244 CROP GROWING AND CROP FEEDING 



This is spread by a machine made for the purpose, in and on both sides of 

 the furrow made for planting, and is mixed with the soil by running a 

 specially contrived narrow harrow in the rows before planting the potatoes. 

 Since the roots of the potato ramble in a small space, the fertilization in 

 the furrow is all sufficient, and the potatoes are simply covered in the fertil- 

 izer as the furrows are thrown over them from each side. The growers 

 watch the weather reports closely after the potatoes begin to show above 

 ground, and when cold is predicted, the field will be filled with teams plowing 

 the earth over the tops as a protection. In the spring of 1894 there was a 

 very disastrous frost late in March, after a long period of warm weather which 

 had started the potatoes into a very strong growth. One of the largest grow- 

 ers, who had 125 acres of potatoes growing, told the writer that he started 

 thirty plows covering the potatoes in the morning. But at noon it seemed 

 so much warmer he thought the weather man was in error and stopped the 

 plows. He said that he lost $1,000 by doing so, as all unprotected tops were 

 cut down the following night, and the potatoes thus cut down came on late 

 and in competition with the Norfolk crop while the covered ones were ready 

 to dig the last of May and brought $5 per barrel. He said that hereafter he 

 would depend upon the warnings of the weather service. The cultivation of 

 this early crop does not differ in any respect from the early crop elsewhere. 

 They are worked with harrow and cultivator and are laid by with a furrow 

 from each side. This ridge drying out and getting warm early hastens the 

 maturity of the crop, and great crops are produced by the best growers, crops 

 that would be considered immense in the best potato sections North. 



GROWING SEED POTATOES IN THE SOUTH. 



The seed potatoes in the South are always grown from the potatoes of the 

 early crop. There is some variation in the methods used, but the general 

 practice is to keep the potatoes, after digging, in a place where they will get 

 greened by light and not direct sunshine, and then to cut small pieces off the 

 ends and place them under cover of straw on the ground to sprout. The 

 sprouted potatoes are planted in a deep furrow the middle of August, and 

 covered rather lightly till the leaves show, and then the earth is gradually 

 worked to them till perfectly level and is kept so. This crop seldom ma- 

 tures fully, as the tops are finally cut by frost, though we have had them 

 grow here unharmed till the first of December. They are dug early in 

 December, buried in the field and covered with pine straw and earth till they 

 are wanted, either for sale or planting. Many of them, as we have said, go 

 to New York in February as new Bermuda potatoes, and bring $3 to $5 per 



