The Florida agriculturist. [volume] (DeLand, Fla.) 1878-1911, 1896-08-05

PLANTING POTATOES.
Modern Machinery Used by Experts For
CIuffixau. and PLANTING GuIa

Modern Machinery Used by Experts For
Cutting and Planting the Tubers.
In planting potatoes, either for home
use or for market, the first essential is a
we'll drained, rich plat Of land. A field
which has been two years in clover is
usually the best. To this apply heavy
dressing of we'll rotted barnyard ma
nure. Break the sod in the fall or the
winter or inches deep; then in spring
turn it over to depth of or inches
and cut up thoroughly with disk har-
row, continuing the operation until the
seed bed is we'll fined and in the best
condition. Use smoothing harrow to
compact it sufficiently, SO that it will
not be dried out unduly.
The old method of hand planting will
probably continue as the standard proc
ess for the general farmer who Guilt
Yates but small patch for his own use.
The potatoes are cut by hand to two
eyes, dropped in rows feet apart, with
the hills 10 inches apart in the row if
they are to be plowed one way and ~
to 8 feet apart if they are to be cultivat-
ed crosswise. Checking, however, is
hardly ever necessary except where the
land is very foul, says American Agri-
culturist, authority for the foregoing.
This authority also has the following to
say concerning commercial planting:
For commercial planting hand proc
esses are entirely too slow; consequent
" inventors have constructed machines
both for cutting the potatoes into suita-
BILE sized pieces and for planting them.
There is also on the market machine
which cuts the seed and at the same
time does the planting. This is hand
potato cutter that does the work Of eight
persons. The number Of knives can be
decreased SO as to make larger pieces of
It, or can be increased and smaller
pieces obtained. This machine can also
be used for cutting beets, turnips, car
rots and other roots for stock feed.
Machines for planting potatoes at the
rate Of four to eight acres per day are
no longer an experiment, and the best
are familiar to readers through adver-
tisements One man only is needed to
operate the machine that plants cut
seed, while the automatic cutter and
planter requires a man and boy. These
implements open the furrow, drop the
seed and any desired amount and kind
of fertilizer, and cover evenly with soil
to a uniform depth, bringing an even
stand A marker indicates the next row
and keeps the rows straight. One Of
these machines soon saves it's cost on a
farm where potatoes are grown to any
extent, while one can do much custom
planting, and make money while saw
ing expense for his customers. In these
days Of close margins on the potato crop
it is necessary to study every possible
detail to produce the least expense.
Lucy Larcom's First Poem.
There is poem beginning
The first, the firstl Oh, naught like it
Our after years can bringl
which seems to have peculiar applica-
tion to first verses in general and to
Lucy Larcom's in particular.
When she was years old, her brother
John proposed writing poetry just for
fun''-and she assented. John soon
abandoned the attempt, but Lucy pro-
duced two verses, which ran thus:
"One summer day. said little Jane,
'We were walking down shady lane
When suddenly the wind blew high,
And the red lightning flashed in the sky.
'EThe peals of thunder, how they rolled
And felt myself little cooled,
For before had been quite warm,