careful observer along 
the lines of potato culture ever since 
my boyhood, and I wish to give my 
methods as plainly and briefly as I 
can. I never make the mistake of 
planting more potatoes than I can prop¬ 
erly attend to. In the Fall I apply 
a heavy coat of stable manure to a 
good clover sod, and in the Spring this 
is plowed and harrowed, and then I 
apply from 300 to 500 pounds of a 
good commercial fertilizer to the acre. 
I have applied as high as 1,000 or 1,200 
pounds with good results. The more 
humus in the ground the more com¬ 
mercial fertilizer can be used. I use 
a grain drill with fertilizer attach¬ 
ment to sow the fertilizer, and thus T 
can sow as much as I think is needed. 
Potato farmers must not forget that 
their soils need plenty of humus in 
order to increase their capacity for re¬ 
taining moisture. 
I use good-sized potatoes for seed. 
It is a mistake to use small potatoes, 
as their continued use will certainly 
result in reduced yields. I use no 
shriveled nor sprouted tubers for 
planting, for weak plants are always 
the result of such carelessness. I 
always plant my potatoes during April 
and May. As a rule they do better 
than those planted later. My potato 
rows are scored out about 2]/ 2 feet 
apart and the potatoes cut one and 
two eyes to a piece, are planted about 
14 inches apart in the rows. After 
was not long afterward when the burlap 
rotted away and the wound was well healed 
over. e. j. m. 
Malone. N. Y. 
The Ice Storm. 
The picture at Fig. 123 shows the 
farm home of our correspondent. J. 
Grant Morse. The photograph was 
taken during the recent ice storm— 
trees and shrubs, fences and buildings, 
being covered with ice. No doubt our 
Florida friends will look at this picture 
and take fresh pride in their soft and 
balmy air—but it would do them good 
to get a nip of that ice! The ice storm 
did great damage in some sections. 
Here is the report of a Pennsylvania 
reader, written while the storm was 
at its height. Happily, when the ice 
melted, the damage was less than was 
feared: 
I want to tell The It. N.-Y. about the 
wonderful ice storm tliat. is visiting our 
State, perhaps the whole country, to-day. 
Sunday, February 14, it rained all day; 
Monday, the 15th, rained all day, freezing 
as it fell. Tuesday, the 16th, rained 
nearly all day and froze as it fell. Now, at 
nightfall on Tuesday, trees, buildings, shrul>- 
bery, roads, earth, fences, wires, all are 
covered with an inch of ice. Great dam¬ 
age is already done, and what other dam¬ 
age is to come no one knows. A constant 
roar has sounded all day from the forests, 
as ice, branches, trees, came crashing to 
the ground. Lawn shrubs are prostrate on 
the ground, for no shrub can stand up 
when every twig is an icicle an inch in 
diameter. The orchards are bent to the 
ground. A fine locust grove near by is fall¬ 
ing. Slmde trees are being ruined. Mail 
carriers suspended their trips shortly after 
HOME OF J. GRANT MORSE. AN ICE STORM. Fig. 123. 
planting I harrow the ground level 
find keep the weeds down as long as 
the plants are green. The more the 
ground is cultivated the more moisture 
is conserved, and the more plant food 
made available. I use Paris-green to 
destroy the beetles, and the Bordeaux 
Mixture to prevent blight. 
Newport, Pa. j. b. s. 
AMATEUR TREE DOCTORS. 
1 have noticed that quite a number of 
your readers are troubled with mice bark¬ 
ing the base of their fruit trees, and not 
a few are complaining of borers working 
on their young peach and apple trees. 
1 will give them a simple remedy for both 
cases that has worked well with me for the 
last 25 years. To keep mice, etc., from fruit 
trees in Winter rake away from trees in the 
Fall with hoe the soil seven or eight inches 
deep at base of tree and scatter one or 
two shovelfuls of slaked lime close to base 
of tree; put soil back again around the tree. 
To keep borers from fruit trees fill barrel 
with cow droppings, then fill another barrel 
with good whitewash made from fresli 
slaked lime. When ready to use mix white¬ 
wash and droppings so as.to make a stiff 
wash; add to each barrel of mixture one 
quart of crude carbolic acid ; put on with 
whitewash brush. A good man can paint 
100 trees a day easily. w. j. malloy. 
Washington. 
A few years ago I had a young apple tree 
badly injured by mice, as I supposed, and 
discovered the same after the disappearance 
of the snow. I at once painted the wounded 
part heavily with common tar, then bound 
It over with some burlap and gave another 
coat of tar over that which saved the tree. 
Again on another occasion a man drove up 
in front of the house and bitched his horse, 
not to the hitching post near by but to a 
young soft maple. Imagine my surprise in 
the morning to find my maple pretty badly 
stripped of its bark. I at once repeated the 
cure that I gave my apple tree and had the 
good fortune to save a nice shade tree. It 
noon, the wagons and horses crusted with 
ice. No other vehicles ventured on the 
roacTs to-day. The roads are a foot of 
mud below, witli an inch crust of ice on 
top, making them unsafe besides unpleas¬ 
ant. The damage to fruit buds of all kinds 
will be enormous. j. c. m. 
