FARM DEPARTMENT. 



155 



EXPERIMENT WITH LARGE vs. SMALL POTATOES FOR SEED, 1892. 



BY H. E. WARD (CLASS OF '95), 1892. 



Conditions of the experiment: 



Soil, a sandy loam. 



Varieties, Empire State, Early May Flower, Rural New Yorker No. 2. 



Time of planiii^g, June 11, lb92. 



Amounts of seed: The small potatoes were about the size of a hen's 

 egg; just uudef marketable, but not the smallest. The large potatoes 

 were the largest to be had in that variety. The Kural New Yorker No. 2 

 was cut with two eyes in each piece and two pieces were put in a hill. 

 In each of the other varieties every hill contained a half potato. 



Method of planting. The planting was done in hills 33 inches apart each 

 way, and at a depth of about 4 inches. 



Table XII. — Large vs. small potatoes for seed. 



Varieties used and 

 amounts of seed. 



Empire State. 



Half of email potato... 



Half of large potato. _. 

 Early Mayflower. 



Half of small potato... 



Half of large potato... 

 Rural New Yorker No.2. 



4 eyes of small potato.. 



4 eyes of large potato.. 



Net 



value of 



large. 



$68 04 

 76 93 



.55 72 

 61 33 



.58 24 

 73 03 



* The small potato seed is figured at 10 cents per bushel, just about what it would cost to keep the seed 

 over, nothing is deducted from the marketable to get the net yield. It would be manifestly unfair to 

 deduct them from the marketable. 



The table shows a gain for the large seed in every instance, for both 

 marketable yield and net profit. The difference was no slight one, being 

 $8.88 for the Empire State, $5.80 for the Early Mayflower,' and $13.78 for 

 the Rural New Yorker No. 2. 



By reference to the notes on this experiment we find that the potatoes 

 from the large seed were of better quality and were earlier matured than 

 those from the small seed. This experiment, in itself, shows that it does 

 not pay to plant small potatoes, even if they are of little value. A very 

 high price of seed might justify the course for one year. 



EXPERIMENTS WITH DIFFERENT AMOUNTS OF SEED, 1885-88. 



From Bulletin 46 we take the published results of four years' experi- 

 ments conducted by Prof. Johnson, formerly professor of agriculture here. 

 The distance apart is not given, nor is the size of the plats. 



Since neither the amount of seed nor the distance apart of the hills is 

 given, it is impossible to make out a table showing net profits. The col- 

 umn of averages shows that the best yield resulted from the whole potato, 

 and the poorest from the smallest cutting: 



