2l6 AGRICULTURE OF MAINE. 



Thursday, December 5. 

 GROWING POTATOES FOR SEED. 



By Guy C. Porter, Houlton. 



In introducing this subject, I wish to state that I am not a 

 potato expert, but simply a practical potato grower, also that 

 my experience in growing potatoes has been confined to Aroos- 

 took County. In addressing this meeting, I shall consider that 

 I am speaking to practical farmers. 



I heard of an incident the other dav, which will illustrate 

 vvhat a practical mind the average farmer has. A certain Chem- 

 ical Company was erecting a building near the highway under 

 the direction of a chemist. When a farmer drove up and 

 inquired what he was building, the chemist replied that it was a 

 chemical laboratory. A\'ant to know, said the farmer, what 

 you are going to do in there. Why, we are in hopes to discover 

 a universal solvent, that is, a Hquid that will dissolve any solid. 

 Fine ! fine ! said the farmer. Say, what are you going to 

 keep it in? 



This topic, growing potatoes for seed, is a very practical 

 one and has a large commercial significance. Three-fourths of 

 all the potatoes grown in Maine could be sold for seed at a 

 good price every year, if we would but exercise proper care in 

 growing and shipping our seed stock. We have the best soil and 

 climate for growing potatoes of any State in the Union, and 

 recent tests have proved that Maine grown seed is superior to 

 that of any other section when planted in the South. 



The potato seed business is at present in a very crude state. 

 \^arieties are not standardized. We often find one variety 

 posing under three or four difTerent names in difi"erent parts of 

 our State. I am in hopes that something may be done by the 

 Maine Seed Improvement Society towards standardizing the 

 .varieties of seed potatoes. 



