EXPERIMENT STATION BULLETINS. 



175 



Table XII. — Results Obtained from Different Amounts of Seed. 



The results show that the total yield gradually decreases as the amount 

 of seed is lessened. The quantity of small tubers decreases even faster, 

 however, so that the yield from the halves and quarters is larger than from 

 the whole tubers or single eye. The quantity of seed used in whole tubers 

 is sixteen times as great as with single eyes, and, after deducting the seed 

 used, the net results are in favor of eighths (8 bushels of seed) and quar- 

 ters (16 bushels per acre). 



With a favorable season the halves and whole tubers would have devel- 

 oped a larger per cent, of their small tubers, and the results would have 

 appeared much more favorable to them. At the beginning of the drought 

 the plants from the large tubers were nearly twice as large as those from 

 the single eyes. With this excess of leaf surface and small tubers, the 

 effect of the dry weather was very marked and the vines died down (pre- 

 maturely) several days before those from the small pieces of seed. 



Last year the potatoes used for seed averaged somewhat smaller than 

 those for this year's trial, and the halves at the rate of 20 bushels per acre 

 made the best showing. Under favorable conditions we think that this 

 amount of seed will be most profitable for the ordinary grower. 



