2^6 THE POTATO 



tubers sprouted in moist sand. The tubers 

 sprouted in moist sand produced table potatoes 

 from seven to ten days earlier than the storage- 

 cellar seed. 



"At the Rhode Island station medium-sized 

 whole potatoes sprouted on racks, in a fairly warm 

 and light room, gave a 27 per cent, better yield 

 at the first digging than potatoes kept in a cold 

 cellar until planting time, and this was increased 

 to 40 per cent, at the final digging. The percent- 

 age of large tubers was also greater at each dig- 

 ging with the sprouted tubers. 



"The results of these experiments are sugges- 

 tive. The handling of seed potatoes in such man- 

 ner as to secure strong, stocky sprouts before 

 the tubers are planted out is shown to be an im- 

 portant factor in increasing both the earliness and 

 the total yield of the crop. By planting only 

 well-sprouted seed a full stand is assured. 



"One of the objections to this method of grow- 

 ing potatoes is the large amount of space required 

 for exposing the tubers to the light for sprouting. 

 This objection has been overcome in part by the 

 use of trays and racks. At the Rhode Island 

 station the rack used held nine trays. Each tray 

 was three and three fourths feet long and one and 

 one half feet wide, and would hold about one 

 bushel of potatoes when spread out in a single 

 layer for sprouting. The bottoms of the trays 

 were made of pieces of lath placed about one inch 

 apart. Nine trays were placed in a rack over 

 each other, leaving about nine inches of space be- 

 tween each tray. This method of arrangement 

 has the advantage of securing a very uniform dis- 

 tribution of light, heat, and air for all the trays. 

 It greatly faciUtates the handling of the potatoes 



