1888.] PUBLIC DOCUMENT — No. 33. 143 



Beauty of Hebron — Avas obtained for that purpose from 

 Vermont ; it was as fair an article as could be desired. The 

 system of planting and cultivating was the same as in pre- 

 vious years. The potatoes were planted upon all plats May 

 5, 1886. All the vines were in full blossom July G; they 

 began to turn yellowish and dry up July 30. The crop on 

 the entire field was dried up Aug. 8. This change seemed 

 to appear most marked, and first, on the vines raised from 

 whole potatoes. The crop was harvested Aug. 28. 



Neitlier a liberal use of our own mixture of commercial 

 manurial substances, rich in 'potash compounds, nor the selec- 

 tion of a fair quality of seed jwtatoes from another locality, 

 had affected our results, as compared with those of the pre- 

 vious season; for the entire crop, with scarcely any exception, 

 was badly disfiyured by scab. The potatoes were unfit for 

 family use, and had to be sold at a low price for stock-feeding. 



For further details in regard to our observations in 1884, 

 1885 and 1886, see annual reports. 



A due consideration of all the circumstances which ac- 

 companied our course of observation thus far, induced us to 

 draw the following conclusions : — 



1. Medium-sized whole potatoes give better results than 

 half potatoes obtained from tubers of a corresponding size. 



2. Disregarding the results of the first year, when pre- 

 viously existing resources of plant food in liberal quantities 

 must have rendered the influences of an additional supply of 

 manurial sul)stances less marked, it appears that sulphate of 

 potash produced better results in our case than muriate of 

 potash. 



3. "YY^-Q premature dying out of the vines, accompanied by 

 blight or scab, or both, must be considered a controlling 

 cause of the exceptionally large proportion of small potatoes. 



4. Some peculiar condition of the soil upon the lands 

 used for this experiment is to be considered the real seat of 

 our trouble. 



To test the correctness of conclusion 4 still further, the 

 experiment has been continued for another year. 



1887. — The same plats as in previous years were utilized 

 for the experiment. The subdivision remained unchanged. 

 The fertilizers applied were the same as in 1886. 



