DRAWING THE PLANTS AND PLANTING. 33 



place, the loose soil around is pulled up with weeding- 

 hoes, so as to form a good medium-sized hill on the ma- 

 nure. When ready to plant, the tops of these hills are 

 cut off with a weeding-hoe, and the plants set in the cen- 

 ter of the flattened tops. This mode recpiires less labor, 

 and some farmers think produces larger crops. When 

 the planting is done in this way, the after cultivation is, 

 much less difficult, as the young weeds can be kept down 

 with comparative ease with the plow and hoe, and with 

 much less hand-weeding, and thpve is a great saving of 

 manure. 



CHAPTER IX. 

 DRAWING THE PLANTS AND PLANTING. 



How TO Draw the Sets.— When the plants are 

 about three or four inclies high, and the weather warm, 

 the first sets can be drawn carefully, one at a time, 

 with the right hand, the left holding the ground firmly 

 to prevent the potato from being drawn out. In five 

 weeks from the time of putting down the beds, the 

 planting should commence, in order to allow room for 

 the second and third growth of sjirouts, planting after 

 each shower during the month of May to the middle of 

 June and on the northern slope of land, to the first of 

 July. This applies to Hanover County, Va., and to thf 

 upper counties. 



Preparing the Sets. — Although plants do well with- 

 out any preparation, yet it adds much to their vigor and 

 healthy growth to treat them as follows : Dip them in a 

 thick paste of fresh cow-stable manure and fine mould 

 mixed with water; then dioble the plants fifteen inches 



