Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1868-03-16
POTATO CULTURE.
Remarks of G. 8. Innis befere the
franklin Co. Farmers Club,
Ra m rch I4th.

W. Os luDls, Sdiu iOoh0Cho ouo ECu-
tlemen of the Club, 1 have but five va
rieties, the South American, Buckeye. Ear
" Goodrich, Neshannock and Jersey
Peachblow. The history of the South
American is: Some ten years ago A. r. In
mis- obtained two small potatoes from the
Ohio State Board of Agriculture by the
hand of John H. Klippart, their Secretary.
Mr.. X. stated to him that he obtained
them from Chill, South America; hence the
name. These are an excellent potato.
think they are as early as the earliest, and
as good as the best. / have raised them
sparingly for the last six years; was doubt
full whether they. would sell well. or, in
fact. were really good potato. Wherever
1 sold any. howe er, they have given the
most entire satisfaction, the purchasers al
ways wa ting more. They are perfectly
white fieshed, dry, and good tasted. They
have as many good qualities with as few
objections as any other potato know of,
not even excepting the Early Goodrich
The latter, however. have only cultivated
one year. The South American is an
abundant yielder. large size. good grow
tirely free from rot. have never seen the
first potato affected with the disease. Any
potato, however, will rot when water stands
on the ground in hot weather. This potato
grows in close hill or nest, and conse-
quently much easier to dry than some
other kinds that spread entirely or par
TALLY over the ground. would, Mr.. Pres
ident recommend it for general cultiva-
tion for the main CROP. sra I'D =
70 The Neshannock every one knows and it
needs no description from me here to-day.
This most excellent table potato has been
shamelessly abused. Planted in unsuita-
BILE and wet soils, and after all the rest of
the crops have been put in, and then COM
planned of because it rotted. e.
l-., of,,1s
growing it. On light dry soils where the
water cannot stand either on or in
the soil, the Neshannock can yet be
raised to advantage. have never
failed, even in the driest and hard
est seasons. OF obtaining good crop,
when planted very early on suitable soil.
Plant as soon as the weather and ground
will admit; even week will often make a
difference of one-half in the quantity as
well as quality of the crop.
The Buckeye / have only raised one
year. / like it we'll; it Is good grower,
has stout heavy tops, not liable to be
blown down by winds or storms. Shade
the ground well, so as to prevent weeds
from growing after the crop is laid by.
1t is white skinned. with q fine mealy white
and good tasted flesh. Some call it the
poor mans potato, as it yields well even
in poor land without manure.
The Early Goodrich, Mr.. President. sup-
pose Mr.. A. B. Buttles has told you all
about. can add but little to what he has
already said. l planted five bushels on one
half an acre last spring pretty early, which
yielded me one hundred bushels, or at the
rate of two hundred bushels per acre
They had only good tillage, on moderately
rich land without any special pains what
ever. As to their quality at table. con-
slider them the very best. Last fall had
some thirty friends-ladies and gentlemen
take dinner with me. l had taken some
Early Goodrich, Neshannock and buckeye
potatoes in about equal quantities and
had them boiled with thu skins on. AT
meal time 1 helped each guest to piece OF
each kind and asked each one which was
the best of the three kinds. They every
one said the Early Goodrich.
The next and last, Mr.. President, is the
Jersey or late peach blow. This variety
will not succeed on very light soils. Ii re-
quires dry soil with a considerable ad-
mixture of clay. If good and rich with
early planting, they will yield well even in
our driest seasons. The soil should contain
weight and resist the extreme heat
of the sun in our hottest weather in
central Ohio. My opinion is in ouI
very light or sandy soils they burn out
4, On the lake shore they produce good
crops on their co mparatiyely heavy aid
moist, sandy soils. a9 n.
For potatoes the land should be plowed
ten inches deep, certainly not less thar
eight. If we cannot afford but certain
amount of work on our potato crop, il
would be far better to halve the amount o.
land we plant and put all our work on that
SO that every thing may be dole in the
best manner, rather than run over twice
as much land and do our work at the
halves. In this way we will obtain twice
the number OF bushels and of much supe.
rior quality. - ~
The land should be made mellow before
planting. as potatoes will not grow among
clods. For the large topped kinds, furrow
the land thirty inches asunder between the
rows; for other varieties twenty eighl
inches is sufficient. 1 like planting in rows
both ways; believe we can raise as many
bushels as when drilled and of much bettel
quality. .as.
would as soon expect to have .gooi
large ears of corn with the crop planted sc
as to crowd the stalks, as to have large pO.
tatoes when planted too closely. Large
nice potatoes sell better, in fact it is hard
to sell small ones at all. Purchasers like
to please the eye, even if it is no better fol
their stomachs. The next thing is the
seed. 1 prefer, Mr.. President, medium
sized, smooth and whole potatoes for plant
ing. They send up from three to five
sprouts, the rest of the eyes lying dorman
unless these are killed by some mishap
such as frost, &C., then the dormant eyes
will grow, and produce good, though I
later crop. q"
Mr.. Edwards-Will Mr.. Innis allow me tt
ask him question:? ;v
Mr.. Innis-Certainly sir. all
Mr. Edwards-If whole potatoes SEM
up sprouts only from the seed end, VIII
would it not in your opinion be as well t.
cut off this seed end and plant it and saw,
the balance for other uses, and why will
whole or large potato send up stoute
sprout than a small potato or single piec
will send up?
Mr.. Innis-I will answer my friend Ed
wards by asking him. Why will a variet
of corn with large grains or seed send up
much larger sprout and grow stouter an,
more luxuriously than the very smal
grained varieties, such as pop corn, brOoI
corn and sorghum, for instance. 1 believ
In all nature, any plant starting from
large seed is stouter and will grow NOR
rapidly than a plant started from sma
seeds. Corn grows more rapidly tina
wheat, oats or grass. The potato will gro,
more rapidly from a,tuber than from th
small seeds from the balls, l always fin
when digging tor the early market ths
our best potatoes are from pretty goo
sized whole potatoes; even when we com
across hill where we happened to drop
+ small tuber for seed we generally find tn
+ potatoes 80 small as to waste the entire hill
+ There Hfej number OF market gardener
here. I would like to ask each one of theI
I from which do you obtain your earliest pc
| tatoes for market, from whole good-size
seed or from cut or small potatoes? The
every one answered in turn from whole me
dium sized seed. Having provided seer
and your land furrowed one way, cross th
/ burrows at right angles, making the furro,
about this; don't allow the burrows to b
made some places six inches deep and 6
others only an inch or two. If we make
-balk by any litter getting on the plow W
back up or even turn round, so as to max
the best possible place for each and ever
hill. In dropping be very careful to plac
the potatoe exactly in the centre of tn
cross furrow, SO as not to leave the row