1912. 
803 
POTATO CULTURE WITH CHEAP OUTFIT. 
From Mr. Guptill's articles on the potato 
I infer that he thinks I have a mint of 
money ; that all I have to do is to write out 
a check and draw the money, whatever the 
amount. Will you let me confess? I own 
a farm worth $1,500. I owe $800 on the 
place, secured by a mortgage. I raise a 
few apples, keep a few cows and hens, sell 
a little wood, work out with my team when¬ 
ever possible, and pinch along to make both 
ends meet. How can I raise potatoes? 
You seem to need a crop that will 
turn you money in a bunch. Potatoes 
will do this some years. Other years 
it you make whole you would better 
feel satisfied. It is well to understand 
at the beginning that every year enough 
potatoes are planted to swamp the mar¬ 
ket if something entirely beyond the 
control of man does not curtail the 
output. 
Some tools are indispensable that do 
not go with the ordinary farm equip¬ 
ment. To be more explicit, it would be 
absolutely useless to spend money for or 
to run in debt for fertilizer to grow a 
crop of medium or late potatoes without 
spraying them with Bordeaux mixture. A 
sprayer then is indispensable. They cost 
from $50 to $75. A sprayer demands, if 
it is to do good work, that the rows 
shall be equally distant apart all over 
the field. I f you decide to have your rows 
three feet apart, you must have them that, 
no more, no less; if they are 2 /i feet 
at one place and 3^4 at another and your 
sprayer is set at three feet you can see 
that you would spray on one side of the 
row part of the way, and on the other 
side the rest. From your statement I 
am assuming that you do not want to, 
and in fact cannot purchase all of the 
tools necessary for the best work in 
potato raising, or that you intend to use 
makeshifts for the expensive tools where 
possible. You intend to do by hand what 
can be better done by machinery. If I 
am correct I want to ask what tool you 
intend to use to make these rows equally 
distant apart, and at the same time fur¬ 
row out. A plow will sheer one way and 
another unless you use old ground, and 
it will even then unless you first mark 
out the ground with a marker. Old 
ground should not be used for potatoes 
unless it was especially tough the year 
before. A clover sod is the ideal place. 
There is a tool which we call a horse 
hoe; we use it for hilling and burying 
the potatoes as they break ground. The 
scraper or blades are reversible and can 
be set at different distances. This tool I 
would use to furrow out with. If 
intending to plant by hand I would run 
one blade in the previously made fur¬ 
row and let the other blade make the 
new furrow, then coming back across 
the field, repeating the operation. This 
tool costs not to exceed $10. We call 
it the straddle-bug. These furrows will 
be equally distant apart at all places. Into 
the bottom of these furrows sprinkle fer¬ 
tilizer, then with a small rock tied in the 
end of a birch drag lengthwise o,f 
the rows to mix the fertilizer with the 
dirt. Drop the seed in this furrow, then 
having reversed the blades on the strad¬ 
dle-bug cover the seed with it. 
Your potatoes are planted; much of 
your success will depend upon whether 
you have faithfully harrowed this ground 
at intervals before having planted it, 
but having planted it you should now get 
out your one-horse cultivator and go 
between the rows as left by the straddle- 
bug. Before the potatoes break ground 
and after you have cultivated twice put 
on a brush harrow and make the field 
perfectly level, even if you have to 
weight heavily the brush harrow, when 
the potatoes break ground so you can 
follow the rows by seeing occasional hiljls 
put on your straddle-bug and bury them. 
Now is the time you badly need a weed- 
er, but if you cannot afford it use again 
your brush harrow, but do not weight it, 
and do not wait more than two days 
after burying before brushing the sec¬ 
ond time. In a few days all of the po- 
THE HUKAE NEW-YORKER, 
tatoes are up that will ever come. From 
this on the hoeing and spraying will 
be as I have before described. 
When digging time comes you can 
dig by hand but you must not cut or 
scar the potatoes. If your house has a 
cellar you can, of course, store them 
there. Conveniences and equipment les¬ 
sen the cost of production, but some¬ 
times we have more work than we have 
money. If you have two acres of po¬ 
tatoes handled in this way and owe for 
the fertilizer try at digging time to sell 
enough potatoes to meet your fertilizer 
bills. You may possiblv be able to sell 
the rest at a better advantage. Don’t 
plunge; plant only what you are sure 
you can carry even under the worst 
conditions, and don't quit if you have 
failed to make big money one year. 
