Planting 145 



ground can be worked — last of March and April — 

 and mature in the dry weather in July and August. 

 Deep planting and level culture exposes less of the easily 

 heated sandy soil to the sun and reduces danger of heat 

 injury as well as that from drouth. The light soil usually 

 is dry at digging time, gives little trouble in digging, 

 though sometimes fields left late before digging are 

 ridged to kill weeds which have started. Level culture 

 is a relative term as some earth is thrown toward the 

 plants by the teeth of the cultivators. This prevents 

 the growing tubers from being sunburned. Deep plant- 

 ing allows the soil over the rows to be thoroughly worked 

 in the week subsequent to planting. Weeds are easily 

 killed at this time and soil water conserved for the later 

 use of the crop. As a rule, early planted potatoes should 

 be put in shallower than late potatoes, as the sprouts 

 start more slowly in the cooler soil. Very shallow plant- 

 ing is seldom advisable unless the soil is so wet and cold 

 that heavy ridging is necessary for drainage. Growers 

 in other sections of the country use methods between 

 the two extremes, according to their conditions. The 

 truck crop of the South is raised under soil conditions 

 similar to those of Long Island. The need of securing 

 warmth in the soil to hasten growth leads to some ridg- 

 ing. Shallow soils with hard-pan close to the surface 

 as in the volusia soils of New York, Pennsylvania and 

 Ohio, present a hard problem. Ridging is the usual 

 method used in this section on account of trouble in digging 

 in wet seasons, and with the usually stony soil, it is diffi- 

 cult to control weeds near the plants by the use of other 

 tools than those which ridge the rows. Light and drj^ 

 soils particularly, if likely to be fairly dry at digging 

 time, do better with nearly level culture. 



