480 THE POTATO 



I 



over, 20,000 domestic farm animals, or three 

 people and one domestic farm animal per acre. 



I saw meadow grass — a combination of nearly 

 all of the legumes and other grasses — being har- 

 vested. It gave a yield at one cutting of five tons 

 to the acre (2,240 pounds to the ton). 



Following this is a second crop to be grazed oflf 

 by the cattle for fall and winter pasture. This is 

 the result of feeding the soil with liquid manure 

 from the cow bams. It is sprinkled over the 

 meadows from time to time with an apparatus 

 something like a street sprinkler. If this land 

 is kept in grass, say, for three years, it will 

 grow potatoes continuously, year after year, al- 

 most indefinitely. Potatoes are often followed 

 with tomatoes.' I saw one ten-acre tract the po- 

 tatoes from which had been harvested in May. 

 On the 6th of July 13,500 tomato plants per acre 

 were in bloom and setting tomatoes. They would 

 give $600 to $700 an acre as a second crop. Often, 

 after the potatoes are harvested, the land is im- 

 mediately sown to Italian rye grass for the cows. 

 This gives them the turf and splendid root system 

 of the rye grass to feed the land for the next year's 

 potato crop. 



I saw this big sixty-acre farmer, the sixth of July, 

 digging, sorting and putting away his seed for the 

 next year's cropping. The potatoes were lifted 

 by hand with forks; women were picking out by 

 hand the most perfect potatoes for seed stocks and 

 placing them in boxes to be stored in their stone 

 storage houses. They were put in boxes about 

 three inches deep, and were sorted to size. Noth- 

 ing is wasted on the Jersey Islands. A potato no 

 larger than a hazel-nut is picked up and used for 

 something. 



