82 



HATCH EXPERIMENT STATION. 



[Jan. 



The range of variation in yield, as will be seen, is large, 

 amounting to almost 50 per cent, in the yield of merchant- 

 able tubers for the Beauty of Hebron and to rather over 50 

 per cent, for the Early Rose. In view of this wide differ- 

 ence in the yield of the same variety, it must be admitted 

 that variety tests in which the seed is brought together 

 from many sources can have but a doubtful value. 



The extent of the variation in the type of the potatoes 

 grown in this test was considerable, so great, indeed, as to 

 make it doubtful whether in all cases the seed was true to 

 name, although obtained from the most reliable parties in 

 every instance. The extent of the variation is in part shown 

 in the table below, in which each lot is compared with the 

 crop from our home-grown seed of the same variety : — 



Potatoes. — Comparison of Crops, Seed from Different Sources. 



