Proceedings of the Farmers^ Club. 405 



to be repeated as a top dressing when the sprouts appear above 

 ground. The ground must be kept in a fine mellow condition at 

 the sides of the rows and well drawn up to the vines as they 

 advance in growth. 



Eznds to plant. — For early planting I recommend the Earl}'- 

 Goodrich; it is very early and productive, quality tine, cooks dry 

 and mealy, even before ripe; has improved in quality, with me, the 

 past two seasons; product, with ordinary care, 300 to 400 bushels 

 per acre — extra care, 450 to 500 bushels. For late planting, the 

 Harison. This is a fine variety, keeps well, and is still more pro- 

 ductive than the Early Goodrich. I have raised three pecks from 

 less than a pound of seed, and have reliable information that five 

 bushels were raised from five ordinary sized potatoes, during the 

 past season; product from 400 to 500 bushels per acre — with care 

 they should produce 600 bushels. I said the sets should not be 

 placed less than one foot apart in the rows, and I am not sure but 

 it would be better to set them fifteen or sixteen inches apart, espe- 

 cially for Early Goodrich and Harison. To plant an acre in rows 

 three feet apart, and sets one foot apart in the rows, it takes 14,520 

 sets, and the same number of sets to plant an acre in hills three 

 feet apart each w^ay, three sets in a hill. If we allow a pound of 

 potatoes to give sixty eyes, we get about 3,300 sets from a bushel, 

 or at the rate of four and a half bushels of seed to plant an acre. 

 As it takes 14,520 sets to plant an acre, if we get only one pound 

 from each set, the yield will be 250 bushels per acre; if two pounds 

 500; if three pounds 750, if four pounds 1,000 bushels per acre. 

 As I have repeatedly dug four pounds from a single set — being at 

 the rate of 1,000 bushels per acre — the question arises here, can we 

 plant and cultivate 14,520 sets so as to mal^e each set produce four 

 pounds, or as near to it as possible? Thomas Bridgeman, the 

 author of the " Young Gardener's Assistant," says, under the head 

 of potatoes: "Potatoes being of such extensive utility, various 

 expedients have been contrived with a view to find out the best 

 method of preparing the seed. In many parts of England the 

 fiirmers never plant them whole. They take the potatoes as they 

 come to hand, and in cutting them take care to have two good eyes 

 to each set. The small potatoes are deprived of the sprout or 

 nose end, as it is generally considered that a redundancy of 

 eyes exhausts the sets and produces weak plants, which are not 

 calculated to yield a full crop. I have frequently known from five 

 to six hundred bushels raised from an acre, wath small potatoes 



