The Forest Republican. [volume] (Tionesta, Pa.) 1869-1952, 1888-05-09
Potato Culture.

Not great many years ago it was the
practice to plant whole potatoes in such
quantities as to form quite a large per
centage of the expected yield, which has
been succeeded at the present time by the
opposite extreme of planting single eyes,
leaving ample room between the two
methods for cultivators to experiment as
to the amount of seed and the methods
of cultivation from which the best results
may be obtained. Owing to the short
crop OF last year, seed will be high and
it will be good time to plant whole
small potatoes, such as have been given
to the pigs in plentiful years and many
even now prefer them to cuttings, but
planting Irish and Scotch grown seed is
entirely unsafe, for the experience of
those who have experimental with them
has shown them unsuited to our climate.
There is general agreement on rows
about three and half feet apart, with
hills twelve inches apart in the rows and
seed cut to one or two eyes in a hill
while at the same time occasional trials
with whole seed have yielded larger
crops. Cutting the seed, however, re-
quires a much less amount, and so long
as it proves satisfactory will doubtless
continue in majority Of cases. 1t is of
no use to plant potatoes on wet, heavy,
sour soils; the ground should be not too
rich, but clean, warm, dry and mellow,
and be well fertilized either with we'll
rotted barnyard manure, which is prefer
able to the same in its green state, the
latter often causing scabby tubers, and
when this manure is not plentiful those
made by reliable fertilizer companies are
by many preferred to the domestic ar
ticle. Another quite good plan is to
spread the barnyard manure broadcast
and plow it under, and at planting drill
the commercial kind moderately in the
rows, a method quite often followed in
Nova Scotia, where potatoes are largely
raised for expectation, and by which the
tubers get the advantages to be derived
from both kinds of fertilizers, first from
the concentrated, and later from the nat
ural one, moderate application of both
being deemed better than to rely wholly
on one.
No potato manure can be called com
plete that does not contain in its compo-
sition, along with other constituents, due
proportions of nitrogen, potash and
phosphoric acid. A successful potato
grower in Union County, N. j., says his
practice for several years has been to
plant only one eye to hill, cut from the
butts of large potatoes, the other end
with its more numerous eyes not being
used for seed and he used six hundred
pounds to the acre of some well known
brand of commercial manure, without
any other kind, and always got good
crops, even including last year; and this
gentleman believes he can prcftably use
ton to the acre when the average price
of potatoes in this section can be obtained
for his crop. Repeated experiments
will, however, be necessary to settle the
question of discarding any portion of the
potato as seed. The potato has the
habit OF degenerating to a degree that
has caused the best and fayorite varieties
of former times to become obsolete, SO
that even their names are scarcely re-
membered, and some of the more recent
ones, such as the Peachblow and Early
Rose are giving place to newer Seeding
varieties, to be themselves displaced
hereafter in the same way If we were
dependent on the tubers alone for the
propagation Of the potato, this would be-
an alarming fact; but fortunately We
have in the seed the ready means of re
juvenating the species, and the NOR,
than five hundred new varieties, many Of
them surprising the former excellencie
Of the parent stock, attest the success O.
potato specialists in this direction.
In States, when the crop can be har
vested in May or June and sometimes a
late as July, it is becoming somewha
common TO raise a second crop by expos
ing the small potatoes 10 the air but ot
20 the sun for a couple Of weeks or longer
Hntl they become dry and green in color