The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1904-05-30
FARM, GARDEN
AND HOUSEHOLD
BY S. A. COOK.

The Irish Potato-The second Crop.
Now that the potato beetle and the
blight are adverse influences TO the
Irish potato in the South, it is not the
simple thing that it used TO be 20
raise even the early or first crop Of
potatoes Neither the first nor the sec
ond crop are as easy to grow as they
were twenty or ten years ago. In the
past Ave years the yield Of potatoes
has been hardly half of what il was
ten years ago, owing to the causes
mentioned and also to the fact that
our soil has deteriorated considerably
and is not capable Of making the good
crops that it did twenty years ago
a good potato soil is rich in humus
and decaying vegetable matter, and
no one posted relative TO potato cul-
ture need be told that we have very
little of that kind of soil in the South
1t is only in patches here and there
that this vegetable loan can be found.
An ideal potato soil should produce
easily 400 TO 600 bushels of Irish po-
tatoes if one meets fully the require
ments of the crop in every respect AS
it is, where one plants even no more
than five or ten acres in one body to
this crop a yield of 100 bushels of
merchandise tubers per acre is ac-
cepted as a very satisfactory result
by the average trucker. 1t is diff
cult to get as much as twenty acres
in one body that will average such a
crop even as that.
In the humus soils of the North and
West. 500 to 700 bushels per acre IS
not very uncommon crop. In small
way in rich garden spots Irish pota-
toes have yielded at the rate of $50
bushels per acre, but nothing like half
this is likely to be obtained in field
culture here.
Our ordinary upland has too little
humus in it, has too little depth of
soil to produce large crops of Irish
or white potatoes. We have here and
there in every county Of the South
bottom land where the original growth
were oak and hickory, which. with
judiCious treatment for a few years,
could be put in condition TO produce
500 bushels per acre. Some little OF
il could do it now with the use of
$50 TO $50 worth of manure per acre
along with first-class preparation of
the soil with pillow. harrow and roller.
adopted to the culture Of this crop
to study up on potato growing. There
is to be a good deal more profit in
growing potatoes henceforth than there
has been in the past. for the reasons
given, this country is not growing
enough potatoes TO supply the demand
for home consumption We have had
to import them from Europe, even
from Egypt and other faroff countries.
Whoever has land adapted to the
crop and especially the late crop 10
mature in November, and learn eX-
actly how TO grow it, should find 1t
a money-making business growing Irish
potatoes. The price is sure to be re-
muneratlve for the late crop.
How To Grow The Second Crop
The small potatoes from the first crop
that natures in May or June should
be used for seed These should be ex-
posed to the light until they assume
greenish appearance. Late in June
these small potatoes should be clipped
Slightly at the seed end and spread
out near a source of water. where
they can be kept we'll moistured so
that the sprouts will be started. They
should be covered with straw, while
being sprouted., In the meantime the
soil should be we'll prepared and made
ready. AS soon as the potatoes have
sprouted the least bit they should be
planted, pressing them with the foot
firmly into the loose soil of the fur
row. Then the pillow should be used
TO ridge the dirt over them. Later,
when the first weeds spring up the
soil should be narrowed leyel When
the potatoes begin to come up cultiva-
ton should begin, using the harrow
or sweep or cultivator every week
This culture should be very shallow
just deep enough to give a mulch of
two inches of soil. roller may be
used to very great advantage in Gull
tivating the crop if the soil remains
dry for any length of time in August
or September. 1t should alternate with
the sweep or harrow with two or three
days between. Few know the value
of the roller as an implement of Gull
tivation. but such 1t has in all periods
of protracted dry weather The alter
nate loosng of the soil with sweep or
harrow and then returning the loose,
dry soil with the roller creates a free
deposit of dew and promotes a capillary
flow of moisture from the lower soil
that no other method of working will
so surely effect To no other crop
is il more advantageously applied than
to Irish potatoes, which requires the
soil only about three months but is
subject to utter ruin by dry weather.
Continuing for several weeks Just af-
ter the young potatoes begin to form.
The scientific farmer so called is a
scientific cultivator, if anything and
II is certain scientific cultivation
cannot be given without the roller.