248 Subtropical Vegetable-Gardening 



With regard to home-grown seed potatoes, the difficulty 

 is chiefly with properly ripening and storing the tubers. 

 If this can be done, it has been claimed that the fall- 

 grown tubers in the South are equal to northern-grown 

 potatoes as seed for the spring crop. However, . many 

 growers who raise early potatoes use northern seed. Even 

 with good home-grown seed, experience in both Europe 

 and America has shown that a change to seed potatoes 

 from another locality is often necessary every few years 

 to keep up the yield. 



It is usually best to cut the tubers before planting. 

 There are machines that cut, drop the pieces, and fertilize 

 the ground at the same time; such machines are used 

 with a profit in regions where potato-growing is carried 

 on extensively. On well-cleared land, and where large 

 areas are to be planted, it will pay to use them. 



Planting potatoes. 



For the fall crop, the seed potatoes are often sprouted 

 before planting and cut to one or two eyes. If the planting 

 is to be done by hand, care should be taken not to cut the 

 tubers and leave them lying in a pile; even as small a 

 heap as a bushel is liable to heat and partly to lose its 

 germinating power in twenty-four hours. If the tubers 

 are cut several days beforehand, scatter them to dry; 

 the moisture lost by evaporation is soon regained when 

 planted, and without perceptible loss in vigor of growth. 

 Some growers advise the use of lime or land plaster on the 

 cut tubers when they are not used immediately. The 

 tubers should be cut so as to give the eyes as much "meat" 

 as possible ; if the conditions are proper, only one or two 



