JOh.XXXl.
INDIANAPOLIS, IND., MAY 23, 1896.
NO. 21
EXPERIENCE DEPARTMENT.
How ao you Cultivate Potatoes?
[lst premium.—The    potatoes   having
leen properly planted  their cultivation
^iould begin soon after.   In two or three
i after  planting  the ground should
3 worked over with  a good weeder or
harp toothed  harrow, so as  to destroy
te tiny weed plants that are sprouting
1st beneath the surface - and also to re-
lin the firm  mulch of soil, which is so
bsirable in potato culture.   This same
Oration should be repeated at intervals
J a few days, until the  potatoes can  be
|en growing in the row.   In case of very
ly weather  the weeder should be  fol-
Iwed once or twice with a roller, to firm
le soil over the  sprouting tubers and to
levent the rapid  evaporation of mois-
■re from the soil.   All  this  may  seem
le a great deal of work, but it is easily
|drapidly performed, and is necessary
insure best results.   As  soon  as the
|ants can be seen along the row give the
I a good stirringjwitb' the double
ow or  cultivator  and  let the weeder
■low as a leveler and pulverizer.   Conine this method until the plants begin
(shade the ground  considerably, then
lish the cultivation with a weeder, run-
Jig it as long as it will readily work
(rough the vines.   The first plowing of
■tatoes with . a: cultivator,   should  be
Itier . deep .but/_JUbsec(uent.plowings
p_i__r*_?'sE"aIIoiw*, so as to avoicl*3_iiur_?
; the newly farming tubers."i,"•"-    ■'■
Hendricks Co. ' O. M. Hadley.
Premium.  In the first place I do as
ch cultivation as I can  before plant-
, by getting the ground in first-class
idition, breaking deep and fine, rolling
harrowing until the ground is as mel-
as an onion bed, as one cannot raise
atoes among clods with much success.
.trow out deep and cover with the cul-
|ator or Planet Junior,throwing the dirt
m each side on the potatoes.   As soon
he plants appear in the rows, go over
ground lengthwise of the rows with a
t smoothing harrow with small sharp
h slanting backwards.   This destroys
e-.en.hs of the young weeds, loosens
and levels  the ground, and does as
ch good as  two plowings.  Then go
* the ground  every  week with  the
net Junior or double shovel, working
tty close and deep the first time and
e shallow afterwards, until the vines
to bud and then  stop  cultivation.
eeds appear later in the season pull
out or mow them off.  By raising
toes in this way the average farmer
get a paying crop. .Fight  the  bugs
Paris green or London purple, and
nes will cover the ground and shade
crop, conserving  moisture  and pre-
ing drouth. H. S. Blatchley.
.nam Co.
[Premium.—Though Mr. Collins did
lagree with me in planting potatoes, I
ping to tell how I cultivate them.  I
tn by harrowing well with a fine tooth
row and follow with a drag before the
Jtoes are up.   When  they  are about
liaches high, I  cultivate with a fine
|li cultivator.   In two or three days I
1 about 200 pounds of bone meal to the
I with my wheat drill, which answers
Im cultivation.   From this on I cul-
f" my potatoes about twice a week
1 they are in bloom when I lay them
[I always aim to plow them as soon
* rain as the ground will permit.   I
~t believe in  neglecting a growings
I to plant another.   When the vines
lead i dlg my potatoeS) before the
F get so high that they will have to
t0we*1- B.W..
fjdori,
J?'**that the cultivation of potatoes
J a begin in about one week from the
i-ney are planted, by harrowing,and
in about a week br ten days they should
be harrowed again, so as not to let the
weeds get a start. Then in about ten
days they ought to be cultivated with a
small shovel cultivator. Cultivation
should be kept np about every ten days,
not longer apart than that, until they
get in full bloom. The last time they are
cultivated they should be hilled up a little by putting a larger shovel next to
them and then have a small .harrow that
will go between the rows and harrow to
level the ground. I think this best if' it
should be a drouth. 3. D. Lemay.
Harrison Co.
REVIEW.
'Tis pleasant to see that our good friend
the harrow is being more appreciated and
used in all cultivated crops. We are finding out that it is the best weed-killer and
mulch maker we have. While using my
Cassady plow this spring I studied root
growth of weeds. The top root is like a
long white tapering worm with no branch
roots until the leaf reaches the air.
