The Farm.

Clutha Leader, Volume I, Issue 9, 3 September 1874, Page 3

The Farm.

A PLATE OF POTATOES.

I have always been a working farmer ; have owned and occupied the same farm for 28 years, and the little I know of agriculture has been gleaned from observation aud practical experience. My farm is situated' on tbe high lands, between the Connecticut ' and Merrimac Rivers, where the altitude, cold climate, and porous soil give us special facilities for securing good yields of first quality potatoes, and i this crop is the most lucrative branch \ of farming to which those of us who I live in the hill towns of New England can turn our attention. Varieties. — I have made a practice of planting every new variety I can get, and testing its merits : the past year planted 2? different kinds. The earlier the variety, the quicker it loses its good eating qualities, or in other words, the longer it is in maturing, the longer it will remain good for the table. The late varieties are not so liable to be cut off by drouth as early ones, for we seldom have a drouth that lasts through the whole season. Many have an idea that potatoes will mix if planted together, which is obviously absurd, as, if they did thus mix, we should bave no distinct varieties. Our fertilizers are stable manure, compos is, and phosphates. Seeding. — There is no branch of farming touching which so great a diversity of opinion exists as in the seeding and cultivating of potatoes. Jn selecting s<-ed, white or red are preferable to dark, or any oiiier color ; an oblong or flat-shaped potato is preferable to the round, as the latter, if large, are very apt to be hollow-hearted. La.p varieties should be planted as soon as the ground is in a suitable condition, that they may have the whole season to ripen in. A few days before planting ! they should be brought out of the cellar to the light and air, that the eyes may start, and thus show that the seed is good* A void cutting long before I planting, for if put in boxes or barrels the seed is liable to heat and spoil. The potato, unlike the cereals, has its eye \ and roots. If you disconnect these roots by cutting so as to leave an eye | on each piece, every eye will start (while on the whole potato only a part will start), thus increasing the seed without injuring the present or future cop. As to size of seed, some say "if you wish for large pota'oes you must plant them ; if yon plant small ones, you will surely li-n-vest small ones" For the past rwentv veavs my practice has been to plant, tWlsrgesfc of vhe small ones, cutting two eves on a piece, and putting three pieces in a hill ; and as every eye will not come, i intend ro have three or four stalks to a hill. If you get twelve or fifteen stalks to a hil^ you v.-iil surely have small potatoes, for there is just as much impropriety in overseedinr potatoes as corn. If seeded light, the vines will, grow strong and erect, admit the son and air to the ground, thus tending to prevent blight and disease. When overseeded, the vines grow slender, a 1 © liable to break down, retain the moisture of the ground, mildew, and prematurely decay. I believe the only advantage derived from planting large potatoes is the extra amount of starch secreted, and that on the other hand is more than made up by the grain in seed, and the slight cost of the small ones. In other words, if you plant a potato the size of a marble that produces but one sprout, and cut a piece of the same size from one weighing two pounds, what advantage has one over the other? IS one. For experiment, I once planted in my garden a potato the size of a pea; it produced one sprout, with a vine threefourths of an inch through, and several potatoes, one weighing a pound. In these ideas, I very well know 1 am stemming a current of public opinion (or prejudice, for it is nothing more nor les-s), for most people, when they experiment with small potatoes overseed, but my way is to seed just as light with small as with large ones, allowing hut three or four stalks to the hill, and believing mv theory to be correct, and that there will be no injury to present or future crops, all I ask xs for others to try the plan. Culture. — Potatoes should be hoed when very small ; run the cultivator between the rows, thus leaving the t-otl light and smooth, and in hoeing leave it a little dishing around the vines, making a broad hill with a gradual descent to the middle of the roots. This will give the feeding roots that run near the top of the ground facilities for running between the hills and rows, and readily drinking in the dews and rain that fall, receiving the healthful influences of the sun, passing* this nourishment to the tuber root. Potatoes cultivated in this way will stand the drought much better than when the soil is all drawn up around the hill, thus checking the extension of the feeding roots, and letting the rain drain off between the rows. The hills should be made just large enough for the potatoes to grow in. Some varieties, such as grow near the vine, like the Early Rose, need more hilling to protect them from sunburn than later kinds, which should have a broader hill. Most of the large j potatoes grow near the outside of the • hill. To illustrate the point, I will tell ] a story : When I was a boy, hoeing potatoes for a good old farmer, he came ' into the field and says to us, " Boys! i

boys! what are you billing up those potatoes so much for ? You'll spoil them. I want my potatoes hoed so that when I happen to come into the field cold nights in the fall. lean hear them halloaing. 'Lay over,' lay over, you're crowding us put of the hill.'" Avoid hoeing* potatoes after the roots have extended much over the ground.

Harvesting. — If the haulm or top remains green, put it off till the season compels you to dig them, for as long as the haulm is green the feeding roots are carrying nourish tnent to the potato and improving its quality. When dug, the rubers should be slightly dried, handled carefully, (as bruising the skin injures them), l.ie.i put in a cool cellar, light and air excluded. It is very injurious to have them long exposed to the sun and atmosphere If allowed to sunburn and turn green, they are poison. Do not put them in too large bodies, as they will heat and accumulate moisture. If your cellar is light, put them in boxes wi-h 'sand or dry sawdust. • After plan ring, those retained for table use should be kept in the cellar, put into barrels, filling Uiem half full, and once or rwice a week give them a good shake, occasionally turning them from one to another, to be sure of moving* those at the bottom, and to break off all the tender sprouts; for if the sprouts are allowed to stare much the starch of the potaio is drawn out and it becomes worthless, while, if managed in the way suggested, they retain their good easing qup.l_i.es till the new ones come.