696 ANNUAL REPORT OF THE Off. Doc. 



increases rapidly. Nearly the entire product of the spindliug hill 

 falls into the ''seconds" class. Let us suppose that in one season's 

 planting there is only one degenerate vine in a hundred. That will 

 not affect the yield perceptibly. Assuming that each one of the 

 ninety-nine vigorous vines furnishes one tuber of good vitality for 

 the ''seconds" class, and that the spindling vine furnishes five tubers, 

 we have the next year five degenerates out of a hundred and four. 

 The next season we may expect twenty or twenty-five out of a hun- 

 dred. 



As a matter of thirty years observation in a potato-producing dis- 

 trict, this rate of degeneracy is not at all unusual in the case of care- 

 less growers. I have seen crops of thousands of bushels, produced 

 from small seed taken from a crop grown from small seed, that run 

 so inferior in size that they were not wanted in market, while fields 

 planted with seed of high vitality produced tubers of fine size. The 

 seed was "run-out" through the continued use of "seconds." It is 

 true that small tubers from spindling vines may not give a failure 

 of crop when used for planting. It is possible to have a soil so rich 

 and fine that hi i;h-f ceding of the plants brings improvement of the 

 Sitock. Equally, soil and climate may prevent deterioration of the 

 stock when "seconds" only are used. Were it not for such possibili- 

 ties in plant life. Improvement of strains would be slower work 

 than it now is. But most potato-growers are seeking net profit from 

 their land, and very many do not have any excess of fertility. As 

 practical men, they should see that vitality in seed is a prime requi- 

 site. The plant should come with vigor, not requiring superior fer- 

 tility to give it courage to grow, but showing good hustling qualities 

 when first it appears above ground, and ready to use to the full all 

 the advantages that may be within reach. A vigorous plant will 

 make a fair yield in moderate soil, and a better yield as opportunity 

 is given it through applications of plant-food and through choice 

 tillage. 



Medium Large Seed, Best. — While a late sett of a vigorous vine, be- 

 ing a second in size, has the vitality of its parent vine and may give 

 as big a yield as a larger tuber, in ordinarj' field culture the chances 

 are against it. In the case of some varieties, planted in certain soils, 

 one need not hesitate to use '^seconds" from vigorous hills. Mne out 

 of every ten of my readers will do best not to use "seconds" at all 

 for planting. They will obtain, as a rule, finer crops from seed 

 pieces cut from larger potatoes. Some tests will prove convincing, 

 but a little study of the matter miay be equally so. The material 

 in the potato is intended by nature as food for the buds or sprouts 

 until they have root systems, capable of supplying themselves from 

 the store of plant food in the soil. A large piece of potato will feed 

 an "eye" and push its growth more eifectively than a small piece. 

 There are small whole tubers that will send up only one or two 



