322 Our Farming. 



better than in the morning. Draw a line through and make a 

 scratch side of it so you can see where to set them, then remove 

 line. Make rows four feet apart. Dig holes two feet apart in the 

 row. If ground is mellow, a good garden trowel will do it nicely. 

 My son sometimes goes ahead and digs out holes with a spade 

 while I follow and set with a trowel. Hole should be four or five 

 inches deep so roots can go down. Take a plant out of the pail 

 of water, spreading the roots fan -shaped and hold against side of 

 hole with left hand. With trowel put moist earth against roots, 

 never dry earth. After partly filling hole press earth firmly 

 against roots with trowel or hand, and then fill up rest of hole. 

 If it is quite dry, pack soil very firmly, even to using the foot, and 

 then scratch over the surface to form a mulch. The plant should 

 be set just as deep as it grew before, and no deeper or shallower. 

 The crown in the centre from which leaves come out should never 

 be covered, nor should roots be left exposed. Do no watering. 

 Depend on fine, firm ground, moist earth next roots and a stirring 



Set Too Deep. 



Set Just Right. 



Set Too Shallow. 



of surface. I never lose a plant. Get only good plants, new 

 ones that grew the year before ; no old ones even as a gift, and no 

 little, weak, feeble things. The second year take plants from 

 your own bed to set a new one. Take up with a potato fork, 

 shake all earth off, trim off dead leaves and runners, and put plants 

 in a pail of water. When you get a pailful then go and set them 

 out. Let no one beguile you into setting a bed only in the early 

 spring. An expert can set in the fall and get part of a crop. 

 You will get discouraged if you try it. 



After they are set out cut off all blossom stems and runners, 

 as they may appear. Do not let a berry grow. It will injure your 

 prospects. Cultivate as I have advised for potatoes, often and 

 after each shower, anyway. A one-horse cultivator with fine teeth 

 is best. The Iron Age harrow and cultivator combined is perfect. 

 The potato hook or pronged hoe is the best tool to stir the surface 

 around the plants that the cultivator leaves (see picture in Chapter 



