The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1902-04-22
FARM AND
GARDEN II
INTERESTS
Successful Potato Growing.


Wisconsin Correspondence Orange Judd
Farmer.
Probably there is no other one crop grown
by so many different people and by so many
different methods. In this State the area
devoted to potatoes varies from the single
square rcd in the garden OF the factory
hand TO fields Of ninety TO 100 acres Some
methods of culture succeed one year and
fail the next. There are, however. a few
principles which must be observed. 1 am
not so particular as | used 10 be concerning
just what method 1 use in growing pota-
toes. Good crops have been grown in hills
and in drills and failure has resulted by
both methods.
Select variety that is still in its prime
that is, up to It's full strength and vigor.
Do not cling too long TO the ole wornout
varieties, however highly you may have re-
sarded them, for it is a fact that varieties
will run out and it is beyond human power
to rule differently. Probably 50 per cent. of
the potatoes grown for market in Wiscon-
sin are Rural New Yorker No. ?, Carman
No. and Sir Walter Raleigh, all of which
much the same type and will market in
the same car. The last named is OF rather
newer blood, but all are still yielding well
and doing good service for the grower. n
few Ohios and Triumphs grown for
early, but are being displaced by some or
the newer varieties that nave not yet De
come staple.
Keep the seed stock from sprouting until
planting time. To do this see that the pO-
tatoeS are sweat out dry in the fall and
keep the cellar dry and slightly above the
freezing point through the winter. In the
spring open the cellar at night and close
through the day and move potatoes from
one bin TO the other. If you have plenty
of floor space take them out and spread
them on the barn floor in thin layer, ana
the little short, warty green sprouts thdt
issue will do no harm. Do not put them III
barrels or piles in outbuildings, or they
will sprout worse than in the cellar ana lose
their vitality very rapidly. See that the
land is we'll drained. Potatoes cannot De
profitably grown upon wet, heaVy, soSSy
soil.
The soil must be rich. The potato is a
gross feeder and will respond readily TO
liberal feeding. Keep the soil full of hu-
mus or decsying vegetable matter. Often
times a dressing of coarse manure or green
crop plOwed under, or stubble and root sys-
tenn of previous grass or clover crop may
not of itself contain so much plant 1000
but the mechanical effect upon the soil, the
breaking down of rocky and inert elements
of nutrition, in process OF decomposition,
that have hitherto been locked up IN an
irresponsible and unsatisfactory SOIL Is
oftentimes the making of crop OF pota,
toes. And then, while the potato does not
want wet soil, IL does need great deal or
moisture during the latter period OF growth,
and a good supply of humus VIII give the
soil a very much larger capacity Tor the
storage of this moisture.
Cultivate, cultivate, cultivate. Conserve
this moisture by cultivation, but let IL be
fine, shallow, frequent and continuous.
Keep it up just as long you can get
horse through between the rows without
material damage to the tops Kill bugs.
Get after them soon as the first young
bugs hatch and do not let them stay on the
vines over night
Potatoes must be well covered A potato
greened from the sun may be- and think
is just good for seed but il is not fit for
the table. For an early crop, 1t is neces-
sary to plant shallow and to secure suffi-
cient covering, one must hill them to an ex-
tent. But for late potatoes, planted about
the last of May or first Of June on well
drained SOIL may be placed five inches be-
low the surface, and at that depth a com
paratively level culture may be pracuced,
resulting in a better resistance of drought,
a more even and continuous growth, a bet
ter yield of tubers of smoother and better
quality.
Briefly outlined. my own method is TO
pillow an enriched clover sod about four
inches deep in the fall, disk in the spring
and open burrows with a fOurteen-inch
lister with subsoil attachment, at planting
time. throwing up ridges between at an
angle of forty-five degrees. The seed is
then dropped in this fresh furrow with
mellow bottom. having first been cut into
fair-sized chunks having two or more good
strong eyes. II the day is dry cover at
once. To cover | take this same lister,
without subsoiler. and split the ridges.
This reverses the order and the ridges are
over the potatoes. to be left undisturbed
for a week or ten days. At this time the
weeds will have started, but before the
potato sprouts are near enough to the sur
face to be broken of by the process, take
a couple of pieces of 2 by scantling and
wire them under the harrow edgewse be-
tween the teeth and diagonally under the
frame. Drive. first, lengthwise and then
across the rows and your field will be
smooth mellow and free from weeds
After the potatoes are well up they may
be gone over with harrow weeder and
If you have a good stand the tops will soon
shade the ground and keep the weeds down
in the row. and it is easy TO keep the weeds
down between the rows with any ordinary
cultivator.
This plan has been practiced with success
at Cornell. If one has not a lister. the
ground should be repowed in the spring
to a greater depth than it in the fall
il is necessary to have a deep, well-pre-
pared seedbed for the potato or for any
root crop. 1 still use paris green for killing
bugs and apply it with a spray pump, max
ing 1t strong enough TO kill the bugs upon
first appica ton. However, you can kill
the young bugs with much less green than
when they are two-thirds grown.