Planting And Manuring

Early kinds should be planted as soon as the ground has become

sufficiently dry and warm. Late market varieties should be planted about

two weeks later than the early ones. Unquestionably more bushels can be

obtained per acre by planting in drills than in hills, but the labor of

cultivating in drills is much the greater.



Prepare the ground by thorough plowing, making it decidedly mellow. Mark

it out four feet apart each way, if to be planted in hills, by plowing

broad, flat-bottomed furrows about three inches deep. At the crossings

drop three pieces of potato, cut, as directed, in sections of two or

three eyes each. Place the pieces so as to represent the points of a

triangle, each piece being about a foot distant from each of the other

two. If the cut side is put down, it is better; cover about two inches

deep. Where land is free from stone and sod, the covering may be well

and rapidly done with a light plow. Immediately after planting, sprinkle

over and around each hill a large handful of unleached wood-ashes and

salt, (a half-bushel of fine salt mixed with a barrel of ashes is about

the right proportion.) If ashes can not be obtained, as is sometimes the

case, apply instead about the same quantity of lime slacked in brine as

strong as salt will make it. The potato from its peculiar organization

has a hungering and thirsting after potash. Wood-ashes exactly meet its

wants in this direction. Lime indirectly supplies potash by liberating

what was before inert in the soil. Salt in small quantities induces

vigorous, healthy growth. To obtain the best results, the ashes or lime

should be covered with about half an inch of soil. This plan of manuring

in the hill is recommended only in cases where the fertilizers named are

in limited supply, and it is desirable to make the most of them. Maximum

crops have been obtained by using the fertilizers named in the manner

described; but where they can be obtained at low prices, it is certainly

advisable, and requires less labor, to apply all three, ashes, lime, and

salt, broadcast in bountiful quantities, and harrow it in before the

ground is marked out for planting.