KINDS OF FERTILIZER USED 267 



Soils for Potatoes. While potatoes are often grown successfully 

 on heavy soils, it is generally recognized that loose, gravelly or sandy 

 soils are best. Advantages claimed for loose soils are that (1) the 

 crop is easier to plant, cultivate and dig; (2) the potatoes are 

 smoother and of better quality; (3) fertilizer and manure are more 

 effective; (4) potatoes are less affected by diseases; (5) crop is 

 quicker in maturing. 



New soils are also recognized as excellent, not only because rich 

 in organic matter, but also free from diseases that affect potatoes. 

 A rich clover sod is ideal, and it is generally arranged, where pota- 

 toes are grown in rotation, to put them on the sod land. 



Manures and Fertilizers. Fertilizer and manure is used in 

 larger quantity on the potato crop than any other farm crop in the 

 eastern States, as they are an intensive crop and give larger returns. 

 In the gravelly potato soils of Maine, and the sandy soils of Long 

 Island and the Atlantic Coast, potatoes are a leading crop, and com- 

 mercial fertilizer is customarily applied at the rate of 1000 to 2000 

 pounds per acre each year. In general the soils in these districts are 

 low in organic matter, not much barnyard manure is available and 

 it is not the general practice to rotate with clover or grass to restore 

 organic matter. The land is in potatoes at least one-half the time. 



Farther back from the coast in Pennsylvania, Ohio, and New 

 York, where potatoes are grown on the land only once in 4 or 5 years 

 in rotation with other crops, the use of fertilizer is much less. On 

 most of these farms, farmyard manure is available and it is cus- 

 tomary to apply it on sod land to be broken for potatoes. Many such 

 farms do not use fertilizer or only in light dressings of 300 to 800 

 pounds applied at time of planting. Surveys show that about one- 

 half the farmers of this region use fertilizers and then seldom above 

 800 pounds per acre. 



In the Middle and Western States, fertilizers are used in the 

 more intensive potato growing districts, but most of the crop in these 

 States is still grown on new land or in rotation, where little fertilizer 

 is required. 



Kinds of Fertilizer Used. As pointed out heretofore in the 

 text, grasses require fertilizers rich in nitrogen to stimulate vegeta- 



