188 



POTATOES 



plow or with a corn cultivator. It is a good plan to throw the soil 

 up in a ridge over each furrow in which the potatoes are planted, 

 and then work the field down level by means of a harrow two or 

 three weeks later, thus killing all the little weeds directly in the 

 potato row and leaving the surface soil thoroughly stirred close 

 about the plants just as they are coming up. 



Potato-planting machines open the furrow, drop and cover 

 the potatoes, and distribute fertilizer, if desired, all at one opera- 

 tion (Fig. 116). They are used extensively by commercial potato 



Fig. IIG. — Potato planter in operation. 



growers at the North, but are seldom seen at the South, where 

 hand labor is cheaper and more abundant. 



The distance of planting potatoes varies somewhat with the 

 variety, but more with the individual notions of the growers. A 

 common distance between the rows is thirty to thirty-six inches. 

 The distance between the plants in the row varies from ten to 

 eighteen inches, with fourteen inches as a very common and satis- 

 factory distance. Sometimes potatoes are planted in checks 

 twenty-eight to thirty inches apart, and cultivated both ways, 

 but the more usual practice is to plant in drills and cultivate only 

 one way after the plants are up. 



