484 
•She RURAL N£W>YORKER 
March 30, 1013 
[urpees 
eeds 
Grow 
Potatoes Under a Mulch 
Last Winter, in looking over some books 
on agriculture in our iniblie library. I 
came across one on rai.sing potatoes by 
mulching. I took it home and read it 
carefully, not only otice but twice, and 
concluded to try it. I took half an acre, 
of the i)oore.st clay soil on my farm, and 
jl»lowed it about July 3, as it was too 
iwet to plow before, last Spring being the 
B«et Burpee’s Columbia 
Lcttac* Wayahead 
Raditli Burpee's Scarlet Button 
Sweet Com Golden Bantam 
together with, “Su^estions 
on Seed Sowing.” Five col¬ 
lections for $1. to different 
addresses if so ordered. If 
purchased separately, each 
collection would cost 55c. 
Burpee’s Annual 
Food will win the war 
Produce it! 
Five of the Finest 
Fordhook Vegetables 
For 25c one ^cketeach backward on record in our section, 
of the following: 'Kven then it was too wet to plow, but 
Bmb Fordhook Bush Lima it could not be put off any longer. Then 
I harrowed it as well as I could a couple 
of times, marked it off 1^ feet each way, 
and jdaiited half a small potato in each 
place. Then I covered it to the depth of 
about six inches with crushed Sweet 
clover straw—as it came from the 
thrasher when thrashing my Sweet clover 
seed. I did nothing more to them until 
digging time, except that I sprayed lightly 
t j a couple of times with a little arsenate of 
o»Veeeubicci.dFiowcrs.isD«iiied<reeuponre<,uert. Wriu Taris green diluted m walcr. 
lor your copy todar. i Tills, however, was unnecessary, as the 
Atlee Burpee & Co< |hngs did not seem to bother them .‘iiiy. 
Seed Grower* Philadelphia ■[ in.vop .saw potatoes grow faster and look 
grcmier until the early frost which cov- 
ertnl the country canie along and cut them 
as it did everything else. Before I left 
the farm I told the men that there prob¬ 
ably would not be enough to pay for dig¬ 
ging, but to do as they thought best 
about it. They took out a little over GO 
bushels of potatoes, and of a fair average 
size. I believe that had they been planted 
about .Tune 1 and the land had been in 
proper condition we would have had more 
than double, the quantity. Undoubtedly 
the Sweet clover straw being full of nitro¬ 
gen had something to do with the result. 
I shall mulch my entire crop this season, 
as it does away with all cultivation. The 
straw can be saved and used repeatedly. 
Any kind of str.aw or refuse can be used. 
If this plan proves to he a success and 
there is no question about that, it will 
make a. vast difference in the cost of po¬ 
tato raising. I plant only the Karly Bo.se 
variety. a. b. bi.oomixcu.m.k. 
Schenectady To., X. Y. 
TF you follow the instructions i 
* 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. 
256 pages; four full-page color 
plates and four full-page duo- 
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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 cts. Oz. 30 cts. 
HENRY A. DREER 
714-716 Chestnut St..Pluladelphia 
Cow Peas 
Wood^s 
Seeds. 
AIVD 
Velvet Beans 
Save Fertilizer Bills, in¬ 
crease crop productive¬ 
ness, and make the best 
of Summer forage crops. 
Will improve land wonderfully, 
even after using crop for forage 
or grazing purposes. Can be 
grown to excellent advantage in 
your Corn crop, increasing yield 
of Corn and making a wonderful 
improvement to the soil. 
Write for prices and “WOOD’S 
CROP SPECIAL,” giving informa¬ 
tion about all Seasonable Seeds. 
Mailed free on request. 
I.W.WOOD1SONS, 
Seedsmen, Richmond, Va. 
SEED CORN 
Yellow Flint Corn 
Sample tested by county agent. lOOjl Kerraination. 
70 lb»., on Knr ifb.OO 6 bn. at • •4.7« 
lObu. @ ... $4.50 
No ordor teas than 1 bu. 
