DAIRY AND SEKD IMPROVE:ME;nT MEETINGS. 273 



come in contact with the seed. Study the needs of both market 

 and grower and choose varieties accordingly; secure the best 

 seed possible and improve it by hill selection, planting a special 

 seed plot each year. Be thorough in the work, paying special 

 attention to detail, and keep it up! 



Ques. Please give the amount of formalin you use for seed 

 potatoes. 



Ans. One pint of formalin to 30 gallons of water. 



Ques. How about the weeder in ridge cultivation. 



Ans. If you use it you are likely to break off sprouts. But 

 if you have witch grass on your piece put the weeder on and 

 go cross ways. It is almost impossible to see the rows and you 

 cannot bury them. If you use a weeder you have lost three 

 weeks of the best portion of the season to kill witch grass. 



About how heavy should a piece of seed be? In how many 

 pieces would you cut a potato weighing four ounces ? 



Ans. From my recollection of the size of such a potato I 

 should say, cut it into four pieces. 



Question. How long should potatoes be soaked in formalin? 



Ans. By soaking in formalin for two hours or more you will 

 be able to kill all the spores on the outside of the potato. If 

 there is anything on the inside it is very necessary that you re- 

 ject the tubers. If on cutting into them you find a dark, dis- 

 colored appearance you should not use them, and should dis- 

 card your knife. You might get a little blackleg, and I doubt 

 if you could get rid of it the first year. 



Mr. Lowell. I could not agree with you on the use of the 

 weeder. I use a Robbins planter and that will make a ridge 

 but before the potatoes spread enough so that there will be 

 danger of breaking off, I go over the piece with a weeder. Then 

 a? soon as I can follow the row I use the cultivator and when 

 they get up anywhere from one to two inches — and if there is 

 much witch grass I would not wait until they are two inches 

 high — I cover them. In many cases I would cultivate before I 

 used the weeder, then use the weeder and level it off. Then 

 when the potatoes show, cultivate them. I had a piece of ground 

 on the side of a garden patch that was full of the toughest kind 

 of witch grass, but by covering the potatoes twice and doing less 

 than a day's hand work with the hoe on an acre I disposed of 

 of that witch grass so that it did not trouble very much in the 

 corn the next year. I think the weeder was of some benefit 

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