early, as such a thing as a failure in the pota¬ 
to crop in this section was then unknown. 
Now all is changed; the soil is not in its virgin 
richness, it is also more compact from contin¬ 
ued cultivation. All the small roots of the 
forest have gone to decay and the soil is in 
consequence much less aerated. Insect ene¬ 
mies arc more numerous, and the result is a 
much smaller crop of inferior potatoes than 
used to reward the labors of our ancestors. 
Some portions of the farm seem "better ad¬ 
apted to the growth of potatoes than others, 
although no perceptible difference can be dis¬ 
covered in soil or situation. Some of the best 
crops ever grown by the writer have been 
grown on drained land, that, previous to 
drainage, was so wet as to be wholly unfit for 
cultivation, probably from the fact that the 
soil, when drained, was made dry and com¬ 
paratively new, as when the laud was origin¬ 
ally “chopped off” its timber, it was found after 
cutting the timber into logging lengths for 
burning, that it was too wet for cultivation and 
thus left, and a growth of brush, such as would 
grow in wot soils. greW up, and in that state I 
found it. and then used the first tile ever laid 
in this country, so far as I know. 
At other times 1 have raised, large crops on 
what I considered good land well prepared; 
also on what was thought to be poor laud 
poorly prepared. Crops of this kind were 
raised in 1870, on both kinds of Soil, which re¬ 
ceived both kinds of fitting; both were planted 
the last of May, after all other spring planting 
was done, and both pieces were planted with 
small, shriveled seed of Early Rose Potatoes. 
One piece was grouud that had grown a crop 
of corn the year previous, manured and fitted 
for cabbage. This piece was very mellow. 
The other was ou the soil where a tile drain 
had been put in late iu the Fall before, in a 
meadow, which was intended to be plowed for 
potatoes that Spring; but it was not done, 
and, as a last resort, the ditch was plowed in 
the Spring anil a few furrows were plowed 
on each side of the ditch, aud three or four 
rows of potatoes were planted lengthwise on 
the drain, some 40 rods in length. The soil, a 
compact clay, was so lumpy that it was 
with difficulty that the potatoes could be 
covered with sufficient earth to hide them from 
sight. Then a few loads of wet straw were 
drawn and put ou the hills, aud nothing further 
was done (except to pull a few weeds that 
grew in them) till they were dug. Both pieces 
yielded about alike— Ik* tween three and four 
hundred bushels to the acre. The great secret 
iu the success was copious rains when the tu¬ 
bers were sotting; while all early planted po¬ 
tatoes suIferod from drought when the tubers 
were forming ou my farm. Iu these experi¬ 
ment*. .luring all the time of their growth, 
everything seemed favorable. On the piece 
well fitted I expected good results; on the 
other I did not, but they seemed to thrive 
equally well, judging by their yield. 
The past season a piece of grouud was fit¬ 
ted by manuring with rotten manure from 
the barn-yard, and plowed in the Fall of 1884, 
refitted the past, Spring, and a portion man¬ 
ured with green manure, aud a large crop 
was confidently looked for, but the result did 
not meet anticipations. A large crop grew, 
but the largest share rotted and was left, in 
the field. That portion manured with fresh 
manure last Spring was the l roost from dis¬ 
ease. 
The Beauty of Hebron is the best tested 
early potato with me. aud the A\ bite Star for 
a later one. for yield and profitable culture. 
The Thorburu Potato promises well—not a rot¬ 
ten one iu the crop. They are longer with 
me than the Ritual represents them to be in 
the engraving in a late number. T had gx-eat 
hopes or the Empire State, but,, alas! they 
were blasted: wo found the largest half of an 
extra good crop rotten at digging time. Had 
our crop all been dug the last, of August, and 
stored in a cool cellar, l have no doubt we 
should have saved them all from rot; but, of 
course, the tubers were not then fully grown 
or matured, but they would have been much 
better than rotten Ones later in the season. 
r £ho Beauty of Hebron, White Star, and the 
Thorburu Potato, are good models in my esti¬ 
mation, in color, size, form, etc., for a market 
potato; while Dakota Red, and Wall's Or¬ 
ange are neither handsome in form or color, 
nor of quality good enough for table purposes, 
as grown on my farm. Dakota Red will yield 
abundantly; but the tubers are rough and un¬ 
sightly for the table; while Wall’s Orange 
has never yielded half a crop with me, and 
will be wholly discarded iu the future. 
So far as my experience goes, not one new 
sort in a dozen, is worth having as a gift, much 
less when we have to buy them at enormous 
prices. The greatest “sell’’that, I was ever 
caught in. was in the case of Weill’s Orange at 
$1 for a quarter of a pound. However valu¬ 
able it may be iu some localities, it is of no 
value to me. 
