184 POTATO CULTUEE. 



in a sack in the barn where it was light for some days. 

 Many eat such potatoes all the time. There is no need of it. 

 They are not nearly as good. Keep them in the dark, from 

 the time they are dug until you eat them, after first growing 

 them down in the ground, and see how much nicer they are. 

 We are sorting ours over now for seed. They are exposed to 

 the light, of course, for some time, and would not be suitable 

 for eating. 



STORING. 



We dug as usual about the first of September, when 

 weather was exceedingly warm , and stored right in the base- 

 ment of our barn, in a pile some 60 feet long, 11 wide, and 4 

 deep. We find them in perfect condition. But, of course, 

 we handled them with care, and there were almost no 

 bruised ones. A cut potato may rot in warm weather when 

 stored in a large heap like this. 



SECOND GROWTH. 



I think nothing has been said about this. You can not 

 always prevent potatoes from making a second growth, and 

 being prongy, when they almost die down during a dry spell, 

 and then rains come and start them to growing again. The 

 tubers have so nearly matured that they refuse to expand 

 farther in a regular way, and, instead, throw out prongs, or 

 little tubers, from the large on.es. Careful surface tillage 

 helps some in the way of preventing second growth, by keep- 

 ing the crop thriving longer than it would if neglected. As 

 long as the potatoes are kept growing right along they are 

 quite safe. A check to their growth causes premature ripen- 

 ing, after which rains may make trouble, if they are not en- 

 tirely dead. Notice, I say may make trouble. The tendency 

 to grow prongs is greater in some varieties that is, a slight 

 checking of growth brings it on, while other kinds can rare- 

 ly be induced to play this trick. The long potatoes generally 

 make the most trouble. Oval-shaped tubers rarely throw 

 out prongs. We had Freemans die down almost entirely 



