Modern Potato Growing

To the disonssion as to the compara-, tive merits of Eouthern and northurni grown seed and early versus late plant-j ing a writer in Orauge Judd Parmer; contributes the following: ij Of lato years ranch has been said inj regard to what is knovrn as the southern second erop potatoes for seed purpose and they have some points of nierit, because, not being fully matured, they can be kept for spring planting where fully matured tubers canuofc, but they lack the vigor obtained by northern growth and in that respect are not equal to northern grown seed. After several years' experimentiug I have found that. by planting my niain erop late in the season I ani able to combine the good poiuts of second erop seed with our ad- vantages of a location in tbegreat potato belt of the north. ! A potato wbich has been grown early in the seasou and then has to pass through the long hot mouths of late summer and fall soon loses its crisp flrmness and evaporates a part of its moisture, after which it is not capable of producing a full erop if used for seed purposes. Nature's law is - maturity ouce reached, then start the decline and wasting away of oíd age. In order to retard this plan of nature one must as soon as his erop is mature place it at once into practically cold storage. But few ara able to do this. I have found that by growing the erop late in the eeason it reaches maturity during the cool days of late fall and often the tqps are killed by frost before fully ripe. This checks nature's plan and holds tbeai full of that thrifty vigor so much desire by the wide awake potato grovper. I have found that I get the best results by planting during the rnonth of June. Most of my erop of 1897 was planted betwoen June 8 and 22. It was harvested during October and yielded from 200 to 433 bushels per acre. I aim to plant on new land if possible or upon a clover sod. The scab is the easiest f ungous disease of the potato to combat. Soak all seed, even if it appears to be perfectly clean, with the corrosivo sublímate solution, 2 ouuees to 16 gallons of water, and then if planted on land f ree from the germsof the fungns the erop will be clean. For this reason a erop of potatoes should never follow auy other root erop until several seasons have elapsed. The early and late blights can be controlled by the free use of the bordeaux misture, but remember that it is not a cure but a preventive, and its use must commence early, before any trace of bligbt appears, and must be followed up at frequent istsrvals during the season, so that every leaf inay be kept coated. Paris green can be applied with the bordeaux mixture if desired.