90 One Thousand Questions in Agriculture 



Northern Potatoes for Seed. 



Do you regard northern-grown seed potatoes sufficiently better to 

 make it worth zvhile paying freight on them from the State of Wash- 

 ington? 



Experience sems to indicate the superiority of northern-grown 

 seed potatoes, not only in this State, but on the Atlantic Coast, and 

 they are largely depended upon. Systematic demonstration by com- 

 parative tests has been made by the Vermont station and preference 

 for northern-grown seed seems to be justified. 



Potato Planting. 



/ have ten acres of land in Placer county wliicli I propose to put 

 into potatoes next spring. It has been recommended to me to put pota- 

 toes in as early as January. It seems to me that January is rather early; 

 however, it is said that this land is in the orange belt and practically 

 free from frost. 



Whether you can plant potatoes to advantage in January or not 

 depends upon the temperatures which you are likely to meet after 

 that date, also whether the ground is warm enough in January, be- 

 cause there is no advantage in planting in cold ground nor in soil 

 that is too wet at the time. The earliest potatoes, of course, come 

 from planting much earlier than January; usually as soon as the 

 ground is moistened enough in the autumn. The potato will stand 

 some frost, but autumn planting is not feasible in places which are 

 under hard freezing or receive too much cold rain water. 



Potatoes Should be Planted Early. 



/ have Early Rose potatoes planted about May first. The tops look 

 fine, but there are fciv potatoes and small, and, though not developed, 

 have commenced groiving a second time, sprouts starting from the nczv 

 potatoes. When should I plant and what care should they have? 



Your potatoes act peculiarly because of intermittent moisture — 

 the plant being arrested by drought and then starting again, which 

 is very undesirable. To avoid this, potatoes should be planted earlier 

 so as to get a large part of their growth during the rainy season. 

 If planted late the ground should be well wet down by irrigation, 

 and then plowed and cultivated, and irrigation should be used while 

 the plant is growing well. If this is done, potatoes can be success- 

 fully grown by irrigation, but if the land is allowed to become dry 

 the plant is arrested in its growth for a time and a second and unde- 

 sirable growth is started. 



Potato Balls. 



/ find in potato zvritings of forty years ago that the seed front the 

 potato balls which form on the tops of the plants is recommended for 

 growing the best potatoes. In later books I find no mention of them 

 and all are advised how to cut the tubers to get seed potatoes. 



