The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1898-01-18
HORTICULTURE
IRISH PoTATo CULTURE.

IA great many people plant their
IRISH potatoes very early in the season.
The following hints to potatoes raisers
are worthy Of study just now.-ED
In 1895. and again in 1896. there was
an overproduction of potatoes in New
York, and the price fell SO low that
many thousands Of bushels were fed to
stock, and still many went to waste.
But in 1897 the crop was attacked by
late blight, which caused one half to
three fourths of the entire crop OF the
State to rot, and as q result prices are
high.
Notwithstanding these adverse con
ditions, the crop at the station was one
of the best grown in the three years Of
these experimental tests. While the
average for the State is so toes bushels
per acre, the yield at the station was
over 800 bushels per acre. And this,
too, on land that had received no ma
nure for four years, and had grown
forage crops for three years previous,
including one corn crop. This highly
satisfactory result is attributed to thor
ough culture and persistent spraying.
The culture included a careful prep
aration of the land before planting. AS
soon as the crop of 1896 was off, the
land was plowed and sown to a mixture
of oats and peas for a winter cover
crop, to prevent loss of fertility by the
teaching Of fall, winter and early spring
rains. On April 2 this cover crop was
turned under, and this was followed by
frequent use of the Acme harrow till
May z, when the potatoes we're planted.
This put the soil in fine filth and killed
the early sprouting of weeds and grass.
As thesyoung potato is sustained by
the old seed piece till the roots are long
enough to draw ~sustenence from the
soil. it is important that the seed piece
be of good size to give strength and
vigor to begin with; hence, large pota-
toes we're used for seed, cut to n or
two eyes to the piece, and one piece
was dropped every Ii inchesin burrows
four inches deep and 40 inches apart
from C0QG8E 10 CouB0Es
These burrows should be made with
q double mouldboard plow, or by an
1s inch sweep, set to run on the point,
and then the covering should be done
by the same implement, run half way
between the rows. This would leave
the potatoes buried under the center of
a ridge. In about q week, run Cross
these ridges with a heavy harrow, to
level the ground and kill the %sprouting
weeds, and repeat every seven to ten
days till the potatoes come up.
After the tops appear above ground,
cultivate every ten or twelve days with
a cultivator that will thoroughly stir
the ground two or three inches deep.
As the tops spread so as to shade more
and more of the ground. narrow the
cultivator to correspond, and when the
tops nearly meet, let cultivation cease.
The. insect enemies Of the Irish potato
crop are the fla beetle and the Colo
RADIO potato potato bug, and it's diseases
are the early and late blight, both OF
which first attack the edges OF the
leaves. The early blight is confined to
the leaves and stems, but the late blight
extends down to the potatoes and causes
them to rot. Moist weather Of about
20 degrees temperature seems most
favorable to late blight, which usually
appears in New York in August and
September. 1t ofGen develops with
great rapidity, utterly destroying a
crop within two or three days.
Bordeaux mixture, containing Paris
green, is a remedy for both insects and
blight. The station sprayed with this
mixture June Is, July 6, July 81 and
August II. When the plants were
small it took two barrels of the spray
per acre, but as they became larger,
more and more was required, till the
last spraying required six barrels per
acre.
Zach barrel contained six pounds
copper suIphate, four pounds caustic
lime and forty FIVE gallons water, and
then half a pound Of Paris green is
worked into a paste with water and
stirred into the mixture. ALI should
be strained to remove any sediment
that might clog the valves Of the spray
ing pump. Use a good force pump, and
thoroughly cover every particle of the
potato tops with a coating Of the mix
ture. II rain washes it off, respray
promptly.
The following reeults followed com
parsons of different cultural methods:
The plats receiving nine CIVILIZATIONS