The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1906-06-23

ter under ground thRn out when
( young. never put hand hoe to my
+ potatoes. but run the cultivator and
horse hoe until / have destroyed all
the weeds and the tops are too large
to drive the horses through the rows.
dig my potatoes just as soon as
the tops begin to die. and l put them
In a dry, dark place. The cellar is
the very best place for them, unless
you intend to put them In the market.
Then the barn or shed is all right,
provided you keep the place dark. 1
use poato digger. and find it the best
and cheapest way to get my potatoes
out of the ground. The first thing 1
do is to pull all the tops from the field,
then run the digger through every
other row. When I have opened rows
enough to keep the men picking for
the day stop the team until the next
day. and SO on till the last row is
done. Then l take spring tooth
harrow and harrow the ground twice
over. That takes every potato out of
the ground, and when through we have
no scored or damned potatoes. but, on
the contrary, as fine potatoes as pos
sible, and we have the ground in fine
condition to pillow for the next crop.
have no trouble in growing three
hundred to four hundred bushels of
Green Mountain potatoes to the acre
with no other dressing than fertilizer
But l use the best can buy, and one
ton to the acre. I don't wish to plant
too early or too late. but when the
ground is in good shape and the
weather warm. Before l plant l in
tend to have the ground worked in as
fine condition as possible, then l like
to furrow out good depth and cover
light. 1t Is no trouble for any farmer
to be successful in raising potatoes II
he will use commonsense and good
judgment with plenty of bone and
muscle.
With potatoes and corn showing a
couple of inches out of the ground it
looks hazardous to run the harrow ov-
er the field, but the practice is appar-
emily coming to be quite common
among advanced farmers. A New Jer-
sey writer in Rural New Yorker" tells
how he does the work:
Our custom Of cultivating potatoes
Is, as soon as they begin to come
through the ground or earlier, to run
cultivator through the middle of the
rows, with two horses; run as deep
as possible, then put on the Thomas
harrow and level down. This is done
more especially to destroy weed
growth. Cultivate deeper the second
time, then put on the weeder, which
we are doing now. We cultivate deep
until the potatoes are about twelve
inches high, then we begin to throw
up dirt toward potatoes, and later on
throw up dirt to form a ridge. This
enables us to use potato digger more
successfully.
Our treatment of corn is as follows:
AS soon as corn is up. SO wecan see
1t in the row, we use the cultivator,
either one or two horses. running
shallow. We never use a pillow ex-
cept the Riggs, which Is practically
cultivator, and can be regulated to
any desired depth. We do not purpose
ly hill up corn; at cultivation we aim
to get through our cornfield four times
or even five, somewhat depending on
weather conditions. We never work
the soil If too wet If we can avoid it
either for potatoes or corn. Our last
blowing for corn is Immediately after
harvest. We do not plow potatoes any
later: than that except to keep deeds
destroyed between the rows.
A vermonter's Way.
like to do some of my cultivating
before the crop is planted; in other
words, harrow every few: days to pull
verize the ground and kill weeds, then
run the weeder, almost as soon as
planted, and keep it up every few days
until the plants are SO large the weed