206 VEGETABLE GROWING. 



IRISH POTATOES. 



This plant was introduced to Europe as a flower, 

 and to be grown as such in gardens. The early phar- 

 maceutists reported it as poisonous. But now it is the 

 support of millions of human beings. 



Where the summers are long, the sweet potatoes 

 will meet with the more favor, but the Irish potato 

 commands the greater price. 



To raise Irish potatoes profitably in the South, it 

 will be well to watch the crop in the potato growing 

 sections of the North ; if the yield of the late crop has 

 been good, the demand for new potatoes will be small 

 and the market easily stocked, but if the yield of the 

 late crop has been poor, there will be a steady demand 

 for all the potatoes we can raise. 



SOIL AND PREPARATION. 



This crop can stand heavier land than the usual 

 vegetable, but the soil must be fertile and deep. A 

 bay head or muck land that has been drained and 

 freed of sourness, will be found exceedingly well 

 adapted to this crop. A cold, stiff, clayey soil usually 

 fails to give a profitable return. If the land is not 

 naturally moist, water will have to be supplied ; it is 

 useless to try to raise a crop on dry land, but it will 

 stand a very long drought if the substratum is not dry. 

 Heavy soggy land will not produce a good crop until 

 it is freed of water. On this point we can do no bet- 

 ter than to quote Dr. Lawes, of the Eothamsted Ex- 

 periment Station, England: "If you want to grow 

 large crops of potatoes, you must be liberal in your 

 supply of water as well as of food. The following will 

 give you some idea of the importance of rainfall, even 

 when the potatoes have an abundance of food. We 



