S7& 
Novemberr 14, 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
Ruralisms 
The Potato Crop. —The potato crop 
is a most important one in our locality, 
and probably realizes more money in 
good seasons than any other agricul¬ 
tural item. Plantings of 20 acres or 
more are quite common; and the aver¬ 
age area grown by potato cultivators 
would probably not fall below 10 acres. 
They are generally well put in and 
cared for. From 1,000 to 1,500 pounds 
of approved chemical fertilizers to the 
acre are used, and clean cultivation 
given throughout the growing season. 
Up-to-date planters, sprayers and dig¬ 
gers are owned and used by most 
growers, thus reducing the labor item 
to the lowest limits. To a considerable 
extent the crop is purchased at shipping 
stations by cash buyers, but a newly 
organized Farmers’ Exchange has 
handled and sold 900 carloads of 200 
barrels each, returning to its members 
about $315,000. Prices varied from $2.25 
the barrel for first earlies to $1.45 for 
small portions of the main-crop kinds. 
Perhaps $1.75 the barrel would repre¬ 
sent the average net price for good 
varieties throughout the season. There 
is little doubt, when receipts from the 
home market and of independent ship¬ 
pers are considered, that the potato 
crop of Monmouth County, N. J., this 
year will realize close to $750,000. Ow¬ 
ing to drought the yield was probably 
not over two-thirds the average of' 
good seasons. Many carefully planted 
and well-tilled upland fields scarcely 
turned out 100 bushels to the acre, and 
50 barrels or 150 bushels in the most 
favorable situations was exceptional. In 
good years on the best lands 300 bush¬ 
els to the acre are not unusual. The 
best feature of the local potato situa¬ 
tion is that the bulk of the crop is 
sold as harvested, so that receipts do 
not usually depend on subsequent 
fluctuations of the market. Much ex¬ 
pense in storing and loss in shrinkage is 
thus avoided. Our growers are not 
greatly concerned about the possibility 
of the invasion of our markets by Ger¬ 
man potatoes. The favorite early vari¬ 
ety is Irish Cobbler, but the short yields 
the past season have not made it par¬ 
ticularly profitable. Green Mountain is 
tbe most successful main-crop kind. 
Rural Blush and Rural New-Yorker are 
also extensively planted. August Giant 
is largely grown as a specialty, in cer¬ 
tain portions of the county for the 
Pennsylvania miners’ trade. It gives the 
heaviest yields and the largest tubers of 
all under high culture, but the quality is 
too low for general use. This variety 
is mainly responsible for the lowest 
prices received. 
The Cost of an Acre of Potatoes 
varies according to planting methods 
and after care, but cannot fall far short 
of $100 under present conditions. Seed 
tubers can seldom be had in Spring 
for less than $3.50 the barrel, and nine 
or more barrels are needed to plant an 
acre. The cost of chemical fertilizer 
for the same area ranges from $12 to 
$18. Spraying materials require a few 
dollars more. Northern-grown seed po¬ 
tatoes are exclusively used for commer¬ 
cial cropping. If any point in local po¬ 
tato growing is conclusively settled it 
is that the seed tubers are best grown 
in higher latitudes, where gieater sun¬ 
light and shorter growing seasons in¬ 
duce more perfect maturity. Count¬ 
less tests have been made of home¬ 
grown seed, often of better appearance 
than the northern-grown commodity, 
but with scarcely an exception the 
yield under similar conditions was dis¬ 
appointing. The labor connected with 
potato culture, even when the most ef¬ 
fective machines are used, is a consid¬ 
erable item, amounting to at least $30 
per acre at current prices. Only good 
land, representing an average value of 
$200 the acre, can effectively be used 
for potato culture. Bags or barrels for 
delivering the product cost from $7 to 
$10 for each acre, though such packages 
are often regained when bulk carloads 
are shipped. Wear and depreciation of 
machinery is also an item that merits 
consideration, so that the grower must 
reckon a considerable outlay that must 
be recovered in sales of product be¬ 
fore a profit can be figured. It is evi¬ 
dent that Jersey potato culture is pot an 
extra-gainful occupation. Yet with suit¬ 
able land and proper equipment the 
experienced grower realizes about as 
much from it, taken one year with an¬ 
other, as from any other available crop. 
