Raise potatoes and help win the war. Potato culture, how, when, where and what to plant;

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AAISE POTATOES AND HELP TO
WIN THE WAR

POTATO CULTURE

HOW, WHEN, WHERE AND WHAT TO PLANT.
CULTIVATING, SPRAYING, HARVESTING,
STORING AND MARKETING THE CROP

An Abridged Edition of Bulletin No. 190
Department of Agriculture
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania

Edited by EP As’ROGERS, Brunswick, Maine
i

ISSUED AND DISTRIBUTED BY
THE PENNSYLVANIA RAILROAD COMPANY
FREIGHT DEPARTMENT

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/ 7 7

RAISE POTATOES AND
HELP TO WIN THE WAR

One of the most important military duties that will
rest upon the people of the United States, in the con-
duct of the War, will be to produce a surplus of food.
We must have enough not only to meet our own proper
needs at home, but also to aid in feeding the armies and
the civil populations of the countries of Europe with

~whom we have cast our lot.

President Wilson, in his recent appeal, emphasized

_ this fact by declaring that upon the tillers of the soil “in
large measure rests the fate of the War and the fate of
the Nations.” u

This booklet is issued by the Pennsylvania Railroad
Company to assist and encourage the people whom its
lines serve in extending, as greatly as possible, the
production of one of the most important of the World’s
great food cropp—POTATOES.

Potatoes are eaten universally. They are healthful,
sustaining and satisfying, and they have the very great
advantage that, if proper methods of cultivation are
followed, enormous yields are obtainable from a given
area of ground. From 300 to 500 bushels can be raised
from a single acre by care and skill.

Potatoes are, therefore, particularly adapted to
meeting the emergency created by the scarcity of food
resultant upon the war.

All Americans, who can, should raise potatoes this
Summer. Every potato produced before next Fall
will be more effective, in the cause of the United States
and the Allies, than a bullet.

w

Copies of this booklet may be obtained free from any
Station Agent or Division Freight Agent of the Pennsyl-
vania Railroad Company, or from the Freight Traffic
Department, Broad Street Station, Philadelphia.

1

CONTENTS

PAGE |
Arvinountemrént..2 eee E |
* oreword een note dee ne ee : aa
General Conditions...-.-.02 2.1... 5
Hotation..-. 0 5
selection of Suitable Soil_--._......_. ee 6
Underdrainage...0 00.0 7
Preparation of Soil. 2......2.0....). 8
itr oe ee ee 9
Causes of the Running Out of the Potato... 13
Potatoes ‘for Seed. 2. .0.2.2 oe _ Ig
VATICCICS - - sie tics oboe ene naceet gen 21
Originating New Varieties....-:_.....---.--.---.-----.------= 25. |
Whole Potatoes for Seed_.-........_._....__.__ 24
Sprouting or Budding Seed Potatoes.......................- 26 |
Selecting and Cutting Seed... 2m |
Planting Early Potatoes in a Small Way.__........... 30
Planting Early Potatoes in a Large Way................ 35
Planting the Late or Main Crop.......-..---..----------------- 39
Stable: Manureiic. ete a a Oe 41
Commercial Wertilizer::.. 00 4 ee 41
Cultivating the Cropiii2.u...1040_11_ eo ee 45 |
Inseeticides!. 202505200. 2. Bb Sy 2 Oe 49 |
Paris:‘Greent. Olu CO ee 49
Arsenate of Lead:.2.2....24..022_0)_ 2 52
Bug Death oa eee 53
Bordeaux’ Mixtures. 200). oo 806s ee 54
SPA yers. ance. a2o nse ae enn 57
Spraying. c eet le 0 ee 60
Tnisecter ton en 64
The Flea Beetle.1.u0))2.002 0. 2S ee 64
The Colorado Beetle. .-2...c.u. 3. 4 66
C8 Diana ose acct -
Late Blight or Rot............ 2... ee . 4
Harvesting and Storing. .......__._____.. =e _ 74
Marketing the Crop._°..0_ 23 oe eee 77

| FOREWORD

This booklet has been prepared and edited especially
| for distribution by the Pennsylvania Railroad. As it
is a condensation of the Special Bulletin upon potato
_ eulture issued by the Department of Agriculture of the
| Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, it is authoritative.
Its pages set forth the actual results obtained by scien-
tists and practical growers in successfully producing
this valuable crop, and in obtaining large and increasing
yields per acre.

The directions herein given, if intelligently and
faithfully followed, will not only act as a guide to the
professional farmer in taking up potato growing, or in
improving his methods and enlarging his crop, but

will also enable persons engaged in other pursuits to
utilize any tract of reasonably fertile land in a manner
that will help the Nation and the cause to which we are
committed.

w

While the booklet deals particularly with potato
culture in Pennsylvania, it is equally applicable to the
other States traversed by the Pennsylvania Railroad,
in all of which similar varieties of climate and soil
are found.

Guluosiog jeoluessy 40 “yybijg ‘s}oosuy soyjIe Aq peinfu] jou ebeljo4 yeep; Buimous

5

GENERAL CONDITIONS.—Pennsylvania, with its diver-
sified soils, has many sections peculiarly adapted to
potato growing. The culture of this important crop
has not received the attention deserved, for there are
few crops grown that so quickly respond to intelligent
culture as this. The crop value per acre ranks high-

est where it is studied and modern methods and ma-
-chinery used. This the statistics of the U. S. Depart-
ment of Agriculture prove, Pennsylvania’s standing

:

among potato states being third in acreage and seventh
in yield per acre, while Maine’s is seventh in acreage

and first in yield per acre.

That this is not wholly the result of better climatic
and soil conditions in Maine is supported by evidence
of crops in Pennsylvania yielding 300 to over 500

-bushels per acre. If individuals can obtain such
_ yields by proper methods, there is apparently no reason
why the same effort, if put forth by other growers,

should not increase the yield per acre in Pennsylvania
to that of Maine.

ROTATION.—The grower must have a fixed system
of crop rotation to obtain the best results, and this
must be varied in different localities.

The Maine grower has a three or four year rotation:

First. Potatoes on broken sod.

Second. Grain, usually oats or spring wheat, sown

as early as the ground is in condition to properly work,
grass and clover being sown with either.
. Third and’ fourth years hay, unless a three year
rotation is practiced, when hay will only be cut the
third year, plowing under the second crop of clover
for potatoes.

6

This is varied by planting corn the second year,
seeding to grass and clover at the last working of the
corn.

As fine a stand of grass and clover is usually obtained
by seeding in this manner as is obtainable by seeding
with any system of small grains. There is a disadvan-
tage, in that the first year’s hay contains more or less
corn stubble. This is unobjectionable if the hay be
fed on the farm and not intended for market.

Following potatoes with corn permits the use of
manure dressing on land in the potato rotation with
little injury to the potato crop, as the manure will be
so far consumed by the corn and hay crops before
potatoes again come in, that the risk of rot or scab is
slight. The manure will help both corn and the newly
seeded grass and clover. If oats are sown, it won’t
do to apply manure, as its application results in lodged
grain, which kills the clover, while lodged grain fails
to fill.

This rotation should do as well in sections of Penn-
sylvania as in Maine, but in localities where corn is
planted on sod, followed the second year with potatoes,
crimson clover or some other humus supplying crop
must be sown in the corn, if large crops of potatoes
are expected. No system of rotation placing potatoes
second will yield maximum crops.

SELECTION OF SUITABLE SOIL.—The soil must be
well drained. No care in selecting seed and cultiva-
tion or surface drainage after planting will otherwise
avail and a paying crop cannot be produced in soil
filled with stagnant water. Deep sandy or gravelly
loams are best. Not only will the potato, as a rule,
grow better in this soil, but it is more easily worked.

f
1
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7

The successful grower knows that it is then a question
of doing work at the proper time, and that the soil
referred to, can be worked sooner after our short
summer rains, and little working delay need occur
with such soil. .

Clay loam, if not too heavy, will produce as much per
acre as lighter soils and of just as good quality, pro-
vided the soil is welldrained. The disadvantage of the
heavier soils is in working them in wet weather, which

may delay planting in spring and prevent cultivation

to such an extent that weeds may get a start not to
be overcome with any system of cultivation, except
hand work, too costly and slow for our high priced
labor.

Large yields of 500 to 600 bushels per acre and of

_ finest quality have been grown on clay loam. Tillers

of such need not despair of competing with those hav-
ing an easily worked loam.

UNDERDRAINAGE.—The value of underdrainage can-
not be overestimated. The cost of a system of tile
underdrain has been more than repaid by increase in
the first year’s crop. A properly laid system will
last a lifetime. and because of its beneficial effects on
all crops of subsequent years becomes a profitable in-
vestment. This applies especially to places which
are springy or with depressions in them or where water
stands after rain. Such places will not produce a
paying crop, regardless of any care given, until such
surplus water is removed by underdrains.

The increase derived from this, represents only part
of the value to the grower, since where water collects

_and stands after rain, the vigor of the crop is reduced

or the plant killed outright, while blight often starts

8

there, spreads to higher parts of the field and ruin)
results, whereas but for this source of infection it would |
have escaped. Hence, an undrained sag in a potato
field is a menace to the whole, for it is the breeding |
place for blight or rot, and even in a dry season when |
potatoes can grow in such a place they are seldom fit
for market, usually being rough, illshapen and of |
poor quality.

PREPARATION OF SOIL.—To the average grower, tla | (
preparation is of more importance than the kind of
soil, provided it be well drained. We have little work- |
able land which cannot, under intelligent methods, ;
produce a profitable crop. Land too wet needs drain- |
age, land naturally too dry can, by supplying it with |
plenty of humus or vegetable matter, be made to hold |
moisture and produce a paying crop. With this, more (
than with any other crop, success depends on the man ;
rather than on the soil itself.

Potatoes require much moisture; not stagnant water, *
which excludes air, but moisture in a form that permits |
air to circulate freely through the few inches of top :
soil, and the more vegetable matter or humus in the "
soil, the more moisture it can retain and still permit —
free air circulation. No crop so rapidly consumes (
vegetable matter or humus as this, and the more the ‘
soil contains the greater the yield.

The lack of humus in our soils is the greatest draw- |
back to the grower today. Planting corn on sod, |
followed next year with potatoes, deprives the potato |
of the very vegetable matter it needs, while the growers’ |
great problem is, how to supply this vegetable matter |
at minimum cost. In sections where crimson clover |
can be sown at the last working of corn, with a fair

———

9

prospect of good growth, it will prove of benefit, but
} in sections where corn is not much grown, the same
system of culture and rotation as practiced in Maine
ean be followed with slight variations.

On old meadows, covered with heavy sod, will be
found vegetable matter enough to produce a large
crop, when a liberal application of commercial fertili-
zer is added. Such a field should be plowed in the
fall, since by so doing the sod decomposes enough for
capillary tubers to form and allow the subsoil moisture
to come near enough the surface to be available for

the potato roots. This does not occur when spring
plowed, if followed by a dry summer. Land should
not, however, be left without a cover crop during
‘winter, as this results in waste of fertility. Rye, ora
similar crop, should be fall sown, especially in sections
where little snow prevails. The ideal method is, to
harrow plowed sod both ways of the field in early
August, using a weighted cutaway, followed with a

spring tooth harrow. This will cut and pulverize the
| sod. Do this during a period of say four to six weeks,
harrowing once a week. This rids the soil of undesira-
ble vegetation and weeds. When sod has been thus
reduced with harrow, plow and sow with some cover
-erop. Winter vetch and rye produce much vegetable
matter to plow under in the spring, and will supply
enough nitrogen to partly pay for the work. While
the most costly method, it is the most profitable.

Working the sod, as suggested, produces an ideal seed
bed for the cover crop, and spring turning fills the soil
| with vegetable matter and puts it in the best condition
to retain moisture and produce a crop.
HUMUS.—Control of moisture in land planted in
_ potatoes is important and is not secured by drainage

!
|

10

alone, but is dependent upon the humus-content in the |
soil. Twenty-two pounds of water is required to satu-
rate 100 pounds of clean dry sand; 56 pounds of water:
to saturate 100 pounds of perfectly dry, ordinary clay
loam, while it requires 196 pounds of water to saturate.
100 pounds of perfectly dry leaf mold, or nearly nine |
times as much as an equal weight of sand and three ||
and one-half times as much more than is required to.
saturate ordinary clayloam. A soil deficient in humus |
will not produce a paying crop in dry seasons, regard- ||
less of the amount of cultivation or commercial fertili- i
zer expended upon it, while a soil filled with humus can, |)
by cultivation, be made to do so in a season devoid of |
rain. A clay loam soil filled with humus can be worked «
quicker after a heavy rain than like soil deficient in it, |
and the capacity of the humus filled soil to hold mois- ;
ture is so much greater, that with intelligent, shallow \
cultivation a good crop is assured.

