The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1888-09-12
tops at once carted off. AS soon as
this is done put on a good dressing of
stable manure and work it into the soil.
Loss by Delay.

With the hope of tearing here and
there farmer from the latest cam
paign news long enough to ascertain
the condition of his crops, we beg a
little space in your valuable depart
ment. Why do a major part of the
farmers of Vermont persist in allowing
crop to waste after it is ripe for the
harvest? We have in mind now the
potato crop, and we undertake to say
that a greater loss is and has been sus-
tanned yearly by delay in digging than
is or has been caused by the ravages of
The Colorado beetle. Why? Because
the bugs are always in view and are
constantly challenging attention, while
the disease and vermin that prey upon
the tuber are "out of sight, out of
mind" The average farmer says:
The potatoes will stand it till l get
my other fall work done. If dig them
now they will all rot in the cellar. The
bugs have given them up and they are
all right now" Alas! they are not all
right. The day that the tops were
thoroughly dead they were ready to dig,
and every day therefore that they re-
NAMED in the soil meant an irreparable
loss.
We have not time to discuss the in
fluences thai act on the undug tuber to
its detriment. Investigations are now
in progress that will throw light on the
subject. If it shall prove that there is
cause and effect in the matter of
blight and rot there will be additional
cause for early digging. Our expert
ence has been that with early digging
there has been no serious rotting aside
from those specimens in which the
germs of decay were already acting. 1t is
enough to lay the crop, dug at the proper
time, beside the scabby, worm-e eaten,
grub-eaten, not to mention mouse
eaten, specimens of the late digger.
We venture the assertion that one-half
the potato crop of Vermont is ready to
dig by September 10 and that the whole
should be out of the ground by the Goth.
But what will the case be? A large
part of the crop will be dug in October,
and the latter half of the month at that,
and the owners will pocket a loss due
to no cause but their own persistence
in old ruts and theories.
We do not advocate putting the crop
in damp, hot cellars the first of this
month, but get them out of the ground.
Store in dry shed and cover with
something to exclude the light. Then,
when the weather is cold, remove to the
cellar what you have not sold and we will
guarantee, first, that you will have few
rotten potatoes on your hands; second,
that your potatoes will be goods that will
sell at sight; and, third, that you will
pursue this plan in the future.
J. A. CHAPLIN.
REMARKs.-Mr. Chaplin ably seconds
advice which has been many times
given in these columns. For twenty
years, together with deep blowing and
planting, chemical fertilization and
level culture, we have practiced and
advised the harvesting of the potato
crop as soon as matured. They can be
kept in sheds if desired, but should be
there covered thickly with straw to ex-
clude not only the light, but the alter
nations of temperature, which rapidly
impair the quality of the tubers. Gel
lars properly built, fitted and ven
tilated are better than sheds. The
same methods required in the manage
ment of an apple cellar are required in
a potato cellar, with added precaution
in the exclusion of light. The win
dows, or other ventilation, should be
open during dry, cool nights, and closed
at all other times.