DIGITAL ARCHIVE of SLAVERY to FREEDOM at MONTICELLO   (beta)

Potatoes.

planted alone in drills 5.f. apart, take 8. bushels of feed seed to the acre, if cut into eyes.

the unrotted dung of the last winter may be carried out in Mar. Apr. or May, & the potatoe furrow being made, & potatoes dropped in, this dung is then put over them, trodden in, & covered with a thin coat of earth. mr Taylor thinks this much the most oeconomical way of using dung. it becomes well rotted & in a proper state for the succeeding crop of grain. a

1795. Dec. Colo N. Lewis’s this year in drills 4f. apart yielded 5. bush. to 140. yds in the row = 130 bush. per acre. he says a hand will dig ⅓ of an acre per day, say 43. bushels per day.

Young finds the planting at a foot apart all over the ground produce most & prepare the ground best for wheat. 3. Exp. agr. 240.

mixed with corn.

one way is to drill the corn [. . .] in 8.f. rows, & 18.I. apart in the row; then to drill the potatoes between. with good ploughing this is the best method. G. Washington

this method takes about 5. bushels of seed to the acre, if cut into eyes.

Peters has tried this method many years, & measuring the produce of several acres it has been 40. bush. of corn & 120. bush. of potatoes to the acre.

June is the best time for planting potatoes, by which time the corn may have been worked over 3 times. per Parker.

another way is to plant the corn & potatoes in 4.f. rows both ways, every other row being potatoes. this takes 2. or 2½ bush. of seed to the acre, &, with bad ploughmen, is the best, because of crossploughing.

to feed with potatoes, they are put into a trough with some water, and stirred about with a switch broom, then put into a dry trough & chopped with an S, the blade of which is 7½I long, 3I. deep, & has a socket to receive the handle which is as long as a spade handle.

a double measure of potatoes yield as much nutriment as a simple one of corn. Logan.

a peck of potatoes a day serves a horse. a handful of bram, or rye meal etc is mixed in for them.

a bushel a day serves a fattening ox.