to The: Colorado Experiment Station. 
Ohios and Snowflakes are planted. Nearly all the known vaiie- 
ties have been tried in this district at one time or another but 
none of them have been able to compete with those named. The 
long* potatoes tend to become longer and roughened and in a yeai 
or two degenerate or revert to what is supposed to be the ances- 
ter of our present race of potatoes. Owing to this tendency for 
seed to “run out” the same stock is not used more than two or 
three years. 
Planting. All planting is done by machinery. Among the 
different makes of planters used are the Aspinwall, the Evans, the 
Superior, the Robins and the Excelsior. All these planters require 
cut seed. Very little difference can be seen in the work of any of 
them. Four horses are used with these planters and five to 
seven acres planted is considered a days work. The rows are 
from thirty-six to forty inches apart, with a distance between 
plants in the row of thirteen or fifteen inches. 
Cultivation. Very soon after planting the first cultivation 
is given. The ridge left by the planter shows the rows so the 
plants do not need to be seen. The object of the first cultivation 
is two-fold. First the tramping of the four horses used on the 
planter packs the ground solidly. This needs to be loosened 
to areate the soil and prevent loss of moisture by evaporation. 
Second the alfalfa or weeds that are starting are killed. For 
this work, four horses on a heavy four shovel John Deere type of 
cultivator are user. The shovels are set to run as deep in the soil 
as they will go which is from eight to twelve or thirteen inches. 
They are also set so as to throw the soil toward the potato rows, 
thus beginning the hilling or ridging process which is character¬ 
istic of potato culture in this locality. This operation leaves the 
soil loose but more or less lumpy, and with a rough uneven sur¬ 
face, especially on the heavy soils. The harrow immediately fol¬ 
lows the cultivator to re-establish the soil mulch. These two 
operations destroy the young weeds so there is little trouble in 
keeping the field clean. 
The number of cultivations depends upon the weather condi¬ 
tions and rapidity of growth of the vines. The cultivator is used 
a second time as soon as the plants are large enough so that the 
rows can be easily followed. This time the shovels are not run 
quite so close to the row but to the same depth unless the plants 
are much developed. In that case the inside shovels are raised 
so as not to injure the root system. Sometimes two cultivations 
are all that are given but ordinarily a third follows the second 
by a week or ten days and if the vines do not get too large or 
irrigation become necessary, cultivation is continued. Each time 
the cultivator is used more soil is thrown toward the potato rows 
