710 ANNUAL REPORT OF THE Off. Doc. 



his best income. A good half-crap in a year of general failure means 

 more net income than a full crop when prices are dragging badly. 

 I have grown potatoes that yielded well in a good year but failed 

 mieerably in a bad year because the variety could not stand any hot, 

 dry weather, or because it was peculiarly subject to the blight. 



We have, to-day, a large number of varieties whose habit of growth 

 is as similar to, and whose characteristics are known to the public 

 as widely in, the Carman potatoes, probably, as in any varieties I 

 might name. This Carman type has a foliage that resists disease 

 well, and the varieties stand drouth better than many others. The 

 branches of the vine are late in making their heaviest grow^th, and it 

 may be for this reason that early blight does not attack them readily. 

 So far as my observation and experience go, we have nothing better 

 for our hot seasons and drouthy lands than the varieties whose habit 

 of growth cause them to be classed together as a type to which I 

 venture to give the name of Carman because the Carman No. 3 is a 

 well known representative of the class. 



Ohio Station Variety Tests. — No other Experiment Station makes 

 as complete variety tests of the potato as does the Ohio Station. 

 The work is in charge of Professor W. J. Green, whose high rank as 

 a horticulturist and whose conservatism and safeness in estimating 

 value are widely known. In Bulletin 183, he publishes some notes on 

 varieties that are descriptive, and will prove most helpful to growers 

 in making selections for trial. His results in bushels per acre are 

 influenced by the soil and climatic conditions of the Station farm, 

 and are not given here, but the characteristics of varieties noted by 

 him will be found fairly correct for most sections of the country. 

 For this reason space is devoted to them, selecting only those va- 

 rieties that have had a test of three or more years at the Station. 



"Notes on Varieties, Bulletin 133, Ohio Station.— The following 

 notes on varieties are rather more descriptive than usual, for the 

 reason that such descriptions will tend to help those who are about 

 to make selections for special purposes: 



In selecting a variety, one must first fix in mind an ideal of that 

 which is needed for his particular purpose, whether for the table or 

 for market, and often for a special market, which may require a po- 

 tato of a particular shape or color. With this ideal in mind he can 

 be much more definite in his search for the desired variety. 



In these descriptions, particular characteristics are given as far as 

 we have been able to give them, and attention is called in many 

 cases to resemblance to other varieties. So far as adaptability of 

 varieties to certain soils is concerned, not much help can be given, 

 any further than to state that the soil on the Station farm is made 

 up of considerable quantities of silt, mixed with clay, and is usually 

 described as a clay loam. It is moderately fertile and has not been 



