The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1917-03-30
HOW TO GROW IRISH POTATOES
 IN CITY YARDS

IN CITY YARDS. Reducing the Cost of Seed
 When Seed Potatoes
 Are High Priced.
 Many persons prompted by the high price of Irish potatoes have written to the U. s. Department of Agricul- kure asking how to grow them suc- Ncessfully in n~their back yards or in vacant lots in their neighborhoods. Others, who in the past have raised potatoes as @ profitable way of utiliz- Ing idle land or as a crop which re- hays them, in whole or in part, for the cost and trouble of keeping down weeds and giving a more orderely ap- bearance to their properties, point out that good seed potatoes are scarce and high in price, and ask whether there is not some method of reducing the cost for seed for their plots or half acres.
 The cost of seeding, the garden spe- cialists of the Department point out, can be greatly reduced if, instead of using whole potato for planting, the gardener will cut out from pota- toes cone-shaped pieces of flesh, each containing an eye of the potato. In this way only from one-fourth to one fifth of the flesh of the potato will be needed to provide seed and the re- mainder. of the potatol can be cooked vTvl- 1crc from one-fifth to one-seventh of an ounce in weight, whereas, under the usual methods, the sets range from three-fourths to two ounces in weight A gardener, under ordinary conditions, will get best results by using 15 to IS bushels, or 900 to 1,0S0 pounds of potatoes to the acre. This method of preparing sets, therefore, should make available for table use over 67 pounds of potato flesh which, under ordinary conditions, would be planted per acre.
 To plant pot of 50 by 100 feet, or approximately one-ninth of an acre, at the same rate of seeding would call for 2-3 to 2 bushels of seed, plant ed in the ordinary way. The method of using the cones and eyes and cook ing the remainder of the flesh, there fore, becomes worthwhile economy even when small area is to be plantx cd.
 Under this plan it is not necessary to prepare the seed all at one time. From day to day the cones for seed ing can be cut from the potatoes as they are being prepared for the ta- ble. The cuttings then should be spread out on a piece of paper in a moderately cool room (about 50 de- grees ED and allwed to remain there until they have curec, that is, until the cut surface has become dry. A day or two should suffice for this, and potatoes then should be put in shall low box or tray and placed where it is still cooler. Any storage condi- tion that will insure them against frost on the one hand and undue shriveling on the other should prove satisfactory.
 These seeds can be started indoors, provided it is possible to secure suit able soil and boxes. In such cases it may be desirable to plant the eye cut tings at once, and allow them to start into growth indoors with the idea of transplanting them int the open ground when danger of frost is past 7 and the ground is dry enough to be cultivated
 / Small Sized Sets Require More Care
 The smaller the size of the set, or seed piece, used the more thorough must be the preparation of the soil The more finely the zon Is purverized and the more uniform the moisture conditions which can be preserved ir the soil, the better is the chance fol the small seed piece to establish itself A small set in rough. lumpy, or dried out sol has little chance to live lei alone make a crop
 Generally speaking, the smaller thu aize of the set, the closer it should be planted in the row if maximum yields are to be secured. Such set. may be expected to give the bes yields if not spaced more than 10 t, IF inches apart in the row. . v How to Grow Potatoes
 Successful potato growing, the gar den specialists advise their correspon dents, hinges largely on the foIlowin, factors:
 Good land, well prepared.
 2Abundance of available plan food and moisture
 3-SelectiOn of proper varieties. 1Good seed and good tillage. s 5-Thorough protection of tn plants against insect and fungou posts.
 Preparing Soil for Potatoes
 The types of soi1 in which the pota to plant thrfves best are those desig mated as sandy or gravelly loam soil. It may be grown with a. fair degre of success on any type of soil excep loose sand and a heavy, sticky cla sOfl provided the land is well draine and contains the necessary plant foot
 Successful potato production is de pendent to a large extent on the thor %oughness with which the land is pre- pared before planting the crop Wher < a horse can be used, the land shoul be p1owed from eight to ten inche deep, provided the surface soil is C a sufficient depth to permit it. It never advisable to turn up more tha one inch of raw subsoi1 at any on blowing, so if previous plowings hay not been over six inches the max mum depth at which it should | plowed is seven inches.
 Where hand labor is employed, Sth same rule should govern as to deptl Tn -spading, especially on grass ( waste land, turn the earth bottom sid up.
 Whether the land is p1owed ( spaded, it should be thoroughly pu