44 POTATO DEVELOPMENT WORK IN WISCONSIN. 



commercial varieties can be improved, largely it is true by elimi- 

 nation, but improved nevertheless ; let us each constitute our- 

 selves a committee of one to improve our seed stock. Your potato 

 specialist, Prof. Milward, in advocating fewer varieties and the 

 standardization of those that are best adapted to your locality is 

 working along the right lines. The more you concentrate your ef- 

 forts upon one or two varieties the more you will advertise your 

 product and the more easily will sales be made. Let your motto 

 be, good seed, true to name and type, free from varietal mixture, 

 and from disease and all the other good things of life will be 

 added unto you. 



OFFICIAL INSPECTION AND CERTIFICATION 

 OF POTATO SEED STOCKS. 



By W. A. ORTON 

 Of the United States Department of Agriculture. 



To the Members of the Wisconsin Potato Growers' Association: 

 It is gratifying to have this opportunity to express the appre- 

 ciation felt in the United States Department of Agriculture of 

 the movement for higher standards and better conditions in the 

 potato industry which your association is guiding. The improve- 

 ments which you are effecting here will not be limited by state 

 boundaries but will benefit other communities in distant states. 

 It is to point out some of the interrelations of your potato indus- 

 try with that of other places, the extent to which southern and 

 western districts are dependent on you, and the broad opportuni- 

 ties for progress that are open to you that this letter is written. 



Wisconsin stands to-day in a position of exceptional potential 

 advantage in its relation to the potato industry of the United 

 States. Its northern location provides a climate suited to this 

 crop, where its natural vigor is maintained. There are vast areas 

 of new land that will produce potatoes of fine quality, since most 

 of it is free from the diseases prevalent in other districts. Geo- 



