The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1914-03-09
HOW TO RAISE POTATOES.
Place of the Potato in Crop Rotation
ertilizers--Remedy for Fungus.


The potato prefers loamy soil, rath-
er dry, but good crops are oftener pro-
duced upon heavy clay, says Gerald Nc
Garthy in the Indiana Farmer, Expert
ence has demonstrated to every farmer
that profitable crops of this tuber can
not be grown upon starved soil, nor soil
in poor physical condition. The best
results are attained when the potato
crop is made the last component of a
three or four-year rotation. in which
grain and clover, or clover and timothy
are the others. The Ohio experiment
station, for some IA years, has carried
on a series of crop rotations on the
glacial drift soil of that state, substan-
TALLY similar to the typical drift Of the
entire western region, and with potatoes
had easily obtained an average yield of
about 2200 bushels an acre. BY using
pedigree seed-tubers, and making careful
selection each year from the most pro-
life hills, small fields in many localities
have yielded at the rate of $50 bushels.
The potato is a staple food which every
one eats; the annually increasing popu-
lation of the United States is not fully
supplied with enough potatoes, so that
poor year for the crop means impor-
tation from European countries Be
side its use as a food for man and
beast, the potato is utilized as a source
of starch and alcohol it is quite GER
tain that the annual production might
be doubled without overlooking the
market.
More than any other staple crop ex-
cept tobacco and sugar beets, the potato
is valued for its quality. The American
taste demands a dry, mealy, highly
favored tuber, of medium size and oval
shape; the flesh cannot be too white.
To obtain this quality due attention
must be given to the character and drain
age of the soil, and to the quality and
quantity of fertilizer used. Stable
manure never should be applied directly
to this crop when high-grade table del
icacy is desired. Too much nitrogen in
any form tends to produce coarse
tuber; too little potash will result in a
watery or soggy tuber, and small
yield In Ohio, on rich soil, the best
fertilizer has been found to consist of
two pounds of phosphoric acid, 20
pounds of nitrogen and SO pounds of
potash per acre. This upon land in
high state of fertility and following a
clover crop. The phosphoric acid is best
obtained from acid phosphate; the pot
ash from the sulphate and the nitrogen
from the nitrate. In every case, up to
S24 per acre, the greater the cost of fer
tilizer the higher the net profit; starv-
ing potato crop is the worst kind of
foolishness. We recommend the follow
ing fertilizer for the potato, on good
corn land, and following a clover crop,
in regular rotation, namely:
Nitrate of soda IFS pounds
Acid phosphate, Ia per cent $50 pounds
Sulphate of potash ........ 200 pounds
Directions: Mix and SOW broadcast or
drill before planting.
The most injurious disease of
this crop is scab, fungus which
lives in the soil from year to year. The
best remedy is to soak the uncut seed
tubers in solution of two ounces of
corrosive subhmate in 10 gallons of
water for two hours. Where large
amount of seed is to be prepared.
better plan is to fumigate for "a hours
with formalehyde gas, made by add
ing three pints of commercial, 40 per
cent. formaldehyde. to 20 ounces of
commercial permanganate of potash.
This dose is for space of 100 cubic |
feet. The potatoes may be placed in
sacks or open barrels or on shelves. The |
fumigating method is better than the |
soaking because the former is not pois- |
onous; the latter is, and is apt to in
iure the ha..ds in cutting and dropping |
the seed. Both are effective preventives |
of scab
Cut seed to two eye-pieees, and drop |
one piece about every IA inches in the
drill, which should be four to six inches |
deep. The drills may be spaced at from
30 to SO inches apart, but the closer the
drills the larger the fertilizing dose
must be or You will get only small po-
tatoes. Our standard formula is for &c. |
inch drills. As soon as planted, 90 over
the drills crosswise with a smoothing
harrow, which will about half fill them; |
five days later go over the drills again.
but from the opposite direction. Con-
tinue the narrowing until the potatoes
break ground, and then substitute the
weeder, going erosswise as before. Aft