VOL. HV.
INDIANAPOLIS, IND., MAY 20, 1899.
NO. 20
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GIVE YOUR BEST VARIETY OF POTATOES
How Do You Secure Vitality and a Good
Stand, and Prevent Blight and Bugs.
let Premium.—Having experience with a
test lot of potatoes, forty five different kind,
planting one pound of each, I find about six
varieties tbat are practically the same in quaf-
ity and yield. For an early potato I prefer
the pure bred Early Ohio. Potatoes are
greatly misrepresented by seedsmen as to
name. The Early Ohio, Six weeks, Salzer's
50 daye, and the Acme are the same potato,
with different names given by geed catalogs.
I could give the same experience with different late varieties. As to best late potato we
prefer the Green Mountain, while they are
closely followed by the Carmen, Rural New
Yorker, King of Roses, Maggie Murphy and
the New Queen. The plan that I follow to se.
cure vitality and a good stand is to cut the
potato so as to leave the pieces about the size
of a large sized walnut, the same size each
way if possible. If cut in thin pieces, or too
small, in dry weather, they would dry up, and
in wet weather rot. By leaving the pieces in
bulk and large enough, it gives vitality to the
growth and insures a good stand. If you
want to raise all nice, large marketable potatoes only leave one eye to the piece; carve
the others out with point of pen knife, always leaving the first sprout if possible, as
each time the sprout is broken off it lessens
the vitality of the potato. In treating potatoes for scab I find nothing better than corrosive sublimate, two ounces to 15 gallons of
water, leaving the potato in this solution one
hour and 15 minutes. This amount of solution will treat 25 bushels. Paris green is the
best thing to keep off the bugs. If raising a
small patch a small hand spray does very
well, but for field culture put a barrel on
trucks with spraying attachments. We find
level cultivation the best. If you want to
grow some fair potatoes mix well rotted wood
ln the hill, and cover with straw. The yield
will be great and the quality good, if left in
the ground until the vines are dry. By foi.
lowing this process I secured 2d premium on
collection of potatoes at the last State fair,
1st premium being won by Ohio parties. Wil1
be found at the State fair this fall with 53 different kinds, and will not be satisfied with
less than first premium. L. B. 0.
Johnson Oo.
2d Premium.—I have found the early Ohio
to be the best early potato, ripening when
planted the middle of April, in good time to
supplement the late potatoes kept ln the cellar. They do not yield nearly so well as some
late varieties, but generally command a better
price. Quality is good. The best late potato
I have found is the Potentate. It Is a medium
late variety, ripening in the latter part of August, or first of September. It is a whito potato, with rather rough skin, so that it does
not bruise easily. Itis in shape round and
clumsy and very smooth. It grows to a large
size and there are hardly any small ones. It
is an excellent yielder, yielding for me at the
rate of over 200 bushels per acre. This ls an
extraordinary yield here. As to quality it is
fine; good at all times. In order to secure
the greatest vitality, let the potatoes fully ripen in the fall; this prevents peeling, bruising
an- wilting of the tubers. Keep In a cool
cellar at about 40 degrees, and moist enough
to keep potatoes plump. Select for planting
_ood Bized tubers, (don't plant marbles), cutting to one eye, or more if eyes are numerous.
» is bast to keep several bushes in each bin.
A good Btand depends on many things. Seed
must be plump and healthy, not having sprouted much before planting. Seed bed should be
deep and mellow. I prefer' a clover sod;
crimson clover sod is excellent. Have ground
well pulverized. We furrow out with a one
horse breaking plow. Plant deep; 4. inches is
not any too deep; this is essential. By deep
planting the tubers can obtain moisture, do
not grow on surface and become green, and
are kept cool, so they will not suffer from
blight. Plant when the ground is moist, (I
once failed to have a good stand by planting
when ground was dry.) Have never been bothered with blight that I know of. I think this
was prevented by deep planting. To prevent
bugs from doing so much damage to early
ones, get the vines started to growing early,
before it is warm enough to hatch out the
eggB. Plant late varieties about the middle of
May or later. I do not know the reason that
bugs do not bother thelateplantlng; but I had
a patch planted tolerably late last year which
did not have to be poisened to keep off bugs.
