g A MANUAL OF 



cutting to single eyes ; and although we have 

 never succeeded in obtaining such enormous 

 yields as those referred to, we find that we get 

 not only a much larger yield per acre than 

 formerly, but a far smaller percentage of small- 

 sized potatoes. 



There is no disguising the fact that the po- 

 tato, when propagated year after year from tu- 

 bers in the usual manner, is subject to deterio- 

 ration, degeneration, or a continual " running 

 out" of its productive capacities. Where are 

 our " Merinoes," " Mercers," and " Peachblows" 

 of twenty years ago ? Meagre indeed are the 

 returns from them, compared with what they 

 were in their youthful days. Our old favorites 

 cannot be kept. Their day has passed, and 

 new candidates have taken their places. And 

 these, in turn, must give way to others as they 

 become unproductive, as they certainly will in 

 time. 



Our only method of retaining and improving 

 the productiveness of the potato crop is to 

 continue to produce new varieties from the 

 seed-ball. Even the justly celebrated Early 

 Rose, which at the time of its introduction 

 was probably without a peer in the world, has 

 already lost much in this respect, and now has 



