N-) «. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. Itt 



to serve if plowed early. When the planting is to be done in early 

 spring a timothy sod should be broken the preceding fall, and los* 

 from winter exposure may be prevented by a seeding to rye. No in- 

 considerable amount of potatoes is grown in the farm and village 

 garden and truck patch that have no proper rotation of crops, and 

 such land always should have its winter cover crop of rye, crimson 

 clover, rape or other similar growth. 



Stable Manure. — The use of stable manure on potato land is very 

 universally condemned by writers. When we view the ill effects only, 

 the condemnation appears none too severe; but there is another side 

 to the question demanding consideration. Frefih stable manure in 

 the soil favors diseases that roughen the skin of the tubers. Our 

 city markets bear evidence of the wide prevalence of soil ddseases 

 that reduce the value of crops, and it is the tendency of such diseases 

 to increase and finally to cripple most seriously the ind'ustry of po- 

 tato-growing. In view of this, the safe thing has seemed to be to 

 discountenance all use of stable manure — especially that of the horse 

 — on potatoes. But the writer shares the common experience of a 

 host of growers that an application of farm manure, properly made, 

 increases the net profit from potato fields, and we stop here to sift the 

 matter for the sake of truth. 



Going back to the fact that the potato wants its organic mat- 

 ter thoroughly rotted, we understand the good results gotten from 

 potatoes after corn when the «»od for corn has been sufficiently 

 well manured to supply the soil for two years. The tubers are 

 clean and thin-skinned, excelling in appearance the crop gotten 

 where fresh organic matter abounds. It is right, then, to use 

 manure on a crop preceding potatoes rather than upon potatoes, but 

 the supply must be equal to the demands of the two crops, and if the 

 first be corn, as is a common custom in some districts, that means 

 a large supply. But I keep in mind, in this writing, the circum- 

 stances of a large class that either have land in limited amount or 

 have manure in small sui>ply, and are led by necessity to the planting 

 of potatoes in land not perfectly fitted. With them the question is 

 not what they would choose to secure perfection of conditions but 

 what they may do to make the best of their situation. If land is lack- 

 ing in physical condition, having had too heavy draft upon its supply 

 of humus, and withal is to be planted with potatoes, it is usually 

 wise to use a dressing of stable manure. This manure should be ap- 

 plied in the fall, and the best results are gotten from plowing it under 

 to a depth of four or five inches before the middle of September in 

 order that a winter-cover crop, like rye, may be seeded. In the spring 

 the ^over crop should be plowed down, the ground being broken 

 deeply, and then the manure with its leachings is brought toward the 

 surface and well distributed throughout the soil. The manure 

 brings humus and fertility, and the soil lacking these should have the 



