POTATO CULTURE. 71 



been opened I doubt whether all frost would have been gone 

 by May 15. But the pile was very solidly frozen when cov- 

 ered. It was very cold weather. Not one single tuber could 

 we find that was touched with frost. 



In a former chapter mention was made of buying 20 bar- 

 rels of seed this year for my own planting, that were grown 

 in Green Bay, Wisconsin. I bought them and paid for 

 them ; but since then, at the urgent solicitation of a friend, 

 I have let him have 10 barrels of them, and in their place we 

 will plant five acres or so with small potatoes, which we have 

 in our pile. We will cut off the seed end and throw it away, 

 and split the rest of the potato into two pieces, lengthwise 

 probably. We preferred to pay $55 for 10 barrels of good 

 seed, and the freight, rather than to use these good small 

 ones we had, that would cost us nothing. We did not wish 

 to make the change, but still we may not lose by it, on ac- 

 count of the high price of good seed. This explanation is 

 made that you may know why we, for the first time in many 

 years, will risk inferior seed. We were under many obliga- 

 tions to the friend in question, and I do not know where any 

 more good seed of the same variety can be obtained. 



Some are getting seed potatoes from the South instead of 

 the North. They are called second-crop seed. Potatoes of 

 the first crop are planted after they get ripe, and another 

 crop is grown that fall quite late. These, of course, will 

 keep over the winter in pretty good condition. I have 

 known them to be left in the ground all winter, and then 

 dug in the spring. It is claimed these make as good seed as 

 Northern-grown first-crop potatoes. I should prefer the 

 latter, if not sprouted at all; and still I have had large 

 yields from the southern second-crop seed. As far as my 

 experience goes, the quality of the crop from the northern 

 seed is rather better than that from the other. It is claimed 

 that the southern seed gives an earlier crop ; but I failed to 

 see any particular difference. Perhaps if digging for early 



