<Ibt RURAL NEW-YORKER 
1530 
even, vigorous, free from disease. We immediately 
tried to find out who grew them so we could get more 
for the next season's planting. We bought some the 
next Spring from this same dealer, with the in¬ 
structions to get us the same marks of seed as we 
had the previous Spring. We did get “something,” 
hut when they came up there were at least six dif¬ 
ferent kinds; early and late, long and round, white 
and red. When dug, the yield was 75 bu. per acre 
less than from good seed alongside, and as poor-look¬ 
ing a lot as you could imagine. Every potato grower 
in the warm portions of the country, where they 
have to buy their seed, has had similar experiences, 
and they adopted the plan of buying seed from sev¬ 
eral different sources, with the hope that some of 
them would prove good, and the expectation that 
some would be poor. 
ORGANIZING EFFORT.—Five years ago the 
writer of this told of the various troubles from poor 
seed potatoes and the losses they brought the grow¬ 
ers, before a large audience of up-State potato grow¬ 
ers during Farmers’ Week at Cornell. I made as 
strong a plea as I knew how for the plant doctors' 
and the plant breeders to help the growers in the 
cooler parts of the State to grow us some good seed 
potatoes. The plan created much interest and dis¬ 
cussion, and since that time New York. Vermont and 
Maine at least have organized a State inspection ser¬ 
vice, and many local organizations of growers have 
been formed to raise seed potatoes. 
MISTAKEN HASTE.—The growers in the South 
had said plainly they were ready to pay a handsome 
premium for a superior grade of seed potatoes, and 
many Northern growers and local seed growers’ or¬ 
ganizations proceeded immediately to ask the big 
premium and advertise good seed before they had 
good seed. The Long Island and New Jersey grow¬ 
ers bought them eagerly, and when they proved to 
be badly diseased and inferior in many cases they 
lost faith in certified seed. The Northern grower nor 
the State nspector are to be blamed too severely for 
these mistakes. The growers, or the inspectors either, 
for that matter, knew but very little about the most 
serious seed troubles. They did not conspire to¬ 
gether to “salt” the Long Island growers, although 
they did get salted. Some of the diseases that do 
the most damage in the southern parts are not 
serious troubles farther north, and it has been found 
out since that under certain climatic conditions do 
not show at all on the growing plants or the resulting 
tubers. 
EFFORT NEEDED.—It is hard to convince the 
Northern grower of seed of the need of constant 
effort to keep up and improve his stock by selection 
and rogueing. Our experience with a small growers’ 
organization in Vermont illustrates that point. Five 
years ago but little was known of our worst seed 
troubles. Dr. Orton told the writer the best way he 
knew to get good seed was to inspect tin* fields de¬ 
signed for seed about the time they blossomed, and 
if they were free from disease then they should be 
reasonably free the next Summer, referring particu¬ 
larly to mosaic and leaf-roll. Acting on his sugges¬ 
tion, four of us Long Island growers went up to 
Vermont to this seed growers’ association, from 
which we had a car of good seed the previous Spring, 
Although it was a cow country and the growers did 
not have the machinery or experience to produce big 
crops, what they had were healthy and vigorous, and 
showed their original seed stock had been produced 
by an expert. We bought all of their crop that was 
suitable for seed, and have bought all of it every 
year since, amounting to 14 carloads in 1918. The 
first year or two the seed was very fine, every plant 
strong and vigorous and free from disease. Since 
then it has gradually been deteriorating, now and 
then a weak plant showing up, and a little mosaic 
and leaf-roll creeping in. We have offered prizes 
and begged these growers to adopt some approved 
method of keeping up the quality of their seed. It 
has been of no avail, and this Summer the seed 
shows so much disease and inferior hills, especially 
from some individual growers, that their community 
is of doubtful value as a source of seed. 
GENERAL CONDITIONS.—Not only have we in¬ 
spected the potatoes in this community every year, 
but also in many other widely scattered communities 
and farms through Maine, Vermont and Northern 
New York. Everywhere we have found it much the 
same. Stock that was good, at the end of two or 
three years has gone bad so it was unfit for seed. 
Tests this past Summer by our Farm Bureau of over 
80 different lots of seed show clearly that seed from 
certain growers that was good three years ago has 
now become nearly or quite 100 per cent diseased. 
This going bad of seed is due to several causes. In 
the first place, the diseases that make most of the 
trouble, mosaic and leaf-roll and kindred troubles, 
are not well understood, and it needs a trained ex¬ 
pert on the job all through the Summer to watch for 
and eliminate these troubles properly as soon as they 
can he detected. Very few farmers have the knowl¬ 
edge of these diseases to cope with them properly. 
