At>RlL 15, 1913 



277 



happened to those half-dozen hills, I want 

 you to listen carefully to the following: 



Some two or three years ago I became so 

 well aware of the need of underdrainage 

 here in Florida that I spent about $25.00 

 in hard-burned tile (I think brought from 

 away up in Georgia) to underdrain a part 

 of my garden. Well, when I got here in 

 November I found a tremendous gi'owth of 

 gi'ass and weeds all over this garden spot 

 where I had laid the tiles. I said to Wes- 

 ley, "Wesley, I don't suppose it is possible 

 for you to spade under all this trash." 



He replied, " Oh ! yes, sir. I can spade 

 it all under nice and clean if you want to 

 have it go in." 



I said, " Go ahead." 



Well, I planted these half-dozen hills of 

 potatoes right where he turned under all 

 that gi-ass. It had been spaded perhaps 

 three or four weeks, and we had plenty of 

 rain, so it was well under the work of 

 decay. You remember what I said about 

 planting whole potatoes to get some extra 

 earl}'. Well, in order to practice what I 

 have been preaching I selected half a dozen 

 great big nice BUss Triumph potatoes, with 

 sprouts just showing as I told you, and 

 planted them right over the underdrain, 

 and right in the midst of this nice decaying 

 gi-ass and trash. In a few days they were 

 up, and, oh how they did grow ! I called in 

 my friends and neighbors, and the visitors 

 that came from the far Xorth, and showed 

 them my potato-patch. The vines were not 

 only fine and luxuriant, but the leaves were 

 so much larger than anybody ever saw po- 

 tato leaves before, that people hardlj' knew 

 they were potatoes. As I told you before, 

 no sort of potato-bug or flea-beetle marred 

 the beautiful nice green foliage. My neigh- 

 bor Rood, who does every thing on " high- 

 pressure " principle, said that he had never 

 seen any better potatoes than mine. After 

 they had been planted about five weeks, 

 another neighbor (and also another bee- 

 keeper) came and took a look at them, and 

 he said, " Why, ]\Ii\ Root, there are pota- 

 toes down under those vines already." I 

 told him I g-uessed not — that it wasn't quite 

 time for potatoes; and, besides, no blossoms 

 had showed themselves yet. But he stooped 

 over and pulled back the dirt, and showed 

 me potatoes as big as hens' eggs. When 

 they had been planted six weeks we had 

 potatoes as big as anybody would care for 

 for table use. I haven't dug any whole hills 

 yet, but I tell you there is going to be a 

 tremendous yield. Mrs. Root kept caution- 

 ing me all the time that thej- were going to 

 be all vhies and no potatoes; but I tell you 

 the ground is popping up on all sides, and 



there is no mistake about the potatoes as 

 well as the vines. I want to emphasize 

 again the importance of turning under de- 

 caying hay, leaves, or trash of that kind. 

 This gives the potatoes a chance to develop 

 in their natural beautiful shape without 

 being crowded and squeezed by hard un- 

 yielding soil. 



Well, after planting the few potatoes we 

 proceeded to fix the gxound and put in more 

 every few days. At first I began to fear 

 that the immense gi'owth and yield were 

 owing to the fact that we had picked on a 

 particular spot where there seemed to be 

 partial — I might almost say natural — irri- 

 gation. But since then I have been trying 

 those same Bliss Triumph potatoes at dif- 

 ferent points all over our five acres, and 

 by the alligator cave I have some that begin 

 to look now almost as promising as those 

 up here near the house. You may inquire 

 in regard to the fertilizer. WeU, we put on 

 only a vei-y little fertilizer; but the spot 

 where these immense potatoes are gi'owing 

 was where the poultry had been in the habit 

 of scratcliing and digging and dusting for 

 perhaps several summers past. This has 

 probably much to do with it. Of course, 

 other people are noiv putting new potatoes 

 on the market, heaped up before the win- 

 dows in our gi'oceries; but the price, in- 

 stead of being 40 cents a peck, is now 50 

 cents a peck, because they are new potatoes, 

 the first put on the market. 



Now a word to those who are writing me 

 almost daily to know whether they can 

 come down to Florida and make a living 

 growing celery, grapefruit, oranges, etc. I 

 think is is veiy unlikely that one brought 

 up in the North can come down here and 

 make it pay growing southern crops — at 

 least not until he has had practice here and 

 learned by experience ; but I do think there 

 are thousands of people who could come 

 down here to Florida and make a good liv- 

 ing growing potatoes if they will only take 

 the pains to do things right, and take ad- 

 vantage of modern methods and discoveries. 

 Let me go over them briefl3^ 



You will first have to purchase tiles and 

 get your ground thoroughly underdrained. 

 The cement tiles that are used largely in 

 many places don't seem to answer here. 

 There is something in our Florida soil that 

 rots or disintegrates them. I have lost 

 quite a little money, and mj' neighbor Rood 

 a good deal more, in investing in cement 

 tiles. Secondly, you must have humus to 

 gi-ow potatoes here in this Florida sand. 

 Thousands of people are burning up the 

 trash in order to clear off their gi'ound ; 

 but according to the Florida Experiment 