They can talk about their new fangled spraying machines, but for common use a three
gallon watering pot is the thing. Mix a tablespoon heaping full of London purple with a
little water, then put into the sprinkler of
water, mixing well, and sprinkle one row at a
time and you can poison a row as fast as you
can walk. Two men, one to haul water and
one to poison, can get over several acres in a
day in this way. [It can be put on dry for
one-tenth the cost ot poison and one-fourth
cost of labor.—Ed1] We plow with five-shovel
one-horse cultivator as soon as potato vines
are up well. If patch is weedy we hoe before
vines are large enough to be in the way. Cultivate every week, or as often as needed to
keep down the weeda, until tubers form; at
this time vines should shade the ground so
that cultivation is not needed. After this if
ground is weedy you will have too pull weeds
by hand once or more. F. B.
Wayne Oo.
tho variety tho quicker the potato loses its
good eating qualities, or in other words, tho
longer it Is maturing, the longer it will remain good for the table. The lato varieties
are not so liable as the earlier ones to be cut
off by drouth. For the past two years my
practico has been to plant the largest of tho
small ones, cutting two eyes on a piece, and
putting three pieces In a hill; and as every
eye will not come, I Intend to havo three or
four stalks to a hill. If seeded light, the
vines will grow strong and erect. Admit the
sun and air to the ground, and this will prevent disease and blight. Bugs may bo entirely exterminated by the continued and careful
use of insect powder. It should bo applied in
early morning or the lato evening, and not
less often than twice a week, S. M. N.
DeKalb Oo.
3d Premium.—We have three varieties we
think are good, the Green Mountain and
Rural New Yorker for the main crop, and the
Early Ohio for early use. When potatoes are
ripe and the ground is dry we dig them and
store them in boxes in a dry cellar, where they
remain until planting time. If the cellar is
kept just a littlo above freezing and dark,
there will be but few sprouts seen at planting
time. By the above plan our potatoes come
out at planting time plump and solid, with a
full store of vitality to start the young plant.
This is why Northern seed seems to do better with us, but if we could retain the vitality
in our home grown seed there would be but
little use of buying Northern seed potatoes
every year as many do. To raise two crops of
potatoes the same year,the first crop must be
dug as soon as they will do,and must be allowed
to He in the light and sun for a few days before planting again. .If they are planted im-
mediately after digging they will remain in
the ground until the next year before they
sprout. If the potatoes are kept right and
ground is got in the right fix there is no danger of not getting a stand.
We planted some potatoes two years ago
and got a good stand, while my neighbor
planted some which I gave him out of the
same lot, and ha did not get more than a half
stand. We could not account for it unless
tho ground was too wot.
To prevent blight and bugs we change our
potato patch to a new place every year. When
they first come through the ground and there
seems to be a good many old bugs on them,
we go through and pick all ihe old bugs we
can find. As a rule one or two pickings of the
old bugs, when the plants are small, will settle
the bug question. B. W,
Corydon.
In my experience with potatoes I find that
varieties differ but little in quality, although
I prefet white to colored sorts, but the earlier
BBVIKW.
There are a few varieties that suit a large
territory, but the secret of successful growing
is to find the key to your own farm. Often
there are different kinds Euited to different
fields of the same farm. The Ohio is a shy
yielder anyhow, and no one can afford to
grow it around here for tho general market.
The late kinds will double it. It is nice for
family use.
The objection I have to the Rural and Oar-
men is that the skin slips till frost and this
makes them too late to sow wheat after. I
have a neighbor who grows them and digs
and sells them with ragged skins. He had
2,000 bushels lastyear. The Green Mountain
does well for me in good years, but in bad
years it gets so slim that it does not peel well,
and is wasp waisted. The round varieties
simply grow smaller, but are good shape.. I
have been looking for a kind that mature to
dig the first half of September. The Potentate is said to yield well and ripen at this date.
I am trying it; I am also trying the Early
Northern, the Sir Walter Raleigh and the
Early Fortune. One should practice buying
a few of Eome new kinds each year, without
paying much attention to the talk of feeds-
men. And if a variety is all they say, it may
not suit your land,
Vitality is not half appreciated. Two kinds
may differ by four times the yield ln the samo
conditions. A man is lighting fate when he
plants a dead thing. I think repeated planting of small Beed lessens vitality. But a medium tuber that is typical in shape appears to
do well. Some go through before digging
and dig the best hills for seed. Some say a
dry cellar, I put them right on the dirt floor
even if damp, so it is not wet. It is hard to
keep potatoes in a house cellar. To shovel
them over once a week late in the season will
greatly check the sprouting.
