122 AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. [Jan. 



ascribed to atmospheric agencies, or to the condition of the 

 soil and the fertilizer applied, or to the quality of the seed 

 potato used. 



1886. — The same field was used as in 1885. The land 

 was well prepared by ploughing and harrowing April 27, 

 and subsequently fertilized the same as in previous years. 

 The change regarding the character of the fertilizer applied 

 consisted in using nearly twice the amount of potash salts, 

 muriate and sulphate of potash, for the same area, in case of 

 plats 1 and 3. A second important change from our pre- 

 vious practice consisted in securing first quality seed po- 

 tatoes, in particular free from scab. The same variety. 

 Beauty of Hebron, was obtained for that purpose from Ver- 

 mont ; 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 6; they 

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

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

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

 whole potatoes. The crop was harvested August 28. 



Neither a liberal use of our own mixture of commercial 

 manurial substances, rich in potash compounds, nor the 

 selection of a fair quality of seed potatoes from another 

 locality, had afiiected our results, as compared with those of 

 the previous season ; for the entire crop, with scarcely any 

 exception, was badly disfigured by scab. The potatoes were 

 unfit for family use, and had to be sold at a low price for 

 stock feeding. 



A due consideration of all the circumstances which accom- 

 panied our course of observations thus far, induced us to 

 draw the following conclusions : — 



1. Medium-sized whole potatoes give better results, as 

 far as a large-sized, marketable crop is concerned, 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 