Lawrence Co., I'a. 
THE SEED BUSINESS. 
Will Pay for Good Seed. 
I have just been reading what J. W. L., 
on page 22, says about growing "guaranteed 
seeds” in which he says they only receive 
from 10 to 20 cents per pound for vine 
seeds from large wholesalers and also the 
Government. I think I never knew a man 
before to admit that he grew Government 
seeds, but I have suspected for some time 
that far too many of our seed growers were 
doing it. For instance, last Spring I bought 
seed for an acre of cabbage, bought them 
from a good, reliable firm, too, (I know 
they are, for they advertise in The R. 
N.-Y.), but when the cabbage were grown 
there were all sorts, round, peaked and flat, 
ringed, streaked and striped, and some tur¬ 
nips, and r allowed that the man who grew 
those seeds was growing for the Govern¬ 
ment too, and if he got 10 cents per pound 
lie got more than they were worth. 
What I want the most these days in the 
seed line is to get right next to the man 
who grows tho best seeds ever, real choice 
seeds from selected stock. I will stand a 
good big price provided I get value re¬ 
ceived. I would rather send to a dozen or 
more specialists in certain lines of seed 
production and pay the price for expert 
work in growing good seeds. I would even 
then be saving money. I am now paying 
around 75 cents per pound for cantaloupe 
seed. I would be willing to pay two or 
even three dollars per pound for seed from 
selected specimens of early maturity, and 
the same with other varieties of seeds. 
Why doesn't some one stop growing Gov¬ 
ernment seeds and grow real seed, good seed, 
charge a good price and stand back of the 
proposition? I think it would pay. I 
don’t believe I am the only one who wants 
to buy and is williug to' pay for a good 
thing. W. E. IIOBINSO.V. 
Vermont. 
E VERYONE contemplating building or repairing should get a sample of crude Asbestos— 
the fireproof , indestructible mineral used exclusively by us in the manufacture of ready 
roofing. Our Booklet explains why 
J-M ASBESTOS ROOFING 
is cheaper than tin, shingle and slate roofs and more economical than any other ready roof¬ 
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J-M Roofing is ideal for farm, stock and poultry buildings, because it keeps out the 
cold in winter and the heat in summer, and has always an attractive, white appearance 
without painting. Write for Book No. S3 and Sample.. 
Hi Wi JOHNS-MANVILLE COiy Home Office, ioo William Street, New York. 
965 
svimsmm 
FERTILIZERS 
Active all the time 
They Cost No More 
than other fertilizers, yet they are most productive and reliable. This is 
because they do not impoverish the soil like fertilizers made from minerals. 
Instead,they supply rich organic matter from animal products so necessary 
to an abundant yield. 
Here’s Actual Proof: 
Read what others say, then profit by their experience, and buy Swift’s 
Animal Fertilizers. 
‘‘I have conducted an experiment with over GO varieties of potatoes to ascertain 
tne best yielder. Swift’s Superior Fertilizer lias given glorious results in spite of the 
driest season known in the century. Yield 460 bushels per acre of handsome salable 
potatoes. After many years’ trial with different kinds, your fertilizer gives me the 
best results, and it conserves moisture even in periods of drought.” 
[Signed] Itcv. J. R. Lawrence, Raynham, Mass. 
See local agent or write us. Free Pocket Memo Booklet contain¬ 
ing valuable crop information on application. 
Swift’s Lowell Fertilizer Co., 40 No. Market St., Boston, Mass. 
Days 
Trial 
PLOW THE EASY WAY — 
USE A WINNER PLOW TRUGK 
Don’t touch the handles, walk on the even ground and turn a 
smoother, straighter furrow. Holds plow steady in stoniest 
ground. A 1 iirht boy or woman can do the work easily. 
3 Days Work In 2 Days 
and all the drudgery avoided. As good on side hill as 
on fiat land plow. Saves the plow points and carries the 
plow anywhere. No use for wagon or stone boat. 
Try It lO Days at My Risk. Write for descriptive 
matter and full particulars. Agents wanted. 
L. R. LEWIS, Mfgr., Box 12, Cortland, N. Y. 
Get Our Reduced Factory Prices 
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THE A. G. STRAUB COMPANY 3737 Filbert S*. PHILADELPHIA, PA. 
—---- -- 
One 
man with a Louden Litter Carrier 
on Louden overhead steel track system can 
clean the barns in half the time that two men 
would take without it. That’s Louden econ¬ 
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—the Louden Litter Carrier and steel track 
system will earn its cost many times a year. 
Track can bo bracketed to barn wall—out one door 
—in at other, and in this way no switch is needed. 
Manure loaded diroct on wagon or spreador— its 
full fertilizing valuo thus saved. 
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are ma<lo of heavy galvanized steel—wear for years; 
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601 Broadway, Fairfield, Iowa 
