The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1912-04-11

FIG. xvI-POTATOES LEFT IN PILE
as good a yield as drilling, provided
the drilled potatoes are kept free from
weeds The checked potatoes can be
cultivated both ways and kept clean
with bui little hand labor and will
yield more than a weedy patch planted
twice as thick The feasibility Of the
plan depends entirely upon the rela-
tive cost of land and labor
A good narrowing after the plants
are two or three inches high will de
stroy many weeds and loosen the dirt
in the row Deep planted potatoes are
not injured by snch n narrowing A
few days after this the cultivator
should be started and the field cult
blossoms appear 1t pays to hoe or
pull any weeds that come up in the
rows. No one thing will reduce the
yield of potatoes more than weeds
The ground should he left nearly level
at the last cultivation Deep planting
makes hiling unnecessary
Spraying For insects and Diseases
The potato beetle is the one serious
insect enemy of the potato crop. The
most prevalent disease other than scab
ing them to turn black and curl up
Both blight and beetles can be readily
controlled by spraying with bordeaux
paris green mixture This is made as
follows: -Four pounds copper sulphate.
four pounds fresh lime, four ounces
paris green and fifty gallons of water
Dissolve the copper sulphate in twen-
ty-tive gallops Of the water and the
lime in the rest Then pour the two
solutions together. Make the paris
green into paste with little water
and stir it into the mixture. 1t pays to
have good hand sprayer to apply this
solution Or a power machine If many
acres are grown. A hand sprayer can
be bought for s5 or $6 If equipped
with two nozZles so as to take two
rows at once it will not take more than
an hour to go over an acre. The en-
tire expense including the labor, will
be repaid several times over by the in
crease in yield Three or four spray
ings will be sufficient, starting about
the time the plants are six inches high
and continuing at intervals of week
or ten days until they are in bloom.
Digging the Crop.
Where a large acreage Of potatoes is
grown or where several neighbors each
raise n few acres every year, digger
is paying investment. 1t leaves the
tubers on top of the ground in good
shape to be picked up and gets prac-
tically all of them Where only few
are grown they can be forked out, but
this is a slow job. The most common
practice is to plow them out. BY pick
ing them UP after the plow then har-
rowing twice and picking up after each
narrowing. few will be left If the
field is so located that the hogs can DE
turned in on it. they get all that were
missed. AS soon as dug. which should
be before severe freezing weather. the
potatoes should be piled up and COW
| cred with straw and dirt Here they
may be left until the ground begins to
| freeze, when they may be put in the
cellar OF hauled to market If the pile
| is on a well drained place 1t may be
| covered with a foot to eighteen inches
of straw and as much dirt and safely
left till spring. There are many potato
growers, especially those of foreign ex
traction. who never keep their crop in
any other way. While the dry indoor
methed has numerous advantages. such
As readiness for use In all weather and
convenience of handling. there is much
to commend the outdoor storage plan
There are even those who contend that
| the favor Of the tuber Is only to b(
maintained by storing it in the pit.