140 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



purity of the seed. A few. years ago, my seed having deteri- 

 orated, I obtained of a neighbor some Colebrook Seedlings for 

 seed, and the result was very satisfactory. I was raising the 

 Dover at the same time, and I became negligent and allowed 

 the seed to get mixed, and planted them together for two or 

 three years. I wished to secure again, for spring use, the 

 Colebrook Seedling, and last spring, I selected with my own 

 hands all the Colebrook Seedling variety, rejecting entirely all 

 the potatoes that had any appearance of the Dover. I sup- 

 posed I was going to get the pure product of that variety. I 

 went to the field myself and saw them dug, and I do not know 

 that there was a hill of pure Colebrook Seedlings; there was 

 a mixturje still. I could not account for it. I do not know 

 whether any one has had the same experience or not. 



One thing more, in relation to the question the gentleman 

 asked about hoeing potatoes. One season, owing to sickness, 

 there was about a quarter of an acre of my patch of potatoes 

 that went unhoed. It was planted as nearly upon a level 

 surface as possible. The piece was a little stony, and it was 

 not furrowed out, but places for the potatoes made with a hoe. 

 There was no after cultivation upon that part of the piece, 

 but the best potatoes we had that season grew upon that 

 piece of ground. The difference was decidedly in favor 

 of this level and uncultivated part. But there are certain 

 conditions which should be observed in these experiments. 

 This quarter of an acre to which I refer had never been 

 plowed before, that I know of, and that may have been the 

 reason ; the other land had been cultivated. So that the con- 

 dition of the soil, after cultivation, and manuring, must al^ 

 be taken into consideration, because all these circumstances 

 go to vary the result ; and it is just as important to know these 

 various conditions and circumstances, as it is to know the 

 result, and perhaps more so. 



Dr. Eiggs. Were those potatoes hybrids ? That is, were 

 they crossed ? 



Mr. Hart. No, sir. They were distinct in the same hill, 

 Colebrooks and Dovers, where I took the utmost pains to 

 select nothing but Colebrook Seedlings. 



