NOVEMBER 15, 1915 



961 



POTATOES AND POTATO-GROWING HERE IN 

 THE NORTH. 



-About the first thing I did after I got 

 back to Oiiio last May was to i)lant some 

 potatoes. I sent and got half a bushel of 

 Early Ohio and a peck of Six Weeks. The 

 iatler are said to be a Utile earlier than the 

 Early Ohio. 1 lliink both were planted about 

 May 15; and as the weather was favorable 

 both made a good erowth. Now, our Me- 

 dina garden has grown potatoes for a dozen 

 3cavs or more, and potatoes have been on 

 the same gi'ound year after year. The con- 

 sequenee is, they usually scab badly. There 

 are grubs and worms also that seem to bite 

 into them. It illustrates the folly of trying 

 to grow the same crop j-ear after year on 

 the same ground. Mrs. Root finally declar- 

 ed that she did not want anr more potatoes 

 planted in that old garden. Well, the Six 

 Weeks grew rather better than the Early 

 Ohio, and they ripened up quicker. From 

 the peck, I got about three bushels of nice 

 potatoes of good quality, Avith very little 

 scab. I have just now planned to ship them 

 down to Florida to try them there. The 

 half-bushel of Early Ohio gave also about 

 a barrel, but was later in ripening, and 

 therefore caught the blight, and were also 

 fearfully scabby, and gnawed up by worms 

 and grubs. Besides that, they were badly 

 rotted, and kept on rotting after they were 

 dug and put into a cold cellar. 



It has been said that the Early Ohio has 

 been grown for so many years that it is 

 " worn out ;" but because of its excellent 

 quality a good many still hold on to it. 

 Well, now, there is a good deal in getting 

 the right variety of potatoes or a potato 

 suited to your soil. A little later I planted 

 a few Idaho Russets. These were not scab- 

 bed at all, but the blight .stuck the vines 

 before they were quite mature. I also 

 fdanted a few Carman No. 3. These gave a 

 nice crop of smooth potatoes with just a 

 little rot ; and ray son-in-law, whose garden 

 af^joins mine, had a dozen bushels or more 

 i-^rvery nice smooth Carmans. But pota- 

 toes have not been grown on his ground as 

 long as on mine. By the way, when you 

 discover your potatoes are beginning to rot, 

 especially if the season is wet like the one 

 just past, the sooner you get them out of 

 the ground and get them thoroughly dried 

 out, the better. Of course they should be 

 dried out in a cool dark place, for sunlight 

 injures potatoes for table use, as any good 

 housewife can tell you. 



The complaint has been made that the 

 general run of farm papers give only good 

 reports — successes and not marked failures 



-so I think I will give you a report of one 

 of my failures. 



About the first of June I saw a potato 

 highly recommended in one of the catalogs. 

 It was called the Commercial. One potato 

 would be sent by mail for 15 cents. I ac- 

 cordingly sent foi' one; and as it was of 

 good size I cut it so as to get 17 eyes. The 

 weather was favorable, and they made a 

 most astonishing growth. I gave each plant 

 e.xtra care, and each vine giew so it eould 

 he raised so as to reach as high as my head; 

 and some of them were almost a.s large as 

 a hoe-handle. I expected an enoi'mous yield, 

 and was planning to tell the readere of 

 Gleanings how I got a barrel of potatoes 

 fi'om only one potato planted. Well, after 

 the 'vines died down (I think they were cut 

 short by blight) 1 proceeded to dig them. 

 How many potatoes do you suppose I got 

 from my 17 hills? Not enough to fill a 

 quart basket — quite a difference between a 

 quart and a barrel! 1 noticed that the 

 ground was flat and not being heaved up as 

 we generally see it where there are great 

 growths in the potato-vines. I saw a 

 few evidences of small potatoes that had 

 rotted, but nothing to mention. In some 

 hills Avhere there was this great growth of 

 \ ines there was noi a potato at all. Now, it 

 may be that this Commercial potato is very 

 late and needs a long season to mature; and 

 possibly the blight struck it before it had 

 had a chance to set and grow tubers. It 

 also illustrate.'5 the fact that certain varieties 

 are adapted to certain soils or localities. I 

 presume I have tested a hundred or more 

 \arieties of potatoes that have been highly 

 recommendecl; but only a few seemed to be 

 adapted to our Medina clay soil. Of course 

 T 7Tiip;]it have Avarded off the blight by prop- 

 er' spraying; but we have so few potatoes 

 here that 1 did not think it worth while; 

 and I am inclined to think the unusual wet- 

 ness had much to do with the prevailing 

 l)light in this region. In fact, there were 

 times when the vines and foliage did not 

 get sunshine enough to dry them out, for 

 many days in succession. In our Florida 

 Itome, pretty much all the varieties I have 

 tested ga\e a fairly good yield. 



llllllllllllll!llllllllllllllll|llillllllllMlllli!!ll|lllllllllll'lllllllllllllllllllin:-:'liii!lll||lill!lll||l||l||ll||lllin 



REDBUGS, SO CALLKD ; ALSO SOMETHING ABOUT 

 MULCHING POTATOES WITH PINE NEEDLES. 



I have a pa toll of dfiwberries in my garden which 

 ;ire heavily muk'hed every spring with manure and 

 straw (pine leaves). Last spring, before putting on 

 f'le mulch, I took some potatoes about an inch in 

 diameter, and planted them wliole, down the middle 

 of the rows, barely covering them. Then the mulch 

 was put on and nothing else whatever done to them 

 'intil digging time. The result was four bushels of 

 potatoes, fine oues, from about iwaetj' hills. Neither 



