PREPARING TO PLANT AND PLANTING 61 



May. Potatoes planted in July and August are considered 

 a late planting. 



The best season for planting potatoes in ordinary soils, 

 where it is not extraordinarily dry or wet, is from the first 

 to the fifteenth of February, for a heavy yield. For the best 

 price, the time to plant is in December or January. The 

 yields at this time are not so great, and some seasons the 

 crops are apt to be frost-bitten. However, if the grower 

 wishes to take the risk in the early planting, he will receive 

 in pay good prices and a quick sale. 



The best season for planting low, wet land, which is 

 more or less subject to frost, is from the twentieth of March 

 to the fifth of April. In higher altitude frost appears later 

 and earlier than in the low altitude. The grower should 

 know when to expect frost. In some places potatoes cannot 

 be planted until the first of May. At this planting, if the 

 seed is taken from a lower altitude, the grower should se- 

 lect his seed from potatoes planted in July or August of the 

 previous year, and dug in December. This seed should be 

 moved to the higher altitude as soon as dug, where they are 

 to be planted by the first of May or later. The seed will 

 keep in a cold climate, but if the same seed were kept in a 

 lower climate the same length of time, it would be too old to 

 plant. The reason for this is that the cold retards the 

 growth of the potato and they stay dormant until the warm- 

 er weather arrives. 



Another point not known to potato growers is that the 

 changing of soils from year to year keeps it to its highest 

 standard of quality and productiveness. Potatoes grown 

 on a low, wet soil, such as the peat land, should be planted 

 on a higher, drier soil the succeeding year. 



In the growing of potatoes it is customary to plant so 

 as to admit of cultivation in one direction only, the rows be- 



