Courier Democrat. (Langdon, N.D.) 1891-1920, 1893-03-30
THE AGRICULTURAL WORLD
MATTERS OF MOMENT TO THE
RURAL READERS.
Culture of Potatoes--Why Pigs
are Scarce--Farm Fertiliza-.
tion--ShalloW Culture of
COrn--AFew Pointers.

tion--ShalloW Culture of
Corn--AFew Pointers.
Instructive Notes Regarding Potn-
toes.
Prof. J. Troop, of Indiana Expert
ment Station. La Fayette, Ind, writes
Orange Judd Farmer: Farmers are
beginning to inquire concerning the
best varieties of potatoes to plant: etc,
and 4 query now before me reads III
this way: What varieties of potatoes
do you consider the best. and what
kind OF fertilizers should be used in or
der to produce the best results:' 20
tatocs will not always give equally
good results on all kinds of soils. much
Of which is doubtless due to the
pressure of excessive moisture or ap-
scnce of the proper kinds of clements
in the soil. Many of these questions
can be best answered by the farmer
by trying experiments i'll 4 small way
in order to determine whether his SOIL
is deficient in either of the principal
elements of plant food which are cs-
sential to the production of Il maxi
mum crop of potatoes. The three prln-
cipal elements. and those most liable to
become exhausted by cropping, are
potash. phosphoric acid and nitrogen
On new land, land which has been re-
Gently cleared. these elements are
usually present III abundance, ana
every farmer knows that such land.
under ordinary circumstances, VIII
usually produce an abundant crop OF
potatoes without further cnrirhln@.
But it often happens that one or more
Of these substances becomes exhausted
by cropping, and it is necessary TO re.
sort to barn manure or COmInefclil
fertilizers to supply the dcllciellcv.
Good barn manure contains All lne
elements of plant food, but often III
varying quantities. IT, therefore, the
farmer wishes to ascertain the true
condition of his soil. so far as these
clements are concerned, he must use
fertilizers of known strength, ana use
them separately as we'll as in comDlna-
ton. These are found on the marker
in the form of Sulphatc or mul1atc OF
potash. bone black or bone meal, ana
nitrate of soda or sulphatc of ammonia,
etc. To make a test of this kind take
five plats of equal size and apply broad
cast at the following rate per acre:
TO plat l. $50 pounds of sllphatc OF
potash. $50 pounds of bone black, 2So
pounds of nitrate of soda, al combined.
On plat > apply just one-half TINS
amount This will give hint as 10
actual amount needed by the crop. on
plat :, omit the potash. applying the
other two as before On plat omit
the bone black and on plat . omit'1he
nitrate Of soda. Tho results at harvest
time will show whether the soil is de-
iicicni in one or more OF these cle-
mrntS and which one. Such an expert
mcnt as this can be tried by almost
any farmer at slight cost, and i'll many
cases at least. the information obtained
concerning the condition and needs OF
his soil will be worth many times the
cost Of the experiments. II, however
this is thought to be too much trouble.
then Il complete fertilizer should be
used.
Our varictal tests in 1892 comprise
more than one hundred varieties, and
were conducted on a rather heavy,
black, sandy loan. underlaid with
gravel: not Il first-class potato SOIL vet.
as will be seen, the yields were quite
satisfactory in most cases. Or the
whole number tested there are proba-
bly, twenty-five varieties which have
not proved of any special value on our
soil. Below is given Il list Of twenty
five Of our best varieties which have
been grown in the same field for four
years in succession. And also twenty
five varieties which We're grown here
for the first time last season, the most
of which seem to be excellent. 1T will
be noticed that the Yield of those
grown but a single season in the first
column) is much greater than the 9th
cls: a fact which we have noted be-
fore. and Which serves to prove again
the ACCESSIBILITY of changing seed often.
Table Showing Yield Per Acre.
Varieties Grown One Year