THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



227 



POTATOES, SOIL PREPARATION, SEED PLANT- 

 ING AND SEED SELECTION.* 

 By John McPherson. 



Without doubt sandy soil raises the best and cleanest 

 potatoes. 



In selecting a slope select one that is not too steep, 

 and a slope where water will not stand after you have 

 made your irrigation. Get a good general slope. 



Plow land deep in the fall and let it lay during the 

 winter without ever touching it. In the spring disc it 

 in the opposite direction from which plow was run. 



Get seed with shallow eyes. 



Do not pick the largest potato for seed, but take 

 the average size a typical type of the variety you want 

 to grow. 



The tendency is to breed a great many eyes at the 

 expense of quality and size of potato. 



You want to pick a seed type and of such size that 

 you will have enough substance in the piece you plant 

 to start and make a good heavy growth and give it a 

 good root system. 



Cut away part of end of potato and then cut it 

 vertically. 



The larger the piece of seed the more even the stand. 



Get potato seed right into the ground after cutting. 

 Allowing seed to stand causes searing. 



Always try and get the seed down to moisture so that 

 it will start right off and grow. 



Cut stem end off from potato when cutting for seed. 



Plant seed from May 1st to June 10th. 



There is nothing that beats a "Netted Gem." 



Plant seed 10 or 12 inches apart in the rows and one 

 foot apart between the rows and plant one seed in a 

 place. 



Always have moist soil when putting seed into the 

 ground. Whenever you plant seed you want it to grow 

 at once and it will not grow without moisture. 



With a round potato you will not as a rule find 

 knobs. Round potatoes are easier to grow and easier 

 to handle. 



*From Bulletin No. 1, Movable Schools of Agriculture, Univer- 

 sity of Idaho. 



INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTE OF AGRICULTURE. 



The Bulletin of Agricultural Statistics for February, pub 

 lished by the International Institute of Agriculture (Villa 

 Umberto I, Rome), contains preliminary returns of the wheat 

 and oats harvests in the Southern Hemisphere. The out- 

 turn of wheat is estimated in Argentina at 46,420,000 quintals; 

 Chili 10,500,000 quintals; Australia 20,508,000; New Zealand 

 1,765,662; or, expressed in percentages of last year's pro- 

 duction in the individual countries, these figures work out 

 at 125.1; 106.9; 79.2; 78.4 respectively. If to these figures 

 be added the wheat production of the Northern Hemisphere 

 in 1911 as published in last month's Bulletin, for the follow- 

 ing countries: Germany, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Den- 

 mark, Spain, France, Great Britain and Ireland, Hungary, 

 Italy, Luxemburg, Norway, Netherlands, Roumania, Russian 

 Empire, Sweden, Switzerland, Canada, United States, India, 

 Japan, Algeria, Egypt, Tunis, a total wheat production of 

 1137,671,220 quintals is obtained, which is 99.5-% of the pro- 

 duction in 1910. The production of maize in Argentina is 

 estimated at 70,000,000 quintals as against 7,000,000 quintals 

 last year, when an abnormally low yield was obtained owing 

 to the drought. 



The area sown to wheat during the autumn of 1911 in 

 Belgium, France, Great Britain, Hungary, Roumania and 

 Japan is greater than that sown during the corresponding 

 period of 1910, but is less than that sown in the autumn 

 of 1910 in Spain, Canada, United States and India. The con- 

 dition of the winter cereal crops in the Northern Hemisphere 

 is good. 



The Bulletin also contains figures of the last live stock 

 census in the United States, which was taken on April 15. 

 1910. 



Several communications from various governments are 

 given among which those from Portugal, Brazil and Chili 

 referring to the establishment of bureaus of agricultural 

 statistics in these countries are of special interest. 



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