356 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



that potatoes are " sprouted " several times before they are planted and 

 each time the vitality is more and more impaired and the result will be 

 weak plants and small tubers. Hence it is necessary to keep potatoes for 

 seed in a very cool place where they will not sprout, or to expose them to 

 light and air where the same thing can as well be accomplished. 



The experiment was as follows: During the last of February, two equal 

 lots of potatoes were taken. One lot was left in the cellar; the other was 

 spread on the floor of a dry, well lighted, and moderately warm room. 

 April £0 both lots were planted. The conditions and culture were the 

 same as in the variety tests. The variety was Early Ohio. Planted side by 

 side, those that came from unsprouted seed were up first and looked best 

 through the season; they also had less missing hills. September 1 the 

 crop was dug. There was no difference in time of ripening. Briefly sum- 

 marized, the results were: 318 hills planted with unsprouted potatoes 

 yielded 204 pounds of large potatoes and 36 pounds of small ones. 321 

 hills of spiouted potatoes yielded 181 pounds of large potatoes and 41 

 pounds of the small ones. Moreover, there were more ill-shaped tubers 

 among the latter. This is seemingly a small matter, but success in potato- 

 growing does not depend on " luck," and is largely influenced by just 

 such small things. It should not need an experiment to demonstrate the 

 superiority of unsprouted seed; it is but a reasonable conclusion that it is 

 superior. 



REMOVING SEED ENDS. 



The assertion is often heard, that a better and an earlier crop of potatoes 

 may be grown by removing seed ends of seed potatoes. From one lot the 

 seed ends were removed; the other was planted normally. The result of 

 the experiment agrees with that obtained at this and other stations several 

 times before; namely, that maturity is not hastened and productiveness is 

 not increased by removing seed ends, but on the contrary, figures show an 

 increase in yield for those planted normally because, since the ends were 

 not removed, there was more seed and because the buds at the seed end are 

 stronger than those toward the stem end. Fourteen varieties of potato, 

 in duplicate plots, containing one twentieth of an acre each, were planted 

 and given the same treatment as those in the variety tests. The potatoes, 

 the seed of which was normal, yielded at the rate of 130 bushels of large 

 potatoes and 14 bushels of small ones per acre, while those from which the 

 seed ends were removed yielded at the rate of 125 bushels per acre of large 

 ones and 13 bushels of small ones. The opinion is held by botanists that 

 the seed tip is equal to about one good eye, and there is much to lend color 

 to this view. It is folly therefore to remove the seed tip in planting pota- 

 toes. All the more so, since in some varieties other eyes seem to be largely 

 impotent, while those at the seed end are stronger and better. It is 

 worth remembering that varieties of potato have their peculiarities, and 

 that the habit of a variety largely influences considerations of this sort. 

 Without doubt impotent eyes, in some varieties, cause the missing hills 

 that so often can not be accounted for. 



SELECTED AND ORDINARY SEED. 



The rapidity with which potatoes degenerate can only be known by 

 those who keep a yearly record — a biography of the different varieties. A 

 potato is a precarious thing at best, as it is easily influenced by climate, 



