152 Missouri Agricultural Report. 



answer all practical purposes. Plant these in the seed patch in 

 exactly the same way that the ordinary crop is planted. It would, 

 of course, be well to have them dropped at about an equal dis- 

 tance apart, as each hill should have the same comparative amount 

 of land for its development. They should also be cultivated the 

 same as the general crop. 



SELECTION OF HIGH YIELDING HILLS. 



The next factor of importance in connection with the seed 

 selection is a selection of the high yielding hills in the seed patch, 

 which should, of course, be done at the time of digging. To do 

 this properly it is necessary that the hills should be dug by hand, 

 and the product of each hill laid out separately at the side of the 

 row. If feasible, the entire seed patch can first be dug and laid out 

 in this manner, or the selection can go on while the digging is in 

 progress. To make the selection the speaker would advocate that 

 in the first place all of the hills be examined hastily and the low- 

 yielding, poor hills be taken out. The problem before the man 

 making the selection is, of course, to leave only the best hills. 

 The best hills are naturally those producing the heaviest yield of 

 proper sized tubers which are regular in outline. Hills which show 

 a tendency to produce some very large tubers and many small 

 tubers, are, of course, undesirable, though the total yield may be 

 large. Hills which show a tendency to produce tubers irregular 

 in shape, budding out at the sides, are, of course, undesirable, and 

 should be discarded where this condition is marked. Having these 

 factors well in mind, and they are factors which are well recog- 

 nized by the majority of potato growers, the operator can pass 

 down the rows and throw out the poor hills almost at a glance, 

 leaving only the good high yielding hills. 



After fhis first process of selection the operator should go over 

 these goods hills and select from among them what Professor 

 Stone calls the "Gilt Edge" hills, that is, those which are the very 

 best in the field from the standpoint of yield and uniformity of 

 product and from each of these "Gilt Edge" hills take the best 

 tubers and retain them for planting the seed patch the ensuing 

 year. After the tubers from the "Gilt Edge" hills have been re- 

 moved, the good tubers from the remaining good hills should be 

 retained for planting the general crop the ensuing year. This is 

 practically all there is to this method of seed selection and the 

 process should be carried out year after year in the same way. 



The proper application of this method will mean that a suflfi- 



