156 PRODUCTIVE FARMING 



be planted in May or early June. The crop suffers when dry 

 weather comes on. The time of planting should be planned 

 to bring the time when the tubers are forming at a period 

 when the rainfall is usually good. 



There are several good methods of planting potatoes; 

 these vary according to climate and soil. In wet or heavy 

 soil they may be planted only three inches deep; in the 

 lighter soils or when the weather is hot and dry the tubers 

 may be planted as deep as six inches. 



I: 



Fig. 86. — Digging potatoes by use of a machine and four horses. Men, women and 

 children sometimes pick up the potatoes after the machine. 



Distances for . Planting Potatoes vary somewhat in dif- 

 ferent potato districts. Very commonly the rows are three 

 feet apart and the seed-pieces are twelve or eighteen inches 

 apart in the rows. Ten bushels of seed potatoes are required 

 to plant an acre, at distances one and a half by three feet, if 

 the pieces weigh one ounce each. 



Cultivation. — After the planting is done the field should 

 be harrowed. After this frequent shallow cultivations are 

 made until the vines are so large that they shade the soil 

 well. A light ridging of the soil towards the rows at the time 

 of the last cultivation is usually practiced, the purpose being 

 to prevent the new tubers from growing out of the ground. 



