Potato Culture. 



soil besides mere anchorage. All facts 

 go to show that if the constituents 

 needed by the plant from the soil are 

 not present in the soil, the efforts of 

 the plant toward proper development 

 are abortive ? What sane farmer ex- 

 pects to move a heavy load over a 

 rugged road with a team so lean 

 and poverty-stricken that they cast 

 but a faint shadow ? Yet is he much 

 nearer sanity when lie expects farming 

 to be pleasant and profitable, and 

 things to move aright, unless his land 

 is strong and fat ? Is he perfectly 

 sane when he thinks he can skin his 

 farm year after year, and not finally 

 come to the bone ? The farmer on 

 exhausted land must of necessity use 

 manure. Manure of so?ne kind must 

 go under, or he must go under; and 

 to the great mass of cultivators no 

 mode of enriching is so feasible, so 

 cheap, and attended with such satis- 

 factory results, as that of plowing un- 

 der green crops. 



The old plan of leaving an exhaust- 

 ed farm, and going West in search of 

 rich " government land," must soon be 

 abandoned. Already the head of the 

 column of land-hunters have " fetched 

 up" against the Pacific, and it is 

 doubtful whether their anxious gaze 

 will discover any desirable unoccupied 

 soil over its waters. 



The writer would not be understood 

 as saying that all farms are exhaust- 

 ed, or that there is no way of recu- 

 peration but by plowing under green 

 crops. What he wishes understood 

 is, that where poor, sandy, or gravelly 

 lands are found, which bring but small 

 returns to the owner, by subjecting 

 them to the process indicated, such 

 lands bring good crops of the kind 

 under consideration. And further, 

 that land in the proper condition to 

 yield a maximum crop of potatoes, 

 is fitted to grow other crops equally 

 well. Neither would the writer be un- 

 derstood as arguing that a crop of 



clover and one of buckwheat should 

 be turned under for each crop of po- 

 tatoes ; where land is already in high 

 condition, it may not be necessary. 

 A second growth of clover plowed 

 under in the fall for planting early 

 kinds, and a clean clover sod turned 

 in flat furrows in the spring, for the 

 late market varieties, answer very 

 well. To turn flat furrows, take the 

 furrow-slice wide enough to have it 

 fall completely inside the preceding 

 one. 



Potatoes should not be planted 

 year after year on the same ground ; 

 trouble with weeds and rapid deterio- 

 ration of quality and quantity of tu- 

 bers soon render the crop unprofita- 

 ble. Loamy soil planted continuously 

 soon becomes compact, heavy, and 

 lifeless. Where of necessity potatoes" 

 must be grown yearly on the same 

 soil, it is advisable to dig rather early, 

 and bury the vines of each hill in the 

 one last dug ; then harrow level, and 

 sow rye to be plowed under next 

 planting time. 



The intelligent farmer, who grows 

 large crops for market, will always so 

 arrange as to have a clover-sod on 

 dry land in high condition each year 

 for potatoes. It is said by many, in 

 regard to swine, that " the breed is in 

 the trough ;" though this is certainly 

 untrue to a certain extent, yet it is un- 

 deniable that in potato-growing suc- 

 cess or failure is in the character of 

 soil chosen for their production. 



Why clover, or clover and buck- 

 wheat lands, are so strongly urged is, 

 such lands have in them just what 

 the tubers need for their best and 

 healthiest development; the soil is 

 rendered so rich, light, and porous, 

 and so free from weeds, that the cul- 

 tivation of such land is rather a plea- 

 sure than otherwise, and at the close 

 of the season the tangible profits in 

 dollars and cents are highly gratify- 

 ing. 



