CULTURE OF THE POTATO. 191 



quantity of milk, though the quality is inferior. The 

 market value of this root is, at the present time, too 

 great to allow of feeding extensively with it, even in 

 milk-dairies, where it is most valuable as food for cows; 

 still, there are locations where it may be judicious to 

 cultivate this root for dairy feed, and in all circum- 

 stances there is a certain portion of the crop of un- 

 marketable size, which will be of value fed to milch 

 cows or swine. It should be planted in April or May, 

 but in many sections in June, on good mellow soil, first 

 thoroughly ploughed and harrowed, then furrowed three 

 feet apart, and manured in the furrows with a mixture 

 of ashes, plaster of Paris, and salt. The seed may be 

 dropped in the furrows, one foot apart, after the drill 

 system, or in hills, two and a half or three feet apart, 

 to be covered with the plough by simply turning 

 the furrows back, after which the whole should be 

 rolled with the field roller, where it can be done. 



If the land is not already in good heart from 

 continued cultivation, a few loads of barn-yard manure 

 may be spread, and ploughed under by the first 

 ploughing. Used in this way, it is far less liable to 

 cause the rot than when put in the hill. If a sufficient 

 quantity of wood-ashes is not at hand, sifted coal- 

 ashes will answer the purpose, and are said to be 

 valuable as a preventive of the rot. In this way one 

 man, two boys, and a horse, can plant from three to 

 four acres a day on mellow land. I have planted 

 two acres a day on the sod, the manure being first 

 spread on the grass, a furrow made by a yoke of oxen 

 and one man, another following after and dropping, a 

 foot apart, along the outer edge of the furrow on the 

 grass. By quick work, one hand can nearly keep up 

 with the plough in dropping. When arrived at the 

 end of the piece, a back furrow is turned up to the 



