1200 



EARLE V. HARDENBURG 



It is significant that the three most popular varieties of this region, repre- 

 senting nearly half of the average total acreage during 1911 to 1913 inclu- 

 sive, are each of a distinct type. Yet each may have its proper place in 

 Steuben County farming. Number 9, representing a high-yielding strain 

 selected from Rural New Yorker No. 2, heads the list in table 36 and is an 

 ideal blue-sprout variety, adapted to the heavy soils and narrow-valley farms 

 of this region. Spaldings Rose 4, a medium early variety of the pink- 

 sprout type, is profitably raised for a special seed trade with the Hastings 

 potato section of Florida . Ruloff is a variety of the Green Mountain type 

 which is well adapted to the lighter soils of the northern part of the county. 

 Altho there may be this apparent justification for diversity of type, there 

 is surely no justification for so many varieties. Among the more popular 

 varieties listed in the table, such standard varieties as Sir Walter Raleigh 

 and Carman No. 3 would, on the basis of yield, appear to justify their more 

 exclusive use in this region. The average yield of the more popular 

 standard white-sprout varieties in this list is considerably inferior to 

 that of the Rural varieties, which apparently indicates that, in general, 

 this type is not so well adapted here as is that represented by Number 9. 



A comparison of the types produced in this region is shown in table 37: 



TABLE 37. SUMMARY OF TYPES ON 360 STEUBEN COUNTY FARMS IN 1911 AND 1912 



In both 1911 and 1912, the Rural group of varieties outyielded those of 

 the Green Mountain type by an average difference of 12 and 19 bushels 

 per acre, respectively, in spite of the fact that in both years they were 

 grown with considerably less seed and fertilizer. As is shown later, in 

 table 42, a part of this difference was due to a greater average loss per 

 acre in the unharvested yield, due to late blight rot, in the Green Mountain 

 varieties. It therefore appears certain that the Rural type of potato is 

 better adapted to the prevailing conditions of this region. 



