Success With Early Potatoes.

Kaipara and Waitemata Echo, 10 July 1914, Page 7

Success With Early Potatoes.

The second year we ever put out potatoes of our own we practiced the methods given below, and. they proved so successful that we still are handling this crop the same I way. The ground was thoroughly stirred to a good depth early in spring. However, we now do the stirring late in the fall, a thin surface dressing- of manure first being- given, so it may be turned under and enrich the soil. In either case a thorough harrowing, after the ploughing will crush the clods and mellow the ground for making an ideal seed i bed. We marked the rows off with a stirring plough, making the furrows from eight to ten inches deep; the potatoes were sliced into pieces containing just two "eyes" each ; two of these pieces were dropped in each hill, they being about sixteen i inches apart in the row. If they are put closer together only one piece should be dropped ;if farther apart three pieces will be required to the hill. The potatoes were covered by hand with a hoe. We do not approve of the method employed by most farmers in covering with the plough, as it covers some of the potatoes too deep ; .others will have scarcely any covering at all. Where they are so deep, rot is apt to take place before they can sprout, while the shallow-planted.,, ones often secure insufficient moisture to induce germination. We covered to a depth of about two inches just after dropping the potatoes. As i soon as the plants began to burst through the ground the spike-tooth harrow was run over the patch, which covered the small weeds, 2^artly "filled the furrows and gave the potatoes another covering of about two inches, thus putting them at the correct depth for heavy production. | In two or three days the patch j was given another thorough har- : rowing to level the furrows, keep ■ down the weeds and drag the fine, ! fresh soil in around the plants. We ' often give a cross-harrowing, also, ! and while this may appear to the

novice as detrimental at the time, it is surprising how quickly thtf vines straighten and continue a vigorous growth. The harrowing was followed by a deep cultivation, close to the rows, which loosened the soil for root penetration in securing nourishment for the young and rapidly-growing plants. The next cultivation was not quite so deep, and the shovels were held a little farther away from the vines, to prevent damaging the roots that h»d begun to reach out for substance. At the third ploughing the potatoes were laid by, the shovels being kept well away from the row and allowed to throw the dirt up against the vines, thus forming a watershed for any heavy rains that might fall, and furnishing plenty of room for the storage of the develop ing tubers. Close ploughing- is to be carefully avoided vat this stage of growth, very* little, if any, beinp done after the potatoes begin to bloom.