484 Transactions of the American Institute. 



Mr. A. S. Fuller. — I have received notice that one gentleman^ 

 whose name I do not recall, got sixty-seven and one-half pounds 

 from a quarter pound of Early Eose. I do hope that the facts con- 

 tained in the letters read to-day and at previous sessions will serve tO' 

 teach farmers this lesson : that, as a general thing, six times as much 

 Bced is nsed as is necessary or desirable. Why, Mr. Cliairman, six- 

 teen or eighteen bushels used to be the allowance for an acre of pota- 

 toes. The reports that come in would seem to prove that better 

 p'elds come from less than from more. I do not think that the 

 Rose ])roduces more than the old varieties would produce, provided 

 the old varieties were as sparingly planted and as well cared for. A 

 man pays a big price for, say, a pound of some new favorite ; he- 

 cuts it into several pieces, and guards it well through the season. 

 Let him pursue the same practice with the favorites of our fore- 

 fathers and report his success. 



Mr. H. W. Rymers, Elmore, Ohio. — From one pound of the Early 

 Rose received by mail from Long Island I cut forty-two eyes plant- 

 ing one eye to a hill, three feet apart each way, covering with the 

 plow, and during the summer the only implement used in their cul- 

 vation was the common shovel plow. They were planted April 23 

 and dug August 20, yielding five bushels by measure, or 281 pounds. 

 The soil is sandy, and has all the manure with it it can bear. 



Messrs. R. & L. Stiles, East Troy, IS". Y. — We think we are ahead 

 of anything yet heard of with a potato crop. From three and a 

 half ounces of the Early Rose we had a yield of sixty-four pounds. 

 Beat it if you can. 



Mr. J. B. Lyman. — Not long since I visited the farm of a model 

 cultivator in Burlington county, New Jersey, that sends a great 

 many potatoes to the Philadelphia market. He has found out by 

 long experience the best way to grow potatoes, and he promptly 

 rejects every method that is not the most profitable. He says the 

 best seeding is two eyes to a piece, two pieces in a hill, giving four 

 vines only. He gets more small potatoes by heavier seeding, but 

 no more large potatoes. He commonly raises from 250 to 300 bush- 

 els of marketable potatoes per acre. This crop has taken him out of 

 debt. 



Mr, D. B. Bruen. — When planting time comes round I always rise 

 early, take good sized potatoes, cut each in two or three pieces, and 

 cover them in well manured hills. At least, that used to be my prac- 

 tice, but I have learned here that one eye would answer. I tried the 



