POTATO DEVELOPMENT WORK IN WISCONSIN. 43 



toes there is all the more necessity, or shall I say incentive, to 

 maintain the highest possible standard. 



Varieties can only be standardized through some such method 

 as that just outlined. It not only affords an easy means of elimi- 

 nating diseased and unproductive plants but it also accomplishes 

 at the same time the removal of all foreign varieties. In other 

 words you have unconsciously purified your seed, through selec- 

 tion. 



The beneficial effects accuring from selection is that you obtain 

 a seed stock from which the progeny, or tubers, of all diseased and 

 weak plants and all varietal mixtures have been removed. This 

 insures a perfect stand of vigorous healthy plants, every one of 

 which should be productive and if the weather and cultural con- 

 ditions are favorable it is easy to predict what I lie harvest should 

 be. If the crop is grown for seed purposes it possesses a much 

 greater value than that from unselected seed. It should be re- 

 membered however that eternal vigilance is the price of success ; 

 the strictest attention should be given to the seed plot each sea- 

 son. One cannot rest on his oars and say I have a selected strain 

 of potatoes that require no further attention. Your strain of seed 

 will require the same vigilance each year in the removal of all 

 weak and imperfect plants. It is true that with careful handling 

 of your own seed there should be no further contaminations in 

 the way of varietal mixtures, but you are almost sure to find some 

 off type and weak or diseased plants in any season so be ever on 

 the watch. If I were given to prophesying I would be tempted 

 to predict that in the next five years this section of your State 

 will be producing vast quantities of high grade seed potatoes 

 which will have behind it a guarantee of purity both as to true- 

 ness to name and type, as well as freedom from diseased tubers. 



If it were possible to plant the whole of the 1914 crop of the 

 United States with such seed as I have just described I will ven- 

 ture to say that the average yield per acre would be increased at 

 least 25 per cent. Can you realize what this would mean ? Our 

 present average acre production is less than J 00 bushels and our 

 total average production is about 350,000,000 ; multiply this by 

 25 per cent and we have increased our crop by ST 1 /^ million 

 bushels. Think of it a gain well toward a hundred million bushels 

 without the outlay of any more capital in its production outside 

 of the extra labor involved in harvesting a larger crop. 



The seed question is a large one ; it is an important one ; our 



