COLD AND WET GROUNDS. 229 



GATHERING POTATOES. 



Young farmers often dig their potatoes too soon. 

 They should be suffered to stand until fully ripe, if we 

 wish for the most nourishment they will afford. In 

 truth they are not wholesome for man or beast when 

 unripe ; and, by putting them early in the cellar, they 

 are liable to heat and spoil in the heap. 



They should be but little exposed to the air, and no 

 amount of dry loam mixed with them will prove in- 

 jurious when housed at the proper season of the year. 



We have known some very early farmers obliged to 

 overhaul their potatoes and throw them out of the 

 cellar to prevent their spoihng. So long as the vines 

 are green the potatoes are growing ; and, though after 

 the frost has taken their tops we expect no great in- 

 crease, we think the potatoes often become more ripe 

 and mealy by lying in the ground until the vines are 

 dead. 



COLD AND WET GROUNDS. 



People often ask, "What shall we do with our cold 

 and wet grounds ? If we put no manure in the hill we 

 fear we shall get no crop." It is believed that most 

 farmers have some dry and warm land. Let the corn 

 be planted on such land. We are not so bound by a 

 system of rotation of crops as to be obliged to try every 

 field with corn. Rotation to some extent is useful, 

 but we have thousands of acres, excellent for grass, 

 yet wholly unsuitable for corn. Let these acres re- 

 main in grass. If they need ploughing, sow them 

 again to grass in September : they need not be planted. 



Warm and dry grounds, if manured, and the manure 

 thoroughly mixed with the soil, will generally give us 

 good crops of corn when they are well attended to. 

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