Jht  RURAL  NEW-YORKER 
October  27,  1923 
1332 
rotation  is  unknown  here;  they  simply  let  the  soil 
"rest"  for  one  or  two  seasons.  It  grows  up  with 
weeds;  then  they  plow  and  sow  again.  We  are  at 
an  altitude  of  4,500  ft.  above  the  sea  level,  and  about 
the  same  latitude  of  Washington,  D.  C.  The  Winters 
are  cool,  with  no  very  low  temperatures.  The  Sum¬ 
mers  are  warm,  but  with  cool  nights.  This  Spring 
was  late  here,  with  a  heavy  snow  on  April  10.  The 
season  for  setting  out  the  tender  plants  is  about  the 
same  as  with  you.  They  say  the  Falls  are  longer 
than  ours,  with  no  killing  frosts  until  November. 
GRAPES  AND  OTHER  FRUITS.— This  is  a  won¬ 
derful  grape  country,  about  60  varieties  being  grown 
in  this  province.  During  pre-war  days  large  quan¬ 
tities  of  raisins  and  other  dried  fruits  were  shipped 
to  Russia.  Little  wine  is  made,  as  the  Koran  pro¬ 
hibits  its  use.  In  our  garden  now  the  grapes  are  in 
full  bloom,  huge  bunches  about  a  foot  long,  so  one 
can  imagine  the  size  when  they  are  ripe.  We  have 
peaches,  apricots,  plums,  cherries,  apples,  quinces 
and  pomegranates.  The  nuts  are  almonds,  soft- 
shelled  walnuts  and  pistachios.  All  the  vegetables 
are  grown,  cucumbers  and  the  melons  being  very 
fine,  they  say.  The  muskmelons  of  Isfahan' .  in 
south  central  Persia,  are  the  best.  The  story  runs 
that  the  rind  is  so  fragile  the  vibration  of  a  heavy 
cart  passing  along  the  field  will  cause  them  to  break. 
This  is  a  mere  yarn,  but  I  have  heard  it  from  so 
r 
many  sources  there  must  be  some  truth  in  it.  These 
melons  cannot  be  ti’ansported,  of  course,  and  the 
Americans  say  the  quality  is  far  superior  to  any¬ 
thing  in  the  States.  I  will  try  to  secure  some  seeds 
for  you  next  Summer. 
LIVE  STOCK. — Corn  is  not  raised  in  Persia  to 
any  extent.  This  being  a  Moslem  country,  the  old 
trusty  porker  is  tabooed ;  seems  strange  not  to  see  a 
pig  anywhere.  Oats  also  are  not  raised,  horses  being 
fed  barley  and  cut  straw,  with  Alfalfa.  Asparagus 
and  rhubarb  grow  wild  in  the  mountains,  and  are 
brought  to  the  city  by  the  peasants.  Alfalfa  is  plen¬ 
tiful,  grown  under  irrigation.  It  is  long  and  too 
stemmy  from  our  point  of  view.  Poor-looking  grade 
cows  are  numerous,  but  no  full  bloods.  The  water 
buffalo  is  also  commonly  used  for  draft  purposes  and 
for  its  milk.  Horses,  small  but  strong,  are  used; 
good-looking  animals,  evidently  from  Arabian  stock. 
Sheep,  fat-tailed  and  other  species,  are  quite  plenti¬ 
ful,  mutton  being  the  meat  diet.  Chickens  are  also 
plentiful,  small  Leghorn  type ;  no  meat  birds.  Tur¬ 
keys  fairly  common ;  also  geese  and  ducks.  Eggs 
cheap,  but  quite  small. 
A  RICH  COUNTRY. — Persia  has  certainly  been 
exploited,  not  for  her  benefit,  however,  by  the  larger 
powers,  in  the  past,  and  she  deserves  to  be  placed  on 
her  feet.  I  hope  the  American  commission  will  be 
able  to  straighten  out  matters  so  she  may  receive 
outside  financial  assistance.  The  country  is  rich  in 
oil  and  minerals.  Forests  have  been  cut  off,  except 
the  Caspian  Sea  district.  The  oil  in  Southern  Per¬ 
sia  is  being  developed  by  British  interests,  a  large 
refinery  being  in  operation  near  Basra.  There  is 
talk  of  an  oil  concession  for  Northern  Persia,  and  I 
hope  it  goes  through,  as  there  are  no  factories  where 
the  people  may  secure  work,  and  the  development  of 
the  fuel  question  would  be  a  great  benefit  for  this 
district.  Tabriz  is  conected  with  Russia  by  a  rail¬ 
road,  the  only  one  in  Persia  except  a  small  six-mile 
tram  proposition  near  Teheran.  This  Tabriz-Rus- 
sian  railway  was  built  by  the  Russians  during  the 
early  days  of  the  war,  and  connects  with  Tiflis  and 
Batum  on  the  Black  Sea.  There  is  little  travel  at 
present,  due  to  bad  conditions  in  Russia  and  the 
many  difficulties  in  securing  passports  for  Americans 
through  Russia.  For  this  reason  we  had  to  come 
around  by  Bombay  and  Baghdad. 
