226 
February IG, 1918 
C>ic'R’URAL NEW-YORKER 
JF you follow the instructions in 
* our Garden Book your garden 
is almost sure to be a perfect suc¬ 
cess, while if cared for in a hap¬ 
hazard way the result is likely 
to be a failure. 
2S6 paees; four full-paee color 
plates and four full-page duo- 
tone plates; also hundreds of 
photographic illustrations. 
A copy free if you mention this publication. 
DREER’S EXCELSIOR BEET — 
Rich blood red and fully as early as any 
of the turnip shape beet, besides retaining 
its tenderness and exquisite quality the 
entire season. 
Packet 10 eta. Oz. 30 eta. 
HENRY A. DREER 
714-716 Chestnut St.,Philadelphia 
The King Pin of 
all Tomatoes for 
___ both the Home 
Grower and the Market Gardener 
Think of the finest Tomatoes you,ve 
ever grown—then plant BUIST'S MON¬ 
ARCH and get a new idea of what a 
really PERFECT TOMATO should be. 
Its massive size, perfect shape, delicious 
flavor, weight and solidity are un¬ 
equalled. An immense yielder and con¬ 
tinuous bearer. Packet, ISc; 4 packets, 50c. 
BUISr S Earli-BelleTomato 
Market gardeners call it the “ Early 
Money Tomato” as it matures extremely 
early in the season. Absolutely un¬ 
rivalled in the Early Tomato Field. 
Packet, 5c; oz., 35c; $I‘00 
Free Flower Seeds 
Write today for a copy of Buist’s Garden Guide 
—mailed FREE on application. 
ROBERT BUIST COMPANY 
Dept. G Philadelphia 
Buy 
Seeds 
mi - DIRECT 
On a Money Back Basis 
Send your name and address 
today for the Isbell 1918 Catalog, 
fifel It means crop insurance —and 
sure profits. You prove the quality 
ll^ of Isbell’^ Seeds before you plant, pa 
Seed Samples FREE 
Corn, Barley, Oats, Alfalfa, 
Clovers, Grass Seeds —best to be 
had. Check those you want. Paste 
r this ad. on a postal and mail today. 
That will be a step to better crops and 
bigger profits. Now is the time to make 
every acre pay more. 
S. M. ISBELL & CO. 
678 Mechanic St.,Jackson,Mich. 
‘/ts They GeomTheir Fame OrotuS 
seeking. 1 don’t imaghie the plJtee sought 
the man. If it wiis one of tlio.se jobs at 
Washington paying .$1 per y^ar that some 
of the really big men are taking then Mr. 
Betts Avonld be out of it. 
I heard his talk at a meeting of the 
Onondaga I'^iinn Bureau last November. 
He took uj) considerable time, but as far 
as his talk was (oucerned it was merely 
‘‘hot air.” o. n. c. 
Onondaga Co., N. Y. 
The So-called Terracing in the South 
A Northern farmer who has moved to 
the rolling uplands in the South writes 
that he finds the land only gently rolling, 
but the hillsides are crossed at inteiwals 
down the hillsides with ridges grown up 
with weeds and grass and little hushes, 
and right above eiich ridge is what was a 
ditch, but is rapidly wa.shing into, a gully. 
The old residents tell him that these ridges 
whieh they call terrace.s. are essential to 
jn’event the washing of the land into gul¬ 
lies. But it seems to him that there 
could hardly be any more gullies than are 
milking behind these ternice ridges. He 
asks me to give my opinion of this mat¬ 
ter. If my corresiiondent had read what 
I hiive written on this subject, and what I 
have consistently preached to the farmers 
in the South at their conventions and in¬ 
stitutes, he would know that I have been 
fighting the ternicing fad for years. It is 
true that the non-ghiciated clay hills of 
the South are more easily eroded than the 
glaciated compact clays of the North. 
