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Show THE POTATO. v I r- (In answer to inquiry of James ' Gillespie, Rcxburg, Idaho, for infor mation on potato planting and raising, rais-ing, wc reprint this article from our issue of December 2, 1908, and would also refer those seeking information to our issue of February 20, 1909. 1 The potato is a native of the val- v 'eys of Chili, Peru and Mexico. The i wild potatoes of these regions differ from the cu'tivatcd form in that they produce seed balls more freely. To- bncco, tomato, egg-plant, etc., .all bc- long to the potato family. Potatoes were introduced into Virginia during the latter part of the sixteenth ccn- tury. It had become- a common arti- I clc of diet among the colonists and I Indians along the Atlantic coast as early at 1722. In Europe, with the exception of Ireland potato growing made little progress until the middle of the eighteenth century. The potato is an annual. It has smooth, solid, more or less square herbaceous stems. The leaves are compound and arc composed of oval leaflets. The flowers arc borne in clusters each having a fivc-fointcd coralla and varying in color from white to purple. The tuber is an underground stem'; r and the eyes are equivalent to leaf buds on the branch of a tree. The potato is therefore a colony of individuals indi-viduals of which the eye is the unit. Potatoes do best on Hght soils which should be well prepared before planting the crop. Potatoes require a deep, loose bed so that the roots may penetrate it freely and the tubers tub-ers form and expand without trouble from hard lumps and 'baked soil. About four inches is the proper depth to plant potatoes. The most profitable profit-able time to cut seed potatoes is just before planting. Experiments have shown that a half potato on the average aver-age will give better and more profitable profit-able yield than cither a whole potato or smaller pieces. The potato shoul 1 be cut in two lengthwise. Large scad usually insures a larger yield than smalL seed. This may be due to the greater nourishment furnished to the young plants, which enables them to make stronger growth, and to the greater hereditary vigor possessed by such tubers. The advisability of using large or small seed, cut or whole, depends de-pends largely upon the cost of seed, lhe season and the culture given. Generally speaking, tubers weighing two or three ounces make the most profitable seed. Some of the points which determine deter-mine the value of a variety of potatoes pota-toes arc: r, g'ood cooking quality and flavor; 2, the yield; 3, ability to resist diseases; 4, the color of the skin and tuber; 5, the shape; 6, the depth and number of eyes. The Americans like a nice mealy potato. This mealy quality is due to the union of the starch grains in a cell into one mass, and the rupture or the 'cll walls during cooking. Potatoes which have been irrigated a great deal arc usually no of such good quality as those sparingly watered. Quality also depends upon the temperature tem-perature in which the tuber has been produced. Those buried deep enough in the soil to have grown in an even temperature arc always better than those grown near the surface where the temperature has varied. Potatoes with white or pinkish skin and white flesh and which ar slightly slight-ly flattened and round or oval arc the best marketable potatoes. Shallow eyed pc atocs arc belter than deep eyed ones. Some good varieties arc: Early Rose, Early Ohio, Peerless, Burbank, Rural New Yorker, Carmen No. 3, Eureka, Early Bang;or, Early Six Weeks and 20th Century. ' Potatoes arc usually planted in rows about 30 inches apart and .1- M inches apart in the row. They may M be planted cither by hand or with a M planter, depending upon the size, of M the piece to be planted. Cultivation fl is profitable not SO mifcli to' K'iJl H weeds, but to increase the yield, 1, by H liberating plant food; 2, by maintain- H ing good texture; 3, by conserving H moisture; .), by keeping weeds in M 'Check. fl Potatoes may be cultivated cither M Irt hills or level. The hill system is H used in irrigation. Often the fur- H rowing injures the roots and reduces H the yield. M About a week after planting the- H spike tooth harrow should be run H over the field. This creates an effcel- H vc mulch and destroys all young H woods, The first two cultivations H which shallow cultivations only W should be given because the, potato wM root as a general rule lie close to H the surface of the ground. Potato scab it due to a fungus fl which lives upon the potato. A ccr- fl tain degree of prevention may be sc- H cured by soaking seed potatoes for H (wo hours in a solution made by us- ing one jound of formalin to 30 ga - Ions of water. Lime, wood ashes and 9 burn yard manure aid tha growth of scab, while any acid fertilizer injures I its development. Scab can live in the soil six years without any known m 1-ost. |