Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1884-03-25
N SPECTATOR AND GENERAL ADVERTISERS
The Irish Potato.
By Our Agricultural Editor.

By Our Agricultural Editor.
About crop SO long and SO generally
cultivated as the Irish potato has been, it
cannot be expected that any new facts can
be presented. Perhaps there is no product
of the farm better understood by the people
generally, and none that has been brought
up so near to the probable maximum yield
per acre. And yet one or two ideas may
be worth the time and space they will oc-
cupy.
Farmers in this section of the State like
to plant the main part of this cropin March,
or at most, not laterthan the tenth of April.
This is not very early, certainly. And yet,
should the. first half or two-thirds of March
be cold and inclement, we see no good to be
gained by planting at that time. Our ex-
perience and observation is, that very little
is gained by committing any sort of seed to
a cold soil. The soil must be warmed be-
fore seed can terminate, and if planted
early they only lie dormant till warmer
weather. The potato is no exception. Of
two paintings, one made, say, the tenth of
March, the other the tenth of April, the lat
ter produces edible tubers about as soon as
the other. We would say, then, there is no
cause to be in hurry about planting yet a
while. 1t is too late to have early potatoes
| from paintings to be made now. If you
want early potatoes, say the goth of May,
you must plant seed in December, and pro-
tect the young plants in April till frost is
over The potatoes. if placed below the frost
line, will lie in the ground all winter without
injury, and even grow little all the time. It
will be throwing out runners and getting
hold of the soil, ready to put up plants tho
first touch of spring sunshine. Some leave
their seed potatoes in the ground all win
ter, and only dig when they are ready to
plant in spring. Ii not planted in Decem-
Der, they must be planted in February, and
well wrapped up in stable manure or other
litter if early tubers are wanted.
And, as to seed. Many farmers plant the
potato whole and nearly whole, and are not
particular if big one gets thrown in occa-
sionally. This practice is not only great
waste of seed, but really detrimental to the
yield of1the future crop. Planting whole
potato is similar to planting whole hand
full of corn to the hill. The plants come
up too thick. They are too much crowded,
and so do not thrive, and do not yield we'll
A single eye with little bit of the potato,
will grow q good strong plant, and this is
all that is needed to the hill. One plant
every ten or twelve inches is enough, and
therefore if you plant several eyes to the
hill, you may expect to have them too
thick, and you will get fewer tubers than
if but one set were dropped in place. The
pealing of the potato, cut tolerably thick,
will grow just as well as if half the tuber
were attached; and so, if the seed potatoes
are large, it were nothing more than econo.
my to plant the peeling and eat the potato.
hny ofn t,nx tod 60
BILE results from February to July, and the
late paintings may be put on the same
ground as the early crop, if desired. In
fact, it is possible to raise three crops in
twelve months on the same piece of ground.
I If the Colorado pest has been bad the
crop had better be put on new land away
from the old site. But the beetle seems to
be disappearing in this section, or at least
diminishing in numbers, and is not so great
terror as formerly. Perhaps it's parasite
enemy has increased faster than the beetle,
and is killing it out. 1t is we'll, however,
to plant on new ground far removed from
} the old
Stable manure, still much used by int.
rior farmers, makes excellent potatoes, but
fine woods litter and some good commercial
fertilizer does better, and the manure is
saved for other crops. Some coarse mate.
rial, like half rotted straw, seems to re es
sential to much success with the potato
Guano or phosphate alone will not yield
well, unless the soil is already full of vege
table matter. True, Norfolk county farm.
ers raise thousands of barrels without any
fertilizer, but their land is rich in vegetable
: matter. They would do much better were
they to use guano freely. The Rose is still
our favorite, both for the early and late
crop. We have never seen it surpassed in
quantity or quality,-Petersburg hder
Appeal