The Irish Potato Crop 241 



on flat land. The crop is dug also by machinery. Shipping 

 is done in barrels covered with burlaps, and the crop is well 

 culled in the field and only first-class potatoes shipped un- 

 less the price is so high that it pays to ship culls separately. 

 Some use the cuUings for planting the second crop, 

 but the best growers use only the best potatoes for this 

 purpose as they fear a deterioration of the seed otherwise. 

 Since the advent of cold storage it has 

 s H p /^^^ h^QYi found that the second crop seed can 

 be kept till June and then planted in the 

 South to make a perfectly matured crop better for table 

 use than the usual second crop of the same season. For 

 this crop a sod of clover is a good preparation turned 

 under early in the season to decay before the planting of 

 the crop. This crop should be planted in deep furrows 

 and cultivated in the same way as the second crop from 

 seed of the same season. It needs Hberal fertihzation, 

 but not necessarily as heavy as for the early crop, since 

 the turned-uiider sod will furnish a large part of the food 

 needed, and will also help to keep the moisture needed in 

 the soil. Flat culture and no hiUing should be the rule, 

 as the crop is grown during the hottest part of the summer. 

 This crop will mature completely and be far better for 

 table use than the second growth of the same season. 



The Irish potato crop may very well come 

 The Main into the improving farm rotation in the Mid- 



Crop of ^j^ ^^^ Northern States, for the wheat crop 



Potatoes in ^ ^ . 



the North follows well after both com and potatoes. 



Where a farmer is practicing a good short 

 rotation of crops the best plan is to make the potato crop 

 occupy a part of the field with the corn crop. 



