Vermont Agricultural Report 87 



prove to be a desirable addition to the list of New England cattle 

 feeds cannot be stated at present. It is offered as alfalfa meal 

 and there are likewise proprietary feeds in the market of which 

 this meal forms the basis. 



NEW POSSIBILITIES IN POTATO CULTURE. 



I'Ro^. h. R. jone;s. 



University oi^ Vermont. 



The potato is a staple crop in Vermont. In total production 

 it outranks any other except grass. Yet it is the most variable 

 of any crop in yield and the most liable to disease and failure. Is 

 this an inherent necessity or is it because of the relative lack of 

 intelligence or skill shown in its culture? I believe it is the latter; 

 that the large proportion of potato growers have failed really to 

 understand the potato and its management. If so, there must be 

 some special reason for it. Without attempting a full explana- 

 tion I wish to point out certain unique features in the develop- 

 ment of the potato, which account in part for this failure to un- 

 derstand it. We cultivate the plant to secure the tubers. These 

 are neither seeds or fruit comparable to those of clover, corn or 

 apple, nor are they the enlarged roots of the plant like carrots or 

 parsnips. The potato tubers are instead the swollen ends of sec- 

 ondary stems produced underground. Moreover the plant as we 

 have it today in culture has been highly bred and rapidly de- 

 veloped into a thing quite different from the original wild plant 

 of the Mexican and South American plateaus. There it tended 

 to reproduce itself largely by seeds, as well as by small tubers. 

 Man has bred and selected it to reproduce by tubers alone, so 

 that now seed bearing plants are rarely seen. The plants do, 

 however, continue to produce blossoms freely, and it is just as 

 these are fading that the beginning of tuber formation occurs. 

 The ancestral tendency of the plant at this time is to develop 

 seeds. The tendency acquired by cultivation is to throw all the 

 reserve strength into tuber formation. These reproductive pro- 

 cesses cause a severe drain upon its vital energies, and the fort- 

 night immediately following the blossoming period is therefore a 

 peculiarly critical time for the plant, during which its very life 



