EXPERIMENT STATION BULLETINS. 355 



distribution, and may be had upon application to the secretary of the 

 college. 



For fear that some may not have had last year's bulletin or the calendar, 

 the following practical suggestions are given: 



Use two ounces of corrosive sublimate to 16 gallons of water. Dissolve 

 the poison in two gallons of hot water first. 



Always use earthen, glass, or wooden dishes, never metal. 



Tubs, barrels, wooden boxes, and troughs, are most convenient. The 

 potatoes may be placed in a coarse sack and immersed, or a perforated wire 

 or wooden scoop may be used. 



The seed may be soaked either before or after it is cut, but preferably 

 before. 



Remember that corrosive sublimate is a deadly poison. 



LOSS OF WEIGHT IN STORING POTATOES. 



It has long been a mooted question among potato growers as to whether 

 it pays to keep potatoes over winter, even when a considerably higher price 

 can be realized. It is a simple question to settle. Last year a small 

 experiment was tried with a view of determining just how much potatoes 

 will shrink in the course of a winter. September '60, 1893, 180 pounds of 

 potatoes were stored in a barrel in a potato basement; March 28, 1894, 179 

 days from storing, they were weighed and it was found that they had lost 

 eight and three fourths pounds or about five per cent. On May 1 they 

 were again weighed and it was found that there was an additional loss of 

 6^ per cent making a total loss of 11^ per cent. The tubers were beginning 

 to sprout and were growing soft and flabby. From this on the shrinkage 

 was very rapid ; no exact record of it was made, as potatoes are seldom 

 kept after the first of May. It is a simple problem to ascertain whether 

 it pays to store potatoes when there is a shrinkage of from 5 to 11^ per 

 cent. One must take into account also the extra labor, loss from rot and 

 frost, danger from fire, and interest on money, and after all this, that 

 potatoes do not always command a better price in the spring than in the 

 fall. The risks taken certainly show that a considerably higher price 

 must be obtained, if there is to be profit in keeping potatoes over win- 

 ter. The basement in which the potatoes were kept was perhaps a little 

 warmer than it should have been. Very few cellars are suitable for this 

 purpose. A well ventilated root-house that can be kept at 45" or a little 

 lower, is the only place to keep potatoes properly. In excessively cold 

 weather a good root-house must be well looked after or the temperature 

 will go too low. 



SPROUTED versus UNSPROUTED SEED POTixfOES. 



A small experiment was tried this year to find out how much the vitality 

 of potatoes was impaired by allowing them to sprout in the cellar before 

 planting. The results were somewhat surprising and show that the matter 

 of sprouted and unsprouted seed potatoes is one of some importance and 

 deserves considerable attention from potato-growers. 



If potatoes are stored in a cellar until late planting time, as a matter of 

 course they will be soft and badly sprouted. Much of the nutritive matter 

 will be used in developing sprouts which will be broken off in planting. 

 The first sprout is always strongest and thriftiest. It sometimes happens 