Even if a farmer knows the methods required to 
keep up the quality of his seed, few men are temper¬ 
amentally fitted to do that kind of “fussy” work; 
neither have they the time to do it. In the second 
place, by far the majority of the seed potato grow¬ 
ers in the North are also dairymen, and only grow 
seed potatoes in a comparatively small way, with 
the inevitable consequence tff the potatoes receiving 
such attention as could he given after the exacting 
work in the dairy is attended to. 
WHY WE BOUGHT A FARM.—From our experi¬ 
ence, realizing the instability and uncertainty of a 
reliable source of supply for seed, we decided two or 
. „ • - • *v • 
three years ago we would probably have to buy a 
farm in the cool North on which to raise our seed. 
Accordingly, when the opportunity offered in- the 
Winter of .1918-19 of purchasing four farms aggre¬ 
gating G25 acres in Penobscot' Cbunty, Me., wo closed 
-the deal, and are growing our own seed there this 
Summer. What is our aim? We are not l'us£y, but 
just plain, ordinary potato growers. The owners of 
these farms plant 500 acres on Long Island, and use 
about 4.000 bu. of seed per year, and have had 
enough experience to know the loss from poor seed. 
We are going to try to. raise reliable need potatoes. 
.Someone may want to know what we call reliable 
seed potatoes. It is this: A vigorous strain, from 
which weak hills have been eliminated by selection, 
free from injurious diseases, true to type. 
H. R. TALMAGE. 
Mulching and Fertilizing in Central West 
I observed in a recent issue, in a discussion of Rome 
Beauty apples, that 5 lbs. of nitrate of soda and 5 lbs. 
of phosphoric acid to each tree, together with at least 
one bale of straw for mulching, is highly recommended. 
To all of which I most heartily agree. I have used 
nitrate of soda and phosphoric acid in my orchard during 
the present year. However, I only used 2 lbs. of nitrate 
of soda, instead of 5 lbs. to the tree. In connection with 
the use of nitrate of soda and phosphoric acid, and straw 
for mulching. I desire your opinion as to what the proper 
time is for mulching. In this section of the country we 
are troubled with tin* short-tail field mouse, which some 
call the gopher, and if care is not taken in mulching 
and the mulching is left around too near the tree in Win¬ 
ter, the gopher or field mouse will bark your tree and 
consequently kill it. It is important to me to know 
whether it is safe to mulch in the Fall, before the field 
mouse has a permanent and fixed Winter bed. It may 
be advisable to do the mulching after the first of Janu¬ 
ary. at which time the gopher or field mouse will have 
established a Winter home, but on this point I desire 
the opinion of some person more expert than myself. 
As to the nitrate of soda, if your tree is sufficiently 
mulched, how and when would you apply this? The 
mulch, as I take it. should extend out under the limbs of 
the tree; would you sow the nitrate of soda on top of 
the mulch, or would you sow it at the outer edge of the 
mulch, or would you remove the mulch aud spread the 
nitrate of soda and then replace the mulch? These are 
all important questions to me. Is there any danger in 
mulching heavily of burning the roots of the tree near 
the surface of the ground, and if for any cause in sub¬ 
sequent years mulching should be discontinued, the 
drought would greatly affect the tree because of these 
roots being so near the surface? 
'Fliero is another question that presents itself to me 
very forcibly at this particular time, and that is as to 
the pruning of the trees during the coining Winter or 
year. In this section of the country the 17-year locusts 
were very numerous, and each little branch of my apple 
trees has been lacerated by the locust for the purpose of 
depositing eggs, and to such an extent that if you put 
any weight on the same, such branches will break off 
just where the laceration begins. Will it be necessary 
to prune the trees to such an extent as to cut off ail 
branches injured by the locusts? If so, it will require a 
great amount of pruning to each tree, and will the in¬ 
jured branches outgrow the injury and become suffi¬ 
ciently strong by leaving them alone? This, to me. is a 
most important question. Summarizing, when, how, 
and how much to mulch ; when and how to use the 
nitrate of soda and phosphoric acid ; how much to prune 
during the coming year on account of the locusts, are 
questions on which I would be glad to read some per¬ 
son’s opinion, more expert than myself. 
Indiana. c. w. Schindler. 
PPLYING MULCII.—Where we use straw or 
other vegetable matter in mulching apple trees, 
it is applied over circular areas of ground slightly 
larger than those covered by the spread of the 
branches. However, the mulch, under bearing trees of 
considerable size, does not extend under the trees 
close to their base, but is kept several feet away. 
The unmulched circles of ground near the bodies of 
the trees, where mice are troublesome, should be 
kept free from all sod and litter of any kind by 
Spring and Fall work with hoe or mattock and hand 
rake. The belt of mulch thus maintained beneath the 
outer branches of the trees may be maintained 
throughout the year. If mice become established be¬ 
neath this covering, poisoned bait of oats, wheat, 
corn, or small cubes of sweet potato are used in their 
runs or burrows beneath the straw, arsenic usually 
being the poison employed for this purpose. 
