140 THE POTATO. 



year, the next, and so on, your first-born seedlings will 

 probably deteriorate instead of improving, and at the end 

 of six to ten years' trials, you may have to discard all of 

 them. Messrs. ISutton and Sons have often assured us 

 that what looked like a promising, ideal potato, after years 

 of trial, had finally to be discarded. It is sheer folly on the 

 part of those growers who, since the boom in new potatoes 

 started, have raised seedlings and begun to put them in 

 commerce. No seedling potato can possibly claim to have 

 its real character fixed in one or two years; it is a matter 

 of six to ten years' repeated trials, in order to thoroughly 

 test the variety, before it is safe or honest to place it in 

 commerce as a standard variety. The raiser of new 

 sorts must therefore be prepared to devote many years to 

 the repeated trials of his seedlings before he can honestly 

 claim for them fixity of character. 



CHAPTER XVII. 



POTATO PESTS. 



THE potato has many insect enemies, but the chief one is 

 the wire worm. In light soils and in newly-broken-up 

 pasture land, this pest is often a serious nuisance to potato 

 growers. Fortunately, we are not troubled with another 

 very serious pest which commits such havoc among Ameri- 

 can potato crops the Colorado Beetle. It is true it has 

 made its appearance in this country, but, thanks to prompt 

 action, its career has been cut short. The remaining pests 

 which occasionally attack the potato are not very numer- 

 ous, but all that ;uv known to inflict any serious injury 

 will be dealt with in this chapter. 



