No. 6. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 725 



others. When seed is dropped into the ordinary furrow, the pieces 

 often fall to one side or to the other of the center, and are held up by 

 little clods or other soil that has fallen back from the sides. I should 

 prefer to pay one dollar an acre for use of a planter rather than to 

 have the \\'ork done by hand free of charge. But the planter must 

 be a good one that does not miss hills in its work. 



The man who plants five acres of potatoes a year should have the 

 use of a jjlanter. Ownership of such implements is desirable becauso 

 then there need be no delay when the work should be done, though 

 the hiring of implements may be entirely feasible in many instances. 

 But in all this there is no desire to discourage the man who wants to 

 plant only two or three acres a year and can not hire potato machin- 

 ery. He is not greatly handicapped in liis competition with larger 

 growers. His s^mall acreage can be given plenty of care, and can be 

 made to yield nearly as much net profit per acre as that gotten in 

 large fields by use of special machinery. The furrows opened to re- 

 ceive the seed should have a chain dragged through them to push 

 small clods or loose soil to either side, straightening the line in 

 which the pieces fall. The covering should be moist soil if the seed is 

 fresh cut. The seed should be cut with such care that all bad pieces 

 are discarded. In these ways the prospect for a crop may be made 

 even better on a small plat than that of a large field where there is 

 constant temptation to rush the work at the expense of future re- 

 sults. 



There is an old custom of putting two seed pieces into each hill. 

 Jt has its advantage in case of the use of untrustworthy potatoes for 

 planting, as there is the chance that if one piece does not send up a 

 good plant, the other piece, cut probably from another tuber, may 

 give a good plant, and the hill is not a total failure. But when care 

 is taken to have good seed, nothing is gained by cutting fine and 

 using two pieces in a hill, while there is loss from unnecessary ex- 

 posure of cut surface to the soil, be it wet or dry. When a lot of seed 

 is good enough to be used, there is loss and no gain from such fine 

 cutting that two seed pieces are required in a hill. 



Distance Between Hills. — The width between rows is governed by 

 the habit of growth of the variety. The rows should be sufficiently 

 close to secure thorough shading of the surface when the vines 

 have reached full growth. The shading prevents evaporation of soil 

 moisture and helps to protect the stems from the burning rays of 

 the sun. Thirty-six inches between row^s give sufficient space for 

 any variety, and for early varieties I prefer not more than thirty-two 

 inches. In the drilled row the distance between hills is governed by 

 the amount of seed used in the hill and by the variety planted. As- 

 suming that the seed piece is a fair-sized block of potato containing 

 two strong eyes, eighteen inches give good space for rank-growing 

 varieties. Land may be so foul or heavy that checking is best, but in 



