248 AGRICULTURE OF MAINE. 



perhaps considerable, in tlie last proposition, for both the 

 growers and the pathologists are becoming more discriminating 

 and more careful in their observations. On the other hand, 

 the more I consider the situation and talk with those potato 

 growers whom 1 know to be careful observers and well in- 

 formed on these matters, the more I am convinced that at least 

 some of the diseases, which are now assuming prominence and 

 creating considerable apprehension as to their possible and 

 probable effect on the potato industry, are either new in Maine 

 or were previously relatively uncommon. 



Unfortunately, as will be shown later, seed selection is by no 

 means a sure method of eliminating at least one of these more 

 recently recognized troubles. It is only fair to state thjs, but 

 it does not alter the fact that seed selection is a most funda- 

 mental factor in profitable potato production. If this Asso- 

 ciation can, through its efforts, secure the general acceptance 

 of this single fact alone, and the adoption of the lesson it 

 teaches, the financial returns to the state as a result, for years 

 to come, will repay many, many times the expenditure of 

 effort, time and money now being put into all phases of its ac- 

 tivities. 



Such being the case, it logically follows that each grower 

 should give especial attention to raising a high grade of seed 

 for his own planting, regardless of whether he plans to sell his 

 crop for seed or not. He should be growing a special plot 

 each year on wdiich he will produce his seed for the next year's 

 planting. This idea is not based upon theory but upon what 

 some successful, practical potato growers are doing today. 

 While roguing out diseased plants during the growing season, 

 and the selection, from the general stock, of entirely healthy 

 tubers of apj^roved size and shape for planting is a most com- 

 mendable practice and cannot be recommended too strongly 

 this does not get at the root of the difficulty. In potatoes, just 

 as in the dairy cows, the all-important thing is whether the 

 progeny is productive and will stand up against the conditions 

 they have to meet. The ideal way, then, is to start with the 

 tuber-unit method and breed up the strains which give the 

 greatest proportion of healthy, vigorous, productive plants. 



/If I should so far stray from my subject as to attempt to 

 discuss the possibility of being able to increase the productivity 



