CONSIDERATIONS OF SEED 



55 



ground, the scales are formed at longer intervals, and 

 there are correspondingly fewer places for the produc- 

 tion of tuber-bearing branches. Also, in the latter 



Drawing afttr I'erriral 



FIG. 12 POTATO PLANTED FOUR INCHES DEEP 



(Diagrammatic) 



a Ground level, b Seed potato, c Short, sprout sent up before plant- 

 ing, which sent up two branches, d, e; d being broken off, and e cut off at/". 

 g The tuber-bearing stem, or rhizome, which bears buds at A, and thickens 

 at the end to form a tuber, z^upon which eyes having buds, k, may be seen. 

 m is a tuber-bearing branch, or rhizome, which has not yet begun to form 

 a tuber, and r shows where the roots were broken off. Generally four roots 

 are sent out for each tuber-bearing branch. 



case, the leaf-bearing branches produced above ground 

 are weaker. The system is considered essential in 

 the island of Jersey and the early potato growing dis- 

 tricts of the United Kingdom, and is practiced to a 

 small extent for the second crop in the Southern States. 



