Potato Culture. 



the three staple articles of food. It 

 is held in such universal esteem as to 

 be regarded as nearly indispensable. 

 This fact is sufficient to render a tho- 

 rough knowledge of the best varieties 

 for use, the character of soil best 

 adapted to their growth, their culti- 

 vation and after-care, matters of the 

 highest importance to the farmers of 

 the United States. 



The main object of this essay is so 

 to instruct the novice in potato-grow- 

 ing that he may be enabled to go 

 to work understandingly and produce 

 the potato in its highest perfection, 

 and realize from his labors bestowed 

 on the crop the greatest possible pro- 

 fits. 



SOIL REQUIRED ITS PliEPARA- 

 TION. 



The potato is most profitably 

 grown in a warm, dry, sandy, or gra- 

 velly loam, well filled with decayed 

 vegetable matters. The famous po- 

 tato lands of Lake County, Ohio, 

 from which such vast quantities of 

 potatoes are shipped yearly, are yel- 

 low sand. This potato district is 

 confined to ridges running parallel 

 with Lake Erie, 'which, according to 

 geological indications, have each at 

 different periods defined its bounda- 

 ries. This sand owes much of its po- 

 tato-growing qualities to the sedimen- 

 tary deposit of the lake and to manu- 

 ral properties furnished by the decom- 

 position of the shells of water-snails, 

 shell-fish, etc., that inhabited the wa- 

 ters. 



New lands, or lands recently de- 

 nuded of the forest, if sufficiently dry, 

 produce tubers of the most excellent 

 quality. Grown on dry, new land, 

 the potato always cooks dry and 

 mealy, and possesses an agreeable 

 flavor and aroma, not to be attained 

 in older soils. In no argillaceous soil 

 can the potato be grown to perfection 

 as regards quality. Large crops on 



such soil may be obtained in favora- 

 ble seasons, but the tubers are inva- 

 riably coarse-fleshed and ill-flavored. 

 To produce roots of the best quality, 

 the ground must be dry, deep, and 

 porous ; and it should be remembered 

 that, to obtain very large crops, it is 

 almost impossible to get too much 

 humus in the soil. Humus is usually 

 added to arable land either by plow- 

 ing under green crops, such as clover, 

 buckwheat, peas, etc., or by drawing 

 and working in muck obtained from 

 swamps and low places. 



The muck should be drawn to the 

 field in fall or winter, and exposed in 

 small heaps to the action of frost. In 

 the following spring, sufficient lime 

 should be mixed with it to neutralize 

 the acid, (which is found in nearly all 

 muck,) and the whole be spread 

 evenly and worked into the surface 

 with harrow or cultivator. 



Leaves from the woods, buckwheat 

 straw, bean, pea, and hop vines, etc., 

 plowed under long enough before 

 planting to allow them time to rot, 

 are very beneficial. Sea-weed, when 

 bountifully applied, and turned under 

 early in the fall, has no superior as a 

 manure for the potato. No stable or 

 barn-yard manure should be applied 

 to this crop. If such nitrogenous 

 manure must be used on the soil, it 

 is better to apply it to some other 

 crop, to be followed the succeeding 

 year by potatoes. The use of stable 

 manure predisposes the tubers to rot ; 

 detracts very much from the desired 

 flavor; besides, generally not more 

 than one half as many bushels can be 

 grown per acre as can be obtained by 

 using manures of a different nature. 

 Market gardeners, many of whom 

 from necessity plant on the same 

 ground year after year, often use fine 

 old stable manure with profit. Usu- 

 ally they plant only the earlier varie- 

 ties, crowd them with all possible 

 speed, dig early, and sell large and 



