234 Bulletin 230. 



It will be seen from the table that the highest averages in moisture 

 content are for the six-inch depth. It was between four and six 

 inches that the most tubers of the best quality grew. 



Ripeness, A Factor of Quality, 



On page 219, "the degree of ripeness of the tuber when the plant 

 dies" was stated as a second prime factor governing quality of 

 potatoes. That this is an important factor is emphasized by the 

 fact that in the wholesale potato markets of Buffalo and New York, 

 potatoes which are known to have been grown in the 'neighborhood 

 of canning factories are either avoided, or accepted at a lower price, 

 because of the probability of their being poor in quality. The rela- 

 tionship of potatoes of poor quality and the canning factories was 

 found to reside in the practice of the farmers in the neighborhood of 

 factories of planting a crop of early peas, tomatoes or beans which 

 could be harvested by the first to the fifteenth of July, and afterwards 

 planting the same land to potatoes. Planting thus late, the tubers 

 do not have a normal season for growth and development, and the 

 plant is compelled to die because of the close of the season before 

 the tubers have reached their normal maturity. 



I have called attention to the fact that it is the degree of ripeness 

 of the tubers at the time of the plant's dying at the close of the 

 season that gives this factor its importance, in order to distinguish 

 this condition of unripeness from that of tubers gathered from 

 green and growing plants and which are esteemed of good quality. 

 The factors which render potatoes taken from plants which die 

 normally at the close of the season undesirable, while those of good 

 size taken from green and growing plants are highly prized, are 

 not clearly understood, but it is supposed that the cessation or 

 retarding of growth of the tubers, as the plant dies slowly, causes 

 abnormal development in both composition and cellular structure, 

 while tubers taken from the growing plants are suddenly interrupted 

 in the midst of normal growth and development. Immature potatoes 

 are relatively richer in protein and poorer in starch than normally 

 developed and ripened tubers. The following analyses, calculated 

 on percentage of dry matter, indicate these relationships. These 

 late planted tubers are also more watery: 



