VARIETIES OF THE POTATO. 443 



presents every variety of hue, and the same is true of the tuber ; 

 and we have an intermixing- of colors in the skin and in the flesh. 



If we come to the number of varieties, we have here upon our 

 table 140 kinds from one exhibitor, and I believe there have been 

 catalogued more than 500 varieties ; and the prospect is that we 

 shall soon have an indefinite number of varieties. 



• This being true, if we started in the first place with two varie- 

 ties, one a pure white, the other a little tinged with yellow, and 

 we have after two or three centuries more than 500 kinds, present- 

 ing every variety of form and color, and quality, we may continue 

 to do this ; and here arises an inquiry into the origin or cause of 

 this difference, and to me it is an interesting part of the subject. 

 I remember the old " Chenango," — a better potato we never had, 

 and probably never shall. It succeeded well for a series of years, 

 but finally disappeared. 



In many sections of the State the " Orono " is coming to be 

 regarded as having had its day, also ; as being now valueless, 

 compai'ed with former years. Many are abandoning it, and there 

 is a call for a new potato to take its place ; and owing to certain 

 causes or agencies, no matter what, we have before us a great 

 many new varieties ; and we want to be able to say to our brother 

 farmers when we return wheth^ there is, of the many varieties 

 before us, new or old, one that is better than all the rest, or as 

 good as the " Orono " in all respects, and if so, which it is. That 

 is the question we want to ansAver. I have answered it for my- 

 self, so far as the results of one year can answer it. I have cul- 

 tivated this year, with a great deal of care, seventy-three varieties, 

 in the same soil, and applied the same manure and the same cul- 

 ture precisely. The results in product I cannot tell, for we are 

 suffering severely in our section of the State this year from the 

 potato rot, as badly as in any year within the ten years last past; 

 but in two of the seventy-three varieties that I have cultivated, I 

 have not seen a single one diseased. Growing in the same row, 

 and side by side with others that rotted badly, they have grown 

 and ripened, as potatoes did thirty years ago. I do not know 

 that they will do it next year ; they did it this, they did it last 

 year. One of these varieties is the " Bermuda," the other is the 

 " Gleason ;" one white the other red. 



One point more and I close. When we come to speak of varie- 

 ties, we are met with another difficulty, a troublesome one. Some 

 years ago, I wrote to a member of this Board, and asked him to 



