Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1917-03-23
High Prices Will Mean
 Many More Potato Patches
Experts United States Department of Agriculture Give Advce As Means Reducing First Cost,
 Farms and in Yards and Vacant City Lots.

Many persons prompted by the high price of Irish potatoes have written to the United States department of agriculture asking how to grow them successfully in their back yards or in vacant lots in their neighborhood. Others, who in the past have raised potatoes as a profitable way of utiliz- ing idle land or as crop which re- pays them, in whole or in part, for the cost and trouble of keeping down weeds and giving more orderly ap- pearance 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 specialists of the department point out, can be greatly reduced if, in- stead of using a whole potato for planting, the gardener will cut out from potatoes coneshaped 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 remainder of the potato can be cooked for table use. These cones range from one-fifth to one-seventh of an ounce in weight, whereas, un- der 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 1,080 pounds of potatoes to the acre. This method of preparing sets, theerfore, should make avai'ab for table use over 675 pounds of potato flesh which, under ordinary conditions, would be planted per acre.
 To plant plct 5o by 100 feet, or approximately one-ninth of an acre, at the same rate of seeding would call for 1 2-3 to two bushels of seed, plante din the ordinary way. The method of using the cones and eyes and cooking the remainder of the flesh, therefore, becomes worth while economy even when a small area is to be planted.
 Under this plan it is not necessary to prepare the seed all at one time. From day to day the cones for seeding can be cut from the potatoes as they are being prepared for the table. The cuttings then should be spread out on a piece of paper in a moderately cool room (about 50 degrees fahrenheit) and allowed to remain there until they have cured, that is, until the cut sur face has become dry. A day or two should suffice for this, and potatoes then should be put in a shallow box or tray and placed where it is still cooler. Any storage condition 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 cuttings at once, and allow them to start into growth indoors with the idea of transplanting them into the open ground when danger of frost is past and the ground is dry enough to be cultivated.
 Small Sets Require Care.
 The smaller the size of the set, or seed piece, used the more thoorugh must be the preparation of the soil. The more finely the soil is pulverized and the more uniform the moisture conditions which can be preserved in the soil, the better is the chance for the small seed piece to establish itself. A small set in rough, lumpy, or dried out soil has little chance to live, let alone make crop.
 Generally speaking, the smaller the size of the set, the closer it should be planted in the row if maximum yields are to be secured Such sets may be expected to give the best yields if not spaced more than 10 to 12 inches apart in the row.
 How to Grow Potatoes. Successful potato growing, the gar- den specialists advise their cores pondents, hinges largely on the fol lowing factors:
 Good land, well prepared. Abundance of available plant food and moisture.
 Selection of proper varieties.