326 FIELD ASD GARDEN PRODUCTS 



the danger of a deficient stand when weather conditions are unfavor- 

 able. Very shallow planting reduces the yield and injures the quality 

 of the crop. 



Growing Seed Potatoes Under Mulch. The Nebraska Experi- 

 ment Station reported an interesting comparison of the value for seed 

 purposes of potatoes grown under mulch with those grown with ordi- 

 nary cultivation under like conditions, which indicates that the 

 mulch method offers a convenient and practical means of producing 

 good home-grown seeds under Nebraska conditions. The x theory of 

 the method and the results obtained in the comparative tests are thus 

 stated: Potatoes are a cool-weather crop. It is because of this that 

 they succeed so well in the far north. Moreover, potatoes require for 

 their best development fairly uniform conditions, especially as re- 

 gards soil moisture and soil temperature. This being the case, why 

 should not potatoes grown under a litter mulch be especially well 

 developed and therefore make strong seed? The soil beneath a mulch 

 not only has a moderately low temperature during summer, but its 

 temperature is also exceptionally uniform, varying not more than a 

 degree or two between day and night and only a few degrees from 

 day to day. The soil moisture beneath a good mulch is also more 

 abundant and much more nearly uniform in amount than in case 

 of bare ground, even though the latter is given good tillage. 



The value for seed purposes of tubers grown under a litter mulch 

 has been tested during two seasons at the experiment station. In 

 1904 a plat of potatoes was mulched with straw and an adjoining plat 

 was given careful cultivation. The soil of the two plats was prac- 

 tically unform and the seed planted on the two plats was taken from 

 the same lot of tubers. Seed was saved from the mulched and culti- 

 vated plats separately, kept under the same conditions during winter, 

 planted on adjoining plats in the spring of 1905, and given identical 

 cultivation during the summer. In 1906 the experiment was re- 

 peated with seed grow r n in mulched and in cultivated ground the year 

 before. The same precautions were observed as in the first test. Uni- 

 form seed was used to start with in 1905. The seed saved from the 

 mulched and from the cutlivated plats was taken as it came, without 

 selection, and was kept over winter under the same conditions. Both 

 kinds of seed were cut in the same way, planted in the same way, on 

 adjoining plats, and treated alike as regards tillage, spraying, etc. 

 Under these conditions any constant differences in yield between the 

 two plats must be ascribed to the effect of the methods of culture 

 employed the previous season. The yields obtained from the mulched 

 and from the cultivated seed were as follows: Cultivated seed, 384 

 pounds in 1905 ; mulched seed, 563 pounds in 1905 ; cultivated seed, 

 123 pounds in 1906; mulched seed, 174 pounds in 1906. 



The use of seed that had been grown under a mulch the preced- 

 ing year increased the yield of potatoes 47 per cent in 1905 and 41 

 per cent in 1906. If further tests confirm the results reported here, 

 it would seem that mulching might be used for the production of 

 high-grade seed potatoes at home. Moreover, mulching usually results 

 in increased yields if properly handled. Mulching potatoes on a large 