Both stem and root are taking food from
the seed. Sap taken from the ground
could not be digested till the leaf unfolds
to the air, so there is no need of fine
branch roots. Now is the time to kill a
weed,: just before it comes to light, because it occupies only one or two inches
of surface soil and is easily reached and
displaced, and the stirred?soil .dries out.
But, if say*bnejtnoh high; it has --branch
«ootB**mong~ry^oid'*-Bbil*-''--^
Keep alive a short time for rain to let it out
- T. B. Terry harrows his potatoes three
times, before they come up, and if you
will harrow part of the field once and
part twice or three times yoh will be surprised to see how clean and nice the frequent harrowing made it.
I see some cultivate only till buds show.
There is a tradition that it injures potatoes to "mess" with them after this.
In'93 the writer was running Breed's
weeder over potatoes and came to a few
rows larger. In fact they were beginning to lodge. It was very dry and hot at
11 a. m. and I thought I'd try to kill two
rows. I brushed them all east (teeth all
in); then: all west, doubling them in a
wad so the teeth would hum. as they
sprang over them. Then east, then back,
making four times in one hour, and the
vines had made a hole like a cane pushed
in the ground and swung around a circle.
These vines never raised; but they
turned up their heads like lodged clover;
were as late dying as any and yielded
practically the same.
Now I would not advise such "wooling,"
but I believe it a lazy man's excuse if it
remains dry, or a crust forms, or weeds
start in the little open places, not to run
a narrow Planet Junior, or a weeder with
teeth removed in the hill through those
"taters."
■ About one fourth of the work of stirring potato ground should be done in deep
breaking, etc.,before planting. One-fourth
between planting and showing.
And if you will harrow your "taters to
death" and then before they come up,
you will be surprised how early the later
work will be.
Planting with a machine firms the soil
very mnch in the open row by the path
of the horse and the roll of the wheel,and
this should be promptly and surely lifted
with some rigid cultivator, not a spring
tooth I mean. I visited a friend last year
who had tried to follow level cultivation
and had his field all in ridges.
He said: "Well, I tried to do it that
way, but we ridged them some in planting and then jumped in with a double
cultivator and they were still higher/and
I didn't know how to get the ridges
down. I spoiled it all, right at the beginning, and now you see them ridged this
way and covered with crust and burning
up. We have no tool that will break
crust on a ridged seed bed like that."
His mistake was in not getting-all level
before they came up, then working them
with narrow plows and the weeder, run
right through the hill after each of the
first few cultivations, keeps them practically level and the surface fine and
weedless.
We don't cultivate "onco a week," bnt
when needed. Don't lay by with four
workings, but vary the tillage according
to the season. One lucky fact about potatoes is that though they need water
worse than corn they don't drink as
much as corn, and if you prevent evaporation you have damp mellow soil to de-
velope tubers in. * ..      -
The writer once left 10 rows 70 rods
long that had been worked five times and
allowed a crust to form and worked the
remainder of the field some 15 times
with Planet Jr. and weeder clear up to
the death of the vines. During growth
you could see no difference, but the neglected vines died a week or more sooner
and at digging there were just one-third
more measures in three rows "worked to
death" than in three in. the middle of the
10. Besides there were very few of the
10 that were marketable.
Many a time last summer did I jump
off of my wheel and examine a potato
patch "laid by." The white; hard crust
would be hot, and the plants struggling
for drink while I suppose the owner was
at the store talking about the drouth and
supposing there was no help for it. Some
washed places inmy .potato field shbwejd
a"maf of roots extending across a 30-inclT
row when the vines; were six or eight
inches high, and they come as near the
surface as we can leave the soil undisturbed;
Deep plowing should be done as early
as they will bear the dirt, and to "plow
deep but further oft" later is a mistake.
If the soil runs together, so as to need
deep stirring later, it is not fit for potato
crops. ;Too sticky and not enough humus.
' I dwell on these points because the season promises to be dry again, and the
crop of potatoes or corn is often awfully
damaged by deep cultivation. With very
rich ground and plenty of moisture
plants will bear most any amount of
mangling, but on our older fields and dry
better care is needed.
Bugs are bad this year. I kill them
with Paris green in flour or gypsum—two
heaping tablespoonfuls to three gallons,
well mixed and jarred through a pepper
box, made of a two quart tin can with
broom handle fastened straight up in it.
Don't forget future topics.
