ROOTS AND ESCULENT TUBES. 373 



To grow them with the best success, the soil should be rich, and plowed rather deeply, 

 followed by harrowing. They are usually planted in hills, though sometimes in drills, but as 

 they grow and spread so rapidly, the former is the better mode. The ground should be pre 

 pared as for potatoes, although, if moderately fertile, a good crop can be produced without 

 any manure. The hills should be about three feet apart. About three bushels of the tubers 

 will be required per acre, planting the small ones whole, and the larger ones in pieces con 

 taining one or two eyes, with only about two of such pieces to a hill. A potato-planter may 

 be used for this purpose, or they may be dropped by hand and covered with a light plow or 

 hand-hoe, the covering to be about as deep as that for potatoes. The planting should be done 

 as eai ly as the ground will admit. They should be kept free from weeds by the use of the 

 cultivator or hoe. 



Soon after blossoming, which is in August, the tubers begin to form, and continue to 

 grow rapidly until the frost kills he stalks, or they are cut down. 



It is said that the tubers can be largely increased in size by pinching off the tops just 

 previous to flowering. If the crop is harvested, instead of being left in the ground during 

 the winter, it will be ready for gathering as soon as the tops have withered. They may be 

 stored the same as potatoes or turnips. 



Chufas. This crop is cultivated mostly in the Southern States for its tubers, which are 

 used principally as food for swine and poultry. They have a sweet, nut-like flavor, and pos 

 sess considerable nutrition. They are difficult to eradicate from the soil, very productive, 

 and easily cultivated. 



Cultivation. This crop is propagated by means of the tubers. It will thrive on 

 almost any soil, a sandy loam being the best. The land should be plowed to a moderate 

 depth, and harrowed. On rich land, good crops can be produced without much manure 

 being applied, but where the soil is not naturally fertile, a good supply of manure should be 

 given it. The planting should be done about the time of corn planting, in drills from two 

 to two and a half feet apart, the tubers being about a foot apart in the row. 



The tubers should be dropped singly and covered with about two inches of soil. The 

 weeds should be kept down, and the soil occasionally stirred with a horse-hoe or cultivator, 

 the same as for potatoes. It is a plant that is best adapted to a Southern climate, although it 

 will grow in much cooler temperatures, and as far north as Massachusetts. 



Ridge Culture for Root Crops. Ridge culture has some special advantages in 

 growing root crops, especially where the soil is heavy and rather wet; but it will fail if the 

 manure is coarse, and not well mingled with the soil. It is often resorted to when lands are 

 insufficiently drained, thus securing the advantage of drainage. 



The use of coarse manure in a wet season will not affect the crop, however, to the extent 

 that it will if the season is unusually dry, as plants will always suffer in time of drought, if 

 large pieces of manure are left under them. In sections possessing light soil and subject to 

 severe drought, ridging would not be advisable, providing the whole surface be well manured, 

 and the soil deeply pulverized before planting. 



The usual method of ridging is to first get the soil in a fine, mellow condition, and then 

 plow the land into furrows, the distance apart varying according to the kind of crop to be 

 grown. The common practice is to turn two furrows together from opposite directions, and 

 plant upon the top of the ridges. The manure in such cases is sometimes applied broadcast, 

 and harrowed into the soil before ridging, and sometimes placed in the furrows and covered 

 with the soil. The former method requires more manure, but less labor in preparing; the 

 latter economizes manure, but involves extra plowing to throw the soil over the manure, and 

 change the furrow where it was deposited into a ridge. This method is as follows: After 

 pulverizing the soil and throwing it into ridges with the plow, finely-pulverized manure is 



