230 



THE PEOPLE'S FARM AND STOCK CYCLOPEDIA. 



each piece shall be triangular, with the point running to the 

 middle of the potato. The cut gives an idea of how the work 

 should be done. 



From the illustration one might suppose there was but 

 one eye to a piece, but the second eye is on the opposite 

 side. Experiments made on Houghton farm showed a marked 

 difference in the product from shallow cut eyes, or those cut 

 as shown in the engraving. The results of three experiments 

 were as follows : 



No. 1, twenty hills, produced, . 



O (I 



O (( 



o, 



Shallow eyes. 



2 Ibs. 6 oz. 



2 " 6 " 



3 " 13 " 



Deep eyes. 



6 Ibs. 11 oz. 



5 " 15 " 



15 " 13 " 



If you have a new and high-priced variety of seed, and 

 wish to make all you can from it, then cut to single eyes, as 

 you will see from the table that one eye produced more than 

 half as many potatoes as four eyes and with a smaller per cent 

 of unmerchantable ones. When a potato is planted whole a 

 portion of the eyes remain dormant, but there will still enough 

 grow to make the plants too much crowded in the hill and so 

 produce an undue proportion of small tubers. This is shown in 

 our table. The small potatoes from the seed cut to one eye 

 were but 4.18 per cent of the crop, and from the seed cut to 

 two eyes but 5.95 per cent, while from half potatoes 14.87 per 

 cent were small. 



It sometimes becomes a question of considerable importance 

 whether very small seed will produce a profitable crop, as a 

 short crop often makes the price of seed very high. I do not 

 advocate the use of small seed ordinarily, but by careful experi- 

 ment I am fully satisfied that it may be used occasion- 

 ally with good results. I give here the results of several 

 experiments : 



I raised a large crop of extra nice potatoes in the summer 

 of 1857, and did not sell till the following spring. When I was 

 taking them out of the pit I concluded to try an experiment, 

 and so I selected enough seed to plant five rows, ten rods long, 

 of the finest potatoes that could be picked out from one hun- 



