The Red Cloud chief., 1881-05-05
The Culture OF the Potato.

Around all large cities. and indeed
near any place which offers n cheap
route 10 market. potato culture is one
of the most profitable employmcntsi
and though much has been written
about il. il is doubtful whether we vet
know what is the best way of going
about il.
just now we have before US a state
ment that our regular farm way OF
growing them is all wrong. which We
very much doubt, though it might be a
truth TO say that we can do better. But
then we are not sure the way proposed
is better. We are told that to grow the
potato well we should haul the
out in September and plow it in. In
early spring pillow again, and put on about
three hundred pounds of unleached
ashes, ground bones and guano. Then
harrow and plant. This requires three
plowings, beside the harrowings, and
we much doubt whether the increase of
the crop. If any, would be enough TO
cover the difference in cost over III
present single blowing system. Here
one can take 4 piece of old sod, manure
Il well with stable manure. and plant
the potatoes at the same pl6wing, and
the best and healthiest crops follow.
The ground is we'll narrowed after
planting. and that is ali-not half that
proposed-while the crops are all that
could be expected. The manure for
this purpose is generally preferred to
be not well ro,ted-strawy q is
the way farmers express IT. Often it
is so long that a boy follows the plow
and rakes it in for the next furrow-slice
20 cover. Yet our essayist tells us that
rough manur is the worst possible for
the potato. rs one may suppose by the
recommendation 10 use bone dust and
guano.
1t is probable that different climates
will have much To do with what is best
in potato culture; and this may be es-
pecially true as regards the kind OF ma
nure to use. As we have said. here IN
Pennsylvania we find no better potato
fertilizer than half rotten stable manure.
while farther south they raise excellent
potatoes bv simply covering the pota-
toes by . deep mass of straw. without
any other manure or earth covering;
and it may be that farther noith or
west very well-decayed manure may be
better still.
To show how much climate has &, do
with the best system Of potato culture.
we need only refer to the recommends
ton to plow potato ground in the fall OF
the year. Now. in this part OF the
world, We find that the best results fol-
low when the potato is planted early;
and especially is this likely to be the
case since the advent of the potato
beetle. which is generally more de-
structive to the late than TO the early
crops. But in this part Of the world a
fall blowing means in most eases two
weeks later in the spring. unless the
land is very loose. and permits the
.plowed land TO be IS close as il there
were no furrow slices made. In sod
land. where the slices lie at an angle
against each other. the frost penetrates
to nearly double the depth it does in
unplowed land: and these very spaces
Prevent the warm spring suns action.
which in ordinary cases soon takes the
frost put of the ground. Il il the ex-
perience of every farmer in this region.
and especially in sod land. that fall
blowing makes at lest two weeks diff
ference in the time at which IL can be
worked, and this is no meat item in the
success Of N early planting OF the po-
tato crop
1t seems then that in potato culture.
equally applicable to all, the proper
method of culture tskes rank with the
question of the proper variety of potatn
TO plant: it IS . local question, and me
must be guided in the selection by the
peculiar circumstances of the case--
Germ0ssocB (Pa) Telegraph