But the first essential in the formation 
of a gully on a hillside is the gathering of 
a head water at one ixiint. You cannot 
start a gully without this .concentration 
of the water, and the terrace banks are 
one of the most efficient means for gather¬ 
ing this head of water to break over and 
start the gully. True, there has been a 
great improvement in the making of the 
terraces in North Carolina, which are far 
better than the old Georgia terrace which 
my correspondent describes 
jiroved. terraces are merely 
made with itlow and horse scoop 
risk of its running down hill, and the veg¬ 
etable matter will help to prevent this. 
Then of course the ro\Vs for cultivation 
must be run as near as jiracticable on the 
level around the hill, and if the cultiva¬ 
tion is shallow and level and no valleys 
made for the water to gather in and make 
a head, there can ho no washing. 
One of the most successful farmers in 
the South, a man who went to the hill 
country of North(>rn Alabama, and bought 
an old run-down cotton farm full of gul¬ 
lies and galks, and has not only made a 
very fine farm or it, but made a fortune in 
doing it, wrote to me last year that he 
once attended a demonstration at the Ex¬ 
periment Station of ^langum terracing. 
He said that he told them if they came 
on his farm and went to cutting it up in 
that way, he would shoot the whole com¬ 
pany. He has cured .nil the old gullies 
and gets a magnificent sixl on his land, 
averages HU bushels of wheat an acre, and 
two bales of cotton an acre, raises the 
finest of cattle and mules. And all over 
the Southern uplands where farming is at 
a low ebb, there you will find the farmers 
paying moi-e attention and labor to the 
con.structiou of these so-called terraces 
than they give to the rational improve¬ 
ment of their lands, while in sections 
w'here better farming is practiced you will 
see no terraces and no gullies. 
W. F. MASSEY. 
a, V(*ry 
These im- 
hroad banks 
having 
slight fall, and behind them no 
ditch, hut a, broad, level jdace intended to 
c«nvey the water slowly down hill. The 
rows for cultivation Ix'ing run on the 
level of the contour of the hill, cut the 
terriice hanks on an acute angle, and cul¬ 
tivation g(x>s on right over the hanks. 
.\nd yet in the Summer cloudbursts, I 
have seen these Mangum terraces, as they 
are called, fill and overflow and tumble 
little Niagaras down the lull, and unless 
there is a sod on the land, a gnlly is 
formed right there. I have often told the 
Southern farmi'rs that tlndr terracing is 
simply a relic of bad plowing and poor 
farming; that I have cultivated the 
Southern hills right ni) under the Blue 
Bulge hills as steep aS it was practical to 
use horses on. qiinl 1 had never made a 
terrace, had never made a gnlly, hut hud 
cured old ones. So long as the Southern 
farmers ])low these red hills with a one- 
horse jilow about three or four inches 
deep, and then cultivate a hoed crop Avith 
the same jtlow, throwing furrows to the 
rows, either with it or the sweep, and 
make little valleys between the rows, 
when tlx* Sninmi'i' clondbnrst.s come all 
the jdowed .soil i n top of the hard clay 
gets into a maxuny condition, and the val¬ 
leys gather a head of water which breaks 
over and increases in volume and force 
as it runs down hill, foi" doAvn hill it must 
go, since it cannot sink into the hard clay, 
where it Avill he reeded shoidly. It car¬ 
ries the liiinified soil with it. and soon 
gets luxul enough to go over the terrace 
banks, and year after year the gullies get 
worse till the hillside is irredeemable. 
The terrace banks are really worse thau 
useless, and what is needed to jirevcnt the 
gullies is simply common-sense farming. 
