80 THE POTATO 



ing place for disease that might affect the potato. 

 If manure is not appHed, similar results in restor- 

 ing vegetable matter and fertility to the soil are 

 obtained by the turning under of the last crop of 

 aKalfa or clover, should either of these crops pre- 

 cede the potatoes. The freezing and thawing of 

 the average winter help to incorporate the vege- 

 table matter in the soil. 



In the spring the ground should be thoroughly 

 disked and harrowed, making a fine, firm seed bed. 



Small acreages (five acres or less) of potatoes 

 may be planted by hand if a horse planter is not 

 available. Good potatoes have been raised by 

 dropping them in every third furrow when plowing 

 the field, letting the next furrow cover the seed to 

 the depth of four to six inches. 



Any larger acreage of potatoes, either on one 

 farm or in a neighborhood, is best planted with a 

 modern planter. With any of the standard two- 

 horse planters five or six acres a day can be planted. 

 In many places in the West potatoes are planted 

 one piece in a place in rows thirty-six inches apart, 

 and the pieces dropped eight to fourteen inches 

 apart in the row. Planted twelve inches apart in 

 the row makes 14,500 hills to the acre. If con- 

 ditions were perfect, and each hill produced ten 

 marketable potatoes weighing ten ounces each, a 

 yield of nearly 1,500 bushes per acre would be 

 secured. This is entirely possible. Fifteen years 

 ago R. A. Chisholm of Del Norte, Col., grew 847 

 bushes to the acre, winning a gold purse offered by 

 the Orange Judd Farmer for the best measured acre 

 of potatoes in the United States. 



Potatoes that are infected with any disease should 

 never be used for seed. They frequently are, how- 

 ever — often when the grower is not aware of their 