I have had some trouble in getting a stand
in low black land. I think ono must not
plant too deep, or at least not cover too deep.
Remember also somo varieties have very weak
eyes at the stem end. If one especially wishes
a good stand he can expose his seed well
spread out to the light in a warm place before
cutting so every eye will start. I go back to
seedlings occasionally for vitality.
I kill bugs with Paris green and flour Instead of water. Have not tried to sprap for
blight; no doubt tho bordeaux mixture is efficient.
No. 171, Juno 17.—Experience In sowing rye,
beans, clover, or other feed crops in corn.
No. 172, Juno 21.—How best clean room, in
daily housework, floors, furniture, brass, pictures and tho like.
No. 173, July 1.—The effect of tho policy of
political expansion on American agricultural
ntercsts. 	
Premiums of $1, 75 cents and 50 cent- will be
given to 1st, 2d and 3d best articles each week.
Let copy be as practicable as possible and forwarded 10 days before publication to
Oarmel. E. H. Ooli.ins.
No. 1G8, May 27.—A friend has alivingroom
in the S. E. front of a two story house. It has
a bay window and one other large window,
and measures 10x18x10 feet. How can she
paper it and furnish it, carpet, pictures and
all the rest? (Other rooms will match it later.)
The cost should suit a 160 acre farm.
No. 1G9, June 3.—Name popular mistakes In
corn culture. Does lt pay to detassel barren
stalks? Or to plant a few lato rows for pollen?
No. 170, June 10.—Tell us about a nice farmers' picnic.  How make it lively and restful?
CScnxval _.zxvs.
War news is sent from Manila to New York
at an expense of $2 35 a word.
The idea of making starch from sweet potatoes is being discussed in the South.
Forty-two million pounds of India rubber
were imported in North America last year.
Some of the Long Island farmers are selling
their potato crops before the tubers are planted, the purchaser paying G5 cents a bushel for
the estimated product and taking all risks.
Napoleon B, Adams, of Bloomfield, N. J„
was nearly gored to death by a cow which became enraged at a red necktie he was wearing.
A number of the firemen of Washington
have beon mounted on bicycles, with a view
to their responding quickly in case of trivial
fires.
Miss Lettle Simmons, of Friendship, Me.,
raised last season a turnip which she coaxed
up to the enormous weight of 12% pounds.
The public school teachers of Derby, Conn.,
are up in arms becauee the board of education has begun a crusade against the bicycle
skirt as an article of wearing apparel unfit for
the school-room.
The seventh son of a seventh son is a born
doctor, according to tho Irish belief: but he
must never take money for the cures he
achieves, and to insure recovery he should be
sought before sunrise or after sunset on Friday,
Books ean be adjusted in a convenient position to bo read by the use of a new support,
consisting of a vertical standard mounted on
ball bearings to revolve freely having a tilting
rack at the top, which clamps the book and
holds it at the angle desired.
The American Beauty rose originated in the
conservatories of the White House. The first
of tho spieciea was a freak flower, and the intelligent gardener saw that he had a "find"
and cultivated the plant, with the result that
the American Beauty rose is to-day one of the
most popular flowers in the market.
Oorn-stalk disease is the name given to an
affection occurring in cattle as a result of eating corn-stalks and corn-fodder that Beem to
have been rendered poisonous by moldiness
and fermentation. The disorder is usually
confined to animals under four years of age,
and it runs a rapid course, causing death in
four to thirty-six hours.
Tho winter wheat crop is evidently doing as
well at this time as the previous drawbacks
can admit of. Conditions could hardly have
been more favorable for it the past two weeks.
Therefore the tendency to curtailment in
promise has been arrested. What the future
may do in disturbing the situation can not be
foretold. The indications at this timo point
to 300,000,000 to 310,000,000 bushels as the
reasonable interpretation of condition and
area, with possibilities somewhat higher, but
probabilities not favoring a better result than
here suggested.—Oinelnnati Price Ourrent.