192 



ARID AGRICULTURE. 



obtainedby quartering the potato lengthwise, and 

 if a cutting block is used, the larger ones may be 

 quartered by splitting both ways. Where pota- 

 toes are planted on a large scale a machine cutter 

 may be used. 



SEED 

 POTATOES 



Seed potatoes should be pure varieties, true 

 to type, and not forced by irrigation. It is more 

 important that the seed potato be one from a 

 thrifty hill which contains a good number of 

 potatoes true to type than that it be large size. 

 The best seed for irrigation is raised by dry 

 farming or at high altitudes in the mountains. 

 The seed should be as free as possible from scab 

 and the root rot disease, must not get chilled or 

 frosted, and should be changed often where there 

 is tendency to run out. A farmer who would 

 raise potatoes successfully must not hesitate to 

 pay the price for the best potatoes to renew his 

 seed. 



PREPARA- 

 TION OF 

 THE SOU. 



Potato ground must be plowed deep. Usually 

 four horses are put on to a fourteen-inch plow 

 and the furrow turned eight or ten inches deep. 

 If on sod ground, five or six inches will do the 

 first year. The ground should be harrowed the 

 same day it is plowed and the plowing should 

 not be done long before planting time. Sod 

 ground should be disced before the plowing is 

 commenced in order to make as fine a seed bed 

 as possible after it is turned under. Alfalfa 



