POTATOES 111 



Other varieties require to be placed 4 inches down, 

 15 inches between the sets, and 25 to 30 inches between 

 the rows. These distances must be taken as the mini- 

 mum ; more room for each tuber may well be given 

 where space is not valuable. The quantity of seed 

 required for each rod is about 14 Ibs. 



Some gardeners do not place their sets in trenches, but 

 drop them in holes made with a dibber. This is not a 

 good plan to follow unless the ground is extremely light 

 and sandy. If it is at all heavy or contains clay the 

 potato will not fall to the bottom of the hole and the 

 space left below it becomes a receptacle for water, which 

 will rot the tuber. 



" Should a large seed potato be cut so as to provide 

 two or more sets ? " This is a question which the novice 

 often asks. The answer, especially in these hard times^ 

 is in the affirmative; if the tuber can be so cut that each 

 portion is provided with two or three strong healthy 

 shoots. Lime, however, must be dusted on the cut 

 surfaces, and it is wise to plant immediately after using 

 the knife. 



Not only should large potatoes be cut as a measure of 

 economy, but good crops have often been grown from 

 potato parings. Here is what a writer says in The Daily 

 Mail : 



" In April I took the eyes, with a small piece of flesh, from 

 eight Queen Mary potatoes forty-eight in all. In May I 

 planted forty-seven of these in light ground, treating them 

 exactly as I did my other potatoes. Two failed to germinate. 

 Yesterday I lifted the forty-five roots and I have 48 J Ibs. 

 of potatoes, the largest weighing 8J ozs., and many weighing 

 4 and 5 ozs. each. Other potatoes on the same ground are 

 only averaging 1 J Ibs. per root from the whole sets." 



