Southern standard. (McMinnville, Tenn.) 1879-current, 1883-06-09
Irish Potato Culture and its
Profits as Crop Product,

DEAR SIR-Your favor of the 18th
inst. received, and herewith give you
with pleasure the information desired
in regard to the cultivation of Irish
potatoes in Middle Tennessee as a crop
product for early export to northern
and eastern markets.
On the 9Th of March, 1871, l i'm.
migrated from the neighborhood of
Cincinnati, o., where | had been en-
gagged in fruit and vegetable culture.
After inquiring in regard to the eli
mate and soil of Tennessee | became
convinced that it was adapted to the
business which proposed following.
therefore located that spring IN the
vicinity of Nashville, rented land and
planted twelve acres in Irish potatoes.
My neighbors were amazed, and many
of them predicted that would become
bankrupted and would return to Ohio
that | would never be able to sell so
large crop of potatoes. l have, how
ever, survived that first crop of pota-
toes, and have increased my little CAPT
tai year by year since until | now find
myself a full fedged Tennessean, hav-
ing invested my little capital in real es-
tate in Sumner county, where l expect
to spend-the remainder of my life.
The citizens of Tennessee that / have
had the pleasure of meeting have
treated me most kindly. have never
known a kinder or better people. l
number among them many warm and
valued friends.
a part of the farm l now own has
been in cultivation over seventy.fve
years, Any new land will produce
fine crop of potatoes, but that which
has been cultivated for years in corn,
cotton or wheat in this limestone Sec
ton should before being planted in po-
tatoes be sown to clover and be permit
ted to run in clover three years. If
our farmers would clover their land
every three years / don't believe it
would ever go back on any crop. The
oldest helds on my place yielded as
good a crop of potatoes last year, under
the above treatment, as my new land.
To grow potatoes probably the land
should be plowed deep, narrowed well,
pulverized as thoroughly as practicable
before planting. The potato, if posi-
bic, should be cut leaving two eyes to
each piece; the rows should be three
feet apart in the drill or two and a half
feet each way in checks. The Early
Rose is decidedly the most profitable
potato to raise in Tennessee. 1t differs
in growth from all other varieties /;
they should not be planted deep, as
they grow much better and are much
more prolific when planted near the
surface. They can be planted in
March and be ready for shipment in
June, The small ones can be planted
on the same ground in July, and even
until the fifteenth of August, which
will mature before frost, and this second
), crop makes the best seed for spring
= planting.
y The first time l ever attempted tc
grow second crop the same year was
in 1873, and in 1874, the year thai
! will be long remembered for its drouth
especially around Nashville. IplanteC
a few barrels of the second crop of 1877;
s. which l had saved alongside of tn,
northern seed. l cultivated boil
paintings alike and | found that tn,
second crop seed stood the drouth bet
|, ter than the northern seed. At dig
giDg time the second crop made large
and twice as many to the acre as tn
northern seed. This experiment con
- WINGED me that it would pay to groN
my own seed, which | have done eve
I. since. For the first two or three year
l tried to sell my neighbors whateve
= might be left after planting my fir;
crop, but they preferred to plant nOrtl
ern seed, as they had been accustome
!. to doing, even at S. per barrel, rattle
cd than take my advice. They hav
learned better now, and it is impossib
to get them to buy northern seed
- they can find the second crop of Tel
nessee, Kentucky, or even Ohio.
1 am glad to learn that the Stat
south of us are approaching the Walt
IN. of Tennessee second crop as a seed p
gn. tato. Eight years ago we remittC
N thousands of dollars north for what v
~ have learned to grow at home.