To sum up the peculiar features of potato 
culture; a farmer must know by actual trial 
on bis own grounds what varieties succeed 
best, in order to attain the best results in po¬ 
tato culture; also, if possible, at what season 
he had best plant his crop to have a plentiful 
rainfall, to benefit at the time of setting the 
tubers; also the fields best adapted to the 
growth of potatoes; then lie must act accord¬ 
ingly. In a series of years a farmer, acting 
on such general principles, will be more likely 
to be successful, than one who plants silch 
sorts as he may have on hand, a a.l at such 
times as best suit liis convenience, without re¬ 
gard to the quality of the seed, or its adapted- 
uess to his soil, as it is now a well established 
fact that a variety that succeeds well in some 
localities, is comparatively worthless in 
others. 
Rome, N. Y. 
THE PAST SEASON’S EXPERIENCE. 
WM. W. HAWLEY. 
Soil, hard-pan and clay, that had been 
cleared of timber upwards of 60 years aud 
cropped nearly every season; it has not been 
Glovered in seven, or manured in ten years; 
I gave 810 per acre for the use of it the 
past, season. Cultivation, trench, flat culture, 
200 pounds Mapes Special Potato Phosphate 
per acre in top of drill. I grew 100 varieties^ 
of which I have 655 bushels of sound tubers: 
about onc-tliird are small and not marketable. 
Vick’s Extra Early proved the earliest 
by 10 days; the Rural Blush, the latest ; Well's 
Jumbo, the most productive, 47 pounds mer¬ 
chantable from one tuber; the Early Ohio, 
least productive. The Hawley is a seedling of 
my own, three years from the seed-ball, a 
cross of the Burbank and Beauty of Hebron. 
Potatoes suffered badly from rot, iu this section; 
mine were the least affected that I have seen 
this season. 1 think phosphate saved them; I 
threw out about, 10 bushels. My neighbors tell 
me that the tubers left in the ground late in 
the seasou are the ones the wire-worms work 
on; mine were not infected. This is fast be¬ 
coming a great potato country. Arkport, a 
small place near here, handles 10,000 bushels 
]>cr day in the shipping seasou, which lasts 
about eight weeks. White Star, Albany Seed¬ 
ling and Burbank sell the l>est; the buyers 
pay 5ft cents for 62 pounds; while the White 
Elephant, Beauty of Hebron, Early Rose, 
Queen of the Valley anti other reddish pota¬ 
toes are 50 cents for 62 pounds. 
Hornellsville, N. Y. 
CLEAN TILLAGE FOR POTATOES. 
H. IVES. 
With us, the potato has come to be a favor¬ 
ite special as well as profitable crop. It has 
gone through a process of development. Years 
ago it was considered worthy of only a 
“patch” of au acre or so. A few coarse varie¬ 
ties wore planted without effort to keep them 
separate, aud nothing used iu their cultivation 
but an old-fashioned hoe, from the plauting of 
the seed to the digging of the crop. The mar¬ 
ket was confined to the shoemaker, the black¬ 
smith or the storekeeper,, who each took a few 
bushels iu “trade.” Now, the potato is con¬ 
sidered one of the most important and profit¬ 
able crops on the farm. The best fields are 
assigned to its culture, ex;tensive varieties 
selected for planting, suitable tools obtained, 
often at considerable expense, and the great¬ 
est care spent in tillage. Iu fact, the potato 
Is considered in many parts of the country, 
to-day, the best paying cash crop that, the 
farm produces. 
Experience has taught the cultivator who 
aims to produce a profitable crop of potatoes, 
that with proper tools and horse power he can 
do much bettor work than when obliged to de¬ 
pend entirely upon hand labor. It, has been 
proved, also, that by thorough preparation of 
the seed-bed, aud by working t he crop often 
and well through the season, with tools suited 
to the different stages of the work, all hand¬ 
work. except that required in dropping the 
“seed” and iu picking up the tubers, may bo 
dispensed with. By moans of horse power the 
work can be done cheaper, better and more 
easily than under the old system of baud 
labor. 
Farmers believe, as a rule, that the potato 
needs to be planted three or four inches deep, 
so they need a special marker. Then, as the 
seed is covered deeper than most others, a 
special tool must be provided for this purpose. 