You certainly have had some valuable 
experience and can do better the next. 
Some year you will get a start. 
W. T. GUPTILL. 
Evje&'f 
1000% Returns From 
the use of a Hercules Stump Puller. 
Bumper crops instead of stumps. Big 
money in place of taxes. 51,200 from 40 
acres the first year—5730 in extra crops 
every year after. Get the catalog of the 
Potatoes With Big Tops. 
I planted one-half acre of potatoes June 16 
on sod land that was plowed the previous 
Fall, and got a light dressing of well-rotted 
horse manure in the Spring. They looked 
well, some very large tops and others not 
so large; on account of the dry weather 
they did not come up evenly together, but 
were clean and healthy looking. The neigh¬ 
bors in this locality told me that I should 
not have as many potatoes as I planted, al¬ 
though they looked so well. They say that 
they always look well for a while, fine tops 
but no potatoes. Could you advise me If 
you know anything that I could spray them 
with In such case, or if there is any kind 
of fertilizer that I could use to advantage 
in July? j. o. 
Buffalo, N. Y. 
We have seen a number of cases where 
potatoes ran all to large vines but hardly 
formed a marketable tuber. The trouble 
was that the land was too rich in nitrogen 
hut without enough potash and phosphoric 
acid. The nitrogen drives the plant on to 
make a large top which keeps growing until 
blight destroys it or frost kills it. The 
remedy for this is to use a fertilizer con¬ 
taining potash and phosphoric acid. This 
ought to have been used with the manure 
when the potatoes were planted. It would 
be too late to use it between the rows in 
July. Bordeaux mixture sprayed on those 
vines would help keep them alive, but it 
will not make them form potatoes. With 
a very late season they may make some 
crop but too much nitrogen is not profitable 
for potato culture. Any crop which is com¬ 
posed largely of starch as the potato is 
must have an abundance of potash from the 
start. 
^TRADEMARK* 
The 
Collar Pad 
without a fault | 
because it is made right. 
This is the pad which is made of ventilat¬ 
ed fabric that keeps a constant circulation of fresh 
air under the collar and prevents sore Bhouldcrs,galls 
and sore necks. 
Your horses are always ready and willing to work 
when they have Ventiplex Pads in their collars. 
If you have a horse with a sore neck, buy one of 
these pads and see how quickly it heals. 
Your dealer should have them, 
but if not, send us his name and | 
we will ship a sample promptly. 
Better than other hinds, 
but cost no more 
Patented Sept. 20, 1910 
Write for our interesting I 
folder. Wo also make the | 
famous “Stay-on” Blanket. 
Burlington Blanket Co., J 
Dept. S3 
Burlington, Wis. . 
Selling hay is 
hard on the land. But at 
present prices there is good money 
in the business if you maintain the soil 
fertility by supplementing manure, sod and 
nitrate with plenty of mineral plant food—especially 
POTASH 
Annual early spring applications of 50 to 100 lbs. Muriate or 
200 to 400 lbs. Kainit and 200 to 300 lbs. acid phosphate 
are recommended. 
A two-ton crop of either timothy or clover takes from the 
soil about 100 lbs. of actual Potash or as much as is contained 
in 200 lbs. of Muriate or 800 lbs. of Kainit. The above 
recommendation supplies some excess of phosphate, but 
not over one-half ration of Potash. 
Write us for Potash prices and for free book with 
fertilizer formulas and directions. 
German Kali Works, Inc. 
Continental Bldg., Baltimore. Monadnock Block, Chicago 
Whitney Central Bank Building, 
New Orleans 
You know what you are getting when you buy 
EH LAND l, M £ 
as it is sold under a guaranteed analysis. Every bag lias attached to it a tag 
stating this guaranteed analysis. Anyone planning the use of lime this year will 
find it to their advantage to secure a copy of our free illustrated booklet. 
Write today to our nearest office. 
ROCKLAND & ROCKPORT LIME CO. 
Boston, 45 Milk Street Rockland, Me. New York, Fifth Ave. Bldg. 
Ask about our 
Special January 
Discount 
f 
L 
Finely Ground—Easy to 
Handle—Needs no Slak¬ 
ing—Ready to Drill . . . 