Control of moisture is not the only advantage of a (
soil filled with humus. The rock formed soils of the (
eastern United States are filled with mineral plant |
food. Leading scientists claim that the first eight —
inches of our heaviest loams contain enough potash |
for maximum crops for from 200 to 400 years and ||
phosphoric acid enough for from 150 to 300 years, |.
but this mineral plant food is locked up in insoluble (
form; a wise provision which prevents man from /
reducing the face of nature to a barren waste. Fill |
a soil with humus, which is decaying organic matter, '
and the acids formed in this process will help to break |
down and set free some of this insoluble plant food. |
The second eight inches of soil contain as much or |
more mineral plant food as the first.

11

The productiveness of our soils depends more
largely upon their humus-content than upon any other
one thing, and hence the first object of the potato
grower should be to fill his soil with this decaying
vegetable matter. To replenish the organic content
of soil, bear in mind plants which will supply nitrogen,

this being the most costly element of plant food to
buy, and both humus and nitrogen ean be supplied
to soil by the legumes. Of these, alfalfa stands first,
but because of the short rotation followed by potato
growers, it is little used. Those having land enough
to adopt a five year rotation for potatoes and facilities
for keeping live stock to consume the alfalfa will
obtain better returns. Alfalfa makes a large root
growth, penetrating deeply even hard clay subsoil,
drawing fertility from below, increasing the water
‘holding capacity of the soil and at the same time
gathering and storing nitrogen. None of the clovers
have the elevating capacity of alfalfa, and the grower
having a three-year-old alfalfa soil to plow under can
grow a good crop with the smallest amount of commer-
cial fertilizer. Alfalfa can be grown on any well
drained soil, and, thriving best when sown in early
August, can follow early potatoes. Properly seeded
in properly prepared soil, no trouble will be experienced
‘in obtaining a stand of alfalfa which will last three
‘years, produce a large amount of hay and put the soil
_in best condition for potatoes.

- Next to alfalfa, a heavy clover sod to plow under
‘not only furnishes a large amount of vegetable matter,
‘but many dollars’ worth of nitrogen food. Authorities
claim, that the second crop of clover leaves in an acre
from 150 to 200 pounds of nitrogen, which, at present

12

prices, amounts to from $27.00 to $40.00 in nitrogen, |
and the mechanical effect of plowing under this second .
crop of clover sod, while not as great as with alfalfa, ;
will be worth as much as the nitrogen to the potato:
grower. |

In many sections, clover does not grow as well as.
it once did, and because of this, many farmers have |
stopped it in their rotation, resulting in great loss \
in the productivity of their farms. Experience teaches /
that the two main causes for failure of clover to grow are: }

First.—The lack of lime; clover needs much lime, ;
and unless this is present in the soil the bacteria;
existing on clover roots, and which gathers nitrogen |
from the air for plant use, cannot live or do not develop |
to the extent of being of much use to the clover crop. }

Second.—lIf, after using lime, clover fails to grow, we |
may conclude that phosphoric acid is the one thing ;
lacking to obtain the bountiful crops of the past. |

The potato grower cannot succeed without alfalfa or ::
clover. If the field to be planted is devoid of either of ]
these, use winter vetch and rye as a substitute. They \|
can be sown together in autumn, early enough to become |,
established before winter. Sow two pounds of vetch |
to one of rye. Both make early growth in spring and {
produce a large amount to plow under for the crop.
The vetch contains some nitrogen, which becomes }
available for the crop later on. This is not practicable
for very early potatoes, as they are planted long before |
rye and vetch make growth of material value, but |
for later or main crop, where clover or alfalfa cannot \
be had, will prove a great aid in supplying both humus
and nitrogen.

While clover sod is the best to. plow down for potatoes, |
a good timothy sod, properly handled, is not to be:

13

despised. Plow in the fall. Winter rains will pack
ithe soil and cause a more thorough rotting of sod in
time for the plants to feed upon it. This requires
ymuch work in spring with the harrow, previous to
planting, for the soil is seldom worked deep enough
‘for the best results. A better method, and one which
has given fine results, is, instead of plowing the sod
‘in the fall, work it up with the disc harrow to the depth
‘sof five or six inches, then if packed to any extent
‘by winter rains, harrow once or twice in the spring;
“ithen plow and harrow and thus have the whole depth
‘plowed, thoroughly pulverized, and the worked up
‘sod mixed through it, puts it in the best condition for
jthe crop. Timothy sod prepared in this thorough
manner is better than a good clover sod half worked,
and nicer potatoes will be produced than from clover,
‘but not as cheaply, owing to the extra labor involved
‘and the higher nitrogen content required, in the
‘fertilizer used.

CAUSES OF THE RUNNING OUT OF THE POTATO.—
; Within the memory of living man all that was re-
quired to raise an abundant crop was to plant; no
‘matter how, so long as soil covered the seed. Methods
lof culture which produced large crops then, if followed
“to-day, would not pay for the seed. The vigor of the
tuber in those days not only produced an abundant
‘crop, but its true seed, often under the worst methods.
The decline of this vigor, dates from the advent east,
jof the Colorado potato beetle; the injury it did in
istripping the vines of leaves was one of the prime
jeauses of this loss; another and greater was the use
of Paris Green to kill the pest. These two, one destroy-

jing foliage entirely and the other poisoning the plant

Sa

14

by absorbing arsenic, acting continuously on the easte _
crop, did incalculable damage to the vigor of the potai,
So much has this been impaired, that few of t
present generation have ever seen a potato boll, ti
true seed of the plant, the plants no longer possessii'
vitality enough to produce a crop and the seed bb)
also.

The habit of producing seed bolls is more pronoune
in some varieties than others. Some possess gre
vigor, but little in producing tubers of good quail
that grow seed bolls. Yet these are of little use :
the grower. Again, many of the best varieties in pow
of yield and quality will, if given proper culture ay
protection, which will not in itself injure the ving
produce many seed bolls. Within the past ten yea’
seed bolls in more or less abundance have been pick!
from varieties of best quality and largest in yielj
New varieties have been brought forward, many j
great promise and vigor, only to soon run out, chieil
from causes shown, but helped in minor ways. :

Farmers saved and planted only culls; these yield’
good results years ago before the bug and poisi
destroyed old-time vitality, but they rarely give:
paying crop today. ‘This is true of many older vari
ties, which have so far lost their vitality that it
useless to endeavor to bring them back to productivi\
equal to some of the newer varieties. Thousands a,
today planting potatoes so low in vitality that
raise a paying crop under any system of cultivatii
and protection, even in favorable seasons, is impossib.

The remedy in northern states is, to obtain sor
newer strain, make careful selection each year from t
best and most vigorous hills and safeguard these I

———

15

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a system of protection against insects and blight
that will not in itself destroy the vitality of the plants

A general effort is manifest of late to obtain a potat
of large yielding capacity and good quality and bligh
resisting, but with little success, doubtless becaus|
those performing the work failed to realize the dead]
influence arsenical poisons have on plant vitality.

If a blight proof potato is ever found, it will b
developed upon lines eliminating all possibility c
arsenical poisoning or insect injury, because it is impos’
sible to produce it under methods which each yea
saps to greater or less extent original vitality. Ther
is little hope of a seedling from the seed boll of plant
whose vitality has been impaired by arsenical poisoning
or which will develop vigor enough to be blight proo)
unless the plant producing the seed boll has behin’
it years of unimpaired vigor, never obtainable
insect injury or arsenical poisoning has existed. ;

The orchardist of Colorado knows that Paris Gree:
not only poisoned and killed his trees, but poisonei
his land as well. If potatoes today possessed the vige
they had before Paris Green was used, it is believe’
that under present-day methods of culture and fertil: |
zation, the yield would be double the present averag¢

POTATOES FOR SEED.—Seed of strong vitality i
vital to success. The loss from poor seed is ¢
startling proportions. Many have abandoned plant
ing, believing their land unsuited to potato growing’
when successful growers on other soil would also hav’
failed with the same seed. Experiments prove, tha’
the seed used, largely governs the yield. No care ca’
produce good crops where the plants are weak. Failur

is sometimes due to other causes, but the usual caus:
i)

="

17

is poor seed. The true seed comes from the boll, while
the tuber itself is only an enlargement of the under-
_ ground stem, and as such it partakes of the nature
_ of the vine that produces it. If the vine be vigorous,
: _ with ability to resist disease, so will its tuber be, and if
properly stored and planted will produce the same
type of plant next season. “Like begets like,’”’ and if
weak seed is used, weak vines will follow. Favorable
| conditions may produce a crop from such seed, but the
. fact remains that had good seed been planted on the
_same soil, under the same conditions, a larger yield
would have resulted. Good seed is worth all it costs,
_ but poor seed is dear at any price.
__ A practice prevails of planting second-sized potatoes,
regardless of whether they come from vigorous hills
‘or not. This is wrong. Seconds planted, year after
year, only results in the early decline of the variety.
Seconds are all right for seed, if selected from hills
showing vigor of plant and liberal yield of good, large,
_marketable tubers other than the one or more second
, size which the hill contains.
_ The practice of hill seed selections at least every two
or three years, should prevail and every yearshould yield
better results. This involves extra labor, but not as
| much as the average grower surmises, and is worth many
,times the cost. The process is simple, and more uni-
, formity can be had by limiting the selection to the one-
, stalk hills. This can be varied by adopting astandard of,
_say, not less than four good marketable potatoes to each
_ hill of one stalk and not less than seven to each hill of
, two stalks, and ten to the three-stalk hill, each grown
, from a single seed piece. When the field for selection is
_from one-half to two-thirds ripened off, the grower,

18

armed with a bundle of sticks, goes systematically ove
it and marks with a stick every hill found showing mo
vigor than the rest, until hills enough are marked t
supply seed for next season. Later, when the field :
ready to harvest, it should be gone over and the marke
hills dug with a potato fork. Although vigor bis!
apparent at the time of marking, the marker wasignorap.
then as to whether or not those hills contained th
requisite tubers. Not every vigorous hill has tuber
desirable for seed, either in number of tubers per hil.
size or quality.

Marked hills that produce less tubers per stalk thai
the standard requires; any that vary in type from th
original, or for other reasons, such as roughness ¢|
prongs, should be discarded. Selecting by this metho.
we obtain the following results:

First. Vigor, which is of prime importance, and |
seed crop which withstood insects and blight withou)
injury. Again we have discarded the weak stoce))
which fungus disease attacks and which spreads an:
frequently destroys a whole planting. An entire cro}
has been lost at times by a few weak hills in a fiel:
affording breeding places for fungus disease.

Second. Seed obtained from hills that have pra,
duced the requisite number of marketable tubes
thus safeguarding maximum crop results.

Third. Eliminating any tendency to sprout, al
evil rampant in some of the best varieties, keepin;
the variety true to name, and stopping losses from
mixed seed, the bane of every grower.

