Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1858-04-23
PARIS. ME-,
Potatoes

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7 and for long time. 1; Is said the tubcrs
were treated as fruit, being eaten with sugar
or baked in pies with wine and spices. They
came very slowly, and through much oppo-
sltion, into popular use, bat have now won
their way to a prominent place-in fact the
most promincut-among the roots culiiya'
tel Tor human subsistence. The potato
well deserves the estimation which It has
now attained, and i,s growth and use might
be proGtably extended in most sections OF
the country. Tho injury to which !; has
been subject from the rot, has had a ten.
dcncy TO limit, aud, perhaps, decrease It's
production, and still has SOME effect in that
direction. We hopc, however, that the evil
has done its worst" upon our hyoritc
csculcnt, and that no extensive loss may be
experienced in future.
The soil best suited to the production Of
sound, good favored potatoes, is a light
loam ola rather moi,, character, either new
land or good grccnsward. Such situations
are almost uniform in the character Of the
product. But good ron,oc, are often
grown on other soils. We have seen fair
crop, on mucky laui, aud also on sandy.
but heavy, tenacious clay' generally yield
small crops AMI inferior tubcr. Wei
drained clay., especially when an old aud
rich svarl has recently been plowcd m,
succeed very we'll ir the season be favorable.
For potatoes, the preparation should bc
such as to give a deep and mellow soil.
one moderately rich 4, thought better than
one which has received recent heavy drcs.
sing of green manure, though there is too
h,ils need oi giving any caution in this re.
sp,ct. We have seen largo anI excellent
crops on clover lev, covered with barn yard
manure, aud then neatly turned under. and
,h, ground thoroughly narrowed before
marking out for planting, IN oll swlri,
never plowcl before, Of lolmy character,
turn,I under in tn, f,ll /, iay1ri,c .itua-
ton for ,his crop with many farmers, \
claycy s,il dressed with muck COMPOST, and
well mixed with tho SAN, by autumn rs
Vel as early spring plowins, has been
known 10 suc,,,l we'll. Thi, course Of
treatment; flr ,lch Land, might frequently
D, employed, a; bat small cKp,ns, compared
with th, ncro', in ia, product and profit.
To continue the subj,tt Of PREPARATION as
rcsarl' manure., We may adj that hos
dun: /, considered one Of the bo.,, where
unlcrmsntel j., employed, and that most
favorable results hay, followed the applica.
ton Of saano. Dr,rent i,riilizcrs have
b,'n tried, each p,1, b,ins dressed at the
same expense, AMI ,h, return, from that
manur>l with suan,, have, in almost every
in'auc, lar cv,,,l,l any other. THREE or
four hundred pounds per acre, spread broad.
cast, aud thoroughly incorporated with tho
s,il, ., probably the b,s, rate aud method
olarplicAtioa. II applied in tho hiIl it
must b. ciytr,l with thr,, or four inches
ofs)il bsl1r, ,hs sol is planted, rs any
thing ike cont1c, destroys the vitality OF
the potato.
Th, time Of planting should DO early in
,hc s'aon--1r II thi, b, imprlc,iciJlc,
somewhere near the middle OF June. II
planted h,, in May, the period Of the set.
tius Of the ,gber- often arrive, "a; ihc timo
Of the summer drouih, and the rroduc, is
materially lc,senrI from that cause. Late
planting generally succeeds With good cul.
,urc and favorable season, bu, caGly pant
Ing is more certain in result, The process
Of planting {, often impcricctly performed,
proper care not being taken in giving rcsu-
hrity 70 the rows, IAN important item as
regards aitcrsulturc. aud depth, and mel.
l3Nne,, % the covering Of soil.) Potatoes
are sometimes pIowcl in, and II the ground
i, in Gue til,h, the process is an casy one,
and often quite as successful a, covering
with the hoe. In tins method drill instead
orhill planting i, employed.
In rrsarI to the character, amount, and
preparation Of the seed, much diversity Of
opinion prevails Some advocate the Us, Of
only the larger potatoes, Others think the
small ones jus, as good If not bettcr-Somc
plant whole tubsrs, others cut them into
saycra! pieces. We will not here go into
statement O. the reasons adluccd ior the df.
iereni methods OF procedure, but rather
seek to show the conclusion a, which we
have arrived lrcm their careful study. There
seems n bo no essential difference in the
character Of the germs developed in ripe
and large. or small and unripe tubers, each
have been found TO produce large crops
whcn planted in favorable soils. As to
whole or Gu, seed, We incline TO cut, because
We eau thus regulate the number of plants
to a hill, by giving each piece 50 many eyes,
and planting limited number to each hill.
The idea Oi planting large potatoes whole
in order to give the youns shoots a good
supply Of food at first seems poor economy.
Manure can be supplied in cheaper form.
The amount Of seed is very generally too
large. inducing the formation Of larger
number OF sets than there are room or nutri-
ment Tor in the hill and this we believe to
be the great cause Of the large proportion
Of small ,ubers. Two to four plants to q
hill, three feet apart each way. will pro-
duco larger and letter potatoes than a
greater number in equal space, or such at
leas, is the result OF many experiments made