ioo8 . Rural School Leaflet. 



Select a variety of potatoes which is known to grow vigorously in 

 the vicinity and yield large crops. Care should be taken that the seed 

 potatoes have been well kept, that is, have not been chilled, wilted, or 

 sprouted. The yield is much affected by the way the tubers have been 

 kept. Medium-sized potatoes are desirable for planting. These should 

 be so cut that they will be about the size of a large hen's egg. It is well 

 to scatter a little land plaster over the cut tubers to dry up the moisture 

 on the cut surfaces. The tubers should not be cut long before the 

 planting as they lose vigor rapidly after cutting if not placed in con- 

 ditions favorable to growth. 



The prepared seed should be placed in the furrows about fourteen 

 to sixteen inches apart. If the soil is not very rich and is likely to get 

 too dry the hills would better be eighteen inches apart. The potatoes 

 should be covered with plenty of soil. This may be done with a potato 

 coverer. a plow, or a hoe. Strive to have the sets three to five inches 

 deep after the surface is leveled, according to soil. 



About a week or ten days after the potatoes are planted, a spike- 

 tooth harrow may be run over the field to level it and kill any weeds 

 that may have sprouted. A week later harrow again or use a weeder 

 if the plants are well out of the soil. The warmer the soil, the quicker 

 the potatoes will start. Judgment must be used in determining when 

 and how much to harrow. Avoid letting the weeds get started or 

 breaking the tender shoots. As soon as the potatoes are up so that 

 the rows can be followed, run a cultivator between the rows. If the 

 weeds are getting started, work as close to the potatoes as you can 

 without harming them. When working near the potatoes do not culti- 

 vate very deeply. If you already have control of the weeds, the first 

 cultivation should be a little farther away from the plants and as deep 

 as the cultivator can be made to go. If the first cultivation is close and 

 shallow the second should be deep. After this, give shallow cultivation 

 every ten days or two weeks as long as the cultivator will go between 

 the rows. Do not plow or hill up the potatoes unless you were com- 

 pelled to plant in a shallow soil. In a good, mellow potato soil deep 

 planting with level, persistent tillage is better, though digging the 

 potatoes will be harder. 



Potato blight is now so general throughout the State that it is not 

 safe to omit spraying with Bordeaux mixture for its prevention. If 

 printed instructions regarding the making and using of Bordeaux mix- 

 ture and poisons for the potato beetle are desired, this College or the 

 New York State Experiment Station at Geneva, N. Y., will supply them 

 on request. 



