The Question Box. 241 



land where scabby tubers grew tbe year before. A preventive 

 is to soak the seed potatoes in a solution of corrosive sublimate 

 and water, two ounces of the poison dissolved in fifty gallons 

 of water. Soak the seed an hour and a half, but never leave a 

 scabby potato lying on the ground, nor put one into the cellar. 

 Boiling the scabby tubers will destroy the germs so that they 

 will not infest the soil if they are thrown on the ground. The 

 cooked potatoes may then be fed. 



What variety of early potatoes do you prefer? 



Answer. — Early Puritan, Early Sunrise and some others are 

 all good with me. It is well to study the habits of different va- 

 rieties and adopt those which are best suited to your soils, cli- 

 mate and conditions. Begin in a small way and, if you are suc- 

 cessful, like to grow the crop and can market it profitably, en- 

 large your field. 



Do you use a digger, or dig by hand power? 



Answer. — I use a digger drawn by four horses and put the 

 tubers into the cellar for one and a half cents per bushel. This 

 is a great saving in the expense incurred over the old way, and 

 enables me to sell my crop a little less, if necessary, and still 

 make a fair profit. 



Speaking of prices, he said that an investigation made re- 

 cently revealed to him the fact that the average price of potatoes 

 in his county had been forty-five cents and a fraction for ten 

 years. He also said that his crop had averaged him 125 bushels 

 during the last ten years. He also said that the general average 

 yield of potatoes is but seventy-six and one-half bushels per acre 

 and that of wheat twenty-two and one-half bushels. He also 

 gave the average yields of some other crops^ and told the per 

 cent, of nitrogen, potash and phosphoric acid removed from an 

 acre by these crops, all which showed that potatoes removed 

 less fertility than does wheat or beans. He also favored potato 

 growing for the reason that one has a money crop to dispose of in 

 wintcF when we do not get much from the dairy. Therefore he 

 grows potatoes in preference to wheat or beans. 



