No. 6 DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 723 



should not be placed in contact with very dry soil. There are re- 

 peated instances of failure when such fresh-cut seed has been drop- 

 ped by hand in old furrows whose surface was very dry. The soil 

 becomes a sponge that absorbs the moisture from the potato. But 

 when the shoe of the planter is run deep, as in this method of plant- 

 ing, the potato is slipped into the moist soil, and the covering is 

 from the sides of the furrow made by the shoe. It is fine soil, not 

 hardened into minute clods by exposure to the air on the surface, 

 and unlike the covering gatliered by the disks in our rather clayey 

 fields when the planter runs less deep and all the covering is given 

 by the disks that gather up the surface soil. The fine and moiet soil 

 about the seed piece does not dry out readily because it is below 

 the moisture level in the middles between the rows. If the potato 

 seed were not cut, there would be no need of any moisture. The 

 potato would start its buds just as readily in the abeence of moisture 

 as is done when seed is budded on the barn floor. After good 

 sprouts have been started, and roots are put forth at the base of the 

 sprouts, moisture is needed. In my own experience there has been 

 one year when, on account of poor physical condition of the soil, 

 I feared that the seed was too dry after the buds had started, and hav- 

 ing secured the strong sprouts desired, the furrows were filled at 

 once. But the method of planting that is recommended here for 

 rather heavy soile can be accepted as safe in any sort of a season, and 

 especially beneficial in a wet one that would close up a heavy cover- 

 ing of soil and thus exclude light and air from the seed at a time 

 when it most needs it, viz., when it is putting forth its buds. 



Time of Cutting Seed. — In extensive planting the cutting of seed 

 several days ahead of the planting cannot be advised, though some 

 successful growers practice it. The serious objection is the danger 

 of injury in case planting is delayed by the weather. Cut seed will 

 heat if put in considerable bulk, and when not in bulk it is liable to 

 dry out too much. By the use of potato boxes it may be kept in fair 

 condition for a considerable period of time. The pieces should be 

 dusted with plaster and the boxes should be tiered so that they can 

 be covered with canvas to prevent the air from entering freely. In 

 hot, windy weather a few hours exposure of cut seed spread on a floor 

 will dry it unduly. The advantages of cutting seed considerably 

 ahead of planting are the saving of time when the ground is ready 

 for field work, and the decreased liability to rot in the ground if a 

 rain should follow the planting closely. 



But there always is danger of a protracted wet spell during the 

 planting, and the risk of losing the seed, or of having it damaged, 

 when cut and unplanted, is so great that most extensive growers are 

 agreed upon the plan of cutting the seed as wanted by the planter. 

 A seed piece heals no more nicely anywhere than in fresh soil. The 



