1468 
nothing. The handicap of debt, with which the farm 
operations may have no connection whatever, the 
lack of capital, poor health, unfavorable conditions 
in many ways; also storms, floods, drought, crop 
failures beyond human control, may all enter into 
the matter; but lack of ability to get more than a 
small part of the consumer’s dollar, which even some 
on the State road cannot get, might have something 
to do with the failure of a farmer to make money, 
even though most favorably located. When the 
year's business for 1920 is figured tip as it should 
be, there will not be as many paying income tax as 
it seemed were in a fair way to do so four or five 
months ago, whether in the State road or on the 
back hill farms. 
WORKING CONDITIONS.—Much stress is laid 
on the use of labor-saving machinery in the valley, 
and abandoning the back hill farms on account of 
not being able to compete in that respect, but nar¬ 
rowing down to our own local conditions I believe 
there are as many tractors and labor-saving machines 
on the hill as in the valley. I have no inclination 
to rush into labor-saving machinery and big opera¬ 
tions under present conditions of high-priced labor. 
A friend who has a tractor has just traded in for a 
new one. Counting the cost of the first tractor, less 
the allowance on the new one, together with the cost 
of maintenance, the actual cost per hour for every 
hour the tractor was used was $2.32. He is located 
near a State road. Of course we could not compete 
With that here on the hill. 
MEASURES OF SUCCESS.—After all, why mea¬ 
sure “success” with the ease with which a man gets 
money in the valley or on the hill? Is there no 
other measure of success in life than the size of the 
pile a man makes? Easy getting does not make for 
any stronger men, nor need it follow that the man 
who has it easier on the State road is any broader 
than his struggling back-hill brother. Life may be 
much easier in the warm climates, and .on the same 
basis as we are advised to move off the back hills 
and have it easier, why not all move “ way down 
South” and make a job of it while we are at it? 
There are many struggling back-hill farmers who 
do not ask and do not want the pity bestowed upon 
them by their more fortunate brothers or sisters. 
After one has been up here awhile it is not as bad 
as it looks to those who pass by or look up from the 
lower levels. It is a little like the Italian truck 
driver who came up here for a load of produce. 
When he got here he began to bluster about “too 
much hill, bad place get to. No come backa this 
place gimme one t’ousaiul dollar. ’ After be had his 
load on and could not beat us down in the price it, 
was a different matter. “Say, mister, canna gotta 
load ag’in tomorrow?” A few miles extra with a 
good car or truck soon places the back-hill funnel 
down into civilization, and his reception is just as 
warm with the consuming public as is accorded the 
more fortunate (?) and the hig trucks from the city 
make little kick about a few miles further if they 
get good produce to draw back. It. counts up at 
$125 to $200 a load in the yard, whether In the 
valfey or on the hill. c * booers. 
Developing Seed Potatoes 
Part II. 
VARIATIONS IN YIELD—Tests by the writer 
have shown a variation, due entirely to inherent 
vigor and freedom from disease, of from 14 lbs. per 
unit to 3 lbs. per unit. When potatoes are planted 
in rows 34 inches apart, with an interval of 13 in. 
between the seed pieces, there are 14,101 hills to the 
acre. If every hill stood in and yielded at the rate 
of the high unit, the product would be 339 barrels 
per acre, while if "they yielded like the low unit, only 
63 barrels would be returned from an acre. As a 
matter of fact, when yields per unit are as small as 
in the second Instance, there will be a great many 
missing plants, so that the actual yield will not, as 
n rule, be more than 50 per cent of that figure. Due 
to the presence of disease, some units will fail en¬ 
tirely, although the tuber appeared normal when 
planted. The aim of the potato-grower should be, 
therefore, to have a strong plant of known parentage 
in each of the 14,000-odd hills in every acre. 
