•"126 BOARD OP AGRICULTURE. 



should prefer to plant large potatoes, taking one or two eyes, 

 not over two, in a piece. 



Mr. Gould. I merely wish, as a stranger, to be allowed to 

 compliment the farmers of Connecticut upon the exceeding 

 modesty of their statements in regard to potatoes. It becomes 

 every one who speaks on that subject to speak with a great deal 

 of personal modesty, because it is utterly impossil)le, so far as 

 my experience goes, to make any general statement with regard 

 to potatoes which shall be a reliable guide for the practice of 

 others. For example, the Harrison potato is very generally 

 supposed to be one of the most prolific potatoes that can be 

 grown. It is customary for those who are desirous of raising 

 potatoes chiefly as food for stock, to raise the Harrison potato ; 

 but I believe it has been generally admitted that it is an ex- 

 ceedingly poor potato for the table ; and yet, I am told that 

 the Harrison potato, in Tennessee, is one of the most accept- 

 able table potatoes they have. Such are the modifying influ- 

 ences of soil and climate, even at the distance of a few miles, 

 that the experience of one man in relation to potatoes cannot 

 be taken as a guide by another. You may remember that 

 sometime ago the Monitor was quite the rage among farmers, 

 and every one was seeking for seed. At that time, a gentle- 

 man from the island of Bermuda came to New York and 

 secured a quantity of seed and carried it to that island. There 

 the whole character and shape of that potato changed, and 

 large quantities were afterwards sent as a very favorite potato 

 to New York under the name of Bermuda*Reds, They were 

 very much more mealy than the Monitors ever were, and 

 more acceptable as a table potato. These Bermudas being so 

 much admired in New York, many farmers obtained them, 

 and now they find that there is a Western potato so nearly 

 like them that they cannot be distinguished apart. Here, 

 then, is the same potato, the history of which has been clearly 

 traced, which has assumed three different names, three differ- 

 ent shapes, and three different qualities. 



I do not know in all my experience with regard to potatoes, 

 that I ever heard so general a verdict with regard to any 

 variety as there has been with regard to the Early Rose. The 



