Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1860-03-22
How to Raise Early Potatoes.

How to Raise Early Potatoes.
A dish of new mealy potatoes, about the
middle oil June is not to be de. pissed. They
are good upon the table, and by no means
bad in the barrel, on their way to u lively
market, at one to two dollars bushe, and
upwards, There is difference If month
or two in the time required b different va
rites to mature. The fact is oIten overlook
ed by farmers, and they continue planting
ouly the late sorts, aud have no new potatoes
until August. Early varieties arc frs es-
seutial in ge ting an early harvest The
Mercer or Chenango will mature in about
twelve weeks, and with TO- cling, in ten. 1t
is no. 30 apt to rot when forced, as when
planted late The early Sovereign, Carpen-
ter, Studeys SecdI ng, Weudel's Seeding,
DJkman, and early June, require still
shorter season, say from six to twelve days
In almost every section Of the county here
are early potatoes, probably quite as good as
any of heSc.
here are several methods of Fastening
their maturity. A favorie method with the
German market gardeners is, TO bring the
seed potatoes in barrels into warm room,
about the first of March The eyes start
rapidly and in about two or three weeks they
are ready to plant. Another method, which
we have practiced some years, is to $ art the
potatoes in gent hot-bed about the mid
die OF March, The tubers are cut in halves,
and laid fiat side down upon the bed, as thick
as they Can be placed They are then 10 be
covered with about two inches OF garden
mold. aud tie sashes are put 10 err them. AS
soon as they are up two or three inches, They are
ready to transplant. They should be remov.
= ed carefully, separating the roots with as lit
tie breah ing as possible. and put in the drills
where they ale 10 grow. As they do not
yield full crop under this treatment, they
can he planted closer, than in common field
culture, say in drills irty inches apart, put
thug the hills twelve inches apart in the drill.
A VAIN sandy loan. sIoping to the south
or southeast, should be selected for his crop.
1t should be well manfred with horse dung,
about hal o. il applied in the drills. Some
manure their grounds for carly potatoes in
the Fall, aud this is we think. cd plan
for that pant Of the manu- which is applied
broadcast. Fresh horsG,dung in the drills
raises the t. mperaturo Of the soil, and has
tens their growth.
REuARK. - To the above, written by one oil
our associates, we will add that we have sue
coeded we'll on smal( scale, thus F: Two or
three weeks before the time when it will
probably do to plant out. ale pieces OF turf
or sol, ray four to five inches square, and
put piece Of potato in each. These are set
closely together where they Can be watered as
needed, aud can be exposed to sunshiue.--
Whe1eter ere is a cold night, or cold
snap, straw is pu on to keep hem from freez-
lug. They sprou' an fill The turf with roots
Al the proper time the pieces are set in the
open ground, one piece in a hill, and the
growth is hardly checked 7 he turf itself
also acts as a manure to aid the growth. In
this way two 10 Jour wee may be gained.
The above from the Ayraulturist, is one
mode of getting early potatoes; but it is
something rar y practiced by Vermont
farmers, probably for the reason that they
are TOO far from market to make it pay.
There is, however, market in very village
in the State for few bushels of early pota-
toes and small quantity of all kinds of
early vegetables. The kinds Of potatoes
mentioned above, will p obably be unknown
to most of our readers, but there are other
kinds equally good. There is need of more
attention to varieties, early and late, and to
the production of more early vegetab es. A
great amount of good may be obtained by
free discussion OF this subject, and we hope
to hear from our progressive farmers upon
the topic.