GARDEN - MANUAL FOR THE SOUTHERN STATES. 



81 



POTATOES. 



Pomme de Terre (Fr.), Kartoffel (Ger.) 



Bliss Early Triumph or Improved Bermuda. 



Early Rose. 



Breeze' 's Peerless or Boston. 



Extra Early Vermont. 



Beauty of Hebron. 



White Elephant. 



Rural New Yorker No. 2. 

 Early Ohio. 

 Burbanks. 

 Early Goodrich. 

 Jackson Whits. 



CULTURE. — The above varieties were tried on the grounds of the Louisiana Experiment 

 Station at Calhoun, La., and Audubon Park, New Orleans, among 150 different kinds tested 

 they gave about the best results, both in yield and quality. Potatoes thrive and produce best 

 in a light, dry but rich soil. Well decomposed stable manure is the best, but if not to be 

 had, cotton seed meal, row bone meal or any other fertilizer should be used to make the 

 ground rich enough. If the ground was planted the fall previous with Cow Peas, which were 

 plowed under, it will be in good condition for potatoes. Good sized tubers should be selected 

 for planting, which can be cut in pieces not too small, each piece ought to contain at least 

 three eyes. Plant in drills from two to three feet apart, according to the space and how to 

 be cultivated afterwards. Field culture, two and a half to three feet apart; for garden, two 

 feet will answer. We plant potatoes here from end of December to end of March, but the 

 surest time is about the first of February. If planted earlier they should be planted deeper 

 than if planted late, and hilled up as they grow. If potatoes are planted shallow and not 



Extra Early Vermont. 



hilled up soon, they will suffer more, if caught by late frost, than if planted deep and not 

 hilled up well. Early potatoes have not the same value here as in the North, as the time of 

 planting is so long, and very often the first planting gets cut down by a frost, and a late 

 planting, which may just be peeping through the ground, will escape and produce in advance 

 of the first planted. A fair crop of potatoes can be raised here if planted in August; if 

 the autumn is not too dry, they will bring nice tubers by the end of November. They 

 should not be cut if planted at this time of the year, but planted whole. They should be 

 put in a moist place before planting, so they may sprout. The early varieties are preferable 

 for this time of planting. All new kinds introduced have been tried here, but of late so 

 many have come out that it is almost impossible to keep up with them. New varieties of 

 potatoes come out with fancy prices, but these prices for new potatoes do not pay here, as we 

 can keep none over for seed, and any person raising for the market would not realize a cent more 

 for a new fancy variety per barrel, than for a barrel of good Peerless or Early Rose. Earliness 

 is no consideration, as we plant from December to end of March. Somebody may plant Early 



Don't forget that we handle plants of all descriptions. 



