186 STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



FRIDAY AFTERNOON. 



GROWING POTATOES. 



I. N. COWDRBY, ITHACA. 



The potato question is rather a dull one to talk on at the present 

 time, and instead of telling how to raise more potatoes, it would be more 

 in order, perhaps, to try to tell how to get rid of what you already have 

 on hand at a profit. I heard one man say that there was money in 

 potatoes at present prices, for he had put money into it and hadn't got it 

 out yet, so he concluded there was money in it. 



SOIL. 



My choice of soil is, for potatoes, first, a sandy loam, next a gravelly 

 loam, and a clay loam next. Do not consider muck land good at any 

 time. A clover sod is always desirable. All cannot have the right kind 

 of soil, but can nearly always have the clover sod. 



The ground should be well plowed, about eight inches deep, and well 

 fitted with fine harrow, so as to cut the soil up very fine. A roller should 

 never be used, as potato ground should be kept loose and not packed 

 down. 



PLANTING. 



We plant in drills, with rows thirty-two inches apart, and from twelve 

 to twenty inches apart in the rows, according to varieties; the earlier 

 sorts being twelve inches and the later kind twenty inches. We furrow 

 out with a Planet Jr. horse cultivator with furrow attachments, about 

 five inches deep. We drop by hand, one piece in a place, and cover with 

 a plank float or spring tooth harrow, with teeth set shallow so as not to 

 displace the potatoes. We cut our seed with reference to the size of the 

 piece, rather than to the number of eyes in a piece. A potato the size of 

 a hen's egg is cut once in two lengthwise, and the larger ones are cut 

 more with reference to the eyes, from one to two eyes left on a piece. 



CULTIVATION. 



After the potatoes are planted and before the weeds begin to show, 

 we go over the ground with a spring tooth harrow with teeth set shallow, 

 and continue this dragging until there is danger to the potatoes. This 

 treatment kills every weed. After there is danger of using the spring 

 tooth, we use a smoothing harrow or weeder quite frequently, and con- 

 tinue until the vines are six or eight inches high. 



The first cultivation with a horse cultivator should be deep, and grad- 

 ually get shallower as the vines grow larger, till at last all cultivation 

 should not be over two inches deep. Fine cultivators should be used so 



