1019] FIELD CEOPS. 233 



to have given the best results iu variety tests at the Puyallup substation for 

 tlie past six years, are described in which seed grown at Prosser, Wasli., 

 under irrigation, and at Dufur, Oreg., a uiid-mountain district, was compared 

 witli that grown at Puyallup for five years. It is concluded that seed corn 

 produced just north of the forty-fifth parallel in South Dakota, Minnesota, or 

 Wisconsin merits extensive trial, while that from regions having a long, hot 

 growing season is not deemed suitable for western Waslungton conditions. 



Present position and future prospects of the natural indigo industry, W. A. 

 Davis (Agr. Jour. India, 13 (WIS), Nos. 1, pp. 32-^6, pi. 1; 2, pp. 206-221, pis. 

 3; 3, pp. 441-439; 14 {1010), No. 1, pp. 21-41; Agr. Research Inst. Pusa Indigo 

 Pub., WIS, Nos. 2, pp. 18; 4, PP- 10; abs. in Natwre [London'^, 101 {1018), No. 

 2528, p. 116; 102 {1018), No. 2550, pp. 27, 28). — This comprises a comprehensive 

 account of the natural indigo industry ; the possibilities of cheapening the 

 production and improving the quality of natural indigo ; the position of syn- 

 thetic iuiligo production before the war and the effect of the war upon the 

 production of natural indigo, especially in India; the present methods of 

 manufacture iu Bihar ; and the future of natural indigo in India, with 

 particular reference to maintaining the yield and quality of the crop through 

 the use of superphosphates. 



Experiments with potatoes {2'idsslcr. NorsJce Landbr., 25 {1018), No. 0, pp. 

 354-366). — i'otatoes were grown for five years, 1913-1917, iu rows 55, G3, and 

 73 cm. (21.5, 24.G, and 28.5 in.) apart. The average starch content for the 

 five crops was IG.l, 1G.2, and 1G.3 per cent for the close, medium, and wide 

 plauting, respectively. The difference in yield of tubers was insullicieut to 

 offset the greater value of the seed tubers required for the close planting, so 

 that planting at the medium distance was slightly more profitable. 



For the same period broadcasting the fertilizer was compared with apply- 

 ing it in the furrow. The larger yield of potatoes, together with a slightly 

 higher percentage of large tubers, was secured from the applications made in 

 the furrow, but the method of applying the fertilizer apparently had no in- 

 fluence on the starch content. 



Other results indicated that the starch content and the total yield of starch 

 may increase very perceptibly during the period beginning about August 20. 

 The yield of tubers in these experiments continued to increase up to the close 

 of September, even if the stems died down somewhat earlier, but later a de- 

 cline in yield was notable, especially on dry soil. The starch content of the 

 tubers increased up to the death of stems and foliage, after which it declined 

 somewhat, and the absolute starch production behaved in a similar manner. 



An analysis of the costs of growing potatoes, D. S. Pox {New York Cornell 

 Sto. Hfcm. 22 {1010), pp. 525-627, figs. 2^7).— Extensive studies planned to secure 

 more definite and accurate knowledge of the cost of growing potatoes and of 

 the factors influencing their profitable production in New York are described 

 and the results fully discussed. The information was secured by both the 

 snrvey and cost-accounting methods. Surveys were made on 355 farms In 

 Steuben County during 1912, 300 farms in Clinton and Franklin Counties 

 during 1913 (data furnished by \V. M. Peacock), 161 farms in Suffolk County 

 during 1912, and 41 farms in Nassau County during 1912. Cost-accounting 

 records made in cooperation with the Office of Farm Management, U. S. 

 Department of Agriculture, during 1913, 1914, and 1915, included 26 crops on 

 20 farms located in the central and western parts of the State. The relation 

 of numerous factors to production, cost of production, and profit in Steuben 

 County and in Suffolk and Nassau Counties is also discussed in some detail. 

 A suggested form of survey blank for cost of production work with potatoes is 

 included. 



