GARDEN YARD me 
the better the yield. Bailey claims that a 
piece containing too many eyes means too many 
sprouts contending for that food and each 
weakening the other in the struggle for its own 
existence. 
For early potatoes, the only ones that can pay 
in a small plot, remember five different things: 
(1) good site and an early soil; (2) land pre- 
pared either by special plowing the fall before, 
or by growing late-tilled crops, that the soil may 
be in good tilth; (8) free use of concentrated, 
quick-acting fertilizers; (4) early varieties of 
potatoes; (5) sprouting the sets, so that the 
short, thick, firm, colored shoots are secured. 
To secure these, light and a moderate degree of 
warmth, 40°-50°, is needed. Nothing pays 
better than sprouting. 
No crop needs spraying more. Unless it is 
frequently sprayed, it is almost certain to be 
attacked by the potato bug, the flea-beetle and 
blight, and the yield cut down. Dry Paris 
green puffed on while the leaves are damp with 
dew, ends the troubles of the bug, and Bordeaux 
mixture can be sprayed for blight. No specific 
has yet been discovered for the flea-beetle, but 
it does far less damage where Bordeaux mixture 
is freely used. I have heard of letting the chick- 
ens loose on the flea-beetles. 
