222 Harvesting Early Potatoes. 



HARVESTING EARLY POTATOES. 



By W. T. CoGGESHALL, Hamburg, N.J. 



For the last two years, early potatoes have been my main crop ; and I 

 have seldom raised any other kind for home-use and marketing-purposes. 

 My practice has been to dig them (what I intended to keep over winter) 

 whenever the tops were all dead, and store in a dark, cool cellar, where 

 they have invariably kept perfectly sound, and into late spring. I have 

 never been troubled with potatoes rotting ; not even with varieties that 

 have failed, in this respect, with others. To be sure, I have been careful 

 to grow only varieties least susceptible to disease ; being equally careful in 

 the selection of soil, and in applying the proper manure ; to which, and 

 shovelling over the seed in lime, I attribute such exemption from the rot. 

 I have restricted myself almost exclusively to growing early potatoes, for the 

 reason that it costs no more to raise an early kind than a lute one ; while 

 the former can be harvested even before they are fully ripe, and marketed 

 immediately, if desired, with the probability of bringing higher prices than 

 late ones usually bring in the spring ; and, if desirable to keep over, I have 

 invariably found that an early potato will preserve equally as well as a late 

 one, with the exception of a natural tendency, owing to the earliness of 

 the variety, to sprout earlier, which may be easily prevented in a great 

 measure, if not wholly, by storing in a cool, dark cellar. 



When it is not convenient to dig them as soon as ripe, potatoes may be 

 left in the ground, even in very unfavorable seasons (provided it is a vari- 

 ety free from rot), for a considerable length of time, until a more favorable 

 opportunity offers, without any serious injury ; only, early potatoes that are 

 dug late are apt to have a duller appearance, and to be disfigured by grubs 

 where these happen to be plenty. What effect leaving them in the ground 

 may have upon their flavor, I am unable to determine ; but, judging from 

 my own experience, I am inclined to think the injury from this source is 

 very slight, if any. 



The results of my own practice and experience, however. Incline me to 

 the opinion, that it is better, on the whole, to dig when the tops are all dead, 

 and store immediately in a cool, dark cellar ; and that it is only when this 



