588 Reading-Course for Farmers. 



ing 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 sufficient 

 number of good tubers should be selected in the first instance to plant 

 a seed patch of about one-tenth the size of the general crop grown. This 

 ratio of size of seed patch to general crop would probably hold in ordinary 

 seasons. Ordinarily about twenty bushels of seed per acre are planted, 

 and one tuber divided into quarters and planted in four hills should 

 produce about twenty good seed tubers, the increase, so far as good 

 seed tubers are concerned, being thus about one to twenty. Therefore, 

 by arranging for the seed patch to be about one-tenth the area of the 

 general crop, we have provided for discarding about one-half of the hills 

 in the seed patch. All of the tubers from the discarded hills and all of 

 those which are not retained for seed even from the best hills are placed 

 with the general crop and sold, so that it will be seen that the only extra 

 trouble and expense connected with growing this seed patch is the 

 planting and digging by hand, and the small amount of trouble required 

 in making the selections. As a matter of fact, this entails very little 

 extra trouble and every grower who is depending for his living upon the 

 crops produced should be willing to take this amount of time to insure 

 good seed. 



STORAGE AND CARE OF SEED POTATOES 



The factor of proper storage of the seed is also one generally neglected 

 by growers and is probably no less important. Very few growers give 

 sufficient attention to this matter. It has been found undesirable to 

 store potatoes in large quantities. If they are dug and placed in large 

 piles soon after harvesting, when the weather is still warm, there is 

 danger of their becoming heated and the vitality injured. If they are 

 placed in large piles in cellars, which is commonly the case, any rot 

 which starts in one tuber is likely to spread rapidly to the others, thus 

 injuring their keeping qualities. 



The best way to hold the seed potatoes is of course in cold storage at 

 a temperature of thirty-five to forty degrees Fahrenheit. Should 

 the temperature fall below freezing for a short time, there would prob- 

 ably be no very serious damage as living protoplasm seldom freezes 

 at exactly freezing temperature, It is better, however, not to subject 

 them to freezing conditions. Most farmers probably do not have 

 facilities for putting their seed potatoes in cold storage, and fairly dry 

 cool cellars usually are good alternative storage places. 



