THE POTATO 439 



"In the growing of seed potatoes, Irish pros- 

 pects would seem to be particularly rosy, especially 

 since Mr. J. F. Williamson, of Mallow, has demon- 

 strated that Irish grown seed of the variety Duch- 

 ess of Cornwall gives better returns than similar 

 seed from other parts of the kingdom. Hitherto 

 the great obstacle to the development of the Irish 

 seed potato trade has been the dogged pertinacity 

 with which the Irish growers adhere to their own 

 type of potato — a type which finds little favor 

 among English growers or consumers. With this 

 obstacle removed, progress may well be expected to 

 be rapid. 



"'The type of potato, finding chief favor in Ire- 

 land is rather ungainly in shape, and possessed of 

 very deep eyes. Champion and Black Skerry being 

 two of the most popular varieties. Both of these 

 cook like balls of flour, and are very white in the 

 flesh, and flaky. As they are cooked and served 

 in their skins in Ireland, shape and appearance 

 matter httle, the true criterion of a potato being its 

 flavor. In England, however, where potatoes are 

 generally peeled before cooking, shape is a great 

 consideration, and the deep-eyed, Irish varieties 

 have to yield pride of place to well-shapen, shal- 

 low-eyed varieties. 



"England is easily next to Ireland in the matter 

 of potato growing, having about three times the 

 area of land devoted to potatoes that Scotland has, 

 and more than fifteen times as much as Wales. 

 Moreover, the acreage of potatoes in England 

 shows a steady increase, it having been 402,725 

 acres in 1903, 402,760 acres in 1904, and 434,773 

 acres in 1905. The average yield per acre is, how- 

 ever, slightly less in England than in Scotland, 

 though more than in Ireland and Wales, the aver- 



