POTATO 261 



hoe will do excellent work, but a still better implement is a 

 two-horse cultivator that works both sides of the row at 

 one operation. It is not a good plan to hill up potatoes, 

 and it should not be done unless they are pushing out of the 

 ground, when they will turn green if not covered up. Cul- 

 tivation should be thorough when the plants are young, 

 but is not desirable after the crops have made most of 

 their growth. 



Digging Potatoes. Early potatoes are generally dug 

 as soon as they are big enough for cooking if there is a 

 good market for them; for winter use it is very desirable 

 to have the tubers well ripened; if not ripe the skin will 

 peel off when handled, and they do not look well. When 

 potatoes are high in price it may pay to dig them by hand, 

 for which purpose tined garden forks are desirable; the 

 best potato diggers, however, do as good work as can 

 be done by hand, and are generally used by those who 

 raise this crop on a large scale. When potatoes are cheap, 

 they should be dug with a potato digger or plowed out; 

 though when plowed out some tubers will get covered up, 

 most of these may be brought to the surface by the use 

 of a straight tooth harrow. If the tubers are keeping well 

 in the ground, it is a good plan to delay the digging until 

 the cool weather of autumn, when they may be carried 

 directly from the field to the cellar. If they are rotting 

 in the ground or are "scabby," they should be dug at once, 

 and if the cellar is cool they may be put at once irto it, 

 otherwise it is a good plan to pit them in the field until 

 cool weather comes. 



Pitting in mild weather is done by putting the tubers 

 into heaps and covering them with straw or hay and a 

 few inches of loam. The straw should be allowed to 

 stick out along the top of the heap for ventilation, so as 



