146 STATE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE BULLETINS. 



POTATOES. 



AMOUNTS OF SEED. 



EXPERIMENTS AT THE MICHIGAN EXPERIMENT STATION, AND THE 

 COMPILED RESULTS OF TWELVE OTHER STATIONS. 



No. 9.3 — Farm Department. 

 CONDENSED SUMMARY OF RESULTS. 



The general conclusion from the following bulletin is that the 

 potato growers of Michigan do not plant enough seed. Our own 

 experiments, corroborated by those of other stations, go to show 

 that for ordinary distances the half potato gives better results 

 than any smaller amount. For weak growing varieties, or varie- 

 ties having small tubers, even a larger amount of seed will be 

 found more profitable.* 



A careful investigation shows clearly: 



First, That an increase in seed within ordinary limits produces 

 a marked increase, both in total yield and marketable yield. 



Second, That an increase in seed, from one eye up to the half 

 potato, produces an increase in the net value of the crop.f But 

 the increased yield from the whole potato over the half potato is 

 not sufficient to cover the cost of the, greater amount of seed. 



HALF POTATOES VS. TWO EYES.: 



A comparison of the half potato with the two eyes shows: 

 First, That for total yield (large and small), of 1)5 experiments, 



76 are in favor of the half potato, and 19 in favor of the two eyes; 

 Second, That for marketable yield (total less small) of 73 



experiments, 58 are in favor of the half potato, and 15 in favor 



of the two eyes; 



* See table LIV, p. 48. 



tValue of marketable yield less the value of seed planted. 



X See table LV, half potato vs. two eyes, p. 49. 



