WINTER MEETING. 293 



It docs seem strange that a grower of such great experience should 

 advance such a theory, as it is totally wrong. 



Each seed from the seed ball is an individual life germ, and in 

 some respect differs from all other such life germs. The tubers pro- 

 duced on the plant the first year, are, like those of each succeeding 

 year, only a part of the plant. In other words, a swollen, underground 

 stem with buds or eyes to carry on the propagation of the variety. 



I have often found that a seedling may, the first year, be long and 

 slim, and in after years change its shape to an oval, liattened form, as 

 seen in the samples of my seedling No. 99. 



Again a seedling may be nearly round the first year, especially if a 

 late variety and not matured, and the next season may develope into a 

 long, slim tuber. In fact, very little can be told as to the future ap- 

 pearance and value of a seedling from its first year's growth, further 

 than that a health}', vigorous grower with a limited number of smooth, 

 well formed tubers of fair size may be expected to do even better the 

 next year, and so on for several years to come. But often the expecta- 

 tions are not realized, in the growing of seedlings, but nevertheless, no 

 branch of horticulture has so much of pleasant anticipation as the 

 originating of new varieties. 



DISCUSSION. 



Prof. Whitten — What is the condition of the tops of your late 

 planted potatoes when frost comes ? 



Mr. Reed — The tops of our late potatoes were green as late as the 

 10th of October this year, though other plants had been killed a month 

 earlier. The potatoes were on the river bank. The water saved them. 

 They are usually frozen down while green. 



Question: Has Mr. Reed found any beneficial results in getting 

 potatoes for seed from the north or east of him ? 



Mr. Reed — No; 1 don't think it would be any advantage, for our 

 climatic conditions for the potato are almost perfect. Our soil, a good 

 sandy loam, is also an ideal potato soil. 



Mr. Murray — I like the paper very much. I think it pays us here 

 in Missouri to get our seed potatoes from a climate north of us. We 

 ought to get our seed of any plant from the country or locality where 

 the plant reaches its highest development. 



