172 Our Farming. 



shall we plant ? For nearly a quarter of a century I have planted 

 good sized tubers, but not overgrown ones, cut to one-eye pieces. 

 I have not done so blindly, but knowing from frequent experi- 

 ments that it was best for me. I can make the most money that 

 way. But certain conditions are absolutely required. The seed 

 must be sound and unsprouted, the soil fertile and fine, and all 

 tillage through the season perfect, and then I can grow just as 

 many dollars per acre this way as anyone can from more seed 

 that is, all the soil is capable of producing. I do not say every 

 reader can or will, but I can and do. Our experiment stations 

 invariably decide against one-eye seed, but that makes no differ- 

 ence. It simply shows that with the conditions existing, it is not 

 best for them, nor for others where like conditions exist. I 

 settled this matter beyond all doubt for myself many years ago, 

 but thinking there might be some change in conditions, I tried 

 again some four years ago. A row was put in with two-eye 

 pieces cut from our choicest seed. This was compassed with rows 

 on each side, where one-eye seed was used. I confess I was a 

 little nervous when Adam was picking up the product. Each 

 row was picked by itself, and the potatoes left standing on the row 

 in boxes, and they were so dug that a man couldn't pick up the 

 wrong ones. I was digging with a machine, with my eye on the 

 number of boxes. When Adam shouted out to me, "Just the 

 same," I felt easier. 



Now, this way of cutting is of no use whatever to a man 

 with poor land, or clay land, or to a careless cultivator ; but with 

 the conditions and skill present it is all right. I do not care par- 

 ticularly about having my way, but it isn't pleasant to have some 

 think I am such a fool that I do not know how much seed is 

 needed on my farm, after raising potatoes so many years. Last 

 year, Mr. Wm. Henry Maule, of Philadelphia, the well-known 

 seedsman, sent me a barrel of his new Freeman potatoes, and 

 asked me to make as much as I could of them for him, as they 

 were selling for $3 a pound. Well, we cut them to one eye and 

 then split the eyes and planted them thirty-two inches apart each 

 way. Of course, this was not more than one-third enough seed 

 to get a good yield per acre. But that w r as not what we were 

 after. This spread them over i^ acres, and the yield was 305 

 bushels. Put on one-third the land, even these split eyes, 

 with the extra care we gave them, would have yielded all the 

 land was capable of producing. It is conditions and skill, friends. 

 I think with a little more care I could grow 500 bushels from a 

 barrel of seed. But cutting to one eye is as far as it is practical 

 to carry this point in field culture. Thus far it pays us. We 

 save seed to start with, and we get a more uniform size of tubers, 

 and practically no small ones, almost. We sometimes plant seed 

 worth $i a bushel, or more. My seed from Maine cost this year 

 nearly $4 a barrel; it has cost $5. If I can save $10 an acre to 



