194 POTATO CULTURE. 



tomato book. In this way it is but little work to protect 

 them from frost and cold winds ; and the ground on such 

 small areas can be made exactly right for potatoes; and as 

 they require great quantities of water where grown so close- 

 ly, it is an easy matter to arrange for irrigating. I confess I 

 have not succeeded as well as I should like to in getting ex- 

 tra early potatoes by this method, but I am still at work at 

 it. I know it can be made to succeed, because I have had 

 tremendous yields of beautiful potatoes that came up of 

 themselves in my plant beds among the other plants. I fre- 

 quently let such volunteer sprouts grow just for the fun of 

 it ; and as the potato-plant is quite sensitive, it serves some- 

 what as a guide for protecting other plants. If we manage 

 so that the potato-shoots are uninjured, the rest of the stuif 

 is not likely to take any harm. One drawback to this mat- 

 ter of raising early potatoes is, however, the exceedingly 

 nice potatoes that come from the South about the time 

 these are ready that are started under glass and cloth. We 

 usually get 40 or 50 cents a peck for the fore 3d early pota- 

 toes ; and sometimes, when the market happens to be short, 

 we have got as high as 60 cents. Of course, we are prepared 

 to dig them at any stage whenever we can get an offer that 

 we think will pay us for the trouble. 



POTATO CULTURE FOR MARKET-GARDENERS. 



Aside from raising potatoes for the early market, market- 

 gardeners can often put in a crop of potatoes where some- 

 thing else has been removed. In fact, we have had excellent 

 potatoes where strawberries have been turned under just 

 after the last picking ; but, of course, it is a little risky in 

 planting so late. Besides, the ground used by market- 

 gardeners is very apt to become in time permeated with the 

 pores of the scab, in consequence of the large quantities of 

 stable manure used. By turning under some crop like 

 strawberries, or even clover, and then treating the seed with 

 corrosive sublimate, 1 think we could manage to avoid the 



