CULTIVATION OF THE POTATO; AND HOW TO COOK THE POTATO***


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THE $100. PRIZE ESSAY ON THE CULTIVATION OF THE POTATO.

Prize offered by W. T. WYLIE and awarded to D. H. COMPTON.

HOW TO COOK THE POTATO,

_Furnished by Prof. BLOT._





[Illustration]




ILLUSTRATED. PRICE, 25 CENTS.

New-York:
ORANGE JUDD CO.,
No. 751 BROADWAY.




PRIZE ESSAY ON THE POTATO AND ITS CULTIVATION.

$100.


In the fall of 1868, I offered $100 as a prize for the best Essay on the
Cultivation of the Potato, under conditions then published; the prize to
be awarded by a committee composed of the following gentlemen, well
known in agricultural circles:

Colonel MASON C. WELD, Associate Editor of _American Agriculturist_.

A. S. FULLER, ESQ., of Ridgewood, N. J., the popular author of several
horticultural works, and Associate Editor of the _Hearth and Home_.

Dr. F. M. HEXAMER, who has made the cultivation of the potato a special
study.

In the month of January, 1870, the committee awarded the prize to D. A.
Compton; and this Essay is herewith submitted to the public in the hope
of stimulating a more intelligent and successful cultivation of the
Potato.

                                       BELLEFONTE, PA., January, 1870.
                                                          W. T. WYLIE.


                                 OFFICE OF THE AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST,
                                              NEW-YORK, January, 1870.


     REV. W. T. WYLIE: DEAR SIR: The essays submitted to us by Mr.
     Bliss, according to your announcement, numbered about twenty.
     Several could not be called essays from their brevity, and others
     were exceedingly incomplete. About twelve, however, required and
     were worthy of careful consideration. That of Mr. D. A. Compton, of
     Hawley, Wayne County, Pa., was, in the opinion of your committee,
     decidedly superior to the others as a practical treatise, sure to
     be of use to potato-growers in every part of the country, and well
     worthy the liberal prize offered by yourself.

                  In behalf of the committee, sincerely yours,
                                            MASON C. WELD, _Chairman_.




POTATO CULTURE.

BY D. A. COMPTON, HAWLEY, PENNSYLVANIA.


The design of this little treatise is to present, with minuteness of
detail, that mode of culture which experience and observation have
proved to be best adapted to the production of the Potato crop.

It is written by one who himself holds the plow, and who has, since his
early youth, been engaged in agriculture in its various branches, to the
exclusion of other pursuits.

The statements which appear in the following pages are based upon actual
personal experience, and are the results of many experiments made to
test as many theories.

Throughout the Northern States of our country the potato is the third
of the three staple articles of food. It is held in such universal
esteem as to be regarded as nearly indispensable. This fact is
sufficient to render a thorough knowledge of the best varieties for use,
the character of soil best adapted to their growth, their cultivation
and after-care, matters of the highest importance to the farmers of the
United States.

The main object of this essay is so to instruct the novice in
potato-growing that he may be enabled to go to work understandingly and
produce the potato in its highest perfection, and realize from his
labors bestowed on the crop the greatest possible profits.


SOIL REQUIRED--ITS PREPARATION.

The potato is most profitably grown in a warm, dry, sandy, or gravelly
loam, well filled with decayed vegetable matters. The famous potato
lands of Lake County, Ohio, from which such vast quantities of potatoes
are shipped yearly, are yellow sand. This potato district is confined to
ridges running parallel with Lake Erie, which, according to geological
indications, have each at different periods defined its boundaries. This
sand owes much of its potato-growing qualities to the sedimentary
deposit of the lake and to manural properties furnished by the
decomposition of the shells of water-snails, shell-fish, etc., that
inhabited the waters.

New lands, or lands recently denuded of the forest, if sufficiently dry,
produce tubers of the most excellent quality. Grown on dry, new land,
the potato always cooks dry and mealy, and possesses an agreeable flavor
and aroma, not to be attained in older soils. In no argillaceous soil
can the potato be grown to perfection as regards quality. Large crops
on such soil may be obtained in favorable seasons, but the tubers are
invariably coarse-fleshed and ill-flavored. To produce roots of the best
quality, the ground must be dry, deep, and porous; and it should be
remembered that, to obtain very large crops, it is almost impossible to
get too much humus in the soil. Humus is usually added to arable land
either by plowing under green crops, such as clover, buckwheat, peas,
etc., or by drawing