The Garden Magazine, March, 1920 
35 
single rows but always in short blocks or squares. If corn is 
planted in a long row or even two long rows running north and 
south and the wind blows from east to west during the few days 
that fertilization takes place it carries all the pollen away from 
the patch, and the ears will be lopsided. On the other hand, if 
the corn patch is laid out in blocks of io to 15 rows of equal 
length it matters little which way the wind blows; it will always 
blow good for the corn crop. 
T HOUGH sympathy is rooted deep within the hearts of all 
gardeners yet there is less room for sympathy in the garden 
than any other place. To sympathize with a sick plant and try 
to get it well entails in most instances more work than the plant 
is worth. Besides, please remember that it endangers the 
health and bearing power of every plant of the same or related 
family that grows near it. The survival of the fittest should be 
the dominating thought in the garden, and the slightest in- 
dication that any plant in the row does not live up to the stand- 
ard of the others should be good and sufficient reason to remove 
that plant. And while you are pulling it up, don’t throw it 
in the aisle or between the rows! Carry it clear off to some 
isolated corner where it may die quickly, thus carrying with it 
the germs of its disease — or better still, destroy it by burning. 
W E DREAM about the luscious vegetables the garden 
should yield and yet 75 per cent, of the vegetables we 
pick in our gardens are too old to be considered in their prime. 
It may be that we have failed to learn just when the vegetables 
are ready for gathering, or it may be we have desired to give 
them a chance to grow to full size in order to get big basketfuls. 
It doesn’t matter — for either reason will defeat one great pur- 
pose of the home garden, which is to give us better vegetables than 
we can buy in the market. If you see in a catalogue that a variety 
is ready for picking in from 60 to 75 days, begin to look over 
that row after it has been planted 50 days. Soon you will find 
that writers “ play safe” by allowing lots of leeway in the matter 
of when the vegetables should be ready for use. In the garden 
the best rule is to take no one’ s word, but find out for yourself. 
Another reason why the vegetables we gather do not bring 
the quality which we have a right to expect is that most people 
plant too much at one time. That means that a big lot of a 
given thing will be ready at one time and before it can be used 
up most of it has gotten too old. It is then either wasted, or 
put into cans, and the latter is another mistake — for why 
should old, overgrown, tough and stringy vegetables be stored 
away to be used at a season when we value vegetables most? 
Make small plantings frequently instead of one big planting. 
HOW 1 GROW BIG POTATOES 
E. V. LAUGHLIN 
IHERE is a big sense of satisfaction in getting really big 
potatoes for the home table — and it is worth the effort 
||g§ just f° r the pure satisfaction of showing what can be 
done in the home garden, which the commercial man 
cannot attempt to do. Nevertheless there may be some helpful 
suggestions for the large grower in my way of growing big pota- 
toes. There are four essential conditions which must be con- 
sidered and 1 name them also in practically the order of their 
importance; (1) rich soil, (2) good seed, (3) preparation of the 
seed bed to insure depth and mellowness, (4) proper planting 
followed by frequent and clean cultivation. Unless the year is 
terribly “off” nice potatoes will be obtained. 
It is useless to expect good potatoes on poor soil. The crop 
demands the best of soil fertility and if that be refused the in- 
evitable result is small potatoes. My experience has been that 
barnyard manure is the 
SPROUTS JUST STARTED, READY TO PLANT 
Save seed from the best 
hills. This is the produce 
of one plant of Sir Walter 
Raleigh, seven tubers, 
weight 5 lbs. The aver- 
age yield per plant in 
America is lb. 
best fertilizer. T wo or 
three weeks before 
plowing time, earlier if 
possible, I cover the 
location of the pros- 
pective potato patch 
quite deep with ma- 
nure and I hope for 
drenching rains for 
this will leach the sub- 
stance out of the ma- 
nure and carry it down 
into the soil. Shortly 
before plowing time 
this manure, except a 
limited quantity of the 
finer particles, is raked 
off. 1 have observed 
that potatoes do not 
do well on a soil that contains much unrotted straw or coarse 
material. 
The teamsters who plow my potato patch invariably complain 
that I am awfully cranky. This is because I insist that every 
inch of the soil be turned over to a uniform depth of eight inches. 
1 had a real argument with one teamster because 1 caught him 
“cutting and covering.” 1 excuse my grouchiness in this one 
respect because 1 know that potatoes like good housekeeping — 
they do not repose comfortably in a bed unless the mattress is 
fluffed and smoothed, and all rough spots ironed out. In this 
case the mattress is the bed in which the seed is to be planted. 
Always stand by as the teamster plows, harrows, and re-harrows 
the seed bed until it is in A-i condition. You may have to pay 
more for having this done but it is money well spent. 
For sets I prefer medium sized “seed” of some variety that 
thrives in my locality (here in my 
part of Iowa I favor Early Ohio 
though I get almost as good results 
with Early Rose). 1 cut my seed very 
carefullymaking sure that each piece 
, has two thrifty looking eyes. I plant 
v these 18 inches apart in rows 30 
inches apart, covering 
about three inches 
deep. I have just one 
rule in cultivating. It 
is: Cultivate frequent- 
ly and absolutely clean 
until the tubers are 
as big as walnuts. 
And just one thing 
further: Attack the 
bugs with paris green 
just as soon as the first 
one appears. 
