Productive farming . dto plant an acre, at distances one and a half by three feet, ifthe pieces weigh one ounce each. Cultivation.—After the planting is done the field shouldbe harrowed. After this frequent shallow cultivations aremade until the vines are so large that they shade the soilwell. A light ridging of the soil towards the rows at the timeof the last cultivation is usually practiced, the purpose beingto prevent the new tubers from growing out of the ground. POTATOES 157 Harvesting.—Large potato fields are usually dug by useof machines drawn by horses (Fig. 86). One of the smallerform
Productive farming . dto plant an acre, at distances one and a half by three feet, ifthe pieces weigh one ounce each. Cultivation.—After the planting is done the field shouldbe harrowed. After this frequent shallow cultivations aremade until the vines are so large that they shade the soilwell. A light ridging of the soil towards the rows at the timeof the last cultivation is usually practiced, the purpose beingto prevent the new tubers from growing out of the ground. POTATOES 157 Harvesting.—Large potato fields are usually dug by useof machines drawn by horses (Fig. 86). One of the smallerforms is sho-wn in Fig. 87. Larger machines elevate thetubers, shake off the dirt, and drop them on the are drawn by three or four horses. Small gardenpatches are dug by hand tools. Weights and Yields.—The legal weight of a bushel ofpotatoes is sixty pounds, except in Pennsylvania and Vir-ginia, where the weight is fifty-six pounds. The yields areoften two hundred and fifty bushels or more per acre, but. Fig. 87.—An inexpensive potato digger t<3 be drawn by one or two horses.(Plant Industry.) the average is about one hundred bushels per acre. Thevalue of the crop in the United States each year is about$100,000,000. Sweet Potatoes.—The sweet potato is grown to a limitedextent in nearly all the Northern States, but the best quali-ties and largest quantities are produced in the SouthernStates. The plant is of tropical origin. Soil.—Sweet potatoes thrive best on a rather sandyloam which does not contain too much of organic that are too poor for the production of most otherfarm crops may suit sweet potatoes very well. Starting the Plants.—New plants are started in early 158 PRODUCTIVE FARMING spring from seed potatoes. The whole potatoes are plantedin fine, rich sandy loam in hot-beds (Figs. 88, 89). be heated either by manure or by fuel. The tempera-ture at first is kept at 80° or 8-5° F. Before the plants arepulled from this bed to
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, bookidcu, booksubjectagriculture
