250 AGRICULTURE OF MAINE). 



yourself, the locality and the State, because as those potatoes 

 go out to the Boston and New York markets the people in 

 those markets get the idea that our potatoes are all alike, and 

 they discriminate against Maine potatoes. There are too many 

 Maine potatoes going to those markets with skins that will peel; 

 too many that are immature. 



In scoring for vitality, we consider the eyes, and the frequency 

 of the eyes. The potato should have strong looking eyes, — eyes 

 that are vigorous ; not shallow, but not of any great depth*; eyes 

 that show that there will be some growth there when the proper 

 time comes. Then, from a study of the laws of heredity I do 

 not think jt pays to choose potatoes that have very deep eyes, 

 because they have not the quality of prolixity. 1 am studying 

 now 450 strains and by this time next year I believe I will have 

 some data which I can present on that question. I think, judg- 

 ing from other crops, that the potato that has a reasonable num- 

 ber of productive ovans, or eyes, is the one that we should 

 choose. Of course you know that this is not the seed but the 

 root. It does not correspond exactly to ovans, but I think the 

 laws of transmission should be the same. 



The last point to discuss is the quality for cooking. In our 

 class at the University the other day we had just completed 

 the study of the Green Mountain potato, and in the next period 

 I had fifteen varieties of potatoes and two of each variety had 

 been cooked. I said to the class : "How many of you think 

 there is no difference in taste of different potatoes?" Some of 

 them thought there was not much difference, but at the end of 

 the period they said that never in their lives had they thought 

 there was so much difference in the taste. As a final illustra- 

 tion I took one sample of each potato cooked, and there was 

 all the difference in the shade, in the texture, in trueness to type 

 and in flavor that there is between other products, even different 

 samples of butter. The Green Mountain and the Irish Cobbler 

 were nice, dry, palatable potatoes. There were some others 

 that were very insipid, and some rank and bitter. In choosing 

 our seed I think we should take some of the potatoes and cook 

 them and see how they taste, because I am convinced that taste 

 is an heredity quality just the same as the character and growth 

 of stock. In judging potatoes, notice whether they are nice, 

 bright and clear, then take up the point of soundness, then reg- 

 ularity and uniformity of size. 



