708 ANNUAL REPORT OF THE Off. Doc. 



it wae grown by the tens of thousands of bushels in our valley be- 

 cause it was the one variety most salable in our market — New Or- 

 leans- — which was a depot for shipment of seed potatoes to the Gulf 

 planters. The crop grown from the Peerless in the south suited the 

 market, and our business was to supply the potatoes for planting, and 

 to grow the variety wanted, adding a quarter of an acre of a more 

 palatable variety for home use. There is a limited demand for a 

 soggy potato from restaurants and hotels who want it for slicing. 

 Hut a dry potato, bursting its jacket when boiled, and having a high 

 flavor, is the one that helps to increase the popular demand for this 

 vegetable. 



Effect of Soil and Season. — Just as the prolificacy of a variety 

 cannot be determined by a single test, so is a single season's test of 

 table quality indecisive. Varieties vary with the season and soil. 

 The highest quality in any variety is gotten in a year of rapid and 

 constant growth. A check to growth from drouth, followed by re- 

 newed growth, usually causes a part of the tuber to develop while 

 the remainder continues to harden its skin and mature. The new 

 material is deposited in the tip end, destroying the typical propor- 

 tions of the variety, or is formed into knobs and prongs that are 

 unsightly. If the season of new growth is prolonged, the old ma- 

 terial in the tuber becomes soggy and strong. Some varieties stand 

 drouth much better than others, waiting for the rains, and remaining 

 smooth when new growth is added. 



The soil affects quality most materially. Heavy, wet land can not 

 give us a good eating potato. We have in this country some acid 

 soils that are full of vegetable matter, and produce immense crops 

 of potatoes whose skin is exceptionally smooth and clear of disease 

 as a result of the acidity, and yet whose table quality is very poor. 

 For home use and for a ddscriminating market, a loose, well-drained 

 soil, well-filled wdth humus for the retention of moisture, will give 

 good quality. 



Disposition to Form Setts. — In my own experience a serious fault 

 of many varie'ties is the habit of too free setting. The grower too 

 frequently is inclined to regard the number of potatoes in a hill 

 rather than the size. The market demands good size, and a rather 

 big percentage of buj-ers are influenced in their choice by this 

 quality. Only in exceptional cases are the largest tubers the most 

 desirable. They cannot be cooked whole as perfectly as smaller 

 ones, and often they are hollow or hard in the center. The best flavor 

 of a potato is gotten only when it is cooked in its jacket, without a 

 break of the skin, and when so prepared, baked or boiled, the potato 

 of moderate size is most convenient. But the buyer does not recog- 

 nize these facts, and size is the big consideration in most markets. 

 Size is determined largely by the number of setts, and that is con- 



