EXPERIMENTS IN POTATO CULTURE. 121 



In the preparation of the soil it is found best to thoroughly mix 

 the manure with it and pulverize it so that it will be light, fine, and 

 loose to the depth of four or five inches, but when not more than six 

 cords of manure is applied to an acre, the crop is very much in- 

 creased by applying a small quantit3' of some quick-acting fertilizer 

 in the hill, always being careful not to have it strong enough to 

 injure the roots of the young plants. If the fertilizer is to be pur- 

 chased, superphosphate is as good as anything, but it had best be 

 mixed with four times its bulk of thoroughly decomposed muck that 

 has been dug out and exposed to the air two or three years ; but in 

 my experiments the crops have been varied quite as much by the 

 condition of the potatoes planted, as by the condition of the soil, or 

 the quality of the manure applied. 



As the length of this paper will not permit me to give all of the ex- 

 periments which I have tmed, only some of the most important will 

 be given. Twentj'-five 3'ears ago there was quite a discussion as to 

 the importance of planting potatoes grown in a higher northern lati- 

 tude. It was claimed that much larger crops could be grown than 

 by planting potatoes grown on the same farm. I was planting the 

 Jackson White potato, and had continued to plant from my own 

 growing for ten years in succession. I got even larger crops than 

 did those who purchased their potatoes to plant. I contended that 

 our own potatoes were best. At first the proof appeared to me to 

 be so positive that no further trial seemed to be required. On re- 

 flection I thought it best to make such experiments as seemed neces- 

 sary to make it as clear to my opponents that I was right, as it was 

 to me. So I purchased some Jackson White potatoes grown in Nova 

 Scotia. These were planted so that every other hill was seeded with 

 the purchased potatoes, and every other hill with my own. You 

 may judge how I felt when I dug the potatoes and got nine bushels 

 of the Nova Scotia potatoes and onl}^ five bushels of my own. The 

 experiment was repeated the next year, resulting in nine bushels of 

 the Nova Scotia potatoes to six of my own. This experiment taught 

 me to be more careful in expressing an opinion based upon the re- 

 sults of different farms. 



There having been much said and written in regard to the plant- 

 ing of small potatoes, I commenced a series of experiments some 

 3'ears ago to ascertain if it be a fact, as is generally believed, that 

 the potato will run out by a continued selection of small potatoes for 

 planting. My first trial was by planting whole potatoes about an 



