Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1885-05-15

two eyes should be cut out, and then the po-
tatoes planted whole. In this way, II seeded
the same as large potatoes cut to two eyes
the product will be as good. Tho reason
that small potatoes do not always do a. well
a. cut large ones, is probably because they
throw mp a large number Of stalks which, un-
less the land is very rich, will be small and
thus fail TO produce good crop Of large po-
tatoes II they be cut in pieces small enough
30 that there shall be only two eyes TO a
piece, in common culture, the stalks will
come up small, and as they cannot draw
much nourishment from the small piece from
which they came, they fail to start with that
vigor which they would il they could draw
nourishment from good sized piece. BY
having the land in good order and very rich,
this feebleness Is soon overcome, but under
ordinary culture 1t never outgrows its first
weakness.
Very heavy seeding produces a large guam
tity Of small potatoes, while light seeding
produces few stalks which grow very vigor-
Gus, while heavy seeding produces large
number Of stalks, which crowd each other,
and never become large sized and filled with
large healthy leaves
Many believe that the seed end OF the po-
tato is not as good AZ the other end this be.
lief is undoubtedly well grounded because
the seed end is full of eyes, and il only a
small piece is cut of the top, it is so full Of
eyes that it sends up large quantity Of
stalks, and the result is the same as planting
small whole potatoes were it not for the
time required to do it, it would be best to cut
out all but two eyes but the time required to
do this would be worth more than the pota-
toes the better way is to discard the seed
end altogether, or cut the potato the other
way and thus get q portion OF both ends Of
the potato in every piece When potatoes
are cut, care should be taken in planting, to
place the cut side down some never plant
cut potatoes without first rolling them in
plaster no doubt this is beneficial
When manure is put in the hill mistake
is usually made 10y planting the potatoes top
of the manure this is poor practice; II
manure must be put in the hill, which we do
not approve Of, it should always be put on
the top of the potatoes, and it should be de-
composed enough to allow the sprouts TO
Aeauliy pheh lufOuHu u 10 the surface thus
planted the crop will not so readily dry up
As the sun in our climate is very hot dur
ing July and August, if the weather proves
to be dry, potatoes frequently suffer by too
much heat, and for the want of water. The
intelligent cultivator will never lose sight of
these things, but in his cultivation he will en-
deavor to keep the ground az cool and moist
"a possible during July and August. SEA-
son ike that of last year was almost fatal 10
every field of potatoes that was hilled, while
those who practiced level culture had large
crops of excellent potatoes. Many cultiva-
tors have an idea that potatoes that are not
hilled cannot find room to grow without
growing out Of ground, while the fact il, il
the land is properly prepared, and the pota.
toes planted as they should be, at least four
inches deep, they will not grow out of ground
any more, if az much, as if hilled for ev-
cry time u potato is hiled il throws out
new set Of roots near the surface, and if
tubers grow from the top set the hill washes
away by the action of heavy rains, and thus
leaves the potatoes exposed to the light and
air. On very wet land it may be better to
make broad hill, but on dry land TO hill is
often fatal to the crop.