yi2 



Rural School Leaflet 



Seed. — Another matter of prime' importance is the seed. A good crop 



of potatoes or of any other plant cannot be produced from poor seed. 



We must have good seed, as well as favorable 

 conditions in which it is to grow. All plants 

 are the result of two factors — environment and 

 heredity. One is as important as the other 

 and neither can be called all-important with- 

 out the other. 



All that surrounds the plant — soil, plant 



food, climate, and care — must be right. Also, 



the plant must come from good ancestors, 



since it derives its producing power from its 



parents and grandparents. It is a waste of 



time and money to prepare and enrich a soil, 



and plant in that soil potatoes that do not 



come from high-yielding strains. Every tuber 



^ihSJp^O'l^-smM that is planted should have come from a hill of 



tuber from A than the large potatoes that gave a good yield. It is much 



er jrom better to plant medium or even small tubers from, 



high-yielding hills than to plant a large tuber Jrom a low-yielding hill. 



The character of the whole hill determines its value for seed. In the fall, 



many hills should be dug by hand and the tubers from the best of these 



hills saved for seed. 



It is generally considered the best practice to use for seed the tubers 



that are of good size and shape and have been stored so that they have 



rem_ained dormant. For the best results the seed should be plump and 



unsprouted. The tubers should be cut into about four pieces, each having 



several good eyes accompanied by a generous 



quantity of tuber. They should be planted 



immediately after cutting, as the seed 



pieces tend to bleed — that is, to exude 



water very rapidly, which injures them. 

 Planting. — The seed pieces should be 



planted in most soils at a depth of four 



inches, covered carefully, and the soil made 



compact on top. Only one piece should be 



dropped in each hill. If the planting is 



done by the best machinery, the operations 



of opening the furrow, dropping the fer- 

 tilizer and the seed, and covering it again are done in one operation. In 



this way time and labor are saved and the work on the whole is very 



satisfactory. 



Withered potatoes that have sprout- 

 ed make poor seed 