DISEASES THAT REDUCE THE CROP.—Po¬ 
tato-growers, if they were really interested, have 
observed the great influence that vigor has upon 
the production of a satisfactory crop. Seed potato 
selection by the tuber unit method seems to enable 
us to overcome climatic conditions and other limit¬ 
ing factors, and yields a satisfactory crop when 
other seed not so selected, and, therefore, lacking 
this vigor, will succumb early and yield only a small 
crop of principally unmarketable stock. R.v this 
method of elimination diseases are controlled. Men¬ 
tion has been made of mosaic and leaf roll. Mosaic 
lht RURAL NF.W-YORKER 
September 18, 1020 
is generally recognized by the light and dark green 
areas in the leaves, which show plainly when held 
up to the light. In extreme eases the entire plant 
is stunted, and the tubers do not reach marketable 
size. Leaf roll may be recognized by the curling 
of the leaves, especially the lower ones along the 
midrib. These have a leathery feeling, and the 
plants are often dwarfed. There are, of course, 
many other diseases, including rhizoctonia, black¬ 
leg, scab and early and late blight, which must also 
be guarded aga'nst. Scab and the blight are fa¬ 
miliar to all growers, and rhizoctonia may be recog¬ 
nized by spindling vines and brown cankers on the 
stems below ground. There are also black specks 
resembling dirt tightly adhering to the skin of the 
tuber. Black-leg is a disease which causes a black 
rot at the surface of the ground, and thus causes 
the tuber to rot, beginning at the stem end. As po¬ 
tato-growing becomes more and more extensive these 
Monument to the York Imperial Apple 
and other diseases will demand greater attention, 
and the time is soon coming when seed stock that 
can lie guaranteed to be free from these diseases 
and selected for vigor will command a worth-while 
premium over unselected stock. 
PRODUCTION OF LATE-CROP SEED.—Potato- 
growers along the Atlantic seaboard, including the 
States of South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, 
Maryland and New Jersey, have developed within 
the past few years a business of late-crop seed pro¬ 
duction. These growers have found that their main 
crop, planted in the early Spring and maturing in 
City Girls Picking Peas. Fig. I/O.) 
hot weather, is unsatisfactory for seed purposes, 
and heretofore have been unable to secure the kind 
of seed from the North that they must have to pro¬ 
duce a profitable crop under their expensive con¬ 
ditions. By planting potatoes held in cold storage 
from t.he.nrevious-year in late July or early August, 
the prinl,,*, growth is made during cool weather, 
and maturity is prevented by frost in the Fall. 
Many te&tf^have been carried out with stock grown 
in this way in comparison with Northern-grown 
seed, with the result that when careful methods of 
selection were followed the late-crop potatoes fre¬ 
quently outyield the Northern seed. It is probable 
that difficult transportation will also favor this in¬ 
troduction, since last Spring large numbers of grow¬ 
ers were unable to get Northern seed in time for 
the necessary early planting. The methods of seed 
selection mentioned above may be followed as ef¬ 
fectively in (bis work as in (lie older seed-producing 
sections, where the grower has control of his seed 
year after year. The practice in Virginia of secur¬ 
ing Northern seed to be planted the following late 
Summer makes this more difficult unless a close 
liaison is established between the Northern and 
Southern seed-producing sections. It has recently 
been demonstrated that immature seed is more de¬ 
sirable from the standpoint of vigor than fully ma¬ 
tured seed, and potatoes which have an easily 
roughed skin are sought by skillful growers. More¬ 
over, the small tubers which have not matured make 
as desirable seed as the larger ones, thus differing 
from the small tubers which have matured and are 
usually the product of inferior plants. Potato grow¬ 
ers’ associations have been established in the prin¬ 
cipal potato-growing States, and by frequent contact 
with one another and consultation with plant path¬ 
ologists of the experiment stations and the United 
States Department of Agriculture growers are fast 
learning the principles of good seed production 
which were totally unknown to producers a few 
years ago. It is right to expect that as this work 
continues we shall have on the market distinctive 
strains of seed potatoes selected and adapted to 
meeting definite conditions, with the result of in¬ 
creased yields and a material reduction in the risks 
now taken by potato growers, who invest so much 
capital in the production of their crops. 
