<Pk RURAL NEW.YORKER 
1271 
of the inspectors, men selected to in¬ 
spect the potatoes because of their 
training in plant diseases and culture. 
These inspectors make three inspections 
during the season—one at or near blos¬ 
soming time, one before the vines are 
dead, and one after harvest. Fields 
qualifying at each inspection according 
to the standards are given the next 
succeeding inspection until they have 
received all three. Those not qualify¬ 
ing at any inspection are not given any 
further inspection and no certificate is 
issued for such fields. The inspection 
work has increased from year to year, 
so that this season there are more than 
1,200 acres under inspection for the 
New York State Potato Association, 
and this in view of the fact that the 
standards have become more rigid and 
the fees for inspection have been in¬ 
creased. 
AGRICULT IT R A L COLLEGE 
WORK.—Three years ago the potato 
•association contracted with the New 
York State College of Agriculture to 
have the Department of Plant Path¬ 
ology do the inspection work for them 
instead of conducting it themselves as 
formerly. This arrangement Inis since 
continued and has seemed to give sat¬ 
isfaction. The college hires the in¬ 
spectors, who report on the conditions 
they find in each field at each inspec¬ 
tion. At the close of the inspection 
work a copy of these reports is sub¬ 
mitted to the certification committee 
for action by it. 
OFFICIA L INS I ‘ECTION.—During 
1917 the New York State Food Supply 
Commission and during 1918 the United 
States Department of Agriculture sup¬ 
plied funds for the location of potato 
fields suitable for seed purposes, the 
Department of Plant Pathology of the 
College of Agriculture making the in¬ 
spections. Suitable fields were listed, 
and these lists were published. After 
the war many potato growers not mem¬ 
bers of the State Potato Association 
wished to have this inspection service 
continued. Arrangements were made 
with the County Farm Bureau associa¬ 
tions to have this done at cost. This 
inspection work is conducted in the 
same manner as for the potato associa¬ 
tion, the same inspectors being em¬ 
ployed and the same standards being 
used. However, in this case, fields 
passing inspection are not certified, 
as neither the college nor the Farm 
Bureau Associations attempt to certify 
potato stock. Fields passing inspection, 
however, ai*e listed with name and ad¬ 
dress of growers, and these lists are 
made available to prospective pur¬ 
chasers. Such potatoes should have in 
general the same value as certified 
stock and may be shipped in bulk, but 
they should not be designated as “cer¬ 
tified seed.” 
EXTENT OF THE WORK.—In 1916, 
the first year the inspection work was 
carried through in New York State, 
the fields of .85 farmers, covering an 
acreage of .‘>42.5, were inspected. From 
these 20,303 bushels of seed passed all 
inspections and were certified. In 1920 
the fields qf 280 growers, covering 1,574 
acres, were inspected, from which 
233,663 bushels passed inspection as 
suitable for seed purposes. This year 
we are inspecting the fields of 253 
growers, comprising an acreage of 
1.562. Of these about 1.208 acres are 
inspected for the State Potato Associa¬ 
tion, and the remainder are inspected 
for the Farm Bureau Association. The 
varieties under inspection this year are 
Green Mountain or of that type. Amer¬ 
ican Giant, Rural New-Yorker, No. 9, 
Rural Russet, Sir Walter Raleigh, 
Heavyweight, Cobbler and a few of 
other varieties. 
VARIATIONS IN VALUE.—It Should 
be pointed out here that all certified 
Fence Posts Driven from Wagon in Spring. Fig. 531 
Splicing Wire About a Fence Post. Fig. 532 
Temporary Post “A” as Anchor for Stretchers. Fig. 533 
and inspected stock does not necessarily 
have the same value. Some stock 
barely falls within the standards 
adopted, while others come very close 
to being perfect. The latter is un¬ 
questionably superior to the former. 
However, if the standards were raised 
so as to permit only the very highest 
grade stocks passing, the total amount 
of stock passing all inspections would 
be very small. Even the lower grades 
of stock passing inspection is much 
superior to the general run of seed 
stock, which often includes that com¬ 
ing from very poor fields. An exam¬ 
ination of the inspection records, which 
are available to any purchaser, will 
readily give him information regarding 
the quality for seed purpose of any 
stock that was inspected. 
W. F. BARRU8. 
The Champion Spellers at 
Syracuse 
L AST year “up-State” spellers held 
the long end of the rope in the 
spelling contest. This year New York 
City and vicinity came out strong, with 
Erie County coming into second place. 
Of all the cash premiums paid out 
by the Fair Commission this year none 
was earned more conscientiously than 
the prizes of .$20, $15, $10 and $5 paid 
to the winners in the spelling contest. 
In no event of the fair is the compe¬ 
titive spirit more elaborately worked 
out than in this contest, where first 
township elimination contests are held: 
then the winners sifted out for the one 
best in the county. The county win¬ 
ners are given their traveling expenses 
to and from the State Fair, and are 
entertained at the Fair at State ex¬ 
pense during the two days that the 
eentests last, with some sightseeing 
under competent guides thrown in. 
The one regrettable thing about this 
important event has seemed to be the 
smallness of the cash prizes involved 
in view of the long hours of actual 
spelling the contestants engage in both 
at the fair and in the elimination con¬ 
tests. Yet, after all, the boys and girls 
who earnestly strive to win in these 
contests get something that is theirs 
for all time, long after the visible re¬ 
wards for their efforts have vanished. 
They win a confidence in their own 
powers of achievement, which is per¬ 
haps the biggest asset involved. They 
win an accurate knowledge ••of the 
make-up of the words of the English 
language, a gift that may be priceless 
in their later achievements in life, a 
valuable stepping-stone in the ascent to 
higher goals than mere memory train¬ 
ing or premium winning. They acquire 
a store of rules for handling the letters 
and syllables that are the mechanics 
of our language. They gain an accu¬ 
racy of observation that will serve 
them well in numberless ways all 
through life, as experts say that a poor 
speller is not observant. He does not 
see the words right, and conversely the 
good speller learns to see the word 
right at first glance, and thereafter the 
spelling of it is easy. And on top of 
all these acquisitions they have taken 
a big step towards acquiring a real 
education, which some one says is what 
you have left after you have forgotten 
all you have learned. Education is an 
elusive thing, but these youngsters who 
' spelled at the State Fair for seven 
hours are on the way to acquiring one 
that will be based on the right kind of 
a foundation. 
Miss K. M. Cosgrove had charge of 
the contest for the Department of 
Agriculture. It began at 10:30 a. m., 
with Dr. Frank R. Graves, the new 7 
Commissioner of Education, in charge 
of giving out the words. Eliminations 
were slow 7 , as the county winners from 
the 60 counties of the State were all 
