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extent than liad ever been done before ; but these were ob- 

 tained from a superannuated and diseased stock, and they 

 inherited the same ; so that, although the disease may liave 

 been in some degree checked, still it is not cured; and the 

 successful growth of the potato crop is uncertain. But much 

 good has come out of what has already been done in this di- 

 rection. Many new varieties have been obtained of superior 

 excellence, by repeated plantings of the seed ; and this is the 

 method by which the various fruits that have received culture 

 from the hand of man, have been brought to their present 

 state of development. It is not by grafting, nor by budding, 

 that fruit can be improved. In this manner, its choicest kinds 

 can be perpetuated and multiplied to almost any extent, but it 

 is by culture and repeated plantings from the seed that it can 

 be improved in quality and size. 



The potato in its wild, uncultivated state, and the method of 

 improving it. The potato in its wild, uncultivated state was 

 a small and bitter root, not larger than a walnut, and it has 

 been brought to its present size and quality by culture and 

 repeated plantings of the seed. If we plant the seed of other 

 plants producing esculent roots, we get the kind we planted, 

 but the seed of the potato plant, like that of many fruits, will 

 bring a vast variety of its kind. From a single seed ball, 

 several varieties may be obtained. In selecting from the seed, 

 lings to plant for seed, such only should be taken as are white 

 meated. Cast all the rest away. Those whose meat is colored 

 are not worth propagating, they are only fit for beasts, and it 

 will not pay to raise potatoes for either hogs or cattle. Those 

 of whitest meat, when cooked and properly prepared for food, 

 will be like flour of whitest wheat. No tiller of the soil should 

 neglect for a single season, when potato seed balls can be 

 procured, to start some new varieties from the seed. The 

 expense will be but trifling, and every new, superior kind that 

 may be produced, will be a benefit to the producer, and of 

 public good besides, for which a suitable premium should be 

 given. 



