VOL. LIV.
INDIANAPOLIS, IND., OCT. 21, 1899.
NO. 42
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Giv* the Caute ofthe Oeieral  Failure of
Early   Potatoes..   What Varieties  of
Fo You Prefer For Table Ute and
Why?    Do  You   Kill the OH
Parent Bugs?
let Premium.—In this part of the State dry
weather prevailed at the time when the tubers
were forming. This gave the bugs a chance,
and If the Colorado beetle had not been poisoned they would soon have ruined the vines.
After this came the blister beetles which did
even more damage than the Colorado beetles.
The blister beetle Is a hard customer to deal
with. You can whip them off time and again
without doing any good, but I believe they
can bs kept down If not killed, by the application of London purple, or some other poison. By planting deep and with good care,
I raised a fair crop of good sized tubers under
these adverse conditions. The Potentate
(till holdg Its own for table use for medium
early and later, on account of Its fine quality
smoothness, small waste ln peeling and good
size. For extra early we find nothing superior to the Early Ohio. Sometimes I have
found it neceeeary to kill the parent buge;
this ls when they appear in great numbers
when the vines are just coming up, and if not
killed they destroy the sprouts as goon as they
appear. I do not think it pays to kill them
under ordinary conditions. H. F. B.
Wayne Oo.
2nd Premium—The only cauee for a genera}
failure of early potatoes muet lie In general
and fundamental reasons. If the soil Is good,
in good shape and the weather conditions
good there can be no failure of potatoes; so lt
must be one of the three reasons mentioned
above, also taking into consideration the
eeed used.
We use the early Ohio potato here and it
gives excellent satisfaction in this climate;
some member of the family brought seed
from Ohio when the country was firet settled
up In this section and it has been disseminated until a great proportion of the farmers
around use it. The reasons why we like this
potato, is that lt matures early (our seasons
being short), it ls of good shape, good size,
and of a fairly smooth skin, its texture is fine
and perfect; lt ls mealy even to late spring
and early summer, which is something ln its
favor.
The first planting ls done as soon ae the
weather is fit for potato planting, drills are
made and potatoes dropped about every eighteen Inches apart. If one is planting a few
they may be covered with a hoe, but most
things are done on too large a scale here for
such slow methode to obtain, and the covering
Is done with a planker, or even an inverted
harrow, and if this Is a large one tho work ls
quickly and satisfactorily done.
There has been no general failure of potatoes In this section this year. One of the
chief causes might bs ln too wet and too cold
weather after planting, causing rot ln the eeed,
We often have weather so cold that potatoes
He a long time before coming up, becauee
they lack warmth. Potato rot Is very rare,
however, and eeed always grows here. Oar
chief difficulty ls drought, but this does not
usually effect the potato crop much, they grow
better when not too wet. This year wo have
been flooded with rain, and I euppoeemillions
of buehels of grain have rotted and sprouted
In this etate; in same cases potatoes have also
•prouted and very many that we now use- have
bunches of gmall potatoes growing upon the
large ones, that have sprouted from said large
ones and grown since our heavy rains began,
the latter part of July. These rains were so
heavy (almoet five inches of water fell in
about f ourty-elght hours at one time) that in
some cases the soil was washed away from po
tatoes and this caused the sprouting to a certain extent. Tbe new growth of potatoes
produces tubers all the way from one to two
inches in d la mater; of course this about spoils
the crop. Thoee from which the eoil wae
washed are sunburnt, and theee together with
the eproutlng hae injured the crop, but not to
what may be called a general extent. Potatoee that were put ln on sod are not bo, becauee tbe soil wae hard and did not wash
away.
We are not troubled with potato bugs to
any great extent in thig section. Potato scab
may be run out, if emooth tubers are used
every year, and if a new location Is chosen for
planting.
The early Ohio is not the best market potato perhaps, etill I have known early onee to
eell as high as four dollars a buehel; this of
couree at a time when the potato crop had
been exhausted in spring and none bslng
shipped ln.
The tubers are never hollow, they are not
too large for baking, if desired for that purpoee, and yet large enough to make good table
food. They keep excellently, and are mealy
and flaky to seive whole or creamy to mash.
On the whole after eome fifteen yeare we etill
cling to this same variety, as being as good
an all around potato for this section as we
can get.   H. S. M.
BIVIIW,
The longer I plant potatoee, the more I believe ln* planting early potatoeg very 'early.
This I have not always done. Sometime) my
ground ls not as gandy and dry early as I like
to work it. Theee quick growing varieties
depend on the soil moisture left over from
spring to make themselves. The late varieties will eometlmee eet email tubere and wait
for weeke through a dry epell and then make
a nice growth. Thie year as Mr. B. (ays had
a critical dry streak running through the eeason for making the early crop. I noticed
that the bugs were unusually bad around here.
