540 EXPERIMENT STATION EECOED. 



Two years' experiments indicate ttiat planting at the rate of 15 bu. per acre 

 gives in general greater gains than when 10, 25, or 40 bu. of seed is used. " In 

 every case the tubers grown from the one- and two-eye seed pieces, while some- 

 what less in number, average far above those grown from the heavier rates of 

 seeding." " The marketable quantities from the small seed tubers compared 

 well with the marketable quantities from the different rates of seeding from 

 large tubers," but were made up of noticeably smaller tubers. 



Directions are given for use in conducting tuber-row and hill-row tests. In 

 such tests, selected and unselected strains of Carman No. 3 yielded at the rates 

 of 181.9 and 116.15 bu. per acre, respectively. Blight resistant and nonresistant 

 strains of Whiton White Mammoth yielded at rates of 206.9 and 153.5 bu. per 

 acre, respectively. The resistant rows were growing vigorously when killed 

 by frost, but the nonresistant plants had already been dead 3 weeks. Higher 

 yields are not attributed by the writer to mere length of growing season. Com- 

 parison of late growing hills of Carman No. 3 with those which ripened many 

 days earlier showed that " in not a single case was the product of a late grow- 

 ing individual hill found to be greater or better in any way than equally vigorous 

 hills which had more promptly closed their season of growth." The use for seed 

 of small potatoes of inherent inferiority is strongly condemned. 



Sun-sprouted seed, dropped with sprouts up and sprouts down and at random, 

 averaged 93, 71, and 78 respectively, in germination percentage. " If dropped 

 by the planter, the work is not likely to be done satisfactorily." Stock which 

 had been raised from sun-sprouted seed and common stock, planted side by 

 side, averaged 195.4 and 172.3 hills per 272 ft. row, yielded 86.4 and 64.6 lbs. 

 per row, and showed germination percentages of 90 and 79.3. The product of 

 the sun-sprouted seed kept firmer both in storage and in the sunlight, and was 

 slower to sprout. 



Untreated, formalin soaked, and formalin fumigated seed averaged 58.5, 16.7, 

 and 18.4 per cent, respectively, of scabby potatoes in the crop. It was not 

 observed that the vitality of treated seed was in any case lower than that of 

 the untreated seed. 



Average yields show that during 15 years in tests of acid phosphate, muriate 

 of potash, and nitrate of soda, singly and in 8 different mixtures, the highest 

 net profit followed the use of 160 lbs. of acid phosphate, 100 lbs. muriate of 

 potash, and 80 lbs. of nitrate of soda per acre, although 160 lbs. acid phosphate 

 alone producted its results at the lowest cost per bushel of increase. 



The wilt-resistant qualities of each of 73 potato A-arieties are indicated. 



Potato fertilizers: Methods of application and form, of nitrogen, W. H. 

 Jordan and F. A. Sirrine {New York State Sta. Bui. 327, i)i). 283-30 J,) -—l^ a 

 comparison of drilling and broadcasting fertilizers, the gains were " small, but 

 consistent, in favor of application in the drill, with an average increase in large 

 potatoes for the 3 localities and 8 comparisons, of 7.3 bu. per acre." 



The authors conclude from a comparison of nitrate of soda and dried blood 

 that, under the climatic conditions prevailing during the time of these tests, 

 there is no dependable difference between these forms of nitrogen for potatoes 

 on Long Island. " The data also show that amounts of high-grade fertilizer 

 up to 1,000 lbs. to the acre will give profitable returns in good potato years, but 

 that more than 1,000 lbs. is seldom justified." 



Potato experimental fields, 1909-10, G. Seymour {Jour. Dept. Agr. Vic- 

 toria, 8 {1910). No. 11, pp. 111-123). — Chemical and mechanical analyses of the 

 soil are followed by tables stating the moisture content of pasture and other 

 lands and the yields of potatoes secured at different points after uniform series 

 of fertilizer applications at each experiment center. 



