NORTH HADLEY, MASS. 
7 
The Potato Crop. — Seed 
Development. 
The rapidly increasing importance 
of the potato crop demands strenuous 
efforts on the part of farmers and 
gardeners to make essential improve- 
ments on the seed for this valuable 
and indispensable farm crop. 
The report of the Agricultural De- 
partment of the Government shows 
an increase in the production of the 
potato in the past ten years of more 
than one-fourth, showing clearly that 
I as fast as the nroduction increases 
I he demand for consumption multi- 
plies in like ratio, thus emphasizing 
che well-established principle that 
increased production creates increas- 
ed consumption. 
This fact is most encouraging to 
farmers and gardeners, and should 
stimulate to greater effort to estab- 
lish improvements both as to yield 
and quality of crop, the improve- 
ment of seed and the adoption of 
better methods, and the employment 
and use of the best (the most im- 
proved) implements and machinery 
for plan ling, cultivating and harvest- 
ing of this valuable crop. 
ijim ui , ^ „ The improvement and full develop- 
ment of seeds is of the first importance, for “ as ye sow so shall ye reap,” and as “ 1'ke pro- 
duces like ” so the use of the best seed will produce the best results, both as to yield a 
quality of crop. Improvement of seed may be accomplished by observing the'.followmg rules: 
First. Select the best portion of ground than can be had of sufficient size to grow t le see 
for the succeeding season’s crop. .. • 
Second. Prepare this portion by deep plowing and thorough harrowing until the soil is 
made perfectly fine. ,, • 
Third Take the best seed of the best variety, tubers of large and medium size, smooth and 
possessing the best form. The variety is of great importance, as there are varieties that will 
yield four times as much as others. Cut the seed into large pieces and plant not less than 
three and one-half feet between rows and twenty-six inclie- in the hills, and about three to 
five inches deep; cover in the most convenient manner. If the 11 Aspinwall ” Potato p ’ ante !‘ 
is used it does its own covering while planting, leaving the rows nicely ridged up, the sod 
lying loosely over the row, admitting the warmth of the sun and preventing rains from set- 
tling on the planted pieces of potato. Harrow all down perfectly, leveling and fining the soil 
three or four days after planting, and just before the sprouts come through the ground har- 
row again so as to prevent weeds from starting and making the sod open to the action of the air. 
Fourth. As soon as the sprouts are four or five inches above ground, thin out to one stalk 
in a hill, being very careful to leave the largest and best stalk, and avoid disturbing it as 
much as possible. . . . A 
This thinning out to one stalk in a hill is the most vital matter in the improvement and 
perfection of seed unless we may except the character of the seed used. _ 
How can it be expected to grow good seed in hills with several stalks ‘ Having bu one 
stalk in a place gives to that stalk the best chance to make a perfect growth, and an addi- 
tional advantage and a very great one too, will be found in planting the potatoes with two 
rows of corn and one row of potatoes, alternately, the corn affording a shade to the potato 
vines to prevent the fatal tendency to blight by the extreme heat of the sun falling on the 
vines, and a further benefit in this regard is planting as early as possible after the frost goes 
( Continued on page 17.) 
CHAS. DOWNING. 
Type of Potato No. 3. 
