236 Practical Farming 



discussion as to the respective merits of the potatoes grown 

 in New York State and those grown in New England. 

 Each had its favorites among the growers, and every win- 

 ter the southern-bound steamers were loaded [with seed 

 potatoes to be planted in the South. 



But about twenty-five years ago some of the Norfolk 

 growers got to experimenting with the planting of seed 

 late in summer from the crop of the same year, and grad- 

 ually it was found that good crops for the winter use could 

 be grown in this way. The first idea in the production of 

 this crop was to obtain potatoes for winter use that would 

 keep in that cHmate, since it had been found impracticable 

 to keep the early grown crop. Finally, some one tried 

 these late grown potatoes for planting the early crop of 

 the following year, and it was found that they possessed 

 advantages over the potatoes brought from the North. 



They are dug in early December, and can in that climate 

 be easily kept over winter in heaps covered deeply with 

 earth, and as they are planted from January to March, 

 according to the latitude, they have had no chance to sprout 

 and become weakened. The northern potatoes, dug in 

 the fall and kept in cellars, sprout more or less in winter 

 and have the sprouts rubbed off. This sprouting is a 

 deterioration of the food material stored in the potato, and 

 as the potato is simply a mass of starchy matter stored 

 around a bunch of shoots, the rubbing off of the sprouts 

 takes off the terminal bud of the shoot, which is always 

 the strongest grower. Then, when these potatoes are 

 planted the growth comes from lateral and weaker buds, 

 usually making a bunch of shoots rather than one strong 

 one from the terminal bud. 



