Buchanan County bulletin. [volume] (Independence, Iowa) 1869-1891, 1870-05-06
Culture Of tho Potato,

produce Of the potato crop might be
obtained by deep and thorough cul.
ovation OF the soil, and getting the
sets into the ground early, before
they have exhausted their strength by
sprouting. Unless tho soil is natur
ally or artidcially drained, deep till
age will be useless, for the roots of
the potato cannot he induced to pene-
trate deep into soil saturated with
water. In order to secure large
agreeable yield of potatoes, the soil
should be titled to the depth Of le
inches or more. This may be done
by subsoil pillow following in the
furrow make by the common pillow
and softening the subsoil without
turning it up. Tho manure should
DO Of the bes: quality, oily and hall
decomposed. Long wisps Of dry
litter are not suitable manure for any
kind of crop.
When the soil has been TILED very
deep. we'll pulverized and enriched
by suitable manure, the earthing. ny
Of the plants will be unnecessary in
. fact, the process generally ,oes more
harm than good, and is only useful
90 far as it destroys weeds and keeps
the soil mellow about the roots. Il
one wanted to obtain large number
of of. sets or tubers from potato
plant, then the plan of layering, OF
in other words earthing-up the plants.
would be the best way OF managing
them. Blu, it is more desirable to in.
crease the weight Of the tubers than
to obtain great many small ones.
1t is not the offsets which grow in
the soil, plowed or hoed up agains,
the stems, that nourish the plants
but on the contrary 1t is the plants
which nourish the offsets, at the eX.
pense Of some other parts. The
strings to which the tubers are at.
tsched are not the roots; or ia other
words are not the feeders of the stem
above ground, but robbers Of it, he,
ing the receivers of the ingredients
which the stem and leaves have
elaborated.
The roots, which are the real feed.
ers of the nlants, are situated at the
bottom Of the stem, and their tenden.
cy Of the tuber is horizontal, and the
nearer that the tuber lies to the sur
face. and to the action of the sun and
the atmosphere, the better will be its
quality, provided it is not uncovered.
When potatoes in drills are heavily
earthed, late in the Summer, the
,ubers are never of good quality.
The weight and other good qualities
depend upon the energies of the roots
underground, and ofthe leaves above
ground and it appears evident
enough that the earthing-up of the
stem must prove more injurious than
useful to these organs; for the leaves
ofthe plant, being far above ground,
can receive no benefit from q few
inches ofsoil added to the surface. Ii
the set was rightly planted as regards
depth, the earthing-up of the green
stem must disarrange the original
form OF the plant, making the collar
Tor point between the earth and air.
which Nature placed at the surface,
quite underground. 1t is a well
known fact that earthing-up the
collars of trees and Of most Of the
higher order of plants. causes disease
and very often death.
Earthing up can be Of no benefit
to the roots, as the tendency of the
spongioles or feeders is downward,
and in warm climates they cannot
derive nourishment from the soil
near the surface which is dried by
the intense heat. Manure for the
potato should he placed where tie
roots can extract from it the neces-
sary ingredients for builiing up the
plants and increasing the size Of the
tubers. The accounts in the agricul-
tural papers OF extraordinary yield
of the Early Rose and other varieties,
from single eyes, may induce mex
perieneed persons to think that small
sets are more productive than large
ones but this is not the case. Well
shaped tubers Of medium size, divided
into strong sets, will 6 i've the great
es. return Of marketable tubers.
In selecting potatoes for seed all
mss.shapeh tubers should be rejected.
aud attention should be given to
preserving the true shape Of the
variety. Long tubers in round.
shaped variety, are a mark of deter
iora,ion, and round tubers in a kidney
shaped variety are equally out of
place. In the culture OF the potato,
as well as in that of every other crop,
frequent change Of seed will be
beneficial.
When land has not been deeply
FILLED and properly prepared in eyory
way for the potato crop, it will be
necessary TO do something toward
remedying the evil by blowing deeply
between the drills and pulverizing
the soil with the cutivster and drill
roller. A properly constructed
double-mold board pillow, passed
between the drills after tho soil has
been plowed and pulverized, will
turn the soil toward the plants, with
out piling i: too high over the collars.
This plan Of operation provides Il
water-course between the drills Or
rows Of hills which will be very useful
during heavy rains in Summer and
Autumn. For the purpose Of keep
ing down weeds, and breaking the
crust which forms on the soil after
rain, the cultivator should be kept at
work until the vines become too
large for this implement. The
double-mold board pillow gives the
finishing touch to the atter-culture Of
the potato Western Rural.
rhon md Now.
There is something radically wrong