IMPROVING  CONDITIONS— Hi  addition  to  the 
finances  we  hope  to  develop  the  agriculture  in  Per¬ 
sia,  as  she  has  possibilities.  This  would  be  a  great 
sugar  beet  country,  conditions  the  same  as  in  the 
Utah-Idaho  sugar  beet  country.  It  needs  only  fuel, 
as  water  for  irrigation  is  plentiful.  I  have  a  young 
Persian  working  for  me  who  was  graduated  in  agri¬ 
culture  at  the  Colorado  State  University  at  Fort  Col¬ 
lins.  He  is  quite  Americanized  and  a  great  help  as 
interpreter.  Turkish  is  the  spoken  language  of  this 
province  of  Azerbaijan.  They  say  in  Tabriz  the 
people  speak  Turkish,  write  in  Persian  and  pray  in 
Arabic.  Russian,  Armenian,  Assyrian  and  Kurdish 
are  spoken. 
THE  PERSIAN  ALMANAC.— We  use  the  Mo¬ 
hammedan  calendar  for  the  office  work,  now  being 
in  the  solar  month  of  Jowdza.  year  1302.  In  the 
churches  they  use  the  lunar  month  year,  now  in 
1341;  the  Russians  here  trail  along  with  their  cal¬ 
endar,  13  days  behind  the  one  we  use  in  America, 
but  for  real  business  we  use  the  good  old  U.  S.  A. 
dates.  Just  think  of  working  in  a  country  in  the 
year  1302,  some  200  years  before  Columbus  discov¬ 
ered  America !  The  Persians  in  general  are  very 
much  interested  in  our  work,  as  they  saw  what  could 
be  accomplished  by  the  Americans  during  the  short 
time  W.  Morgan  Shuster  was  here  with  the  finances. 
His  work  was  curtailed  by  the  interference  of  two 
larger  powers,  such  influence  being  not  so  much  in 
Very  likely  this  picture  represents  the  end  of  the 
long  struggle  over  the  line  fence.  Perhaps  the  fence 
viewers  have  come  and  made  their  final  decision.  Hired 
labor  is  out  of  the  question  and  in  order  to  keep  peace 
in  the  neighborhood  mother  has  volunteered  to  help. 
No — this  is  not  the  Hope  Farm  man — please  remember 
that 
existence  at  the  present  time.  The  people  here  tire 
bright,  quick-witted  and  not  lazy.  Intrigue  has 
been  so  prevalent  they  welcome  the  Americans  with 
no  ulterior  motives,  and  hope  that  the  taxes  will 
reach  the  central  treasury,  so  the  government  as  a 
whole  will  profit  by  the  taxes  collected.  I  loan  The 
R.  N.-Y.  to  the  different  people  here,  and  on  its  re¬ 
turn  it  is  well  thumbed  and  worn,  so  the  interest  is 
great  in  you  and  your  publication. 
Tabriz,  Persia.  edmund  h.  jones. 
Moles  Are  Potato  Consumers 
FOR  the  past  few  weeks  I  have  read  articles  in 
The  R.  N.-Y.  from  different  people  stating  that 
moles  will  not  eat  potatoes.  While  I  do  not  expect 
to  convince  them  of  their  error  I  may  convince 
others;  therefore,  I  am  sending  you  under  separate 
cover  the  remains  of  a’  couple  of  hills  of  potatoes 
Potatoes  Gnawed  ~by  Holes.  Fig.  579 
destroyed  by  moles.  In  a  great  many  places  only 
stalks  and  a  few  skins  remain ;  not  only  whole  hills 
have  been  eaten  but  almost  entire  rows.  I  have 
killed  a  number  of  the  moles.  They  are  short, 
thick-set,  and  of  a  dark  brown,  almost  black,  with 
short  tail.  d.  s.  redner. 
Orange  Co.,  N.  Y. 
R.  N.-Y. — A  fair  sample  of  these  potatoes  is  shown 
at  Fig.  579.  Every  potato  in  the  hill  had  been 
gnawed  by  the  moles,  some  of  them  even  worse  than 
this  one.  There  could  be  no  question  about  the 
damage.  It  has  been  reported  before  that  moles  will 
eat  the  seed  of  sweet  corn  after  it  softens,  ready  for 
sprouting,  but  this  is  the  first  time  we  have  seen 
such  work  on  potatoes.  When  Mr.  Mole  sticks  to 
his  diet  of  earthworms  and  white  grubs  he  may  be 
called  a  useful  citizen,  but  we  have  no  use  for  him 
as  a  potato  consumer. 
Right  of  Way  By  Necessity 
THE  following  land  problem  is  much  like  others 
that  are  presented  to  us  eveiy  month. 
