EXrERIMEXT STATION BULLETINS. 231 



2d. It saves the labor and expense of .storing the seed and avoids the possiblf^: 

 loss through rotting while wintering it over. 



3d. It prevents the unseasonable sprouting of the potatoes and the consequent 

 weakening of the seed. 



4th. It relieves this much from spring work during an otherwise short planting 

 season. 



5th. It. saves the cost of plowing and permits harvesting and replanting to 

 be done simultaneously wherever a high state of fertility warrants the profitable 

 raising of two successive crops. 



In another and no less important respect the experiment is deemed of great 

 interest. If fall planting is successful, spring harvesting should be equally so, 

 and in such case, the farmer in this region would~have a decided advantage in the 

 way of saving storage expenses, loss from rotting through imperfect means of 

 Avintering over the surplus crop, harvesting the crop either during fall or spring 

 as the weather may be most favorable, holding over a portion of the crop when 

 market conditions should warrant it, and especially in preserving in the most 

 perfect condition such portion of the crop which is intended for marketing as 

 seed stock. 



At all events, spring harvesting of potatoes v.'ould be no novel experiment. In 

 "Michigan and its Resources," page 26, Dr. R. C. Kedzie, in mentioning northern 

 Michigan potatoes, states: "The soil is open and porous and the tubers are pro- 

 tected from frost when left in the ground all winter by reason of the heavy coating 

 of snow which falls before the ground is frozen. They may thus be wintered in 

 the hills, and when dug in the spring have the same crisp, mealy quality so prized 

 in potatoes first dug from the ground in the fall in other localities. These spring 

 dug potatoes may yet become an important element of market gardening." 



In Vol. 8, Pioneer Collections, page 149, Hon. Peter White, the sturdy pioneer of 

 the Upper Peninsula, says in substance: "In the spring of 1849, on the present 

 site of the city of Marquette, there was no sign of a human habitation save one 

 or two Indian huts and a small log wai*ehouse belonging to the Jackson Iron 

 Company. In April, 1850, we started from what is now the city of Marquette, 

 and at the Cleveland mountain, found Captain Samuel Moody and John H Mann, 

 who had spent the previous summer and winter there." He well recollects how 

 astonished he was the next morning when Captain Moody asked him to go with 

 him to dig some potatoes for breakfast. This was in the month of May and the 

 winter's snow had preserved them. He opened one or two hills and filled his pail 

 with large and perfectly sound potatoes. He then said: "I may as well pull up a 

 few parsnips and carrots for dinner, to save coming up again," and, sure enough, 

 he had them in abundance. What has been stated here in regard to spring har- 

 vested carrots, parsnips and salsify, unquestionably applies to potatoes; those 

 missed during fall harvesting and plowed up during spring having a decidedly 

 superior crispness and flavor. 



It may be safely assumed that climatic conditions in this region will change 

 as the timber is being removed. If it should be contended, as has been frequently 

 claimed, that insufficient moisture will be one of the first results, it is simply 

 necessary to refer to a record of comparatively dry weather during the past season 

 in this, a timbered region, and compare it with one of excessive rains throughout 

 almost the entire season in older regions where timber has been completely re- 

 moved many years ago. 



Among the inevitable changes can only result a longer growing season together 

 with a moderation and at least partial disappearance of unseasonable frosts, for 

 these changes must forcibly follow an earlier disappearance of winter snows and 

 the consequent increased heat given off by the earlier warmed up soil of the more 

 extensively cultivated areas. 



With such incoming changes, earlier spring planting will be made possible 

 as elsewhere, though the gain thus obtained may then be possibly offset by the 

 greater uncertainty of successful fall planting. The present experiment was 

 merely of a preliminary character, and its continuance upon a more extended 

 scale will be productive of more tangible results. 



In planning the experiment, the aim was to ascertain whether seed potatoes 

 cut into halves, or pieces with 2 to 3 eyes would prove as safe for fall planting 

 as whole potatoes. It was also deemed advisable to ascertain the value of spray- 

 ing against blight, as well as compare level culture with hilling up. 



Whole potateos of medium size were used as seed for all varieties, two addi- 



