EXPERIMENT STATION BULLETINS. 349 



POTATOES. 



BY L. R. TAFT AND U. P. HEDRICK. 



Bulletin No. 119. 



Since the founding of the station, extensive experiments have been 

 carried on with potatoes, the results of which have been annually placed 

 before the readers of its bulletins. Of necessity the same ground 

 is often gone over twice, and results of experiments that are not new are 

 given. Among the reasons for their being presented again are that, to a 

 large extent, new readers are reached each year; that the results of some 

 experiments need to be emphasized by repetition; and because there is 

 still a demand for information concerning the experiments, as is indicated 

 by questions asked in farm papers, at fairs and institutes, and by 

 correspondents. 



The reader who has the patience to consider with some care the tables 

 found in the bulletin will find considerable there that is valuable; much of 

 the data and a good many dry details are given, that he may be his own 

 judge as to the value of the experiments and as to whether the results 

 warrant positive conclusions. The potato crop, owing to the drouth, was 

 a failure, but failures are often instructive. Thoughtful farmers can get 

 something from them. 



TEST OF VARIETIES. 



The soil on which the variety tests of potatoes were made this year is a 

 light clay loam, on which strawberries had been grown for two seasons. The 

 ground was plowed in both fall and spring, and during the winter was 

 fertilized with composted manure at the rate of twenty good loads per acre. 

 Planting was done the last day of May and the first day of June, two 

 pounds of each variety being planted in rows of twenty-two hills. They were 

 given flat culture. The cultivator was kept going from the time the vines 

 appeared above ground until the potatoes had set; even during the very 

 dry weather the cultivator went through them once a week. Breed's 

 improved weeder was used for the first two workings, and the culture was 

 very shallow throughout the season. 



The growing period was very favorable until the latter part of June, 

 when the drouth, the worst in many years, began and lasted until the end 

 of August. When the dry weather commenced the early potatoes were 

 just forming, consequently a large proportion of them were very small. 

 Many of the late potatoes did not begin to set until after the drouth ended, 

 and had made but little growth when they were killed by the frost. In 

 examining the tables these conditions must be remembered, and allowance 

 made for them. 



