To Raise Potatoes

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A correspondentWm Aldridge, of Goreland, Indwriting to the Prairie Farmer, states that having noticed how potatoes were interrupted in their growth, and invariably pined away and died if disturbed and bruised when wet with dew or rain, he selected a patch of a potato field, the whole of which was good soil and in good order to try an experiment This patch he only plowed once, and then loosened the soil with the hoe when the vines were above ground, and in the heat of the day when they were perfectly dry He never touched them afterward until they were dug in October last year These vines kept green throughout the season, and the yield of potatoes was very large The other portion of this same potato field was purposely worked three times, when the vines were wet with dew These blighted early, did not produce half a crop, and the potatoes were of a very inferior quality The ground, seed, and time of planting in both patches were the same At this season of the year, the foregoing may be very useful information to many of our farmers, who do not generally pay the least attention in cultivating their potatoes as to whether they are wet or dry

Scientific American Magazine Vol 13 Issue 31This article was published with the title “To Raise Potatoes” in Scientific American Magazine Vol. 13 No. 31 (), p. 243
doi:10.1038/scientificamerican04101858-243

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