After planting, the vines are so long in coming 
up, that the weeds will occupy the hill aud 
crowd the vines out unless prompt cultiva¬ 
tion is given at this critical time. If the 
weeds can be destroyed just before the vines 
appear above the ground, the rightful owner 
of the hill can develop l>efore another stock of 
weeds can grow. Thus it will be seen that 
this work must be done at once in order to 
insure clean culture for the rest of the season. 
It is a light job and easily accomplished, but 
inquires immediate attention. 
For this cultivation a light smoothing har¬ 
row is excellent. Many farmers use a plank 
scraper drawn by one horse and brushing down 
the ridges of two rows at once. Any tool 
that will iusure n slight stirring or movement 
of all the surface earth of the hill, will fully 
accomplish the desired object. If the “seed” 
has been planted less than three inches deep, 
it, will answer just as well to run a shovel-plow 
through the rows, so as to throw an inch or 
two of fresh earth over the hills. This can 
lie done even when the plants are one or two 
inches above ground. This latter plan has 
been practised about here very successfully 
whenever thoroughly performed. Where any 
portion of the row is left uncovered, a cluster 
of weeds will be sure to grow, unless removed 
by some other means. If this first work is 
done in a thorough nmuner, the ordinary 
horse-work of alternate cultivating and 
shovel-plowing, if done every week or so 
through the growing season, will insure good 
tillage and clean culture for the crop without 
any hand hoeing or weed pulling. Not only 
this, but such thorough and frequent tillage 
will keep the spaces between the rows as 
clean as a summer-fallow, and will l>e most 
favorable to the growth and full development 
of the potato plant. The rapid and rank 
growth of the vines will destroy any weed 
growth iu the hills. I know 18 and 20-acre 
fields cultivated in this way, that do not pro. 
duce an armful of weeds, while the work is 
done as well as by hand work, and the cost is 
less than one-half. Under the old system it 
was all one man could So to hoe half an acre 
in a day. Last year in thoroughly cultivating 
an eleven-acre field, I spent a little more 
than half a day of man and horse, or six 
days for the whole field. 
Various machines for digging potatoes have 
been invented. A few of them do fairly well, 
digging from three to five acres per day. Bet¬ 
ter ones will doubtless be made in time. The 
object to be gained by such a machine is two¬ 
fold: the hard and heavy part of the work is 
performed much faster and cheaper than by 
hand labor, and the tubers are freer from 
pricks aud markings. Then again, the act of 
running a machine through the soil in digging, 
produces a good fall working, freeing the land 
of all growth of weeds, leaving it it good 
condition for succeeding tillage and cropping. 
Batavia, N. Y. 
POTATO CULTURE. 
PROF. J. W. SANBORN. 
QUALITY. 
Those farm products that are consumed 
more as luxuries than as necessaries, and which 
derive their value from their capacity to min¬ 
ister to the desires of the palate, should be 
cultivated with reference to quality as a cen¬ 
tral purpose, aud be sold upon the basis of 
quality so far as possible. A large, urban 
population and great incomes pay well for 
skill in refining our farm products. 
Potatoes may 1)6 classed with the luxuries, 
for as a source of food they are relatively 
quite costly. Our tastes demand a medium¬ 
sized. light-colored, smooth and mealy, or 
starchy potato. This standard can Ik? easily 
controlled. The starchy potato is a product 
of light or sandy loam soils, and even here may 
be injured by the system of fertilization. An 
excess of rank yard manure very rich in nitro¬ 
gen. or large applications of wood ashes iu the 
hill, will give rough, watery potatoes. Nitro¬ 
genous manures, in whatever form applied, 
will deepen the green of potato vines, and if 
used in large amounts will give a watery 
potato. The color of the vine will, however, 
vary with each grade of fertilizer used, potash 
salts giving a light-colored vine. 
The three farms that have been under my 
care have all been heavy clay-loams, and two 
of them were so heavy and moist as to be by 
nature unfitted to produce the very best potato. 
A heavy use of rank yard manure only aggra¬ 
vated the evil, and gave, iu a wet, hot season, 
a scabby, watery potato just good enough to 
urouse the indignation of the hog. Chemical 
fertilization has given better potatoes on such 
soil than yard manure by a very decided differ¬ 
ence, potash salts playing a very important 
part. In the use of these salts, I have had to 
meet the old notion that sulphate of potash 
gives a better potato than muriate of potash. 
I have seen no decisive evidence of this fact, 
and now I buy the muriate of potash because 
of its greater eeonomy. Several experiment¬ 
ers have lately tested the influence of the form 
of potash salts, and have not reported any 
marked difference in the results of the use of 
either. That potash salts have a very direct 
relation to the organization of starch in the 
plant is well known. 
