780 
J»*  RURAL  NEW-YORKER 
Slay  26,  1923 
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A  Farm  Woman’s  Notes 
The  young  potato  grower  was  off  upon 
his  annual  Spring  pilgrimage.  In  May. 
after  his  seed  was  in  the  ground,  and  be¬ 
fore  it  demanded  cultivation,  he  liked  to 
spend  a  day  driving  through '  other  sec¬ 
tions.  Believing  potato  acreage  to  be  a 
matter  of  convenient  weather  and  cur¬ 
rent  prices,  he  was  always  trying  to  dis¬ 
cover  the  popular  attitude  toward  the 
planting  of  potatoes. 
This  year,  in  his  own  section,  the  crops 
were  suffering  from  a  cold  Spring  drought. 
Oats  came  up  slowly,  although  the  deep- 
rooted  grass  and  grain  touched  resources 
of  soil  water  from  the  Winter  snows  that 
turned  their  banners  a  dazzling  green. 
Peach,  plum  and  cherry,  urged  by  the 
freakish  warmth  of  a  humid  day,  opened 
and  were  met  in  full  bloom  with  a  snow¬ 
storm  and  freezing  temperature.  The 
working  condition  of  the  frozen-dry  fields 
was  remarkably  excellent ;  it  was  a  great 
time  for  planting  anything  that  would  not 
be  harmed  by  chilly  weather.  When  ru¬ 
mors  of  crop  shortage  and  killing  frosts 
came  from  the  South  public  sentiment 
ran  to  early  potatoes,  creating  such  a 
demand  that  whole  communities  were 
swept  clean  of  early  seed. 
In  turning  potatoes  into  dollars  there 
are  two  distinct  policies.  One  is  to 
plant  in  April  and  harvest  in  July,  dis¬ 
posing  of  the  entire  crop  on  the  field. 
The  other  is  to  plant  in  June  and  harvest 
in  October,  the  time  of  disposal  varying 
with  different  growers.  It  seems  to  mat¬ 
ter  little  which  of  these  policies  is  ad¬ 
hered  to  so  long  as  one  adheres.  It  is 
the  individual  changing  his  time  of  dis¬ 
posal  that  sends  a  market  to  its  lowest 
levels.  As  long  as  individuals  are  un¬ 
stable,  freakish,  changing  to  follow  en 
masse  the  first  rumor  of  crop  shortage, 
just  so  long  will  the  potato  market  reflect 
such  action.  It  is  as  important  to 
stabilize  the  time  of  disposal  as  to  limit 
acreage.  So  the  young  potato  grower 
looked  eagerly  across  the  fields  as  he 
drove,  for  early  planting  in  nine  out  of 
10  cases  means  early  harvest. 
The  road  crept  up  through  valleys  and 
spooned  down  over  hills ;  turned  upon 
itself  at  the  very  brink  of  an  abyss  and 
fled  midst  the  echoes  of  gasping,  chortling 
water.  It  carried  where  a  thin  gauze  of 
water  poured  over  a  cliff  eerily,  without 
the  slightest  sound,  like  a  woman's  veil 
held  suspended.  It  was  a  pleasing  change 
from  his  own  level  country.  He  drove 
for  hours  without  discovering  anything 
more  portentous  than  a  gaunt  team  on 
a  hillside  and  a  foreign  woman  drawing 
stones  off  poor  land,  driving  one  horse 
on  a  stone  boat.  And  then,  when  the 
'road  flattened  out  again  and  every  farm¬ 
house  that  sped  past  was  of  the  old,  pros¬ 
perous,  square-roofed  type,  he  came  to 
a  half-excavated  potato  pit  where  the 
workmen  had  left  it  at  mealtime ;  saw 
the  bags  of  tubers  corded  up  waiting  for 
the  sledge.  He  slowed  down  and  turned 
the  switch. 
Potato  growers  make  friends  easily. 
The  very  word  “potato”  seems  to  be  a 
form  of  introduction  between  them.  The 
old  seed  man  who  was  approaching  found 
the  young  potato  grower  scooping  up 
handfuls  of  saud  and  letting  it  filter  out 
through  his  fingers. 
“You’ve  got  the  same  kind  of  soil  as 
I  have,”  he  apologized,  giving  his  name. 
