458 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



not be half the consternation that is caused by a frost coming- when 

 the potatoes are about an inch or two above ground. And when we 

 consider that there are a bout $2,000,000 worth of potatoes exported an- 

 nually, and that, if good prices are to be obtained, these must be put 

 on the market before the French and English potatoes are ready, we 

 can see what harm a frost does. 



The ground that is to be planted to potatoes is generally manured 

 and the manure plowed under in the winter. Planting takes place 

 early in January, and a Minnesota gardener who is used to the 

 potato planter would be surprised if he could see a Jersey man 

 planting. The potatoes are planted at intervals of nine inches, in 

 rows that are about fourteen inches apart. The farmer marks ofif 

 the rows with aline and then proceeds to dig a trench with his 

 epade; a boy goes along and sprinkles a small amount of guano in 

 the trench and is followed by another boy who places the potp.toes 

 in their proper position, which is rather a delicate operation, as the 

 potatoes are always sprouted in a cellar, and care must be taken not 

 to break these sprouts. The line is now moved back fourteen 

 inches, and a new trench dug, the first being filled from the soil of 

 the second, and so on throughout the whole field. The land is kept 

 carefully cultivated, and weeds are seldom seen. The potatoes are 

 hilled up in the rows. 



The latter part of May, the harvesting of this important crop 

 begins. If you were to go down to the harbor some evening about 

 that time, 5'ou would notice many boats coming in — sailing boats 

 mostly — and by their rigging you would know that they were French 

 trading boats, but their cargo is a human one. They are bringing 

 French laborers over to help in the harvest, and as they come ashore 

 you might wonder how it was possible to stow them all away in so 

 small a space, but they manage it somehow, and Breton peasants 

 are not particular. Most of the laborers carry forks, a few of them 

 scythes, and the women have several long rolls of French bread. As 

 a rule, they are good workers, and as the number of those who come 

 over lowers the price of labor, the gardener can afford to have quite 

 a few helpers. 



Digging now commences; the men dig, and the women and chil- 

 dren pick up and sort the potatoes, which are then carefully packed 

 in barrels and taken to town. Six hundred to seven hundred bush- 

 els an acre is a good yield. If we follow a load to market, a busy 

 scene meets our eye; every road that leads to the harbor is full of 

 vans heavily laden with barrels of potatoes. Around the harbors 

 everything is in a bustle, and in the height of the season you may 

 see as many as thirty large steamers into whose holds the potatoes 

 are being stowed with as much speed as possible. They are then 

 carried to London, Liverpool, Hull or Southampton. 



After the potatoes are dug, some cereal such as wheat is planted, 

 and this is followed by roots, among which the parsnip, a favorite 

 food for cattle, is conspicuous. Thus the land is sometimes made 

 to yield three crops in one year. 



Vegetables of all kinds, broccoli, cauliflower, peas, beans, aspara- 

 gus and small fruits, strawberries, gooseberries, currants, all grow 



