THE POTATO IN AROOSTOOK. 107 



the days of your father. In the statements of the methods on the 

 Other lands, I must limit myself again, for the county is so large 

 that personally I cannot say that I know just the practice in vogue 

 everywhere, nor does what I sa}', I presume, apply, in the least de- 

 gree, to the French settlements, for they are "of their own kind" in 

 a peculiar sense. A careful study of farm methods among so diverse 

 a people as we are would be very interesting, if the expense were 

 warranted by the means at command. 



On ihe pasture lands it is not the practice to put stable manure, 

 as a general thing, but with the sod turned over in the fall, at the 

 cropping time the fertilizer is used in the drills. Seed is cut two 

 eyes to the piece, and dropped fourteen inches from piece to piece. 

 Two or more persons drop, the horses follow immediately, and large 

 breadths are soon planted. In regard to cultivating, the exact ways 

 are as different almost as there are individuals. 



If the breadth of land is very large the horse hoe begins as soon 

 as the tops appear, and the work goes on continuoush', returning to 

 the point of start, as soon as the field is gone over, to complete the 

 hilling up. With such complete dependence upon the horse hoe 

 flat cultivation is unknown. 



For the crop in the tillage land, or, more strictly, old mowing fields 

 which must be taken up, two methods prevail. In the one case the 

 stable manure is spread on the sod, and then turned under with the 

 sod. In the other case, the manure is spread after the plowing and 

 worked up with the harrow. Which of the two ways is the better 

 is, perhaps, determined b}' the convenience of the farmer at the 

 time of the work, more than by an}' balancing of actual merits. In 

 the drills is put the fertilizer, as on the pasture land, according to 

 the faith of the person as to the profit of such a step. The drills are 

 hardh' more than scratches on the surface, and the tubers are pro- 

 tected by the ridges thrown up about them. The use of plaster is 

 very extensive in two ways. One to rub the cut seed in before 

 planting, and later the plaster is put as a top dressing, and possibly 

 mixed with ashes. 



It is not considered judicious to begin planting before the second 

 week of May. Then the planting is pushed with all possible dis- 

 patch. Cultivating and hoeing are finished from the 7th to the 15th 

 of July, when the hay harvest begins. By the 20th of August, in 

 the midst of the grain harvest, the tubers are fit to dig, and oft- 



8 



