528 STATE BOARD OF AGRICUDTURB. 



DEPTH OF PLANTING. 



The depth of planting the seed potato depends on the character of 

 soil and height of water table. On a light soil where level cultivation 

 is practiced the potatoes can be planted 4 to G inches deep. On a heavier 

 soil where the water table is near the surface and hilling is necessary 

 for drainage in order to keep the tubers out of the water at digging time, 

 the seed piece can be planted 2 to 3 inches deep and the plants gradually 

 ridged up, the greatest ridging coming at the first cultivations. 



METPIOD OP PLANTING. 



Two methods of planting potatoes are practiced, the hand method and 

 the machine method. The hand method may be accomplished by mark- 

 ing out the field, then making the holes with a' hoe and dropping the 



Fig. 20. A twenty acre field of potatoes on the Clearman Farms, Cornell. Delta County. 



July 29. 1910. 



potatoes and covering as you go, or by a hand planter. Another method 

 is by use of a shovel plow opening up a furrow, dropping the potatoes 

 and then covering them up by hand. The machine methods are accom- 

 plished by the use of mechanical planters, the picker type or one-man 

 planters, and the two-man planter. On purely commercial production 

 for table stock, the picker type planter may have the advantage, while 

 for the grower of fancy or seed potatoes that wants 100 per cent stand 

 so as to have uniformity in tubers produced, the two-man type may be 

 the best. 



CULTIVATION. 



Whether potatoes are cultivated before plants are up or after plants 

 are up, does not make an appreciable difference in yield. It does, how- 

 ever,-maka-a- big difiference in- the labop-^-ost of controlling the weeds. 

 The method used is occasionally to run a spring-toothed harrow lightly 



