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nature of the locality and of the season. But in some 

 northern and eastern districts of Bengal potatoes can be 

 grown without irrigation which is a great advantage. 



506. Potatoes are not ready for lifting until the leaves and 

 haulms have withered completely and the land has become 

 quite dry. Potatoes require about 3 months to mature from the 

 time of sowing and February and March are the ordinary 

 months for harvesting, though by sowing early in September 

 or October lifting can be done in December and January. 

 Lifting is best done with the Hunter hoe unless a potato- 

 digging plough or a potato-digger is used. Perhaps a 

 larger proportion of tubers gets cut when the Hunter hoe 

 is used than when spade is used. 100 maunds to 150 maunds 

 per acre is a fair outturn, though as much as 300 maunds per 

 acre are sometimes obtained. 



507. It is difficult to preserve the seed of the superior and 

 large sized hill potatoes in the plains, and one of the chief obs- 

 tacles to the spread of the cultivation of the Nainital potatoes 

 has been the high price that has to be paid for the imported 

 seed at the time of sowing. If each cultivator could store his 

 own Nainital potato seed there would be no occasion to grow 

 the inferior Deshi varieties. The following plan may be tried. 

 Small thick-skinned tubers are to be selected, spread out in 

 the sun for a day, then strung up with the help of needle and 

 thread previously dipped in a strong solution of sulphate of 

 copper. These strings of seed-potatoes may be kept hung up 

 from the roof secure from rats and ants, in a cool but well 

 ventilated place. Any rotten potatoes noticed on the strings 

 should be at once cut out and destroyed. 



508. Steeping of potatoes in a dilute solution of sulphuric 

 acid (2%) for 10 hours and then wiping them dry and storing 

 on sand has been recommended for potatoes meant for food ; 

 but this experiment has failed both at Sibpur and at Berham- 

 pore, and the method is probably inapplicable for this climate. 

 New and vigorous races of potatoes are established in tern- 