There is also compensation in the steady 
improvement of his soil. Potato culture 
means clean culture to the fullest ex¬ 
tent of the word. No grower need ex¬ 
pect a good crop of tubers if weeds 
overrun his fields. The soil is thor¬ 
oughly worked to begin with and the 
harrow, or more rarely the weeder, is 
run across the rows as soon as the 
sprouts break ground until high enough 
to be injured, when cultivators are, 
started and are rarely absent until the 
tops meet across the rows. All grow¬ 
ers aim to cultivate after every hard 
rain, or at 10-day intervals at least in 
droughty weather, and some greatly ex¬ 
ceed this allowance. A cultivator is 
frequently kept constantly going in a 
20-acre potato field until growth closes 
in, beginning afresh as soon as the last 
row has been stirred. This means a 
mechanical improvement of the soil that 
will last for years. While the cost of 
fertilizer is usually charged against the 
potato crop a considerable proportion is 
not used, and remains available for 
succeeding grain or grass crops that al¬ 
most universally follow potatoes. The 
comparatively early maturity of pota¬ 
toes also allows seeding to Crimson 
clover where Fall grains are not de¬ 
sired, and thus the available plant food 
is not only conserved through the Win¬ 
ter, but a highly useful addition of ni¬ 
trogen is made for use in Spring. 
Crimson clover has indeed proved a 
boon to Monmouth County potato grow¬ 
ers, keeping iheir land in best condi¬ 
tion, and allowing repeated croppings 
with potatoes where desired. Where 
clover has been used for a number of 
years it is found possible to reduce the 
costly nitrates in the commercial fer¬ 
tilizer without loss of yield. The fav¬ 
orite formulas for commercial potqto 
cropping call for four to 4*4 per cent 
nitrogen in at least three quickly avail¬ 
able forms, 10 per cent of potash, pref¬ 
erably in sulphate and eight per cent 
of phosphoric acid, one-quarter of this 
to be in the form of fresh ground bone. 
With plenty of clover the nitrogen con¬ 
tent may often be reduced one per cent, 
or 20 pounds to the ton, without appre¬ 
ciable loss. 
Hardy Phlox in 1908. —Rarely have 
herbaceous plants shown better bloom 
than in this abnormally dry season. Lit¬ 
tle growth, as a rule, was made, but the 
flowers were generally profuse and of 
fine quality. The high temperatures, 
quiet air and absence of storms, com¬ 
pensated to some extent for the long 
and parching drought. Herbaceous bor¬ 
ders have been a joy to their possessors. 
Phlox has never been in as great de¬ 
mand. Hundreds will now be planted 
where dozens were called for before. 
The fungus troubles seen in damp Sum¬ 
mers were absent, and the blooms were 
perfect and borne throughout a long 
period. Young plants now show good 
flowers at the end of October. The 
plant in Fig. 410, page 871, is a self- 
sown seedling, in shrubbery on the 
Rural Grounds. It is an ordinary white 
variety with light crimson eye, but is 
a good grower and profuse bloomer. 
All. kinds are desirable except where 
prejudice exists against mauve and pur¬ 
ple.colorings. There are plenty of good 
whites, clear pinks and bright crimsons 
among the named varieties without go¬ 
ing into the less pleasing magenta 
shades. _ vv. v. F. 
“For the Land’s Sake use Bowker’s 
Fertilizers; they enrich the earth and 
those who till it.”—Adv. 
jpn 11 w **l pay you to Spray your Fruit 
|]|/A T Trees and Vines for protection from 
B scale and all insect pests and fungus 
P** diseases. FREE Instruction Book 
shows the famous Garfield, Empire King 
Orchard, Monarch, Leader and other sprayers; also 
gives a lot of formulas and other valuable information. 
FIELD FORCE PUMP CO., No. 2 11th St., Elmira, N. Y. 
/^SAN JOSE SCALED 
KILLER 
KIL-O-SCALE is the most reliable rem¬ 
edy for Scale. Ready for use by simply 
mixing with water. We also sell Spray¬ 
ing Outfits. Write for catalogue. 
HENRY A. DREER, - Philadelphia, Pa. 
jlf^evr-MTr 
POWER 
l SPRAYER 
is equipped with the famous 
“NEW WAY” Air-Cooled ENGINE 
Fruit of quality 
follows this 
Quality Sprayer. 
Raise the Quality 
—Increase the 
Value ofYour Fruit. 
high grade 
the “NEW 
WAY” is a 
whirl wind. 
Complete 
in every 
detail and 
the engine 
is invalu¬ 
able for 
other 
work. 
WRITE US FOR CATALOG No. 5. 
140 Sheridan Street. 
All up-to-date Fruit Growers watch 
for the Bulletin of the buyers of 1909 
model “Friend ” Power Sprayers. 
“ FRIEND ” MFG. CO., Gasport, N. Y. 
