\merican Agriculturist, July 19, 1924 
Long Island Potato Tour I 
Brings Visitors From Many 
States 
Paul Work 
T he world is getting to be very full of 
inspection trips, field days and similar 
events. Many of them are of only local 
interest and in some instances they be¬ 
come little more than sight-seeing parties. 
Such was not the case down in Nassau 
and Suffolk counties. For some years 
the two farm bureaus on Long Island 
have made an annual event of their 
potato tour held during the latter part of 
June. Long Island is a great buyer of 
seed potatoes and many demonstrations 
are conducted to bring out the relative 
merit of seed from different sources, both 
certified and not. For this reason official 
inspectors, dealers, officers of associations, 
pathologists and others are wont to 
journey to the Island for this tour. ^ The 
crowd varies from 75 to 250 at different 
stages of the trip and of this number 40 
or 50 are from other States and provinces. 
Late June is a good time to examine the 
quality of potato foliage and to seek in¬ 
dications of the less tangible troubles 
which have occasioned so much difficulty 
of recent years — such troubles as mosaic, 
leaf-rool, spindle-tuber and others. The 
Long Island farm bureaus have learned 
well the management of inspection tours. 
The schedule is thoroughly worked out as 
evidenced by the fact that the party was 
never more than thirty minutes late 
during the three days. There is something 
definite to be seen at each stop and there 
is some one ready to call attention to it. 
The subject matter discussions are dis¬ 
tributed among the different stops so 
that there are no long-drawn-out ses¬ 
sions. Recreation and good-fellowship 
have been well blended with education. 
This year’s party was entertained for a 
banquet, lodging and breakfast at the 
New York State School of Agriculture at 
Farmingdale. It is a pleasure to record 
the hospitality that radiated throughout 
the institution under the guidance of the 
new head. Director H. B. Knapp, and it is 
equally pleasant to note the cordial re¬ 
sponse on the part of the farmers of Long 
Island. Other stops were made at Mas- 
sapequa Grange, Southampton Grange, 
and Arshamomoque Inn. 
Sulphur for Scab 
The New Jersey station, under the 
guidance of Dr. W. H. Martin, who was 
one of the visitors, has made extensive 
study in the control of scab. Where land 
is badly infested the use of inoculated 
sulphur at the rate of from 300 to GOO 
pounds per acre seems to be the best 
treatment. This material acts by increas¬ 
ing the acidity of the soil and excessive 
applications should be avoided. The 
treatment increases the percentage of 
clean stock and reduces the amount of 
unsalable scabby stock. The material is 
best applied after plowing and before 
harrowing, where the infestation is not 
so bad, the use of ammonia sulphate 
instead of part of the other ammoniates 
in the fertilizer is effective. Thq use of 
cover crops also helps. 
Supply of Certified Seed 
Some seem to have the impression that 
the supply of certified seed is closely 
limited. This is no longer true. Mr. J. L. 
Scribner, speaking for the Maine Potato 
Growers’ Association, pointed out that 
an abundance of well grown and properly 
inspected seed stock is now available. 
Some dealers do not hesitate to buy 
table stock of fine appearance and sell it 
for seed. The Maine association, which 
is organized under the Sapiro plan, 
represents about 3,100 members and 
nearly 61,000 acres of potatoes. 
One of the outstanding features of the 
tour was the activity of farmers in direct¬ 
ing the whole course of events. The 
county agents in these counties have 
done wonders in developing the leader¬ 
ship of their farmers. At one stop Mr. 
E. W. Van Brunt, of Suffolk County, 
led the discussion during which 30 or 
40 seed sources were brought up one by 
39 
u p i ii i n 1 1 ni i f m I ' wfpwmwfwwwi if m m i » w 
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power conveyed direct from the tractor 
through a revolving shaft. 
This feature opens up great new pos¬ 
sibilities for more efficient and bigger- 
scale operation behind McCormick- 
Deering Tractors. It does away with 
such well-known troubles as slipping 
bull-wheels, clogging and stalling where 
the ground-gripping action of the ma¬ 
chine is not sufficient to run it. 
