POTATO CULTURE. 69 



patches that yielded at that rate, but never a whole acre. I 

 would go a long way to see such an acre. But, to return to 

 our subject : 



Why all this great care to keep our seed potatoes from 

 sprouting ? There has not been any thing said about this. 

 We have tried to explain why good tubers should be used. 

 Well, the first sprout that starts from the eye of a potato is 

 the strongest and thriftiest one. If it is allowed to grow 

 in a warm cellar, and is broken off at planting-time, the eye 

 will usually throw out two or more sprouts the second time, 

 smaller and weaker ; and the result, particularly under un- 

 favorable conditions of soil and season, will be too many 

 stalks in a hill, and weaker vines and smaller tubers. If the 

 seed is sprouted twice, the third sprouts which start will be 

 still more numerous and more feeble. All this, of course, is 

 as a general rule. Did you ever stop to think why the 

 Creator arranged this so V Well, there is a natural law, of 

 course. In a piece of potato there is only just so much 

 nutriment for a sprout to use. It takes some to grow the 

 first one. There is less for the second, and far less for each 

 one when it is divided between the two or three sprouts that 

 usually start. But why was the eye made to start more 

 than the one first sprout ? Why, it wouldn't do to arrange 

 so that careless farmers would lose their seed entirely. They 

 might literally starve. So the second sprout is to help such 

 out, but is weaker, so as to punish them for not tending to 

 their business. The Creator gave man dominion, and he 

 reaps just exactly according as he takes it, as a rule. 



Of course, you always remember that very favorable con- 

 ditions of soil and season may overbalance poor seed. A 

 man may even plant small potatoes that have sprouted bad- 

 ly, in a very rich garden soil, and, with favorable weather 

 and good care, gather a bountiful harvest. On the average 

 he has done very well. The same experiment in a poor sea- 

 son, made side by side with good seed, might show very dif- 

 ferent results. With strong healthy plants from good seed, 



