EXPERIMENTS IN POTATO CULTURE. 129 



Question. Do you consider the scab caused bj^ insect or fungus 

 growth ? 



•Mr. Herset. I believe that it has been decided it is fungus growth, 

 and that the insect comes as a consequence afterwards. 



Question. Do you think the result would have been the same had 

 YOU allowed all the eves to remain ? 



Mr. Hersey. No. sir, I do not think it would. There would have 

 been more of them ; there would have been more of the larger ones 

 and rather more of the small ones. 



Question. I would like to inquire whether it is presumed that all 

 of the e^'es in the large potatoes grow? 



Mr. Hersey. No, sir, it is a fact that it is onl}- the verj' strongest 

 ones, as a rule, that grow. A potato in growing, when a single eye 

 starts, grows up like a tree almost, and when it comes out of the 

 ground perhaps from one single eye there will be a dozen branches, 

 where if 3'ou plant three or four eyes they are not branched so much 

 and the result is that from the whole potatoes the size of the stalks 

 is larger than the stalks that come from a single eye. 



Question. I understood 3'ou that b}' cutting the potatoes it reduced 

 its vitality : does it not equally reduce the vitality to remove the ej'es? 



Mr. Hersey. Certainly ; that is one of the points. 



Question. Do you advise putting in two large potatoes in a hill, 

 risfht along in a row? 



Mr. Hersey. I do not advise anything, only tr}' them. I advise 

 vou to do that. 



Question. Have you ever tried thinning out where you have seeded 

 heavily ? 



Mr. Hersey. 1 have not, because I do not think it quite practi- 

 cable in field culture. 



Question. I would ask whether you would put two whole potatoes 

 in a hill, or one? 



Mr. Hersey. That would depend upon how I was going to plant. 

 In raising potatoes of course I should put whole potatoes, and I 

 think about fourteen inches apart. 



Question. How far apart would 3'ou put the rows? 



Mr. Hersey. About three feet apart. I should pick out potatoes 

 that were not quite large enough for sale, simply because it would be 

 economical. Perhaps the difference is not so great, and yet the dif- 

 ference between the single eye and a ton of whole potatoes was four 

 hundred and seventy-five bushels to the acre. 



