RAISING SEEDLING POTATOES. 



1. Good shape. The Western Red, Orepron, and Wild Peruvian, are pood 

 bases wliciicc to derive sliiipely seedling's. The l\oii<rh riir|ile Chili, tlie New 

 Jersey Purple, or Plaek Yum, the Mountain June, and AN'ild 13o<i(»tii, are l)ad 

 bases. The Chili and Mountain June, lhoufj;h alVordinfr hul U'w jrood shapes, 

 jiroduce tliose whieh usually reniain permanent. Put the Yam and l}o<rota Seed- 

 lintrs, thouich e.xhibitinj; numerous fine shapes the first year, arc liable to dej^ene- 

 rate tlie second and third years, so that, in the end, nearly all are, in this respect, 

 worthless. 



2. ]Vliile flesh. The Western Pcd (the first generation) gives seedlings wliich 

 are nearly all yellow flesh. From one of that generation tliat had white flesh. I 

 raised a large fiitnily of seedlings that were nearly all white flesh. The Plough 

 Purple Chili also atfords seedlings which are nearly all white flesh. The 151ack or 

 Purple Yam, having very purple flesh, produces very few seedlings that have 

 white flesh the first year, and those few are liable, subsequently, to degenerate into 

 slight shades of purjde. The seedlings of the Oregon and Wild I'eruviiin are 

 very largely white flesh. On the contrary, the Mountain June, though cxhiltitiug 

 very fine white flesh, gives seedlings wliich arc nearly all yellow flesh. Where 

 the parent exhibits no shade of purple, the first year settles the color of the flesh 

 of its seedlings permanently. 



3. Hardiness. The Rough Purple Chili is a very strong base, and leaves little 

 to be desired. The Black Yam is but little inferior in strength. The Western 

 Red is next in vigor, and in its second generation gives many strong seedlings. 

 The Oregon and Wild Peruvian are rather feeble bases. The Mountain June, that 

 splendid old early sort, has now for many years been very liable to disease. In 

 strict accordance with this fact, its seedlings are almost all weak, and, notwith- 

 standing its fine shape, are very unshapely, as I have noticed under No. 1 above. 

 There is a strong proof of a law, long known to hold true of fine fruits, that im- 

 provement in one direction of successive reproduction is limited, and that we shall 

 frequently find an advantage in going back to the comparative wildling as a base 

 on which to improve. The first year of the life of a seedling, especially if it be 

 one of sudden changes, or hot, damp intensities, almost always settles the question 

 of its health, in the experience of the careful cultivator. 



4. Freedom of growth. The Western Red has long been known to exhibit, on 

 an occasional hill, a dwarfed look. It begins a little before midsummer. Such 

 hills cease growing, the lower leaves dry up, the tubers set, and the whole ])lant 

 ripens prematurely. On digging, the tubers are found to be sound, few, small. 

 The cause of this dwarfing is not obvious. Many seedlings of this variety, even 

 in the second generation, and many seedlings of the Oregon, Bogota, and Wild 

 Peruvian, exhibit the same tendency. Some new varieties exhibit it on almost 

 every hill. Other new varieties, of high excellence otherwise, are occasionally 

 deformed by it. One thing is, perhaps, fully settled, viz : those families of seed- 

 lings that were originated in a very dry year, and that were, when young, sub- 

 jected to successive dry years, are sure to exhil)it this liability largely. A variety 

 that has shown no indications of it for the first four years, may be considered safe. 

 This tendency has been the greatest discouragement I have ever encountered in 

 the culture of seedlings. A seedling of the Wild Bogota, of which one hill, in 

 the second year of its growth (1853), yielded thirteen pounds of tubers, and one 

 hundred and forty balls, failed from this cause in every hill in 1854, both here and 

 in Virginia, whither I have sent it. 



5. Eesistunce of dry weather. Closely associated with the foregoing evil, and 

 quite distinct from it, is the inability of some varieties to bear dry weath 



damp season, like 1855, they yield largely; in a dry one, like 185G 



