The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1869-04-15

had corn the year. before; and after apply
: ~. Sai Tan Ioads OF manure per acre, he
InIowed the potatoes In every third furroH
IN tho .sauie manner as the member who
a or arst. He had tried both methods,
Int preferred the one which he now prac-
tees. In both of these plans the potatoes
are removed in time to give place 10 o crop
of wheat without any extra. manure, ana
always produce fine crop.
! Another member plants in last years
Ecorn-feld, but plows the ground well ID the
fall. and in the spring strikes out burrows
three feet apart and after placing his ma.
nure in, then lays his sets cut SIDE doaon
On tbe manure, and covers them with q
hoard drawn diagonally to the burrows,
which ere about six inches In oeptn. uses
seed about the size of hens egg ana
smaller, st the rate Of about ten busnels
per acre; cuts the large ones In TWO, ana
If much smaller than mems egg, Plants
whole. Last year he tried two Tows, one
planted with the largest potatoes cut 30 %
70 have three eyes in q set or piece, and
the other with his Smallest potatoes (none
more than inch in diameter), both al, the
same depth and in the came manner, ana
could detect no difference In the yleld' nor
conld his hired man, who did not know Oh
the difference in seed. He had found II
beneficial to roll the cut sets in gypsum be-
fore planting, and applied unleached WOOD
aahes to the rows as soon as the plants were
M. This, he thought, kept the weeds from
getting start.
He Kept his potatoes through the winter
IN q large core,.ed bin in the cellar. This
hin would hold about 200 bushels, and was
so constructed that the bottom and SIDES
were about six inches from the floor and
walls.
He had found from experience that pots,
toes would keep better if no light coulo
reach them. One year he had more tnan
his bin would hold, and threw the remain
der into one corner Of another ceiiar' "nere
they froze solid. AS coon as TINS was ois,
covered they we're we'll covered with oia
clothes, carpets, &C., and came out IN Inc
spring as sound as if they had not been
frozen but q small portion planted JoT
experiment did not grooo.
Another member had experime rented IN
the size of the seed and manner Oh plant
ing, and came to the conclusion that IL was
most profitable to use medium sized pota-
toes, cut in four pieces, and placed eight OF
ten inches apart in the furrow. He hao
tried large ones cut in two and in four, and
With but two eyes in piece, with medium
sized ones cut in two and planted whole !;
end with small ones planted without cut
ting, and could detect little difference in the
Weld, In each case the distance apart at
which the sets were placed depended upon
the number of eyes which they contained
He considers that an eye will produce o
rood stalk, no matter whether 1t comes
from large, medium-sized, or small po-
tato; thinks that the cutting should
always be governed by the number CT eyes,
and not by guess, as he has found potatoes
of the size of hens egg with but TWO
eyes, and others Of the same size with more
than dozen. He thinks that one stalk
every eight inches is enough, and II we
plant more than two eyes in this distance
we will have too many stalks to produce
we'll; but to insure plant, he prefers to
plant at least two eyes in place, and eight
or ten inches asunder.
Another member had applied various
top -dressings to his potatoes, with varied
effect. Had used plaster, ashes (the two
mixed, salt, salt and ashes, salt and lime,
and salt, ashes, and lime, and in point OF
economy preferred the latter. He used
FIVE bushels of salt, ten of lime and ashes,
for an acre, and applied to the hills by
hand.
lie always buried his potatoes in the field
or some other convenient place, in long,
narrow mounds, taking care never to get
the potatoes more than four feet thick, and
to leave openings in the mound until cold
weather had set in. He finds it economical to
plant the pumpkins in rows among the pota-
toes, the only objection being that the vines
arc somewhat in the way of digging the
potatoes.
BY vote, it was resolved that the best and
most economical plan to raise potatoes Is to
plant them in last years corn-ground, with
a good coat of long, straWy manure either
in the forrow or spread broadcast. Use me-
dium-sized potatoes, cut in two or four for
seed, and dropped eight or ten inches apart
in the row. An acre should yield $50 bush
els marketable potatoes, and twenty-five OF
small ones suitable for stock.
The general rule with US is to dig as soon
as the tops are dead, and Immediately pre-
pare the ground for wheat Germanto ION