For some cause they hurt early klDds more
than late ones. They delight to feast on a
vine that ls embarrassed by drouth, or lack of
vitality, or other weakening cauee. My early
potatoes were in a patch of newly grubbed
new ground this year, which was so stumpy
that lt wae not handy to use the weeder, and
the usual weekly plowing is not enough.
Outside of the common Ohioand Rose family the most choice cooking potato with us is
the early Potentate and tho early Northern.
The early Northern ls rather long shaped like
the Roee family; which ls, for me, a fault.
When any of these long slim potatoes are
checked bya drouth they become wasp wasted
and almost worthless. But the Potentate ls
round acd flattened a little, and any check
makes it smaller, but so lt can be peeled all
right.
I think I havo never grown a nicer lot of
late potatoeg than this year. I have grown
some larger in extra years, but theee aro largo
enough, and uniform and smooth. We blasted
moet of the stumps out of the field, and gave
extra cultivation. The seed seemed to have
great vitality, too.
I have not practiced killing the old bugs,
but If they are so very numerous again on
my early potatoes, as this year, I am going to
try apian I saw laet summer. Mr. H. bad a
pan made at the tin ehop and Bhaped like the
letter "u," It was put on a broom handle eo
that lt hung etralght down with the pan at
right angles to lt, Uke a hoe. It was about an
Inch deep, and contained coal oil, say a quarter of an Inch deep. It was but a moment's
work to slip this astride of a stalk with one
hand, and with the other give the small potato
top a slight stroke with a paddle with a long
handle, and the bugs possum Into the oil. If
you do have a little oil they will crawl out unless the pan Is deep and jarred often. But I
do not think that any bug that hae had a coal
oil bath, even if he ever gets out, will live to
relate his experience. One reaeon I would
kill tho old bugs is that. If very thick, like
they sometimes come on early potatoes, they
lay eo many eggs that the larvae will do much
damage to tho vines before tho poison will
entirely rid the vines of them. This le more
disastrous to early varieties on account of
their very quick growth. With them lt ls now
or never. Then there are fewer vines in any
community and the bugs concentrate more.
A ten-year old boy can do this work, and one
will be surprised how much a boy will go
over In an hour. The objection to poisoning
old buge is that they scatter eo and even run
when disturbed, so It is difficult to get them
to eat the poison, To put too much poison
on the patch would injure the vitality of the
plants.
Motto: "There is alwaye a black spot ln
our eunehlne, but lt ls ever the shadow of ourselves."
No. 190, Oct. 28—Where ghould one keep
shoe blacking, shoes, clothes for the laundry,
the slop bucket for the kitchen, and in a word
keep these family necessities from being a
nuisance?
No: 191, Nov. 4—How and where can a
young married man who starts from the stump
acquire a farm home?
No. 192, Nov. 11—What ls the beet farm
fence you eaw at the fair, and cost? Are you
using red cedar posts? What do they cost and
where do you get them?
No. 193. Nov 18—Name eome of the faults
and ideals of girls you know. Suggest Improvement. (A future topic will be the same
for boys.)
No 194, Nov. 25—Comment on Thanksgiving Day as a Harvest Home Festival.
Premiums of $1, 75 cents and 50 cents will
be given to let, 2d and 3d bett articles each
week. Let copy be ae practical as possible
and forwarded 10 days before publication to
Oarmel, Ind, EH. Collins
atlng $1,000,000 to exterminate tho gypsy
moth; Indorsing Pan-American exposition at
Buffalo in 1901.
All of theeo rceolutlone were ln the ehape of
appeals to ooDgrcss.
Ex-Gov. Howard, of Wisconsin, was reelected president. The other officers elected
for tho eneulng two yeara were: R. Q. F. Oan-
dage, Massachusetts, first vice-president; Ooi.
John S. Cunningham, North Carolina, second
vice-president; John M. Stahl, Ohlcago, secretary; George E Stockwell, New Jersey, and
D 0. Kolb, Texae, aeeletant secretaries; Levi
Morrison, Pennsylvania, treaeurer; T. O.
Slaughterer, Texae; E. L. Furness, Indiana;
W. G. Whitmore, Nebraeka; B. F. Clayton,
Iowa; E. A. Whiteteln, Kentucky executive
committee.
WORK AND CRIME.
