7ht RURAL NEW-YORKER 
765 
Advertising the Mill> in a Town Market. Fig. 20.1 
The f *cfnl Weeder at Wort:. Fit/. 202 
Cart for Gathering Asparagus. Fig. 203. (See Pain ?<>5 
Advertising Milk in the Local Market 
The “Potato Pen” and Other 
Fakes 
About two years ago there was a great 
deal said in the press about “potato 
pens.” According to the articles printed 
this method of cultivation was going to 
revolutionize the potato industry. Large 
corporation's were going into this manner 
of cultivation on a large scale. I saw 
no reports of the experiments printed, 
and T am greatly interested in the out¬ 
come. Can you tell me what results 
proved? Were the experiments success¬ 
ful.^ and where did the idea originate? 
New York. e. rt. R. 
T HE R. N.-Y. gave a number of re¬ 
ports of this pen method, includ¬ 
ing several pictures of the “pens.” It 
was a fizzle as far as any practical 
’results went. The scheme was to 
build up a square pen of rails, putting 
them up cob fashion, after the plan of 
building a log house. The pen was 
tilled up with a mixture of soil and 
good compost. When about a foot of 
this had been put on the bottom seed 
pieces of potato were put in one foot 
apart each way around the sides. Then 
another foot of the soil mixture, more 
seed pieces, another layer of soil, and 
so on to the top. In some cases five 
separate layers of potato seed were 
put iu from bottom to top. The theory 
was that these potato plants would 
start iu this rich soil, cover the top and grow out be¬ 
tween the rails on the sides. This was to make the 
entire pen one great mass of potato vines on the out¬ 
side. while the inside was to be one solid mass of 
tubers. The thing did not work. Most of the plants 
made only a sickly growth through the rails, and 
only a poor crop of small potatoes was produced. 
Of course such a “pen" dried out quickly, and many 
growers neglected to water it properly. As long 
ago as we can remember this scheme, with modifi¬ 
cations. has been advocated. It generally starts 
through some fake advertisement. Some rascal 
offers to send a guaranteed plan for raising the 
family supply of potatoes in a backyard, lie gets 
$5 or more for the information, and is usually such 
a plausible liar that he makes 10 times as much 
How It Was Done at Johnson City, N. Y. 
M IL J. S. PATTERSON, the market master of 
the public market in Johnson City, N. Y., 
sends us the picture shown at Fig. 201 to show how 
it was necessary to work all sorts of advertising 
plans in order to get the market under way. In the 
early part of the market it was thought wise to try- 
p> develop a direct sale for milk, but as is the case 
everywhere, people were in the habit of buying 
their milk from the dealers who came around with 
the milk wagon, and it was necessary to do some¬ 
thing out of the usual in order to get the regular 
business started. So Mr. Patterson induced a num¬ 
ber of fanners to lead their cows into town and tie 
them to the fence in the market. People came and 
looked the cows over, and there was 
a big sign announcing that at a cer¬ 
tain time these cows would be milked 
before the crowd and the milk sold 
while if was warm and fresh, and the 
proceeds were to be given to a well- 
known charity. The photograph shows 
the cows and a boy starting to milk 
one of them. It also shows the 
signs and the way the salesmen pro¬ 
ceeded to. get the business started. 
This novelty created a good deal of 
interest, and resulted in putting milk 
on the market as a regular product, so 
that now many quarts of milk are re 
tailed every market day. People come 
with their own containers and take it 
home, and they get a fair reduction in 
price. It is often necessary to resort 
to some of those spectacular things in 
order to attract attention. In many 
Cuban towns the cows are driven from 
door to door, and the woman or the 
servant comes out with a bottle or pail 
and obtains the milk warm from the 
cow. What would be the result if a 
number of good dairymen drove a herd 
of cows through some of the residence 
sections of the big cities, with some 
man with a leather lung to announce 
it? Tt would be a great novelty, and 
after they got started those cows 
would soon be dry. and the advertising 
would lie an educator and lead to the 
sale of more milk. 
The Value of a Weeder 
time, however, lots of roots are cut off. and this is 
a thing we want to avoid in corn plowing. 
Ohio. c. M. CAKER. 
An Old Mulched Orchard 
I N 1808. one hundred and twelve years ago. my 
grandfather came from Putnam County. N. Y., by 
horse or ox team, and located on the farm where I 
now live. There were 15 acres cleared, and in this 
clearing were set. about two acres of apple trees. 
