112 STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE 



seed for i-ix hills. Tlioy were planted on sod ground wliicli had been seeded for 

 several years. The ground was in good condition and had yielded two crops a 

 3'ear of orchard grass, clover and lucern. The soil was a sandy loam, plowed 

 in the fall, cultivated and top-dressed with fine manure in the spring. In ordi- 

 nary seasons the crop would have been a good one, but this year it was very 

 light. The weather wa? very favorable till some time in June when it suddenly 

 clianged from cool and cloudy to hot and plenty of sun light. Potatoes almost 

 stopped growing on account of the sudden change. 



In former years the i^otatoes in small quantity, here noticed, were planted on 

 old garden soil. I mean on soil which had been in cultivation for some years in 

 succession. They have been manured in a variety of ways, not very heavily, 

 but generally with a good dressing of fine manure and ashes. The iwtatoes 

 have never been planted on the same piece of ground in two snccessive seasons, 

 but they have been shifted about on similar soil, on different parts of about fiA^e 

 to eight acres. Two years ago the mimber of varieties was much increased. 

 Previous to that time, for some six years, there had been fifty to eighty varie- 

 ties in the garden. For some years the yield lias been carefully noted, usually 

 by weighing the tubers of each hill, or each set of hills. Of course we should 

 expect a variation in the yield for different hills in the same year of the same 

 sort, even if we treated them in all resjiects as nearly alike as possible. 



The chief object in planting so many kinds in this manner, is to watch the 

 changes from year to year in yield, health, quality, etc. We all know for family 

 use, that we cannot measure the value of a crop of potatoes by the scales or 

 bushel-basket, still the yield is of great importance. The ideal potato must, 

 at least, be productive of even-sized tubers close together in the hill, with few 

 or no small ones. It must have full eyes and even surface, a light or red color 

 or spotted, must be of good quality for all seasons of the year ; and now that 

 the beetles have Ijecome so troublesome, the model potato should ripen early 

 in the season. 



This season, thegreatestyieldforsixhills was nineteen pounds and seven ounces ; 

 last year 21 pounds and 1 ounce for three hills. On no two years has the same 

 variety headed the list in productiveness. This year it was Long Pond ; last 

 year, Early White ; the year before it Avas Climax. In comparing tlie yield for 

 the past two seasons, I find all tliose yielding well this year, yielded well last 

 year ; and that those yielding liglitest last year, hold somewhere near the same 

 rank this year. 



In the re^wrt for 1868, before I came to the College, the comparative yield is 

 given of fifty-five varieties of potatoes. With few exceptions the tubers of these 

 have been used on the garden ever since. They have all decrea.sed in yield, 

 notwithstanding the garden is now much more productive of most crops than it 

 Avas eight years ago. In 18G8, Casco Ava? reported as yielding at the rate of 340 

 bushels to the acre ; last year three hills produced about half an ounce, although 

 it Avas a remarkably good year for the yield of potatoes in our locality. 



This year it ran out entirely. We did not get one tuber, not even a small 

 one. In 18G8, Colebrook gave at the rate of 155 bushels to the acre ; Davis 

 Seedling, 27G bushels; Prince Albert, 262 bushels; Coppermine, ITG bushels. 

 Last year they yielded respectively, for three hills of each variety : Colebrook, 2 

 pounds 9 ounces ; Davis Seedling, 5 pounds, G ounces ■ Prince Albert, 1 pound 

 11 ounces; Coppermine, 4 pounds *J ounces. This year, Colebrook yields for 

 six hills (twice as many hills as reported last year), not one tuber, large or small ; 

 Davis Seedling, not one tuber ; Prince Albert, one-fourth of an ounce, — a few 



