Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1888-04-13
EAbM AND HOUSEHOLD
Different Modes Of Potato Culture.

Different Modes of Potato Culture.
Not a great many years ago it
was the practice to plant whole
pota toes in such quantities as TO
form quite a large percentage of
the expected yield, which has been
succ, eded at the present time by
the opposite extreme If planting
single eyes, leaving ample room be-
tween the two methods for cnltiva-
tors to experiment as to the amount
of seed and the methods OF Guilt
walton 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 with many
persons they have all along been
preferred to cut seeds. Planting
Irish and Scotch grown seeds is
unsafe, as those who have expert
mented with them generally repre-
sent them as unsuited to our eli
mate.
There is a general agreement on
rows about three and a half feet
apart, with hills twelve inches
apart in the rows, and one or two
eyes in a hill, while at the same
time occasional trials with whole
seed have yielded larger crops; but
so long as cut seed proves salts
factory a majority will no doubt
continue its use. 1t is of no use
to plant potatoes on wet, heavy
soil; while the ground should not
be excessively rich, it should be
clean, dry and mellow, and gener-
ously fortified. Where barn yard
manure is used, which contains all
the necessary elements, it should
be well rOtted and decOmposed, as
in its green state it is liable to
cause scabby potatoes where this
is not plentiful some reliable COM
mercial article should take its
place. Another quite good plan IS
to spread the barn yard manure
and plough it under, and at plant
ing, drill the commercial kind
moderately in the rows. This
method is practiced in many sec
tons and by it the tubers get the
advantages of both kinds of ferti-
lizers, first from the quicker action
of the highly concentrated one, and
later on from that OF the barn
yard, a moderate application of
both being thought better than the
use OF either one by itself,
\ successful potato grower in
Union county, New Jersey, says
bs practice for several years has
ben to plant only one eye to bill,
cut from the butts of large pOta
toes, not using the other end with
its more numerous eyes at all. He
puts in the rows 600 pounds of
some well known brand of CON-
mereial manure to the acre, mixes
it with the dirt in the rows by
drawing chain through before
dropping the seed, and using no
other kind. He has always bad |
good crops, even including the |
present unfavorable year, and be- |
lieves he can proftably use a ton
to the acre of commercial fertilizers |
whenever the average price of
potatoes in this section can be OBJ
tanned for bis crop.
The potato has the habit of
degeneratiDg to a degree that has |
caused the best and favorite va.
rieties of former times to become |
obsolete, so that even their names |
are scarcely remembered, and some |
of the more recent ones, such as |
the Peach Blow and Early Rose,
are giving place to newer seeding |
varieties, to be themselves dis.
placed hereafter in the same way. |
If We were dependent on the |
tubers alone for the propagation of
the potato this would be an alarm
ing fact, but fortunately we have |
in the seed the ready means of re-
juvenating the species, and the
hOIc ludu OOV uO" NdiiCNiCc3 hoiJ
Of them surprising the former ex-
cellencies of the parent stock, at
test the success of potato special
lists in this direction.
In states where the crop can be
harvested in May or June, and
sometimes as late as July, it is be.
coming somewhat common to raise
a second crop by exposing the |
small potatoes to the air-but not |
to the sun-for a couple Of weeks |
or longer, until they become dry |
and green in color. These are |
then planted whole, and are dug in
the tall for seeds the next year.
This seed has not the same ten
dency to sprout through thu winter /
from a warm cellar as the fully ma
tured tubers. AS the small ones /
used In the summer for the second /
planting are slow in terminating |
80 soon after being dug, they should |
be started to spronting before be-
ing planted, by putting them into
barrels set in a cool place and |
sprinkling them daily and cover
Ing tue barrels with damp clcth |