Planting and Culture of Potatoes. 179 



of overdoing harrowing when ground is dry. The last harrow- 

 ing is crosswise to level down ridges more perfectly and make a 

 sure ending of all weeds. We generally harrow three times 

 before crop comes up. But now one important point : You must 

 not get caught and have your potatoes come up in the ridges 

 unleveled, and you must not harrow ground away from plants to 

 level after they have got up out of the ridge that you have failed 

 to level. You may put some soil over a young plant and do no 

 harm. We have covered them when just coming up with an inch 

 or two of soil to protect from frost. This is all right enough, 

 but do not take earth away from a plant after it has got up in a 

 ridge. It will do harm. If you have got caught you had better 

 let them go ; but try and not get caught. They will not do as well 

 and you cannot throw a little earth in under plants late in season 

 as well to check last growth of weeds. The potatoes come up 

 through a nice, level, mellow surface, and it is all clean and 

 entirely free from weed growth. In any ordinary season this is 

 literally true. This is perfect culture and cheap. Doing so much 

 work after planting you see why we do not need to do more before. 

 After planting, tillage keeps weeds down at same time, and the 

 surface always open to air. The last harrowing is just before 

 potatoes come up. Here and there one may be in sight. As 

 soon as we can follow the rows, we begin using Breed's weeder 

 with one horse. This simply harrows two rows at once, with 

 horse and man walking between them. It is lighter and does 

 finer work after crop is up than a Thomas. If the ground gets 

 packed by rain, we cultivate first and follow with weeder, which, 

 on clean, mellow land, will then stir the soil in the drills and 

 around the plants, and help keep weeds from starting. With 

 conditions right, hand hoeing is entirely unnecessary, as this tool 

 will do the business at the rate of twelve or fourteen acres a day. 

 It should be used when the soil is in just the right condition of 

 moisture. Too wet it will clog; too dry it will not take hold. 

 It requires skillful work just in time, but this saves lots of hard 

 work later. 



To do this first cultivating the Iron Age cultivator and har- 

 row with fourteen teeth (a one-horse tool) is by all odds the best 

 thing I have yet seen. I have for years used a Planet Jr., with 

 five narrow i^-inch teeth. This does pretty well ; but the four- 

 teen little bits of teeth are as much better as the Planet with its 

 narrow teeth was better than the first cultivator I bought, which 

 had three wide teeth. The teeth of the Iron Age are sharpened as 

 cultivator teeth, very narrow on one end, and as harrow teeth on 

 the other. I am using it to-day with ten cultivator teeth on and 

 two harrow teeth on each outside. Thus used it will not throw 

 a particle of earth, and one can go at full speed in small plants, if 

 rows are of equal distance apart. As the potatoes get larger we 

 can set the outside harrow teeth higher, so as to not go as deep 



