156 



STATE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE BULLETINS. 



Table XIII. — Results for four years experiments, 1885-88. 



Seed. 



One eye 



Two eyes 



Three eyes 



Half potato.. 

 Whole potato 



Average 



per cent 



of 



small. 



16 

 13 



18 

 34 



HORTICULTUKAL DEPARTMENT. 



Prof. Taft, of the horticultural department of our station, has done con- 

 siderable work along this line. From Bulletin No. 85 (April, 1892), we 

 condense his results. The conditions of the first set of experiments are 

 given as follows: 



"The seed was prepared as in previous years, by cutting the tubers 

 lengthwise, and using one piece on the plat for halves; the other was again 

 cut lengthwise and one jnece used as a quarter, and this was kept up until 

 we had secured halves, quarters, eighths, and single eye pieces, from the 

 same tubers. An equal number of whole tubers of each variety was 

 planted to ascertain the yield from the whole large tubers." "Naturally 

 being earlier, and more forward in their development when the hot weather 

 came, we could expect a somewhat larger yield from the large tubers than 

 from the small ones, but this could not account for the very marked 

 increase." 



The results are here tabulated: 



Table XIV. — Yields from two varieties. 



Seed. 



Single eyes 



Eighth potato. 

 Quarter potato 

 Half potato ... 

 Whole potato.. 



Market- 

 able 

 average 

 for two 

 varieties. 



48 



57 



60 



104 



15S 



The conclusion drawn is : "The total yield in bushels per acre will be 

 seen to be four times as much from the whole tubers as from this single 

 eyes, with a gradual but regular decrease of yield as the size of the seed 

 decreased. There was less difference in the yield of marketable tubers, but 

 the average yield was more than three times as great. As is usually the 

 case, also, the yield of small tubers was in proportion to the size of seed 

 pieces used." 