The seed grower making selection in this manne;
for his own plantings obtains a crop certain to givi,
satisfaction to the purchaser intending to plant, anc

19

‘hence the value of the product is increased. Expe-
rience proves that a single selection made in the manner
suggested increased the yield the following year over
100 bushels per acre. This method, intelligently
pursued, should obviate the necessity of purchasing
‘other seed, and the yield per acre could soon be
‘doubled without additional expense to the grower
for seed.
In sections where it is not deemed necessary to ob-
‘tain new seed each year, and where a new variety, or a
new stock of an old variety from which to grow seed is
‘desired, if unable to obtain seed grown from selected
hills, then buy larger-sized potatoes of the variety want-
ed, smooth and free from disease. Accept nothing
‘under a pound each of the medium late or main crop
| varieties. This weight is proof that the seed obtained
‘has vigor, for no weak, sickly stalk ever produced a
‘tuber weighing a pound. Planting these, hill selection
| can be made from hills producing the most tubers per
hill in weight and number, and the purchaser thus
‘obtains new seed possessing both vigor and produc-
‘tiveness at a minimum cost. In selecting seed stock
upon this plan the size of tubers must be governed
‘somewhat by the variety; for instance, with the ‘Green
‘Mountain”’ or “ Norcross,’”’ a tuber weighing a pound
is not an overgrown one, for under favorable conditions
‘this variety produces nice smooth tubers weighing two
‘or two and one-half pounds, and the pound specimen
‘may be only one of a half dozen grown on a single
vigorous stalk, while a variety like the ‘‘ Irish Cobbler,”’
‘weighing from one-half to three-fourths of a pound,
‘would indicate vigor, and is safe to plant and make hill
‘selection from.

|

20

ec “4A91QGOD ys], pue «. JoyewAQuo|] ”

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21

VARIETIES.—It is vital that the grower obtain the
variety suited to his locality. It is a common occur-
rence to see two varieties in the ‘same field, both plant-
ed on the same day and receiving the same treatment,
one yielding twice the marketable tubers produced
by the other, and both being so similar in general
appearance that an ordinary grower is unable to de-
tect the difference, although one may mean financial
success and the other loss. In sections where potatoes
can be raised year after year without changing seed,
‘ the grower has a chance to test out new varieties and
-seldom suffers heavy loss. Where new seed must be
bought each year by the large grower and the variety
‘secured proves inferior for that section, the loss is
heavy. Again, the grower to obtain the best re-
‘turns from his crop, must conform to shape and
color demanded by his market. As a rule, the large
-markets demand a round white potato with a shallow
eye, and there are many such of fine quality. Some
of the most palatable, largest yielding and blight re-
sisting varieties known, will not sell well in the city
_markets, simply because the public select by color;
but for the grower, who sells his crop to home customers,
they possess value, since his crop, of any color and per-
haps shape, probably controls the market, adds in-
dividuality and aids him to build up and retain a
fine local trade.

ORIGINATING NEW VARIETIES.—Most new varieties
are obtained by planting seed from the potato boll,
formed from the plant’s blossom. These bolls contain
many seeds, each of which produces a different variety.
The prospect of obtaining a new variety of value is
greater, if care be exercised in growing the boll from

|
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:
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22 /

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which the seed is taken. Some varieties, which grow

coarse, ill-shapen tubers of poor quality, seem to exert
their vitality in producing seed bolls. Varieties of }
this pedigree invariably develop the general character- *
istics of the parent stalk. Very few ever prove of value ©
to the general grower.

To originate new varieties one of the best standard |
varieties should be selected and a proper system of; i
culture and protection from insects and blight followed, (i
to build up its vitality to the point where the plant
produces bolls. This is easily done. Obtain seed:
bolls from a field containing only one variety of |
large yielding capacity, combined with very high |)
quality and allow no other variety to be planted ;
near them. Seed from such a source produces an:
increased per cent. of valuable varieties. Originating ¢
new varieties is of vital importance to the industry, and /
he who develops new seedlings superior to the older }
standard sorts, is worthy of praise and financial return. |
The new seedling may promise to be a great acquisition ‘
and prove good until three or four years old and then ;
prove worthless in a single year. If the originator i
markets these as seed to repay him for his labor, the d
purchaser blames him, and his reputation suffers. Ifa /
new seedling proves good for seven or eight years, |
increasing in productivity and quality each year, |
the orginator may feel confident that he possesses :
something of merit and value. The proper way to»
test the new seedling is in general field culture, side by
side, with the best superior variety to be had. The '
seedling tested should be at least two years old, but |
four or five years old is a truer measure of value. If |
yields prove larger than the superior variety, and quality |

23

and other characteristics be equal or superior, and
this result is obtained for two or more years, it is
reasonably safe to push its sale. The grower, however,
is warned not to invest largely in any new seedling
until tested on his own farm in a small way; a variety
that will do well in one section may fail in another.
Every large grower, however, should test the new
productions. There will be so many to discard, that
no large sum should be invested in any one until tried
and proven valuable.

Growing seedlings is interesting, and in the absence
_of a greenhouse to start them in, they can be started in
a box in a warm sunny window. The box should be
nearly filled with leaf mold soil, if possible to obtain
it, but old rotted barnyard dressing two or three years
old, will answer. Use none but the fine portion, how-
-ever. Plant the last of March and cover very lightly
. with this soil and do not allow it to become dry. Allow

the plants to remain in the box until three or four
inches high when, if the weather and ground be warm,
replant in a rich garden spot. They transplant as
|easily as a tomato. Set eighteen inches to two feet
-apart in a row and give good care the first season.
Insects of many kinds devour these young plants un-
less protected. Allowed to grow the full season, the
-plants will produce some good-sized tubers the first year.
| These first year’s seedlings sometimes weigh nearly a
| pound, but this is unusual, and most of them will only
‘reach the size of walnuts. Each hill should be dug
:and kept separate. Probably three-fourths will be
| discarded at the time. Next season all selected for
| further trial should be planted, as before, in a garden
\spot where better attention and protection against

|

7 f

insects can be given, than is usually possible in the
field. ‘The second year more will be discarded, and of
those preserved there should not be more than a;
peck of each. This is enough to test beside some:
superior variety in the field. If the seed came from)
the boll of a large yielding, fine quality variety, there‘
should be one in every hundred plants worth saving.:
If, however, the seed is from a variety, the chief merit |
of which is that it will produce potato bolls in abun-|
dance, one in thousands worth saving is all the por |
can anticipate, and he should be satisfied.

WHOLE POTATOES FOR SEED.—Planting small to:
medium-sized potatoes whole has occurred to every}
grower. ‘The question is one that should be thoroughly ;
understood, and the source from which the seed came :
be known in every case before planting. |

Failure to do this will probably result in loss in crop :
yield; the size, condition and time when planted in- :
fluences results. In testing the value of small-sized :
whole potatoes for seed, under certain conditions, there |
is no seed we can plant which will produce in yield !
and desirability the results obtainable from medium- -
sized potatoes planted whole. Small tubers planted ;
whole should come from good, vigorous hills. This is :
important. They can be selected from the bin, |
provided they were grown from selected seed, where 1
the whole field was vigorous and thrifty. If the field :
contained many spindling stalks or weak hills, the small |
potatoes grown there should never be planted. A!
good, vigorous hill seldom produces more than one or |
two tubers small enough to plant whole, and often |
there will not be one in several hills small enough for |
this purpose. The weak spindling stalks, without |

25

vigor enough to produce large tubers, will invariably
produce those of the size needed for planting whole.
Hence, unless care is exercised, tubers largely from the
weakest hills in the previous crop will be planted; and
since ‘‘like begets like’’ the crop suffers.

The best size to use are those as large as a medium-
sized hen’s egg. Plant in rows three feet apart and
set fourteen inches apart in the row. This size will
require about twenty bushels per acre. If this size
is planted in dormant condition, or before sprouts
have started, there will usually be from one to three
sprouts start from the seed end These start so much
quicker and stronger than those from eyes nearer the
stem end that they will exhaust the plant food con-
tained in the tuber and no sprouts start from the other
eyes. If tubers too large are used, the quick starting
sprouts on the seed end will not exhaust all the plant
food they contain, and many weak sprouts will start
from the other eyes. These produce nothing of value
and are worthless.

It is not desirable to plant too small a size even
though coming from good vigorous hills, neither is it
best to plant any whole potatoes after the eyes have
started, as there will be too many stalks in a hill.
This rule can be ignored in early potatoes where the
side sprouts are broken off by hand, leaving only one
or two of the best on the seed end.

The advantage of planting whole seed when they
leome from thrifty, vigorous hills is that they are
certain to produce a perfect stand of plants regardless
)of the weather after planting. The vines grow faster
and the crop matures one to two weeks ahead of cut
seed planted at the same time and under the same con-
ditions. The crop will be smoother and rounder than

26

usually obtained from cut seed. Why this is so, is not |
apparent. In planting whole seed, more fertilizer,

if desired, can be used without injury to the seed, .
because there is no cut surface to come in contact |
with. There is also less injury to whole seed from wire :
worms, if present in the soil, than to cut seed. |

SPROUTING OR BUDDING SEED POTATOES.—Time can |
be gained by budding or sprouting seed to be planted |
for early market, but this method is limited to small |
growers who have time for the work; to owners of small |
gardens, desiring early potatoes for their table, any- -
thing hastening early maturity is of value. While:
potatoes can be sprouted for later planting with the »
planter, the sprouts must not attain growth enough to )
be broken off in the machine, which will occur if the
buds attain much growth, resulting in loss of vitality,
as part of the plant food stored in the seed piece has
been exhausted. The second sprouting being weaker °
than the first cannot, other things being equal, pro- -
duce as many tubers as the first sprouting.

In starting sprouts for early hand planting, light
and air, with reasonable warmth, are essential. The
stronger the light, the shorter and greener the sprouts. .
For very early planting, start the sprouts in semi- -
darkness, so they will be a dark pink color, thick :
and stalky. These will push through the soil quicker °
than the short, dark green sprouts started in bright :.
sunlight. Potatoes so sprouted should be planted
before too far advanced, otherwise it will be impossible »
to cut and plant without breaking off the sprouts. .
A limited quantity for very early planting in the kitchen |
garden can be put in boxes, not over five or six inches |
deep, placed in the light, where heat is moderate, and |

!
|

27

sprouted. Where a larger area is involved an available
barn floor will do, provided light and warmth enough
can be obtained, or they can be spread out of doors
in a dry, warm, sunny place. In the latter case care
must be taken to fully protect them from cold nights,
as long as danger of freezing exists. Very early pota-
toes, being usually planted before late frosts cease,
must be sprouted one to two weeks before planting;
danger of sprouting out of doors so early is obvious.

If the sprouts are but slightly started, exposure to
the light and heat of the sun softens and turns the
tuber green, so, that in cutting, the action of the knife
will be noiseless, and such tubers will come up quicker,
even though the sprouts at planting show little growth.
Perfectly kept potatoes are usually too hard to cut
and plant at once. Cutting with an ordinary knife,
with a comparatively thin blade back, cracks and breaks
the tissues and injures the seed. If necessary to use

_ seed in this condition, it is imperative that a very
thin-bladed knife be used in cutting, to avoid injury

to the tissues, although more difficult for the operator.

SELECTING AND CUTTING SEED.—Having selected a
variety that thrives in his locality, the grower must
select seed free of scab. Good, smooth tubers, of aver-
age size, will cut more uniformly, and this saves
trouble if for use in the planter. It is more important,
in using a planter that seed be cut to uniform size.
than that there be a given number of eyes to each

/ piece. Hand-cutting, by one who knows how, is pre-

ferred to any cutting machine, which invariably
mangles the seed and causes an uneven stand. For
hand-cutting, the knife must be very thin, just as thin
as it can be and stand the work. This enables the user

28

to cut more in a day, as he feels little resistance from |
the knife passing through the tuber, and the pieces
will not be mangled. |

In cutting potatoes large enough for over four
pieces, it is better to first cut the tuber in half, and, if ©
very large, into quarters. In cutting either into halves |
or quarters, cut above the eyes. The eyes of a potato |
have roots always running toward the stem end. These |
convey the plant food, the tuber contains, to the }
sprouts. If these roots are cut off close to the eye, ,
while there may be a large piece above the eye or *
towards the seed end, the sprouts will not derive :
the food the piece contains, as it has no eye roots ;
running towards that end of the tuber, hence it will |
not make as strong or thrifty a plant, or yield the :
tubers, it otherwise would. If the potato to be cut ;
is a medium-sized one, or what is termed a good second, |
the stem end is cut off, cutting above at least one :
good eye and taking about one-third of the tuber. .
This usually allows from one to three or more good |
eyes on this stem end third of the tuber, even in ai
variety possessing but few eyes. The long cut is made }
by cutting from the upper or seed end down towards
the stem end. This makes three pieces of a tuber
of this size, and there will always be enough eyes on
each and very evenly divided between the three
pieces. It also has the advantage of having them
of uniform size, which insures much better work with
any planter. It being no more work to cut above the
eye, and since the potatoes will then come up more |
vigorously, it is well to observe it. Plant in rows three
feet apart and drop fourteen inches apart in the rows.

