1890.] PUBLIC DOCUMENT — No. 4. 73 



did not tind a potato that had any signs of rot about it. I 

 suppose that those that had rotted had completely decom- 

 posed. I did not find one rotten potato, but I did find just 

 about as many sound ones as I had found when I dug the 

 others. I put these in the cellar by themselves, and looked 

 at them frequently. There was only a small quantity of 

 them, perhaps half a Inishel ; but I found, although they 

 remained there until spring, but one potato that was de- 

 cayed, and that had a little dry rot on one end. Now, the 

 point is this. I had always been instructed that as soon as 

 potatoes began to rot the sooner they were dug the better. 

 That experience upset that theory in my mind. 



Mr. BowKEE. I am very glad to get the experience of 

 my friend from Barre, because it confirms the experience 

 that I have had on my form this year, which is located only 

 a mile from Mr. Goddard's. I was persuaded by my fore- 

 man to leave one-half of the potatoes until late in the fall. 

 He said that he had heard that if they were dug late they 

 would not rot. I insisted that they should be dug early ; 

 but I finally said to him, "I will compromise with you. 

 We will dig one-half the field early, and the other half 

 we will let rest until late in the fall." Now, the potatoes 

 that were dug early have nearly all rotted, are in a fearful 

 condition, while the potatoes which were dug late are 

 keeping fairly well in the cellar. But I have this to say, 

 that the quality of the potatoes which were dug late is not as 

 good as the quality of those that were dug early ; that is to 

 say, there is a flavor about them which I do not like ; but 

 they are keeping much better in the cellar than those which 

 were dug early. Now, perhaps some of you saw the very 

 interesting bulletin that was put out by our Hatch Experi- 

 ment Station in October, in which they described this rot as 

 a fungus growth, which attacked first the leaves and then 

 traveled down the stalk of the plant into the tuber. They 

 recommended that the potatoes that were attacked in that 

 way should be dug, and the tops cut off" and burned, so 

 that this germ of rot, or this fungus,' should be destroyed. 

 I did not get that bulletin until all of the vines on my 

 field were dead from this fungus growth, or I should have 

 tried the experiment ; but I think it would be well for our 



