30 
‘lb* RURAL. NEW-YORKER 
January 11, 1919 
— 
Money In Sirump Land 
.^ 
I //. 0. Hunzicker, of Foster, JVash., 
•pulling a 2.',-inch fir stump with 
; deep tap roots out of hard ground. 
% ;i 
Weight, without cable, 171 pounds 
This man made #55 Land 
Worth #200 an acre 
Pulling Bigstumps by hand 
C LEAR your stump land cheaply—no digging, no 
expense for teams or powder. Your own right 
arm on the lever of the “K” Stump Puller can 
rip out any stump that can be pulled with the best inch 
steel cable. I guarantee it. I refer you to U. S. Gov¬ 
ernment officials. I give highest banking references. 
HAND POWER. 
Showing 
easy lever 
operation 
One man with ft *'K” can outpull 16 horses. Works 
by leverage—same principle as a jack. 100 lbs. pull 
on the lever gives a 48-ton pull on the stump. 
Made of best steel—guaranteed against break¬ 
age. Has two speeds—60 ft. per minute for 
hauling In cable or for small stumps—slow 
speed for heavy pulls. Works equally well 
on hillsides or marshes where horses 
cannot go. 
Write me today for special offer and 
free booklet on Land Clearing. 
Walter J. Fitzpatrick 
Box 34 
182 Fifth St. 
^ San Francisco, 
Calif. 
No Stumploo For The © 
They do their cultivation quicker, better and with less 
labor, for Planet Jrs. are scientific garden tools that work 
easily, rapidly and with thoroughness. Used by successful 
farmers and gardeners for over forty-five years. Planet Jrs. 
last a lifetime and are fully guaranteed. 
No. 25 Planet Jr. Combined Hill and Drill Seeder, 
Double and Single Wheel-Hoe, Cultivator and Plow 
sows all garden seeds from the smallest up to peas and beans, 
in hills or in drills, rolls down and marks next row at one 
passage, and enables you to cultivate up to two acres a day 
all through the season. A double and single wheel-hoe 
in one. Straddles crops till 20 inches high, then works 
between them. A splendid combination for the family 
garden, onion grower, or large gardener. 
No. 17 Planet Jr. js the highest type of 
single-wheel hoe made. It is a hand-machine 
whose light durable construction enables a 
man, woman, or boy to cultivate the gar¬ 
den in the easiest, quickest and best way. 
S. L. ALLEN & CO. Inc. 
Box 1107 V Philadelphia 
New 72-pg. Catalog, free! 
Illustrates Planet Jrs. In action 
and describes over 55 tools, 
Including Seeders, Wheel- 
Hoes, Horse-Hoes, Harrows, 
Orchard-, Beet- and Pivot- 
Wheel Riding Cultiyators. 
Write for it today 1 
Grow More Grain ~X_« 
Last year you produced more grain because “Food 
would win the war.” This year, Uncle Sam is 
asking for even greater grain production to help him 
establish a just peace and save the world from 
anarchy. Use a Crown Drill; put every grain where it will make th< 
best growth. The Crown force feed insures accurate seeding—can be 
regulated instantly. Powerful springs hold the discs to their work— 
prevent skips on hard spots. You can sow dent 
corn and kidney beans as well as small grains—no 
cracked kernels. The Crown fertilizer feed will 
handle dry or damp goods—instantly regulated. 
Drills are made in all sizes, both hoe and disc. 
Write at once for 1919 Catalog 
Crown Wheelbarrow Seeders make high-priced clover seed 
go farther. We also make Lime and Fertilizer Sowers and 
Traction Sprayers. 
CROWN MFG. CO, 112 Wayne St, PHELPS, N. Y. 
The Long Island Cabbage Seed Crop 
The growing of cabbage seed is one of 
the most important and most localized of 
the special crops grown on Long Island. 
Not all, but most American seed is raised 
within six miles of Mattituck, which is 
far out on the eastern end of the island, in 
the region where cauliflowers, seed corn 
and mealy potatoes have developed one of 
the most prosperous regions in the coun¬ 
try. The scarcity of food in Europe has 
made Denmark devote itself to food pro¬ 
duction and neglect cabbage seed, raising 
the price and giving an added stimulus 
to American seed production. The area 
is at present about 1,000 acres, and is not 
greatly increasing, because potatoes and 
seed corn can be depended upon for surer 
it smaller profits. 
Cabbage seed is nearly always raised on 
contract, the seedsman furnishing the 
seed and buying the product at a fixed 
price per pound. Cabbage seed is gener¬ 
ally raised on land where early potatoes 
have been secured, and the second year 
may be followed by late “flowers” or 
“sprouts,” making three crops in two 
years. If the variety is that of flat 
Dutch. Danish Ball or other late variety, 
the seed is sown about July 20, hut for 
Wakefield or other early sort the sowing 
may be as late as August 15. Some sow 
in beds and transplant, while others sow 
in the field and thin the plants to a suit¬ 
able distance. If sown in a bed, the plants 
are ready for the field in six weeks, when 
they are set in rows three feet apart, 
and closer than they would be if heads 
were to be marketed. The plants are 
given ordinary care until November 1, 
when they should be starting to head. 
The state of development most desired 
is that in which the shape of the head is 
formed, but before it has become solid. 
At this stage the seedsman sends a repre¬ 
sentative through the field to “rogue” the 
patch by cutting out all that are not of 
the type desired. The plants are now 
ready for the critical period of Winter 
storage. As five rows can be put in one 
trench, back furrows are plowed and the 
young cabbage placed root down, two or 
three abreast and crowded close together. 
As soon as this is done the plow is used 
to throw dirt against and on the cabbages. 
