POTATOES. 131 



acres. Those two years of which I spoke I only planted half 

 an acre of Early Rose. They yielded the best of any kind I 

 planted, and I considered them the best potato to eat, and 

 they were the most salable. Last year I thought I would go 

 in largely for the Early Rose and raise what would bring me 

 the most money. I planted the three acres with Early Rose. 

 In the first place I planted a few in my garden, about the 20th 

 of April. Those were sprouted, which I consider, on such 

 ground as mine, very important. My soil is a moist, gravelly 

 loam, mixed with clay. I cannot plant very early; if I do 

 they rot. Therefore it is very important for me to set them 

 out somewhere, in boxes or baskets, where it is warm, and let 

 the sprouts start somewhat before I plant them. Then I plant 

 them about the 20th of April, and I get potatoes about as 

 early as any one. Those I {)lanted first yielded well. After 

 that, about the lOtli of May, I planted two acres of Early 

 Rose potatoes, and about an acre of later potatoes, of different 

 kinds, at the same time. Those which were planted about 

 the lOtli of May were not entire failures, as Mr. Gold says, 

 but they were a slim crop — did not come up hardly to 

 mediocrity. 



Now, if it is proper, I want to state to this meeting an ex- 

 periment which I tried with Mr. Hayward's Mineral Com- 

 pound. And in stating this experiment, I want to do it in all 

 fairness, for I have certainly no prejudice for or against his 

 preparation. He came along last spring and lectured in my 

 town, and I went to hear him and was somewhat pleased with 

 his lecture ; so much so that I joined a class and went in and 

 heard his course of lectures. And certainly he made every- 

 thing appear plausible and I lioped for the best ; for if there 

 is any way by which we can raise larger crops with less ex- 

 pense than we do now, we want to know it. I bought his 

 book and tried his mineral compound, and did as he requested 

 me to do. " Now," said he, " I want you to try this thor- 

 oughly, and I want to tell you how to do it. I want you 

 should try it on potatoes. Take a spot of ground and put on 

 at the rate of a ton to the acre ; plow it in, and then cross- 

 plow the ground, so as to mix it up well with the soil." I 



