| OCR Text |
Show TIME FOR PLANTING TUBERS For Early Potatoes Flnst Week In May Is Best Large Piece With One Eye Is Ideal Seed. It Is all right to get out and plant potatoes on the dry land so as to catch the early moisture and thus get a good sendoff. A good many of the settlers are going into the business of growing spud seed and in this case the best planting Is done by spacing 12 to 24 Inches apart in the row, dropping the whole seed by hand close to every third plow furrow. In favorable favor-able soil and seasons potatoes so planted do well in the native sod. Of c mrse large acreage can be handled and a better job done by the machines which drop the seed in better condition condi-tion and leave a ridge over the row. This ridge makes it possible to give one very deep, close cultivation before the plants are up and throw dirt on to the row to be harrowed down every half day or so. Or the ground may be harrowed as needed until the plants are up several Inches. The latter cultivations cul-tivations should be shallow, done ad often as needed to preserve the soil mulch and kept up all the season to kill weeds, develop fertility and preserve pre-serve moisture. Just before digging time s?me grow brs hill up with a cultivator for frost protection. The soil mulch Is essential essen-tial not alone to secure satisfactory yield, but potatoes need moisture to hasten ripening. If they suffer for moisture they are apt to be immature and green at digging time. It is absolutely abso-lutely essential to plant potatoes on time and at the proper date. Each locality has to work out its own best time and stick close to it. For early potatoes, in most cases it is thf first week in May and for late potatoes po-tatoes the last week In the same month. If cut seed is to be used for dry land conditions there should be comparatively few sprouts to the hill and but few eyes to the piece. A large seed piece with one eye is ideal for dry land. |
