THE POTATO 43 



benefit to all potato growers. Each grower must 

 determine for himself those varieties which do best 

 under his particular conditions of soil and climate, 

 and use his own judgment in retaining the choicest 

 of these for home use, or market, or both. 



"It has been remarked by certain growers, too, 

 that it is well nigh useless to buy new varieties; 

 for, .in many cases, they declare, the alleged new 

 variety proves to be only an old sort renamed and 

 sold at a fancy price. This position tends to con- 

 fusion and misunderstanding and often unjust 

 criticism of originators, introducers, and dealers in 

 pure seed stock. True, there are cases in which 

 old varieties may have been reintroduced under 

 new names — we are aware of a limited number of 

 such cases — but such deception is more rare than 

 general. Usually the confusion of growers is oc- 

 casioned by the fact that there are several distinct 

 types, families, or groups of potatoes and that the 

 hundreds of varieties of different origin may be 

 classified in these several groups. Indeed, there 

 are many varieties of separate and distinct origin 

 which follow a single type so closely as not to be 

 readily distinguished from each other, either by 

 habit or growth of plant or character of tubers, 

 even by an expert potato specialist. 



"To present in completeness and with absolute 

 accuracy the lists of varieties belonging to the 

 various groups would tax the most careful student 

 of botany. Such exact classification is neither 

 necessary nor advisable in a purely practical treat- 

 ise of this kind. In the following classification 

 the writer has not only reduced the groups to the 

 least possible number, but mentions only a few 

 of the many varieties which might easily be in- 

 cluded in each one. The classification is based 



