THE POTATO 25 



In a treatise on "Early Potato Growing" for 

 the Department of Agriculture and Technical In- 

 struction for Ireland, Matthew G. Wallace says: 



"Soils have considerable influence on earliness. 

 Sandy loams are best, red or gray. It is wonderful 

 what can be done even with poor sand under favor- 

 able circumstances and with generous treatment. 

 Here again Rush (a district) may be cited. Much 

 of the soil there appears to be drifting sand, and 

 farmers have to resort to an expedient of lacing it 

 with straw and seaweed to keep it from blowing 

 away and laying bare the potato sets. Still it 

 bears good crops of potatoes. Black lands, or bogs, 

 are not suitable for early potatoes, as the frost 

 seems to grip more keenly there, and, besides, the 

 sample is not so nice, nor is the quality so good." 



Walter P. Wright and Edward J. Castle, in 

 "Pictorial Practical Potato Growing," say: 



"Potato soil is a loam with an inclination to 

 heaviness rather than sandiness, but cultivation 

 will do much to bring either a clay or a sandy loam 

 into line." 



Organic matter, or humus, is a great factor in 

 potato soils. It tends to hold light, drifting soils 

 and makes them more retentive of moisture. 



When properly worked, loams, sandy soils, 

 alluvial silt soils, lava ash soils, granite soils, 

 limestone soils, and many others are good for 

 potatoes. 



The following by Lord Ogilvy, from the Denver 

 (Col.) Post, is interesting to the student of potato 

 soils: 