FHAXK E. HAFE, Jr., Eaet Moriches L. 1., N.Y. 
CloverSeed 
(lurhigli grades of Grass seeds are the mostcare- 
rnlly selei-tt'd and reeleaned. Highest in Purity 
and iTennination. We Pay the freight, (latalog 
and Samples Free if you mention this paper. 
CLICKS SEED FARMS, Smoketown, Lancaster Co., Pa. 
Fighting the Crow 
On p.igo 237. Michigan Farmer asks 
for a )»Iaii for <nit\vifting flie crows. A 
plan fliat very often jirovt's sitccessful 
hero if! to h.atig jiiece>j of Itriglit tin by a 
.string from a pole in Yari<nts p.arfs of the 
(i»‘](l .iiist its file corn is pricking llirotigh. 
.V slight hreez(' will keejt them whirling 
and the sunlight fiashittg will nsnally keep 
the crows away until the corn has grown 
too large to he pulled. Some years ago 
I used ii rather novel method for riilding 
,niy fndd of the pe.sts. The field jtlanted 
itlnit year was one-third of a mile from 
the Inmse, Init in plain sight. I owned at 
tlnif time a Remington target rifle, nsing 
;i 40.“ grain itullet of 45 c.alibre. I n.sed 
to bore a gimlet hole in the end of the 
hnllet and then after carefully extracting 
the bullet from a 22 short rifle cartridge 
insert the shell with the powder in the 
end of the Remington bullet. I then jdaced 
this bullet in it.s shell with 00 grains of 
powder behind it and loading my rifle 
waited for the crows to appear. When a 
nice huncli had got nicely settled for a 
feast Avoiild take aim at the centre and 
blaze away. Immediately on striking the 
ground the, bullet would explode of course 
throwing up quantities of dirt. It used to 
be laughable to watch friend crow fall 
over himself trying to get away from the 
immediate vicinity of the earthquake in 
the .shortest po.ssible time. It took but a 
few exjdosions of this sort to frighten the 
crows so that they avoided my cornfield 
as they would a jiestilence. 
As a last resort when evei-ything else 
fails we take a .small vial of strychnine, 
dissolve it in warm water, an<l soak a 
few quarts of corn in the .solution over 
night, iind the next morning early distri¬ 
bute .sitme where the crows have been 
I working. We are almost certain to kill 
isome be.sides making others deathly .sick. 
^After this ti'catment I have never known 
'the remaining crows to pull in that field 
the same vear. There seems To he eon- 
!siderable difference of opinion as to the 
value of the crow. Personally T dislike 
^ro kill them when it can be avoided. I 
concede he robs other birds’ nests, pulls 
corn, and sonietime.s makes a nuisance of 
himself in tlie chicken yard. In his favor 
is the fact that he consumes thon.s;inds 
of the large white grubs which are one of 
our worst jiests here, not only in fair 
meadows but in our corn and potato fiehls 
as well. .T. c. c. 
Washington Co., X. Y. 
Pumpkins and Beans in Corn 
I am planning to plant Connecticut 
pumpkins with my corn. Should the 
pumpkin hills be in line with the corn, or 
between the corn rows? If planted in 
line with the corn, could I cultivate with 
a two-row cultivator? Should the pump¬ 
kins he put into the ground about the 
time tliat the corn comes up? Also, please 
advi.se me .about planting field beaus in 
my cornfield. Should the beaus be in the 
corn rows, or between them? Will they 
interfere with cultivation? Should they 
be planted later tlian the corn? 
I have some laud on m.v place that is 
very much in need of building up, and 
which I am to plant to corn tliis Summer, 
and follow with rye, which will he plowed 
under, and in turn followed by cow pea.s. 
Would it be a good plan to sow cow peas 
between the corn rows this Summer? 
Would it interfere vflth cutting the corn 
for fodder? Is the Soy bean as good fer¬ 
tilizer as the cow pea? Is it as good for 
hay and grain feeding? n. T.. Y. 
Culpeper Co., A'.-i. 
