POTATO CULTURE IN EUROPE. 11 



highest quality when baked, may go to pieces if boiled and will not 

 hold together sufficiently for frying. In the latter case steam cooking 

 gives better results than boiling in water.*^ 



The methods of culture of potatoes vary somewhat in different Euro- 

 pean countries, as they do in America. In general, closer planting is 

 practiced than in this country, which is partly explained by the greater 

 number of unskilled laborers in Europe. A matter of more pertinence 

 to the present discussion is that much more attention is given, espe- 

 cially in England, to the source and handling of seed potatoes than is 

 generally the case in America. The best informed English srrowers 

 considered that this has much to do with the question of disease resist- 

 ance, as will be explained later. Indeed, it has come to be accepted 

 by them that, for the best results, seed potatoes should be imported 

 from some more northern region, at least as often as every third or 

 fourth year, and this is done by many large growers every j^ear. 

 English growers use Scotch seed very largel3\ On the grounds of 

 Sutton & Sons, Reading, England, a comparative trial was conducted 

 during the summer of lf)Oj- with a number of varieties, using seed 

 from Scotland, middle England (Lincolnshire), and southern England, 

 respectively. When these plats were visited in August, the vigor of 

 the plants was in all cases greatest from the Scotch-grown seed and 

 least from that grown in the south of England. In certain varieties 

 the development of the tops was as two to one. At the Cambridge Uni- 

 versity farms, located in the famous potato region of Lincolnshire 

 fens, it was said that Scotch-grown seed did better than home-o-rown 

 there and in the Lincolnshire district generally. 



A large potato-growing company of the Canary Islands uses Ger- 

 man in preference to English seed, because the growth from the latter 

 is too rank and the tubers are too large. Potato growers on the island 

 of Jersey in recent years have sent to England and Scotland for their 

 seed. Italy and the Mediterranean islands look to France and Ger- 

 many largel3^ 



While some American potato growers recognize the importance of 

 the source of seed and attend to this point consistently, there is gener- 

 ally indifference, disagreement, or lack of information on this subject, 

 as Eraser'' has recently shown. It is a matter deserving of further 

 careful inquiry and experiment. 



«The writer is indebted to Professor Petermann for calling his attention to these 

 matters. For a further discussion of this subject reference may be made to Peter- 

 mann, A., Etudes sur la pomme de terre, Bui. de I'lnst. Chini. et Bact., No. 70, ( Jem- 

 bloux (Beljiium), 1901; and Condon and Bussard, Annalesde la science agronomique, 

 I, Paris, 1(S97. To the latter, credit may l)e given for showing that the behavior of 

 the potato in cooking is primarily dependent not So much on the total percentage 

 of starch contained as on the relative percentages of starch and protein. The proper 

 proportion of the protein is necessary to hold the starchy mass together when cooked. 



''Fraser, S., The Potato, New York, 1905, pp. 51-52. 



