380 
©6c RURAL NEW-YORKER 
March 10, lon 
HOPE FARM NOTES 
The Story of Potato Planting 
Part IT. 
The Soil.—W licn wo oomo to plant 
potatoes we innst reniemher fliat the tuber 
ig not a root, but an enlarBed stem x.udcr 
gi’ound. This fact makes it ueef'ssary 
tliat tlie soil must be open and free if tlie 
tuber is to foian. In a soil wliieh bakes 
hard, in tinn' of drought, or xvhicli is 
sog^^y with water in ji wet tilin', the 
tubers cannot make, iirojier growth, and 
will b(' small and poorly shaped. T have 
often seen potatoes stunted ami crowded 
out <d' sliape from trying to grow again.st 
a stone or a tough.clo<l. So that the po¬ 
tato, above all crops, should be planted on 
line, mellow S(dl, which has been fitted so 
it will stay mello-w. 
What Son.? If I could have my choice 
I would jdant potatoes on what fariner.s 
l all a sandy loam and plow in .a good sod 
Ilf living clover or a crop of cow peas or 
beans which had died down on the ground. 
T know’ farmers wdio jm'fer an old pasture 
or meadow which has been standing idle 
for years. They think this old sod m-akes 
new land for jiotatoes and that wln'ii it 
can be well fitti'd and fertilized it makes 
an ideal seed bed. T know iieojde who say 
they grow the bi*st jiotatoes on wood land 
just cleared off. wdiere the croji is jdanted 
right among the stumjis. I would from 
choice take good mellow’ land in a rota¬ 
tion and follow either corn or clover. One 
of the best farmers I ever knew’ bought a 
run-dowti farm in Pennsylvania and ma ’e 
a great success w’ith potatoes. ITis jdan 
W’as to fit the land one year and gi’ow the 
crojx the next year. The first year he 
plowed under ry<' and sei'dcd to cow’ peas, 
using a mixfuri* of one jiart potash to 
three parts acid phosphate. This gave a 
tremendous growth uf p^ai vines, which 
were killed at first and fell down on the 
ground. Next year these dead jiea vines 
were jilowed under for jxifatoes and a 
small quantity of nitrate of soda gave a 
fine crop. After the potatoes were dug 
r.ve was seeded to be plowed undvi* the 
foliow’ing year, and so rejxeat the jirocess. 
You must have a naturally open soil w’ell 
filled with organic matter if you expect to 
grow’ good potatoes. 
OtTR Own IT.an.—W ith the high price 
of seed it will not pay to plant potatoes 
Ihis year, unless they are juit in I’ight. 
< >ur children and the women folks are to 
plant a good-sized patch for some chari- 
t.able purpose, and they have selected an 
old raspberry field and peach orchard. 
The soil is a thick, well-rotted sod. The 
remaining trees and bushes will be 
grubbed out. and I shall try to jnit a thin 
scattenng of manure on this sod. I would 
not use enough to make scab dangerous, 
but a small quantity of manure w’ill 
quicken the decay of the sod an/1 fill th*' 
soil with working life or bacteria. We 
plan to plant our main croj) in young 
ajiple orchards, where there is now a 
thick stand of Alsike and Sweet clover. 
This land w'ill be plowed early—deejily 
plow’ed so as to put the present sod down 
out of .sight. Then the ojieration will be 
to jiack and level the plow'ed furrow’s with 
the Acme harrow’, W'ell weighted, or w’ith 
a heavy plank drag. The ob.iect of this 
is to cnish or pack the soil firmly so that 
the sod—either clover or grass—will be 
firmly stamped into jilace. I have ruined 
more than one crop of corn and potatoes 
by jdowing under rye and leaving it open 
aiid loose in the soil. After packing the 
.soil firmly in this way we shall go in and 
biosen the upper part of it. Theiv' will be 
used the disk, or cutaway, sjiring-tooth 
and .sjiike-tooth as seems best, and here is 
w’here judgment must be used, and no 
direct rules can be given. 
' WliAT Is Nkkdkd?—IVI y theory is that 
ideal jiotato soil should have some (juickly 
di'caying sod jiut down to the bottom of 
the furrow —and ke/it there if fios.'iihlr. 
1. waiuld try to avoid the tools whicdi cut 
and toss this sod to the surfa<-e of the 
ground—aiming to leave this sod at the 
bottom of the furrow’, so that the seed 
pic'ces can be drojijied directly into it. I 
think that is wdiere the .sod belongs—so a.s 
to hold moisture where the roots most 
nei'd it. and also that it may decay most 
rajiidly and thus give nji its plant f/iod. 
So I would mse mostly the tools w’hich 
stir the .soil rather than those which choji 
and dig. The latter would be better for a 
crop like corn, or for cultivating an 
orchard, but my idea of potato culture is 
to keej) the sod or organic matter below', 
out of sight, and fully mellow the soil 
abf)V(' it. 
