66 



MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



Of course the crop could not be expected to be as large as 

 might be raised ; for I was willing to sacrifice something if I 

 could also ascertain something in regard to the best kind of 

 seed of the right amount. The result will be seen most 

 clearly by the following table : — 



The potatoes used for seed were medium-sized, of Burbank 

 variety. In plats Nos. 1, 2, 5, and 6, the hills were fourteen 

 inches apart, and those of plats Nos. 3, 4, 7, and 8, were 

 eighteen inches apart. 



It is evident that the seed-end of the potato is fully as 

 productive as the stem-end, and no wise man will throw it 

 away. On plats Nos. 1 and 5 I had the largest potatoec, 

 it taking only fifteen of them to fill a peck measure ; but 

 there was not seed enough. On plats Nos. 2 and 6 the pota- 

 toes were large enough, and a gain of nine and eight and 

 one-half bushels, respectively, over plats Nos. 1 and 5. Plats 

 Nos. 4 and 8 were not as good as Nos. 2 and 6, and had a 

 greater proportion of small potatoes. The query is. Was 

 there too much seed? I think there was. The best results 

 came from plats Nos. 3 and 7, with four eyes in a hill. Here 

 we find a gain of about sixteen bushels over plat No. 1, or a 

 gain of one hundred and twenty-eight bushels per acre, — 

 certainly a gain sufBcieiit to pay for preparing the seed in 

 the right manner. 



From the above experiments I therefore deduce the fol- 

 lowing conclusions: the stem-end and the seed-end are both 

 alike good for seed, the difference, if- any, being in favor of 

 the seed-end ; neither one eye nor two eyes is sufficient seed 



