1015. 
TH1C Ft UR A T> NEW-YORKER 
221 
SWEET POTATOES AND TOMATOES. 
OULD Trucker, Jr., tell me how 
many sweet potatoes he grows to 
the acre and do they have the Big 
Leaf Up-River there? IIow does the 
Peterson potato correspond with Up- 
River for crop? Which is the better 
sweet potato hiller, the middle breaker 
or the Decker hiller? What size do they 
use, 12 or 14-inch? I am interested in 
sweet potatoes. Some of the people down 
here say set them on the level, I say 
on a good high ridge. Which is the bet¬ 
ter? Trucker, Jr., never told us how 
his Earliana tomatoes made out the third 
year on the same piece of ground. I can 
set out sweet potato plants with puncher 
and tongs, and can set 2000 an hour in 
dry weather. w. H. w. 
Federalsburg, Md. 
Sweet potato yields vary. The best 
yield we ever had was 497 %-bushel 
baskets of large sweets, and 115 %- 
bushel baskets of second-size sweets, or 
a total of 012 %-bushel baskets 
to a measured acre. That was in 
1912. The average price was 46 cents 
a basket for the first size and 18 
cents for seconds. The gross returns 
from that acre in sweets was $259.32. 
The poorest we ever did with sweets was 
one year when one large field of over six 
acres gave us a gross return of not over 
$35 an acre. I have no record of the 
yield, but it was very low, all because of 
a very severe attack of stem-rot. Three 
hundred or 350 %-bushel baskets to the 
acre is a fairly good average yield. The 
stem-rot is usually the prime factor in 
cutting down yields in this section. 
We have Big Leaf Up-River here but 
we prefer what is known as Little Loaf 
Up-River, because they are far less sus¬ 
ceptible to stem-rot than the Big Leaf 
Tip-Rivers. The Peterson potato as I 
have seen it appears to be about midway 
between the Big Leaf Up-River and the 
Little Leaf Up-River. Personally I be¬ 
lieve it is a select strain of the Big Stem 
Jersey and superior to it, but not as early 
nor as chunky as the best strains of Yel¬ 
low Jerseys, of which the so-called Lit¬ 
tle Leaf Up-River is a type. 
I have had no experience with the mid¬ 
dle-breaker. The Decker hiller is a good 
one; it is the only one we use. Level 
culture, without ridges, is used some¬ 
times, but it is not best on light land in¬ 
clined to blow, and potatoes will not ma¬ 
ture as early as in ridges. 
As for tomatoes, we grew two crops in 
succession on the same ground, and were 
quite successful with them. We had a 
rye cover crop after the tomatoes, and 
applied manure on top of the rye. Then 
as we were changing our rotation we 
found it necessary to put that same 
ground in tomatoes a third time. 
We knew this was not the best 
practice, but we took the chance. Things 
started off nicely, with the exception of 
one low corner. We kept the plants 
well coated with spray at the beginning 
of the season to ward off the blight; and 
gave thorough cultivation. We neglected 
to spray after growth was well started. 
Tomatoes came early and the outlook was 
good for a crop, and a paying crop. Then 
we noticed signs of blight. The weather 
came on very hot and dry, but I do not 
think the blight would have done any 
material damage to the early fruits. It 
would, I imagine, have cut down on the 
total yield. But of that I am not sure, 
for the Southern wilt struck our section 
about that time, and took everything be¬ 
fore it. It was much worse where to¬ 
matoes had been planted after tomatoes. 
We are told that this Southern wilt, 
which is a bacterial disease, is very sel¬ 
dom troublesome this far north. It hap¬ 
pened to be bad in 1913 because of the 
mild open Winter. By getting off some 
early tomatoes we managed to do a little 
better than break even on the crop, but 
nothing like the two previous years. I 
do not think it is advisable to plant to¬ 
matoes or any other crop on the same 
ground year after year. Rotation is even 
more important for the truck owner than 
for the general farmer. 
I am glad to know that you can set 
2000 sweet potato plants an hour with 
puncher and tongs. Two or three years 
ago when I stated that plants could be 
set at that rate I found people all over 
the country who said positively that it 
could not be done. I think most of them 
have been convinced that it can be done. 
In fact some of them have learned to use 
the puncher and tongs, and are setting 
plants themselves at a rate that they 
previously thought impossible; and they 
are doing it with far less backache and 
greater ease than ever before. 
TRUCKER, JR. 
Controlling Squash Borer. 
OULD you give me a remedy for 
the borer in Hubbard squash vines? 
My squashes seem to grow with 
great promise till about half grown, 
when all of a sudden they wilt and die 
off. On examination I find the borer 
near the root in the joint. p. s. 
Haysville, Pa. 
This destructive insect is the larva of 
the offensive smelling rusty black bug, 
commonly called stink bug, squash bug, 
etc. It affects the plants in the mature 
and larval state. The mature insect de¬ 
stroys the leaves by puncturing the sap 
cells and sucking out their juice. The 
eggs are of a yellowish brown color and 
are deposited in small clusters on the 
under side of the leaves, usually those 
near the base of the plant. The eggs 
hatch in a few days and the larvae soon 
find their way to the root stem, boring 
into the heart where they live and in¬ 
flict their injury. Their presence is not 
suspected until the vine begins to wilt. 
