1008 . 
390 
THE LONG ISLAND PRODUCE EXCHANGE. 
On page 320 yon print an inquiry where 1,000 
bushels of a superior quality of eating potatoes could 
be secured. You referred on page 296 to the steps 
being taken to organize the Long Island Produce Ex¬ 
change, an organization to market in the best manner 
the Long Island potatoes and other produce. I am 
actively engaged in perfecting this organization, and 
our success will be the greater because of the supe¬ 
rior quality of our potatoes. The daily quotations of 
the New York market show that the Long Island 
potatoes are the best on the market. A Long Island 
man recently dining in a high-priced restaurant down¬ 
town in New York asked the proprietor why he did 
not serve good quality potatoes. They were soapy 
and soggy and very poor. The proprietor of the res¬ 
taurant replied: “These are the very best I can buy. 
T bought 10 sacks yesterday and they were stenciled 
with the name of a Long Island village,” where no 
potatoes are raised for market. That Long Island 
man dining there knew that those potatoes never 
grew on our island. The most important thing that 
the Long Island Produce Exchange hopes to accom¬ 
plish “is to establish conditions whereby anyone de¬ 
siring to buy our superior quality of Long Island 
potatoes may be sure of getting them true to name.” 
Unscrupulous dealers are constantly selling “Mich- 
igans,” “States” and “Maines” for “Long Islands.” 
We are going to depend on the quality with a guar¬ 
antee back of it to sell our produce. An Elizabeth- 
port man found out how good the Long Island pota¬ 
toes are, and had a farmer send him three barrels. 
The next year that farmer had all the orders from 
Elizabethport from individuals desiring a few barrels 
of good potatoes that he could fill. We desire to get 
into communication with as many people desiring to 
buy good potatoes as possible. h. r. talmage. 
Long Island. 
THE STORY OF A CORN CROP. 
Part II. 
Continuing the corn notes from last week Mr. 
Angevine gives the following brief comments: 
Fig. 170 is when the corn was nine weeks old and 
measured 10 feet high. The pole the boy was holding 
was just even with the top of the corn beside him. 
Weather conditions were very good this week, but not 
hot enough; still the corn grew two feet. Fig. 166 is 
when the corn was 10 weeks old, and does not show 
FIFTY-SIX DAYS FROM PLANTING. Fig. 169. 
a very great growth over last week, as the weather 
was wet and cool. Fig. 171 is when the corn was 99 
days old, or 14 weeks and one day, and the harvest 
had commenced. It had made a growth of two feet 
in the two weeks, and reached a height of 14 feet. 
It should have had at least three weeks more of corn 
weather, but that is about what it was short on the 
Spring end of the crop, owing to the difficulty in 
being too wet to plant at planting season. Fig. 167 
shows how this corn looks in a shock. In Fig. 16S it 
THE R.UR.A.I» NEW-YORKER 
has arrived at its destination. Corn is surely the king 
of farm crops, unless it be Alfalfa. You can also 
see how high it looked in the field by glancing at Fig. 
165. R. c. ANGEVINE. 
Michigan. 
USE OF STORAGE BATTERIES. 
I have read one or two articles recently in your 
columns on the subject of electric lighting plants for 
farms and country places, and have been very much 
SIXTY-TIIREE DAYS FROM PLANTING. Fig. 170. 
interested in the comments which have thus appeared 
on this general subject. I desire to take issue with 
Jared Van Wagenen, Jr., in his reply to the inquiry 
of J. M. F., Leesburg, Va., on page 259. Contrary to 
Mr. Van Wagenen’s statement, storage batteries, de¬ 
signed for stationary use, are in a highly developed 
state, and operate in a very satisfactory manner. 
They may be placed in the same class as electrical ma¬ 
chinery or internal combustion engines with regard to 
length of life and efficiency of operation, provided 
only that they are given intelligent care. The use of 
a storage battery in the manner described in the in¬ 
quiry is not a rare occurrence, as Mr. Van Wagenen 
seems to imply, but is very common, many. >nch plants 
being in operation. The first cost of a storage bat¬ 
tery plant of this description is rather high, amount¬ 
ing, as it does, when the cost of suitable controlling 
apparatus and the additional wiring is added to that 
of the battery itself, to about one-half the total cost 
of the equipment, but it does not require an expert 
to care for it. Any man of ordinary intelligence 
with a little instruction is capable of properly oper¬ 
ating it. The number of battery cells required will 
depend entirely upon the voltage, which is limited by 
the standards adopted by the dynamo manufacturers 
to an amount between 110 and 125, or double this 
amount. This voltage would require an equipment 
of from 62 to 70 cells. Frost-proofing is not neces¬ 
sary, as the battery electrolyte will not freeze at ordi¬ 
nary temperature, but ventilation is essential, and 
may be obtained in a very simple manner by follow¬ 
ing the methods employed for chicken houses, etc. 
