222 NORTHEAST EXPERIMENT FARM. 
such farming and even if kept out, blight and bugs get 
worse, and the yield falls off through the soil getting out of 
condition and losing its humus and fertility. On the same 
plot treated three years for scab successfully, the yield in 
1901 was 131 bushels compared with an average of 244 
bushels on four other plots which for the two years previous 
had been planted to grain and grass. When ground becomes 
scabby it remains so forseveral years even if no potatoes are 
planted in the interval. Where potatoes cannot be planted 
on new land they can always be put upon a piece which has 
not grown them for some time. Sod land is excellent if 
rightly treated. Old sod should be rather deeply plowed in 
the fall and worked up for the potatoes. Sod which bore 
clover the preceding year and had both crops cut, is not of 
sufficient toughness to interfere with the growth of the pota- 
toes and may bespring plowed, planting them in every third 
furrow next the edge. This wasdone in 1902,and gave 230 
bushels per acre. The richness of the land greatly affects the 
size of the yield. In ’96, on two fields which had received the 
same treatment previously, the one dressed with stable ma- 
nure gave 231 bushels while the other field yielded 183 bush- 
els per acre. The difference in yield betore noted, on the plot 
continuously in potatoes, with other plots on which the crops 
were rotated, is due largely to the better condition of thesoil 
of these plots due to adding sod or manure. Stable manure 
has a more beneficial effect, and lasts longer in the soil than 
the prepared commercial fertilizers. A comparative test with 
potatoes on two plots that had grown oats for two years 
previous, using about the same amount of fertilizer accord- 
ing to the analysis as was contained inthe manure used, 
gave a yield of 282.5 bushels for the manured plot, and 180 
bushels on the plot with fertilizer. In raising potatoes, big 
yields pay, and with nocrop will it pay better to expend 
thought, labor and manure, in the proper selection and 
preparation of the soil. 
Roots may be made quite an important crop for stock 
feeding in this section. Their place asa feed is more asa 
supplement to the main ration than asubstitute. Fed in 
small quantities with hay or fodder, the roots keep the sys- 
tem in good condition, improve the digestion, and cause the 
