1D09. 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
403 
POTATOES UNDER STRAW. 
A number of people have written 
asking what there is in this method. 
It is best suited to a hot, dry climate 
or a dry season. The straw acts like a 
mulch to bold moisture. We have 
tried it with good results, but straw 
costs too much in our country. The 
late Mr. E. S. Carman tried what he 
called the trench mulch—the potatoes 
planted in deep furrows' or trenches 
and covered thickly with cut straw and 
then with soil. In. a dry season this 
did well. A farmer in Ohio tried it 
on a large scale and at some expense. 
The season proved very wet; the straw 
held the moisture below ground and 
the potatoes rotted. The usual plan is 
to plant the potatoes close together in 
fine soil, cover shallow and then put on 
four to six inches' of straw. No culti¬ 
vation is needed—the few weeds being 
pulled by hand. Good crops are grown 
by this method and the tubers are of 
fine quality. We have printed accounts 
of five-acre fields in Illinois' grown in 
this way. It is possible only where 
straw is cheap. A bulletin from Wash¬ 
ington quotes from the Agricultural 
Gazette of New South Wales: 
If every farmer who grows wheat will 
try the following plan he will, in a figura¬ 
tive sense, convert his wheat straw into 
potatoes: As soon as the stripper has 
harvested the grain, mow the straw with 
mowing machine or scythe and rake into 
windrows, with horse rake or otherwise. 
Immediately plow r and harrou T the land be¬ 
tween the windrows, and plant the pota¬ 
toes in the usual way, only they may be 
planted in rows closer together than the 
usual distance, in order to economize the 
✓ 
mulch. Plant in shallow furrows, and 
cover with the harrow, leaving the land 
perfectly level. Cover at once with the 
mulch of straw to whatever thickness you 
have straw sufficient for. and the work 
is done. The potatoes will come up 
through the straw and flourish, and never 
be troubled by weeds. No further culti¬ 
vation will be necessary. When the po¬ 
tatoes are gathered, many fine tubers will 
be found, not only in the soil and near 
the surface, but lying on the top of the 
ground just under the straw. * * * 
In that country January corresponds 
to our July. Another plan for stiff 
land not naturally suited to potatoes is 
taken from the same paper: 
The ground is plowed deeply and har¬ 
rowed into a good state of tilth; the po¬ 
tatoes are then placed by hand firmly in 
the soil until they are about half cov¬ 
ered; then 12 to 15 inches of wheaten 
straw is placed over them; this completes 
the planting. Nothing more is done until 
the potatoes are picked—not dug—from 
under the straw, for they lie on top of the 
ground around the seed set. * * * 
The straw forms a protection from the 
sun and other destructive agents, the same 
as the earth does when they are grown in 
the ordinary way. 
Two years ago the “vineless potato” 
faker managed to get a large amount 
of money from suckers on a bait not 
as sensible as this' one which costs 
nothing! 
AIR DRAINAGE AND FROST. 
Most fruit growers now realize that 
peach trees are safer on the hill tops 
or on the slopes above a steep grade. 
I bis is because the air grows heavier 
as it cools and rolls down hill to the 
low places. This air drainage is a 
great protection in places where late 
frost is likely or where the Winters 
are very cold. A good description of 
this given in a bulletin by Prof. W. N. 
Hutt, from the North Carolina Agri¬ 
cultural Department. Prof. Hutt is 
speaking particularly of the mountain 
region of the State: 
The frostiest locations, and those there¬ 
fore to be most avoided, are valleys shut 
in on all sides. To tlie uninitiated these 
places would appear to be most admirably 
protected, but they are veritable frost 
pockets. On cold nights they receive the 
cold air from higher regions, and frosts 
and freezes in them are inevitable. Once 
while traveling in the Rocky Mountains 
1 saw one of these small valleys shut in 
by hills, in which all the vegetation was 
nipped by frost. The surrounding hills on 
one side were somewhat lower than on 
the other sides. When the valley became 
full of cold air it flowed over the lowest 
side, just as water would have done. All 
around on the other sides of the valley 
the high frost mark could be seen, and it 
formed a line on a level with the top of 
the lowest hill where the frosty air had 
flowed over. Above this line the tende-r- 
est vegetation showed not the slightest in¬ 
jury. A valley with a large outlet will 
usually be reasonably safe from frost. 
The land about rivers which have a con¬ 
siderable fall will l>e drained of water and 
also' of cold air. Lands contiguous to such 
streams can be counted on as being rea¬ 
sonably safe from frost. Experience with 
frost shows that mountain regions are 
much safer for fruit growing than the 
lower lands below them. 
A carefully planned and conducted expe¬ 
riment which I made two years ago in a 
hillside peach orchard confirms the results 
of general experience on this point. This 
orchard was carefully Surveyed with a lev¬ 
eling instrument and the ground mapped 
out in contours. Contour lines connected 
all trees at the same elevation. There 
was two feet difference in elevation be¬ 
tween each two contour lines. Self-regis¬ 
tering thermometers were placed on each 
contour lino and readings were made on 
them throe times a day throughout the en¬ 
tire Winter and Spring. The lower con¬ 
tour lines almost invariably registered 
lower temperatures than the higher ones. 