JARVIS’S SPRAYING COMPOUND 
FOR SAN JOSE SCALES 
We make this compound, qnality guaranteed, and 
sell to the consumer, f. o. b., Manchester, Conn. 
Cash with order. 
In bbls. containing 50 gals., 30c. per gal. 
Less than bbls and more than 6 gals., 40c. per gal. 
6 gal. lots and less, 50c. per gal. 
All orders Oiled promptly. Order NOW. 
THE J. T. ROBERTSON CO., Box R, Manchester, Conn. 
OETTHE BEST 
A Good Spray Pump earns 
big profits and lasts for years. 
THE ECLIPSE 
m. 
is a good pump. As 
(practical fruit grow- 
\ ers we were using common 
j sprayers in our own orchards 
: —found their defects and 
; invented the Eclipse. Its 
! success forced us to manu¬ 
facturing on a large scale. 
You take no chances. We 
have done all the experi¬ 
menting.* Large fully illustrated Catalog 
and Treatise on spraying FREE. 9 
MORRILL & MORLEY, Benton Harbor, Mich. 
The double layer of glass does it 
Lets in the light always. 
Never has to be covered or*_uncovered friho 
boards or mats needed. 
Retains the heat, excludes the cold.' 
Saves three-fourths of the labor and''expense 
and makes stronger and earlier plants ^than 
single-glass sash. 
Ask for catalog ' O It tells all about it? 
■ Address, i 
Sunlight Double-Glass Sash Co. 
506 Floyd Street 
LOUISVILLE, KY. 
SHIPPING - ^ ^ACCOUNTIN G 
^ ... 
DlT 
DEPT. 
SALES DEPT. J t EXECUTIVE DEPT, 
DEPT. JT DEI 
This is the link on which all 
departments of your business 
depend—strengthen it with a 
Please send one copy 
“A Better Day’s Work" 
Rural New-Yorker, Nov. 14th. 
To. 
(Nine out of every ten adding and listing machines sold are Burroughs ^ 
Adding and Listing Machine 
It is the link which holds all the other links together; for 
the efficiency of every other department of your business is de¬ 
pendent on correct, prompt, trustworthy accounting. 
Plant your accounting department on a firm foundation—-both 
feet on the ground. Then every movement of every other depart¬ 
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Your sales department knows its possibilities and limitations. No 
guesswork. Your credit department knows just what it can risk—and 
where to put on the brakes. 
And so on, link by link, along tbe chain, every department feels the 
confidence of positive accuracy behind it—and has time to think. 
You can’t make a machine of a brain beyond a certain point. You 
can make a brain of a machine — as far as figures are concerned—a better, 
more accurate, more rapid brain than you can find under a human skull. You need 
every brain on your payroll for creative, productive work. Give the figures — the 
cramping details—to a machine—a Burroughs. 
The Burroughs is made in 58 different styles. There’s a Burroughs to fit your business— 
or if there isn’t, we’ll make it. 
Get together with yourself. Give yourself tbe same kind of a man handling that you’d 
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both sides of a proposition. Ask yourself if you 
can afford not to investigate the Burroughs. 
Find out why there is a Burroughs sold every 
ten minutes of a working day. 
Our Book 
“A Better Day’s Work” 
is worthy of a place in your office library. It isn’t 
a Burroughs catalog. It’s a simple, comprehensive, 
direct solution of the handling of many business 
details. Write for it to-day. Ask also for infor¬ 
mation about the Burroughs. 
BURROUGHS ADDING MACHINE CO. 
Detroit, Michigan 
Compliments 
Burroughs 
Adding Ma¬ 
chine Co., 
Detroit, 
Mich. 
Hand or 
Electrically 
Operated 
PRATT’S 
“SCALECIDE 
99 SOLUBLE 
PETROLEUM 
TRADE MARK REGISTERED U. S. PATENT OFFICE. 
Will positively destroy SAN .JOSE SCALE and all soft bodied sucking Insects without Injury to tbe tree. Simple, more Effective and Cheaper than 
Lime Sulphur. Not an experiment.—Write for FREE sample and endorsements of leading fruit growers and entomologists who have used it for years. 
PRICES;— 50 gal. bbl. $25.00; 30 gal. tin $15.00; 10 gal. can $6.00; 5 gal. can $3.25; 1 gal. can $1.00 f. o. b. New York. 
_ , One gallon makes 16 to 20 gallons spray by simply adding water. Pocket Diary and Spray Calendar for 1909 sent FREE. Mention this paper. 
G-. rratt Co., HMfg;. Clxeixiitsttsi, Dopt. 3NT, 50 Church St. HXToxtc^ Yorlt City. 
