182 THE POTATO 



of the utmost Importance that sound crops only 

 should be kept for seed, and that sets should be 

 stored under the most favorable conditions. In 

 an ordinary way seed potatoes should be carefully 

 selected, all those being rejected that show the 

 least sign of taint; they should be allowed to 

 get thoroughly dry before clamping and should be 

 stored separately. 



"2. Diseased haulm should be removed and 

 burned before the potatoes are lifted. If the 

 disease appears late in the season when the tubers 

 have attained a fair size much benefit may be 

 derived by pulling the haulm at once. 



*'3. Potatoes are found to become less resistant 

 to disease the longer they have been in cultivation, 

 and therefore a good, new strain is to be preferred 

 to an old stock; but most of the new varieties 

 ofifered for sale are more susceptible to disease 

 than old stocks of the best kinds, and growers are 

 warned against relying on the disease-resisting 

 power of a potato merely because it is a recent 

 introduction. 



"A change of seed is desirable if sets from a 

 sound crop can be obtained, because of the increase 

 in the total crop of sound tubers which is likely to 

 follow, but it must not be supposed that changing 

 seed will enable the plant to withstand disease. 

 On the contrary, it is often found that the luxuriant 

 growth of haulm which may result from changing 

 seed renders the crop more susceptible, and that 

 the percentage, though not the actual weight, of 

 sound tubers is reduced. 



"4. The rows of potatoes should be well 

 * earthed' or 'banked' up, as the thicker the layer 

 of soil the less chance is there of the spores of the 

 fungus reaching the young tubers. 