An acetylene gas lighting plant will cost much less 
to install, but is troublesome, dirty, somewhat dan¬ 
gerous, and the light, while of very good quality, is 
subject to all of the limitations common to gas and 
other flame illuminants, and not to be compared with 
electric lighting in convenience, cleanliness, safety from 
fire, vitiation of the air, or in the amount of heat 
incidental to its use. The economy of electrical gen¬ 
eration to be obtained from the use of small plants 
using internal combustion engines and storage battery 
auxiliaries is being demonstrated in hundreds of coun¬ 
try places, and the general satisfaction with which 
these are operating is proven by the fact that the 
number is constantly being added to. As to the stead¬ 
iness of the light derived from an internal combustion 
engine driven dynamo, this is merely a question of 
selection, there being several makes of engines whose 
operation is all that could be desired in this respect. 
PUTNAM A. BATES. 
“MONUMENTS” FOR THE ORIGINATOR. 
It is indeed discouraging to those who, like the 
writer, have spent much time and labor in experi¬ 
mental work to produce new varieties of fruits and 
vegetables, to learn of the sad fate of men like Jacob 
Moore, who, according to your editorial (page 176), 
“died recently in poverty and sorrow,” after spending 
his fortune and his life in work that has added so 
immensely to the general wealth. That such public 
benefactors are not pensioned when old age comes is 
a disgrace to the State and nation. Why not keep 
this subject before the people? Congress spends mil¬ 
lions of the people’s money for instruments of de¬ 
struction and death; why not urge representatives to 
make a better use of some of our contributions, or 
have the people no right to say what the public 
moneys are to be used for? If Mr. Moore, the orig¬ 
inator of the Diamond and Brighton grapes, was not 
worthy of being honored and liberally rewarded, then 
no old soldier should ever be pensioned. The erection 
of a costly monument to the memory of Jacob Moore 
cannot cover nor wipe out the stain of his having 
suffered privations during his declining years, while 
its remembrance remains. It was ever thus. Jesus 
said: “Your fathers killed the prophets and ye build 
their sepulchres” (or monuments). But Mr. Moore 
built to his own memory several magnificent monu¬ 
ments—not of granite—but of very valuable fruits, 
which he gave as blessings to the world, and they 
are now enjoyed by millions of people. Although it 
seems to be a discouraging, if not dangerous, road to 
travel, one that for somfe may lead to the poorhouse, 
under present conditions, the writer has followed 
that path more or less for many years, and has built 
at least one useful monument which many will enjoy 
long after his labors are ended. What kind of a 
civilization is it that places a public benefactor in a 
hut lacking the comforts of life, and gives a con¬ 
scienceless grafter and briber of officials a palace with 
all the luxuries money can buy? From present indica¬ 
tions the time is not far distant when the builder of 
public libraries will scarcely be honored, and the 
books they contain considered of little value, for his¬ 
tory will be revised to conform to a new higher stand¬ 
ard of ethics in which the heroes will not be those 
who kill and destroy, but those who build and create. 
New York. levi bell. 
R. N.-Y.—The “monument” which Mr. Bell refers 
to is the “Satsugon” plum, which he firmly believes 
will yet be put at the head of the list as a market; 
plum. It is indeed discouraging that the originator of 
a new fruit receives such a small share of the value 
he creates. Evidently such a man must have more 
than the usual endowment of philosophy, and be able 
to take satisfaction in the good he has done. The 
NINETY-NINE DAYS FROM PLANTING. Fig. 171. 
grocer, butcher and tax collector will not sign their 
bills on the strength of this “satisfaction.” 
Spring seems to be opening up a little more seasonably 
than last year. Tbe ground is well filled with water, and 
all we need to make a heavy growth of grass i# warm 
weather and an occasional shower. Most of the oat seed¬ 
ing was finished about April 14. Oats 45 cents; corn 75 
cents; potatoes 60 cents; hay $6 per ton. People are get¬ 
ting tired of paying taxes to support the saloon victims, 
and a large part of Illinois has gone dry. Hot it is too local 
and the officers are not interested in enforcing it. s. s. 
Stockton, Ill. 
