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GROWING POTATOES IN A
SMALL SPACE
B E I N G limited in the amount of
ground which he could devote
to his potato crop, R. E. Hendricks,
of Kansas City, Missouri,
has adopted a novel
method of increasing the productiveness
of his ground. By building up his potato
crop in layers, he automatically increases
his prospects for a large output.
In brief, his method involves the construction
of a potato pen or crate, eight
feet long, six feet wide, and six feet
high. This pen is filled with a rich
mixture of soil and manure, and the
potatoes are planted in layers. The vines
emerge through the interstices between
the planks and cover the entire pen with
verdure. The richness
nf the soil, the faculty
ui the combination to
retain moisture, and the
ease with which a crop
may be irrigated and
kept free from insect
pesls are the chief arguments
in behalf of the
plan.
Building this potato
pen is extremely simple.
Mr. Hendricks outlines
the idea as follows:
"IMan a potato pen,
six by eight feet on the
inside ground measurement
and six feet high.
If desired, the length of
the pen may be any
multiple of eight feet.
This plat is to be made
into one large potato hill, the sides to be
supported by a loosely constructed pen
built of small timbers, firmly supported
by posts. Rich earth, or. better still, a
combination of earth and manure sufficient
to fill the pen to the top must be
at hand.
"Lay off the plat of ground and divide
by five equally spaced lengthwise lines
and seven crosswise lines, placing a
potato eye at each intersection of the
lines on the surface of the ground.
Cover these eyes with six inches of earth
mixture, and repeat the operation until
twelve layers have been placed, the pen
having been built as the planting proceeded.
"As the pen rises, there must be inserted
in the center of the side, about
three feet above the ground, a piece of
timber, about four by four inches in size
and three feet long, with an end protruding
from the pen so that it may be
Intensive Potato Cultivation
Six times as many vines are grown on a given space by this method.
loosened and withdrawn. In dry weather,
this is to be taken out and the moisture
of the center of the bed determined by
thrusting the hand into the center.
"To insure a plentiful supply of moisture,
the top layer of the potato pen
should be concave rather than convex."
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