340 THE AMERICAN FARMER. 



or horse-hoe to run in both directions, while experiments prove that the yield of both methods 

 is about the same, the drills, perhaps, giving slightly the larger crop. If planted in drills 

 and the land is sloping, the drills should be made to run in the direction of the slope, so as to 

 admit of partial drainage, and prevent washing in heavy showers. If drill planting is 

 decided upon, and the planting is to be done by hand, the rows should be marked with a 

 plow suited to the purpose, making small furrows about four inches deep, the furrows about 

 three feet apart. If planted in hills, the furrows should be marked across the field at the 

 same distance, so that the marking will be in squares. 



When chemical fertilizers are used, they should not come in direct contact with the seed, 

 but should be mixed with four or five times their bulk of soil before being put in the hills or 

 drills, or should be slightly covered with soil before dropping the seed. The seed should then 

 be dropped, two or three pieces to the hill, or if in drills, a single piece every ten or twelve 

 inches, after which the covering can be done by a plow or hand hoe. Planting is done to a 

 considerable extent in many localities by a potato planter. 



These machines mark the rows, cut the potatoes for dropping, drop and cover the seed 

 at one operation. The following cut represents one of these implements, manufactured by 

 Nash & Brother, New York City. The hopper will hold about a bushel of potatoes, and the 

 knife is so arranged that it will be almost impossible to cut pieces without one or more eyes 

 in them. As a general 

 rule, the planting should 

 be done early in the sea 

 son. Farmers frequently 

 delay this until so late that 

 the crop does not have suf 

 ficient time to mature. It 

 was formerly the custom 

 to plant potatoes after the 

 corn planting was com 

 pleted, but our best farm 

 ers now have the planting 

 of this crop precede that 

 of corn. Even the late- 

 ripening varieties should be 

 planted as early as the 

 ground will admit. Mr. TRUE S POTATO PLANTER. 



H. Stewart, of New Jersey, says, as the result of his experience: &quot; I presume that the precise 

 meaning of the word late, as applied to any soil product, is that it has a longer period of 

 growth than the early kinds. Thus early peas, potatoes, or corn may mature in forty or fifty, 

 seventy or eighty days respectively, while late sorts may take fifteen or twenty days longer 

 to mature. But practice does not conform to this natural characteristic, and it seems to be 

 based rather on a supposition that these later maturing kinds require to be planted late. 



A neighbor expressed surprise to see me planting Evergreen sweet corn on the same day 

 with Early Concord, and that Early Vermont and Late Rose potatoes should go into the 

 ground the same week, and each kind be treated precisely alike as regards planting. But 

 that is my way, and I think I am right. Last year I had an excellent crop of Peachblows, 

 a kind which I plant for my own use, on account of their superior quality, and the seed was 

 put in the ground the day after Early Rose and Snowflake. The Peachblow was green in 

 November after having been in the ground more than six months, and in yield surpassed 

 greatly the Early Rose. 



Do we give the late varieties, when we plant them so late as is usually done, sufficient 



