33 



go. The one great reason we grow better potatoes in Aroostook 

 County than elsewhere in Maine and Massachusetts is that it is the 

 farmer's business to grow his potatoes. He does not keep cows, and 

 he is not obliged to feed his cows or milk them; and there isn't any- 

 thing he has to do but to take care of his field of potatoes, and that 

 field will have from 20 to 50 acres in it. He keeps one man and a 

 pair of horses working on each 20 acres from spring until fall, and 

 this one man and pair of horses will care for the 20 acres, and he 

 doesn't attempt to do anything else. That is one of the reasons we 

 grow jDotatoes better, — because we are growing them for business. 

 The potato growers are not thinking of the dairy cow or the breed of 

 sheep; they are thinking about growing potatoes. When I used to 

 live in Connecticut, up and down this Connecticut Valley there were 

 men that ate, drank and slept tobacco; and so there are men that 

 eat, drink and sleep potatoes in Aroostook County." 



No One Best Method of Potato Culture. 

 The potato is so generally and so extensively grown, we are so 

 familiar with its qualities and the various methods of culture, that 

 most farmers are very positive as to the best method of growing this 

 crop. During the past twenty-five years hundreds of experiments 

 have been made at experiment stations and by practical growers, 

 and the results from experiments in propagation and culture are so 

 conflicting that the careful student will be very slow in drawing con- 

 clusions. While he will be convinced that there are ideal ways of 

 treatment under certain conditions, he will be equally convinced that 

 under different conditions very different practice will be necessary 

 to insure the best crop. In potato growing, as with most farm opera- 

 tions, the soil and atmosphere are such determining factors that there 

 is no best way. Each farmer who would grow potatoes to the best 

 advantage must be sufficiently intelligent to understand the condi- 

 tions of the soil on his own farm. The methods of preparation of 

 soil, of planting, cultivating and fertilizing the crop, depend largely 

 on the character and condition of the soil and the season. 



A Few Points to be observed. 



The successful growing of the potato crop demands careful and con- 

 scientious work from start to finish. There are many details which 

 if neglected mean partial failure, and which must be cared for in 

 order to insure the fullest success. It is not practicable in a short 

 article to hint at more than a very few factors which enter into suc- 

 cessful potato growing. 



Among the most important are: the selection and the preparation 

 of the soil, including application of fertilizer; the seed and the care 

 of the crop during the growing season. 



The Soil. 

 A soil to grow potatoes well must be in an excellent state of tilth, 

 sufficiently mellow to make a good seed bed and place for the tubers 

 to develop. Abundant plant food must be supplied, and the laud 

 must be so situated that it will not suffer if rain should be excessive, 

 and must, on the other hand, be well adapted to stand drought. If 

 not naturally well drained, it must be underdrained. If it is not of 

 good water-holding capacity, this must be secured by increasing the 

 humus by green manuring or the use of liberal quantities of stable 

 manure. 



