A STUDY OF FACTORS INFLUENCING THE YIELD OF POTATOES 1221 



Types of seed used in the four regions surveyed 



Obviously there are many difficulties in the way of attempting to deter- 

 mine by survey methods the relation of type of seed to yield. Whether 

 or not a grower decides to cut his seed rather than plant it whole, depends 

 principally on the size of the tubers he has for seed, because, in cutting 

 for seed, most growers have a definite size of seed piece in mind. Growers 

 in Steuben County, more than in other regions, showed a tendency to 

 plant seed of low market value. Much cull seed was therefore planted 

 whole in 1912. Since practically all seed used on Long Island is bought 

 and is of a grade higher than the average, growers there find it economical 

 to cut nearly all of it. Good seed is more cheaply produced and more 

 plentiful in Franklin and Clinton Counties, and therefore relatively large 

 seed is used there, and more of it is planted whole than in the other regions. 

 The proportion of whole and of cut seed used in the four surveyed regions 

 is shown in table 54: 



TABLE 54. PER CENT OF GROWERS USING WHOLE AND CUT SEED, IN THE FOUR REGIONS 



SURVEYED 



Evidently there are very few growers who feel that their seed is small 

 enough, cheap enough, or low enough in quality to warrant planting it 

 whole. However, it is not possible to judge from table 54, by the amount 

 of each type of seed used, which region used the best seed in the year for 

 which the data were taken. It has not been possible to study the influence 

 of the size of seed piece on yield, in these regions, because of the impossi- 

 bility of determining even the average size of the seed used. In studying 

 the influence of the size or the degree of wholeness of the tubers used for 

 seed, definite conclusions cannot be drawn because of the lack of uniformity 

 in the opinions of the growers as to the meaning of the terms large, medium, 

 and small, and furthermore because in many cases more than one type of 

 seed was used. The data are presented here for whatever significance they 

 may have. 



On Long Island, as Already stated, all the seed used in 1912 was cut. 

 A comparison of the yields from large tubers cut and from medium-sized 

 tubers cut, is given in table 55. The difference of 8.6 bushels per acre in 