“I’m  interested  in  this  potato  pit  of 
yours.  You  see,  I’ve  been  storing  my 
seed  in  the  cellar,  and  seems  it’s  bound 
to  sprout  before  planting  time  in  spite 
of  all  I  can  do.  I  notice  this  stock  of 
yours  isn’t  even  started  yet.  That’s  re¬ 
markable  for  the  time  of  year.  Let’s  see 
now.  You  make  this  pit  18  in.  deep  and 
shape  it  long  and  narrow.  Then  you 
spread  in  your  potatoes  a  foot  deep?  I 
see ;  and  then  a  layer  of  straw  befoi’e  the 
dirt  is  put  on,  and  the  stovepipe  set  in 
every  12  ft.  for  ventilation.” 
“Thex-e’s  one  thing  you  haven't  no¬ 
ticed  that  makes  a  whole  lot  of  differ¬ 
ence  in  the  work.”  said  the  old  seed  man, 
smiling  at  his  enthusiasm.  “That’s  the 
burlap  sacks  under  the  straw  next  the 
potatoes.  It  will  keep  the  dirt  out  from 
the  potatoes,  and  you  can  shovel  off  to 
within  a  few  inches  of  the  burlap  and 
then  just  flip  it  off.  Saves  a  lot  of 
drudgery.  I  wouldn't  go  through  with 
it  except  for  my  seed  stock.  This  right 
hei’e  is  from  my  seed  plot,  to  be  reserved 
for  my  own  planting.” 
“Then  you  pi-actice  hill  selection?” 
queried  the  young  potato  grower  earnestly, 
hoping  that  his  surmise  was  correct.  “I 
suppose  you  spend  most  of  vour  time  with 
this  seed  plot,  and  trust  the  rest  of  the 
field  to  take  care  of  itself.” 
“I  can  get  cei’tification  for  the  field 
easy  enough  without  rogueing,”  he  ad¬ 
mitted.  “And  I  can’t  get  help.  But 
I  put  a  lot  of  work  on  this  seed  plot.  In 
the  first  place,  I  select  only  ideal  tubers 
and  cut  them  in  the  field  as  I  plant.  I 
cut  the  potato  in  four  parts,  so  that  those 
four  hills  will  all  belong  to  the  same  par¬ 
ent.  When  the  entire  plot  is  planted 
you  will  see  that  it  is  easy  to  tell  where 
each  belongs.  If  I  come  along  later  and 
find  a  weak  hill,  I  take  out  uot  only  the 
individual  hill  whole  family.” 
He  looked  t  ....  sure  that  the  young 
potato  growe.  was  listening  before  he 
went  on  in  a  low’er  tone. 
“You’ve  uo  idea  how  fascinating  the 
work  is  when  I’m  digging  them.  I  dig 
out  each  hill  by  hand,  of  course.  I  ex¬ 
pect  and  demand^  at  least  20  marketable 
potatoes  in  a  hill.  If  there’s  less,  I  dis¬ 
card  them.  You  never  know  what  you’re 
goiug  to  find  in  the  next.  And  then  I 
keep  them  in  this  pit  so  that  not  an  iota 
of  that  precious  energy  is  wasted  in 
sprouting.” 
“What  do  you  usually  turn  out  per 
acre  on  your  certified  seed?”  the  young 
potato  grower  asked  eagerly. 
“Forty  years  ago  I  was  getting  200  to 
300  bu.  per  acre,”  the  old  seed  man  said, 
quietly.  “But  last  Fall  the  10-acre  field 
averaged  400  bu.  to  the  acre.  One  special 
piece  of  ground  turned  up  475  bu.  by 
actual  measurement.” 
The  young  potato  grower  blushed,  not 
because  he  did  not  believe,  but  because 
he  fancied  himself  telling  the  folks  back 
home. 
‘Do  you  think  the  potato  business  is 
being  overdone?” 
“No,”  said  the  old  man  ;  “it  can’t  be. 
There  were  a  lot  of  us  in  the  business 
once,  but  we  are  old  men  now.”  He 
waved  his  hand  to  a  distant  cemetery, 
where  daffodils  glowed  about  pale  tomb¬ 
stones.  “When  I’m  gone  over  there, 
who’ll  take  my  place?  There  really  isn’t 
money  enough  in  gi-owing  this  kind  of 
seed  at  such  prices.  I’m  often  tempted 
to  plant  the  whole  lot  early.  But  I  guess 
I’ll  keep  marching  along.-  I’ve  got  seed 
orders  for  next  year,  and  they  kind  of 
look  to  me  to  keep  on.  No,  mister,  I 
don’t  look  for  the  potato  business  to  be 
overdone  from  now  on.  It’s  too  hard 
work.” 
The  young  potato  grower  went  on  his 
way  thoughtfully.  mrs.  f.  ii.  ungeb. 
