ROOTS AND TUBERS 359 



HORSE-RADISH is a perennial, but for market it is chiefly 

 grown as an annual crop. It is propagated by "sets," 

 which are small roots (the size of one's finger or a lead 

 pencil), which are trimmed from the large roots when 

 the crop is stored in the fall. These sets should be four 

 to six inches long, the top end cut off square, so as to 

 mark the right end up, for if the sets are planted wrong end 

 up, crooked roots will result. To raise good horse-radish, 

 the land should be deep and loose. The sets are planted 

 two or three inches deep in a vertical position, and fifteen 

 to eighteen inches apart. It is customary to plant them 

 in alternate rows or ridges in plantations of early beets or 

 spinach, or other spring crops, allowing the roots to be 

 three or three and one -half feet apart. Plant early, and 

 by early summer let the horse-radish have all the land. 

 The roots (Fig. 238) are dug in late fall, and care is 

 taken to get all the pieces of roots out of the land, for the 

 plant is apt to become a bad weed. If the land is plowed 

 up deep and loose in the fall, most of the remaining 

 roots can be picked out in spring. If old roots or crowns 

 are planted, crooked and branchy roots are obtained. 



POTATO. The culture of the potato is so simple and 

 well known as to need no description. Level culture 

 is usually best. Early Ohio, Polaris, and Rural New- 

 Yorker are favorite varieties among hundreds of good 

 ones. (Consult Farmers' Bulletin 35, U. S. Dept. Agr. ; 

 also Bulletin 140, Cornell Exp. Sta.) 



SWEET POTATO plants are usually started in hotbeds, 

 by planting the tubers. The plants are then slipped 

 off the tubers with the thumb, and set two feet apart 

 in rows five or six feet apart. Frequently the rows are 

 ridged, but this will depend on soil, climate and drainage. 

 Varieties differ greatly; but selection among them is 

 mostly a matter of taste. Some persons prefer the dry, 

 mellow, yellow or white potatoes, others choose the 

 sugary yams. Yellow Nansemond, White Nanseniond, 



