4SO 
the; rural, n kw-yorkek 
April 13, 
STARTING EARLY TOMATOES. 
C. S., Birdsnest, Va. —I wish to put out 
about two acres of early tomatoes, and 
have sowed 10 ounces of seed in hotbed; 
they are just coming up. I propose to 
spot them when about two inches high in 
paper pots. What size pots should I use? 
Should I have any manure in cold bed 
other than that ih pots? I can get building 
paper for 75 cents per roll of 500 feet. Is 
this suitable to make the pots? In setting 
plants in field do you remove the pot? 
Ans. —You started rather late to 
make an early crop of tomatoes. My 
rule is to sow the seed 10 weeks before 
it is usually safe to set them in the 
open ground, and at Birdsnest you 
can set them out earlier than I can, 
and I set them the middle of April. My 
plants have been spotted out in the 
cold frame under double glazed sashes 
a week or more (March 23). Then I 
have another cold frame in which I 
sowed tomato seed in late February for 
succession, and these, under the double 
glazed sashes, are now up, and I made 
no hotbed. I do not pot the plants, but 
set them in a well manured frame four 
inches apart each way, and deeper than 
they stood in the flats in which the 
seed were sown. They there get quite 
strong and I take them up with a 
trowel and a mass of soil and carry 
them in shallow boxes to the planting 
ground, and set in holes with water 
poured in, and never have any trouble 
from wilting. The planting machines 
that are used in Northampton for sweet 
potatoes will do very well for the to¬ 
matoes. But if you want to pot them 
you can get the paper pots already cut 
out from manila board, with a form to 
fold them over and tacks for I think $5 
per thousand. These make pots a little 
over three inches square. Then in set¬ 
ting, the tack at the bottom is drawn 
and the bottom unfolded and the plant 
slipped into place and the cardboard 
left around it to keep off the cutworms. 
These answer the purpose very well, 
but the ordinary red building paper will 
not do, as it is not waterproof, and the 
tarred felt is not good for plants. In 
my own experience I have found that 
the regular florist three-inch flower 
pots are better and cheaper in the long 
run than any substitute. They can be 
bought cheaply by the thousand and 
when the roots have filled the pots it is 
a simple thing to knock the balls out 
and carry them to the field, and the 
pots taken care of are good for many 
years and are the cheapest by a good 
deal. My Earliana and Bonny Best to¬ 
mato plants were set into the cold 
frames March 16, rather later than I 
usually transplant them, because of the 
late cold season. But under the double 
glazed sashes it would take almost a 
zero temperature to get any frost in¬ 
side. . You should have sown your seed 
early in February to get strong early 
plants. If the compost in the pots is 
good and rich there will be no need 
for further enriching the soil in the 
frame. w. f. massey. 
Size of Potato Seed. 
F. G., Ceres, N. Y .—Which is hotter to 
plant, small whole potatoes or out large 
potatoes, both of same variety, and why? 
Ans. —Practical potato growers and 
scientific investigators with scarcely an 
exception agree *that sound medium¬ 
sized potatoes, cut in pieces containing 
two or more vigorous “eyes” or sprouts, 
and a good proportion of potato sub¬ 
stance each, are to be preferred for 
planting to either small whole tubers or 
very large cut ones. The medium or 
average size potato may be taken as the 
normal one, containing sufficient storage 
material to start the young sprouts on 
their way and maintain them until well 
rooted in the soil, while there is no 
great excess to decay and promote dis¬ 
ease among the roots as with large, over¬ 
grown specimens. Small potatoes have 
as many eyes or growing points as nor¬ 
mal or large ones, but may be regarded 
as stunted in their development and less 
able, from the smaller quantity of 
stored plant food, to give the successful 
sprouts a good send-off. Too many 
sprouts start under ordinary circum¬ 
stances from whole potatoes and there 
is apparent loss of energy in feeding the 
unsuccessful ones. A weak sprout or 
seedling rarely makes as good a plant 
as one that has had a normal start, no 
matter how favorable after-conditions of 
growth may be. This runs quite gener¬ 
ally through plant life, and is as true 
of the stingy cutting, the shortened 
scion, and the skimpy bud plate, as of 
the light-weight seed and the under¬ 
sized bulb, corm or tuber. Where the 
initial food supply is scanty the new 
plant is too quickly thrown on its own 
resources and in the majority of in¬ 
stances is stunted for life. Extra cul¬ 
ture and generous feeding may mark 
the downward tendency for a generation 
or two, but the outcome in time is 
always disaster. Bumper crops of po¬ 
tatoes under intensive culture have been 
raised from single eyes with scanty flesh 
attached, and even from detached 
sprouts, but the inevitable result is rapid 
deterioration of varieties so propagated. 
