DISCUSSION. 109 



the seed. You will find the results of that change will last from, 

 three to four years, and if you renew your seed from the north 

 every two or three years I think it would be often enough. 

 Mr. Harrison : How about celery? 



Mr. Cass: I would advise that system for family use, pro- 

 vided, as I said before, they have the ground rich enough. You 

 can understand very well that when you come to planting a 

 stock of celery 6 by 12 inches there is a wonderful graft upon 

 the fertility of the soil to produce the amount of foliage there 

 to get good celery; it also requires a lot of water. In order to 

 raise it enmasse in that way, you want to be sure you have the 

 fertility and the water there. For a small family I think a 12 

 foot lot would be just the thing. 



Mr. Christy: Have you ever used formaldehyde for your 

 potatoes? 



Mr. Cass: No sir, but I see no reason why it should not 

 work well. It is a germicide of a very powerful nature, but I 

 see no reason why it would not work. It would be better thaiL 

 corrosive-sublimate to have around. 



Mr. Forrell: If any one wants to raise potatoes I advise 

 them to write to Mr. Ferguson of Beaver Crossing, who raises 

 more potatoes than anybody in the state. He gave us some 

 figures last fall that are astonishing. He experiments at his 

 place. He has parellel rows; on one he will put the imported 

 seeds from the north, and the next seed grown one year, and 

 the next seed grown two years, and in that way, and the per- 

 ceptible difference in the yield in each row, with the same kind 

 of culture and treatment, seems to me would pay a man to im- 

 port his seed every year. He raises potatoes on a very large 

 scale. 



Mr. Christy: If you have an institute here, Mr. Ferguson 

 would be good man to talk to you. His information cost him 

 $10,000, and he has been giving it out free. 



Mr. Forrell: Mr. Merritt of Lexington is another good 

 man to write to on this subject. 



Mr. Williams : Last winter I heard from one of our students 

 in Howard county. He and his father makes a specialty of po- 

 tatoes. They send for northern grown potatoes, and they get 



