720 ANNUAL REPORT OF THE Off. Doc. 



cided by the grower for his own soil and market — either quite early 

 or quite late. He may do best to get his chief growth before Au- 

 gust; he may do best to hold) the crop back for the cool season after 

 August. A compromise between these dates is not satisfactory in 

 the ordinary season, for the reasons stated. 



Depth of Planting. — Just as our knowledge of the nature of the 

 potato guides us in determining the time of planting, and the cor- 

 rectness of our knowledge is attested by our experience, so are we 

 guided in respect to the method. Much failure in the potato crop 

 is due to shallow planting. It is all right to plant corn shallow — 

 it wants the heat, and should root in the surface soil; but the seed 

 potato should be down where the soil is cool and moist. The depth 

 depends upon the soil. If it be loose and well-drained, a depth of 

 four or five inches under the level of the surface when firmed with 

 the hand is not too much. If the ground is heavy and" not well drain- 

 ed, a less depth is better. Experience was required to convince me 

 Ihat I was not planting three inches deep when dropping by hand in 

 furrows apparently five inches deep. The sides of the furrows, thv 

 pieces of turf that held the seed up from the furrow bottom, the ridge 

 thrown over the seed — all help to deceive one concerning depth. After 

 the planting, when the soil had been made level with the plank drag, 

 the seed would be found not two inches below the firmed surface. 

 This is a common mistake, and a serious one. It is true that a soil 

 may be so heavy in texture and so wet that it is wholly unfit for the 

 crop, and if it is planted the seed should be left very near the sur- 

 face so that the plant roots may have air, and that the tubers may 

 grow in loose soil thrown up into a ridge late in the season; but 

 planting in such ground is too hazardous for the man who has a liv- 

 ing to make in this world. It is better to underdirain, and thus to 

 lower the level of soil water, and to make the soil loose by the addi- 

 tion of organic matiMial; tlien potatoes can be planted at a good 

 depth with chance of a fair crop almost in any season. For heavy 

 soils, no matter how well drained, three inches of depth below the 

 leveled and firmed surface may be sufficient; for looser soils the 

 depth should be greater. I dio not mean that the covering should 

 be a certain depth, but that the potato should be placed at the 

 depth mentioned below the level of the surface of the land. 



The Covering. — When planting in soils at all heavy, and especially 

 If the planting be early so that heavy rains are probable, I esteem 

 the manner of covering the seed one of the most important points to 

 be observed. My conviction in this matter rests first upon the im- 

 proved yields secured in my fields during the five years that I have 

 been covering the seed very shallow. A few years previous to the 

 adoption of the present method it was realized that the potato seed 

 should be planted at a good depth, wiiere there w^as moisture and a 



