60 VERMONT AGRICULTURAL REPORT. 



do that ; but I have given you, free gratis, the great founda- 

 tion of our success — "clover and tillage." Very briefly I 

 might add, don't let your seed sprout at all until after it is in 

 the ground, for main crop. Don't use any potatoes for plant- 

 ing except ripe, sound, perfect ones of good merchantable size. 

 Treat all seed for scale; spray if you are troubled with blight. 

 By the way, I saw a western wheel cultivator with a sprayer 

 attached that the driver used to spray a row at the same time 

 he was cultivating it. You will have to stir yourselves to 

 compete with these fellows, but a Yankee should be able to 

 get ahead of them. Find what will do best on your soil and 

 then do not grow more than one or two kinds. Straight 

 goods sell better than mixed. Don't let any light get to your 

 potatoes for a minute that you can help, from the time they 

 are dug until they are eaten. Don't let light get to them in 

 the soil ; it makes them yellow inside, if not green. For this 

 reason, and to avoid injuring roots, we have always gown 

 them in drills and without hilling. With the weeder and 

 harrow they can be kept clean just as cheaply. If you grow 

 potatoes on a large scale get a Robins planter and a Hoover 

 digger. If the land is not over steep, side hill, or too stony, 

 and the potatoes are ripe and sound when dug, the Hoover 

 will do nice work; but we use four horses on it. It is all iron 

 and not suitable for digging green potatoes, of course. We 

 find bushel boxes very nice to pick up in, using them by the 

 hundred. They are made of light wood and are 16x13x13 

 inches inside, with finger holes in the ends. You can buy 

 them, in the flat cheaply, of the A. I. Root Co.. Medina, O. In a 

 small way, plow out furrows four inches deep for planting, 

 and plow back. We cut seed mostly to one eye, but it is 

 prime, sound seed, and the soil is rich and culture high. Use 

 more seed for less favorable conditions. Drill culture and 

 light seeding gives us a crop more uniform in size. 



