204 



GARDEN GUIDE 



sorts, unless you grow your own plants and can have extra large ones ready 

 for setting out. The small, pungent varieties are grown for pickling and 

 flavoring, and the large, mild ones for stuffed Peppers and other table dishes. 



POTATOES 



Of all field and garden products the Potato is the most valuable. On 

 the menu of at least one meal every day in the year the humble Spud appears 

 as the leading vegetable. 



In preparing seed Potatoes 

 for planting, much attention 

 should be paid to the eyes or 

 buds, these being the vegetative 

 parts of the tulDer. They are 

 clustered mainly at the flower or 

 seed end. The other end, called 

 the stem end, usually has only 

 one or two eyes. A test of the 

 producing capacity of the eyes, 

 carried out by the Monmouth 

 County (N. J.) Farm Demon- 

 stration Office, showed that, cal- 

 culated on the acre basis, the 

 flower or seed ends had an ad- 

 vantage in yield of eighty per 

 cent, over the stem ends, and 

 twenty per cent, over the middle 

 eyes, while the latter produced 

 fifty per cent, more than the 

 stem ends. It is advisable then, 

 for the home garden, to reject 

 the stem ends unless you have 

 ample room. In case they are 

 used, a good eye from the 

 middle of the tuber should be 

 included in the piece to be 

 planted. Too many eyes make 

 for foHage, but not for Potatoes. 



The Potato should be cut so that two strong eyes are left on each 

 piece. Penetrate as deeply into the tuber as possible, as the plant in its 

 early stages of development depends largely upon the mother Potato for 

 its sustenance. Some gardeners favor the use of small whole Potatoes for 

 seeds, but those of medium size, cut to two good eyes, are generaUy pre- 

 ferred. The blossom ends are the first to start growth and yield the earliest 

 crop. 



To get extra early results select clean, medium sized Potatoes of an 

 early variety , and cut in quarters or halves, pushing the pieces down into 

 a flat of sand till they are nearly covered and as close together as they 

 wiU go. If these are kept in a sunny place, protected from frost and 

 watered, the roots will make a vigorous growth, while the tops will remain 

 very short and stocky, so they wiU be only 2 to 4 in. in length when they 



Making provision for Winter 