The asparagus ridger carries more dirt 
on the cabbages, and finally a shovel may 
be used to cover thin spots. No straw or 
stalk or marsh bay is used, the bank of 
earth being ample protection in this mild 
climate. 
As soon as weather permits the laud to 
be worked in the Spring, furrows are 
plowed four feet apart, and preferably 
running east and west. The ridges are 
opened by running a plow along one side 
to expose the cabbages, which are then 
dug out with a fork and thrown into the 
furrows with the head to the west or 
southwest. If the cabbage has a firm 
head it is deeply slashed with a knife to 
let the sprouts get out. A furrow is 
then plowed on to the roots and ordinary 
cultivation given. The object in heading 
the cabbages west is that the high winds 
are likely to come from that way, and if 
the stalks come out toward the west and 
then turn up they will not so easily blow 
over. 
By July 15 the seeds are turning light 
red in the pods, indicating proper matur¬ 
ity. The stalks are cut with a cauliflower 
knife and laid down in small bundles like 
grain. When dry they must bo thrashed 
at once. Large growers use a small grain 
separator with less than the usual con¬ 
caves, the machines run slowly. The 
small growers spread a canvas and thrash 
with a flail, as they are easily separated 
from the pods. The seed is at once 
cleaned of pods with a fanning mill and 
spread in a dry place on cloth or paper to 
dry. In two weeks after thrashing it is 
ready to bag and deliver to the seedsman. 
It sounds easy, but the whole course of 
the crop is beset with dangers. Drought 
may prevent the germination of the seed 
or prevent the transplantation to the field. 
Late cabbage worms may injure the young 
cabbages, or a bad season and early Win¬ 
ter like 1017 catch most of them before 
they can be put in trenches. During the 
Winter deep freezing may kill many of 
the stored heads, or rot may spread in 
the trenches to such an extent that the 
grower has only .one-quarter the expected 
acreage. In June an unseasonable north- 
cast gale may blow the blossoming stalks 
fiat, or cabbage maggots cause the most 
promising to die just before maturity. 
Most dreaded of all, wet, foggy weather 
may cause the seeds to sprout in the 
pods, or a heavy thunderstorm on the dry 
pods may scatter half the seeds on the 
ground. 
If none of these things does happen, a 
good crop may give 1,000 or even 1.200 
pounds of fine seed, but often the yield is 
cut down to 400 or GOO pounds, while 500 
is generally thought to be a fair crop for 
a 10-year average. In the years before 
the war a fair price was 40c to GOc a 
pound, but the war conditions sent the 
price to .$1 in 1017, and this year to se¬ 
cure an adequate supply $1.50 a pound is 
being paid. This seems large to the gen¬ 
eral farmer, but he must consider the cer¬ 
tain large outlay for labor and fertilizer, 
not less than $200 an acre, with the 
chance of a complete loss of crop. Even 
with such prices there is little increase in 
acreage, while the stand-bys, potatoes, 
cauliflowers and seed corn, are steadily 
increasing. h. f. button. 
Seed Potatoes 
On page 1377, in discussing early and 
late potatoes, a correspondent touches a 
vital point in potato growing, that of 
“harking back,” as the boys say, to the 
individual potato. For years my rule was 
to seleet from the best hills, when digging, 
those giving a maximum number of good 
size and minimum of small. Progress was 
slow, variation in yield too great, so I 
began with single specimens of uniform 
weight and shape. The first year yield 
varied, per potato, from 6 lbs. to 1G’4 
lbs. Discarding the lower yields and 
holding closely to type and uniform size, 
I found a marked advance in uniformity 
in production per potato, so much so that 
I am convinced that if growers would but 
follow this systematically a few years 
they would have foundation stock of su¬ 
perior value and greatly increased power 
of resistance to disease. The problem is 
not so much one of variety as health and 
vigor, the result of careful selection. Here 
the foundation must be the individual 
seed, and on this we can build what we 
please, provided we maintain a favorable 
environment. That this varies greatly 
with different strains of this same variety 
is a fact to be recognized when seeking 
largest production. For this reason it 
pays to lay the foundation by the single- 
specimen test, and then seek that har¬ 
mony of Conditions which will tend to give 
best returns. 
The same principle holds with corn, 
and all crops; yes, certainly with our 
fruit trees. It does not pay to fight na¬ 
ture, and wise is he who seeks and finds 
the right environment for his crops ahd 
establishes that harmony which leads to¬ 
wards prosperity. c. m. twitciiell. 
Fertility for Lawn 
I have recently moved into a new 
house; the yard has been filled so that 
the soil is not extra good and I want to 
get grass started in the Spring. I have 
had a coat of manure put on the yard, 
and was going to lime it, but a friend 
told me that I should not use the lime 
along with the manure. I knew that hen 
manure or sheep manure should not be 
used with the lime, but the manure that 
I have is from horses. Should I use the 
lime with the horse manure, and if so 
would it be better to put it on now or 
wait until Spring? B. N. M. 
Charleston, W. Va. 
We think this soil needs both lime and 
manure, and we should use both. It is 
true that when lime is mixed with any 
kind of manure, or most forms of organic 
matter, a certain amount of ammonia is 
set free. Scatter lime in a henhouse or 
where hen manure is stored, and you can 
quickly smell the ammonia, when this 
mixture is made. Above ground the am¬ 
monia thus set free is lost, as it escapes 
into the air as a gas. When the lime and 
manure are mixed together in the soil 
there is no loss. While much the same 
chemical action may take place the am¬ 
monia is held in the soil and not, as in 
the other case, lost in the air. Our plan 
would be tn give that soil a good coat of 
manure in the Spring, and spade it well 
into the ground. Then scatter on the 
lime and rake it well into the upper soil. 
It will also pay you to use a quantity of 
phosphate or boue along with the lime 
and manure. 
