Feb.. 1927] PROGRESS OF AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENTS 15 



middle, and the apical halves and basal halves placed in separate 

 piles. One lot of seed was then cut from the apical halves and another 

 from the basal halves; and both lots were sacked and allowed to stand 

 eight days. On the eighth day another lot of the same certified seed 

 was divided into apical and basal portions which were then cut into 

 seed pieces as before. All the seed was then planted in four 1-17 

 acre plots, as shown below: 



The plants from Plots 1, 2, and 3 came up well, and a good stand 

 was obtained; but in Plot 4 the plants came up poorly and the stand ob- 

 tained was very uneven and poor. The yields obtained were as fol- 

 lows: 



Yield per acre 

 bushels 



Plot 1. Seed from bud end cut and planted at once 402.46 



Plot 2. Seed from bud end cut and planted after 8 days. 324 49 

 Plot 3. Seed from stem end cut and planted at once. . . . 394 41 

 Plot 4. Seed from stem end cut and planted after 8 days 167.41 



The loss in yield resulting from holding seed pieces cut from the ap- 

 ical halves of potatoes eight days was 77.97 bushels per acre, and 

 from holding tiie seed pieces cut from the stem end halves 227 bushels 

 ]ier acre. 



At the same time that the above experiment was made, the effect of 

 using a drier on the vitality of the seed pieces was tested. In this 

 case the seed used was of medium size, was simply cut cross-wise, and 

 was ]"»lanted at once, and after standing 3 days and 5 days respec- 

 tively. The seed held after cutting was carefully spread on the floor 

 of a warm room, each seed-piece separate. The results obtained were 

 as follows: 



Not Sidphurcd Sulphured 

 per cent per cent 



Bud end planted at once 83.33 97.22 



Stem end planted at once 94.44 94.44 



Bud end ])lanted after 3 days 80.55 83.33 



Stem end planted after 3 days 63.88 52.77 



Bud end planted after 5 days 62. 16 72.97 



Stem end planted after 5 days 21.87 34.28 



It will be noted that again the bud ends of the tubers, while show- 

 ing the effects of adverse storage conditions, were ver\' much less 

 affected than the stem ends. The use of sulphur as a drier was de- 

 cidedly beneficial in the case of the seed held 5 days, but no advantage 

 occurred from its use on seed planted at once or after standing 3 days. 



Potash Tests on Potatoes — {Hatch Fund) 



These tests were begun in 1922 by F. W. Taylor and have now con- 

 tinued for five years. The object has been to secure data on potato 

 yields where varying amounts of potash were applied with fixed 

 amounts of nitrogen and phosphoric acid. The seed used was certi- 

 fied Maine grown Green Mountain, carefully cut with two eyes to the 

 piece. The potatoes were planted May 21 and harvested September 



