Cultural Directions. 241 



furrow before planting. My own practice satisfactory to myself 

 is to spread the compost, if any is applied, evenly over the field 

 before plowing ; but to apply only half of the fertilizer broadcast, 

 either before or after plowing, and to scatter the other half over 

 the rows above the covered seed pieces. 



I believe in planting early, say one or two weeks before the 

 customary time for planting field corn. But it can also be done 

 later in the season, and even up to July, provided that good seed 

 is on hand. To preserve seed tubers until that time in best con- 

 dition, they may be spread thinly upon the floor in a well-lighted 

 room, or kept in cold storage until wanted for planting. 



Size of seed pieces and distance of placing them in the drills 

 depend somewhat on local conditions. Some growers report 

 good results from planting single-eye pieces rather close. I 

 have never been able to raise a full crop from single eyes, or 

 small seed pieces generally ; and in order to insure a chance 

 for a good crop, always find myself obliged to resort to pretty 

 heavy seeding. When plant- 

 ing time approaches, plow 

 the ground 8 or 10 inches 

 deep, or at least to the whole 

 depth of the surface soil, if 

 this be less. Fall plowing 

 is seldom of much benefit 

 except on heavier soils ; 

 neither is double or cross- 

 plowing. Mellow the ground 

 thoroughly by means of one 

 of our modern deep-cutting 

 harrows (Cutaway, disk, etc.) *' l ' 



and drill in the seed by means of an Aspinwall, or other good 

 potato planter, in rows 3 feet apart, and 12 to 18 inches apart 

 in the rows. Of course, the potato planter is usually available 

 only to large operators; and where the planting has to be 

 done by hand, furrows must be laid out with a single-horse 

 plow, 4 inches deep and 3 feet apart, and the seed, consisting 

 of good-sized pieces, or whole small or medium-sized tubers, 

 deposited at intervals of 12 to 18 inches in the bottom of the 

 furrow. 



In most cases, especially when the soil is not as mellow as 

 it might be, the treatment of the furrows, which has recently 

 become famous as the " Rural (New Yorker) trench system," 

 will be found to give good results. It consists in mellowing up 

 the soil in the bottom of these furrows very thoroughly, either 

 by means of a common shovel-plow, going at least twice in each 

 furrow, or by devices constructed for the purpose, such as I 

 hope will be invented before long and put on sale in every 