You can jilant pumpkins in the rows 
with the corn in the hills or between 
them. You can use the two-row cultiva¬ 
tor till the vines get too large. While 
tliis is a common practice for getting 
j)umpkins. it interferes with a proiier ro¬ 
tation of crops for the improvement of 
the land. I would prefer to plant in .a 
separate ])lot like watermelons, and then 
not plant pumpkins but AVinter squashes 
that are .so mucli better. That is. if they 
:ire for human food. ■rinni)kiiis are very 
good for slock. If idanted in the corn, I 
would plant between the hills about the 
last of May. A’ou c.-in pliint the Dutch 
Caseknife beans in the cum hill and let 
them clind) on the ci»ra. An improved 
variety of this bean is known as Bei-ger’s 
Green Rod Stringh'ss. Tliey ;ire good for 
s’naii laauis iind also dry. You should 
liave all your land in a systematic rota¬ 
tion with the legume erops. How an 
early variety of cow peas, like Xew Era. 
in the corn .iust ahead of the last lailtiva- 
tiou and cultivate them in. Then after 
cutting :ind shocking the corn (setting the 
shocks in lines as far apart as con- 
venientl, disk down the peas and sow 
one hushol of rye and 15 lbs. of Crims<in 
clover seed an acre. The Soy bean will 
make more food for stock, from the ahuiid- 
aiice of its riciier seed, 'than cow pea.s. 
1‘ui‘ely for miinnriii] ■value. T W()\dd prefer 
cow ]M‘as. w. F. MASSEY. 
Construction of Septic Tank 
I wish to })nt in a se|)ti<* tank. How 
large should it he for a family of si.x? 
AVill it freeze if not put below frosr? 
W'hat kind of tile should I use and size 
of tile? TIow far should tile extend fi-om 
tank to drain it? a. s. R. 
Schoharie, X, Y. 
A sejitic tank should hold from .30 to 
.50 gallons of li<iuid per day for each 
person served. For a family of six, a 
tank three feet deep, three feet wide and 
eight feet long, inside dimensions, would 
luobably .serve. This is divided into two 
chamher.s. the settling chamber about 
three feet in length; four-inch tiles from 
house +0 tank and three-inch drain tiles 
for the overflow are used. The length of 
runs, or amount of tiling needed, to care 
for the overflow from the tank depends 
uixin the character t)f the soil in which 
they are laid ; from 10 to 25 feet of til¬ 
ing jier person. A tank will not freeze if 
idacwl just beneath the surface, tin* 
chemical action in it generating sufik-iont 
heat to protect it. Before attempting to 
build a septic tank I would suggest that 
you write your State College of Agricul¬ 
ture at Ithaca, X. Y., and ask for detailed 
plans. Yon .should understand the prin¬ 
ciples of construction, at least, before 
undertaking the work. T'here are many 
designs for septic tanks, no two alike, 
and. so far as my observation goes, the 
simple ones work as well as any. 
xi. n. 1 ). 
Wakeful 
Ni|hts 
*^^0 out of style 
in^'the family that 
once drank coffee 
but now uses 
INSTANT 
POSTUM 
This wholesome bev¬ 
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flavor contains no 
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and its cheery good¬ 
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in the way 
IMr-'/-'-- • ‘-.table 
-' drink 
Dependable 
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Prove the quality and germ¬ 
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985 Mechanic St. 
Jackson. Mich. 
GrotuD' 
Alcaays 
"Grocan 
Insure success in your garden. Each 
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our 41 years* success as seed growers. 
THE MAULE SEED BOOK 
176 pages full of valuable plants CppiJ 
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You save money and get fresh seeds 
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2153 Arch Street Phila.. Pa. 
SAMPLE OUR SEED 
Thr«e earliestvefirctables io cultivation for 10c. One 
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Round Red Radish, Earliest Lettuce, 10c to new 
customers. Regrular price 30c, CATALOG FRKK. 
C, N. Robinson&Bro.»0€pt«51»BaltJmore,Ai<i« 