By whom this orchard was planted we do not know, 
but think it was purchased from one of Ceu. Sulli¬ 
van's soldiers who helped to drive the Indians out 
of this country in 177!). At the time of the purchase 
tlie settler lived in a log cabin north of our house, 
about where the driveway now is. Quite a number 
than they ever had. I can remember when my 
father sold that crop of apples, r was but a tiny 
boy, just big enough to look over the top of a bar- 
i el. That was in the days of shinplasters and de¬ 
preciated paper money, and I remember the man 
who bought the apples counting out the money on 
a barrel. 1 asked my father wlmt he was going to 
do with so much money, and he said : “Buy you 
clothes.” I did not realize what he meant at the 
time, but have since, as he had six boys and two 
girls to clothe. 
The orchard in question never had any particular 
care until comiparalively recent, years. It was 
mowed for a short time and the grass taken off for 
hay in the latter years of its neglected period, and 
almost starved to death. I remember one year 
we had scarcely enough apples for our own use. 
For some time I had thought the old 
orchard might possess greater possi¬ 
bilities. and as “nothing ventured, 
nothing gained.” T cleared the trees of 
ail the years’ accumulation of dead 
wood, mulched heavily, sprayed thor¬ 
oughly. and-started it on its new lease 
of life. As proof that the efforts put 
forth have repaid the following will 
show. When the trees were Os and 
100 years old. reckoning from the date 
when my grandfather came to the 
farm, the King trees almost if not 
quite doubled the yield of 1805. which 
then was the banner yield of the or¬ 
chard. These results have been 
achieved by adhering closely for some 
years to the mulch-culture system: 
that is. mulching the trees, mowing 
the grass and letting it lie. To this 
care the old orchard has given won¬ 
derful response. Of course some of 
the trees are dead, but most of them 
are still standing and bearing good 
crops. One King tree has an especially 
tine record. In 1918 it yielded six 
barrels of fine A grade fruit, and in 
1919 four barrels. Ir is now full of 
fruit buds for another crop this year, 
and judging by the growth and appear¬ 
ance of the tree it may be good for 
another generation. n. d. cole. 
Seneca Co.. N. Y. 
of the soldiers who were with (ten. Sullivan in his 
campaign against the relentless Iroquois came and 
settled in the vicinity of Seneca and Cayuga lakes. 
This orchard was grafted by my grandfather, and 
he thought the trees were about 25 or “0 years old 
at the time. The scions he used were cut from the 
famous old King tree at Jacksonville. 'Tompkins 
County, N. V. Although considered quite a fruit 
man for those days, he gave the orchard no special 
care other than being pastured and rooted by the 
hogs. 
My father was born in 1817. in the same house in 
which I now live, and died in 1910 at flic ripe old 
age of 93: and I think the orchard was pastured 
nearly all that time. I remember hearing my father 
and mother say they had more Kiug apples in 1865 
W E find that a weeder which as¬ 
sists in keeping weeds out of 
corn is a valuable tool to use fre¬ 
quently between corn-planting time and 
the time when the corn can lie plowed 
with the double worker. It will de¬ 
stroy many of the small weeds that 
usually get a start between planting 
and working time; these weeds are 
particularly hard to control after the 
corn is high enough to be worked 
easily. Then for crossing the field 
after the corn has been worked once 
with the riding plow the weeder has 
a particular advantage. It will de¬ 
stroy the thin crust of dirt between 
the stalks in a row, so that it is not 
necessary to cross-plow the corn at 
once when (lie rows have been stirred 
and a mulch maintained by the first 
plowing. Usually a weeder may be 
usod until the corn is (J or 8 in. high. 
However, if weeds once get a start, the 
implement is of no particular advan- 
'■igc. it will prevent weeds from' 
spreading, but cannot kill them after 
ibey have grown much. 
I he weeder is a good thing to use. 
especially where a two-row corn worker is used, if 
du' corn has not been checked accurately. I have 
Si m: cases where the corn was plowed the long way 
1,1 tbi' rows with a two-row worker and the weeder 
1|v ed entirely to stir the soil not touched by this 
implement. Me do not feel that an excessive num- 
11 oi cultivations is necessary for corn, and if it 
,milui be laid by properly with three, the yield will 
na Ik increased by extra cultivations except for 
be advantage that there may be in killing the 
"ends nr keeping the ground in better shape for 
Ceding cornstalks to wheat. As a rule, we generally 
11 i other sharp and deep shovel on corn plows 
cultivation, and gradually chauge the 
s levels on the ^ngs. so that the last cultivation is 
more of a scratching than a plowing. Often at this 
