108 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



FIELD-CROPS OF VEGETABLES. 



ESSEX. 



POTATOES. 



[Statement of J. B. Knight.] 



The crop of 1876 and 1877 was grass, no dressing applied: 

 the soil is a rather heavy loam. For the crop of 1878 the 

 ground was ploughed in the fall of 1877 seven inches deep, 

 at the cost of four dollars per acre. About eight cords per 

 acre of barnyard-manure were hauled on the ground in the 

 spring of 1878, at an estimated value of four dollars per 

 cord, and cut in with the wheel harrow. 



It was planted with Early Rose potatoes the first and sec- 

 ond week in May, using the small or medium size, taken 

 from the pile put in in the fall for market, — about twelve or 

 fourteen bushels per acre, at an estimated cost of twelve 

 dollars per acre, for seed and planting. They were planted 

 in rows three feet apart, and three feet between hills. The 

 cultivator was passed between the rows before the potatoes 

 came up ; after they came up, they were cultivated and hoed 

 twice, at a cost of six dollars per acre. They were har- 

 vested the latter part of September, at a cost of eight dollars 

 per acre. 



A part of this piece was planted with one potato, of small 

 or medium size, in a hill, and a part with a large potato cut 

 in two, with one piece to a hill. Where the whole potato 

 was planted, the appearance for the first part of the season 

 was much more forward than where the piece was planted, 

 and I think that a good start in the spring has much to do 

 with the crop late in the season, and the harvesting of this 

 crop goes far to confirm this opinion. 



The yield was a hundred sixty-four bushels and a half, 

 of sixty pounds to the bushel, of merchantable potatoes. 

 The extent of the piece was ninety-four rods. 



