POTATO CULTUBE. 125 



CHAPTER XVI. 



Digging; When shall we Dig? 



If you are selling in market, dig as soon as the potatoes 

 are large enough so they satisfy buyers that is, if the price 

 suits you ; and generally you will not be able to do better by 

 waiting. I have often heard farmers say they dug a piece 

 early and sold them. If they had left them until ripe there 

 would have been a much larger yield. They also hesitate 

 about selling early potatoes at a good price, because they 

 would grow so much more if left that it would more than 

 make up for any decline in prices. Usually this is a mistake. 

 My potatoes have turned out the most bushels when dug 

 just before they are fully ripe. They are plump and heavy ; 

 and as they ripen they do shrink some. I believe that the 

 heaviest shrinkage in weight of potatoes takes place within 

 a month, about ripening time, and it doesn't make very 

 much difference whether they are in the soil, pile, or cellar. 

 Shrink they will ; and after that time, if properly stored at 

 a low temperature, the shrinkage is not so very great. One 

 year we were obliged to pile a good many potatoes, as the 

 teams could not market them as fast as dug. Some piles 

 were dug before much shrinkage had taken place, and it was 

 a surprise to me how much they fell short when we came to 

 handle them a few weeks after. We sold one big carload 

 657 bushels when we began digging, just when the tubers 

 were the plumpest and heaviest, by weight, at 37 cents, and 

 the piles later in the season at 40 cents ; but the 37-cent ones 

 paid us the better. 



I remember once drawing some very fine plump potatoes 

 to Akron just when they were at their best. The skins 

 slipped a little, but I had them on springs and in boxes. 



