26 Maine Agricultural Experiment Station. 1919. 



The season of 1910 was favorable for a maximum crop as 

 the rainfall was ample and the growing season greatly pro- 

 longed by frost keeping off until October. The seasons of 

 T911 and 191 2 were not so favoiable and 1913 was particularly 

 unfavorable, although the rainfall in August was greater than 

 the average and saved the crop from the damage that threat- 

 ened from the dry July. 



The time required for planting was the same on all of the 

 plots. The planting, spraying and harvesting were the same 

 for all of the plots with the exception that on the deep planted 

 it was necessary to use four horses on the digger. The deep 

 planted required less hours of cultivation; the medium planted 

 the most. A man and team for cultivating were on the deep 

 plots 26 hours, on the medium 39 hours and on the shallow 35. 

 hours per acre. 



There was not much difference in the difficulties of digging 

 between the shallow planted and the medium planted. The 

 deep planted required four horses instead of two on the digger, 

 and a good deal of care was necessary to be sure that the 

 digger was sufficiently deep in the ground to prevent cutting 

 the tubers. 



CONCLUSIONS 



In the three years experiments comparing the usual meth- 

 od practiced in Aroostook County with deeper planted seed and 

 a lower, broader ridge than is commonly used there showed 

 that so far as yield was concerned there is nothing to choose in 

 that locality between the two methods. 



The deep planted and medium planted gave practically the 

 same yields at Highmoor Farm with the advantage (though 

 within experimental error) in favor of the medium planted. 

 The medium planted and medium ridge gave considerably 

 better yields at Highmoor Farm than the shallow planted and 

 high ridge. The medium ridge is cultivated as cheaply as the 

 shallow ridge and is harvested nearly as easily. The deep 

 planted are cultivated at less cost than either of the two other 

 methods but are far more difficult to harvest. 



The results indicate that for Aroostook County the shallow 

 planted high ridge is well suited to the climatic conditions. 



