204 POTATOES. 



Another method is, when the ground is ready to 

 open the furrow with a one-horse plough, spreading 

 the manure in the furrow; then the Potatoes are 

 dropped in place along the bottom of the furrow, 

 and, by means of the plough again, are covered about 

 three inches deep. When the young stocks are just 

 coming through the surface, the field is harrowed, 

 running the harrow in the line of the rows. We use 

 for this purpose a blunt-toothed harrow, which levels 

 the surface, destroj^s the first crop of young weeds, 

 and as far as I am capable of observing, does no in- 

 jm-y to the Potatoes. I am aware that many Po- 

 tato-growers condemn the harrow for this purpose, as 

 doing more harm than good. When I am convinced 

 that this is the fact, I will at once abandon its use 

 and adopt some other improved implement to do the 

 same kind of work. 



When the young plants are well above the sur- 

 face, I run Howe's horse-hoe or Perry's Scarifier 

 between the rows, going twice in each space, and as 

 close to the stocks as it is possible, without cutting 

 them. This operation is repeated once at least every 

 two weeks, until the Potatoes come into blossom, 

 when the cultivation is stopped. Sometimes a few 

 heavy showers of rain will compact and harden the 

 surface ; in such a case, we use Mapes' one-horse 

 lifting sub-soil plough to run once in the middle, be- 

 tween the rows, and loosen the soil three or four 

 inches deep. Our plan is to prepare the soil thor- 

 oughly before planting, and tlien, during the grow- 

 ing season, to keep merely two or three inches of the 

 surface loose and fi-ee. There is little or no hard 



