The RURAL. NEW-YORKER 
215 
A Back Yard and An Acre 
The account of “A Backyard Garden 
and Its Earnings,” in The R. N.-Y. for 
December last has interested me very 
much. Next Summer I am expecting to 
spend in the Berkshires, about five miles 
from Great Barrington, Mass., and the 
above mentioned article has made me 
wonder whether I could not take an acre 
of land on my cousin’s farm and work it 
intensively, to real advantage. I have not 
had actual experience in gardening, but 
have had about 20 years’ business experi¬ 
ence, and believe if I can find the right 
detailed information as to what to plant, 
when to plant it, how to plant and work 
it, etc., and proper fertilization of the 
land, etc., I can follow it and get reason¬ 
able results. At present I am doing some 
general farm work. It interests me so 
much that I rather expect to keep up 
some branch of agricultural work. Do 
you consider it a reasonable undertaking, 
and where can I best obtain the right 
data? The farm I am thinking of is a 
dairy farm, where they raise the stand¬ 
ard crops of cora, oats, hay and buck¬ 
wheat. Probably I could get an acre 
from a corner of one of the fields. My 
idea would be to get up then as early as 
possible, so as to get a good start. After 
getting started I would expect to work the 
garden by hand, with little, if any, help. 
Of course, as I would be starting from the 
beginning, there would be no berries or 
anything of that kind, and I would have 
to depend on crops which could be grown 
in one season. One thing, I think, is 
pretty sure—-I would have plenty of work 
and a lot of fun. Possibly I have over¬ 
looked factors that would make my plans 
unpractical. b. s. n. 
Florida. 
If you expect to produce on an acre 20 
times as much as Mr. Williams did on 
one-twentieth of an acre you are doomed 
to disappointment. We hesitated about 
printing that statement, for while we be¬ 
lieve it is entirely true, many people will 
not consider fully what it means. It is 
like the man who keeps 10 hens under 
ideal conditions and spends half his time 
over them. He may actually make them 
pay a profit of $6 each. Then comes a 
man who .has never raised hens, and 
thinks he can easily keep 1,000 and just 
as easily make .$6,000. There is no way 
of showing him where his figures are 
wrong until die loses about $1,000 at the 
game. Then he will usually blame the 
man with the 10 hens for leading him 
astray! You must remember that Mr. 
Williams has, through many years of 
handling, put his soil into just the right 
condition for close-planted garden crops, 
lie can get water for irrigation, and he 
knows by instinct and long training just 
what to do at each operation. These are 
the essential things in such an enterprise, 
and probably you do not realize their im¬ 
portance. You cannot take an acre of 
land in a corner of a field on a dairy farm 
and have at once ideal garden soil. You 
would have to use at least 50 loads of 
good manure and lime and phosphate in 
addition. Then the soil must be raked 
and leveled, the stones picked off and the 
low places all filled and made smooth. 
Even with that you could not, this first 
year, put the soil in any such condition 
as a good backyard garden. While it is 
possible for you to raise a good crop of 
garden truck on such an acre, we advise 
you to give up at once any thought that 
you can produce this first year, on such 
an acre as you describe, 20 times the crop 
grown by Mr. Williams. If you double 
his figures you will do remarkably well. 
You are right in saying you will have 
plenty of work! As for the fun. that 
may not last beyond the first month—and 
neither work nor fun will always pay 
bills. 
Fur-farming on Prince Edward Island 
It is considered on a very conservative 
basis that 5,500 fox pelts, aggregating 
over $4,000,000 in value, will be exported 
from Prince Edward Island this pelting 
season, which opened about December 1, 
and is now, middle of January, about 
closed. The above number will include 
about 4,000 silvers, 1.000 crosses and 500 
reds. This will be the biggest output of 
skins in any one season since fox-ranch¬ 
ing was started in Prince Edward Island 
and gives good ground for hoping that a 
goodly number of companies will be in a 
position to pay dividends, and dividends 
have not been plentiful while the war was 
on. About 15 fur buyers, both for Eng¬ 
lish and American markets, have been on 
the Island this season, indicating that 
there is a healthy demand for the Island 
stock. About 70 per cent of the take-off, 
the manager of the Fur Sales Board 
estimates, will be absorbed in England, 
and the remainder mainly in the United 
States, with some small lots in other 
countries. j.o. m. 
1 Iermanville, P. E. I. 
MOHAWK 
VS -MUD 
Your tires must fight the roads they travel. That's 
their job. 
On moat country roads, over gravel, macadam, 
rocks, ruts—the fight is hard. 
On some roads, city asphalt for example, the fight 
is comparatively easy. High mileage records under 
easy conditions mean little or nothing. 
We don’t know where Mo¬ 
hawk tires will be used. We 
believe Mohawk users want a 
tire that will stand up and give 
a high mileage on any road. 
We believe they wish to go 
where they want to regardless 
of road conditions. 
So from the beginning we 
have designed and built Mo¬ 
hawk tires not for easy work 
but for any work. We have 
built them with a tread so tough 
they will stand the abrasive ac¬ 
tion ofmacadam,cement,gravel 
and the cutting action of sharp 
rocks, fresh crushed stone, car 
tracks—with extra heavy fabric 
and an extra ply in most sizes 
to guard against fabric breaks 
caused by the hammering over 
rocks, cobbles, road holes and 
curbs —and with treads that 
hold secure against skidding, 
drive slipping or mud, snow, 
sand and wet pavements. 
