The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1904-06-09

hold several pounds of water. Nature
before the advent of man had Way
of her own to protect the soil. On the
prairies the old grass decayed and
made rich covering for the soil while
in the woods the leaves and dead
branches would rot and form rich
fertilizer and covering for the earth.
When man made his appearance he
began to disregard the laws of nature
and burned off the prairie grass and
the forest fires left the land dry and
parched. He said that by May first
in an average year there would be
moisture enough in the soil to carry
crop through the season with the
proper system of cultivation and with
the soil in the right kind of condition.
With potato cultivation he always
started in to harrow the land we'll and
keep it stirred to a depth of at least
two inches. In this way a mulch or
blanket was formed at the surface
which stopped the process Of evapor-
alton and the moisture was retained
and made to work to the surface where
it feed the plants. The narrowing of
the soil should be kept up until the
potato plants came up and then the
weeder should be set to work. AS the
vines get larger the cultivator is used
and the soil is cultivated and the
weeds kept down and the evaporation
of the water checked up to the last
minute. In the meantime the vines
are being supplied with plenty of
moisture which is brought to the sur
face by constant cultivation of the
soil. Mr.. Terry was the first man to
discover this secret process of nature
and he said that he made more money
off of his crops in dry seasons be-
cause as rule the crops of his neigh
bors would be failures. The beneficial
results from the treatment of the soil
in this manner were just as sure as the
sun was to shine tomorrow. Long
about June LIST or when it was so es-
sential to have the soil properly har-
rowed and cultivated and made ready
for dry weather, or for that matter
wet weather, he could not be hired to
leave home, not for $50 day. This
was the critical time with him and is
with any farmer who desires good
crop and protection against extremes
in the weather. When the potato vines
are six inches high the roots which
run out horizontally will come to-
gether and it is then that care must
be used in the cultivation so as not to
expose the roots or to pare them; as
the plants will be greatly injured if
he roots are harmed in any way. He
explained his system of cultivation.
He plowed deeply at the start and
gradually made his cultivation more
shallow until at the close he would
only make a mulch two inches deep.
When he had his Ohio farm at high
state of cultivation and was raising
potatoes at a great profit he was plow-<
ing as deep as eight or nine inches at
times. In 1881, the year of the great
est drouth Ohio ever had, he sold his
potatoes for sl6O an acre
There was some discussion over the
sowing of clover, and the mixing of
clover with small grains. -Four quarts
of seed to the acre was about the
proper amount of seed. For pastur-
age mixture of mammoth and me-
dunn with alsike clover proved a good
combination. Glover on sandy land
should be sowed deep.
Further Talk by Bush and Terry ON the
Planting and Raising of Potatoes-Blight
and its Causes-Isordeau Mixture.
There was further talk on the plant
ing and raising of potatoes by Messrs.
Bush and Terry. While there was
much ground covered that had been
gone over in previous talks there were
some new features brought out that
proved interesting. Mr.. Bush said
that early plnating gave the best re-
suits and insured against blight and
other injurious conditions. The
proper time to plant was as soon as
the ground was warm, or about corn
planting time. At this time the seed
will start vigorously. If planting is
put off until the middle of June there
is sure to be trouble from b1ioht.
Planting can be much deeper on the
light than on the heavy and black
soil. The seed can be planted six
inches deep and there will be little
danger of the plants being caught by
the frosts. He always plants in drills.
In planting in hills there is apt to be
crowding of the seed and waste. In
drills there can be smaller pieces of
seed and more equal distribution.
The soil must be kept moving from
the start with disc ~, snoootb;po bo,