APPLYING CHEMICALS.—Tn fertilizing the or¬ 
chard the chemicals are sown directly on the circular 
mulch under the outer branches. One who uses his 
October 18, 191» 
right hand in spreading the plant food should move 
around the trees from right to left, traversing a 
circle just beneath or immediately outside of the ex¬ 
tremities of the branches of the trees. A left-handed 
workman should move around from left to right. 
Thus the fertilizer will be sown toward the center of 
the circle, over the bed of mulch. The heavier dis¬ 
tribution of each handful of fertilizer should be made 
at the outer margin of the circle, permitting the 
quantity of material to diminish toward the inner 
edge of the belt of mulch. Where the branches of the 
trees nearly meet across the spaces between the 
rows, as they do in many bearing orchards of con¬ 
siderable age, the mulch and fertilizer should be ap¬ 
plied to the entire surface of the ground except the 
circular spaces of bare soil maintained about the 
bases of the trees. 
QUANTITY REQUIRED.—Only by actual experi¬ 
ment can one determine the quantity of nitrate that 
is necessary for trees where the soil is deficient in 
this element of plant food. On the thin, upland soils 
of Southern Ohio, however, for bearing trees 15 to 20 
years of age, we have found 5 lbs. of nitrate of soda 
per tree per year to be just about right. In one 
fairly representative test, orchard, 5 lbs. of nitrate 
per tree gave a clear gain per tree per year of $4.07. 
This was the average for a five-year period. Closely 
alongside an application of 10 lbs. per tree per year 
gave a five-year average net gain of $4.14. Where 
214 lbs. of nitrate was used in the same test, the 
annual profit dropped to $2.45 per tree for the five- 
year period. 
WHEN APPLIED.—A good time for application of 
chemical fertilizers to apple and other fruit trees is 
a few days before the opening of the blossoms. For 
apples we especially like to fertilize just as the leaf 
buds are unfolding and beginning to expose the blos¬ 
som clusters. 
PRUNING.—Very young trees that are badly in¬ 
jured by locusts should be severely pruned, cutting 
well below the punctured parts and starting a new 
Head. Trees that have been growing a few years 
may have the mutilated parts cut out, usually with¬ 
out a great deal of labor or expense, and will soon 
develop into good form again. Generally speaking, 
it is hardly worth while to attempt to cut out the 
punctured twigs from a considerable orchard of 
large, bearing trees. The injured portions in time 
will be broken off by the wind or by the weight of 
fruit. Large-sized apple trees, as usually found in 
Ohio, have by far too many branches and are unde¬ 
sirably dense in growth of twigs and shoots. Locust 
injury on such trees might well suggest, however, re¬ 
moval of not only the damaged twigs and smaller 
branches, but. while the pruners are in hand, much 
more superfluous wood in addition. f. h. ballou. 
Ohio Experiment Station. 
Valuable Hints on Selecting and Storing, 
Seed Corn 
LWAYS make it a point to observe on what kind 
of stalk the seed ear is produced. This is im¬ 
portant. The stalk should not he too tall and of rank 
growth. Again, seed selected from dwarf stalks will 
not he satisfactory. The aim should be to select from 
stalks that are full grown, fairly stocky and of me¬ 
dium height, and that, produce good, plump ears. I 
like to select stalks that are inherently good, not be¬ 
cause of favorable conditions, such as plenty of 
moisture, and those grown on the richest spot in the 
field. Oftentimes poor seed will make a showing on 
such spots of land. I like to select ears of good size, 
long, and filled out well, with plenty of corn, and 
deep-grained as well. Again, the corn must be fully 
matured before the ear is removed from the stalk. 
Wlu'ii the seed ears have been marked and gath¬ 
ered from the field, the next thing of importance is 
the proper way to store them. There are many 
methods of storing seed corn, and all of them have 
their good points. The important thing is to be sure 
to get the ear dry and keep it stored in that man¬ 
ner. Dry corn will not he injured so quickly by 
ordinary freezing, but if there is much moisture pres¬ 
ent the germ will be weakened from exposure to 
cold, and sometimes the germination qualities of an 
entire ear will he found dead, this being usually due 
to the condition of the ear when stored away. 
About 10 bu. of seed will give plenty for the aver¬ 
age farm, allowing us to cull it over carefully and 
select from that only the very best at planting time. 
r rhe corncrib, attic or some other dry place will be 
excellent for storage; just so the storage place is dry, 
not too cold, and free from all vermin, rats and mice. 
Pennsylvania. h. w. swore. 
Thns estimate is that over 30 per cent of the commer¬ 
cial poultrymen in New Jersey will put lights in the 
henhouse this Winter! 'I'lie hen at least will have day¬ 
light saving forced upon her! 
