214 PRIZE GARDENING 



surface, where it conserves moisture, and rains carry it 

 to the roots instead of to the rivers, as is the case when 

 placed below in our leachy sand. We use rakes for 

 close work among plant roots instead of hoes. 



The Potato Field. — Potatoes are first plowed out, 

 then picked up and carried to the cellar. The ground 

 is then harrowed and gleanings picked up. The field 

 is then plowed deeper and harrowed again. By plow- 

 ing deeper the deep-growing potatoes are thrown out. 



— [Enos Elton, Douglas county, Nebraska. 



I do not believe in planting potatoes early. By 

 watching other people's patches, I have decided that 

 it does not increase the yield to freeze off the tops. 



— [J. L., Tompkins county, New York. 



People that use small potatoes for planting with 

 the idea of saving, lose bushels to save pecks. Large 

 seed potatoes at three dollars per bushel are preferable 

 to small ones as a gift. The potato bug must have 

 attention. Paris green is generally used; a prepara- 

 tion called Bug Death is far superior. One application 

 when the dew is on is sufficient for the season. It 

 adheres tenaciously to the vines. — [L. E. Dimock, Tol- 

 land county, Connecticut. 



The Nezv Onion Culture is described by E. W. 

 Godfrey, Illinois, as follows : I planted two plots, one 

 of Yellow Danvers, sowing the seed, and the other of 

 Prizetaker, the seed being sown in hotbeds and trans- 

 planted. To begin with, I bought Greiner's book, The 

 New Onion Culture, and followed his instructions as 

 carefully as possible. In everything except labor, I 

 found his statements very conservative. He puts the 

 labor cost of weeding and hoeing at thirty dollars for 

 seed onions and twenty dollars for transplanted. I put 

 it at one hundred dollars per acre in any good growing 

 season. 



