POTATO CULTURE. 89 



aware this is a hard matter to explain. Fig. 2, of a partially 

 cut potato, will give you a better idea, perhaps. Now, when 

 you get up to the top and have a piece about like that be- 

 tween lines A, B, left, which is about the same size as your 

 other one-eye pieces, there will be, perhaps, a single eye by 

 itself, sometimes two, and then a cluster of eyes. We cut 

 off that cluster of eyes, as shown by the line, and throw it 

 away ; then that piece is as good as any. If there are two 

 single "eyes we leave them. If the cluster of eyes were left, 

 sometimes several sprouts would start, instead of the one 

 from a single eye, and the result would be a number of small 

 potatoes ; I have seen as many as twenty or thirty. 



Now let me say, right here, that we have no iron-clad rule 

 that every piece shall have only one eye on. Our rule is, 

 that pieces shall be of a good fair size. Nearly always, with 

 good-sized seed, one-eye pieces will be all right ; and particu- 

 larly is this true with some varieties. But you know some 

 kinds, like the potato shown in Fig. 2, have many eyes on. 

 In such a case, where a piece would be pretty small with but 

 one eye on, I would cut two. Practically we seldom do this. 



FIG.[2. MANNER OF USING THE CURVED KNIFE. 



The knife shown above is a patent curved-bladed one. 

 Some like them, but I do not. We can not cut as fast as 

 with a straight blade. The curved blade pushes hard. We 

 tested the matter carefully, and found the pieces grew no 

 better, although slightly more chunked. The knives we use 



