Fayetteville observer. [volume] (Fayetteville, Tenn.) 1850-1966, 1878-03-14
Irish POTATOES.

y
it three times day as an article
Of diet. II came up fried Tor
breakfast, boiled and mashed for
dinner and baked for supper. 1t
seemed to be the Northern bread.
True, there was always an album
daI CO of bread on the table, still
this constant use of potato made
4 liitle bread go long way. All
hands seemed to prefer potatoes
to bread, and hence bad bread a.
mong the articles of diet apparent.
ly more for the sake Of being in
the fashion than otherwise.
Pie great use of the Irish pota.
to az the North led himsto pry no
little into the secrets Of its cult
walton and management up there.
The results OF his inquiries end
observations are given as follows:
The crop is ploughed and hoed,
and are as carefully cultivated as
is our COTTON crop. And the most
successful farmers assert that the
more frequently ard the deeper
the plants are ploughed, the more
sure is the abundant crop. Such
a thing as mulching the crop, as
we frequently see with us, | nev
er met; perhaps because the crop
covered too much space. 1t would
have taken more straw than there
could have been gathered Ga many
of the farms to have covered
deeply one, halt the potato crop
With the Northerner this is real
ly field crop, as much so as is
our cotton or corn.
Potatoes, they say, should never
be planted shallow enough to feel
the heat of the sun during their
growth, because, unless the soil is
cool, as well as damp, the crop
viii not be prolific. Hence they
recommend that the seed be plant
el six inches deep, and kept at
that depth during the cultivation
of the crop. The early rose,
which is apotlto that seems tosuc
coed 60 well at the South, they re.
commend especially to be planted
deeply, because it is inclined to
"bunch," and grow in clusters
close together, and if one is ex
posed TO the sun the entire yield
will be injured.
1t 10 quile common, too, to hear
those Northern farmers say that a
Northern hillside, or exposure,
will grow better potatoes than
Southern, simply because it is tn
Der that does not like the sun
This should teach us a lesson, tor
in this undulating country Of ours
we can always have potato bed
pointing to almost any point OF
the compass
Although this is crop SO unE-
versal, and upon which so many
depend for a living, it is ar ac-
knowledged fact that, for nearly
twenty years past, a large proper
ton of the crop has been de-
stroyed by "blight," or ''rot.
And yet, with the tenacity of a
cotton planter, they hold en- to the
potato crop, and will plant it as a
crop for market, TO the exclusion
of everything else. The past
season, however, the farmers have
been more than ever discouraged, be.
cause often where these crops es-
capped the blight they have been
eaten up by the Colorado bug OF
beetle. | frequently heard farm
ers say they would not make
pecks where they expected TO
make bushels of potatoes, and
what they had made were of an
inferior quality. Consequently |
they win diminish their planted
area in future, and grow only
what isneeded for family consump-
ton.
Farmers in New England say
they can grow bushcl Of corn
cheaper than they can one of po-
tatoes, and the corn is worth twice
as much as potatoes. In the mid
die States | heard farmerssay itcost
them ten cents TO grow a bush
Ell of potatoes, and only fifteen to
grow bushel of corn.
Western farmers asserted that
they could grow potatoes at fiji
teen cents per bushcl, which is a.
II