Geowing Potatoes Successfully in 'New York. 37 



are working in to this way of producing the crop cheaply. The 

 climate favors these Maine farmers, and many in the other north- 

 ern States named. It is easy to grow large crops. Fertilizers 

 may pay New York farmers well, but they cost money. To com- 

 pete with the northern world they must get fertility for less 

 money. They must pay more attention to growing clover and 

 peas in regular rotation with potatoes and other crops. A heavy 

 crop of clover grown once in four years may get hundreds of 

 pounds of nitrogen out of the air and make it available for pota- 

 toes, corn, etc., that follow. You cannot afford to pay $15 or |20 

 a. hundred pounds for this when you can manage to get it for 

 nothing. The clover will pump up plant food from the subsoil, 

 also, and leave that available. The big western growers are get- 

 ting hold of this matter. The writer has talked to many of them 

 in Minnesota, where they are growing clover and increasing their 

 crops; so much the worse for you if you do not do the same. 



Many of the northern growers have made the serious mistake of 

 growing potatoes either continuously, or too frequently, on the 

 same land. Do not do this. You will soon have serious trouble 

 from scale, blight, rot, etc., which multiply and increase more 

 rapidly where the crop is continuously grown. And then more 

 plant food must be purchased under this method of management. 

 Do not grow potatoes oftener than once in three years on the same 

 land. The writer has followed for many years a three-year rota- 

 tion of clover, potatoes and wheat. These were early potatoes, so 

 we were able to get them off in time to put in fall wheat. With 

 late potatoes, oats or spring wheat could be substituted. This 

 rotation is all right for a few years, but a four-year one would be 

 safer in the long run. We have grown clover pretty often; we 

 may have trouble from this. Scientific men think we may. But 

 meanwhile we have made a nice sum of money growing potatoes 

 that feed on the plant food the clover obtained. We have not 

 purchased fertilizers. And still few, probably, have done any 

 better than we have with this crop, and our land was in poor shape 

 to start with. 



If you care to grow corn, I advise this rotation: Clover, corn, 

 potatoes and small grain to seed with. Manure the clover sod for 



