POTATO CULTURE. ' 



Many experiments have been conducted by different experiment 

 stations to determine the fertilizers best adapted to potatoes, 

 various varieties have been tested, but comparatively little work 

 has been done to determine the possibility of making available the 

 potential plant-food already in the soil and to determine the 

 effects of extra good tillage upon crop production. That the 

 average yield of potatoes in New York is far below what it should 

 be is shown by the last United States Census Report, in which the 

 yield is given as 68.8 bushels per acre. In 1895, a most favorable 

 year for potatoes, the average yield for the state was about 1 2 2 bushels 

 per acre. With a view to determine the effects of tillage upon 

 crop production the following experiment was planned. 



The land selected for the work was a gravelly soil which had 

 been subjected to a regular four-years' rotation, consisting of 

 wheat, clover, corn and oats. In 1894, the land was all planted 

 to corn. This corn land was fertilized with barn manure applied 

 during the fall and winter of 1893-4 at the rate of about 10 tons 

 per acre. In the spring of 1895 there were measured off 46 one- 

 twentieth acre plats, and a portion of these plats was selected as 

 the ones upon which to conduct an experiment in potato culture. 



*The land was prepared for planting as follows : All plats were 

 plowed late in the fall of 1894 after the corn was removed. In 

 the spring, all plats were gang-plowed about May ist, and the 

 ground thoroughly harrowed, marked and furrowed with a double 

 mold board plow and planted to potatoes May 3d and 4th. It 

 should be remembered that this ground was a loose, open soil, and 

 that before planting it was most thoroughly fitted. No amount 

 of after tillage can ever make reparation for the failure to fit the 

 ground properly before planting. Fig. 33 shows the gravelly 

 nature of the soil. The photograph was taken in the fall of 1896 

 after the potatoes had been harvested This was the second time 

 the field had been raked over and the stones removed. 



*Prof. Geo. C. Watson was in immediate charge of the work in 1895. 