Cut seed must never remain in bags or piles. All

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29

danger of heating must be avoided. Seed that is
heated, even a very little, is unfit to plant, and if it
comes up at all it is weak and spindling and. beyond
all possibility of growing a paying crop. The proper

‘way to treat cut seed is, to sprinkle it liberally with

land plaster (gypsum), as fast as cut. Be sure to
cover all the cut surface with plaster. This keeps
the seed cool and prevents drying out, and if spread
out not over six inches deep until needed to plant will
not hurt, even if cut a week or ten days before planting,

' provided it is kept in acool, shady place. If fertilizer

is used in planting, the land plaster also prevents

it from coming in contact with the cut surface of the

seed, which it might otherwise do, causing partial
decay before the sprout starts, and frequently the total

. loss of the seed. This is more apt to take place when

seed is planted as fast as cut, and experience proves
that the best results come from seed cut twenty-four
to forty-eight hours before planting and liberally
sprinkled with land plaster when cut. It will pay to
observe this rule.

The size of cut pieces has much to do with the vigor
of the sprout, and a liberal piece should be allowed,
especially if the weather is cold and wet at planting
time. With rows three feet apart and pieces dropped
fourteen inches in the row, twelve bushels of seed
per acre is none too much, but if the weather is warmer ~

_ and the soil warm and moist the seed can be cut finer,

say to ten bushels per acre, and a good, vigorous stand
result. Many growers clip the tip off the seed end
of the tuber. There is nothing gained by this; in
fact, it is often a distinct loss. The one or two eyes
directly on the seed end of the tuber are the earliest

30

and most vigorous, and clipping these off, often deprives |
the grower of the strongest and best seed eyes. This |
may not be true of some varieties, but certainly is of |
the majority. The general belief of those who practice |
this is, that there will be so many stalks from the cluster
of eyes at the seed end that there will be too many
potatoes set to grow to good market size. This is |
not true of potatoes planted in a dormant condition, |
as one or two, usually one eye on the seed or tip end, ||
will start so much quicker and stronger that all the »
plant food in the potato, if small or moderate-sized |
pieces, will be absorbed and the other eyes fail to grow. .
PLANTING EARLY POTATOES IN A SMALL WAY.— -
Those who grow a few very early varieties for their °
table, and desire very early results, can expend mere
time, etc., than large growers. A few days gained,
more than pays for the extra outlay to obtain results.
A warm, sunny Southern, or better still Southeastern
slope, on land little subject to late frosts, will, of §
course, be the best. It must be well fitted by deep :
plowing as soon as the frost is out and work can be }|
done. Frequent working with the harrow, both to )
fine and lighten the soil as well as to warm it, will, ,
if it can be done without too much cost, help gain a 1
few extra days and thus prove profitable. Harrow '
just after the heat of the day, turning under top or:
warm soil and turning up colder soil beneath and |
repeated in a few days, if weather is warm, will increase ©
warmth in a soil. A few extra degrees of heat gained |
then, means much to the early grower. When the soil,
is well fitted, furrows must be opened deeply, and |
for early varieties, a distance of from 26 to 34 inches |
between furrows is room enough. For extra early, |

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32

nothing will force a quick growth better than fine hen
manure, it being rich in nitrogen. If the seed when
cut is well sprinkled with land plaster and when
planting sulphur is spread along the rows, little scab
damage will result from the use of hen dressing when
the crop is harvested early. Later on, when the pota
toes have well started, some fertilizer containing an
abundance of phosphoric acid and potash, to force
tuber formation and growth, should be used. When
hen manure is used it must be drilled along the furrow
and mixed into the soil, so seed pieces when dropped
will not come in direct contact with it. The same
rule applies to commercial fertilizer. If necessary to
use stable manure it will not harm seed to drop it
upon the dressing. This is objectionable because o
the labor in drilling the manure and the danger of
scab. Rot seldom attacks very early potatoes.

The seed pieces should be dropped, say 15 inches
apart in the row. It is a needless waste of time and
labor to place seed with the sprouts up. Careful
tests prove that if there is any difference in time of
coming up, it favors pieces dropped with sprouts
down. The first covering of this seed, while it depends
somewhat on the nature of the soil, should be light,
not over 14 inches in the heavier and 24 inches in the
lighter soils; the rows must be deep enough so that,
after covering the seed, a depression remains of two
or three inches. If the seed has been well sprouted
and carefully planted it will begin to break ground
in from one to two weeks, according to weather.
The depression in the rows must be gradually filled
in as the plants grow. The weeder can be used if
run lightly, but care must be taken not to break off

33

any sprouts from these early potatoes, as the time
taken from the weakened seed pieces to force another
sprout will make it so late, that, that hill will be worth-
less when the others are ready to dig, and might just
as well have been destroyed.

If frost threatens, after the plants break ground,
they should be buried with soil; this can be done
quickly with the horse hoe, and if a depression exists
along the row they can be buried quite deeply without
making too much of a ridge, and when danger of frost
is over the weeder can again be used to level the
ground, thus killing all weeds started. This puts the
field in condition to bury again if more frost threatens.
Prior to this, however, fertilizer should be scattered
along the rows, and covered about three inches by
the second burying. This will not injure the plants,
and one or two new sets of roots will start out around
the stalk above this second application. If this ferti-
lizer contains quite a per cent. of nitrogen, in the form
of nitrate of soda, it will give the plant a very quick
start, because at this period they have a well-developed
root system. Nitrogen will not be much needed when
hen manure has been used in planting, but a fertilizer
containing a high per cent. of phosphoric acid and

_ potash applied in the same manner would be highly
_ beneficial. The point about early potatoes is, to get

them up as soon as possible, so they can develop

root growth, and still keep the tops small enough

so they can be covered with soil at any time, if this

protection from late frosts is required. With a well-

. developed root system and: second application of fer-
_ tilizer applied at just the right time, a crop can be

produced that will catch the high prices of the early

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34 |

market. Obviously this method cannot be used in,
large fields, where necessary to use the planter, but) t
in a small way it has advantages. Well sprouted:
seed planted, and covered lightly at first opportunity, |
insures a perfect stand of plants. This will many times:
compensate for the cost of the extra labor involved. |

Another method for the kitchen garden grower is,
to take medium potatoes of about the size of a large:
hen’s egg and sprout them as before described. Ati
planting, break off all sprouts, leaving one or two of.
the best and strongest at the seed end. There will
not then be one chance in a hundred of the seed rotting |
in the ground, no matter how cold or wet the weather
may turn. Of all eyes on a potato, those on the seed
end are earliest and strongest, and by removing alli
but one or two of these, the very earliest and most)
vigorous eyes remain. These having such a start, wil!
absorb so much of the plant food the tuber contains)
that enough seldom remains to start any more stalks:
Whole potatoes of the size described, planted wholo
in dormant condition, or before eyes have started’
seldom produce an average of more than four stalk)
to each tuber. This is too many for best results wit)
very early varieties, as the crop yield would be tov
numerous and too small in size. By breaking of
all but two or three, or all but one, if large-sized tuber:
are wanted very early, there would be but one stron’
vigorous stalk to a hill, which will produce the desire:
result.
If the grower will take two bushels of medium tuber:
about hen’s egg size and in dormant conditior’
cutting one bushel in halves, thirds or quarters, a’
best suits him, and plant the other bushel whole, sid

————

ast

35

by side with the cut ones, at the same time and under
same treatment, he will find those planted whole will
mature from a week to ten days ahead of those cut.
Cutting the tubers seems to delay maturing the crop.
A tuber the size of a hen’s egg sprouted, as it must be to

_ geta very early start and planted whole, will, if all the

eyes have gotten well started, produce a stalk from each

. eye or too many in a place, and to obtain earliest results
_ from both sprouting and planting whole seed, we must

break off all but one or two of the strongest sprouts, in

/ planting medium-sized potatoes whole. This requires

too much labor except for small growers.
PLANTING EARLY POTATOES IN A LARGE WAY.—
Where the acreage is sufficient to require the use of the

. planter, the sprouts must not be allowed to advance as

much as with tubers intended for hand-planting. But

. if an early crop is desired, much time can be gained by
_ starting the sprouts in a warm, light place. The long,
_ white sprouts which start in the cellar are useless and

_ only sap the vitality of the tuber, causing the next

set of sprouts to be weaker, and neither will produce
the crop of tubers a first sprout properly started would.

_ Seed must be kept in a cold, dark place, where the
_ temperature is about thirty-five degrees, to obtain best

results. A few weeks previous to planting remove them

toa warm, light place, and spread where the sprouts will

start. The sun should not shine directly upon potatoes
about to be sprouted, for the very early crop to be

| planted in a small way by hand, as described under that

head, but it is all right for those to be machine-planted.
The sun will green and toughen the sprouts, and at the
same time soften the tubers. Potatoes exposed to
direct sunlight will sprout more slowly and will be

\
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stouter and less liable to break off. In other ronda it
direct sunlight puts the potato in better condition to _
sprout quickly when planted in suitable soil, while i
also starting them least before planting. Since seed ; |
which is to be run through a planter must not have the ;
sprouts more than well started, because of the danger of |
them breaking off, this is a decided advantage.

Potatoes warmed and softened by the sun, with the :
sprouts just well showing in the eyes, will go forward — i
and be from one to two weeks ahead of the same seed
taken direct from storage, and, when cutting, also: i
affords a chance to discard all tubers with impotent
eyes and all in which sprouts fail to appear. This: i
insures a much better stand of plants.

The ground should be well fitted to permit cies
planter to do its best work. The depth to plant early)
potatoes with the machine must, to a certain extent,’
be governed by local conditions. In sections where\
there is little danger of moisture becoming short early)
in the season, shallow planting can be done. The
deeper they are covered, the longer the delay in coma
up, and in many cases the weaker they will be. Y
the crop is desired as early as possible, they must an a
be covered over two inches below the surface, after the —
ridges which the machine left in planting are leveled
off. This leveling should be done at once after plant-i
ing. To insure all seed being covered an average of)
two inches deep after the surface has been leveled, the
machine must be set so that there will be at least five
inches of soil over the surface as the planter leaves the
rows before leveling. The extra three inches of soil
should be leveled off at once, as it prevents both air,
light and warmth from penetrating to the seed, and

PLANTING THE CROP

38

delays growth and retards maturity many days
The top soil is the warmer in very early spring, but wi

must remember the fact, that as the season advances
the deeper soil contains more moisture and is in better
condition for growth of tubers than soil nearer the
surface. Even early tubers must be rooted as deeply
as possible,and when planted only two inches below
the surface we have made as great a sacrifice for warmth
and an early start as circumstances permit.

In planting early varieties do not use over 700 or
800 pounds of high-grade fertilizer per acre in the
drill at planting time. Early varieties, as a rule, are
not as vigorous as the later or main crop, and the
amount of fertilizer that many times will not cause
appreciable damage to the later kinds may do much
injury to seed of an early variety. Rows of early
varieties, with its smaller growth of vine, can be several
inches closer together, most growers planting from
twenty-six to thirty inches. In planting early pota- |
toes, it is better to have fertilizer of two different
formulas, one to have its nitrogen in a slower form
than nitrate of soda, as it is usually several weeks
before the plants have root growth enough to use it.
Nitrate of soda is available over night when placed
in a damp soil, and, in case of heavy rain previous to
the potatoes breaking ground, be largely lost to the
crop. When plants are well up so the rows can be
plainly seen, the balance of the fertilizer should be
applied. Experience proves that best results are
obtained by applying this along the rows and by hill-
ing the plants, covering them some three or more
inches. This second application can have its nitrogen
content largely in the form of nitrate of soda. The

39

plants will now have a large root system, and can use
it, and it will cause them to make a very quick growth
at this time. This is desirable, as the quicker the
ground is covered with vines, the less moisture is lost
by evaporation, and the more rapid the growth at
this time the less real injury occurs by insects, notably
that scourge to early potatoes, the flea beetle. The
quicker vine growth can be obtained on early potatoes,
the better, and there is no way in which to so rapidly
push it, as by an application of fertilizer along the rows,
containing its nitrogen in the form of nitrate of soda,
after the plants have broken the ground and have
formed a well developed root system.