The soil everlastingly kept in clean, hood 
crops, has all the organic matter burnt 
out of it. till it has no longer fertility, but 
is simiily a dead mixture of sand and <!lay 
in which to gamble Avith fertilizers. While 
on lev(‘l lands I have never seen any ef¬ 
fect of a pm-manent nature from subsoil¬ 
ing, tlu're is no doubt that on the.se hill 
sides snbsoiling becomes an important 
means for 'jirevention of erosion. If Ave 
never put a hoed crop on these hills Avith- 
out having a .sod or mass of vegetation to 
turn under and help hold the soil, and Ave 
ploAV and then subsoil till Ave Ikia’c a loose 
bed 10 inches deep, the soil Avill take up a 
vast amount of AA'ater before there is any 
Fitting Sod for Potatoes 
I have a small lot. .10x100 feet, that 
has not been ploAved for 40 oi'*r>0 years, 
and I Avant to plant it in iiotatoes and 
garden truck. AVhat is the best thing I 
can do to get it in shapeV I can get ma¬ 
nure at .'fl to .$1..10 jier load, and lime at 
.$1.75 per barrel. How much lime ought 
I to put on V M. D. 11. 
Wheatland, Pa. 
This lot contains 5,000 square feet, or 
something more than an eighth of an 
acre. We should sjiread four to five tons 
of stable manure o\’er this field. In the 
Spring plcAA”^ this under, and pick up such 
stones as you can. ’I'he lime can be used 
Avhere you groAv garden truck, but do not 
put the lime on the jtotato ground. Prob¬ 
ably the lime you refer to is ordinary 
mason’s lime, not .slaked. About 1.500 
pounds to the acre of such lime Avould be i 
right, and you can figure from this how i 
much lime should he used on the part you 
intend for garden truck. Pi’obably one 
barrel Avould be enough for this space. 
arpees 
^eeds 
Burpee’s 
Sweet Peas 
SIX STANDARD SPENCERS 
C OC we will mail one 
rOr MvC pae|(et each of 
the following : 
Cherub, rich creamy rose 
Decorator, rosy terracotta 
Hercules, soft rose pink self 
Jack Tar, bronzy violet-blue 
King White, large, pure Avhite 
Orchid, beautiful orchid color. 
“The Burpee Leaflet on 
Sweet Pea Culture” with 
eachcollection. If purchased 
separately the above Avould 
cost 65c. 
Burpee’s Annual 
The leading American Seed Catalog 
216 pages with 103 color¬ 
ed illustrations. It is mailed 
free to those who write for it. 
A post card will do. Write 
for your copy today and mention this paper. 
W. Atlee Burpee & Co. 
Burpee Buildings Philadelphia 
Tomato Rot 
lly tomatoes Avere set out early, but 
Avere not slacked. They lx‘gan to ripen 
early, but about three-quarters of them 
Avere rotten on the bottom. They <-on- 
tinued to rot all through the season. 
Would staking them prevent it? What 
is this disease, and is there any remedy? 
What variety of tomatoes Avould you sug¬ 
gest for an early market? A\^K. p... 
Frederi ck t<) w n, Pa. 
When tomato jdants become AA'eakened 
in constitutional vigor due to an exces¬ 
sive load of fruit, or to very dry or very 
hot Aveathcr, the fruits are ajit to turn 
black in the tender blossom end and rot. 
I’lant pathologists now claim that it is 
a specific disease which demands rota¬ 
tion of crops. Practical growers knoAV 
the trouble is most bothersome in early 
tomatix's Avhen the soil gets hot and dry. 
The trouble iiractieally disappears after 
a good rain. The same disea.se is pre- 
A’alent in late tomatoes, especially on the 
first fruits that set on heavy vines de- 
Axdoix'd by oxcessiA’e nitrogen. The trou¬ 
ble is guarded against by fertilizing the 
<-rop generously with the mineral fertil¬ 
izers such as phosphoric acid and ixitash. 
A mulching of stable manure, i-specially 
in the early ero)) just after the fruit has 
set, is valuable in con.serving moisture 
and in inducing a healthy growth of the 
vines. Staking up the vines Avill help to 
eliminate tin* trouble because it keeps 
the tomatoes oil the soil. ’J’he Earliana 
is the heavie.st yielder of extra early red 
tomatoes, hoAVover, the quality is poor. 
