328 ANNUAL REPORT OF THE Off. Doc. 



number of regular shipments, he cannot successfully conduct his 

 business. It seems to me that the interest of each is so, much the 

 interest of the other, that what we need to do is to get into closer 

 and more intimate relations with each other and work earnestly 

 and intelligently for the good of all. 



Mr. Altfather: New packages always give better results than old 

 ones. It is also best to send full packages but not larger than 

 standard size. 



Mr. Moon: In New Jersey IG quarts is considered a standard 

 basket, and must be so branded. In Maryland 18 quarts is said to 

 be the standard size. The question is whether it would not be best 

 to sell all produce by the pound. 



SOME POINTS IN POTATO CULTURE. 



By ALVA AGEE. Cheshire, Ohio. 



An abundance of decayed organic matter in the soil favors the 

 growth of the potato plant and the development of the tubers. It 

 keeps the soil loose, furnishes plant food, and holds moisture. 



If the use of nitrogen, pliosphoric acid and potash in commercial 

 fertilizers is necessary for largest profit, it is well to take half the 

 nitrogen from nitrate of soda and the remaining half from a slower 

 form, such as dried blood. The phosphoric acid can be gotten 

 cheaply from high-grade acidulated rock. I do not fear the potash 

 in the form of muriate if it is broadcasted before planting, so that 

 rains may wash out the chlorine matter. So far as my experience 

 goes, the quality of the tuber is not adversely afifected by the mu- 

 riate wlien this precaution is used. 



"Seconds," or potatoes too small for market, may be good seed. 

 If they are setts of vigorous vines, and are small because they did 

 not have time to become large, they have the required vitality; but 

 if they are setts of weak vines, and are small because the parent 

 stalks were weak, they do not have the needed vitality. I prefer 

 to err on the side of safety by using large potatoes — tubers of me- 

 dium size — for planting, cutting to pieces of two eyes each, and 

 planting single pieces fifteen to eighteen inches apart in rows thirty- 

 two to thirty-six inches apart. 



Potatoes should be planted deep, and the strongest buds are made 

 when the first growth is made in or near the light and air. That 



