POTATO 



259 



soon push again. If frozen off when several inches high, 

 the crop is generally seriously lessened, even though new 

 sprouts take the place of those injured. 



For early crops, the ground may be plowed several 

 times in the spring to expose it to the air and to warm it 

 before planting. The sets for the early crop should not be 

 covered quite so deep as for the main crop, but in other par- 

 ticulars the crop should be treated the same way, and the 

 quickest-maturing kinds only should be planted. It the 

 tubers for early sets are spread out in a light, warm room 

 for three or four weeks before planting, healthy green 

 sprouts wil) start from the eyes, and if, in cutting, these 

 sprouts are carefully handled so as not to break them off, 

 the^ crop will be much earlier than if the sets were not thus 

 started. They may also be started in a hotbed before or 

 after being cut and afterwards transplanted to the open 

 ground ; but these methods are seldom practiced except in 

 a very small way, al- 

 though in some sections 

 they might perhaps be 

 made profitable. 



Main Crop. For the 

 main crop of potatoes, 

 it is desirable to have 

 the seed in the ground 

 pretty early. It is cus- 

 tomary in the North to 

 plant from the middle of 

 May to the first of June. 

 When planted later they 

 are liable to suffer seri- 

 ously from drought, and earlier planting is more desir- 

 able. The results of many experiments show that the 



Fig. 110. 



One type of self-drop potato 

 planter. 



