Vegetables with Edible Tubers or Roots 245 



easily stocked ; but if the yield of the late crop has been 

 poor, there will be a steady demand for all the potatoes 

 which can be raised. 



The large yields that one reads about are produced by 

 persons who have served their apprenticeship at this kind 

 of gardening. One should not expect to raise a heavy 

 crop until he is well acquainted with the fields to be used, 

 and familiar with many kinds of potatoes. Over the 

 greater portion of the South it is necessary to use in- 

 secticides and fungicides to raise the largest crop. 



Soil and preparation for potatoes. 



Potatoes can stand heavier land than the usual vege- 

 tables, but the soil must be fertile and deep. A bay head 

 or muckland that has been drained and freed of sourness 

 will be found exceedingly well adapted to this crop. A 

 cold, stiff, clayey soil usually fails to give a profitable 

 return. If the land is not naturally moist, water will have 

 to be supplied ; it is useless to try to raise this crop on 

 dry land, but it will stand a long drought if the sub- 

 stratum is not dry. Heavy soggy land will not produce 

 a good crop until it is drained. On this point we can do no 

 better than to quote Dr. Lawes, of the Rothamsted Experi- 

 ment Station, England : " If you want to grow large crops 

 of potatoes, you must be liberal in your supply of water as 

 well as food. The following will give you some idea of the 

 importance of rainfall, even when the potatoes have an 

 abundance of food. We grow potatoes continually upon 

 the same land, using the same manures. The potash and 

 phosphate are in excess of the requirements of the largest 

 crop grown, so they are an accumulation in the soil. The 



