VARIETIES 87 



Relationship of Variety to Soil.— Disappointment 

 and loss are often the result of not knowing and study- 

 ing the environment best suited to a variety. Each 

 variety, and probably each individual in a variety to a 

 lesser degree, has its idiosyncrasies, and, to succeed, 

 these must be recognized and catered to. The failures 

 in potato-growing deser\^e more attention. The suc- 

 cesses take care of themselves. The careful grower 

 takes note of the failure and the success. Both have a 

 cause or causes, and the climatology and charadter of 

 the soil may be among them. Some varieties do better 

 on a heavy loam than on a sandy loam, probably be- 

 cause the former is cooler, owing to its greater moisture 

 content, and under such conditions these varieties give a 

 higher return of starch per acre and are of better qual- 

 ity. Other varieties, as those inclined to be coarse 

 and rough, do better on sandy loams. In this class are 

 Eureka and Uncle Sam. 



Some require a rich loam soil — as. Early Ohio, 

 Bovee, Early Har\'est, Early Michigan. T. L,. Wat- 

 son,' of Virginia, also noted that some varieties want 

 more plant-food than others, other conditions being 

 the same. Others are more cosmopolitan — as, Car- 

 man No. 3, Early Rose. 



The Most Popular Varieties. — With the objedt 

 of ascertaining the best variety as determined bj'- 

 yield in different places, a letter was addressed to the 

 dire(5tor of each experiment station and to some grow- 

 ers; 49 replies were received; 28 men mentioned vari- 

 eties which had yielded or appeared to be best in their 



I Va. Bui. 56, p. 144. 



