The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1903-12-01
Talks With Farmers.


Some years ago a Northern lady living
IN the mountain country of North Caro-
Ina wrote to me that she found it i'm
-o--.ble to grow Irish potatoes fit to eat,
while. in fact, there IS no better potato
growing section than the high, cool noun
tain country Of this State If this lady
could have seen the potatoes l had mash
e4 on my table today, of the second crop
grown from potatoes that were raised
last spring. I think that even she would
have admitted that they were not only
fit to eat, but very fine. l asked the good
wife If they were not old potatoes She
said no. that they were dug from the
garden just before time to cook fer din
rer Well ripened potatoes. fit for mash
ing. dug from potatoes planted the last O.
August. are not bad this ninth of No
vernber And there are more yet to dig.
I was rather amused at the old darkey
who dug the potatoes He found that the
oh potatoes were still sound and he put
them back carefully in the burrows and
covered them, saying that they would
make another crop in the spring which /
doubt
The frost has taken the leaves off the
fz~. and we viii now tie them up with
pine bushes around them as a protec-
tion for the early frost seems to promise
a cold winter. They had no protection
last winter and bore a heavy crop, but
if the winter should prove unusually
cold they may get nipped, and little
protection will do no harm. If they were
sI1-ler I would bend the branches to the
ground and cover with pine boughs, but
this cannot be done on account of the
size Of the trees The new ones sent me
!, lD.,+
ped in gunny sacks as they are small.
FLOWING STEEP LANDs-APPLEs IN
NORTH CAROLINA.
(E. F. Ruff. Dimsdale n. c.
7 have been reading The Practical
Farmer for two years and have seen moth
ing about the plowing of steep lands. a
large party Of my land lies so steep that
I cannot turn it uphill. and I would like
advice on this subject l think that
here all stubblc land should be plowed in
the taIl for the wind viii blow a good
heavy stubble of our lands in winter.
ana the land will be naked by spring.
1t does not matter what kind of stubble
it Is pea vines, crab grass or ANYTHING
else Is all gone in the spring. Would
You advise a hillside plow? Some farm
ers here say that II will kill the hill lands
10 turn them. 1 see that in the Exneri-
ence Pool you mention an apple called
Mactamuskeet as a good keeper. Can
you tell ne if it would keen with me. as
I suppose it IS as warm here as at Raj
e.gh? I think of setting small orchard
Of this if it will keep we'll and sell well
an the market The only thing for your
-.aep mountain lands is the hillside plow
They have been scratched with the bull
tonguc till care viii be needed in using 2
tuning plow, and not to go too deep all
III oacc. II you could run two teams. a
good pair Of horses to a hillside plow
and then put the bull tongue in the same
urrow behind them so the subsoil would
be- l0Oscncd and not turned up, you will
ful that instead of killing the land it
VIII be greatly benefited and less liable
to wash. The winds that sweep over
Eur mountains IN winter doubtless dc
blow OF all the dead vegetation, and II
will be Of advantage to bury it and then
SOW re on the land as winter cover
for that Will rot blow of. The Malta
uu~kcet apple was originated on the
Ieaty soils of Hyde county and IS there
q good apple but we would not advise II
in your section of the State, where II
would hardly ripen at all. 1t IS not d
handsome apple. and IS only Of value
IN tie warmer sections of the STATE
where better apples cannot be we'll grown
n your section YOU can grow any Of the
best apples. and should not use the Malta
ma-keot If you plant anything on tn
srup0>ition that your climate Is as warn
as that ct Raleigh you will find that yo'