Early kinds should be planted as soon as the ground has become
sufficiently dry and warm. Late market varieties should be planted about
two weeks later than the early ones. Unquestionably more bushels can be
obtained per acre by planting in drills than in hills, but the labor of
cultivating in drills is much the greater.
Prepare the ground by thorough plowing, making it decidedly mellow. Mark
it out four feet apart each way, if to be planted in hills, by plowing
broad, flat-bottomed furrows about three inches deep. At the crossings
drop three pieces of potato, cut, as directed, in sections of two or
three eyes each. Place the pieces so as to represent the points of a
triangle, each piece being about a foot distant from each of the other
two. If the cut side is put down, it is better; cover about two inches
deep. Where land is free from stone and sod, the covering may be well
and rapidly done with a light plow. Immediately after planting, sprinkle
over and around each hill a large handful of unleached wood-ashes and
salt, (a half-bushel of fine salt mixed with a barrel of ashes is about
the right proportion.) If ashes can not be obtained, as is sometimes the
case, apply instead about the same quantity of lime slacked in brine as
strong as salt will make it. The potato from its peculiar organization
has a hungering and thirsting after potash. Wood-ashes exactly meet its
wants in this direction. Lime indirectly supplies potash by liberating
what was before inert in the soil. Salt in small quantities induces
vigorous, healthy growth. To obtain the best results, the ashes or lime
should be covered with about half an inch of soil. This plan of manuring
in the hill is recommended only in cases where the fertilizers named are
in limited supply, and it is desirable to make the most of them. Maximum
crops have been obtained by using the fertilizers named in the manner
described; but where they can be obtained at low prices, it is certainly
advisable, and requires less labor, to apply all three, ashes, lime, and
salt, broadcast in bountiful quantities, and harrow it in before the
ground is marked out for planting.