POTATO CULTUEE. 33 



remember hearing a farmer, whose potatoes were badly cut 

 down by frost, say : " You will never catch me this way 

 again. I shall plant late after this." Well, perhaps a late 

 drouth may catch him next, and then he will never plant 

 late again. This is a very unwise way to do. Study over the 

 matter, and decide, according to your experience and what 

 light you can get, what plan it is best to follow in your 

 locality, and then stick to it through thick and thin. I have 

 had to endure being told I was in the wrong boat, two or 

 three times, and thoughtless persons made a great ado about 

 my short crops ; but I know my business, and dare to stick 

 to the best way. 



About fifty friends write to me in the course of a year, to 

 assure me that it makes a difference what time of the moon 

 potatoes are planted. It is easy to see how one can be led to 

 think so. Very slight causes will change the yield of pota- 

 toes. A single shower and a few cool days at just the right 

 time may put fifty bushels on an acre. If this acre happened 

 to be planted at the right time of the moon, and others not, 

 how natural to attribute the result to a wrong cause! I 

 don't care any thing about the moon, myself ; but I do dread 

 a week of very hot sun, particularly if it is dry. If the ther- 

 mometer reaches 95 to 98, the potatoes will suffer in spite 

 of all man can do. 



Distance Apart. 



In regard to the distance apart that potatoes should be 

 planted, two matters are to be taken into account. First, 

 the shading of the soil keeps it from drying out as much as 

 it otherwise would in dry hot weather. The moisture from 

 a shower will be longer evaporating. More of it will evap- 

 orate through the leaves of the plant, and less from the soil 

 directly, when the potato-tops cover the surface. The soil 

 will be enriched by the shading also, or the tendency will be 

 that way. Therefore it would seem best to plant near 

 enough together so that, in a fair season, the vines shall 



