No. 4.] MODERN POTATO CULTURE. 45 



MODERN POTATO CULTURE. 



BY CIIAS. 1). WOODS, DIRECTOR, MAINE AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT 



STATION. 



The potato is so generally and so extensively grown, we 

 are so familiar with its qualities and the various methods of 

 culture, that most farmers are very positive as to the best 

 method of growing this crop. During the past twenty-five 

 years hundreds of experiments have been made at experi- 

 ment stations and by practical growers, and the results from 

 experiments in propagation and culture are so conflicting 

 that the careful student will be verv slow in drawing con- 

 elusions. While he will be convinced that there are ideal 

 ways of treatment under certain conditions, he will be 

 equally convinced that under different conditions very dif- 

 ferent practice will be necessary to insure the best crop. 

 In potato growing, as with most farm operations, the soil 

 and atmosphere are such determining factors that there is 

 no best way. Each farmer who would grow potatoes to the 

 best advantage must be sufficiently intelligent to understand 

 the conditions of the soil on his own farm. The methods of 

 preparation of soil, of planting, cultivating and fertilizing 

 the crop, depend largely on the character and condition of 

 the soil and the season. If I were to give you the exact 

 practice which is so successfully used on farms in Aroostook 

 County of my State, and you should adopt it, it might be 

 fatal to the production of a crop on your soil. No man can 

 afford to blindly follow methods of his neighbor or those of 

 public speakers unless the conditions are practically the 

 same. So, with the distinct understanding that I do not 

 expect to be able to give you specific directions for your 

 conditions, I shall try and outline some of the methods 

 which are followed under different conditions of soil and 

 climate with success. 



