Proceedings of the Farmers' Club. 293 



The experiments were made with the greatest care, the rows 

 were in the middle of the patch and each received an equal 

 amount of manure and culture. They were dug when fully ripe 

 and accurately measured. The rows were of equal length and 

 each was planted with 460 potatoes or sets. Estimating the cost 

 at one dollar per bushel for large potatoes, and fifty cents per 

 bushel for small potatoes, the seed for the first row, small potatoes, 

 from one and a quarter to two inches in diameter, cost fifty cents, 

 which yielded ten dollars and seventeen cents. 



Second row — large potatoes, two to three and a half inches in 

 diameter, seed cost two dollars, yield eleven dollars and seventy 

 cents. 



Third row — large potatoes, with all the eyes cut out but the 

 main one; cost of seed and cutting out of eyes, two dollars and 

 sixty cents, yield eleven dollars and sixty-three cents. 



Fourth row — planted with quarters of large potatoes; cost of 

 seed and cutting, fifty-five cents, yield ten dollars and fifty-one cents. 



Below is a table showing the profit of each row, all things being 

 equal but cost of seed. 



Rows. Cost seed. Yield. Gain. 



1st 80 50 810 17 89 67 



2d 2 00 1170 9 70 



3d 2 60 1163 9 0S 



4th 55 10 51 9 96 



From the above table, we find almost no diflference in profit 

 between planting small or large potatoes whole; the extra yield 

 does not compensate for the extra trouble in planting large seed. 

 Cutting out the eyes, except one, is labor lost — it takes about four 

 hours to cut out the eyes of a barrel of large potatoes. 



I made similar experiments last year, and thought cutting out 

 the eyes paid, but I was not careful enough in planting or measur- 

 ing, did not know the cost of cutting, &c., fo I did not feel war- 

 ranted in deciding. The fourth row, planted with quarters, required 

 only one-fourth as many whole ones (half a bushel), which was very 

 soon cut, and they yielded twenty-six cents more profit than any 

 other row. As repeatedly planting small potatoes tends to degene- 

 rate the crop, large potatoes should be planted, and since cutting 

 them into quarters or pieces gives a profit of twenty-six cents to 

 every half bushel planted, which would amount to several dollars 

 in a large patch, it is evident that planting large and perhaps 



