100 AGRICULTURE FOR COMMON SCHOOLS 



sandy. Muck soils have been found quite favorable to po- 

 tato growing A clover sod on well-drained loam soil is, per- 

 haps, the best possible foundation for a large yield of potatoes. 

 The land should be plowed deeply; and if it is plowed in the 

 fall and then again in the spring it will be all the better, for 

 potatoes like mellow soil. It should be thoroughly pulverized 

 as deep as plowed. The land can be manured with stable 

 manure, but large potato growers prefer to use commercial 

 fertilizers, for manure is likely to cause scab and rot, two 

 diseases that are quite damaging to the crop. 



Where potatoes are planted by hand it is a good plan to 

 furrow out* the field with a single-shovel plow and drop the 

 seed potatoes in the bottom of the furrow. The seed planted 

 for the future crop is not the real seed of the potato, but a 

 tuber or a piece of one. This is called the seed-piece. If 

 potatoes are planted in furrows it will not be necessary to ridge 

 the rows in order to keep the new potatoes covered. The 

 new potatoes do not form any lower down in the soil than the 

 position of the seed-piece, so that there is danger of the new 

 potatoes being too near the surface and becoming green from 

 the sun, a condition which spoils them for use. When potatoes 

 are grown on a large scale they are planted by a machine 

 drawn by horses. This machine makes a furrow, drops the 

 seed-piece and covers it. The seed-pieces planted are usu- 

 ally prepared beforehand by cutting a whole potato into two 

 or more pieces according to its size. Every piece should have 

 one or more "eyes." The "eye'* is the place on the tuber 

 where the new plant starts. It is best to let the cut pieces lie 

 for a few hours until the cut surfaces have dried. The seed- 

 pieces will then not rot so easily in the ground if the weather 

 is not favorable for growth. 



