Vol. LV. No. 2441, 
NEW YORK, NOVEMBER 7, 1896. 
$1.00 PER YEAR. 
A LONG ISLAND POTATO FIELD. 
LARGE YIELD OF CARMAN NO. 1. 
How Long Islanders Handle the Crop. 
The pictures on this page are made from photo¬ 
graphs taken in the potato field of Mr. E. Pidgeon, of 
Northport, L. I. “Long Island potatoes” always 
rank high in the New York market. The light soil 
at the east end 
of the island, 
and the fact 
that chemical 
fertilizers are 
used almost ex¬ 
clusively, ena¬ 
ble farmers to 
produce pota¬ 
toes of the 
highest quality 
and this has 
given this re¬ 
gion its reputa¬ 
tion as a potato¬ 
growing sec¬ 
tion. 
Mr. Pidgeon’s 
fi e 1 d was in 
corn last year. 
As will be seen 
in the picture, 
the field is level 
and smooth. 
Over the fence, 
at Fig. 238 will 
be seen a sam¬ 
ple of this sea¬ 
son’s corn crop. 
Most Long 
Island farmers 
use all their 
stable manure 
on the sod for 
corn, as this 
crop seems best 
adapted to 
using manure. 
Long Island is 
a good “ corn 
country ”, for 
The R. N.-Y. 
grew its im¬ 
mense crop of 
130 bushels to 
the acre on this 
island. Corn 
stubble, when it 
is well worked 
over, makes a 
fine seed bed 
for potatoes. 
Early this sea¬ 
son, Mr. P. gave 
the entire field 
a spread of 
stable manure. 
This is contrary 
to the usual 
practice except 
upon very light 
soils. This ma¬ 
nure was plowed under, and the field was then thor¬ 
oughly worked with an iron-tooth harrow. This sim¬ 
ple preparation would not answer for heavier soils 
intended for potatoes, but one advantage of light, 
open soils is that less working is required to fit them 
for the seed. The variety used was Carman No. 1. 
The seed was selected from home-grown stock, the 
original being purchased in 1895 from Dr. Jabez 
Fisher, who told us last spring how he grew 600 bush¬ 
els per acre of this variety. 
The seed was cut with the Aspinwall potato cutter, 
and planted with the Aspinwall planter. Our picture 
shows this machine at work. The “ cutter”, as most 
of our readers know, is really a slicer which comes 
down upon the whole potato and cuts or slices it into 
sections of uniform size. The picture gives a good 
idea of the planter at work. With these two ma¬ 
chines, a farmer is able to rush the crop in at the 
most favorable opportunity—planting seven or eight 
acres per day instead of covering only one as would 
be the case if all cutting and dropping were done by 
hand. It is quite an advantage to have the ground 
in just the right condition, and you cannot expect to 
keep it right over three days without new cultivation. 
This planting was done on April 18, and 700 pounds 
per acre of chemical fertilizer were used with the 
machine. 
Twice, before the potatoes broke through the 
ground, the whole field was worked with the weeder. 
This early work with weeder or harrow is one of the 
greatest labor-saving methods that potato growers 
have taken up. Millions of little weeds are killed by 
this early culti¬ 
vating, and this 
breaking of the 
upper surface 
of the soil holds 
the moisture 
just where it 
will do the most 
good to the 
plants. As soon 
as the plants 
broke through 
the ground, 
they were 
worked over 
once more with 
the weeder,and 
then they were 
hoed by hand. 
At this stage of 
the game, the 
Colorado potato 
beetles came to 
the front and 
did so much 
damage that 
Mr. P. says that 
they were 
obliged t o g o 
through and 
hand pick the 
beetles. This, 
we think, was 
an unnecessary 
expense. W e 
don’t believe 
that the potato 
beetle has yet 
been hatched 
that can stand 
before a charge 
of Paris-green 
driven out of a 
Leggett gun, or 
out of a good, 
sprayer. 
The potatoes 
were cultivated 
three times 
with the Hud¬ 
son wheel culti¬ 
vator. When 
last used, the 
vines were 
quite large and 
nearly ready to 
bloom. At this 
time, the vines 
were hilled 
slightly. Speak¬ 
ing of this, Mr. 
P. says : “ It is 
my plan always to plant potatoes quite deep, and keep 
the surface of the ground as nearly level as possible, 
excepting the last time the cultivator is run through 
them.” 
On September 10, or 145 days from planting, digging 
was started. The picture shows bow this was done. 
The potatoes were plowed out with a pronged potato 
plow, and it was, probably, necessary to go over the 
PL;a;N'TING CARMAN POTATOES ON A LONG ISLAND FARM. Fig. 237. 
DIGGING CARMAN POTATOES ON A LONG ISLAND FARM. Fig. 23 8. 
