EXPERIMENTS IN POTATO-CULTURE. 207 



been careful to select the best specimens of his potatoes for 

 seed, and thinks this is the cause of the improvement. 

 There are very many writers and scientists who advocate 

 the theory of planting whole potatoes, for the reason that 

 the young sprout, before it has acquired the ability to 

 nourish itself by its roots, depends for its nourishment on 

 the fecula, or starch, of the tuber, Avhich would be more 

 abundantly supplied from the whole tuber than from a piece 

 of it, and consequently would produce more vigorous plants. 

 On the other hand, Mr. M. I. Wheeler of Great Barrington 

 declares that the best crop that he ever raised came from 

 sprouts taken off from the potato. A ver}' singular result 

 came from an accidental experiment made by Mr. David 

 Warren of Marblehead. He cut his seed-potatoes, took them 

 into the field, and planted a part of them. He was pre- 

 vented from planting any more until the third day after this, 

 when he planted another portion of the field. He did not 

 finish planting the field until the second day after the second 

 planting. The unplanted seed remained in the field all this 

 time. He found on digging that the first planting yielded a 

 quarter more than the second planting, and that the third 

 planting yielded a quarter more than the first, — a result that 

 he could in no way account for, as the whole field had the 

 same treatment. Aaron Low of Essex planted five rows 

 with whole small potatoes, and another five rows with large 

 potatoes cut to two eyes, all other conditions being the same. 

 The whole small potatoes yielded fourteen per cent more 

 than the cut large ones. 



Most cultivators would favor careful ploughing and fine 

 tilth ; yet excellent crops have been grown by dropping the 

 seed upon hard ground, and mulching sufficiently with straw 

 or other coarse material to keep it moist. 



Although it is the usual practice, and is considered thie 

 best method, to hill up potatoes, Mr. Edmund Hersey of 

 Hingham, after careful experiment, has fully satisfied him- 

 self that level culture gives much better results. 



Mr. Allen Rowe of Swampscott has found by experi- 

 ment that fall ploughing on his land adds very much to his 

 potato-crop. His land is generally rather heavy with a clay 

 subsoil ; and probably on such soil fall ploughing is more 

 essential than on lighter soils. Mr. Rowe also finds tliat 