I  am  the  owner  of  a  tract  of  woodland  of  50  acres, 
more  or  less,  bought  from  A.  The  woodland  is  bordered 
on  all  sides  by  property  owners  including  that  of  A 
front  whom  I  bought  it.  The  right  of  way  to  enter 
upon  this  woodland  was  not  mentioned  in  the  sale.  The 
right  of  way  was  verbally  given  later,  and  taken  ad¬ 
vantage  of,  but  at  a  later  date  was  verbally  revoked  by 
the  former  owner.  A  now  refuses  to  grant  a  right  of 
way  to  enter  upon  said  property.  The  property  is 
valueless  to  me  if  I  do  not  have  a  right  of  way  to  it 
Will  you  advise  me  what  legal  right,  if  any,  I  have  i  j 
cross  the  property  of  A  in  order  to  reach  my  property 
and  remove  timber,  etc.?  I  have  been  advised  to  pro¬ 
ceed  across  the  property  of  A  at  will,  and  await  any 
action  A  may  take,  but  would  like  to  have  your  ad¬ 
vice  in  this  matter.  This  woodland  is  in  New  York. 
A.  K. 
The  presumption  of  law  is  that  it  was  not 
the  intention  of  the  parties  that  one  should  con¬ 
vey  land  to  the  other  in  such  a  way  that  the  gran¬ 
tee  could  derive  no  benefit  from  the  conveyance. 
W  here  one  conveys  a  portion  of  his  land  to  another 
and  there  is  no  access  to  that  land  by  the  grantee  ex¬ 
cept  over  the  lands  of  the  grantor,  “a  way  of  neces¬ 
sity”  is  claimed  by  implication  of  the  law.  If  land 
conveyed  is  partly  surrounded  by  that  of  the  grantor 
and  paitly  by  that  of  a  stranger  a  right  of  way 
over  the  remaining  land  of  the  grantor  exists  by 
necessity.  If  you  have  other  land  of  your  own  ad¬ 
joining  that  which  you  purchased  the  right  of  way 
above  mentioned  would  not  exist.  N  T 
A  Freak  Potato 
With  this  mail  I  am  sending  you  two  potatoes  that 
were  grown  on  my  farm  in  Columbia  Co.,  N.  Y.  There 
were  six  large  potatoes,  true  to  nature,  and  four  of  these 
freaks,  in  one  hill.  Can  you  tell  me  the  cause? 
E.  F.  X, 
HEN  these  “ltotatoes"  came  we  glanced  at 
them  hastily  and  laid  them  aside  for  identi¬ 
fication.  They  were  kept  in  a  warm  place  and  a 
few  days  later  an  awful  odor  was  detected  in  the 
room.  On  examination  these  "potatoes”  were  found 
to  have  sent  out  a  thick  white  stem  with  a  mass  of 
green  matter  at  the  top.  They  were  “stinkhorns,” 
or  fungi  of  the  genus  Phallus  impudicus.  They  are 
properly  named,  for  it  would  be  hard  to  conceive  of 
anything  more  offensive  to  the  human  nose  than  the 
hideous  smell  which  arises  from  this  growth.  We 
rather  think  a  healthy  skunk  would  run  from  it. 
Cases  are  reported  where  this  “stinkhorn”  has 
driven  the  guests  away  from  Summer  hotels.  Now 
and  then,  right  in  the  midst  of  the  Summer  season, 
this  fearful  smell  will  be  recognized.  A  careful  hunt 
will  usually  reveal  this  fungus  growing  in  some 
secluded  spot  near  the  hotel,  and  when  pulled  up 
and  destroyed  the  trouble  passes  at  once.  Where  it 
is  not  recognized,  frantic  efforts  are  made  to  over¬ 
haul  the  plumbing  and  all  sanitary  arangemeuts, 
without  finding  the  source  of  the  odor,  and  Summer 
business  at  such  hotels  has  been  ruined  permanently 
by  this  terrible  fungus.  It  is  indeed  a  “freak”  which 
has  no  business  to  associate  with  honest  potatoes ! 
Trimming  Currants 
I  have  a  row  of  cherry  currant  bushes  which  do  not 
produce  as  large  currants  as  they  should.  I  have  been 
advised  to  trim  out  all  the  old  canes  in  the  Fall.  Is  that 
the  proper  thing  to  do  to  produce  more  and  larger 
fruit?  h.  a.  s. 
Long  Island. 
ERY  likely  your  currant  bushes  do  not  have 
the  vigor  that  is  needed  for  the  production  of 
large-sized  fruit.  You  would  be  making  a  great  mis¬ 
take  to  cut  out  all  the  old  canes  in  the  Fall,  yet  you 
will  do  well  to  remove  some  of  them.  A  bush  should 
be  making  vigorous  terminal  and  strong  lateral 
growths.  The  practice  of  pruning  should  aim  to 
keep  vigorous  new  shoots  arising  to  take  the  place 
of  canes  over  three  years  of  age,  to  take  out  the 
latter,  and  to  remove  any  excess  young  shoots  and 
cut  back  the  more  vigorous  growing  ones.  It  is  gen¬ 
erally  the  rule  in  commercial  plantations  to  have 
from  live  to  eight  canes  to  a  bush.  h.  b.  t. 
