50 CUTTING AND PREPARING THE SEED TO PLANT 



November or December is planted in March or April, it 

 should be cut about two weeks before planting. For good 

 seed for the July planting, the seed to be used should have 

 been harvested by the first of May, placed upon shallow 

 trays and greened. Potatoes at all times should be kept in 

 a cool, shady place. In my experience with the July and 

 August planting I have learned that potatoes cut and limed 

 from three to four weeks before planting come up more 

 evenly. 



Every grower should know his own soil. When plant- 

 ing in soil that is extraordinarily rich, the seed pieces should 

 have more sprouts than when planted in lighter soil. But 

 in soil that is not overly rich, the seed pieces should have 

 but one sprout. In other words, the plant food which is 

 lacking in the soil is made up in the strength of the seed 

 piece, or visa versa. One sprout from a seed piece will pro- 

 duce as much in weight as three or four sprouts in the same 

 soil and under the same conditions. However, the hills 

 with more sprouts produce more in number, but the tubers 

 are smaller than those produced from one sprout. For in- 

 stance, if one potato when planted in rather light soil pro- 

 duces three sprouts, the tubers produced would be small, 

 but if planted in rich soil the tubers would be a good 

 size. But if in the same soil a potato is planted which has 

 but one sprout, the tubers produced would be large, and 

 if planted in rich soil the tubers produced would be too large. 

 The fact that each hill has a certain number of square inch- 

 es to draw its plant food from, makes it clear that the more 

 tubers in each hill the less weight in each tuber there will 

 be. The one tuber produced will weigh as much as the three 

 smaller ones if planted in the same soil. In using new seed 

 to plant, when the first sprouts are just showing, with a 

 good-sized seed piece and planted in ordinary soil, just one 



