POTATO CULTURE. 



177 



Before beginning I went to our experiment station, and 

 Prof. Green kindly told me just what to do. First, 1 took 

 one head out of a fifty-gallon* coal-oil barrel. Then I got two 

 four-gallon crocks. Into one I put 4 Ibs. of blue vitriol, and 

 brought from the house two gallons of hot water, and poured 

 on it. Then I put 4 Ibs. of unslacked lime (lumps) into the 

 other crock, and poured on water enough to slack it. Then 



LOADING UP WITH THE MIXTURE. 



I stirred first one and then the other. The vitriol will dis- 

 solve quickly in hot water. Beforehand I took a common 

 tin p in to the tinshop and had them cut out the bottom and 

 put in a bottom of fine brass strainer cloth, the same as they 

 use for milk-strainers. As soon as the vitriol and lime were 

 dissolved I poured the vitriol into the oil-barrel ; then I dip- 

 ped the whitewash out of the crock (make it thin by using 

 water enough) with a pint tin cup, and poured it through the 

 strainer-pan. It would usually go through quite readily, 

 but sometimes we had to use more water along with it to 

 work it through. It is necessary that this lime water be 

 strained through this very fine wire cloth, or the lime would 



