‘Ghe RURAL NEW-YORKER 
485 
A Paradise for Potatoes 
Every Prospect Pleases—Except Prices 
[Let it be understood that this article refers to con¬ 
ditions in Prince Edward Island—which lies north of 
Nova Scotia. The conditions there are peculiar and 
cannot be duplicated in other sections.] 
G rown for stock food.—IT- ince Edward 
Island i.s probably the best potato-growing 
coiuitry in the world. This is a strong statement, 
but, I think, will hold good. The writer has been 
over most parts of the West and North, but has 
seen no place where the potato ajtpears to be so 
suited to the soil and climate as in this “Spud 
Island.” It is no trouble at all to get a fair crop 
of potatoes almost any year in Prince Edward 
Island. Nearly every farmer grows between two 
and three acres; even the smallest farmers grow at 
least two acres, -while those patronizing starch fac¬ 
tories grow an average of five to 10 
acres. Why not grow a larger acre¬ 
age if they are so easily grown? The 
answer is that the low prices i-eceived 
in the Fall of the year (except last 
year), 25c to .“lOc a bushel, do not 
pay for the hauling to market if the 
distance is. as ahmg here, eight to 
10 miles. Potatoes in I*rince Edward 
I.sland are grown mostly for stock 
food. More than one-third of the 
crop is fed to stock, and, including 
the residue from the table (boiled 
for meals) 40 per cent, of the crop 
is fed to stock, chiefly ])igs, and 
scarcely one-third of the crop is .sold. 
PERSISTENT LOW PRICES.— 
This year, however, with the ab- 
3iormal high price.s, considerably 
more than one-third of the cro]) was 
sold. Just think of selling the fine.st 
eating potatoes in the world for 25 
to 80 cents a bushel. For the last, 
say, 30 years, the average price re¬ 
ceived by gi-owers has been but 25c 
a bushel. A great many farmers, 
growing, say. three acres, or COO to 
1000 bushels, do not sell a bushel. 
On this farm, though a crop of about 
the above has been grown evei'y year, 
not a single tuber was sold off the 
farm for the last 20 years up to last 
Fall, when the (to us) extremely 
high price of COc a bushel induced us 
to sell a couple of hundred bushels. 
Even the high prices this year did 
not induce many growers to .sell. 
One large grower who had about 
100(» bushels sold only four or five 
loads. Potatoes are fed to almost 
every animal on the farm, but the 
pigs get the major part. 
PORK AND POTATOES.—All 
pork fattening here is done with 
boiled potatoes and a little grain oi- 
meal. At almost every farmstead 
one will see a large tank-boiler of 
plank and sheet-iron, holding eight to 
10 busheks, set in a little building 
neai- the pig-house, and used for 
boiling potatoes for pig-fattening in 
the Pall. Boiled potatoes, according 
ot Prof. Stewart, are worth 40c ])er 
cwt. for feeding purposes when corn- 
meal is worth $1.10 per cwt. .\s 
cornmeal is worth here double that 
figure, potatoes, boiled, must there- 
for(‘ be now worth 80c per cwt. The 
st.irch factories, even last Fall, with 
the highest prices for “.spuds” (>ver 
known here, were paying but 40c per 
cwt. at the factory, so that it ;ii>- 
jtears to be good policy to u.se the potatoes for 
/ee<ling puriM>ses. All animals ou the farm get po¬ 
tatoes throughout the F;ill and Winter, cither 
boiled or raw. The hens receive the major jiart 
of their food in boiled potatoes. The horses get 
them raw. The dairy cows get them in the 
raw state and the store pigs get them largely 
raw. 
COMPARED WITH TURNIPS.—It is considered 
aliout as ea.sy (and much easier on the back) to 
grow potatoes as turnips for the stock. The same 
kind that will grow 600 bushels of Swede turnips 
Avill grow 300 bushels of potatoes, and see the dif¬ 
ference in the growing; no getting on one’s knees 
to thin and weed, all work being done by the horse 
cultivator, and a bushel of potatoes is easily worth 
be beaten for hog-fattening. It is estimated that 
one-fourth of the crop is used for table use, in¬ 
cluding of course the residue left from the table 
(and this is generous) used for domestic animals. 
One twelfth, or 0% is .set aside for seed, which also 
incb’des a generous residue. Adding up, we get 
one-third used for stock, one-fourth used for table, 
and one-twelfth for seed; added, makes eight- 
twelfth.s, or two-thirds, leaving but one-third for 
sale. This is about as it .stands. Of the seven mil¬ 
lion busheks grown annually, less than two million 
bushels are ever sold. If potatoes continue high in 
price, which is not at all likely, our farmers could 
ea.sily double their output, and .sell not oidy one- 
third of their crop, but, possibly, half of it. Po¬ 
tatoes at 60c a bushel guaranteed each year, would 
be the making of our farmers. With a guarantee 
of this price each Fall Prince Edward I.sland would 
First Prize Barred Rock at Grand Central Palace. N. Y.. Owned by A. L. Vreeland, of N. J. Fig. 199 
oerrer. it is light, nice and clejin to apply, and 
the crop is usually smoother, and freer of blight 
when kelp is used. 
