110 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE, 



I find farmers are talking about planting whole potatoes, and 

 putting in more seed. I hope the question will continue to be 

 agitated until we learn whether the lessons to be drawn from the 

 careful and elaborate experiments published in the last Report of 

 the Secretary of this Board apply equally well in New England as 

 in Old England. 



Dr. Loring of Salem, having been called upon to express his 

 views upon the cultivation of the potato, remarked that lie hardly 

 felt authorized to give an opinion on a subject in which the farmers 

 of Maine were so much better informed than the farmers of almost 

 all other sections of the country. Maine, he said, is especially 

 adapted to the cultivation of this plant. The new soil and the 

 high and bracing latitude are peculiarly fitted to that crop which 

 is beginning to decay in older soils and under milder skies. The 

 valleys of the Penobscot and Aroostook, as well as many of the 

 more northerly and interior sections of Maine seem to be the home 

 of the potato, from which not only the best crop can be raised, but 

 where can be found also the most healthy seed for crops elsewhere. 

 He would always renew his seed from Maine ; and not from 

 western or southern lands. And he urged the necessity of great 

 care in the selection of potatoes, and nicety in the preservation of 

 all the distinct varieties, in order that purchasers from abroad 

 could obtain what they desired with unerring certainty. 



With regard to the cultivation of the potato it was evident to 

 him that new soil, and non-nitrogenous manures were indispensable 

 for a large and perfect crop. From remarks made at this meeting, 

 by the cultivators present, he had learned that neither night-soil 

 nor a liberal supply of solid barn-yard manure was useful. The 

 effect of large quantities of strawy manure, in which the soluble 

 mineral matters of the decaying straw were furnished liberally to 

 the potato, seem to be very striking. And there seemed to bo no 

 doubt that the same manuring which answered for the Swedish 

 turnip would also answer well for the potato. For the Swede, 

 super-phosphates in their best forms have proved invaluable. And 

 80 for the potato he would furnish an abundant supply of fertilizers 

 of this description. The excessive stimulus of nitrogenous ma- 

 nures evidently forces the potato into an unhealthy condition. 

 And he urged the avoidance of them especially in crops from which 

 our seed potatoes are to be taken. 



From further experiments and observations reported at the 

 meeting, he concluded that seed potatoes should be of medium 