The corn picker is one of the ma¬ 
chines that demonstrates the value and 
efficiency of the Power Take-OS. Many 
corn fields will see its use this season. 
Grain binders [the new McCormick- 
Deering 10-ft. tractor binder which 
cuts 30 to 40 acres in 12 hours], 
rice binders, spray pumps, etc., may 
all be run under difficult conditions, 
when the tractor power runs them as 
well as pulls them. 
McCormick-Deering 10-20 and 15 "30 
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power take-off and you will find it has 
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ot McCormick- 
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one and growers who have used these 
sources were asked about results. Mr. 
Fred Taber, of Orient Point, can handle a 
crowd with all the vigor and tact of the 
best trained county agents. Air. E. Y. 
Titus, of Nassau County, told of the 
losses due to growers buying fertilizer 
and credit at the same place. One man 
of his acquaintance follows this policy 
at the annual cost of $300. Some growers 
are paying as much as $41.00 for a 5-9-5 
fertilizer. Through the Farm Bureau 
Purchasing Service it has been possible 
to buy the materials at the cost of $28.00 
per ton. Of course a little would have 
to be added to this for mixing and han¬ 
dling, but even so the saving is important. 
Mr. Titus thinks that growers ought to 
borrow money at the bank and pay their 
supply bills, taking the discounts that 
are available. _ 
Elderberries for Profit 
(Continued from page 38) 
now have a ‘front gate’ trade, selling all 
I can possibly supply to people who come 
to me for them, and our place is not on 
the main road. 
“I believe that elderberries may easily 
come to be a standard fruit. They grow 
where other things can not, bear liberally 
and stand a great deal of neglect. They 
combine well with other farm products, 
except poultry. They can be trained 
into extremely pretty hedges—though 
the bad roadside manners of passing 
automobilists makes this rather im¬ 
practical. If this red berry can be de¬ 
veloped to produce a characteristic flavor , 
it will rival the huckleberry. 
“The question of transportation is, as 
the berries are now sold, a difficult one. 
At present, it is not feasible to move them 
any great distance. If sold unstemmed 
this will be cleared up, and I am working 
on a device to unstem and grade the ber¬ 
ries according to size.” 
Why Solomon’s Temple Was Safe 
(Continued from page 35) 
much more expensive and for the cost of such 
a buried copper plate, two or more gas pipes 
can be set; and two or more gas pipes give a 
materially better grounding than one copper 
plate.” 
Where a heavy iron or steel rod is used as 
the conductor the rod itself makes an excellent 
grounding as it would be equal to two or more 
gas pipes, but with copper cable it would be 
better to use the copper plate as a grounding. 
Lightning protection for an ordinary farm 
building costs about the same as a new set of 
tires for the pleasure car. The farmer does not 
hesitate to replace the tires on his automobile 
at least once a year, yet many will risk their 
life’s savings (including the automobile) and 
the lives of his loved ones while he hesitates 
to buy lightning protection. The lightning 
rods he will probably be called upon to buy 
but once in a life time, and during all that time 
he will spend very little for upkeep “and re¬ 
pairs.” For this reason he should realize that 
economy in buying lightning protection means 
to spend sufficient in the first investment to 
get ample protection. 
Don’t let some one sell you a light-weight 
fancy woven conductor because it costs iess 
and the agent claims the air space in the fancy 
weave offers more protection. If air protected, 
it would not be necessary to have any metal. 
Don’t insist that two ground rods will be 
sufficient if your building requires three or four, 
and stay on the job and see that the groundings 
are made to perpetual moisture. 
People in the rural districts can not avail 
themselves of the protection offered by a steel 
cage or a steel frame building and they do not 
care to become cave men, but they can buy 
good lightning protection for a nominal sum, 
and the time is not far distant when insurance 
companies will hesitate to take the risk on 
rural buildings unless they are well protected 
with good lightning rods. 
