15 



Varieties. 



Mention was made earlier in this article of the importance 

 of planting the variety that will best serve the grower's purpose. 

 The yield of different varieties, when planted side by side, may 

 easily range from 150 to 350 bushels to the acre. The average 

 yield in the State was 155 bushels to the acre in 19l4, which 

 was an increase of 50 bushels over the previous year, but the 

 up-to-date grower will not be satisjfied with a yield of less than 

 300 bushels to the acre. On good soil the Green Mountain 

 type of potato, if the season is at all favorable, and the care 

 and fertilizers approximate what has been described in this 

 article, will usually give about such an average. 



The early potatoes do not, as a rule, yield as many bushels 

 to the acre, but this cannot be expected, especially if they are 

 dug before they are fully grown, whether for the purpose of 

 selling at the top price or in order to clear the ground for fall 

 seeding. 



Some attention should be given to the type of potato grown. 

 The market demands are for one of regular oval shape of 6 to 

 12 ounces in weight, having a smooth, netted skin and shallow 

 eyes. When the potatoes are cooked they should be mealy 

 and dry; the flesh should be clear-colored and possessed of that 

 rich flavor which only good soil and proper cultural conditions 

 can impart. Quality, of which something has been said before, 

 is not entirely an inherited trait, but is greatly influenced by 

 the soil, fertilizer and climatic conditions existing during the 

 growing season. 



Potato Diseases. 



There are so many diseases which attack the potato plant 

 and tuber that one might be almost discouraged to undertake 

 to grow potatoes at all. 



It is not the intention to enumerate and describe all of the 

 known fungous or physiological potato diseases, or to attempt 

 to suggest remedies. The ordinary grower has not time to 

 give to most of them. He bends all his energy to keeping 

 them out of his soils and off his fields. He tries to use only 

 clean seed, and by treating it properly to avoid those fungous 



