216 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



county prefers small seed potatoes, for the reason that they are 

 less ripe than the largest; that they have a greater power of 

 reproduction than those which have exhausted their energies 

 in growing and ripening ; and that plants raised from unripe 

 tubers are earlier and stronger than from over-ripe. If there 

 is any force in this reasoning, would it not be better to dig the 

 potatoes intended for seed a little before they are quite ripe, 

 when the stalk begins to wither, and then to save for planting, 

 the fairest and largest? These will produce not only larger 

 potatoes, but a greater number of them. 



The best cultivators in England, plant only the finest speci- 

 mens. Professor Low says, " when proper care is bestowed, 

 large and well-shaped tubers are selected for planting." Von 

 Thaer says, " small tubers have not the same power of germina- 

 tion as larger ones." Mr. Knight plants potatoes whole. When 

 anxious to get the very earliest, he removes all the eyes but 

 one, that the growing stem may get an abundant support. He 

 starts that in a hot-bed, and transplants as soon the weather will 

 allow. By this method, we have known potatoes to be ripened 

 a fortnight sooner than they could have been ripened by com- 

 mon field culture. Humboldt calls the cutting of the roots 

 into small pieces, a bad custom, which occasions degeneracy. 

 But for main crops, Mr. Knight cuts large potatoes, probably 

 from regard to economy, while others of equal celebrity, insist 

 that it is better to plant the tuber whole. Some think one eye 

 sufficient, on the principle that the strength of the stem will 

 depend, at the outset, on the piece planted from which it 

 derives its nutriment. This would forbid the planting all the 

 seed ; for where a great number of eyes shoot up together, the 

 stems must be weak. And where the stems are weak and 

 crowded, we may expect a small crop of small roots. It is 

 well known that eyes from the seed end of the tuber furnish 

 the earliest crop, especially if one eye only is left upon the 

 whole root. 



The plant forms tubers until the flowers appear ; after that 

 time it ripens them. Some cultivators infer from these facts, 

 that if you would have the fruit ripen early, you must remove 

 the flowers and flower-stocks, that none of the energies of the 

 plant may be expended in ripening the seed. Mr. Knight 