Hand picking of the eggs and mature in¬ 
sect is helpful in keeping the insect under 
control in small plantings, but would be 
too tedious and expensive in large planta¬ 
tions. All dead and dying vines from this 
cause should be promptly pulled up and 
destroyed, to prevent damage to other 
vines, as the insect will go from one vine 
to another in the same hill, and often 
destroy all the plants in the hill. If the 
vine is not too badly affected they may 
be saved by cutting the borer out. This 
method of destroying the borer and sav¬ 
ing the vine is said by some growers to 
be quite successful. The application of 
poisons will not prove of any value, as 
the mature insect is not leaf-eating in 
its habits. Air-slaked lime placed around 
the stems of the plants in small cone- 
shaped heaps will prove more or less 
effective in preventing 'the borer from 
entering the stem at the base. Bisulphide 
of carbon may be used to good effect in 
most instances. When the affected vine 
begins to wilt the bisulphide should be 
applied at once in the following manner: 
Take a stick about one inch in diameter, 
and make a hole in the soil within two or 
three inches of the stem of the plant, into 
which pour a teaspoonful of bisulphide, 
and immediately fill in the hole with 
damp earth. The gas or fumes will pene¬ 
trate the soil some distance in every di¬ 
rection, and kill every insect it comes in 
contact with. Bisulphide of carbon is 
highly explosive and must not be brought 
in close proximity to fire. K. 
Cow Peas for the North. 
N Vermont we are rather far north for 
the successful use of cow peas, and 
Soy beans have not been generally 
used enough to know just how they would 
work into our systems of farming. There 
is also the difficulty of inoculation. Can¬ 
ada field peas we know are hardy and 
seem adapted to our sharp season. I 
would like all the information I can get 
relating to their use; their value grown 
in combination with other crops as for¬ 
age. their adaptation to different kinds 
of soil, particularly light soils that have 
become run out; their use as green ma¬ 
nure ; how late they could safely be sown, 
both for forage and green manure; the 
most practical and economical way that 
they can be planted and handled for seed; 
in fact I wish to find out as much as pos¬ 
sible of all the ways they might be suc¬ 
cessfully used in this section. L. f. ii. 
Woo'stock, Vt. 
The only way to obtain full informa¬ 
tion about this is to ask our readers in 
Canada, northern New England and New 
York to tell us. If it were possible for 
farmers in the Far North to use Crim¬ 
son clover, cow peas and Soy beaus as 
is done in the South, that northern sec¬ 
tion would be a garden spot. As it is 
the Canadian pea is well used for green 
manuring, fodder and human food. Wo 
would like practical information from the 
North. 
Remedy For Damp Cellar. —I see on 
page 32 that a question is asked how to 
get mold out of a cellar. I have some 
suggestions to make outside of the an¬ 
swer in your paper. I cut a hole through 
the cellar wall and entered a six-inch 
terra cotta pipe about 18 inches from 
ceiling. On the outside of the house I 
made a little cement foundation and set 
the terra cotta pipe endways with a 45 
deg. connection which extended to the 
top of the house. The pipe is set with 
a flange of joints set downward. 1 have 
always had a good circulation in my 
cellar and it is seldom that I stop it up 
except when the weather is zero or be¬ 
low. and then for only a few days. 
Monmouth Co., N. J. n. n. s. 
AGRICULTURAL LIME 
BULK AND SACKED GROUND LIMESTONE 
Also Hydrated, Bulk, Burnt and Ground Burnt Lime. 
Largest Capacities and Prompt Deliveries. 
JAMES E. GASTON, Cochranton, Penn’a 
HORSE HEAD 
INCREASE THE VALUE OF YOUR FARM with Pulverized 
Hock Phosphate, HORSE HEAD brand. Mix 2 lbs. pei 
head per day anil increase the value of yournianui > 
75%. Write us for deli—'red car load price. 
HASEROT LIME & PH0SPH„fE CO., - CLEVELAND, 0 
oms 
is food for thought 
as well as for crops 
this year. 
When shipments were interrupted 
by the war, it was estimated that 
there was enough Potash on hand 
in the United States to provide two 
and three per cent. Potash in mixed 
fertilizers for this spring’s trade. 
Some manufacturers had more than 
enough for these percentages. 
Since then minor sources of Potash 
have been fully utilized, and addi¬ 
tional shipments from the usual 
source are still being received. 
The supply is below normal, but this 
need not prevent farmers securing 
some Potash, nor should it lead farm¬ 
ers to decide not to use fertilizers. 
There is no reason to return to the 
out-of-date goods without Potash, 
although some authorities may try 
to “wish” them on us. 
We have not used enough Potash 
in the past. The largest annual 
import of Potash was only one- 
seventieth of the Potash taken from 
the soil by our 1914 corn crop and 
only one-fifteenth of the Potash 
lost every year in drainage water. 
Spring crops use from two to ten 
times as much Potash as Phosphoric 
Acid. Get as much Potash in the 
fertilizer as possible. A few firms 
are offering to furnish from four 
to ten per cent. 
There is no substitute for Potash. 
It may be harder to get just now, but 
Potash Pays 
GERMAN KALI WORKS, Inc., 42 Broadway, New York 
Chicago San Francisco Atlanta Savannah New Orleans 
