THE POTATO 99 



Surface Medium Deep Deep 



Bu. Bu. Bu. Bu. Bu. Bu. 



Primes Culls Primes Culls Primes Culls 



127.3 30.0 137.9 30.3 141.6 28.2 



And also the average of yields as affected by 

 frequency of cultivation, disregarding depth: 



Five Days Ten Days Fifteen Days 



Bu. Bu. Bu. Bu. Bu. Bu. 



Primes Culls Primes Culls Primes Culls 



126.5 27.4 132.4 27.6 147.5 33.2 



In discussing it the Maryland people say : '' The 

 above figures seem to clearly indicate that the 

 deep and infrequent cultivation was most profit- 

 able, there being a difference of more than fourteen 

 bushels per acre in favor of the deep over the shal- 

 low cultivation, and of twenty-one bushels in 

 favor of infrequent working. It would seem, 

 therefore, that the practice of farmers who usually 

 cultivate with such tools and at such times as will 

 keep the crop free from weeds is about all that is 

 necessary to produce a good crop under the con- 

 ditions prevailing here. The result may have 

 been different if the same experiment had been 

 conducted in the arid West. It is only at rare 

 intervals that the rainfall in Maryland is so slight 

 that it is practicable or necessary to work for a 

 *dust mulch.' What is really important is to 

 destroy the weeds and stir the soil fairly deep to 

 aerate, and at the same time dry it and make it 

 loose and friable." 



In an essay by Dr. Chas. D. Woods of Orono, 

 Maine, in the fifty sixth annual report of the Mas- 

 sachusetts State Board of Agriculture is the follow- 