WHY pay $25 per 
ton for fertilizers 
when by using 
lime you cau lib¬ 
erate the natural 
phosphates, ni¬ 
trates and potash 
locked up in the 
soil. 
WHY not raise 
Alfalfa by using 
lime and cut down 
your grain ration 
one-third. 
WHY not sweeten 
your sour soils and increase tho yield of 
grain,cabbages, beets.clover and Timothy. 
Send for circulars, samples and prices 
THE SOLVAY PROCESS CO., Syracuse. New York 
LIME 
Free Box of Samples 
sent to your station, charges prepaid. 
All sizes, 2 inches to 20 inches, delivered. 
Pricos quoted on request. 
See 
That 
Lock! 
ft_ 
30-Day FREE Trial 
doubts—to prove to you. without a cent’s 
worth of risk or expense, the wonderful 
time, money ana muscle saving feuturesof 
<$>JUiVIBO 
Safety Hoist and Wire Stretcher 
With the Jumbo ono cau swing a 
300-lb. hog into tho scalder and out 
with perfect ease and safety. Does 40 
odd jobs. Stretches wire, shifts wagon 
boxes, lifts weights of all kinds and 
holds’em in mid-air till you say lot go. 
Saves Work—Earns Cost Quick 
The only hoist with a safe, absolutely dependable 
automatic lock working on tho pull rope. The heavier 
the load tho tighter the lock grips. Locked—released 
by turn of wrist. Ropes—new. worn or wet—aro all 
held tight. They CAN’T slip. Mine sizes: cnpnclty, 
400 lbs. to 6 tons. Made of best steel; thoroughly In¬ 
spected, tested, guaranteed. Send your own and 
your dculer’s name for catalog and big Free Offer. 
_ m 
i. co, 
554 Main St., Monticello, la. 
THE E. BIGLOW CO., 
BOX C 
NEW LONDON, OHIO 
LIME 
In powdered or lump form. Bagged 
or in bulk. Works at Kavena, N.Y., 
and at Bellefonte, Pa. HUDSON RIVER 
LIME CO.. 1704 Ave. H, Brooklyn, N. Y. 
COOK YOUR FEED and SAVE 
Half the Cost—with the 
PROFIT FARM BOILER 
With humping Caldron. Empties 
its kettle in one minute. The simplest 
and best arrangement for cooking 
food for stock. Also make Dairy and 
Laundry Stoves, Water and 
Steam Jacket Kettles, Hog 
Scalders, Caldrons,etc. IT?"Send 
for particulars and aHk for circular J. 
D. K. Sperry Co., Batavia, HI. 
Triple 
Power 
Hercules 
Genuine Steel 
Stump Puller 
Don’t Hold That Plow- 
Use a WINNER PLOW TRUCK 
10 Days 
Free 
Trial 
With or without seat Avoid the wrenching and twisting that 
makes you lame, sore and tired. Easier on the horses, too. 
Pays for itself by doing better work and more of it Gauges 
width and depth of furrow. Fits any plow beam. 
A Boy or Girl Can Plow as Well as a Man 
.. . . device made for holding a plow. With seat it makes a sulky plow of your walking plow. A sue- 
°mK eattern stony farms as well ns on the western prairie. 8hlp buck If not ftutlnfied. There's not a single chance to 
take. Thousands or pleased customers all over the U. S. A trial will please you, too. Don’t ask your dealer for the Winner Truck, 
lie will tell you It s no good because there’s more for him iu selling you something costing four or five times as much, see ? 
Send to-day tor my tree book with money-saving Introductory oiler. 
_L. R. LEWIS. Box 12, Cortland. N. Y. 
THE BEST WAY TO COOK BOTH 
Lime and Sulphur Solution and Stock Feed 
For spraying fruit trees, shrubs, | 
etc., cook your lime and sulphur 
solution in a Heesen Kettle; it cooks quickest—uses less fuel, and 
costs least. 
HEESEN KETTLES 
are used by thousands of fruit farmers, who endorse them as the best 
and most practical device money can buy—not only best for cooking 
spraying solution, but handy for a hundred other uses. Splendid for 
feed cookers for stock. 
Burn any fuel—set on tho ground any where—no foundation required. 
Sizes 15, 20, 30, 40, 65, 65 and 75 gallon. Write at once for full informa¬ 
tion and low price, or send order for size wanted. 
Heesen Bros., & Co., Box 84, Tecumseh, Mich. 