1 E. H. Collins.
I would like for several of our good
orchardists of practical experience to
name a list of varieties of all kinds of
fruits best adapted to central and southern Indiana. Let's hear from several on
this subject. A reader of the good old
Indiana Fabmeb. F. M.
Greene Co.
We hope this request will be generally
complied with,   v
...,. WeirecommendBaldwin, Rome Beauty,'.
sW^'biier^'Orimb&V'^^BIIiy/^Tetoj^Ky.'-
and Willow Twig..
No. 14, May 30.   Growing millet, sowing, etc'.
No. 15, June 6.   Cutting and curing hay
POSTAL 0AED 00BRESP0NDEK0E.
Morgan Co., May 13.—Wheat heading,
but a great deal of it. looks badly; oats,
meadows and pastures suffering for lack
of rain; had one good shower the first of
the week; cut worms and potato bugs bad;
wool selling for 10 and 11 cents; prospect
for fruit good. A. H.
Madison Co., May 11.—I used bone meal
fertilizer on one field at the rate of 100
pounds per acre. Wheat is better where
used than where no manure nor fertilizer
was used, but I spread a strip across one
end of the field with barnyard manure as
thin as I could spread it by hand from the
wagon, after the ground was plowed, and
the difference is very preceptible quite a
distance from the field in favor of the
manure.. A large portion of the wheat is
looking very poor and ground is getting
very dry. W. R. K.
Falling tree crushed the skull of G. W.
Woodhouse, 25, Cass county, last week.
Since then he has been unconscious and
recovery is doubtful.
Q\WVJJ ilUil JrtlSMC*.,
Will you please inform me what all is
required of a person before he can enter
the regular army?   ' L.N.
Write the United States Recruiting officer at this city, who will  send  you  full '
particulars. "
Please tell me in your paper how to
keep ants out of a barrel ot sugar? I'm a
farmer and a merchant, I read your paper and find lots of good things in it.
Randolph Co. A. Reader.
Black or red pepper, borax powder and
tansy leaves are recommended for the
purpose. Sprinkle either of them around
tbe barrels and the ants will keep away.
Please inform me thourgh the Indiana
Fabmeb the following:
1. Are there any cables across the Pacific Ocean, and if so, how many?
2. Was the Secretary Seward who
urged the purchase of Alaska the same
person that they undertook to kill, the
same night that "Lincoln was killed?
LaGrange Co. A Subscriber.
1;  There are none.
2,   Yes.
%uxo Qcpixxtttmxt.
Miss H lives with her parents at home,
but owns some money. Should she pay
taxes on the same? A Reader.
Cass Co.
Yes, of course.
Please give information through the
Farmer on A's and B's line fence. A
owns about 70 rods and B owns about 35
rods, A has all of his fence on his land
and wishes B to build his half of the fence
on his land. How must A proceed to
compel B to do this? T. B.
If B will not build his full part of the
fence, then A can build on his own land
and refuse to let B join, unless he will
pay for one half fence.
Please find enclosed a circular—plan of
road working for Perry county, and
please let me know if it is lawful for the
commissioners and the trustees of said
county to enforce such on the people?
Please answer through the Farmer.
A Subscriber.
As a policy to be pursued in working
roads, we think the Perry county plan
not only legal but a good one. The resolutions, however, are merely voluntary
and bind nobody.
A and B own joining farms. B's buildings being back from the gravel road,
his outlet is out through his place at a
gate on southwest corner of his place. On
the northwest corner of A's place he has
a water trough for watering his cattle,
which is supplied by a gas pump. He
keeps the pump running day and night
which causes the trough to run over and
the waste water naturally running into
B's gate keeping a continual mudhole in
the gate way. Can B compel A to quit
running the waste water into the gate?
What course must he pursue?   B. B. L.
Be can sue A for damages for maintaining a nuisance.
A and B join farms, with 120rods of partition fence between them. A's fence,
which is the north half, has become very
poor. A sells 20 acres off the south part
of his land to C, and the remaining 40
acres, (the north part), to D. Question:
Can C claim 20 rods of B's fence, and can
D compel B to make 20 rods of the fence
between them, or in other words, 20 rods
of the 60 rods of old, run down fence?
W. G. W.
After A sells to C or D there must be a
readjustment of. the partition fence, and
D must allow B a sufficient consideration
to equalize the fence between them; but
if D will not do this then A may, after six
months' notice, remove his part of the
fence and compel D to make his own
fence along the entire line.