phate of potash in the furrow. Make the mixture 1,600 pounds of acid 
phosphate to 400 pounds of high-grade sulphate, and use 400 pounds 
per acre in the furrow. Lap two furrows over the first and flatten them 
with a light roller before setting the plants, so that the moisture will 
be retained better in the early stages of growth. As soon as the plants 
start to grow, start the cultivator close to the rows. Keep the culti¬ 
vator running, and there will be little need for hand hoes. In laying by, 
use a cotton sweep to.finish up with. Toss the vines over into the alter¬ 
nate rows out of the way, go through with the sweep, and then re¬ 
verse the vines to the finished rows and complete the work in the 
alternate rows. For potatoes to keep all winter, do not depend on the 
spring-set plants, but prepare a new area and plant it with cuttings from 
the early plants in July. This can be rapidly done by running out and 
fertilizing the beds. Then split them with a plow and lay the cuttings 
along the furrow and plow the land back on them. Let a hand follow 
the plow and tramp the earth tight to the cuttings. Work these just as 
the early planted ones. The best seed for the next year’s bedding is 
produced from these cuttings set in August, so as to have the roots all 
of small size. There will be far less of the black shank in plants grown 
from these, as the spores are not so apt to be transmitted on the cut¬ 
tings. The rot is promoted by the constant repetition of the crop on 
the same land, for the soil becomes infected with the spores of the fungus. 
The best preparation for the potato crop is a pea or clover crop the year 
before, the stubble to be turned over in preparation for the crop and 
dressed with lime. In lack of this, use the lime with the wood’s earth. 
If the crop is grown to complete maturity, and the intention is to 
store for winter, the handling becomes a matter of the greatest import¬ 
ance. When the first frost nips the tops, cut them off closely at once, 
as a saphrophytic fungus starts on the decaying vines and will be com¬ 
municated to the roots if they remain attached. Dig in dry and sunny 
weather, and let the potatoes have full exposure to the sun during the 
day. Do not allow any throwing into piles, but let them simply lie along 
the rows. Have crates to gather them and haul them in, and never 
dump them into or out of a cart. In fact, handle them as tenderly as 
eggs. This is the important point in the keeping of the roots. If 
grown on a large scale, a potato house with slatted shelves for storing 
and a flue and furnace to raise the temperature when needed, is a 
necessary adjunct. But we have kept them till June banked out doors 
with only a board shed over the banks. Put down a thick layer of pine 
straw, or other straw, if you have no pine leaves. Pile the potatoes care¬ 
fully on this— not more than twenty-five bushels in a heap. Cover thickly 
with the straw, and build a board shelter over all to keep off the rain. Put 
no earth over the potatoes till they have had a chance to sweat and dry off 
unless the weather should turn very cold, and in this event cover well 
except a small space at the top. After the potatoes have had time to 
dry off under the cover of straw, put on a thick cover of dry soil. The 
shelter overhead will keep this dry, and dry earth keeps out more cold 
than wet earth. If handled properly in digging and burying, the pota¬ 
toes will usually keep well by this method, provided that no diseased 
roots are put in, and no cut or bruised ones. In growing potatoes for 
the Northern markets, even as far south as Baltimore, it is necessary 
to grow the dry yellow varieties, as they have not yet learned the superior¬ 
ity of our Southern yams. When the city people cease to spoil a 
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