In securing a good potato that will stand 
above the average, from a clayey soil, I have 
found that a clover stubble gives a most _ ad¬ 
mirable basis, filled with roots that would 
weigh, with their stubble, two to three tons or 
more per acre. The soil on sowing is laid up 
very light and accessible to air. This seed-bed, 
if plowed deep, opens up a fine area for the 
rather deep roots of the potato, and gives a 
mellow soil for the tuber to nestle in. The 
roots in their decay, furnish all the nitrogen 
the potato needs,! >ut not in excessive amounts at 
any one time, increasing with the rising sun and 
the expanding roots of the potato. Upon this 
ground superphosphate, or some source of phos¬ 
phoric acid and ashes or muriate of potash are 
sown broadcast. I must confess to the use of 
about one-third of the fertilizers applied in the 
drill. This use of chemicals is not quite in ac¬ 
cord with the teachings of some: yet for com 
when it was all used in the drill in large 
amounts.as good results were received. Potatoes 
handled as above and well tilled to restrain the 
weeds and their sickly shade, will give a good 
potato even on such non-typical soils as I have 
alluded to. A big yield is secured also. 
Selection of the potato will doubtless have a 
marked influence on the quality of the product. 
The form, color and density of the potato are 
to he taken prominently into consideration. 
No one wants deep-eyed potatoes, or rough 
ones, and all desire a good-sized eatiug potato. 
Efficient selection of the potato can be best se¬ 
cured in the field when the tubers are dug, for 
the type of the vine and the average character 
of the hill are then under observation. Dr. 
Stnrtevant has illustrated the advantage of 
such selection by experimental tests at the 
New York Experiment Station, showing that 
the yield was thus increased, and whenever 
quantity is involved by'selection, generally, 
quality is likewise at stake. For quality we 
select medium-sized potatoes in preference to 
large ones. Foreign trials have shown that 
dense potatoes, used for seed, determine a 
dense product as the result. This matter of 
selection of the potato with reference to qual¬ 
ity has not received much attention, and hence 
emphatic data are not plentiful. It is a field 
that may well lie entered. 
In my use of chemicals I have found that 
nitrogenous fertilizers have but little influ¬ 
ence on the growth of the potato, for the soil 
used: that chemicals are profitable for potato 
growth, and that, whble medium and large po¬ 
tatoes give much lai’ger crops than small ones, 
and single eyes. The results were stated for 7 
years of consecutive trials, aud 10 years of ob¬ 
servation, and leave me without a doubt that 
the use of single eyes and of small potatoes for 
seed is a pernicious practice. 
Missouri. 
MICHIGAN POTATO GROWING. 
a. c. glidden. 
But little attention has been paid to potato 
growing, as a rale, by the farmers of our 
State. The Grand Traverse region, from its 
earliest settlement, has had an enviable repu¬ 
tation for the quality of its potatoes: but they 
were, aud are still, grown with little re¬ 
gard to correct ideas of culture, as practiced 
iu the older States, as illustrated and explained 
in the Rural. The average farmer of the 
older portions of our State aims to grow only 
sufficient for home use. or. if the season should 
be unusually propitious aud favorable for their 
growth, he may attempt to supply the local 
demands. Potato growing for the general 
markets is left to those localities where soil 
and transportation facilities both unite to 
make their culture a profitable and safe ven¬ 
ture. There are several such localities in this 
State, and their soil is invariably a sandy 
loam made rich by clover and manure. 
Farms that have been worked for 50 years, 
if kept in good condition through rotation, 
with clover as a frequent crop, seem best 
adapted to growing a crop free from scab or 
rust and rot, and of that solid texture which 
stands up under transportation and storage. 
In St. Joseph County, in this State, in the 
vicinity of Moorpark. Parkville and Flower- 
field lies the largest potato-growing region of 
the State. Here is also the largest pepper¬ 
mint district of the United States, these two 
crops being the chief or staple ones grown by 
its fanners. From five to forty acres of pota¬ 
toes per farm are here grown, and their 
experience has demonstrated what for them 
and their soil are the best methods. The basis 
of every crop is a good clover sod, on which 
is spread every available load of barn-yard 
manure, which is plowed under. The potato 
crop is followed usually with oats the next 
year, and seeded with clover, to go into pota¬ 
toes aguni at the end of two years from seed¬ 
ing. This rotation frees the land of weeds, 
aud makes the cultivation less expensive. 
The sod is turned to a moderate depth early 
iu Spring and thoroughly prepared. The out¬ 
come of the crop is largely due to this cultiva¬ 
tion before planting. It seems quite essential 
that the *soil>houldlbe ^thoroughly fined, so 
