306 ANNUAL REPORT, OF THE Off. Doc. 



Eastern Pennsylvania makes it a rule to thin — 1 believe we are al- 

 ways safe in saying that it is not feasible — it does not work very 

 well. Experiment station work shows no increase in yield. I have 

 found it very difficult to thin the plants without shaking them up too 

 much. 



A word about the controlling of disease. I think that we want 

 to teach men to seek resistant varieties; there is a whole lot in re- 

 sistance, just as our good friend Dr. Leonard Pearson, who is doing 

 so much for this State in his line, will tell you that certain animals 

 can resist disease better than others, so I sav we should have varie- 

 ties of the humble potato that can resist disease germs; there are 

 varieties which will do this, while other varieties cannot. Let us 

 seek these varieties. Take the early Ohio potato and the early For- 

 tune and you will get a good yield because these varieties have the 

 power of resistance. 



As to the matter of blight — early blight, I would rather take a 

 resistant variety of potato and plant it very early and push it than 

 I would to go to the expense of spraying with Bordeaux mixture to 

 prevent the early blight; but if you will only put the mixture on 

 before the germs come and keep the new growth fairly coated, it is 

 profitable. 



ROUND TABLE ON POTATO CULTURE. 



(In CHAllGE OF Mr. AGEE.) 



MR. CLARK: I would like to ask Mr. Agee this question. It 

 is a matter that is agitating the buj^er and seller of potatoes. 

 Potatoes are sold in our town by the carload, through Pittsburg 

 commission men. Cars that have been loaded with potatoes in Mr. 

 Agee's country, I do not know whether just his part of the country 

 or not; they come from the Northw^est and from Michigan. The 

 question is, whether we can take these potatoes out of the cars and 

 place them in the cellar safely? 



MR. AGEE: I do not know how to tell with certainty that a 

 potato will grow. I do not know how to tell whether a potato is 

 in good condition to place in the cellar; that seems a damaging ad- 

 mission for one who has made that single thing a specialty of his 

 life, and yet it is so. In some cases you can tell by an examina- 

 tion of the potato that they have not fully ripened; that kind of a 

 potato may heat in the car or the cellar. 



MR. CLARK: Do you think that the transfer of these potatoes 

 from the car would be safe? 



MR. AGEE: I think the damage has probably been done while 