PLANTING THE LATE OR MAIN CROP.—In this but
little difference in the method is required from the
machine-planted early crop. Seed should never be
allowed to sprout in storage, as the sprouts are useless
and result in great loss of vitality. When seed stock
is found starting in storage, before it can be used, remove
and spread it in the sunlight, but not over one deep.
Potatoes that have begun to sprout will keep longer and
in better condition to plant, when spread in direct sun-
light than in any otherway. Ifkeptin cold storage,
at a temperature too low to sprout, they require much
more time to break ground than if warmed up a short
time before planting. The ideal way to treat any in-
tended for seed is to keep them at a temperature
that prevents sprouting, and a short time before needed
for planting, place them in the light and sun. Those
for late or main crop, spread out thinly and expose to
the sun’s direct rays, just long enough to start the buds
well. They can be spread out of doors on the grass,
but it is more prudent to keep them in a building with

40

windows enough to admit plenty of sunlight; there

then no danger of injury by late frost. In cutting such |
potatoes, all weak-eyed ones can readily be detected —

and discarded. This would be impossible if cut as

removed from storage. Seed handled in, this way

preserves its vitality for the sprouts which make the —

crop.

This one point in handling seed may make the differ-
ence between good profit and great loss. The method
of cutting seed is described under that head. The
planting of the late or main crop should be deeper
than for the early. The general early crop is planted
more shallow than the late because the ground is cold,
and rot is likely to cause loss of seed if it is delayed
in coming up by being planted as deeply as the later

|

varieties. With the late or main crop, it is different, |

as planting is later and the soil warmed up, and being
well prepared the machine must be set to drop the seed
three inches deep, even in the heavier clay loams, and

four inches is better in most soils adapted to potato
growing. Use one-half the amount intended to be ©

drilled at time of planting, or up to one-half ton of |

high grade fertilizer per acre. It is not advisable
to use more than this, even on the vigorous late varie-

ties, unless medium-sized whole potatoes are planted. .
In which event, as much as one ton of high-grade |

fertilizer per acre can be used with little harm to the
seed, especially if the seed has been well started by
exposure to light and sun.

Main crop varieties, which are usually of much

larger vine growth, must be planted in rows wider apart —

than early kinds. The practice in Maine is from thirty-

two to thirty-six inches and about fourteen inches

41

apart in the row. Some of the best late variety grow-
ers are forced to plant twelve inches in the row, to keep
the size down to marketable demands. This may not
prove necessary in many sections, where dry weather
cuts the size down more than along the Maine coast.

STABLE MANURE.—This should rarely be used when
planting potatoes, because of a tendency to cause scab
and rot, and is only resorted to when land lacks humus
or vegetable matter. The potato demands humus
in the soil for best results, and only when it can be sup-
plied in no other way is it wise to resort to manure just
before planting.

The time to apply it to land for potatoes is just
after the potato crop is removed, when, succeeding
other crops, following in rotation, will leave the soil
in such condition that when the same ground is used
again for potatoes, little tendency to either scab or
rot will remain. When applied to newly-seeded clover,
after potatoes, it will aid in producing a perfect and
vigorous stand of clover, thus insuring a good sod to
plow under and furnishing vegetable matter for the next
crop of tubers. A good crop of tubers free from scab
and rot has been grown with an application of manure,
but this is exceptional, and the safest way is to use
this material in growing other farm crops.

COMMERCIAL FERTILIZER.—Probably no crop grown,
where plant food in commercial fertilizer form must
be bought, now yields so great an average profit as the
potato, hence plant food in this form is much resorted to.
Commercial fertilizer will not, however, supply the bac-
teria absolutely essential to soil productiveness, nor does
itsupply vegetable matter, also necessary for the bacteria
in the soil to live and thrive on. Belief exists that liberal

42

use of strong potash salts, treated South Carolina Rock,
and nitrate of soda, tend to kill the bacteria by direct
contact with them in the soil. If repeated every year,
without manure to create new bacteria, a few years
only elapse until the soil, deprived of bacteria, refuses
to produce any paying crop, regardless of the plant
food it contains. It has lost bacteria; its mechanical
condition and its water holding capacity; become
heavy, inclined to bake after rains, and instead of a
moist, lively look, appears dry and dead.

Those who cannot keep live stock can grow potatoes
by using commercial fertilizer continuously and main-
tain the productivity of the soil, but if humus or
vegetable matter is wanting maximum crops are remote.
If, however, humus and bacteria are maintained, each
year should reveal more and better crops.

All soils have plant food locked up in them, in vary-
ing degree, regardless of how exhausted they seem,
and productivity is restored by the action of acids
formed by decomposing vegetable matter, breaking
down and making this available. Bacteria aids in
decomposing vegetable matter forming these acids,
which liberate this mineral food.

The potato grower’s object in using commercia
fertilizer wholly, is to get and maintain sufficient
vegetable matter in his soil to obtain results from
its application. The amount used per acre should not
be governed by the amount the crop is assumed to
remove. Hence, the most successful growers apply
much more phosphoric acid and potash than any crop
of tubers can consume. There are sections where little
' potash seems required, while phosphoric acid is needed
in quantity, although the crop itself needs little of

|
|
i

|
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43

the latter. This fact renders impossible any set for-
mula for general use in making or selecting a suitable
fertilizer for all soils or locations. This must be deter-
mined with due consideration as to what the crops,
which follow, will need.

A 4-6-10 formula is more used in Maine than any
other. This is stated, not as a guide for other growers
but because in no section are exhausted, abandoned
farms being brought to productivity so rapidly as
there. This formula not only gives Maine the largest
potato yield per acre produced in any State, but is
adapted to its general] rotation. That phosphoric acid
and potash can be varied to suit different sections,
and yield even better results than many growers now
obtain, seems probable. Asa general formula 4—6-10
will doubtless suit as many different soils as any, where
crop rotation, potatoes included, is practiced and soil
productivity is to be increased.

The amount of plant food removed from the soil by a
erop of 300 bushels of potatoes is about 58 pounds of
nitrogen, 27 pounds of phosphoric acid and 80 pounds
of potash. As heat and cold, dry or wet weather
affects the availability of the plant food in a fertilizer,
we must apply much more potash and phosphoric acid
than the crop consumes, to render available what the
crop needs, at the time it needs it, to obtain the maxi-
mum yield. In sections where potato growing with
commercial fertilizer is practiced the best farmers
use a ton per acre of fertilizer of the 4—6-10 analysis.
This means 200 pounds of potash, 120 pounds of phos-
phoric acid and 66 pounds of actual nitrogen. Aftera
crop of 300 bushels per acre, there remains in the soil
120 pounds of potash, 93 pounds of phosphoric acid

44 |

and 8 pounds of nitrogen. Nitrogen is the most elusive |
element in fertilizer, and it is not economical to apply —
much more of it in any one season than the crop grown
that season consumes. The margin between what |
a crop of this size consumes in nitrogen and the amount |
applied in a ton of this fertilizer is so narrow that if |
the crop depended altogether for nitrogen on what was |
applied in this way its growth would suffer. This :
is most obvious in dry seasons. If potatoes are planted |
as they should be, on land containing more or less :
organic matter, nitrification is in process and supplying ;
enough available nitrogen for all the crop requires to }
do its best.

The office of nitrogen is to promote vine growth of :
the plants, and an abundance of this element causes ;
a heavy dark green growth, and a fertilizer not well |
balanced with phosphoric acid and potash might, and
invariably does, produce much vine growth with few }
and small tubers. If any element is lacking, toward the :
last of the season, it should be nitrogen, whereas :
plenty of available nitrogen applied early in the season }
promotes vine growth to cover the ground, prevents
evaporation of moisture, checks weed growth, and a,
good crop usually results. Potash and phosphoric acid |
promote formation and develop tubers later in the »
season, which grow until the vines die.

After much discussion as to the relative merits of |
muriate or sulphate of potash for this crop, many,
growers accept the belief that the sulphate produces a»
better quality of tuber. Manufacturers charge more:
for goods with the potash-content wholly in the form >
of sulphate. Fertilizer composed of quick-acting forms:
of nitrogen usually yields best results. The method >

45

and time of applying fertilizer is important, and is
more fully dealt with under “ Planting and Cultivating
the Crop.”’

CULTIVATING THE CROP.—There should be at least
two deep cultivations. A two-horse double cultivator
will do deeper and better work and more of it at the
same time and get nearer the rows without disturbing
the seed than a single horse cultivator; however, good
work can be done with the latter. The cultivator
should be started as soon as the field is planted, running
it as deep and as near the rows as is safe to do without
disturbing the seed. The planter wheels having packed
the soil between rows, cultivation loosens it, allowing
heat and air to penetrate. When this is finished the
weeder, brush harrow or plank drag should be used to
level remaining ridges, because if extra soil remains
over the rows it prevents air and heat from reaching
the seed, is valueless, and retards sprout growth, and,
if rains follow, may injure them and cause weak,
spindling growth. Allow no more soil over the seed
than necessary, until the plants are well out of the
ground, seed being three to four inches deep after
ground is leveled. Go over the field every few days
with the weeder, until sprouts approach the surface,
then discontinue until vines are so well established
that the weeder breaks off few, if any. A fixed rule
is never to run cultivator, weeder or other implement
so as to break or cut off any portion of the root system,
or break off a sprout where a plant is wanted. If the
seed piece substitutes a sprout fora broken one, it is
weaker and later in maturing, and with early potatoes —
is a loss. | |

When sprouts are well up and rows plainly visible,
give a second deep cultivation, running the cultivator

46

well up near the rows, being careful not to cut off
any portion of the root system. This will kill weeds
between the rows, but many remain along the rows
not accessible to the cultivator. Plants are now ready
for the second application of fertilizer. If the nitrogen
be now in the form of nitrate of soda, plants having
root systems are in condition to absorb it, and very
rapid growth will be forced. In this second applica-
tion use the planter, removing both plows but retain-

ing the fertilizer attachment and disc coverers. Drive ©

right over the rows, drilling the fertilizer while the dise

coverers bury fertilizer, weeds and potatoes. If

plants are stalky and strong they will push through
this loose soil with which buried, and the process will
kill all small weeds. Set the disc coverers wide enough
apart to make a broad, low hill or ridge, throwing

some three inches of soil around and over the plants —

and fertilizer drilled along the row. The vines will
at once put forth one or two new sets of roots above
this, and in about two days the fertilized earth will
be filled with new, white feeding roots.

This burying process is a Maine practice. While |

not advocating extreme ridge or hill methods, large
crops of good tubers are rarely obtained unless moder-
ately hilled. The latter is advocated because pre-
venting root pruning. Two applications of fertilizer

are best, since it is a waste of nitrogen to apply a portion |
broadcast before planting, if any of it is in the form of |
nitrate of soda. No method economizes time and —

labor as this does. Both the fertilizer and burying
is done in once driving over the field, costing less
than one and one-half hours’ time per acre for both.
Burying potatoes, especially early varieties, should

47

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48

be done as soon as rows show plainly. On later and |
more vigorous varieties it can be done without injury |
when from four to six inches high. This method kills ;
all weeds and grass and causes the formation of new '
root growth. On early kinds, burying deeply, when |
too large, hurts the growth; hence with these it is |
advisable to so adjust the machine that they will not |
be entirely buried unless the weeds have a bad start, |
when everything should be covered out of sight and |
deep enough to kill all weeds. The cost of hand labor §
to remove weed growth will exceed the damage done
the vines by burying; much depends upon whether *
sprouts have come up strong and stalky; if weak and |
spindling they will not stand deep covering without
injury. Vigorous, stalky plants will, in about two days, |
shove right up through several inches of loose soil. |

If some fertilizer falls on the leaves, no harm will |
be done; the plants shove up, making new growth |
from the centre, and all leaf growth covered remains |,
buried and perform, no further leaf functions to the »
plant. There are two advantages in this—any eggs!
of the beetle laid on small plants prior to burying |
are destroyed. In some cases these will prove the |
greater number laid during the season. Another is, ,
that the plants will send out a new set of roots from —
each joint of stalk below the surface of the soil thrown —
around them, thus enlarging the root system. Apply- |
ing fertilizer at this time, and placing it where the |
plants can at once feed upon it, more than offsets
the temporary check any good vigorous stalk sustains |
when small, by being covered with loose soil, even |
to the depth of several inches. The cultivator should |
be run between rows immediately after burying the

49

plants, to loosen the soil between rows and prevent
evaporation of moisture. If small weeds spring up
along the rows again, a second hilling is sometimes
advisable. Only enough soil should be thrown up
and around the plants at this time, however, to smother
the weeds and form a dust mulch; usually it is not
advisable to make this second covering; the grower
must be governed by weather conditions and weed
growth in this; it is always a matter of individual
judgment.

