CHANGE OF SEED 89 



who then and there weighed them into bags for 

 market. A harrow followed the pickers and gathered 

 up all that had been overlooked or buried, and rape 

 or mustard was sown at once to keep the land occupied 

 and produce some sheep-keep before winter. All the 

 tubers, even of the main crop varieties, were sprouted 

 in boxes before they were planted, and as sprouting 

 in the dark gives rise to long, weakly shoots that are 

 very readily broken off in planting, great glasshouses 

 have been erected at various places on the farm in 

 which to store and sprout the potatoes. About one- 

 half of the seed potatoes required was obtained from 

 Scotland, their produce being grown for only one more 

 year on the farm, except in the case of some new or 

 rare variety of which an increased stock is wanted. 

 Most farmers ascribe great virtues to a change of 

 seed, whether of real seed like wheat and barley, or 

 of perennial tubers like potatoes ; yet other practical 

 men hold the quite contradictory opinion that the best 

 results are only obtained from seed that has been 

 acclimatized by growing for a year or two on the 

 farm. As regards seed corn there are probably several 

 factors concerned, so that it is impossible to make 

 general statements until more experimental work has 

 been done ; but it has been put beyond a shadow 

 of doubt that seed potatoes from Scotland (and Irish 

 seed seems equally effective) give a considerably larger 

 yield in the south and east of England than seed 

 of the same variety which has been growing for a 

 year or two in the district. This difference between 

 Scotch and home-grown seed is most manifest on 

 light, dry soils ; it has been ascribed to the compara- 

 tive immaturity of the northern stock, but this is 

 little more than a surmise. 



Our host carried on a considerable trade in seed 



