526 



STATE BOARD OF A<1RICULTURE. 



FERTILIZERS. 



Complete fertilizers if used should be applied to the sugar beet or 

 potato crop. Acid phosphate usually gives good results and should be 

 applied once every three or four years. This can best be done on the 

 small grain or hay crop at the rate of 200 to 400 pounds per acre. 



POTATO CULTURE. 



The potato is the most important and valuable cash crop for the 

 average farmer in the Upper Peninsula. Climatic and soil conditions 

 of this section insure not only a good yield of this crop but also a potato 

 of superior quality. Growers are being urged to make an effort to help 

 standardize varieties and improve the "Cloverland" potato. 



TREPARATION OP THE SEED BED. 



Potatoes should be planted on sod land, as a general method. They 

 constitute about 70 per cent of the total acreage of crops grown on 

 newly cleared land, which is well suited to the production of this crop. 



When a three or four year rotation is practiced, the potato crop is 

 usually followed by oats, barley, or spring wheat and seeded down to 

 clover and timothy. After the hay is removed a coat of manure should 

 be applied and the second growth of grass plowed under in the fall. 



Fig. 19. A portion of a seven acre field of potatoes on the farm of Chas. Salewsky. Menominee. 



Spring plowing is practiced on some of the lighter soils, but on most 

 soils fall plowing generally gives the best results. In the spring the 

 ground should be disced and harrowed until a good seed-bed is secured. 

 If the sod is spring plowed, it is well to disc it before plowing as this 

 breaks up the sod into small pieces that will mix through the furrow 

 slice and favor the supply of capillary water coming up to the surface. 

 If clover sod is not available, then top-dress with well rotted manure 



