390 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



Cut the seed as planted, two eyes to a piece, with plenty of potato 

 for the plant to feed upon until roots are formed strong enough to 

 supply nourishment to the plant; that is, if potatoes are the size of 

 large hen's eggs, and the eyes are fairly well distributed and cut 

 into quarters. But the preponderance of eyes on the seed end, as it 

 is called, makes cutting scientifically a difficult matter. Eyes in the 

 stem end are the last to start; hence, for especially early selection 

 the seed end only should be used. Should the seed be scabby, soak 

 in corrosive sublimate solution after cutting. Formaline has not 

 proved satisfactory with us. 



Drop the potatoes fourteen to sixteen inches apart in rows in rich 

 land, twelve inches apart in poor land. Take a one-horse plow, 

 hold on the mould-board side and cover the potatoes from three or 

 four inches deep, enough so to insure against frost and drying out. 

 This will be more likely to start potatoes early, giving the land a 

 chance to get warm, the heat coming from above, and the depressed 

 farrows keeping warm and moist, being below the sweep of the 

 'winds. 



As the potatoes are starting through the ground, harrow across 

 the rows to further cover potatoes and kill germinating weeds. 

 Again in a week or ten days repeat the harrowing, using a slanting 

 tooth harrow, and the land will, or ought to, be nearly level and the 

 potatoes well above the ground. This harrowing should be repeat- 

 ed every week until the potatoes are four or five inches high. If 

 harrowed a warm afternoon when the vines are wilted they will suf- 

 fer but little from this apparently rough treatment, and many little 

 -weeds will be destroyed, and thus hand labor will be avoided, which 

 labor is very destructive to the slender profits in these times of low 

 prices. 



Horace Greely, when once addressing the farmers at a county fair, 

 remarked: "I suppose you have all got past the folly of hoeing 

 corn"— when he was greeted with "no, no! " "Well," said Horace,"you 

 can't afford it." 



Neither can we afford to hoe potatoes, nor do we need to if the har- 

 row is kept going and followed by the light cultivator or sulky plow, 

 hilling as little as possible. Hilling will do if the season be wet, but 

 for dry seasons level culture and frequent is the more desirable. 



The potatoes through the ground and harrowed need at once the 

 attention of the sprinkler. Paris green seems the most efficient in 

 destroying the bugs, one teaspoonful to a gallon of water, and this 

 is made more effective if first mixed with rye flour and made into a 

 paste, then dissolved in the water. An attachment is now made for 

 sulky plows, the Paris green being mixed with land plaster and then 

 distributed by that patent attachment while cultivating, thus sav- 

 ing all extra labor. The land plaster is beneficial to the potato in 

 absorbing nitrogen from the air and giving it up to the potato 

 plant. For applying with water various devices are used. A bar- 

 rel on wheels with a horse attached is used for large tracts, four 

 pipes with sprayers leading from the barrel. Bordeaux mixture 

 may be applied at the same time, thus preventing blight. 



The early market is generally the paying one. Hence when po- 

 latoes are the size of hen's eggs, if the market be high— and that is 



