988 Rural School Leaflet 



cultural directions 

 E. R. Minns 



Soil. — For growing good potatoes one should choose a soil that is 

 mellow and that will be somewhat moist during the growing season. The 

 ideal soil is a sandy loam. Just as good potatoes may be grown on a 

 gravelly-loam soil, but stones large enough to interfere with cultivation 

 are objectionable. Good potatoes are often grown on shallow soils, if 

 such soils are rich enough and do not dry out badly in midsummer. 

 Generally a deep, rich, mellow soil is the best in which to grow prize 

 potatoes. 



Preparation. — Previous treatment of the soil is rather important. 

 If a crop of clover has been grown the year before and the sod turned 

 under in the autumn to be replowed in the spring, one is likely to have 

 the best conditions for a potato crop. Some growers prefer to plow 

 grain stubble for potatoes, but in any case it is well to enrich the soil by 

 manuring it the year before or by applying a good coat of well-rotted 

 barnyard manure before plowing in the spring. For growing early potatoes 

 a heavy coating of manure is needed. Late potatoes are often grown 

 without heavy applications of manure. On soils that are not rich in 

 humus it is wise to grow a cover-crop on the ground during the previous 

 winter, to be plowed under for green manure rather early in the spring. 

 If rye or rye and vetch have been grown in this way and plowed under, 

 one is likely to have a better potato crop than if the ground has been 

 left bare all winter. 



If the soil is deep the plowing may be as deep as ten inches. This will 

 give the potatoes a deep seed bed and plenty of feeding-ground for their 

 roots. If the soil is shallow it will not be wise to plow deeply and mix the 

 raw subsoil with the more fertile top soil just before planting. The 

 advantage of plowing in the previous autumn and replowing in the spring 

 is that the sod or other vegetable matter plowed under in the fall is largely 

 mixed with the soil, and the seed bed is made more mellow by the second 

 plowing in the spring. 



As soon as the spring plowing is done, one should try to make the seed 

 bed fairly fine without compacting it too much. Disk harrows, spring- 

 tooth harrows, and drags are the best tools to use in preparing the seed 

 bed. It is not wise to roll, or float, the potato field, nor is this necessary 

 if the plowing and the previous preparation have been done thoroughly. 



Fertilizers. — The use of commercial fertilizers on potato crops is very 

 important in some parts of New York State. Five to fifteen hundred 

 pounds of commercial fertilizer, rich in nitrogen and potash and containing 

 some phosphoric acid, are profitably used by many farmers. The use 

 of these fertilizers is especially desirable on sandy land that is poor in 