The last working of the field should be iti the
cultivator narrowed up to avoid tearing down ridges,
and it must be run very shallow, just enough to form
the dust mulch between rows. This system is not
applicable to sections where dry weather prevails.
Each grower must decide for himself and be governed
by his soil and climate. Potatoes grown in the ridge
system are more easily dug than with level culture,
and in a wet season are less apttorot. They are,
too, less sunburned, and a moderate ridge system of
cultivation seems to possess more advantages than
either leyel or extreme ridge method.

INSECTICIDES.—Paris Green, Arsenate of Lead and
Bug Death are those most used, and each has its objec-
tions and limitations, and the grower must decide
which to use.

PARIS GREEN.—This is most generally used for killing
eating insects. It is a copper compound of arsenic,
and a deadly poison, and should never be kept where
children or live stock can reach it. Its action on
foliage is harmful, and when applied in too strong
solution is fatal to the plants. When too weak a
solution is used fields turn a light green, lose their

ol

thrifty appearance and become a prey to blights.
Many believe it to be the cause of the late blight or
rot; this is true only in the sense that its use so weakens
the plant that the power to resist disease is lowered.
Its depressing effect on the vines is greater if the
leaves have been more or less eaten by insects. This
is especially true of the work of the flea beetle, which
it does not kill to any appreciable extent.

Some authorities assert that arsenical poisoning is
due to the free or water soluble arsenic which the green
contains, and that the addition of lime will prevent
all injury. To some extent this is true, and more or
less lime should always be used in any mixture con-
taining Paris Green for spraying purposes. That this
injury can be wholly overcome by the addition of lime,
has not been the experience of one of the greatest
potato experts known. That its use on potato fields
will, in time, impregnate the soil to the extent that it
will impair the growth of vegetation seems plausible,
in view of the recent developments in Colorado orchards.
It must be remembered, however, that the amount
used per acre of orchard was several times the amount
usually used on potatoes, and with them, where a
rotation is followed bringing them on the same field
only once in three or four years, it would take a much
longer period of time for the soil to reach conditions
now found in some of the poisoned orchards of the West.

For killing the Colorado beetle there is nothing
cheaper than Paris Green, and the grower using it ina
spray mixture should add a pound or two of lime to
every pound of Paris Green. If Bordeaux is used, the
lime in the Bordeaux will be sufficient, the Paris Green
being added to the Bordeaux at the rate of one pound

52
to each acre of potatoes to be sprayed. Paris Green |
has no fungicide value, and its addition to the mixture |
is simply to combine an insecticide with the Bordeaux, |
Used in this way, it will adhere to vines better than if
used alone. Those who use it in dry form will injure |
the potato vines least by mixing it with land plaster |
(gypsum), at the rate of one pound of Paris Green to
fifty of plaster, dusting over the plants with any dust- |
ing apparatus.

ARSENATE OF LEAD.—This was the result of the:
demand for some poison as effective as Paris Green, ,
but without its injurious effects on foliage. It)
has two advantages over Paris Green, in that it
adheres better to leaves during rainy weather and that '
the injury done vines is less apparent. Experiments
prove the loss in yield of tubers by its use not to exceed |
one-half that caused by Paris Green. One objection |
to it is, its slow action in killing the bugs. Fields, ,
after the third spraying with it, have been seen literal
swarming with larve of the beetle.

It is more costly than Paris Green and is equally '
dangerous to live stock, and, since more pounds of it |
are used per acre, it is open to the same objections as)
a soil poisoner as is Paris Green. However, if obliged |
to resort to the arsenical poisons as a means of killing ;
eating insects, use Arsenate of Lead in preference to)
Paris Green, making several sprayings within a few’
days’ time when the slugs are hatching out. In this:
way, insects can be destroyed with minimum injury ’
to the plants from arsenical poisoning. As it must
be applied as a spray, it is not so available for those )
not equipped with spraying apparatus as is Paris)
Green, or Bug Death, either of which can be applied |
in dry form.

in

53

BUG DEATH.—This differs from either Paris Green
or Arsenate of Lead. It is not an arsenical poison,
but when used in liberal quantities is as effective as
either of the others. Its advantage over them is that
it wil] not injure the foliage, no matter how freely
applied, and does away with all injury from arsenical
poisoning to any plant, as well as the more serious one
of poisoning the soil. It can be dusted over the plants
as a dry powder or applied in the sprayer with water
alone or Boadeaux Mixture. Used dry, it is valuable
for killing the old beetle when plants are very small.
As vines are more tender at this stage of growth, the
use of Paris Green is to be avoided where possible,
even when used with Land Plaster. The objection
to Bug Death is that it is more costly than Paris Green,
but experience proves that its beneficial effects more
than offset the extra cost.

Growers not having spraying apparatus must either
leave their crop unprotected from blight or use some-
thing easily and economically dusted. These find
Bug Death most valuable. A small bag made of
cheese cloth or coarse burlap, at a few cents’ cost,
answers for dusting the vines. If thoroughly applied
three or four times during the season, when vines are
damp with dew, it not only keeps off all insects, in-
cluding flea beetle, but gives as good protection against
blight as Bordeaux Mixture, without involving out-
lay for spraying outfit. This method of dusting is
not practicable on large acreage, taking too much time :
for the work, which must be done thoroughly. The
dust-blowers on the Market do not blow enough to’
be effective, either as an insecticide or protection
from blight, but the small grower can in no way so
easily obtain desired results.

o4

As an addition to Bordeaux Mixture, it is especially
valuable at dry times. With from fifteen to twenty
pounds added to the amount of Bordeaux Mixture

to be applied to the acre, it makes a thick, heavy —

mixture, which, coating the leaves thoroughly, prevents |

a large amount of evaporation of moisture from them,
and enables plants to live and thrive through a drought,
when otherwise they would die if sprayed with Bor-
deaux Mixture and Paris Green. If used dry, not less
than 25 pounds per acre should be used at an application.

BORDEAUX MIXTURE.—The standard spraying mix-

ture used on potatoes as a preventive of blight and a |

repellant of the flea beetle, is Bordeaux Mixture. It

is condemned by so many growers that there is |

little doubt that it is not all the early advocates claimed
for it. Experience inclines to the belief, that the

vitality of the seed planted, many times determines, |
whether or not the crop can be saved by spraying with -
it. It is questionable whether the action of the
mixture itself is not weakening the vitality of our
potatoes, despite the protection it usually affords ©
against blight. Fields kept thoroughly sprayed |

during July and August, and examined in September,

rarely fail to reveal leaf injury caused by Bordeaux. |
This appears in a burning, browning and hardening

of the leaves, and in some cases is a pronounced injury. |
The later in the season vines remain green, the more this |
burning of the copper sulphate shows, yet, when well |
made and intelligently applied, it will increase the crop |

of tubers in most any kind of a season, especially in
the more northern states.
The method of preparing Bordeaux has much to do

with its efficiency in protecting the vines, and there

55

are doubtless many using it who fail to mix it properly
to obtain best results. The old formula is seldom used
now. This did not carry enough lime, and injury
led to use of more lime and less vitriol. The 5-5-50
formula is used, but 5 pounds blue vitriol and 6 pounds
of lime to 50 gallons of water is better. The ready
Bordeaux Mixture or the ready mixed dry Bordeaux
has apparently not given as good results as the home-
made. The new process lime manufactured answers
for making Bordeaux, but more of it than of common
lump lime should be used. Use 7 to 8 pounds new
process lime to 5 pounds of blue vitriol to get the same
effect as 6 pounds of common lump lime well and
properly slaked. New process costs more than lump
lime and more is needed to obtain the same results.
Its use is therefore more expensive. To the small,
and often to the large grower, the facility with which
it mixes, saves time enough to more than compensate
for the added cost. Every grower who plans to spray
his crop should always have a supply of new process
lime on hand.

Many pians of making and mixing Bordeaux have
been suggested, indicating how diluted lime water
is contained in one barrel, the diluted blue vitriol water
in another, and both run into the spray tank through
pipes or hose, where they mix together as they enter.
This is satisfactory where water is handy and can be
pumped to the height which permits this to be done.
This is seldom the case in actual field work with the
average grower. Probably 90 per cent. of the water
used to make the mixture is drawn a distance to the
field. If the distance be more than a few rods, the
quickest and most economical way is to haul the water

56

in large barrels by wagon, rather than in the sprayer
itself. In this case it is much better to slake the lime
and dissolve the blue vitriol in that section of the field
where the greatest saving of time can be made, when
spraying. Stock mixture should always be made even
for a few acres, and,as both the lime and vitriol will
keep indefinitely until mixed together, much time
can be saved by preparing stock in advance.

The following stock solution will make 500 gallons
of Bordeaux: Procure two large barrels holding 50
gallons each, dissolving in one 50 pounds of blue vitriol —
as follows: Obtain a box about 12 inches square and
10 to 12 inches deep, and, after removing the bottom,
tack on the bottom of this frame a piece of brass or
copper wire netting. Nail two cleats along opposite
sides near the top so the box will set in the barrel rest-
ing on the cleats. This places the box in the barrel
some 8 or 10 inches, according to depth. Pour the |
50 pounds of blue vitriol, to be dissolved, into the box, ©
and fill the barrel with water by pouring it through

the vitriol. More than one-half of the vitriol will |

dissolve in filling the barrel, and as the bottom of the |
box is in the water the balance of the vitriol left in |
it is the best possible position to dissolve quickly, and |
in an hour or two all will be found ready for use. By |
making the box with copper nails and tacking the net- |
ting on the bottom with copper tacks, the box will last —
for years and will save hours of time as well as vitriol. |
This provides 50 pounds of vitriol dissolved in 50 gallons |
of water, or one pound of vitriol to each gallon of water.
In the other barrel slake 60 pounds of good lump lime.
First, pour two or three pails of water in the barrel,
then add the 60 pounds oflime. A good stirring paddle |

:

57

should be at hand, for the lime will soon begin to boil.
The mixer must protect his eyes. Add more water as
needed, always enough to slake the lime without burn-
ing. In 10 or 15 minutes the lime will be slaked to
the consistency of thick paste. If this be done the night
before wanted, better wait until morning before filling
the barrel with water, as the lime will slake better if
kept hot for a few hours. When needed, fill the barrel
with water. This provides 60 pounds of lime in 50
gallons of water.

When ready to spray, first fill the sprayer half full
of clear water, then add five gallons of the blue vitriol
water. If an insecticide is to be used, add it at the
same time. Next, take 5 gallons of the lime water,
give the pump a turn or two to start the agitator and
stir the mixture, and if the sprayer is not full, fill it by
adding clear water. This will make as good Bordeaux
Mixture as can be obtained, and at lowest cost.

As the lime water is consumed, add more water,
always using all the lime the barrel contains in con-
suming the 50 gallons of blue vitriol water. The ob-
ject in adding more water to the lime, is to so dilute
it that it will readily pass through the strainer in the
sprayer tank. This also dispenses with straining out
the coarse material which settles in the bottom of the
lime barrel. Thoroughly sprayed with mixture made
in this manner five or six times during the season by
going over and back on the rows at each spraying,

potatoes will seldom be badly hurt by blight or rot.

When this does occur, the chances are that there are
other and obscure causes back of it, such as poor, weak
seed, which should never be planted.
SPRAYERS.—These should be well built, with large
pump capacity, and a strong agitator working close

58

to the bottom of the barrel or tank, keeping the mix-
ture in perfect suspension. Most machines are now
made to spray four rows at once, and on rough, uneven
land, this is as many as advisable to try to cover at one
time. On large, smooth fields, free from stones of any
great size, six rows can be covered at a time, provided
the pump has capacity enough to preserve the work-
ing pressure. A working pressure of 75 to 90 pounds
is needed when the machine is working with the spray
turned on, whether spraying four or six rows at a time.