WILLIAM II. DURYEE. 
Getting Rid of Snakes 
O N page 123S we spoke of blacksnakes and the 
great prejudice against them. It is only fair 
to give the other side, so we print the following from 
a woman in New Hampshire: 
The best way to get rid of snakes is to keep a dog. 
My bull dog would attack any kind of a snake; lie 
cleaned them up once. The best weapon is a whip, and 
remember a snake will defend itself when cornered I 
cornered two black ones, and they fought until I killed 
them both. I tried to interest myself in snakes; the 
more I learned about them the worse I hated them. I 
found one in the act of swallowing our beet friend, the 
toad. They rob bird’s nests and charm birds with their 
treacherous eyes. The deer hate snakes, and kill them 
by jumping upon them with all feet. Last year I killed 
seven adders near my barn ; this year have seen none. 
I miss my dog, which died several Summers ago, and if 
the snakes ever bother me again I shall have another 
dog. Nothing about the snake appeals to me. I’d 
rather find a mouse in my bed than a snake, and how 
anyone with a nervous system endures them is beyond 
me. I am not afraid, but I hate them. M. M. M. 
Very likely that expresses the popular feeling 
about snakes, and we realize the futility of arguing 
against It At the same time we feel that, econom¬ 
ically. the DiacKsuakt does far more benefit than 
lnjurj. ..idcd a drove of active pigs pas- 
-•..reC w!.' ._*. ~~ run, but several readers say 
.1. ??.g? ar "rrc ?’i»w! A shotgun loaded with buck¬ 
shot *• ' -•■vw* " ••!(. out when we consider what 
me mice <?.*• - t wees we let the snakes alone. 
A Monument to an Apple 
T HE picture on this page shows a monument 
erected to mark the site of the origin of the York 
Imperial apple. On August IS a meeting was held 
at Sprlngwood Farms, near York. Pa., now occupied 
by John C. Schmidt. This ceremony was organized 
and conducted by the Pennsylvania State Horticul¬ 
tural Society. The following brief history of the 
York Imperial apple is given by George R. Prowell: 
Springwnod Farm, situated two miles south 
was the family residence of Jonathan Jessup e 
c"]v pa t of the last century. He was a i -t,. 
York, and a leading member of the Soch.ly Aj 
who«e meeting house is now standing oil 
delnhin street, that city. In 1S20 Jonathan 
a nursery on his farm, where he raised youii-, apple 
trees, then popular in this region. His attent'pn was 
called to a seedling found on the farm of John Lime, 
now a part of the borough of Hallam. 1 his fruit, 
although imperfect, was found to have a deli cions unvm. 
Mr. .Togsop grafted a stem from this seedling oil an 
other tree, and thus prorogated a new variety or apple, 
lie rais'd a large combe 1- of suj”M trees, which loo 
ready sale among the fruit growers of York county. 
In bis own orchard be planted one of these tiees, • 1 
when it began to be - >r. grew what is - row known : > s ’ 
“York Imperial apnlcs.” Everyone who had used this 
fruit, discovered Doit i* kept wefi and retained its u 
lieions flavor during all the Winter months, am 1 ' 1 'I 
to May and .Tune Frmt growers from \ ugmia . 
elsewhere ordered trees from Mr. .Lssop s mu sen. . 
in a few years this apple became very popular evcr\- 
where it was cultivated, rv 
At first his neighbors and members of. the Socwry 
down in Virginia called it “Jonathan s lnne W intei 
It. next found its way to the State of New York, still 
retaining the name first given. . - T Y , 
Tn 1855. Charles Downing, a pomologist of^Nnv 
State, called it the “Imperial of Keeners, nml 
nested that it should be named the ^ ork Tnipiiml. 
which name it has since borne. This apple is now raised 
in all the States of the Middle West, aswell as Mr 
ginia Pennsylvania and New York. It has s| 
commercial value, because it can be kept several month* 
after it is taken from the 
