NEW POTATOES ALL THE YEAR 241 



as soon as the ground was broken and hoed, the plants were set by line and 

 the ground firmed at base around the tubers by hand. They were inserted 

 about five inches deep, the tops in most cases being covered loosely. On good 

 potato land, this flooding and plowing when the ground is fully damp and yet 

 in good pulverizing order and followed by a good shallow cultivation, insures 

 moisture for a crop. 



Later New Potatoes. Planting for what may be called the 

 second run of new potatoes requires stricter attention to thermal 

 conditions. This crop must be growing in December and January, 

 which are our months of heaviest frosts and rainfall usually. Strictly 

 thermal belts, to be found at different elevations on hillsides, gen- 

 erally within the reach of ocean influences in the south half of the 

 California coast line, but also here and there on the hillsides of the 

 interior, favor the growth of the potato all through the winter, if 

 the soil be light and kept warm by free escape of surplus water and 

 abundant winter sunshine. 



The third run of new potatoes is secured by the planting of 

 the early varieties as soon as possible after the heaviest frosts of 

 the locality are over, and the soil becomes warm enough to push 

 growth. This is the main potato planting season of California, and 

 covers a wide range of dates, beginning with January on light, well- 

 drained soils at the south to get the earliest new potatoes for east- 

 ern shipment in May, of which about a thousand carloads are an- 

 nually shipped eastward from Orange, Los Angeles and San Ber- 

 nardino counties. Planting continues in February, not only in the 

 south, but on warm uplands all through the central portion of the 

 state, and later with planting all through March, April and May, as 

 spring conditions come successively to the upper coast valleys and 

 the mountain regions, or as the river lowlands are drained o/ their 

 surplus water. In fact on interior river lands planting is done as 

 late as June and July and the crop comes on rapidly with ample 

 heat and moisture. In fact on these moist lowlands, planting is 

 proceeding in midsummer on the same fields from which matured 

 potatoes are being harvested from February planting. This, how- 

 ever, though possible, is not good practice usually because the potato 

 likes new land and is advantaged by rotation. 



Always New Potatoes. Thus it appears that potato planting 

 covers the entire year, and that while some parts of the state are 

 digging their main crop, other parts are making their first planting. 

 To bring the matter nearer to a point it may be said that a man in 

 the central coast region may be eating new potatoes from his hill- 

 side while he is planting his main crop on his lowlands. And yet 

 one is frequently asked to answer categorically the question : "When 

 do you plant potatoes in California?" Obviously it is a local ques- 

 tion, to be learned by experience, observation and inquiry, in ac- 

 cordance with the general conditions outlined in the chapter on the 

 planting season in California. In connection, however, with this 

 wide liberty in planting, taking the state as a whole, it must be 

 borne in mind that local requirements are sometimes very sharp 