API’LYING KELP.—A good many North Shore 
farmers apply the kelp directly to a stubble field 
thiit is fairly clean of Aveeds, and plow in the jto- 
tatoes in the Spring eA'ery third furrow, tuid <iuite 
shalloAv. Then thoroughly luirrow ivith disk ;ind 
spring-tooth, and keep the harrowing up until tojis 
it re over ground. The best crop along here hist 
liill Wits grown just in this AViiy. No previous cul¬ 
tivation before the kelp AViis aiiplied. iVLiuy, how¬ 
ever, plow the stubble, or metidow eiiriy in the Fall 
and harrow, and then apjily the kelp iis it comes 
in the Fall or following Spring. A thorough disk¬ 
ing in the Spring after the kelp is applied is now 
often given, incorporiiting the kelp into the soil, 
iind making a fine seed-bed. Stiilile manure is sel¬ 
dom applied directly to stubble 
ground, iis kelp often is. Kelp, like 
lime, (caustic) cuts up and disinte¬ 
grates the tough stubble or sod; 
stable manure doesn’t. Kelp will 
cut up straw mixed with earth in .a 
compost. 
Inland growers usually .pkiu ;o 
plow ;t meadow soon after li;i.\iug, 
ver.v shallow, roll down, not hari-ow, 
to close the so<ks, and h'uve int.act for 
one month to give tlu‘ weeds :i goo<l 
start, then get on witii han-ows and do 
the job thoroughly. Before Wintm’ .sets 
in plow unite deeply and leave in 
the rough. During late Fall. Win¬ 
ter and early .Si.ring aiijily the ma¬ 
nure. heavily, 20 tons, if no fertilizer 
is u.sed. Tu the Spring. Avithout 
plowing, incorporate this manure 
into the .soil Avith disk harroAvs. The 
best groAA-ers jilant early, tlnit i.s 
about 10 days after the land is fit 
to Avork in the Spring, Avhich, here, 
is about the 10th to the middle of 
May. I'lanters are rarely used. 
The planting is done by buys and 
girls, folloAving the ploAv, planting in 
every thii-<l furroAv. Tin* sids are 
scattered quite thickly in tin* roAv, 
so that about 16 buslu'ls of gtxtd 
.sound .sets are drojiped, to the acre, 
in the roAvs. This is about a sel 
eA-ery eight inches. The roAvs AvoubI 
stand about 2S inches apart, Avide 
enough for horse cultiAuition. A 
rule AA'ith the best groAA'ers is to har- 
roAv every AA*eek, after itlanting until 
up in the roAA'. Then run the culti- 
A'ator through them five times in the 
groAving season. 
THE SOU..— ^I'his is naturally 
adapted to the potato crop, and is 
composed not of a sand.v loam, but 
a graA-elly .sandy loam. That aa'ouUI 
be a graA-el .soil Avith a fair admix¬ 
ture of sand and clay. A potato soil 
must IniA’c humus in fair (piantity. 
.V poor soil, devoid of humus, AA'ill 
not yield a fair crop. A poor field, no 
matter hOAV Avell you manuiv, A\ill 
not yield a good crop. The field for 
liotatoes must b(> in fair tilth in the 
beginning, and this is only Avli.-it 
might be expected for the groAviug 
of an.v crop. ,t. a. MAcnox.vT.n. 
tAA 0 bushels of turnips for feeding purposes, AAdiile 
in fact turuiiAs are no good at all for fattening 
hogs, boiled or raAv, and potatoes, boiled, cannot 
The Dairy Barn that got the Low Score. Fig. 200, See First Page 
soon become the richest little country in the Avorld, 
agriculturally. 
OOMMEROIAL FERaTLIEERri.- TTio-SC aro nw- 
er used for potato groAving here as in Aroostook; 
the price luiid for the tubers AA'ould neA’er Avarrant 
its use. Stable immure is the principal fertilizer 
u.sed for the crop. Along.shore farmers, particular¬ 
ly along the noiTli fringe of the island, use kelp 
A'er.v largel.A'. This manure can be gathered along 
shore, in the numerous coves, for the trouble 
forking and carting. Inland farmers don’t, 
course, secure mucli of this fertilizer, as one has to 
be on the spot to gather it before it is again car¬ 
ried out by the tide. Kelp is .superior to stable ma¬ 
nure for potatoes on account of the large amount 
of potash it contains, and potatoes demand lots of 
potash; notice that a good potato fertilizer con¬ 
tains about 12% of potash. There is no danger in 
applying too much kelp to the crop. The more the 
of 
of 
Two Old-time Apples Wanted 
What has become of the tAAm mo.st 
excrik'iit apples, of half a centur.A' ago, 
that Avere knoAvn at that time, anil long 
since, as the “SAveet Russet” and the 
“Winter, or Greasy Ifippin”? The lat¬ 
ter Avas an apple similar to the Belmont, but less 
regular in both form and size, though a better 
keeper, and of much better llavor; in fact it Avas one 
of the veo' bei»t iu flavor of the Avhole apple species. It 
Avas inclined to he one-sided, Av.iter-coreil and evLored 
like Belmont, except perhaps a more prominent blush 
on the sunny side. Tlie common name of years ago, 
“SAveet Russet,” completely identifies the other type 
mentioned, hut as neither of tliem i.s advertised iu any 
one of more than a dozen prominent nurser.v cata¬ 
logs, Avith Avhich I am familiar, it seems that they 
must be knoAvn under some othm- name, or must have 
been eliminated from the nursery roAvs of the day. Re¬ 
ferring to quality, the SAveet Russet is. probabiv, also 
the A'eiw best of the SAveet varieties, e.xcelling in cA’ery 
respect. e. v. axorse. 
Geauga Co., Ohio. 
DO not believe there is a tree of the SAveet or 
Siunmei- Russet extant in this part of the .State. 
It might be found .somoAvliere in some of the older 
parts of the State, or someAA’hei'e'in Connecticut or 
Massachusetts. It Avas iieA-er anything but a family 
Amrietj', and I do not think it AA^as eA'er iiropagated 
to .any extent by nurserymen. And I’m not sui e 