The potato tuber is but a thickened 
portion of rhizome or underground 
stem, studded with dormant buds and 
furnished with sufficient stored food 
or energy to sustain the shoots until a 
satisfactory root system is developed. 
The original wild potato, Solanum tu¬ 
berosum, now lost to science, was prob¬ 
ably a small affair as regards tubers, as 
indicated by many related surviving 
species, but they were doubtless suffi¬ 
cient to maintain the plants in nature 
until exterminated by man and animals. 
The object of most storage roots or 
tubers is obviously to tide the plants 
over prolonged droughts or frosts which 
the leaf-bearing portions above could not 
survive. Man has petted and coddled 
the potato for ages, inducing for his 
own needs a tuber formation out of all 
proportion to the original structure of 
the plant. This has been stimulated 
even to the suppression of the natural 
tendency to produce fruits and true 
seeds. As the only way to propagate 
modern potato varieties is by the use 
of tubers, it is best to use normal sized 
ones cut or divided so that the sprouts 
may be separated in growth and yet 
retain sufficient food reserve for a good 
start. v. 
THE CONSUMER’S DOLLAR. 
What part of the consumer’s dollar does 
the railroad get is an interesting question, 
and I think it and the jobber get a very 
large part of it. I recently unloaded a car 
of lime from central Pennsylvania which I 
sold to the farmers for $5.50 per ton on 
which I paid $2.80 per ton freight charges. 
That left $2.70 for the owner of the mine 
and myself. I paid $1.35 per basket for 
peaches last Fall and wonder how much 
the producer got, how much the wholesaler 
got, and how much the railroad got. I 
know that the local dealer got 15 cents on 
the deal. Potatoes were selling here last 
Fall for 55 cents per bushel, and in Albany, 
60 miles away, for 50 cents a peck. I 
bought a bushel of old potatoes here July 1 
last for 40 cents, and new potatoes were 
selling in Newark, N. J., at 80 cents per 
peck at same time. j. d. t. 
The Committee on Marketing of the 
State Food Investigation Commission, of 
which William Church Osborn is chairman, 
has issued this statement: 
“The testimony taken by this committee 
has shown that even after arriving at the 
market centres foodstuffs pass through gen¬ 
erally three, and sometimes as many as 
five hands, before reaching the consumer. 
In some instances, approximately 50 per 
cent, of the consumer’s dollar goes to 
defray the expense of handling and to ac¬ 
cumulate profits after the food reaches 
New York City, and it has been estimated 
that if an improved system of distribution 
could be devised whereby 10 per cent, of 
this cost could be eliminated the resulting 
saving would suffice to pay the interest 
on the city debt.” 
As an example of the saving effected by 
going direct to the market, a statement 
given out by the Washington Market Mer¬ 
chants’ Association March 22 Indicating the 
amount of business done in the various de¬ 
partments of Washington market during 
1911 showed that purchasers of commod¬ 
ities there in that time saved approxi¬ 
mately $3,973,000. The statement was 
based on the testimony given by the presi¬ 
dent of the association before Commis¬ 
sioner Osborn, of the State investigating 
committee. An actual saving of 10 per 
cent, was shown by a comparison in prices 
between Washington Market and uptown 
markets. The amount saved in each of the 
departments was stated to be as follows: 
Meats and provisions, $1,774,000; butter 
and eggs, $1,009,000; poultry, $615,000; 
sea food, $400,000, and fruits and vege¬ 
tables, $115,000. 
Minnesota Fruit Men Organize. 