A sprayer that will not maintain this pressure, day
after day, is out of order or lacks pump capacity. The
pump should be made entirely of brass and copper,
and the plunger so made that the wear of both plunger
and cylinder can be taken up by putting on the plunger

leather or canvas cups. These will make the pumping ©
capacity of the machine as good as new. Twoor three |
days of continuous work will so wear these cups that |
the pressure will begin to fall, and often before the |
operator realizes it, he will be doing inferior work, and |

another set of cups will be necessary. A sprayer re-

quires attention and must be kept in first-class work- |

ing condition, otherwise inferior work results, and the
grower, failing to obtain results, ignorantly condemns

the process. Either the operator fails to understand |
working the machine and its upkeep in perfect order, |
or the machine ‘itself is defective if results prove un- |
satisfactory. Bordeaux Mixture is hard on any sprayer |
because of the lime in its composition, and in the haste |
of busy times, many fail to properly strain the mixture }
as it enters the sprayer, resulting in clogged nozzles, |
impatience of the operator, and unsprayed parts of |
the field allowing insects and blight to get a start..

59

The Vermorel nozzle seems best for the potato
spraying.

The pump must be fitted with two leads of pipe, a
return pipe to the tank and one leading to the nozzles,
and both fitted with astop cock. After filling the tank,
when starting for the field, start the pump and open
the stop cock leading to the tank. This allows the
agitator to thoroughly stir the mixture while the pump
is pumping it back to the tank. When the field is
reached, shut off the stop cock leading to the tank,
allow the pump a few strokes to create as much pressure
as wanted, and then turn on the stop cock leading to
the nozzles. An allowance of a few feet should be made
before entering the rows so that all nozzles may be
working in good order when the first hills are reached.
A little practice in turning the spray on or off will en-

able the operator to spray the end hills, when enter-
ing and leaving the rows, as well as the others.

A first-class power sprayer will be fitted with a waste
gauge leading to the tank and so arranged that by turn-
‘ing a thumb nut the amount of pressure can be easily

changed. This waste gauge should be set at all timesso
that it will relieve the pressure on the pump before break-
age occurs on any other part of the machine. It should
also be fitted with a pressure gauge, allowing the opera-
tor to see at all times the pressure the pump is under.
Every machine should be fitted with a good strainer
with brass or copper wire screen of 30 meshes to the
inch. This prevents anything passing to the spray
tank that will clog the nozzles. Some sprayers are
fitted with a strainer screen of too small a surface,
which easily clogs when filling the tank, especially when
‘straining lime. The aperture in the spray tank should

60

be large enough to admit astrainer of 25 to 30 square
inches of screen. This allows surface enough to rapid-
ly fill the tank if reasonable care be exercised. All
these things are of importance to the grower. Often
a small screen surface strainer requires more time to
fill the tank than to apply the mixture to the field.
Any waste of time, when every moment counts, results
in slighting the work, and must be guarded against.
A good four-rowed horse power sprayer kept in proper
condition will perform as perfect work on large areas —
as the small grower does with a knapsack sprayer. |

SPRAYING.—The importance of spraying as a pre- |
ventive of blight is underestimated. This is most no- .
ticeable in late blight or rot. There is hardly a season |
without late blight, and the extra yield from sprayed
fields more than pays all cost of spraying. Spraying ;
thus becomes crop insurance, which no careful grower °
can afford to ignore.

To be effective, spraying must be carefully and |
thoroughly done. In ill-planted fields, with crooked |
rows or rows of varying distance apart, perfect work can- -
not be done. The spray should be forced all through }
the vines, coating the under as well as the upper side;
of the leaves and stalks. Spraying is a preventive, not!
a curative necessity. Hence, it should begin before:
blight is established, and this is true of the beetle:
larvee as well. To spray effectively, demands much of!
the sprayer. Nozzles should not be set to point)
straight down, but a little forward or backward. The;
larve of the beetle seeks the crown of plants and vines,
and feeds on the tender new leaves there. The spray;
must be forced into the crown of the plant and at the
same time, angle enough given, to force it among the

61

stalks and under the leaves, coating both with the
mixture. There should be pressure enough to force
the spray from the nozzle like a jet of steam.
The nozzles should be as near the rows as possible
and spread enough given the spray to cover the whole
of the row. Avoid the mistake of not adjusting the
nozzles to the size of the plantstobesprayed, otherwise
only a narrow strip through the center of the row is
covered. If nozzles are placed too high, the spray
loses its force, and consequently fails to reach the

stalks. Neglect this precaution, and the stems, stalks

and under side of the leaves derive little benefit,
although the work has apparently been perfectly done.

There can be no thorough spraying in going one way
over the field. The best results are obtained with the
minimum amount of mixture and use of single nozzles.
Going over the field and allowing the first application
to dry on, and then reversing, reaches both sides of the
hills, and the small crown leaves where the tiny slugs
congregate, and these then get two sprayings at different
angles, which practically covers and kills them. Spray-
ing should begin when the vines are from six to eight
inches high. Fine caps should be used on the nozzles
at this first application, as it saves material, and a
sprayer holding sixty gallons can then be made to
cover an acre going both ways. If insects are plenty,
the second application should follow the first in a
few days. It is sometimes better to make the first
three sprayings within ten days if the weather is very
warm and slugs are hatching rapidly. These must
be killed before any damage is done the vines. At
this period of rapid growth the foliage is increasing
so fast that plenty of unsprayed surface is found in

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JeAeids pemos-p einsseid-yBiy e

63

the crown of the plants by the little slugs as they hatch
out. For this reason three sprayings are sometimes
needed to entirely rid a field from slugs. If this work
is done as it should be, there will be but few bugs
left to bring out a crop of slugs later in the season,
and in the subsequent sprayings an insecticide may
not be needed.
A field badly eaten by either the flea or Colorado
_ beetle is more likely to be attacked by either the early
or late blight than one kept free from them. This is
also true of arsenical poisoning, which is much more
likely to injure the plants if badly eaten by insects,
especially the flea beetle. The free arsenic, acting on
the raw, freshly-eaten leaf edges, seems much more
harmful to them than to uneaten foliage. After the
first three sprayings, the others can follow at intervals
of ten days to three weeks, according to weather
conditions. Dry, cool weather is unfavorable to blight,
and the period between sprayings can then be longer,
while moist, hot weather, being favorable to the spread
of late blight or rot, necessitates shortening the time
between sprayings. There is a time in the period of
potato growth when it seems most susceptible to dis-
ease, especially the late blight; this is just when passing
out of the blossom stage. If it escapes this critical
period without harm, it is comparatively easy to keep
the vines green until late in the season in the more
northern sections and until killed by frost. This
Means a greatly increased crop, as the last few weeks
the vines remain green, is when the potato makes
the most profit for the grower.
For this reason it is advisable, when potatoes
are passing out of the blossoming stage, to use more

64

gallons of Bordeaux Mixture per acre than at any
other time. On vines that thoroughly cover the ground
not less than 125 gallons per acre should be used at
this time and frequently more. Spraying should never |
be stopped because the vines cover the ground and
will be broken and more or less trampled upon when |
driving through them. Vines that have reached this |
stage will not be cut off by the wheels of the sprayer
going over them. Rolling them down with the wheels,
while it looks badly, will hardly bruise them except |
on side hills, where the sprayer slides more or less.
When this happens a few will be cut off, but the damage
is small compared with the good done in preventing |
blight and promoting growth of tubers. No one should |
hesitate to spray, even if the vines are so rank and tall
that the rows can hardly be defined. A growth of.
vine of that magnitude certainly needs the protection |
of thorough spraying.

INSECTS

THE FLEA BEETLE.—Probably no insect does greater
damage in many sections than this. They come in |
countless numbers and feed upon the leaves, eating
small round holes through them until at least half |
of the leaf surface is eaten. Potato vines so eaten
are much more susceptible to arsenical poisoning and
early and late blight and other fungus diseases. Poisons |
do not seem to have much effect on this little black |
pest, and about all that can be done is an application |
to disperse them. Bordeaux Mixture, thoroughly
applied, has this tendency. These insects usually come |
in great numbers when plants are very small. Fre- |
quently vast damage is done before the grower is |

65

_INJURY DONE BY THE FLEA BEETLE

aware of their presence or before there is vine enough
_ to suggest spraying. In Maine a late August brood
‘often does serious damage to unprotected fields, even
when vines completely cover the ground. Growers not
provided with suitable spraying apparatus, and having
small areas to protect, will find that Bug Death dusted
over the vines, when damp, will prove great protection
against this pest.

66

The flea beetle is difficult to fight, and because of its —
size and peculiar habits may do great injury before ©
the grower is aware of the extent. Not only do they
eat the leaves full of little holes, but in many places |
eat part way through, thus making small depressions, |
Paris Green settles in these, causing the target-like _
markings of arsenical poison injury, making it more |
pronounced on fields that are badly infested. The |
ravages of this pest have a decided effect also in causing |
early blight; so much so that it seems certain that |
early blight would seldom, if ever, cause much loss, |
unless plants suffered loss of vigor through this pest |
‘and arsenical poisoning.

THE COLORADO BEETLE.—This is probably the best
known of all the potato-eating insects. It seems to
have been a native of Colorado, hence its name.
When settlers carried the potato into its home it at
once formed a liking for this plant, and at once spread
east in search of its new-found food. It reached Iowa
in 1861, Wisconsin in 1862, Illinois in 1864, Michigan
and Indiana in 1867, Ohio in 1868 and Pennsylvania in
1870. Twelve years later it reached Nova Scotia,
and has been a pest over the whole East ever since.
That it will ever disappear seems improbable, although
it greatly varies in number in different sections at
various times. It flies in bright, hot weather, but the
distance it can go in this way is not known. Observa-
tion leads to the belief that it never flies in damp,
cool weather, and the approach of evening or a sudden
shower precipitates it to the ground, regardless of
where it is. It is frequently found washed up on the
shores of lakes and ponds, sometimes in countless
numbers, a sudden cooling of the atmosphere causing
it to fall into the water in its flight across.

67

It winters buried in the soil, coming out the first
hot days of spring and sometimes appears in such
numbers where plants are just breaking ground that
all growth made for several days or even weeks is
consumed. At this stage of plant growth it is hardest
to combat, as there is so little leaf surface that it is
impossible to poison them. They mate at once and
egg-laying begins within a few days if the weather
remains warm, the little plants frequently having
several hundred eggs on them when two or three inches
high. If the plants are covered with soil, it will destroy
these first egg clusters, and with very late plantings
will often prove all that is needed to rid a field of the
pest. Fighting them should never be delayed until
damage is done the plants, as it will result in a loss of
crop, amounting to many times the cost of labor and
material needed to rid the field of them. The remedy
is described herein under “Insecticides.”’

SCAB.—This is a fungus disease, causing rough-pitted
patches, or, in badly infected soils, covering the whole
' surface of the tubers, often making the whole crop
unmarketable. Some varieties are more susceptible
to scab than others. The “American Giant’ is scab-
resisting, but its cooking quality is poor, and hence it
commands a lower price. As a rule, the better the
quality of the variety, the more susceptible it seems
to scab.

The disease is widespread, due to planting infected
tubers; hence, the remedy largely lies in planting seed
free from it. A system of crop rotation, resulting in
the use of the same soil for growing potatoes, only once
in three or four years, generally averts the disease.
It does not. thrive in acid soil, even though present in

68

POTATOES AFFECTED WITH SCAB

it, or even when scabby seed is planted, and conse-
quently the crop is sufficiently free from it to be readily
marketable. Soil may be sweetened by lime to the |
point where clover thrives, without being sweet enough ©
to forbid potato growing because of scab. Plant
seed free of the disease and thus avert danger from it.
If seed showing spots or patches must be used, dis-
infect it. One method of doing so, is to soak thetubers, |
before cutting, in a solution of formaldehyde. This
is called formalin solution. It is not a costly process, |
if sensibly handled. There are several methods; but |
the following will answer where up to 100 or 150 —
bushels of seed is used:

69

Use five barrels of fiftv or more gallon capacity each,
set them in a row out of doors, put into each 35 gallons
of water and add one pint of formalin of the standard
40 per cent. solution to each barrel. Put seed into
coarse bags (bran sacks are best), tieing near the top.
This allows contents to spread in the bag and thus each
barrel will hold three bags of one bushel each and the
35 gallons of solution will cover the lot. The five
barrels soak 15 bushels at a time, or about all one man
can attend to at once. Soak from one and one-half
to two hours. While this is in progress more seed can
be sacked and made ready for treatment, when the
first lot is removed. One man can thus prepare and
soak about 100 bushels per day. The cost of formalin
should not exceed $1.25 for five barrels, and each barrel
should soak at least 40 bushels of seed. When seed
is removed from solution, turn out on the ground, one
bushel in a place, and throw a bucket of clear water
over each lot, to rinse the solution off, as it makes them
nicer to handle when cutting. When dried, they can
_be stored until needed for planting.

