80 POTATO CULTURE. 



CHAPTER XI. 



Cutting Seed. 



Shall we cut it, or shall we plant whole V shall we cut in 

 halves, quarters, two-eye pieces, or one-eye V Some say one 

 way is all right, and others say that is wrong and theirs is 

 right. Experiment stations say one thing and practical 

 growers another, perhaps. What shall we do, any way V 



Well, friends, this matter does seem to be pretty badly 

 mixed up. Let us try to explain it a little. Perhaps all 

 these good people, with so many different minds, are right. 

 Didn't you ever think of that ? Truly it is simply a matter 

 of conditions and skill that is all. Well, no not quite ; 

 variety has a little to do with it. If you have poor land and 

 rather poorly prepared and small seed that has sprouted, you 

 would be right, perhaps, in planting whole potatoes. If you 

 are two or three steps higher up, and have pretty fair soil 

 and seed, and tend to the crop moderately well, a quarter of 

 a potato, or possibly two or three eyes on a piece, may about 

 suit you. You may find it as well as to use more seed. Or, 

 perhaps, the whole potatoes, if not too near together, and if 

 you do not grow for market, may still give you more bushels, 

 big and little. But if you have rich land and good seed, and 

 make a business of growing them, and tend to it too, with 

 most varieties one-eye pieces the proper distance apart may 

 make you the most money. Now, isn't this simple and 

 plain y and I think it is just about true. 



There are not many men, probably, who have cut potatoes 

 to one eye as long as has the writer. He wasn't born with 

 the knowledge that that was the best way for him, but rather 

 happened on to it at first, and then went to thinking and 

 studying over it and all the points connected with it, and 

 experimenting. When he found there was something in it, 