There was usually from one-half to one 
degree of difference between each line 
and the one above it. Instruments placed 
along one contour line, thus all being at 
the same elevation, showed practically no 
difference in temperature. During the 
Winter zero temperatures were recorded 
in this orchard. At pruning time in the 
Spring it was found that the wood of the 
trees on the lowest contour had been bad¬ 
ly frozen and was “black-hearted.” The 
effect of the “black-hearting” lessened with 
higher contours, and on the highest one 
not a single affected tree could be found. 
The only fruit produced in the orchard 
was on the two highest contours. Higher 
land above this, which was not planted in 
orchard, would undoubtedly have been a 
safer location for peaches. The* same sea¬ 
son an estimate was made on the effect of 
Winter freezing of peach buds on trees 
grown on comparatively level land. A 
measuring pole was placed in the trees and 
by means of a step-ladder the buds were 
examined and counted at different heights 
from the ground. An examination of 1.300 
buds gave the following percentage of buds 
killed by frost: Two feet from the ground, 
50 per cent; four feet from the ground, 
30 per cent; eight feet from the ground, 
10 per cent. 
When you write advertisers mention The 
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Some Lightning Rod History 
O 
iRIGINALITY— Ovet 20 years ago Prof. Dodd 
was nearly killed because he was standing near 
the screen door when the house was struck by 
lightning. Pie is of an investigating nature and much 
given to scientific research, and when the thunder¬ 
bolt came so near to him his thoughts naturally turned 
in that direction. Pie wondered why it was more 
dangerous near the screen door than some other 
places. He wondered why some houses were struck 
and others not, and to Help him in his investigations 
lie arranged a machine to make a stroke of lightning, 
and with this fie experimented and investigated until he learned why some 
things were never struck, and he satisfied himself that lightning never 
occurs without a cause. His next step was to discover the most satisfactory 
means of removing the cause. It was about three years before this was 
done, but the record of buildings protected by the lightning rods he invent¬ 
ed shows that his method is correct. 
S TABILITY— It is understood by everybody that 
many of our most important inventions are lost to 
general use because the successful inventor does 
not have the proper training nor the inclination to prop¬ 
erly handle the sales of his invention, and no one cares 
to buy an article unless it is made by a firm with suffi¬ 
cient capital to stand behind the goods manufactured, 
and it is here that Mr. A. D. Strutners, business mana¬ 
ger of Dodd & Struthers, has proved his mettle. When 
Prof. Dodd was satisfied that his invention was of value, 
he looked about him for a man to manage the business—' 
someone who could finance it, buy the materials to the 
bast advantage, look after the details of manufacturing, and direct the 
sales force. Mr. Struthers was just the man he wanted—he was a man of 
rare judgment, a keen business man, with years of experience and with 
success a part of his make-up. For him to take hold of a business guaran¬ 
teed its success. This, however, was his biggest undertaking. The light¬ 
ning rod business was in disrepute, and lightning rods were being sold 
mostly by men who were thoroughly unscrupulous, and his first work was 
to get the business on a higher plane. Prof. Dodd lectured to insurance 
companies, and Mr. Struthers talked with leading business men every¬ 
where, and the result was to establish as sales agents for Dodd & Struthers 
a clean, honest, conscientious list of business men, and the grafters were 
largely driven out. Now Mr. Struthers’ time is largely taken up in hand¬ 
ling the finances of the great business built up by the combined efforts of 
these two men. This business now covers the largest part of the United 
States, and their goods are sent to the farthest corners of the earth. 
Q UALITY— One of the basic principles 
of business is that the article sold shall 
be worth the price it sells for, and 
quality is an important factor. In buying 
lightning rods especially the quality must 
be of the very best, for the lives and property 
of the customer depend upon its doing the work for which it was intended, 
and here is where Dodd & Struthers stand in a class by themselves. In the 
cable they manufacture they use wire that is as pure as copper wire can be 
drawn, for uprigffts and points the material is carefully selected and no 
poor points can get past the inspector. For the making of couplers, and 
insuring them to be the best, a foundry is maintained, in fact Dodd & 
Struthers manufacture the goods they sell and can therefore know that they 
are right. In this way they can not only talk quality, but they 
can and do deliver it. The quality of the D. & S. goods is such 
that goods bearing their trade mark, D.& S., are recognized every¬ 
where as the Standard, the acme of lightning rod construction. 
R eferences and endorsements 
—The National Association of Mutual In¬ 
surance Companies of the United States in 
convention assembled endorsed Prof. Dodd and 
recommended the use of the Dodd & Struthers 
lightning rods. Many other companies, both 
Mutual and Stock Companies, make discounts 
where the D. & S. rods are used. We received the 
highest award at the World’s Fair at St. Louis and 
the Jamestown Tercentennial Exposition the high¬ 
est award was also received. 
C. H. Martin, President Peoples Savings Bank, Des Moines, Iowa, says: 
We are pleased to recommend to you the firm of Dodd & Struthers, of this city, who 
have been customers of ours for many years. We have always found them honorable and 
upright in all their dealings and would consider them perfectly good for any contract 
they may make. 
Geis Botsford, Secretary The Commercial Club, Des Moines, Iowa, says: 
Dodd & Struthers are well known to us. We have watched this business grow and we 
look upon them as one of the leading institutions of our city. 
Can you afford to risk any other Lightning Rods than these? 
DODD & STRUTHERS, 
Des Moines, Iowa 
m 
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