Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1888-02-02
Raisins fotalocs in Now Irr..r

Raising Potatoes in New Jersey.
Our practice in planting potatoes il tc
drop them in the hill or dtill, aud after q
1 quantity has been planted to cover them
[ With the pillow. This spring we planted
about bushol ct seed before noon and
left them uncovered. At noon we con
| tinued planting, and shortly after cover.
ed the seed with the pillow. A part OF
those planted before noon failed TO come
up, md some of those that did were
spindliug. When harvested for the same
number of drill there were seven bushels
where left longest uncovered, ana twelve
bushels where the seed were soon covered
after planting. We planted thirty bush
/ els OF seed, but there were none left mn
covered so long MS the first mentioned,
and the whole planting came up well tx-
cept the first planting.
SO IL would seem that potato seed
should bo covered at the time Of planting
as some do with their feet or if with the
pillow, as soon after planting rs possible
The sun az The time WAS very strong and
few clouds, so the seed mus. have dried
up, which was most lktly the casse of the
diminished Yield, yet we have left tho
without its being damaged Most likely
on these occasions it was for shorter
time, and the weather must have been
cool and cloudy.
We buy AID use every year seed brought
from Maine, as we think that new seed
succeeds the best, and we find that Maine
seed ia the least sprouted at planting
timei in fact sometimes There Is no APP
pearance of sprouts.
We try to cut one-eye pieces, cutting
two pieces IN the hill or one piees
every - inches in the DRIFT; we try to
have as mucn potato as possible with the
cutting, for we find that when there Ia
only small cutting they come up spindl-
ing. BY charce some eye pieces will have
little more than the skin; those we throw
away, for we find that almost always they
are of no value for seed. We consider
that the sooner they are planted after
they are cnt She better they come mp.
We have praotioed buying seed from
Maine for the last ten years; previous 20
that time we used our own seed, planting
whole potatoes the size of hens eggs. A
very large part of cash crop from our own
seed WAS too small for market. We 90
casionally aelect a busho of the very best
tubers from the crop at harvest time and
plant them, but the yield from our own
seed from the same length OF drill or
number of bills ia about eight bushels, 20
twelve from Maine seed. In my locality
farmers who grow potatoes for market
buy and use seed from Maine.
do not know whether some kinds are
less subject to scab than others this
season; half the seed planted was early
rose, the other half early Hebron. There
was a large quantity of the Hebron scab-
by while .he rose was almost free from
scab. Our practice is to plant as early
az possible after the frost is out of tho
ground Three years ago we had plant
ed about two-thirds Of the seed, and fear
ing that il We finished planting we would
be late with our early corn, we planted
tho corn and then finished planting
potatoes. There was an interval of ten
days bet planting the first two.
thirds and the last third. 4 harvest
time we dug from the same length Of
drill three bushels OF large potatoes from
the seed first planted and two bushels
from the last planted. The difference
in the yield was caused by the late plant
ed being caught in drouth at o critical
time in their growth, which the first
planted escaped. A large quantity Of
the Hebron had Jumps of various sizes
growing out of them, inJuring them for
market, while the rose was free from
them. The rose lad q second gro~th on
the ends which was easily removed, and
did not hurt them for market. Perhaps
the Jumps on the Hebron may be seoond
growth and caused probably by heavy
rAius