Statietlce taken in the Joliet, III , state
prison recently go to ebow that whero work ls
plenty and wages fair, the number of convicts
ls notably reduced. In May, 1895, that prison
contained 1,623 convicts, while taday there
aro but 1,212 men there, and 66 women,
"From 0:t. 1,1891, to Sept. 30,1895, 927 new
convicts were received, while from Oat. 1,1898
to Sept. 28,1899, only 506 new convicts were
received, ehowing a decrease of 421 In favor
of the year of proepeiity and plenty of work."
This fact should open the eyee of congressmen and legislators to the duty that national
and etate governments owe the paop'e to so
legislate as to provide employment for the
wage earners. Governments ought to be
paternal to this extent, at least Lick of food
and shelter make men desperate and hundreds
are thus provoked to commit crimes who
otherwise would bo law abiding citizens all
their lives.
THE FARMERS' NATIONAL CONGRESS.
The congreee that cloeed Ite annual eseelon
ln Boston, recently after much discussion and
listening to many valuable papers, expressed
itself in favor of the following legislation:
Extending the merchant marine; shipments
of oleomargarine and kindred products from
ono state to another, to bs subject to the laws
of the etate in which received; faleely branding dairy or food producte as to the etate In
which produced; indorsing agricultural education; urging people to write letters to their
congressmen calling their attention to the
measuree favored by the Farmere' Natlona'
Oongreee; Investigating and suppressing tuberculosis, and recommending the New York
law regarding the eame; faleely branding
maple sugar as to the stats in which produced;
providing for honest Inspection of grain, under the direction of tho secretary of agriculture; applauding Massachusetts for appropri-
GARDKMNG ON THE KLONDIKE.
Ooneul McOook, of Dawson City, under date
of Auguet 20.1899, writee: "The steamer Lotta
Talbot, with refrigerating machinery, that left
Seattle ln June and supplied freeh meat at St.
Michaels and various points along tho Yukon
hae arrived here with about 90 tone of dreeeed
meats, butter, eggs, lard, etc. The company's
intentlonis to establish refrigerating plants
at the different large poets along the Yukon
and to euDply St. Michaels and Oape Nome
next year, while navigation remains open.
Stock ralelDg along the Yukon ehould be
very profitable. The building of sheds for
winter shelter would be tho greatest expense.
To^ratee provender ls an eaey matter. The
markets ln Dawson are dally supplied with
radishes, lettuce, cabbage, turnips, carrot* i
peas, beane etc., grown within two miles of
the city. Flowers of nearly all varietiee are
the cultivated on a farm a mile or two from
there may be eeen more than an acre of beautiful flowers, blooming as if they were In a
eouthern region.
THE AGRICULTURAL REPORT.
The October report of the etatletlclan of the
Department of Agriculture shows the average
condition of corn on Oct. 1 to have been 82.7,
as compared with 85 2 one month ago, 82 on
Oct. 1, 1898, 77.1 at the correepondlng date ln
1897 and 81.9, the mean of the October averages for tho laet 10 years. No marked chaDge
In condition occurred during September ln
any of the principal corn States, but, except
ln Iowa, where an Improvement of two points
ls reported, there was a ellght Impairment.
Pending the receipt of the customary reports of individual farmerg and the result of
a careful Investigation of conditions in the
principal wheat States, both spring and winter, by a special agent no estimate of the
yield of wheat per acre will be made. The
final figures, however, both ae to acreage and
production, will be ready for publication at a
much earlier date than has been the caee for
gome yeare paet.
The preliminary eetimate of the yield per
acre of oats le 30.7 buehels, as compared 25 08,
the average for the laet 10 years, with 27 08
bushels laet year, 28.1 in 1897 and 25.08, the
average for the laet 10 years. The average for
quality ls 81 5 last year and 87 6 ln 1897.
Tho preliminary estimate of the yield per
acre of barley ls 27 01 buehele, aB compared
with 27 6 laet year and 24.5 in 1897. The average for quality is 88.4, agalnet 90 6 last year
and 87.6 ln 1897.
The preliminary estimate of the yield per
acre of rye is 14 4 bushels, as compared with
15 6 last year, 16 1 ln 1897 and a 10-year average of 13 7. The average for quality is 90,
agalnet 90 2 laat year and 92 7 in 1897.
Tne averaeo condition of buckwheat on
Oct. 1 was 70 2, as compared with 75 2 the
previous month, 76 2 on Ojt. 1,1898. 90 8 at
the corresponding date in 1897 and 84.2, the
October average for the last 10 years.
The average condition of potatoes Oct. 1
was 81.7 as compared with 86.3 one month
ago, 72 5 Oct 1. 1898, 61 6 at the corresponding date ln 1897 and 73.7, the October average
for the laet 10 years,