Planting. —AVe have a potato planter, 
but dn our small fields we usually plant 
by hand. After the soil has been well 
fitted—as fine and mellow as w’e can make 
it—we open wide and deej) furrow's three 
feet apart. This can be done by going 
back and forth with a ODe.-horse plow, but 
we prefer a shovel plow’, which is some¬ 
what like a round-pointed shovel mounted 
<in a beam like any other plow’. This 
scrajies out a deej) furrow and throws the 
soil away at each .side. The object is to 
scrajie down into the sod without ripping 
too mn<h of it nji to the surface. In 
jdanting we aim to drop the seed pieces 
in the middle of the furrow—about 18 
inches ajiart. fine way to get them ex¬ 
actly in jdace is to carry a piece of a tin 
rain sjiout in the left hand, put the lower 
end down where you want the seed to slay 
and then drop the seed in at the ujijier 
end. When you droj) the seed without 
stoojiing it will often .strike the bottom of 
the furrow and roll out of place. To 
avoid this .von may droji the seed in the 
soft earth at the side of the furrow and 
let it roll down to the bottom. As each 
jiiece is drojijied we covi'i* it w’ith a little 
dirt by giving a side kick or scrape with 
the foot, thus pushing the earth down 
over the s«‘ed. 
Fkhtii.izing. —In the East the usual 
practice is to use chemicals on the potato 
croj). When planting by hand, most farm¬ 
ers jdan to put the chemicals ahove the 
seed, with an inch or two of earth betw’een. 
In theory it would be better to oadcast 
the fertilizer all out betw’cen row’s, but in 
jiractice most farmers jirefer to jmt the 
chemicals right in the furrow. Idle pota¬ 
to jdanters are arranged to droj) and 
slightly cover the sec'd and tln'ii jiut the 
chemicals in a narrow striji above. In 
band jdanting we kick a little dirt over 
the seed as it is drojijied and then scatter 
the fertilizer through the furrow’. AVe 
do not Jiut it in a narrow striji over the 
seed, but give a twist or flirt to the hand 
and thus scatter over the sides as W’ell as 
the bottom of the furrow. After this is 
done we work up and down betw’cen the 
row’s with a cultivator, and thus partly 
fill the furrow’s. It seems best not to fill 
them level full at first. This tvoi’k can be 
done by working an Acme harrow across 
the furrow’s, but it seems best to keep 
heavy machinery out of the field after the 
Jiotatoes are jdanted. 
Fkhtii.iziui.- —This year my judgment 
is that it will jiay the .smaller jdanter best 
to buy a ready-mixed fertilizer rather 
than to try home mixing. It is almost 
imjiossible to buy jiotash in small quan- 
fties at any reasonable price. The better 
•class of fertilizer manufa<-ture.rs are using 
seme Jiotash. They evidently feel that 
they must do this in order to hold their 
old customers, and in most case's there 
cannot be any jirofit for them in this jiot- 
ash. I think therefore that with our 
jiresent conditions .a farmer can obtain 
Jiotash cheajier in the mixe'd grades than 
he can by home mixing. The usual potato 
fertilizer is made up of many different 
chemicals. If a farmer wants to bu.v a 
home mixture he might use one jiart b.v 
weight of nitrate of soda, one part of 
dried blood, one part fine bone and two 
parts acid phosphate—'with one part of 
muriate of pot/sh if he can get it. Many 
growers u.se a to’i or even more of fertil¬ 
izer to the acre, but we have fojind about 
800 jiounds jirofitable with a good sod, one 
thing you want to remember. Good 
chicken manure w’ill give great results on 
potatoes when usi'd in addition to the 
chemicals. AA'^hen dropped on the hill 
after planting and w’ell worked into the 
ground it surely does make the potato 
vines lay. AA’'e now have our seed pieci'S 
jdanted—ready for cultivation. n. W’. c. 
Central New York Corn Tests 
T^ji through Central and Northern New’ 
York the question of varieties of corn is 
a most important one. Among the hills 
in the dairy sections corn is largely used 
fur the silo, and long exjierience seems to 
have shown that tlie best variety for 
silage is one w’hich will make a good-sized 
stalk and mature a good ear before frost. 
The Farm Bureau of Chenango County, 
New’ A'^ork, has carried out several tests 
by trying these different varieties side by 
side. I.ast year one of these tests w’as 
made on the farm of A. D. Barnes, near 
Oxford. The following table w’ill give a 
fair idea of the result 
of these 
tests: 
Dry 
Matter 
Tons 
Tons 
per acre 
per acre 
Ilair.s Nugget. 
16..5 
4.2.5 
Iowa Gold Mine .... 
11.6 
.8.10 
Learning . 
12.4 
.8.25 
Farlv Mastodon. 
12..S 
.‘U2 
T.uee's Ihivorite. 
15.1 
.8.78 
Thus it w’ould ajipear that the variety 
known as Hall’s Nugget made the best 
show’ing for silage corn, with laicc’s Fa- 
viirite a good second. At the time the 
samjiles were taken, just before frost. 
Hall's Nugget w'as in what is called the 
hard dough stage; Imva Gold Aline soft 
dough, I.eaming in the late inilk. Early 
Mu.stodon early milk, and Luce’s Favorite 
in soft dough stage. 
The conclusion is that the general prac¬ 
tice of planting Learning and a late ma¬ 
turing kind of dent is a mistake, for what 
is w’anted is dry matter rather than 
w’ater. Efforts will now be made to jvr- 
fi'ct a cross between Luce’s Favorite and 
Hall’s Nugget. AA’'e have long believed 
that the jirojier W’ay to handle this corn 
(jne.stion in these colder sections is to try 
to develop by .selection and breeding a va¬ 
riety W’hich W’ill jirove most naturally 
adajited to the climate and section. That 
is far better than to try to depend on ex¬ 
periments with varieties conducted in 
other localities. 
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