Potato Cttlture. 





by plowing under green crops until 

 the whole soil to a proper depth is 

 completely filled with vegetable mat- 

 ter, will find to his satisfaction that 

 the potato can yet be grown in all its 

 pristine vigor and productiveness. 



To realize from potato-growing the 

 ' greatest possible profits, (and profits 

 are what we are all after,) the follow- 

 ing conditions must be strictly ad- 

 hered to : First, the ground chosen 

 must be dry, either naturally or made 

 so by thorough drainage; a gently 

 sloping, deep, sandy or gravelly loam 

 is preferable. Second, the land should 

 be liberally enriched with humus by 

 some of the means mentioned, if it is 

 not already present in the soil in suffi- 

 cient quantities, and the soil should 

 be deeply and thoroughly plowed, 

 rendering it light, porous, and pul- 

 verulent, that the air and moisture 

 may easily penetrate to any desirable 

 depth of it ; and a proper quantity of 

 either wood-ashes or lime, or both, 

 mixed with common salt, should be 

 harrowed into the surface before 

 planting, or be applied on top of the 

 hills immediately after planting. And, 

 finally, the cultivation and after-care 

 should be prompt, and given as soon as 

 needed. Nothing is more conducive 

 to failure, after the crop is properly 

 planted, than failure in promptness in 

 the cultivation and care required. 



GENERAL REMARKS ON MANURING 

 WITH GREEN CROPS. 



Experience proves that no better 

 method can be adopted to bring up 

 lands partially exhausted, which are re- 

 mote from cities, than plowing under 

 green crops. By this plan the farmer 

 can take lot after lot, and soon bring 

 all up to a high state of fertility. 

 True, he gathers no crop for one year, 

 but the outlay is little ; and if in the 

 second year he gathers as much from 



one acre as he formerly did from 

 three, he is still largely the gainer. 



It costs no more to cultivate an 

 acre of rich, productive land than an 

 acre of poor, unproductive land ; and 

 the pleasure and profit of harvesting 

 a crop that abundantly rewards the 

 husbandman for his care and labor 

 are so overwhelmingly in favor of 

 rich land as to need no comment. 

 Besides, manuring with green crops 

 is not transitory in its effects ; the land 

 remembers the generous treatment for 

 many years, and if at times lime or 

 ashes be added to assist decomposi- 

 tion, will continue to yield remunera- 

 tive crops long after land but once 

 treated with stable manure or guano 

 fails to produce any thing but weeds. 

 The skinning process, the taking off 

 of every thing grown on the soil and 

 returning nothing to it, is ruinous 

 alike to farm and farmer. Thousands 

 of acres can be found in various parts 

 of the country too poor to pay for 

 cultivating without manuring. Of 

 the capabilities of their lands under 

 proper treatment the owners thereof 

 have no idea whatever. Such men 

 say they can not make enough ma- 

 nure on the farm and are too poor 

 to buy. Why not, then, commence 

 plowing under green crops, the only 

 manure within easy reach ? If fifty 

 acres can not be turned under the first 

 year, put at least one acre under, 

 which will help feed the rest. Why 

 be contented with thirty bushels of 

 corn per acre, when eighty or one 

 hundred may be had ? Why raise 

 eight or twelve bushels of wheat per 

 acre, when forty may as well be had ? 

 Why cut but one half-ton of hay per 

 acre, when the laws of nature allow at 

 least three? Why spend precious 

 time digging only one hundred bush- 

 els of potatoes per acre, when with 

 proper care and culture three or four 

 hundred may easily be obtained? 

 And, finally, why toil and sweat, and 



