The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1896-06-30
POTATO TOPS INDICATING THE
CROP.

It is not O fficult matte + for anyone
skilled in potato growing to guess the
outcome of the crop at a very early
stage of growth by the appearance of
the tops. If they are not more than
three or four in number, and of vigor-
GUS growth at the start, the crop, bar
ring disease, will be large one. If
there is great mass of thin, weak
sprouts, there will be good many
small potatoes, but few of marketable
size, because each set of roots will have
it's tubers, and there is not room for ell
to attain normal growth, says the
American Cultivator.
There are more failures Of crop from
planting whole potatoes if the latter
are in good condition than from any
other one cause. 1t generally happens,
however, that those who plant whole
potatoes have T. EN- in warm cellars,
where the first white sprouts have so
sapped the vitality of potatoes that
when planted only two or three Of the
eyes will grow. We venture the asser-
tion that with potatoes kept in pits
during the winter, or in any other way
where the eyes will not be pushed into
growth prematurely, no crop Of large
marketable potatoes can be grown
from whole seed. This is shown in the
uniform failure Of potatoes self planted,
or left in the ground through the win
teE to produce a paying crop. They
are the earliest potatoes to start into
growth, and though every effort is
usually made to cultivate them thor
ougbly, we never knew a case where
thee self planted potatoes amounted
to anything. There were always too
many stalks. and Dy the time the tubers
were formed the plants crowded each
other 50 that a crop of marketable po
tatces was not possible.
1t is not too late after potatoes come
up to go through the rows and thin out
the weakest shoots in hills that contain
more than two or three. 1t requires
some skill TO do this, first stepping on
the hill and pressing the potato set
firmly in It's place, while the stalk is
seiz d and with a quick jerk pulled
from it. This requires some work, but
it is better than. letting too many stalks
grow up to crowd each other. II more
than one stalk is to be pulled the pull
ing should be done separately, else the
entire hill may be uprOoted.
Whatever Injuries healthy leaf growth
lessons the potato crop, and if after the
tubers are formed the leaf is injured,
the quality of the potato is affected.
Where the foliage is eaten by potato
larva, the potato will be watery and
immature. When blight strikes the
leaves, the quality Of potatoes is effected
in the same way. Fortunately poison.
ing for the potato lGrva and spraying
with Bordeaux mixture to prevent
blight have Iessened these dangers,
and made it possible to secure potatoes
OF good quality without regard to the
season. There is, we think, an i'm
provement il quality of potatoes with,
in a few years, as the market is main
ly supplied by those who have had ex
perience and know how to produce the
best. 1t was once supposed that only
the small yielders among potatoes were
best for the table. The large, coarse
varieties were reckoned, as indeed they
were, coarse and unpalatable, fit only
for stock feeding. But scme of the
new large potatoes, especially the seed
lings of the Rose, are not only enor
nous yielders, but as white and mealy