52 THE POTATO 



At Mt. Sopris Farm it has been found that it is 

 cheaper to grow medium sized seed in large quan- 

 tities per acre (by planting in rows thirty-two 

 inches apart and hills six inches apart), store it 

 separately and plant whole, than to cut seed. 

 It costs $5 to $6 per acre to cut seed, and there 

 is greater danger from dry rot with cut than 

 with whole seed. 



In "The Potato Crop'* Mr. David Young, 

 editor of the North British Agriculturist, of Edin- 

 burgh, Scotland, and one of the foremost agri- 

 cultural authorities in Great Britain, gives the fol- 

 lowing very interesting information about potato 

 varieties : 



"If in the first two centuries (from the time of 

 its introduction) the progress of potato culture 

 was very slow in the United Kingdom, a different 

 state of matters prevailed in the early part of the 

 nineteenth century. By that time the valuable, 

 or rather we should say invaluable, properties of 

 the potato crop had been fully realized, and its 

 culture on a large scale was the order of the day 

 throughout the country. The plan of producing 

 new varieties from the seeds in the * plums' or 

 'apples' was well understood also, and early in 

 that century there were numerous different vari- 

 eties in general cultivation. The famous whole- 

 sale seed firm of Messrs. Peter Lawson & Son, 

 Edinburgh, which still retains its pristine emi- 

 nence in the Scottish seed trade, was then de- 

 voting great attention to potato culture, and in 

 the agricultural, museum, which was located in 

 the chambers owned and occupied by the High- 

 land and Agricultural Society, it had specimens 

 of over 100 different varieties on exhibition. 



