i62 Bulletin 251. 



grain is important as otherwise the product will be too light. Again, 

 a white oat ahvays sells better than the black or dark colored varieties. 

 While the color of an oat in no way affects its intrinsic value so far as we 

 know, nevertheless the market prefers a white oat, and thus if we 

 can get the same yield in a white oat, it is the preferable sort. 

 The grower should always be on the lookout for diseases in his selection- 

 patches and discard the progeny of any selection which is found to 

 be particularly susceptible to any diseases such as rust or smut, or which 

 shows a tendency to lodge, or to shatter. Some varieties lodge much more 

 readily than others and this is an objectionable character. In oats in 

 particular some strains have the grains lightly attached and as soon as they 

 ripen the grains begin to fall. As the rijiening at best is somewhat uneven, 

 this tendency to shatter as it is called, if pronounced in a variety, 

 may cause considerable loss. 



V. METHOD OF IMPROVING POTATOES. 



The potato is very extensively cultivated in New York and is one of 

 our most important agricultural crops. In 1906, according to the 

 statistics gathered by the U. S. Department of Agriculture, the New York 

 acreage was 420.406 acres, which gave an average yield of 105 

 bushels per acre and a total crop of 44.142,630 bushels. The average 

 valuation is given as 49 cents per bushel, at which rate the farm value 

 of the crop in New York was $21,629,889. New York stands first among 

 the states in potato production, both as to amount of acreage, total 

 product and value of product. Michigan, the next largest potato-pro- 

 ducing state, in 1906 grew 285,000 acres, which gave a yield of 27,075,000 

 bushels of potatoes. While New York stands first in acreage and total 

 production, our average yield, 105 bushels per acre in 1906 and 70 

 bushels per acre in 1905, is low. In yield per acre. New York ranked 

 sixteenth among tlie states in 1906 and forty-second in T905. In the 

 case of a crop of such value to the State it is important that every means 

 be used to increase the production. Probably less attention has been given 

 to the selection of the seed by farmers generally than to an\- other factor 

 of their cultivation. Hie breeding of new clons or varieties of potatoes is 

 naturally accomplished mainly by the growing of seedlings and the selection 

 of the best, or by the hybridization of different varieties. 



The majority of our ordinary varieties of potatoes, however, have lost 

 the ability to produce fertile seeds except un;ler rare conditions. This 

 sterility is apparently due to the continued amelioration under con- 

 tinuous vegetative propagation from the tubers. Thi' history of develop- 

 ment of cultivated plants as a whole indicates that when a plant is pro- 

 pagated for many years vegetatively it gradually shows a tendency to 



