162 The Potato 



hitched close to the level to keep it from digging into the 

 soil. On any but perfectly level fields, the use of level or 

 harrow on more than two rows at a time is likely to result 

 either in injury from working one row too deeply or in 

 poor work from going too shallow on one and hurting the 

 others. Leveling the rows can be delayed longer when the 

 seed is covered deeply. Many stones in the soil make it 

 advisable to level earlier if it can be done at all on account 

 of stones moving the seed. 



A practice used much in Maine and suited to wet and 

 cold climates is to ridge the potato rows just after the 

 plants come up. If frost follows, the plants are safe from 

 it for several days longer than if left uncovered. Such 

 ridging kills many weeds, but is suited only to sections in 

 which the soil is sure not to bake over the little plants, and 

 to conditions of damp soil which make ridging the best 

 practice. 



Without heavy ridging late in the season, the weeds 

 hardest to control are those closest to the potato plants. 

 Thorough stirring before the plants come up and a fre- 

 quent use of the weeder afterwards enables one to control 

 the weeds near the plants as easily as those between the 

 rows. 



Many forms of cultivators are made for tilling the soil 

 between the rows of potatoes. Very heavy soils, such as 

 those of the Greeley tegion of Colorado, need four-horse 

 cultivators which use two teeth four inches wide and four- 

 teen inches long on each side of the row and stir the heavy 

 clay to the depth of eight or ten inches. Other cultivators 

 for light sandy soils may merely stir the surface with twelve 

 or fourteen peg teeth. Between these types, every grada- 

 tion of size and number of teeth may be found according to 

 the soil conditions. 



