40 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



alcohol making. The British varieties have good table qual- 

 ities, and some of them show good disease resistance with 

 us ; but, for some reason wliich we cannot understand, none 

 of the English or Scotch varieties have as yet shown in our 

 culture the productiveness that they do in England and Scot- 

 land ; they may do so later, but tliey are not yet up to 

 standard for size and yield. Therefore, there is not a single 

 one of these which is to be recommended for general culture 

 in America at present. But it is evident that the European 

 varieties may at least be good for breeding purposes ; and 

 the outcome of these trials sliould certainly encom'age every 

 potato specialist to seek to improve the disease-resistant qual- 

 ities of the plant. The disease resistance is dependent not 

 only upon the special variet}^, but upon the vigor of the seed. 

 Northern-grown seed is the best. The Europeans prefer 

 seed dug before fully mature, and from soil not highly fer- 

 tilized. But, since varieties best suited to one locality and 

 soil are not necessarily best suited to another, and since all 

 varieties soon weaken or run out, the best developments in 

 potato culture demand that much more attention and encour- 

 agement than heretofore be given to local potato breeders 

 and to special seed potato growers, that they may be induced 

 to supply for each locality the best of seed, especially suited 

 to the needs of that particular region, and of well-proved, 

 disease-r- listing varieties. 



Professor Brooks. There is one other question which I 

 think would be of general interest, and that is my reason for 

 asking it. The professor has referred to the loss of the char- 

 acteristic of producing seed, and something that he said led 

 me to think that his point of view was that this was due to the 

 varieties we now cultivate. I can't say all potatoes that 

 farmers cultivated 3^ears ago bore seed. The varieties raised 

 on my father's farm were Jackson White and Davis Seed- 

 ling, while White Chenango and Black Chenango are other 

 names I sometimes heard, though they were not much cul- 

 tivated at that time. These all bore seed balls. If we could 

 find the Jackson White and Davis Seedling and should plant 

 them, does the lecturer know if they would bear seed balls 

 to-dav ? 



