Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1868-04-07
communicated
From the Big Potatoe Man How to
Grow Big crops.

at Patch Grove said to me hav,
often desired, on passing your place
TO know your method of growing
potatoes, don't sbrug your shoulders
this Il no advertisement of course
told him, and thinking other.
might have similar curiosity, | con
cluded to become communicative and
send you M. S No. 2.
You see | desire to avoid surren,
dering all claims upon the knowl.
edge of others bv stupidity withhold
ing what | know myself, and to ex-
tend this generous view of the mat.
ter further. if can increase the gen,
eral crop of potatoes twenty per
cent upon a given amount Of labor,
IN thus augmenting the aggregate
ability to meet the burden of life,
my own are proportionally dimin
ished
Well, if you desire to cultivate
" buth ways you will proceed to
mark out at right angles to the line
of planting, but it will not pay"
The distance between the rows
must be governed by variety-the
amount OF foliage. After determin-
ing the width of rows, arrange
your pillow so that the furrow slice
will be just one third that width.
Having stationed your choppers at
intervals to favor dispatch, mark out
your first row with the piow not
more than. 4 inches deep go back
with the off horse in the furrow and
throw that dirt back on the seed af
ter dropping turn on the opposite
side and throw a furrow slice on top
OF that forming "a ridge on top of the
row: Next, lun your second row,
leaving one furrow- slice between it
and the last turrow, throw the same
back on yonr seed as before, and
then throw on top of that the fnrrow
slice you left between the rows, and
you have two rows planted under
ridges of two furrow- slices each.
Finish up in like manner and you
have your potatoes planted with
just the labor of blowing your
ground and no more, saving the OPP
erations of marking and crossing
but more important still, you have
your ground in the most : logical
relation to future culture. Keep
your eye upon your seed, after the
next ten days, and when you find
it sprouted about two inches long,
mutfle your harrow with brush or
hickory. back so that the teeth will
cut rot more than two inches deep
and harrow cross wise of the ridges,
closely levelng them completely. and
completely demolishing the first
crop of weeds, In day or two you
will have the satisfaction Of seeing
your potatoes popping up along The
row in a clean, level, finely pulver,
liked surface with nothing to dis
pute their right to grow unless it be
bugs.
The after culture involves nothing
but throwing towards the rows, with
proper implements, and at proper
intervals, just soil enough to cover
the young weeds, to keep fresh
surface, and give the potatoes very
moderate billing.
Whether the above method of
planting was suggested to me by
cancellation in the science of mum
bers, by stenography in the record
of thought or very instructive APP
probation of economy of effort, |
do not choose to say but with little
variation | have followed it for near
ly twenty years and it has seldom
been necessary to use a hoe, indeed
never, except after protracted wet
weather. 1t is of the first impor-
lance however to plant in straight
and equi- distant rows, in order not
only to piow thoroughly in the pro-
cess ofplanting, but also to allow of
good culture, and Of clean digging
with the pillow. In digging, set the
pillow just deep enough to pass under
the potatoes and with two burrows
to each row, throw the dirt thereof
each way in such a manner as to
leave the potatoes on or near the
surface tc be reached with light and
rapid motions with the potatoe hook,
and at the same time leaving the
soil most shaded in the summer in
ridges between the rows, exposed to
the action Of the air and frost in
winter and ready for dragging down
cross>wise with two hOrse cultiva-
tor or sulky pillow, for wheat in the
spring. This digg n operation de-
mands some attentive mental dis.
elimination, but any one with
/" gumption " enough to split rails
Knowingly, or plead q case in law
can 6 master the situation"
There are general suggestions
about seed and propagation to which
| cannot now refer, but / will an
swer questions. The national i'm
portance of the potatoe crop strikes
us more forcibly this year han ever
before. The usual crop of the u.
S. is $50 900 900 of bushels, enough
to pay the interest or our national
debt, this year, when just half that
quantity. What we have lost by
poor seed and poor culture as well
as the bugs | leave for inference.
" hat we want now is late vigorous
seedlings coming to early maturity,
free from rot and good for the table.
The list Of "good " potatoes like
that Of apples is too long. There are
many advertised as good " that
are not. The " Shaker Fancy al
terlised in the Wis. Farmer and Rn
RAJ is one OF them. | sent to Mar
blehaed Mass last spring for It and
after testing found what had not rot
ted TO be an old acquaintance which
neighbor Way brought from Ohio
years ago under the name Of "Sha>
ker Russell" and which we had both
abandoned on account Of coarsenes>
and rot. 1t is advertised by somt
under both names. But we also
ought TO take trouble not orly tC
get good seed but keep it good
This also fr,,a -, ,,rr.nxJ