360 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



Preparation of Soil. 



The proper preparation of a soil for the potato crop is a matter of 

 years, and not a single season. A soil in order to do the best must 

 be in an excellent state of tilth and a high state of fertility. Such 

 conditions can be obtained only by careful forethought and planning. 

 In many instances the soil is not plowed deeply enough. It is very 

 common for people to speak of plowing 7, 8, or even 9 inches; but 

 most men would be surprised if they were to apply a rule to see how 

 much short of this depth the plow goes below the actual level of the 

 field. Many men that think they are plowing 7 or 8 inches deep are 

 only plowing 5 inches. If this shallow plowing has been practised, 

 it is bad management to suddenly deepen the plowing, as this brings 

 too much of the sub-soil to the surface in a single plowing. 



Good potato land may be handled in a three or four year rotation, — 

 potatoes, grain, grass one or two years, and then potatoes again, in 

 some such way as the following: land which is used for potatoes 

 should immediately after harvesting of the crop be treated to a liberal 

 application of farm manure, if it can be obtained, and plowed with 

 lap furrow. The plow can well run an inch deeper than it did the 

 preceding year, when the land was prepared for potatoes. In the 

 spring the soil will have crumbled by the frosts, and should then be 

 thoroughly and deeply worked by frequent harrowings with some 

 such tool as a disc or spading harrow. It should then be smoothed 

 with an Acme harrow or some similar tool, and seeded to grain. If it is 

 designed to grow only a single crop of grass, it is best at the time of 

 seeding to sow clover with the grain. If, however, it is designed to 

 remove two crops of grass, it can be seeded with a mixture of clover 

 and timothy. The grain crop will be harvested the first year; the 

 second season, the crop will be chiefly timothy; the third, it will be 

 timothy and clover; and at the end of the two or three years, which- 

 ever plan is followed, there will be in the field in the fall a good stand 

 of second-growth clover. This should not be cut or fed, but should 

 be plowed under, and this is all the more important if the piece has 

 not been treated with farm manure. This fall plowing should be 

 with lap furrow, and the following spring it should be thoroughly 

 worked with the disc and smoothing harrows, in order to get ready 

 for planting. 



It may in many situations be desirable to follow the grass crop 

 with corn, and then follow with potatoes. The same thorough prep- 

 aration will be of advantage to the corn crop. The land for the corn 

 should be liberally fertilized. Farm manure may be again used to 

 advantage at this point in the rotation. The corn crop must be over- 

 fed in every way, so that the land will be in a higher state of fertility 

 at the end than at the beginning of the season. If corn enters into 

 the rotation, fall plowing should be again practised, and the following 



