so strong and hardy that they will bear the necessary handling 

 incidental to planting without breaking. 



If small potatoes are used, about 2 ounces in weight and 

 from a known productive field free from disease, they may be 

 planted whole with good success. If larger seed is used it is 

 best -to cut it lengthwise into 1 and 1| ounce pieces having two 

 good eyes. 



The yield per acre, according to South Dakota Experiment 

 Station tests, as described in Bulletin No. 155, increased with 

 the size of the seed pieces. These ranged in weight from less 

 than one-half ounce to over 4 ounces, and corresponding crops 

 ranged from 175 bushels per acre to 299 bushels. 



The seed pieces are usually planted not more than 15 inches 

 apart in the row; sometimes thicker if on rich land, and very 

 occasionally as close as 8 inches apart. The rows should be 

 33 to 36 inches apart, depending on the richness of the land. 

 This requires from 12 to 22 bushels of "seed" potatoes to the 

 acre. The general practice, however, is to use from 15 to 18 

 bushels to the acre. 



Cultivation. 



Good care and thorough cultivation pay with the potato crop. 

 The cultivation should begin within a week after planting, by 

 running the two-horse cultivator as deeply as possible between 

 the rows, to be followed in a few days by the weeder, run in 

 at least two directions. In another week or ten days run the 

 weeder again, and every ten days thereafter until the potatoes 

 are from 3 to 4 inches high. Then begin with the two-horse 

 cultivator and continue with it at intervals of ten days, or 

 until the vines cover the ground so completely that it is im- 

 possible to cultivate any more. Whether to hill up the pota- 

 toes or not depends upon the season and the nature of the land. 

 In a dry season do not hill more than is necessary to furnish a 

 good mound of mellow earth in which the tubers can develop. 

 Much depends upon the soU condition being right if one hopes 

 to secure a crop of smooth uniform tubers free from those 

 defects caused by hard, lumpy soil. In order to appreciate the 

 importance of this it is necessary to understand the potato 

 plant, and to realize the necessity of having a deep mellow soil 