The Bonny Best is a beautiful, high qual¬ 
ity red tomato, hut a feAV days later and 
it requires a richer soil for lu'aA'y yields. 
June Pink is the leading early pink or 
purple variety around Chicago. 
K. AV. 1)E IJAUN. 
1 
'■ 'V. 
nee 
Grooin 
Alcuays 
GrotuT> 
Send us 10c for a packet of Maule’s 
Success Tomato seed which will grow 
a quantity of the heaviest and meatiest 
variety of tomatoes. Every lot of 
Maule’s seeds is tested for strength and 
growing power before tlic seeds are 
sent to you. 
THE MAULE SEED BOOK 
J76 pages full of valuable plant- 170 pp 
ing and gardening information e IVCiLi 
Writ© for it today. 
No matter what you want to raise in 
your garden, you will find complete in¬ 
formation about it in tliis catalog. 
Yoa save money and get fresh seeds 
when yoa buy from 
WM. HENRY MAULE, Inc. 
. 2153 Arch SUe«t Phila., Pa. 
Hoffman’s Northwest Clover Seed 
Selected from the states 
alonp: the Canadian bor¬ 
der and from the districts 
adjacentto the Black Hills 
and Rocky Mountains. 
"NORTHWEST” CLO¬ 
VER is 
Earlier, Hardier 
and More Productive 
The Buperiority of "NORTH¬ 
WEST’’ Alfalfa Seed has long 
been acknowledged. Clover 
Seed, Alsiko and Timothy 
Seed grrown in the Northwest 
have a like advantage. It is 
eariter, because of the short 
season in which it matures— 
hardier, because of its sur¬ 
vival of Northwest winters— 
more productive, because 
of its extreme vitality. 
NORTHWEST” Grass Seed 
succeeds where other fail. 
Less "NORTHWEST” seed 
need be sown per acre. 
Hoffman’s 1918 Catalog 
Is full fof valuable hlnta for prow- 
Inir crqpa. It offers Sood Oats, 
Com, Potatooa, Field Peas and 
lleans. Alfalfa and Grass Seeds. 
It is free, with a packet of seoda 
samples, if you mention thispapor 
A. H. HOFFMAN, Inc. 
Isindisvillo, Luncastor Co,, Pa. 
CloverSeed 
Onrhiffh grades of Grass seeds are the inostcare- 
fully selected and recleauod. Highest in Purity 
and Germination. YVo Pay the freight. Catalog 
and Sainnles Free if you mention tliis paper. 
CLICKS SEED FARMS, Smoketown, Lancaster Co.. Pa. 
Guaranteed Genuine Grimm Alfalfa Seed 
Most economical and profitable to sow as it produces 
plants wliich do notwiiiierkilllikcoflier varieties; larger 
yield, higher feeding value, liooklet "How I discovered ibe 
Grinim Allilla," with te.stiiiionials and seed sample free. 
A. B. LYMAN, Grimm Allill* Introducer, Alfalladale Farm, Eicelsior, Minn 
Advertisejient ill a rural New En¬ 
gland Aveekly: “Wanted—A steady, re¬ 
spectable young man to Itxik after a gar¬ 
den and care for a eoAV Avho has ii good 
voice and i.s accustomed to sing in the 
clioir.’’—Christian Ilegister. 
SAMPLE OUR SEED 
Thr«o earliestvcffctabieB in cultivation for lOe. One 
packet each, Kobinaon'a Karlieat Tomato. Earliest 
Round Red Radinh. l*kirUcst Lettuce. 10c to new 
customers. Rcffular price 30c. CATALOG FREE. 
C. N. Robinson&Bro.t Oept.SX, Baltimore,^d. 
SWEET CLOVER 
CLOVERLEA SEED CO. 
ctf Nortii Dakota 
KINDERHOOK. N. Y. 
Wo pay the freight on 100 Iba. or more. 
When you write advertisers mention 
The Rural New-Yorker and you’ll get 
a quick reply and a "square deal.” See 
guarantee editorial page. 
