THE CULTURE OF THE POTATO. 45 



advisable or economical to use very large ones. 

 Tubers approaching medium size are best : those 

 from 1J to 2 inches in diameter, planted whole, 

 have generally proved the most profitable for this 

 purpose. 



Too small tubers have weak buds, which will in 

 turn produce weakly shoots and a poor crop of 

 inferior potatoes ; while using large tubers as sets is 

 at once wasteful, and these will not give a propor- 

 tionately larger yield than medium-sized specimens. 

 If, in special cases, a number of large tubers must 

 be used as sets, these should be cut in two length- 

 wise so as to divide as equally as possible the strong 

 buds situated at the crown end of each potato. 



An old custom, still frequently met with, is that 

 of greening seed potatoes by laying them out in the 

 sun for some time previous to storing. It is some- 

 times claimed that this assists the ripening and 

 keeping qualities of the tubers, but experience has 

 shown that it neither does the one thing nor the 

 other, and is better avoided. Greening potatoes, 

 especially if it is done in bright sunshine and is 

 carried to extremes, checks the proper development 

 of the buds, and tends to retard growth the follow- 

 ing spring. Further, it has no effect in assisting 

 the keeping qualities of the tubers, for if they are 

 sound and free from disease they will keep well 

 when placed indoors at once without being greened ; 

 while, on the other hand, if potatoes are affected with 

 disease no amount of greening will save them. 



Storing of Seed Potatoes. The most approved 

 conditions for seed potatoes are quite opposite to 

 those that apply to tubers for cooking purposes. 



