SUCCESSFUL POTATO CULTURE. IO5 



work. And let me say right here, that there is no limit to a 

 man's farm operations except his own capacity and the size of 

 his farm. The size of his manure pile has nothing to do with it. 

 Make and use all the manure on your farm that you can, and 

 then get commercial fertilizers. We can raise potatoes for less 

 than twenty-five cents per bushel on commercial fertilizer and 

 figure our own labor and that of our team at a price of which we 

 need not be ashamed. I will try to give you methods showing 

 how this can be done. We will first take up plowing. 



The depth to plow depends on the soil and its condition. A 

 clover sod of two years standing does not need to be turned as 

 deep as an old witch-grass sod of twenty years growth, which 

 will take all summer to rot down. The latter would need to be 

 plowed from eight to ten inches deep. Fall plowing is preferred, 

 as the action of the frost will help break down and fine the soil. 

 Another important point in fall plowing is that if land is broken 

 up then the sod will get settled down together, but if broken up 

 in the spring it acts as a drain, drying out the soil quickly. 

 Commercial fertilizers must have moisture to become available. 

 To ensure this we must practice breaking up in the fall, and 

 must also run our fertilizer as deep in the drill as possible in 

 order to get it down where the ground will be moist, thus making 

 it available for the growing plants. 



How much fertilizer shall we use per acre? On our old fields 

 in this part of the State I should not advise less than one ton of 

 high grade goods, putting as much of this in the drill as you can 

 get there with the planter and as deep as you can get it, and 

 applying the balance broadcast just before you cultivate and 

 bury the potatoes, which will usually be from three to four weeks 

 after planting. 



The ideal time of planting in our State is between May 12th 

 and 20th, but under our new method of protecting from bugs 

 and blight it can be carried into June and good crops produced ; 

 but the crop is not usually as good as when planted between the 

 dates named. The harrowing should begin as early as possible, 

 and the field should be harrowed from seven to ten times, on our 

 heavy soils, the last of these being as deep as possible ; and if 

 thev should extend over a few weeks' time, all the better. 



We now come to the selection of seed. It is better to use noth- 

 ing but smooth, sound potatoes, not too small nor too large, if 



