ROOT CROPS. 203 



very cheap, as in some parts of the West, large crops of roots 

 are not profitable, but small crops, to give the stock an 

 occasional bite, should, we judge, be raised even by western 

 farmers. 



Potatoes. There is no need of urging the cultivation of 

 potatoes, for the farmer wants these himself^ and will have them 

 even if they cost him one dollar a bushel. In this country 

 they are more generally used than any other article of food. 

 The soils best suited to the potato, are the dryer and lighter 

 soils. New land, or pastures newly cultivated, give the most 

 certain and most abundant crops. In wet, undrained soils, or 

 in those of stiff clay, they are not of as good quality, and are 

 more liable to disease. Land that has been long cultivated, 

 seldom produces good crops. No green or unfermented manure 

 should be used on land intended for potatoes, within one year 

 of planting. No stable manure should be used, until thoroughly 

 rotted and composted with peat, muck, or sods. The safest 

 applications are ashes, or plaster. Guano, or superphosphate, 

 if sown broadcast and plowed in lightly, will prove beneficial. 

 No application of strong manures should ever be made directly 

 to the sets. We advise always planting in drills or ridges. 

 Hill planting is only fit for gardening. The ground should be 

 subsoiled at least to the depth of twelve or fifteen inches. The 

 manure should be plowed in at this first plowing. The secvl 

 maybe either put in with a drill, which makes the furrow, drops 

 the sets at the required distances, and covers them ; or a light 

 plow run through, making a furrow four to six inches deep, the 

 sets dropped, and the plow run through again, to cover them. 

 This is an expeditious and excellent method of planting pota- 

 toes. For the smaller early sorts, the drills may be from twenty 

 to thirty inches apart, and the sets from six to ten inches apart 

 in the drills and covered three or four inches deep. For large 



