THE POTATO 



ference between profit and loss, and the prices 

 obtained for extra-early crops have stimulated 

 cultural experiments with every kind of fruit and 

 vegetables. Some interesting results along this 

 line . with potatoes have recently been reported 

 by the Kansas and Rhode Island stations. 



"At the Kansas station seed tubers of four dif- 

 ferent varieties of medium-sized potatoes were 

 placed in shallow boxes with the seed ends up in 

 February. They were packed in sand, leaving 

 the upper fourth of the tubers exposed, and the 

 boxes were placed in a room with rather subdued 

 light, having a temperature of 50 degrees to 60 de- 

 grees F. Vigorous sprouts soon pushed from the 

 exposed eyes. The whole potatoes were planted 

 in furrows in March in the same position they oc- 

 cupied in the boxes. The same varieties of po- 

 tatoes taken from a storage cellar were planted 

 in parallel rows. The sand-sprouted potatoes took 

 the lead from the start in vigor and strength of 

 top and produced potatoes the first .of June, a 

 week earlier than the storage-cellar potatoes. At 

 the final digging they showed better potatoes and 

 gave a 10 per cent, larger total yield. 



"In another experiment part of the potatoes 

 was treated the same as in the first test, except 

 that the sand was kept moistened and the other 

 part was placed in open boxes and kept in a light 

 room having a temperature of 50 degrees F. The 

 tubers placed in sand developed strong sprouts 

 and nearly all rooted. When planted in the field 

 they outstripped both the tubers sprouted in open 

 boxes and the storage-cellar tubers in vigor of 

 growth. The tubers started in the open boxes 

 gave earlier yields than were obtained from the 

 storage-cellar tubers, but not as early as the 



