St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1904-02-06
RMRAND PLANTER.
PorATEs IN THE SOUTH.
Importanc of the Crop of Early
Irish ,tatOes In the South
ardly Realized.

Importanc of the Crop of Early
Irish ,tatoes In the South
ardly Realized.
The imptance of the crop OF early
Irish potaes on the southern sea-
board is fdly realized in many sec
lions of b country. Our northern
friends thk that they grow some
potatoes, i'd they do grow them fine
ly SO far 5 the general and late crop
is concord But even with the late
crop the Duth Atlantic states are fast
coming 1.-THE front with their second
crop potoes. One grower in North
CarolinDffers three thousand bushels
of this tie crop this year, and there
are fewnorthern farmers who grow
more ding the whole season. AND
when IDS remembered that this is
second 'op for the same season, while
but ones grown in the north, the I'M
portane of the potatoes crop IN the
south lcomes at once apparent. some
years 20 Mr.. Terry, of Ohio, visiting
Maine nd seeing how they grow po-
tatoes here, said he thought that ne
could AXE money at growing potatoes
in Mae, though they average about
Is cen a bushel. What would he say
to CRYING crop of Is barrels or
more er acre, getting them into mar
ket ely in June, growing crop OF
pea we hay on the same land ana
then second crop of potatoes OF %
barre per acre the same season, ana
yet It's has been done in North Caro-
lima nd none of the potatoes sold Tor
less ian $3.50 per barrel. visited the
fieldyh this 65 barrels oil late pota-
toes lad just been harvested and COW
ered.n a long. rick over the field, and
the and was then set III the fourth
cror cabbages for the nett springs
matet. Of course such cropping as
this demands heavy fertilization, and
thecrops sold off the land are largely
watr. But to get this water the truck
farmer must use the elementary plant
foo,j in lavish manner His soil ls
mutually light and not originally very
fertile, but the moisture conditions are
goo1 and the cropping tends to the &C
cuntlation of humus and the further
rotation of the soil moisture. Some
expriments are being made in the
Sodh Atlantic truck region in the
plating of the potato crop in the late
fall or December. How this plan Will
wot is yet to be seen. If it turns out
well it will doubtless advance the
sprig work greatly. Bat the main
seapn for the planting of the potato
crol is in late February and March
Mot of the North Carolina growers
aim to get their entire crop in by tht
lastof February, and sometimes begir
thdmarketing the last of May. There
is ID previous preparation for the ear
ly fop hetter than crop of cow pea:
thd previous summer allowed to di'
on the land and rye then scattere;
anbng the dead vines all to be turned
uder for the crop. This supplies
Considerable amount of organic nitro
ed But in the rapid cropping of tn
trtk soils this is seldom done, ant
gelerally one sees the land lying bare
Tits I think is a mistake unless tn
lad goes into a fall planted crop. TIL
laish manner in which the truc]
| ,pwers use commercial fertilize
| nuld be revelation to those VIII
az in the habit of sprinkling hun
drd or two pounds per acre. Tn
hayy cropping to which the lands dc
weed to the early potato crop are dc
weed through the season necessitate
1aish treatment in the way of ferti]
izrs, and the growers seek to know
Mt how little they can get along will
bit how much they can use prof1tabl.
Ole Of the largest of the growers
tlb early potato crop who has
1age fertilizer building on his far
arl mixes his own fertilizers by m;
clinery gave me the following fol
mia which he uses on his potat
cpp:
Fish scrap TOO pounds, nitrate
sofa 500 pounds, bone black supe
phosphate 600 pounds, and muriate
pdash 400 pounds. This would NAL
ST per cent. of nitrogen, 72-5 per Ger
of phosphoric acid and 10 per cent.
potash. He has worked this formu
out through many trials as the best o.
for the crop. It has been found tn
the early crop in the south, grown
during the cool weather of spring, nee
. a larger percentage of nitrogen than
usually given the crop in the mort
We are of the opinion that if it W
practicable to get part of the organ
nitrogen through a previous crop
peas, the fertilization could be do
much more economically. The grow
mentioned uses never less that halt
ton per acre of the above mixture, a
thinks it pays to use at least tn
much. He plants never less than
acres In the early potato crop, laid Oft
a larger area che second crop is
WAYS grown from potatoes of the cal
crop. One grower says that he b
found the best way to get this crop
to plant the potatoes as soon as dug, a
then at once to SOW the whole land
COW peas. BY the time the COW pt
are ready to cut for hay, the potato
are coming up, and the stubble OF
meas is then worked in in the culti'
| ton of the crop. The second crop
not so heavily MANFRED as the first.
is grown mainly for seed to plant
following season, for the southt
j. growers have long since learned tt
:: this late crop maturing and dug in ]
cember, is the very best that can
had for planting the next season. tt
keep during the winter With
! sprouting, and grow in the spring W