A  Farmer  and  City  Women 
I  was  very  much  intex-ested  in  the 
subject  of  “Women  for  Farm  Work,”  on 
page  oil.  In  regax-d  to  the  farmers  hav- 
xng  a  city  woman  for  a  housekeeper,  I 
wish  to  say  that  they  must  have  a  large 
income,  plenty  of  leisure  time  and  a 
good  auto.  I  have  tried  city  women  for 
several  years,  and  know  what  I  am  talk¬ 
ing  about.  There  are  some  good  work¬ 
ing  women  in  the  city,  but  the  farmer 
cannot  get  them;  they  have  work  at  a 
good  price.  There  are  plenty  of  women 
in  the  city  whom  the  fanners  do  not 
want.  They  will  not  work  in  the  city  or 
country  ;  they  are  good  to  wear  out  sole 
leather  and  the  pavement.  Last  Sum¬ 
mer  I  called  at  a  woman’s  house  in  Hart¬ 
ford  to  see  a  woman  who  answered  my 
■advertisement.  It  was  10:30,  and  the 
lady  of  the  house  told  me  she  was  not 
up  ;  was  out  late  the  night  before.  She 
said  she  would  call  her.  I  said  no,  let 
her  rest.  She  said  she  wanted  me  to'  see 
her,  so  she  called  her,  in  about  half  an 
hour  called  again;  later  second  and  third 
time.  In  about  an  hour  she  came  down, 
looking  more  like  a  scarecrow  than  a 
woman.  I  was  glad  to  get  away;  left 
the  city  and  made  up  my  mind  I  would 
stay  alone.  A  few  days  ago  I  called  to 
see  a  woman  who  had  a  good  advertise¬ 
ment  in  the  paper  in  Hartford.  I  called 
at  S  :30  in  the  forenoon.  The  lady  of 
the  house  spoke  well  of  her;  Said  ‘that 
she  had  no  position  yet,  but  she  had  not 
got  up  ;  asked  me  if  I  would  call  at  11 
o’clock.  I  told  her  I  did  not  care  to  see 
her.  I  have  no  one  but  myself  to  look 
after,  have  a  large  farm  and  a  good  one. 
but  it  is  idle  because  I  caunot  find  a 
good  woman  to  come  here.  I  was  talk¬ 
ing  with  a  young  widow  a  short  time  ago 
who  had  four  little  girls  with  her,  lives 
in  the  city.  The  city  helps  her  some  and 
she  about  half  lives.  I  offered  to  sup¬ 
port  her  and  the  four  little  girls  if  she 
would  come  hei’e  to  stay.  She  has  not 
yet  accepted  my  offer.  I  knew  her  father 
and  grandfather  well.  I  have  tried  hard 
for  tliree  months  to  find  a  suitable  woman 
to  come  and  take  care  of  my  home,  hut  all 
my  efforts  have  failed.  I  have  made  up 
my  mind  to  let  the  farm  go  to  destruc¬ 
tion  and  take  life  easy,  because  farmers 
work  too  hard,  too  many  hours,  raise  too 
much  produce,  more  than  market  re¬ 
quires  ;  that  is  the  reason  why  they  have 
to  sell  cheap.  If  they  would  do  only 
half  as  much  business,  leave  the  land 
idle,  cut  their  expense  to  about  half,  then 
they  could  follow'  the  example  of  the  city 
people,  and  ride  in  automobiles. 
Connecticut..  farmer  bailey. 
Mildew  on  Climbing  Rose 
A  Dorothy  Perkins  rose  is  almost  12 
ft.  high,  covered  in  blossoms  every  year, 
but  the  leaves  are  all  covered  with  a 
green  mold.  I  have  it  up  against  a  brick 
garage.  Do  you  think  the  brick  causes 
the  leaves  to  mold?  l.  c.  n. 
Great  Kills,  N.  Y. 
The  tx-ouble  is  no  doubt  mildew’,  to 
which  Dorothy  Perkins  is  quite  subject. 
It  is  controlled  by  applications  of  sul¬ 
phur.  Dry  flow’ers  of  sulphur  may  he 
dusted  over  the  leaves  when  wret  with 
dew',  or  the  plant- may  be  sprayed  w'ith  a 
solution  of  liver  of  sulphur,  potassium 
sulphide,  one  ounce  in  two  to  four  gallons 
of  water.  The  brick  wall  does  not  cause 
the  trouble,  but  any  rose  susceptible  to 
mildew’  suffers  more  w'hen  gx-own  against 
a  wrall  than  when  on  an  open  trellis 
W’here  there  is  free  air  drainage. 
“Somebody  has  invented  a  motorcycle 
with  limousine  body.”  “A  great  many 
people  conduct  their  entire  cax-eers  on 
that  principle.” — Dayton  News. 
