DEPARTMENT REPORTS. 39 



NOTES OK POTATO EXPERIMENTS. 



Ground for the experiments was mostly a sandy loam. There were a few 

 places in the flats where clay was the prevailing soil. The ground had an 

 ordinary dressing of manure, put on in the spring, before plowing. The 

 ground was plowed at a good depth, harrowed thoroughly, and marked with a 

 common two-horse marker into rows three feet apart, each way. The potatoes 

 were cut into pieces having from two to three eyes; dropped in the rows, 

 one piece in each hill, and covered to the depth of about four inches, l^he 

 planting was done May 24th. After planting, the ground was rolled. 



The potatoes came up very uniformly, with one exception, iu Clark No. 1, 

 which came up three dayshef ore the other varieties. The varieties were all up 

 seventeen days from date of planting. The heavy rains injured those on the 

 clay soil very much. The potatoes were cultivated three times during the 

 season, with what is known as the double shovel cultivator or plow. 



Paris green mixed with plaster was sprinkled upon the vines twice daring 

 the season. This kept the vines almost entirely free from the beetle. The 

 extreme dry weather after so much rain early in the season, injured the growth 

 of the crop. 



All of the varieties were beyond the injurious effect of the frost, September 

 8th, except the Burbank Seedling, which were growing very nicely at this time. 

 The drought did not affect this variety as badly as some of the others. 



The potatoes were dug, commencing September 26th, and weighed; each 

 variety separately ; the results are seen in the table. 



From careful estimates, and close observation, the Beauty of Hebron No. 2, 

 or those from seed raised on the farm, seem to be a little ahead of the other 

 varieties. Late Ohio are next, and this is a very desirable potatoe, from all 

 appearances. It is not quite as smooth as the Beauty of Hebron, but is a very 

 firm, fine growing, fair yielding potatoe. 



The Dunmoro next in importance, according to the result of the experi- 

 ment. This is a very handsomB potato. The skin and flesh are white, and 

 when the potatoes were planted, the 24th of May, they were as firm and free 

 from sprouts as when dug the fall before. This variety had a very vigorous 

 growth, and the tubers are very compact in the hill. It is evident from the 

 experiment that this variety is to be classed among the later varieties, although 

 not as late as Burbank' s Seedling. The potatoes are not as mature as some 

 of the other varieties. There is a spongy feel to the tuber wheu pressed with 

 the hand. 



Clark No. 1, fourth iu the list, is a promising variety, although it has one or 

 two bad features this year. One is in being hollow, especially the larger speci- 

 mens, another in being affected with a dry rot. This is not shown in either of 

 the other varieties that were grown on exactly the same kind of soil. This 

 variety is the most vigorous grower of any planted. It came up three days 

 earlier than any other, but did not ripen sooner than the Early Ohio, or 

 Beauty of Hebrou. 



EARLY OHIO. 



This variety was damaged, to quite an extent, by the heavy rain storms dur- 

 ing the forepart of the season. The wet weather might have affected its 

 growth, and time of ripening; but notwithstanding its backwardness, it 

 ripened ten days earlier than any other variety. The vines grew very rapidly 

 and were strong and vigorous. 



