N >. 6 DEPARTMENT OP AGRICULTURE. 707 



worthy of practical men who projiose to use the results in deciding 

 whether their chance of net profit from commercial potato-growing 

 shall be placed in the keeping of a new variety or left to rest upon 

 old varieties. The seed-grower has a different view-point. He is 

 catering to the public demand, and when he believes that a new va- 

 riety of potatoes is to receive a lot of booming from its introducer, 

 it is his business to secure the most bushels possible from his limited 

 and costly stock of seed in order that he may erpply the calls upon 

 him for this variety. It is given the best ground available, and no 

 pains are spared. 



Selecting Variety. — The grower should know his market and be 

 governed in selection of varieties accorddngly. City markets differ 

 in their requirements. One will demand a long, white potato, and 

 the demand is traceable to its liking for some old variety of that type 

 which quite possibly has ceased to be produced. More productive, 

 and usually less palatable, varieties of similar form have taken its 

 place, and are sold by dealers under the old, well known name that is 

 used by most consumers when ordering. Another city market de- 

 mands a round potato for like reason. It does not pay a grower to 

 try to educate a city market, and he does well to plant a variety of 

 the general type in demand. In smaller markets the grower who dis- 

 poses of his crop from his wagon, and has a regular custom, can in- 

 troduce a new type of potato of superior merit with profit. Condi- 

 tions determine what should be planted, and money has been lost by 

 failure to study market requirements. Color is even more import- 

 ant than shape. It is a waste of time to attempt to convince a city 

 market of the choice quality of a blue potato, however meritorious, 

 when the people are accustomed to the sight of white or slightly pink 

 varieties. 



Limiting Demand. — The amount of potatoes consumed by the 

 people is limited by the quality. Unfortunately many of the most 

 prolific varieties are not high in table quality, and some of the most 

 productive potato soils give tubers of poor flavor. The grower is 

 mindful of net profit for the season, and plants the variety that 

 promises the greatest return per acre. For this he is not to be con- 

 demned, but it results that millions of bushels of potatoes go on the 

 market every season, limiting demand by reason of their poor edible 

 quality. The consumer cannot discriminate when buying, and those 

 who are unforunate in selection do not consume the amount they 

 otherwise would use. 



Some varieties are good keepers, and improve in quality as spring 

 approaches. On the other hand, some of the choicest varieties de- 

 teriorate in quality rapidly by spring. Soils alTect quality, and a 

 ''soggy" variety in one soil may be of high quality in another. Twen- 

 ty-five years ago the Peerless was a watery potato with us, and yet 



