1 76 THE POTATO 



lections made from them at the following harvest, the 

 best plants being again retained for the nursery plat 

 and the balance used as seed. 



A. Girard, 1 one of the foremost potato growers of 

 France, selects his potatoes every year from those 

 hills whose foliage is especially luxuriant. He uses 

 the variety Richter's Imperator, and prepares the soil 

 to a depth of 12 to 1 6 inches, giving a liberal applica- 

 tion of barn-yard manure and fertilizers, acid phos- 

 phate, sulphate of potash, and nitrate of soda. He 

 selects, for planting, tubers weighing from 3^ to 4 

 ounces. When he cannot get such, he recommends 

 that tubers of 7 ounces in weight be cut in two, and 

 tubers of 10^ ounces into three pieces always cutting 

 in the direction of the greatest length. He insists on 

 the rejection of all potatoes weighing more than n 

 ounces. If the potatoes available for planting weigh 

 less than 3^ ounces he places in each hill several 

 smaller tubers, enough to bring the total weight to 

 about 4 ounces. He lays great stress on the distance 

 between the plants; the rows are 24 inches apart and 

 the tubers are planted 19 inches in the rows, these dis- 

 tances having been determined to be best by careful 

 experiment. He advises early planting, as soon as 

 danger from frost is past. The crop should be well 

 worked and all potatoes kept covered, and the tops well 

 sprayed with Bordeaux mixture, and the crop not dug 

 until all of the tops have withered. Farmers in the 

 co-operative experiments under his direction report 

 yields of 400 to 700 bushels per acre as common, and 



1 E. S. R., V., p. 117. 



