316 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



The Chairman. Has it any advantage over the Early 

 Rose? 



Mr. Good ALE. Possibly, in the yield. With me, they 

 have yielded better than the Early Rose, the last two years, 

 with the same treatment. I have also tried this year the 

 "Compton Surprise," which was originated by Mr. Compton, 

 of New Jersey, and I find it an exceedingly prolific potato, 

 rather coarse, and requiring the full season to mature. It 

 was sent out as an early potato. That was a great mistake. 

 It requires the full season. I dug mine the tenth of October, 

 and they were then hardly ripe. I got from one pound, with 

 ordinary farm culture, three hundred and nineteen and three- 

 fourths pounds, — about five and one-third bushels. The 

 hills were three feet apart, a single eye to the hill. This 

 was, of course, without slipping or forcing, in any way. It 

 is full of eyes. The objection to the Compton Surprise, as 

 it strikes me, is, that it has very deep eyes, and its color, a 

 dull red, is against it ; and in growth, it spreads over the 

 whole ground. You have to dig over the whole of the ground 

 to get all of the potatoes. 



Question. What shape are the potatoes ? 



Mr. GooDALE. The potatoes are round, or nearly round. 

 I have not ftiirly tested the table quality. 



The Chairman. Do you think any man can raise six hun- 

 dred pounds from one pound ? 



Mr. GooDAi.E. I do not doubt it in the least, with this 

 Compton Surprise, and with ordinary culture. In my own 

 case, I was satisfied that I should have got nearly twice as 

 many, if I had had good success in keeping the mice off. 

 They infested every hill, and some of the hills they had eaten 

 out the inside of all the potatoes, simply leaving the shell. 

 I got from one hill twelve pounds of potatoes, from one eye. 



Mr. Everett. I think that is the most wonderful state- 

 ment that I have heard yet. The gentleman states that he 

 got twelve pounds from an eye, three hundred and nineteen 

 pounds from one pound. That certainly beats anything I 

 ever heard of in relation to the growth of any tuber. 



Mr. GooDALE. I would state that that yield has been very 

 much exceeded, as Mr. Hyde has remarked. I think those 

 potatoes were sent out to twenty-eight different States. 



