24:2 CROP GROWING AND CROP FEEDING 



toes that sprout in the cellar become clammy and sweetish to the taste be- 

 cause of this change ; the sprouts use up part of the stored food, and the pota- 

 to is weakened by the sprouting. We want for planting a good piece with 

 well developed eyes and a store of food that has not been deteriorated by 

 sprouting in the cellar. More plants can be had from single-eye cuttings, but 

 we are satisfied that continuous single-eye cutting will eventually lead to a 

 weakened stock. The principal thing after the potatoes are planted is to 

 keep the spring moisture in the ground, by constantly keeping a mulch of 

 finely pulverized soil on the surface and never allowing a crust to form. 

 This can best be done with the weeder, in the early stages of the growth of 

 the crop, going both ways over the land before the tops appear and afterwards 

 as long as the tops will admit, and then finishing with the small tooth culti- 

 vator till the tops are mature. 



EARLY POTATOES IN THE SOUTH. 



The planting and cultivation of the potato for early shipment from the 

 Southern States to the Northern markets, is a very different matter from the 

 production of the farm crop in the North. Here it is the crop of the market 

 gardener rather than of the farmer. The crop has attained to great import- 

 ance in the South Atlantic States and also in the Lower Mississippi Valley. 

 Florida, of course, comes into the market first, and close behind the crop 

 from Bermuda. Of late years the crop from the South Atlantic States, 

 grown in the fall from seed potatoes of the early crop, which are now used 

 entirely in these States for planting the first crop, are often lifted in Febru- 

 ary and shipped North in barrels whitewashed in imitation of the Bermuda 

 barrels, and sold as "New Bermudas," at a fine price, whenever there is a 

 surplus over the local demand for the spring planting. Formerly the market 

 gardeners of the South depended on Northern seed potatoes for the spring 

 planting. But now it is the universal practice to plant the second crop seed 

 of the previous year. 



It is found that these potatoes, dug in December and planted again in 

 February, are entirely unsprouted, and they start to grow more slowly than 

 the Northern potatoes that have been trying to sprout all winter, and are 

 less liable to be caught by frost after they are up than the Northern seed; 

 and also that they seem to be more resistant to frost when up. Starting with 

 the full vigor of the terminal bud, they make a stronger plant than the 

 Northern potatoes that have been long kept out of the ground and have had 

 the terminal sprouts rubbed off, hence start with a bunch of lateral eyes. 

 The early potato crop in the South is never sprouted before planting, as they 