Where mud is prevalent we 
particularly advise the use of 
the Mohawk Keaton Tread. 
The best proof that Mohawks 
do stand up under any and all 
road conditions is the fact our 
records show that 85% of all 
Mohawk buyers become per¬ 
manent Mohawk users. [A “fair 
weather,” “good road” tire 
could nevershowsucharecord. 
We have accomplished these 
results by the simple, logical 
method of using only the finest 
grades of rubber and fabric pro¬ 
duced in the world—by using 
generous quantities of them— 
by avoiding all dangerous 
cheap compounds and substi¬ 
tutes—by financing and con¬ 
ducting our business economi¬ 
cally and efficiently. 
Isn’t it reasonable to believe 
that such methods must pro¬ 
duce a tire much above the 
ordinary? 
Isn’t this the sort of a tire 
you want. 
You will find good dealers 
almost everywhere who sell 
them. 
THE MOHAWK RUBBER COMPANY 
AKRON, OHIO 
Chicago Atlanta San Francisco Boston New York Kansas City 
TIRES 
Mohawk Tires hold unusually 
well in mud. But there are al¬ 
together too many of these 
mud roads in our country — 
practically impassable winter 
and summer. 
Do you know that less than 10 
per cent of the 2,333,117 miles 
of public roads in the United 
States is improTed? 
Get behind the good roads 
movement in your county. It 
will pay you. 
Potato 
Planter 
Pays for Itself in Labor and Time Saved 
One man and team with an Eureka Potato Planter needs no hired help to plant 
the whole crop. Whether you plant 4 acres or 400, the Eureka Planter will pay for 
itself many times over. Better than hand planting. Increases yield. Does 5 oper¬ 
ations at once, automatically—accurately. 
Opens furrow, drops seed any distance and depth, drops fertilizer (if desired),cov- 
era up and marks next row. Furrow opens and seed _ _ _ 
drops In plain sight —an equal distance apart, at uniform Va *>CI\Q fOt Cotolo# 
depth, with absolutely no Injury to seed. Easy to oper- ^ 
ate in nuy soil, made of steel and malleable iron—assur¬ 
in'* life. Hcht weight and few or no repairs. 
Writ© for fra® catalog on this prrtat line of potato 
planters—the largest line made. Sites for l or 2 rowt, 
with or without fertilizer attachment. In Stock Near 
You. A success for over 20 years. Whether you ar# 
a large or small grower— write today. 
EUREKA MOWER CO. Box 840 UTICA, N. Y. 
GUARANTEED 
to Start Your Car 
in Five Seconds 
In bitterest zero 
weather, a Master 
Primer gives you in¬ 
stant starting with 
any grade of gaso¬ 
line. Y/eGXJ ARAB- 
TEE it to absolutely 
satisfy —to eiimi- 
__ nate delays—heat¬ 
ing carburetor with 
hot water—back breaking cranking. Will start your car 
on low grade fuels like Distillate. If you are not COM¬ 
PLETELY satisfied, after a 80 Days Free Trial, we’ll 
gladly return your money. 80,000 in use—standard equip- 
ment on Franklin Cars. Not a pump and operates bv a button— va¬ 
porize the gasoline-makes it a ricn, hot gas that ignites on first 
spark. Saves battery energy. eliminates high teat gasoline tank. 
Will quickly save its cost in repair bills. Send $12.60. Give name 
of car and model. Writo at oncel Bask Reference: Central 
Saving-s Bank. Detroit. 
Master Primer Co., 34 East Lamed St., Detroit, Mich. 
ELECTRICAL 
iter 
er 
You Know What You Are Getting When You Buy GIVE “UNCLE SAM” MORE FOOD 
LANdLme 
A High Calcium Lime in Powder Form. It is sold under 
a GUARANTEED ANALYSIS. Shipped either in 50-lb. 
paper or 100-lb. cloth bags. Most dealers carry it in 
stock; if your dealer does not, please write us. 
ROCKLAND & ROCKPORT LIME CO. 
Boston, 45 Milk St. Rockland, Me. New York, 101 Park Ave. 
WRITE US TODAY, 
Ws will be pleased to 
send you FREE 
LITERATURE. 
WE PAY 
FREIGHT. 
When you write advertisers mention The R. N.-Y. and you’ll get a 
quick reply and a ‘’square deal.” See guarantee editorial page. 
] 
ITS POSSIBLE for every farmer to do this 
by the scientitle application of fertilizer. 
To be sure of getting all the rood out of your fertilizer you ought 
to have the FREDERICK COUNTY SPREADER which hSs b^en 
perfected to handle all grades of commercial fertilizer* and lime 
It is mechanically perfected with the materials so good that noth¬ 
ing gets out of order. It will last a lifetime. Every business 
t armor ought to bo interested solely on account of labor saving 
and increase in crop production. This machine has more good 
points than any other spreader in the world. Write for information 
os to what this machine will do and how we guarantee it to give 
you pertect service. 
Wooilsboro Lime Spreader Co., Dept 0.30, Woodsboro, Md. 
JUDGING FARM ANIMALS, by C. S. 
Plumb; $2.25. A Practical Manual on this 
subject. For sale by Rural Now-Yorker 