All articles used in handling the seed should be
dipped in the formalin solution before being used for
the soaked seed, so that any of the scab fungus which
might adhere to them will be killed, and if the seed is
restored to the bin or other place, a bucket of the solu-
tion and an old broom should be used to thoroughly
disinfect the storage place in advance. It is a serious
matter when soil becomes badly infected with scab,
and the quickest way to eradicate the disease is to
abandon the use of that soil for potato growing for
several years; meantime growing green crops upon it

and plowing them under, which will start a slight

70

acidity and aid in curing the disease. Lime, ashes or
heavy applications of manure tend to sweeten the
soil and promote growth of scab disease. |
Sulphur is sometimes used to dust over the seed when
cut and also scattered along the row when planting, |
At times this proves a perfect remedy, while again it
amounts to little. The condition of the soil itself |
doubtless has much to do with this. It is claimed that
spreading seed potatoes to sprout, where the direct |
rays of the sun strike them, kills the scab fungus.
When scab fungus is present in the soil, treatment |
given the seed does not insure a clean crop, but does :
prevent planting the disease with the seed. The:
disease is often present in a limited way in soil favorable :
to its growth and yet does not affect the tubers enough :
to injure the market value of one season’s crop, unless }
the scab in vigorous condition has been planted on \
the seed. Land, reasonably free from it, will usually
grow good market crops of tubers if a rotation follows ;
which will not repeat potatoes on the same ground |
oftener than once in three or four years. This is:
more certain if manure is not used on the ground; ;
but rather that the humus-content may be maintained
by plowing under green crops or clover sod, and using !
chemicals or commercial fertilizer to supply the plant i
food needed by the potato crop. |
LATE BLIGHT OR ROT.—This probably causes more?
loss to northern growers than any other disease attack- -
ing the plant. It presumably lives through the winter |
only on the tuber itself and can frequently be readily |
detected when cutting seed, although it might be pres- :
ent in many tubers cut and escape detection by even
an expert. It may affect but a small part of the tuber

71

and, in cutting, the part affected may not be cut
through, and hence not revealed even to an expert.
When cutting seed, if the cut surface shows black-
like threads running through the tuber, it must be
discarded, as this is probably the late blight or rot in
the dormant state in which it passes the winter. It
may also be detected by sunken spots on the tuber’s
surface. These are usually irregular in shape and
vary in size from mere spots to extending over nearly
the whole surface of the tuber. These spots usually
develop while in winter storage, and in some cases quite
a percentage of the lot show the spots in spring, al-
though at harvest time no trace of them was visible.

When soil and weather conditions are favorable
to the growth of this fungus or infected seed planted,
it spreads to the surface by the roots and stalks. The
whole root system and stalks below the surface of the
ground are frequently found badly infected when the
thoroughly sprayed top shows no blight whatever,
but a slight pull will break the stalk off just below the
soil’s surface. This is one reason why early spraying
for late blight or rot is necessary, as it may be working
towards the surface on the roots and underground
stems when infected seed has been planted, and even
the most critical observer cannot detect it unless an
infected hill is dug out. The sprout or stalk springing
from any seed piece badly infected when planted is
likely to come up weak and spindling. On the other
hand, many seed pieces may be so slightly infected that
the vigor of the sprout is apparently little impaired
and the field make a splendid growth.

If at about the time plants are going out of blossom,
and sometimes before, the weather becomes hot, with

72

frequent rains, the spores of the blight reach the sur-
face, and if the vines are unprotected the spores spread
very rapidly over the leaves and in a few days will
turn a fine looking field into a mass of blackened,
dying vines, with very offensive odor. Rotting of
tubers does not always follow blighting of vines, al-
though usually the case. If no rain falls from the time
vines become infected with the spores until entirely
dead, and the unripe tubers in the ground become
ripened off or hardened up, there is little danger from
it. Tubers thoroughly ripened seldom rot in the soil
unless it becomes very wet. Again, a field that indi-
cates little blight on the vines, perhaps none to the
average grower, and keeps green until frost, may have

_its tubers rot badly. This results from the spores of

the blight being washed from the leaves down upon
the unripe tubers, which they immediately attack.
Vines may be so slightly affected by blight spores
that the casual observer would not detect it, and
enough spores remain to be washed down in the event
of heavy rain upon the unripened tubers and cause
severe rot. A field can also become infected with
‘blight by the spores being brought to it by the wind
from a field miles away. In this event it is usually

detected on the leaves near the top of the plant. A leaf —
showing a portion turned black and drooping with a

white mold on the under side, can safely be diagnosed

as affected with late blight. If good, vigorous seed ©

has been planted and the vines kept thoroughly

sprayed with Bordeaux Mixture, beginning when they —

are only six or eight inches high, little danger exists
of losing the crop from late blight or rot. If blight
gets well started, little hope exists for the crop.

73

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74

HARVESTING AND STORING.—Potatoes will keep _
better over winter if digging be delayed until cool |
weather. Where crops ripen in early August and
second growth threatens, this cannot be done. After
a tuber fully ripens so that no change occurs in size,
rain causes the soil to adhere to it more or less, even
though the soil dries again. Tubers remaining in the
ground weeks after growth ceases are seldom as bright
and clean as those dug earlier. Potatoes ripening
in early August are difficult to keep in fit condition
to plant the following spring. Sprouting is likely to
occur in early winter with,loss of the tubers’ vigor.
Overcome this by using specially constructed under-
ground cellars for storage, where low temperature
without freezing is maintained. |

Large growers who store crops should possess such _
a cellar. Even if growers sell direct from the field, |
it is desirable at times to harvest faster than possible _
to market to advantage. A cool, dark place, easy of —
access from the field and to remove from later, will
save its cost in a few years. There are two types of |
storage, one with frost-proof walls where potatoes are
kept above ground in the body of the building in which
provision has been made for heat from basement stove
or furnace circulating between outer and inner walls.
This is the best if building be accessible by railroad
siding. Here potatoes can be bought, sold and kept
in quantity, a caretaker being employed in winter.

A building with basement cellar for use of the aver-
age grower is better. Such a building, with room above
for farm implements, is worth its cost for this purpose
alone. This is usually built against a side hill or knoll,
the floor over cellar being at ground level at upper side

e10y Jed sjoysng OOr OF ODE PIP!A—SAOLVLOd MONS DNIDDIG

76

or end of the building, making this floor easy of access
by team. The ground on the lower end or side, being
level with the cellar bottom, permits contents to ke
removed with little labor. The crop as drawn from

the field is dropped through hatchways from the floor |

above into bins below. Care must be taken to avert
bruising the tubers in storing. ‘This can be done by

means of a tube or chute made of burlap and extending ©

from the vehicle on or hatchway in the upper floor to
the cellar. The burlap tube can be drawn up and
handled so as to permit spreading the tubers out in the
bin without bruising. This permits rapid storing when
harvesting, with a minimum amount of work.

The more of the cellar under ground and well venti-

lated, the cooler will it be in warm weather and the |
longer will the contents keep without sprouting. Con- |
structed in this way, no artificial heat is required, even |
in coldest weather. If flat stone can be had cheaply, |
they make a good wall foundation; this can be carried |
up several feet, but the remainder should be grout or |
concrete. This is apparently the best wall for a.

potato cellar. An outside coating of Portland cement
before banking with earth should make such a wall

sufficiently water-tight. The top of the wall should be |

12 to 14 inches thick and sills laid even with the out-.

side edge and pointed with cement mortar. The sills |
on the wall need not be heavier than 4 by 4 inches, |
leaving 8 or 10 inches inside the sill. After floor tim- |

bers are in place, space remains to brick up and by set-
ting brick on edge, two dead air spaces remain, carry |
this right up around the floor timbers, which should |
rest on the sill tops, thus getting their full strength. |
The cross sills should be heavier timber, so arranged |

77

that the supports for them will come just right for the
division of the cellar into bins. The floor above should
be either double. thickness of boards or boards with
two-inch plank above with heavy paper between.
Plank will not be needed unless teams are to be driven
upon this floor, two thicknesses of boards being strong
enough for all other purposes. Quicker and easier
storing can be done if the load is drawn from the field
to the floor hatchways. ‘The under side of the floor
timbers can be covered with matched sheathing, giving
a dead air space between.

No litter of any kind is required on the floor above,
even in coldest weather, if construction work is properly
done. Such a cellar will keep an even temperature of
35 to 37 degrees during winter and warm up very slowly
in the spring if kept closed, bringing the potatoes out
in the best possible condition for either market or seed
purposes.

Experience proves that a dry, cool cellar will cause
shrinkage, while a damp, cool cellar will keep the
tubers as firm and hard as when dug, with little waste
from shrinkage. When storing in the fall, the cellar
should be cooled down to from 30 to 40 degrees above
zero. This can be hastened by opening the doors at
night, when the outside temperature is lower than that
of the cellar, and closing in the morning, repeating this
until the temperature of the cellar is about 36 degrees
above zero.

MARKETING THE CROP.—This is largely a matter of
color, size and quality. As a rule, the markets of today
demand a somewhat round, white potato, with a shallow
eye. These should be well sorted and graded as to
size. Uniformity of size attracts the buyer. There

78

should always be at least two grades, and if there are
many large tubers of a pound or more in weight, it is
usually advisable to make three grades, the first nice,
smooth tubers, practically free from scab, prongs or
any form of roughness. The largest should not be
much, if any, over 12 to 14 ounces, and the smallest not
below 5 ounces. This is as great a variation in size
as ought to exist in any lot which the grower expects
to be graded as firsts and bring the highest price.

All above this grade in size that are good and smooth
will usually sell for a higher price per bushel than could
be obtained if both of these grades were mixed together.
There is invariably a good market for these large tu-
bers if smooth and nice in appearance and good, clear
through. The fear that they are hollow and black in |
the center or core is about the only objection, the buyer |
has to them; but they have in their favor large size,
which readily commends them to the maker of potato |
chips or the hotels or restaurants where fried potatoes |
are served, large tubers being peeled with less labor |
and waste. Could nice, clean stock, running from 12
ounces to two pounds always be obtained, there would |
be a good demand for it at good prices. The third |
grade will be all below five ounces in weight down to |
those the size of large hen’s eggs, all being good and |
smooth. This grade is preferred for baking purposes, |
as they bake quickly and the flavor is equal to any.

The ordinary grower does not have enough of either |
of the last two grades to establish and maintain a trade
in them, and in the average neighborhood there are |
so many different varieties grown that co-operative |
work is impossible. Potatoes graded in this way will |
yield growers more money and better satisfy the |
consumer. . |

79

ASNOH 3YOLS

80

Where potatoes are largely grown co-operative
organization should exist among growers, not only in
marketing the crop, but in the purchase of seed. Such
organizations should possess buildings of ample size,
with railroad siding facilities. Growers should handle
their crops there and an expert corps of men be employed
to sort and grade them. The cost would perhaps be
a little more than grading in the field, but the extra
price obtained would more than offset the extra cost,
as field-sorted stock is never properly graded. By
this method the graders, having no interest in any
particular lot, would grade uniformly. Grading is
essential to create a reputation and secure highest
prices. With such an organization, varieties planted
can be limited to those best suited to the locality as to
quality, yield and market demands. The locality
which can establish and maintain a reputation for choice
well-graded stock, not only obtains the highest price
at all times, but its product is demanded even when a
glut depresses the market. This is of value to the grow-
er, enabling him to dig and dispose of his crop at good
prices, even in overstocked seasons.

Prices obtained by Long Island, N. Y., growers well
illustrate this point, they frequently obtaining from fifty
cents to one dollar per barrel above the general market.
Returns are increased ten to fifteen per cent., under
proper co-operation, upon the lines suggested.

Mn