The Saline County journal. [volume] (Salina, Kan.) 1871-1893, 1892-04-21

must be taken into consideration.
Ny experience In soils for potato
growing IL that rather clayey loan,
or rather q soil varying between q
sandy loan and clay loan, is best.
Potatoes can be grown In almost any
kind Of soil, but not to profit to the
man who intends to make business
Of growing fancy potatoes for fancy
market.
My first experience In growing
potatoes was with q garden spot. /
have continued increasing that
garden spot year by year until 1t be-
came acres. am in q territory that
10 noted for the quality OF its
potatoes. Some OF my soil is all l
wish to grow potatoes on, while
other portions OF IL are little too
heavy unless IL IL tile drained, and
still others are too sandy. The soil
that 10 q little too heavy / am thing
as fast as / can. / have never in
vested money in anything that has
given me az much pleasure and pro-
fl as thing has. 1t IL q pleasure for
me to walk over my potato field and
know that tile drain is q source from
which my profits will be increased
year by year, in clover, pototoes or
wheat.
My rotation Is clover, potatoes,
wheat, seeded to clover. In my
second rotation on the same plat Of
ground / have noted quite an in
crease In yield of potatoes. Glover
sod is my choice in preference to
timothy sod or stubble ground for
potatoes. Glover sod is of lively
texture with its tap roots penetrating
into the subsoil below to draw on
the elements that are needed q nd
help to mellow the soil. Why 10
clover sod my choice for potatoes?
For many and good common sense
reasons. Clover feeds the soil more
than timothy or other grass
plants do. 1t shades the ground and
holds the fertility In the soil, and Its
tap roots help to make up,
when decayed, potash that feeds the
potatoes. When clover grows rank
IL shades the noxious weed plants
and they become sickly and finally
are smothered to death, which is q
blessing to the potato grower. Glover
sod planted to potatoes is very easily
kept clean II managed properly.
Last year planted eight acres Of
clover sod In potatoes, and as soon
ss done planting / had my hired
hand take q single shovel pillow and
one horse and open q deep furrow
between the rows. When the
potatoes commenced to come through
the ground / cross narrowed with Q
Thomas harrow, running the teeth
with the harrow
down with stones of about
twenty pounds on each section. In
less than one-half day had destroy
I'd millions OF plants Of the foxtail
Or fall grass, of which this field has
been full In few days the pota-
toes were up sufficient to mark the
rows, and IL was narrowed again.
This time the harrow was not
down but driven parallel
with the rows, still running the
teeth perpendicular. Occasionally
the harrow would drag out q potato,
but the loss was 30 small that IL was
not worth mentioning. In Q few
days the potatoes were up three or
four inches. Then the cultivAtor
and wheel harrow was set to work in
the potatoes, going one
round to the row with the cultivator,
and every time the wheel harrow
was driven across the field one row
was cultivated. The first time /
cultivate my potatoes / want spring
teeth to dig In the soil thoroughly to
loosen up and mellow IL. We aim to
cultivate deep at first two or three
lines then quite shallow afterwards.
We usually cultivate six or seven
lines, sometimes only q day or two
between the cultivation.
We have no use for any broad
'hovels when our potatoes are up. |
The points on my cuitivator and
Wheel harrow are only two and q
lalf inches wide and that IL all we /
Use In the cultivation Of our potatoes.
We want them to be spring steel, ss
heir vibration back and forth has q
endency to throw fine soil In and /
Iround the potato plants and cover 1
I'D the weeds III there be any. This i
ield was narrowed twice, croeswise
irst time, second time lengthwise.
Z WAS cultivated five times with the
wheel harrow and the sixth time
very other row was cultivated.
There were six acres In this field.
{ took one hand and team few
lours over six days to harrow IL
vice and cultivate it six times. We
,ot from this field 200 bushels OF
'otatoes per acre.