In an effort to obtain a larger share of 
the consumer’s dollar and at the same time 
to build up a more stable market for their 
products, the fruit growers of Minnesota 
met at the State Agricultural College on 
March 11 and formed the Minnesota Fruit 
Growers’ Association. The great interest 
which Minnesota orchardists are taking in 
the matter of better methods of marketing 
is largely due to their experiences of last 
year, when, with a large crop of Summer 
and Fall apples and a moderate supply of 
such Winter varieties as are produced in 
the State, faulty grading and packing and 
poor distribution practically drove the Min¬ 
nesota fruit out of the local markets. Only 
a few of the most enterprising growers 
were able to realize anything like an ade¬ 
quate return for their crop, while in many 
cases the fruit was not marketed at all. 
With these experiences fresh in mind 
when the Minnesota Horticultural Society 
met in December, much time was given to 
a discussion of better methods of marketing 
and a committee was appointed to formu¬ 
late plans for a co-operative marketing as¬ 
sociation. This committee reported at the 
meeting on March 11, which was attended 
by representatives of a dozen or more local 
fruit growers’ associations and by a num¬ 
ber of individual growers. The association 
which was formed is empowered not only 
to fix grades, but to control the marketing 
of the product and to store the fruit if a 
satisfactory market cannot be found at the 
time of shipment. It will also act as pur¬ 
chasing agent for its members, buying 
orchard supplies in large quantities and 
turning them over to individual orchard¬ 
ists or local associations at the cost of 
handling. 
The central office of the association will 
be in Minneapolis and the field of opera¬ 
tions will be in Minnesota and the sur¬ 
rounding States. The voting power of the 
members is based on their acreage in hor¬ 
ticultural crops, each two acres entitling 
them to one vote. The aim of the asso¬ 
ciation Is to “aid both the consumer and 
the producer by giving, to the first, guar¬ 
anteed products at a lower price, and, to 
the second, steady and abundant market 
facilities at a low cost for the sen-ice." 
Growers who are not members of the as¬ 
sociation will be charged a commission of 
2 per cent, for handling their products. 
The officers are Arthur H. Barnard. Min¬ 
neapolis, president; R. A. Wright. Excel¬ 
sior, vice-president, and K. A. Kirkpat¬ 
rick. University Farm, St. Paul, secretary 
and treasurer. c. w. w. 
Express and Parcels Post. 
Will some one explain to me the mean¬ 
ing of the words “trusts” and “trade 
combinations?” This morning T sent a 
small package of merchandise weighing two 
pounds and nine ounces, from this city 
(Grand Rapids, Michigan), to Pasadena, 
California. I ’phoned to all of the four 
different express companies. American, 
Adams, United States and National asking 
the price. From each company came the 
same reply, 45 cents. It is no coincidence 
that the prices charged the public for 
services by those different corporations 
are identical. Does not this constitute a 
“trade combination” or “trust?” I am a 
member of a firm which manufactures blank 
books to order. There are four other firms 
in this city in the same line of trade. Sup¬ 
pose all five firms should receive a phone 
request for price on a certain book and 
should each and every one quote the same 
price to a cent. Would not there go up a 
howl of “combination” and “extortion?” 
Just where lies the difference between the 
express companies and ourselves in this 
matter? Will some one tell? 
And further, turning to a “Post Office 
Guide” lying on my desk, which states on 
its title page that it is “Compiled and pub¬ 
lished by the Grand Rapids, Michigan, 
Post Office,” T find I could send this same 
package, weighing two pounds and nine 
ounces, to its destination, Pasadena, Cal., 
as merchandise for 41 cents. If the con¬ 
tents of said package were printed matter, 
I could get it to destination for 21 cents. 
I ’phoned again to the express companies 
for price on the package “If printed mat¬ 
ter, prepaid” and got the same quotation 
of 21 cents. “Oh consistency, thou art a 
jewel.” How long would such a state of 
things exist if we had parcels post? 
J. B. B. 
R. N.-Y.—The point is that these express 
companies aim to keep postage rates high 
and then match them. 
Father Mother 
Don’t work any more. Take advan¬ 
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Dept. D . Warren. Pa. 
When you write advertisers mention Trin 
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