CULTURE OF POTATOES. 55 



pushed down, the flexible rod with the corkscrew at the end is 

 pushed down the tube, and the obstacle is then caught and drawn up.) 



Q. I presume, of course, you are thoroughly familiar with the end- 

 less discussions that have been in the papers for the last twenty years 

 on the question of what kinds of potatoes we should use for seed 

 whether they should be small or large, whether cut or in single eyes, 

 or cut in halves. What has been your practice and the result of it? 



A. I have always practiced, with the exception of experiments, to 

 choose the largest potatoes, and cut from the top end through to 

 the butt, straight, making two pieces of each, thus giving the seed 

 ample substance. In my experience in cutting to single eyes I have 

 never had much success in getting* a full crop. 



(Mr. H.) Although I have grown but few potatoes, I think my 

 general experience in horticulture will warrant me in saying that the 

 result of the practice of cutting the potatoes to single eyes, or even 

 two eyes, unless a good portion of what may be called the nutritious 

 substance of the potato is left, can never be good, because this sub- 

 stance of the potato is absolutely necessary to sustain the bud or eye 

 until it starts. Experiments with beans and peas that have been 

 attacked by the weevil, where the whole or portions of this pabulum 

 of the seed has been eaten out, have shown so clearly, by frequent 

 and careful trials, that when the pabulum of the seed is com- 

 pletely exhausted, the seed germ will not start at all, and that 

 when it is partially exhausted it will start feebly, and make a 

 weak plant. This undoubtedly must be true of the tuber of the potato 

 as well as the seed of the pea or bean. Nature provides this sub- 

 stance for the germ or bud to feed on until it is able to take care of 

 itself, and if you rob it of its sustenance you must pay the penalty. 

 I know w^ell that it is often the custom when new potatoes are intro- 

 duced to cut them up into single eyes, in the hope of producing a 

 larger crop from the costly seed; but I doubt very much if any 

 additional weight of crop will be gained, and undoubtedly the vitality 

 of the roots will be weakened for future products, if wanted for that 

 purpose, which, with new potatoes, is generally the case ; as of course 

 when purchased at two or three dollars per pound, as in the case of 

 the Early Kose, men do not plant such potatoes to eat the first year. 

 I remember very well, when the Early Rose variety was introduced, 

 that I purchased a tuber weighing five ounces. 



In April I cut this five-ounce potato in two pieces, so that each 

 surface would present the greatest number of eyes. I then placed 

 them on a shelf, keeping them entirely dry until the cut part had 

 healed over, when they were placed on soil on the bench 

 of the greenhouse. The shoots soon began to start from the 



